bread and water

"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.  He that loveth not his brother abideth in death."  1 John 3:14 I read this in my devotion today and it convicted me.  Because the other day I was so stressed out, my 3 boys had fought ALL day long it seemed and I was getting nothing done.  We were unkind to one another (on the way to VBS of course) and I had the thought, "I just don't like anyone right now."  I just wanted to be all by myself and have a pity party.  So, that's not really "loving my brother".    What does it mean to love your brother?  The Bible defines love as: suffering long, kind, not envious, not puffed up, not behaving unseemly (does that mean yelling in the car and pointing my finger crazily at my 3 year old?), is not easily provoked (ouch), is not self seeking (another ouch), rejoices in truth, bears all things...and the list goes on in 1 Corinthians 13. I was so convicted dur...

I just went to see the movie Mom's Night Out with some friends.  It was perfect timing because I desperately needed it!  When life gets so busy the first things to go are time for yourself , and dates with your spouse. My husband is a Pastor of a church we planted a few years ago and recently he's been working a second job as well.  He is also helping coach one of our son's baseball teams and he is head coach of our other 2 son's tee-ball team.  This means that I have picked up a lot of extra duties that he used to be able to help with occasionally.  Our parents live states away, so we don't have that nice free help from loving Grandparents.  But, we are living and doing what God has called us to do and He always provides what we need in every situation. In this situation, He provided a Mom's Night Out movie with friends!  You see, the day before I was about to go insane ...or at least that's what it felt like.  Between cooki...

The past few months the Lord has continually brought this Scripture before me, 28  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.  Matthew 11:28-30 Usually I am not the type of person to rest.  I want to go-go-go until everything on my to do list is marked off.  Rest is usually NEVER on my to do list.  I have 3 boys to home school and 5 mouths to feed 3 meals a day plus snacks and sports and church stuff and...and...and...the list goes on. I can hear God laughing now!  All of those reasons are exactly WHY I need rest for my soul, and my body!  God was speaking to me clearly through His Word.  He was telling me to come to Him.  Nothing too hard, just come.  But I didn't for awhile.   I tried to juggle it all on m...

Guest post from Stacy McDonald Awakening Love with Essential Oils WARNING : The intended audience for this post is married women. While I have attempted to present the topic of intimacy and essential oils with discretion, please enter at your own risk. Do Not Awaken Love Before its Time… I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, By the gazelles or by the does of the field, Do not stir up nor awaken love Until it pleases. (Song of Solomon 2:7) …but once the time has come, stir things up with essential oils! The Song of Solomon offers a poetic vignette of marital intimacy in all of its glory—in all of its purity, eagerness, and beauty…and in all of its  passion ! As young girls grow into women, God gifts them with tender emotions and powerful hormones, both of which support and promote God’s sovereign purpose of marriage and fertility within a loving covenant relationship. Young women of all ages do well to heed the warning given to the daughters of Jerusalem not to ...

Check out this Mom's amazing testimony about the use of Frankincense oil! http://yoursacredcalling.com/commonscentsmom/one-moms-testimony-gods-gift-of-frankincense/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CommonScentsMom+%28The+Common+Scents+Mom%29

This is a guest post from Stacy McDonald. A Family Integrated Home Business Most families are separated during the work day, whether or not they want to be. Dad goes off to work. Maybe mom does too. If mom stays home with the children, there is often a harsh financial sacrifice. But, what if your family could stay home together and work together on a family business? What if you could do it without some huge financial investment, without hours and hours of time and focus? What if mom could get it started by basically doing what she’s doing anyway (using and talking about her essential oils), and dad could help in the background if he wanted to – until her business exploded and he decided he could come home and be with the family all day, every day! Yeah. Really. In 2010, when a friend sent me my first sample of oils, I discovered the huge difference between the essential oils I had been using and Young Living Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils . I was blown away by...

This soup was awesome and healthy!  You have got to try it.  It comes from the book Making Babies by Shoshanna Easling.  I bought the book because it has great gluten free recipes in it.  You can buy it at www.bulkherbstore.com.   Here's the recipe: Prep: 7 min.  Cook 20 min.  Serves: 2 1 chicken breast, cubed and pan fried (I was in a hurry and used canned chicken) 1/2 cup quinoa  1/2 onion, chopped, browned, and pureed (I had never pureed an onion before but it gave the soup good flavor) 1 garlic clove, minced 1 tsp parsley, dried 1 cup carrots, chopped 4 cups water 3/4 cup cabbage, chopped 2 1/2 tsp sea salt  In a 2 qt saucepan, add all ingredients.  Cook on med. low for 20 min., covered.  Turn off heat and let stand for five minutes.  Enjoy! p. 271 Making Babies series