photo by the ridiculously talented Beth Fletcher

Every day I wonder if what I’m doing is ok.

Is right.

Is good.

My kids watch TV during breakfast. Should we sit at the table and talk instead?

I blog during their naps. And sometimes I surf. And tweet. And ignore my inbox. Should I do the laundry instead?

I make dinner at 5pm. Maybe I should think about it before then?

I discipline. Should I spank instead? Or try a time out? Maybe I should just ignore the bad behavior?

I get up at 6 and still can’t squeeze a shower in before Asa gets up. Maybe I should get up at 5:30?

I read other blogs and think, “Oh, I should have written that!”

I forget the important things because I’m focused on the now. Or because I don’t want to think about the hard.

And every day this happens again. It’s like Groundhog’s Day in the life of a stay-at-home mom. I wonder how I’m doing. If I’m doing what God wants. And then the next day I wake up and try to do better.

I’m not sure if it’s a treadmill. Or if I’m getting up one step closer, one day closer, one hurdle closer to where God wants.

I know God orders my steps. He’s planned a life of hope for me. Am I spending my life following what he’s laid out?

What if every day we could see the progress we made? What if every day we changed one thing to get closer to what God has? What if every day were a step toward the good in store for us?

I think it is.

Even when I don’t feel it.

Don’t see it.

Can’t feel it.

Jesus promised he’d never leave us or desert us. Not one day. Every day He is with me.

And I’d be a fool to think he was standing idly by.

:: :: ::

linked to the sparkler of a woman, the Gypsy Mama and her 5 Minute Friday.

Every Day… is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
:: :: ::

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photo by the fabulous dawn camp

We sang this at our {new} church yesterday. My prayers and thoughts are in {} below…

God in my living {of course. that’s easy.}
There in my breathing {hmmm. like every second of the day?}
God in my waking {eww. like when I don’t want to get up for #hellomornings.}
God in my sleeping {He makes me lie down in perfect peace.}
God in my resting {rest? what’s that?}
There in my working {am I cleaning the house WITH God?}
God in my thinking {negative, aggravated, mean, frustrated and worried thoughts? He’s in there with all those?}
God in my speaking {to my husband? to my children?}

Be my everything {yes.}
Be my everything {please.}
Be my everything {every.thing.}
Be my everything {e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.}

God in my hoping {for my immediate future}
There in my dreaming {and my kids’ futures}
God in my watching {the seemingly insignificant…and the minutes/hours my eyes watch my computer…}
God in my waiting {for Him? for me to get with it?}
God in my laughing {thank. you.}
There in my weeping {thank you?}
God in my hurting {cannot hurt without you.}
God in my healing {cannot heal without you.}

Christ in me {oh.}
Christ in me {really?}
Christ in me the hope of glory {*gulp* me?}
You are everything {more of YOU less of ME}

You are everything {I need YOU.}
Jesus, everything! {Jesus. Thank you for holding together my life with your Word. Help me lean on you and make you welcome in EVERYTHING.}

Everything by Tim Hughes

Be My Everything is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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source: aj baxter

Today I went to a funeral.

It was for the dad of one of my best friends growing up.

She moved into our neighborhood when we were in 3rd grade. We rode the bus together, were in the same class and became close friends. Pretty soon we started taking her to church with us every week. Then, her little sister joined us. And until we graduated and went to college we were part of the same church and youth group. Out of all my friends–even my sisterchicks, I’ve probably never hung out with or had more experiences than I have with her. We did church, school and home together.
And even all these years later…separated by college, time, families and states, I still have this inexplicable love and depth of emotion for her. So, when I saw a facebook update from her sister about their dad dying, I got immediate tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat.

It wasn’t so much because I had a relationship with their dad–I didn’t really. It was just the finality of knowing that a friend of mine was going to live without their dad. And on top of that, I knew he wasn’t a Christian. We had brought his kids to church every week because it wasn’t a priority for him.

I knew it would be difficult knowing she’d never see her father again–either on earth or afterward. And to be honest, I wondered how she would react to God–would she blame him? Be angry at him? Turn her back on him?

