“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 1 Timothy 3:16,17

My last few posts on homemaking have received quite a response, with many valid points/perspectives being offered.  With some of those perspectives in mind, I’d like to explore a few questions…

• Does God command that women be homemakers? (What does it mean to be a “worker at home?” Does God in the scriptures ever call men to be “workers at home?”)
• What does it mean to “defile (or blaspheme) the Word of God?”
• Did the Proverbs 31 woman really work outside the home in a job?
• Does God have anything to say about a woman who has to work to provide for her family?
• Should a woman who is married but doesn’t have children be a homemaker? What about a single woman?
• Where is the line between obedience and grace? Is there a line?

How does a sin-saturated world affect all of the above topics?

With humility and awe we should all look to God-breathed words and ask, ‘Lord, what do you say?’ I feel very convicted on some of the above questions (as you well know if you read this blog), but others, I don’t know the answers…I don’t know if I’ll ever know the answers.  The beauty in all of it is this: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1

I challenge you to study the scriptures and pray and see what conclusions you come to on the above topics (on any topic!).

Then, if you and I have both studied the scriptures and prayed and have come to different conclusions, then let the glory be to God! But don’t, please don’t, come to the table of conviction with no scripture to back up your belief system.

Know what you believe and why.

You can follow my journey in answering these questions by subscribing to my articles here.

Many women in my generation were not raised – taught and trained – to effectively manage a household.

Our mothers wanted the best for us…they dreamed that we would be lawyers, doctors, professional athletes, etc.  They dreamed big for us and got excited when we got accepted to the college of our choice.  They told their friends how proud they were that their daughter got the “big” job.  They applauded their daughters decision to wait to have children for many years so she could establish her career.  They prepared her well for her life’s calling.

Or did they?

I have no doubt that our mother’s did what they thought was right and good.  The fact remains, however, that many women decided that their life calling was in the home, raising their children and being a homemaker. In the midst of career dreams, another dreamed nestled in their hearts, the dream of being a stay-at-home mother.  When they left the career track to raise a family, they were not prepared for just how hard it was going to be.

Women are waking up to the reality that if one is to stay home, raise a family, and take of a home, one must be prepared.  The women who were given everything they needed to succeed in the career world were lacking the one thing they needed to be successful in the home – intentional homemaker training. Women who have decided to stay home know how hard it is, and they don’t want their daughters to have start behind the eight ball like they did.  These women are choosing to be intentional about raising their daughters in the homemaking arts.

It sounds crazy in this day and age, right?

I mean, isn’t this homemaker stuff straight out of the 1800’s?

Nope.  It’s straight out of God’s Word:

“…train the young women to be sane and sober of mind (temperate, disciplined) and to love their husbands and their children, To be self-controlled, chaste, homemakers, good-natured (kindhearted), adapting and subordinating themselves to their husbands, that the word of God may not be exposed to reproach (blasphemed or discredited).”  Titus 2:4-5, Amplified Bible

I’m not here to debate working women versus stay-at-home moms versus women who have to work, I’m here to point out a revolution that is taking place.  Women are turning towards their daughters and saying, “I will teach and train and disciple you to be a homemaker for the glory of God.”

How do I know a revolution is taking place?  I launched RaisingHomemakers.com two days ago to be a place of encouragement and help for women who are training their daughters to be homemakers. In two days that website has generated over 11,000 visits, nearly 2,000 Facebook fans, and over 500 subscribers. It clearly struck a nerve.

Women want something better for their girls.

So do I.

I have tapped into an energy giving secret.

Are you ready for it?  It’s just so simple…

Allow yourself the freedom to do something you get jazzed about.

Seriously, that’s it, and let me tell you, it works!  Find something you thoroughly enjoy, something that makes you come alive, and then make time for it in your schedule.  When I do this, I don’t drag as much.  In fact, I become a much more effective wife, mommy, and homemaker. (Disclaimer – if your “jazzy” comes at the expense of your family, it’s not worth it).

So whatever it is that makes you come alive, gives you energy, gets you jazzed, carve out a couple hours in your week and go for it!

Maybe you will even find yourself exploring how you can combine your jazzy activity with your main priorities.  Wouldn’t that be a lovely and energizing collision?

My jazzy and my priorities have collided, and I can’t wait until I can share it with you all.

So tell me, what gets you jazzed?

Let’s get jazzed together everyday – subscribe to Like a Warm Cup of Coffee here!

Today, while I’m over At The Well with the post, “Home in 140 Characters,” I have a guest post for you from Mirinda Dawe, the gal behind October Belle Designs.  She is an interior designer with a real talent and love for art. She especially enjoys creating special pieces of art for your baby or child- even your tween or teen.  She also does design consultations through email.  I asked her to give us all some design tips because, well, I am design inept!  Enjoy!

