Being Prayed For

Its always nice to know that you are being prayed for. God hears and works through our prayers.

Tonight, Awesome and I are babysitting our friend's gorgeous boys. We love hanging out with the boys, who are 6 and 2. We've been babysitting them a couple of times a year since Mr. 6 was 18 months old. As there are usually gaps between visits, we have the pleasure of seeing giant leaps in their development each time we see them.

Tonight was a fantastic night, lots of laughter, crashing things around (as boys are wont to do!) and just a little wheedling to try and get out of bedtime ;). We are always impressed with the boys behaviour, they are incredible, polite little guys who know their routine and are never any trouble (for us at least!).

The wedding picture Mr. 6 has on display

At bed time, Mr. 6 took pride in showing us his treasures collected since our last visit. On a pinboard was some flyers about mission work in Nepal and a photo of Awesome and I from our wedding.

"I've been praying for you." Mr. 6 said.

We didn't know what to say. The children I work with are mostly not from Christian homes. Awesome hasn't spent a great deal of time with young children in the last few years. That a 6 year old whom we love and love to hang out with, would be praying for us, well, it came as a bit of a delightful shock!

We give credit to his fantastic parents and the way they have really worked to instill a sense of caring for others in their boys. Its wonderful to know we hold such a special place in Mr. 6's life, just as he does in ours.

Praying for you too little buddy!

{Its currently 9:30pm and Mr. 6 has just got up for the second time, which hasn't happened before when we have visited. He's agreed to go to sleep now but we'll see. Starting to get an idea of the bedtime struggle that some parents deal with regularly!}

anniversary.

Dear Awesome,

Here is what I like about you:

• You make me laugh even when I don't think your jokes are funny
• Even though we look to others like we are annoyed with each other all the time, I know that has mainly to do with not enough coffee in your day and we are not like that all the time. 
• You are a man of the Word and your faith sometimes holds mine up. 
• You are cheeky. Just like, all the time. 
• You are strong and can move many heavy things, but you are always gentle with me.
• You are talented. Your brain works fast and you figure things out. 
• You will dance with me at weddings. 
• You hang up the bathroom floor mat every time. Sometimes when I still need it. Twice. 
• You meet me out the back of the house to bring the shopping in so I don't hurt my back. 
• You looooove to read. 
• You can deal with my strange aversions to things like the feel of bananas, the feel of wool, the feel of soggy cereal... you were made to marry someone with sensory avoidance. 
• You take out the garbage every single time. Without asking. 
• You have completely changed the way you view your social time with others to meet my need to spend time with others. 
• You think toast and peanut butter is a meal. 
• You need 5 alarms to wake up in the morning, but it only takes me to say "Good Morning" and you wake up and look for me. 
• You kiss me and tell me you love me everyday. Even when you're annoyed with me. 
• You dream big and you take me along with you.
• You trust God with our today and our future. 

Happy Third Anniversary my Love. 

Embrace the camera: last week...

So my embrace the camera shot is from last week. Forgive me? Granny does :)

My Personal Mission Statement

The structure of the statement is based on this post by Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking, and from the material provided in Women of the Word, Fisherman Bible Study Guides "Becoming a Woman of Purpose", by Ruth Haley Barton. Thanks to these ladies for their wisdom.




My Mission Statement


1. To be a person of grace, committed to pursuing Jesus in every task, thought and word.
2. To be a wife of noble character, who serves her husband faithfully and well to affirm his leadership a partner with him in serving the Lord and others.
3. To manage a hospitable, peaceful home, and offer love and refreshment to the people who God brings in to our lives.
4. To live intentionally for God's Kingdom. To have clear, well-seasoned speech and prayer for others, to be influential in grace.
5. To be a worker of moral responsibility, set apart, a noticeable difference in my work and leadership.

My Goals and Disciplines

Relationship with God
Goal: Taking time each day to read God's Word, being faithful and consistent in prayer.
Discipline: Ensuring time every morning to read God's Word and to pray. Going to bed at a reasonable time each night to ensure this. Going to church and small group weekly.