Can I just say that when Sarah Mae asked me to guest post I giggled & squealed like a four year old? I am so honored to be here sharing my favorite design tips! My education in the design world did not come from a four year university {don’t worry; I’m not moving people’s walls around!} Rather, it comes from almost ten years of home staging and owning a decorating company that offers turnkey packages for vacation rentals. In offering personal interior consultations I quickly found that the techniques used in a client’s vacation home works in any home! Here are my four most used tips & techniques:

Relax.

And grab some paint. I’ve known countless people who have lived for years with white walls out of fear of ‘messing up’. Trust me when I say that color is the easiest thing to change if you do actually dislike the shade. I recently painted a nursery three times in one day to get that perfect green! Color will also give your space personality & warmth. So get to painting!

Design for a Lifetime.

Oftentimes people will procrastinate decorating their home because they feel overwhelmed at purchasing many items at once. Unless you are having a designer come in to fully “do a room” you shouldn’t be buying several pieces at one time. Always be on the ‘lookout’ when traveling or just shopping around town! You never know when you will come across that perfect piece that your home has been missing. This also helps take into account that your style may change & you can adapt that into the look of your rooms over time.

Let your home be a statement.

What do I mean by that? Well, what statement do you want your home to make when a guest walks in the front door? Do you want your home to feel warm & inviting? Most of us do! Would you like the furniture to beckon your children to snuggle up and read a book? Your sister to sit and chat for hours? Mine for our family is simply ‘A Safe Haven’. I want my home to feel like the safest place on this earth for our children and any guests. Decide on your style statement and decorate accordingly!

Go big or go home!

Many homes today are built with the open floor plan. This means large wall spaces that are confusing when it comes to deciding what goes there! Buy one large statement piece such as a mirror or over sized canvas. This generally looks more pleasing than several small pictures being scattered throughout the room and is also a great investment. If you have several small items, pull them together in an arrangement that is cohesive and will make a bold statement.

I hope these tips will encourage you to try something new. We can be inspired by anything out there, so take what you love and transfer that into something wonderful for your home! Let your space be livable and work for your family and most importantly, be blessed!

Thanks Mirinda!  Okay, it’s Sarah Mae here and I just want to encourage you to scoot on over to October Belle Designs blog because she is having a giveaway for a 12 x 12 customized gallery canvas, valued at $52! All you have to do is comment!

Don’t forget to stop by and visit me today!  :)

Photo Credit: October Belle Designs

Sometimes my brain just doesn’t want to cooperate.  It is on these brain funk days that I post something completely random.  Today is one of those days.

Therefore

if any of you have an inkling of curiosity about what my sunup to sundown looks like, today is your *lucky* day.

My (ideal and striving towards) day:

5am – Wake, Get dressed, make my man’s lunch, prepare for day mentally, spend time in the Word, drink large mug of glorious coffee

7am – Kiddos up, they listen to bible on CD and color/write while I make yummy breakfast, we eat and then I read bible story, sing a hymn/Christian song, pray

7:30am – Clean up kitchen, put load of laundry in, train kiddos in chores (make bed, pick-up toys/books in bedroom, wipe down table, unload/load dishwasher) while listening to classical music or praise

8am - Reading time, free play, video, craft, homeschooling (very simple), cleaning, errands, play dates, teachable moments, giggles, hugs, boo boo kisses, and “mom, look what I did/can do!” exaltations

11:15am – Pick-up toys/books, make lunch

11:30am – Lunch, clean-up after, reading

12pm - Naps (Thank you Jesus that you made little’s need naps!)

12-2pm – Me – Clean, blog, banking (bleck)

2-4pm – Snack, free play, craft, prepare for dinner,teachable moments, giggles, hugs, boo boo kisses, and “mom, look what I did/can do!” exaltations

4:30pm – Dinner (yes, we’re weird and eat early)

5pm - Family time/play, baths, family worship (my man reads out of a devotion for little, we read the scripture, talk about it briefly, and pray)

6:30 – Bedtime for son and baby, three year old spends time with daddy

7:30pm – three year old to bed, blog, hang with the hubs

10pm – Beautiful sleep

What does your schedule/routine look like?

Related Articles:

Priorites

Time Management

Awesome Resource:

List Plan It – “lists to put your world in order”

(Having a schedule works for me!)

Today I have a very special treat for you, a guest post by the super creative Kristen from PajamaMama! Kristen is a running stay at home mom of three under five, on a quest to make the best NY style pizza to be found in Texas. She cannot take a drive without noticing a few license plates, although she doesn’t know what this says about her. And when she thinks about what her hidden heaven name will be, she hope its meaning will include creative, like her maker.

Make sure you check out her blog – she is having a Summer School Art “party” all next week with a different tutorial each day to stretch your creativity! Oh, and there are PRIZES!

How does the Bible start? “In the beginning God created…”

God is the ultimate Creator-wildly, flashy, overtly creative.

Just look at nature.

We cannot even begin to count all the colors and shades and hues that He uses to paint the sky each day. And He created us…

…in His own image.

I believe that means we were created with an ability to create. While only God has the ability to create from absolute nothing, He has put within us the ability and desire to be creative with the resources around us. And when we learn to grow in the abilities and interests He’s personally given each of us, or stretch our creativity, we can more deeply understand His nature. Do you want that? I do!

Six Ideas For Engaging In Your Own Creativity

Know That You Are Creative By Nature

I believe every person is creative. Not necessarily with an artistic temperament, or Bohemian attitude. Creativity is as different as each individual, and it is inherent. Have you ever had to “get creative” to occupy a toddler at a restaurant or airport? Look for your creativity in your everyday life.

Get Inspired

For me, this is the easy part. Inspiration is everywhere. When you see something beautiful or meaningful to you, try to break it down. Ask yourself how was it done and how you could re-create it for your circumstances. An old idea applied to a new moment is still creative

Don’t Be Afraid To Try New Things

My high school art teacher was famous for saying,

“No guts, no glory.”

It does not have to be perfect, and it likely won’t be. In a day, imperfections will be less noticeable. In a month, they will add character and charm.

Enjoy The Process

When we step out of our creative comfort zones we can easily become anxious. But creating should not be a chore, but rather a joy, and a thrill. I wonder if during the first 6 days, how much fun God had in creating the world from nothing. Maybe that is why He took 6 days, rather than a blink. Maybe He was savoring each layer or our world’s birth.

Take A Step Back

Admire the fruit of your creative endeavor, with little criticism. Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect!

Dare To Go Deeper

Ask yourself some more questions. How can your creative passions glorify or bless God? Has God given you a specific creative gift that He wants to delight in or use? Please don’t rush over these questions. The answers may not be obvious to you right now, but that does not mean that God has not given you a purposeful creative gift. In fact, I am certain that He has. Just pray that He will reveal it in His time. I will be praying for you, too!

You can follow Kristen on Twitter @KristenPajama

The feminists chief argument is this: If we don’t stake our claim to equality, demanding it even, we may be abused, taken advantage of and/or treated like property. The reasoning goes like this: we need feminism to protect women and to ensure they are treated with dignity, respect and equal rights.

The thing is, I don’t need to take claim to the name “feminist” to care about women, and people in general. We are commanded as Christians (not feminists) to love one another as ourselves (sin perverts this command, not “men”).

I realize there are different types of feminism, 1st wave, 2nd wave, radical, etc. I also understand why Christian women would naturally gravitate towards certain “whitewashed” notions of feminism, especially in the 19th and early 20th centuries. That is a whole other discussion that deserves to be unpacked more fully, but today’s post is not the place.

My heart’s desire is that we as women would be loosed of fear and instead live under the authority of a God who gave His life for us, the ultimate violators in disrespect, injustice, and abuse. If anyone understands women, it is Jesus, who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped (Philippians 2:6,7). He submitted to the Father…to the point of death. Why? That we would know Him. Life is worth so much more then the experience we have on earth. We get so stuck in the here and now that we give up on the eternal.

Do you trust God?

If we trust Him, then we can trust that what He commands is good and worthy…and for His glory (not ours). If you have a hard time accepting His commands with respect to submission, authority, gender roles and servant hood (which I think will need to be outlined in another post) then I would say your issue isn’t with equality, feminism, or patriarchy; your issue is probably with God.

Truly, there is so much more to say, but I think if I try and squeeze it all in today’s post, I will not do justice to the validity of certain complaints, questions, and comments. Again, this topic cannot be brushed aside with only platitudes and generalities. Suffice to say, I want to reclaim my life without reclaiming my life. I am reclaiming my life (and challenging you in hope) to reclaim yours for the glory of God and the sincere joy that can only be imparted in obedience.

I don’t want the protection of feminism…I want the protection of God. Now that’s living in freedom.

More tomorrow…join me over coffee and more of this series by clicking here!

“The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows, yet they turned back in the day of battle.” Psalm 78:9

Are you facing a battle?

I battle daily with keeping my time with the Lord sacred, my affection for my husband alive, my teaching to my children consistent, my home in order, myself showered, and my own sin nature in check (by God’s grace).

Life is tough. Persevering through it and not giving up is even tougher.

It is so easy to give up, to try and escape. We escape in many ways-the Internet, books, TV, friends, etc. We don’t know how to push through our emotions, our tiredness, or our failures. We get stuck. We feel lost…abandoned. Our marriages lack real intimacy. We are scared to death that if we try again, we’ll just fail again, so why bother. We give in.