Marriage
Goal: Time to talk and reflect on how our marriage is going. Reflect on my conduct as a wife and supporter and grow in knowledge of how best to serve Awesome.
Discipline: One-on-one time to talk with Awesome every day. Date nights together twice a month. Read 4 books each year on being a Godly wife.

Work
Goal: Gracious service of my staff and clients, going the extra mile, to be set apart in word and deed.
Discipline: Not engage in gossip, pray for work each work day, going the extra mile for each person, not swearing - letting my conversation be seasoned with salt.

Church and Community
Goal: To build intentional relationships with others, to be friendly and welcoming to others, to be faithful in prayer.
Disciplines: Seek out new comers. Take time to nurture relationships with others. To take prayer requests and offers seriously, write them down and follow through.

Physical Health and Well-being
Goal: To be well rested and physically able, to maintain a healthy weight and get adequate exercise.
Disciplines: Go to bed at a reasonable time, eat healthy and nourishing foods, exercise daily (15min+).


Home and Recreation
Goal: Well organised household, food and meals available to nourish our family, help others or feed visitors.
Disciplines: Menu plan where possible, manage finances to ensure extra giving is possible, have ingredients on hand to make food when needed.

Personal Development
Goal: Extend on my knowledge of God's love and the practicalities of being a Christian.
Disciplines: Read at least 10 Christian personal development books this year on a range of topics (eg. hospitality, prayer, being a Godly wife. Read at least 10 books on God's Word this year.


These are not a list of things I already do to show you what an awesome Christian I am and make you feel somehow inadequate if you don't tick all the boxes. This is a list of the things that I actually struggle with the most. Daily. This is what, in God's grace, I want to do about these things this year. And I will need to check in regularly to ensure that I have made these things a priority. Four years ago I wouldn't have thought it possible to do all these things at the same time, but God is slowly changing my heart to show me that it is possible when I intentionally rely on Him and make efforts towards change.

The Year of Intentional

On a lot of the blogs I read regularly, I have noticed women picking a word for the year. Some pick something like saying 'yes' or 'no', a word like 'grace', or 'love'.  These are all good words when they motivate us to live more under God's authority.

I wan't really keen on the idea of picking a word for the year. I had instead started to work on a personal mission statement. The idea was born out of some posts I had read on similar topics and from the Bible study guide I have been doing this week "Becoming a Woman of Purpose" by Ruth Haley Barton (Highly recommended for its Biblical basis, no silly comprehension questions and emphasis on developing a personal mission statement that is based on doing the hard work to determine where your heart is at with God, before you write down your goals).

As I was writing out the purpose, goals and disciplines that I want to focus on in each area of my life, I realised one word was sticking in my head.

Intentional. 

I want to be more intentional. Too often I'm swayed by the thing in front of me, the thing in the next room, the plan for another day, and I don't fulfill the things I need to do, or act the way I should act right now. I want to live each day purposefully, not just see what happens by accident. Days and years are wasted that way (ongoing weight loss battles anyone?). I want to take deliberate steps in my days, to ensure that the things that really matter are the things that are occupying my thoughts.

Rather than a definition of the word, I looked up the synonyms and antonyms for the word intentional.

Synonyms:	advised, aforethought, calculated, considered,designed, designful, done on purpose, intended, meant, meditated, planned, prearranged,premeditated, proposed, purposed, studied,unforced,  voluntary, willful, willing, witting
Antonyms:	accidental, unintentional, unplanned

 Those are all good words. Excellent words. I highlighted ones that particularly stood out to me. The antonyms stood out to me too - they perfectly describe so many of my 'bad days'. 

2012 will be a year of living intentionally. Of meaning to do things, planning to do things, and actually doing them. Of having purpose to my days instead of wasted time. Of wanting and being willing to do the hard stuff in life. 

I'll post my personal mission statement tomorrow (once Awesome has had a chance to read it over and vet it for grammatical and theological flaws!!). 

Do you have a word for 2012? 

Good Morning Girls Study Starts today!

This afternoon (Aussie time), GoodMorningGirls.org will be posting their first posts of encouragement in a 12 week study on Ephesians. Its a daily study, using notes provided for free, downloadable on their website.

You can find all the info you need here. If you would like to join me in this 12 week study, simply let me know in the comments below and register on the GMG website.