The thing is, I think we often forget that we are archers equipped with bows. We (believers) have the power of the Holy Spirit, the strength of the Lord, and the grace of the cross to keep us going. The enemy wants to destroy us, and sometimes we are wide open for destruction.

We are equipped with everything we need to fulfill all that God has given to our care!

Do this:

“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” 1 Timothy 6:12

Get this:

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day…” 2 Timothy 4:7,8

Now get those priorities in order, make a schedule, and keep persevering! Reclaim your life! I can’t wait to see your lists on Monday!

“When a personal dream or goal in life is met with hurdles and hardship-both goal and dream are soon forgotten. Before long we begin to resemble Rome in its last days-a magnificent mask of outward, impressive stature…devoid of inner strength…soft and mushy at the core, desperately lacking in discipline and determination. There is not an achievement worth remembering that isn’t stained with the blood of diligence and etched with the scars of disappointment. To run, to quit, to escape, even to hide solves nothing…it only postpones a reckoning with reality…Are you facing some difficult battle today? Don’t run! Stand still…and refuse to retreat. Look at it as God looks at it and draw upon His power to hold up under the blast. Sure, it’s tough. Nobody ever said the Christian life was easy. God never promised you a Disneyland. He offers something better-His own sustaining presence through any trouble we may encounter.” Chuck Swindoll, Come Before Winter

Journey with me each day, subscribe here!

Have you taken the time to work on your priorities and a schedule?

Everything in me wants to encourage the heck out of you to go for it with gusto, but I know that unless you are sold on your priorities and creating a schedule to see that those priorities are met, my words won’t do a thing. I am convinced that I need a schedule, that I need to plan my days wisely so that I can reclaim my life. If you’re convinced as well, then let’s take some time today to really work on a schedule. Talk with your husband about it and get his input. Please don’t put this off…and don’t put it off just because it can’t be perfect. As life changes, so will your schedule.

As you pursue working out your priorities and a schedule, please be encouraged by this wise advice I received in a comment:

“If you follow these precepts all of your life, you will find at the end of it not a perfect trouble free life, but a blessed one. When you fail, get right back up, repent and start all over again with God’s grace to do the very things that He wants you to do. You will not ever be sorry.” -Anonymous

I am so welled up with passion right now for what God is asking of us that I know it will flow out into words as soon as I have more time. So much more to come…

As a side note, I want you all to know that I am so grateful for your comments and I read every single one. I want to respond to all of them all of the time, but I just can’t. Please know that I do not take you for granted.

It’s $10 and it comes with worksheets (including priority planning sheets with thorough suggestions). Stop reading…purchase! (No, I’m not getting any money from it.) A wise Titus 2 woman sent it to me recently and it is good.

The two things I noticed right off the bat were A.) my husband must come before my children or my housework, and B.) It all comes back around to how I relate with/treat my husband! Before I can even move on to anything else, I need to make him a priority. And let’s be honest, our men really don’t require that much, yet many of us still put the poor fellows on the back burner. A little physical attention and a good dinner and their pretty much good to go!

Okay, before you say anything, yes, God ultimately comes first (“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Matthew 22:36-38). The fact is, without putting God first, we really can’t do anything else…well, that is. However, part of putting God first is obeying His order of things; following His ways, not ours.

Ooh, that’s hard too (darn losing self!).

Before I continue on and on (which I could easily do – hello, that’s why I do series!) let’s take some time to work on our priorities. Since you ordered the above CD (what? You haven’t done that yet? What are you waiting for?!) don’t worry if you have any trouble with this task, you can come back to it or revise it later. I will give you a little hint though on what Susan (the speaker on the CD) recommends working on when it come to prioritizing (you can get the whole list on the CD):

Essential Must Do’s (Essential to Godly, healthy (spiritually and physically) human existence)

Example: Frequent time in personal, intimate fellowship with God through prayer and quality time in His Word, sharing intimate thoughts with spouse and children regarding God and the work He is doing in your lives, world, in general, training children in cheerful, Godly obedience, Adequate night sleep, etc.

Very Important Should Do’s (Very important for God-pleasing human existence, dependent upon regular performance of essentials)

Example: Teaching your children practical skills necessary for God-honoring, regular assembling together with other believers for corporate worship and spiritual encouragement, responsible living, maintaining a consistently clean and orderly atmosphere in your home, hospitality, etc.

Could Do’s (Non-essential in most cases, but can be edifying and God-honoring if time remains)

Example: Lessons for children (music, art, etc.), Group bible studies, family excursions several times a year, etc.

Would Like To Do’s (Activities are fun, relaxing, enjoyable, exciting, etc. but really are unnecessary for God-honoring living)

Example: Participating in your favorite hobby, belonging to clubs or organizations, etc.

I think that’s enough for today.

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