So, I sent her a message on facebook and told her how much I loved her and was praying for her. I promised I’d be at the memorial service. I shut my computer, got in the shower and began to sob.

Who would have thought when we were walking to each other’s house, spending the night, playing Duck Hunt in her basement, driving to school when we were 16 that one day we’d be at a funeral for our one of our dads? What if all those years of church, praying and talking about God amounted to nothing?

I should have known better.

When I got out of the shower, I headed straight for my computer to check my email. I saw a message from my friend. She said she was crying as she wrote the email. She asked if I remembered when we were kids how we’d pray for her parents to have a relationship with Jesus? Well, just 3 months ago, her parents gave their lives to Him and were baptized in their home! She said, “If it was not for your family we’d be lost.”

I called my dad immediately and read him the email. I could hardly get it out through my tears. My mom was watching Daddy as he listened to me. She said he had tears streaming down his face, too.

When my mom and I arrived at the funeral, we ran straight to the arms of my friend. She said, “All those years of church and prayers, they were for this moment. It took years of praying and preparation to get to this day.” What an honor to be involved in this family’s story. I take no credit–I was just a kid that had a friend. My parents were selfless enough to make room in their cars and schedule. My friend was strong enough to do something on her own, to stand alone in her faith. And God used their faithfulness to bring a man…a family to Him!

During the funeral, we also heard that my friend’s next door neighbors were Christians. The husband was a hunter and became hunting buddies with my friend’s dad. They spent the last 26 years as neighbors and also as examples of God’s great love.
Do you see this story? Do you see God’s hand? My friend could have moved anywhere. They chose our neighborhood. They moved right next door to Christians that had similar interests. She made friends with me (out of the slew of kids our age) and my parents were willing to take her to church. And THREE MONTHS before her dad died, he gave his life to the Lord.

If you’re not a Christian, this might sound completely wild and weird. But I’m telling you, if you could see my friend’s eyes. See her heart and hear her tears mingled with joy. If only you had heard her mother tell the story of them being baptized. If you could have listened to the stories from the pastor and the chaplain of her dad’s final months. You would know that something supernatural happened.

God is a relentless lover. You may think he’s not concerned with you. Or worse actively against you. But it’s not true. He is wooing you. Regardless of your thoughts about Him He does love you. And He’ll spend YOUR whole life chasing after you–the way a loving Father chases His long lost son, the way a groom chases a bride, the way you’ve always wanted to be pursued.

why this post is awesome: because God is real! and big! and awesome!

The Full Story is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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I’m reading the BEST book for my #hellomornings. It’s called Treasured by Leigh McLeroy. It’s actually a book I got to review and uhm…never did. But here I am a few weeks months years later reading it and lovin’ it!

{Note to PR folks: Do not give me books.}

Every chapter is about an object in the Bible–Joseph’s Technicolor Dream Coat, Adam and Eve’s fig leaf clothes, Hagar’s waterskin and more.

Today’s object was a “blood stained piece of wood”.

And just that gets me.

She began talking about the Virginia Tech massacre.

And then the Passover where every firstborn in Egypt was killed…except the Israelites who spread lamb’s blood on their door posts.

And her sister sick with cancer and facing death.

And even about Harry Potter when he gave his life to save his friends.

And all that DEATH? It made realize remember how very tenuous the link between life and death is. I couldn’t help but think about how quickly death could come to me and my loved ones. I thought about how my kids are so fragile that even a small fall could harm them fatally. I thought about the hepatitis C that is trying to ravage my dad’s body. I thought about car wrecks and heart disease and cancer and all the things we see every. single. day. Death is real.

But oh! OH!

Life.

Frederick Buechner says, “What’s lost is nothing to what’s found and all the death that ever was, set next to life, would scarcely fill a cup.”

Does that feel right to you? Do you look at the death and consider it SMALL in comparison to your life? If you are a Christian, I hope you do. Because it’s exactly why Jesus came.

Leigh McLeroy paints a beautiful picture with these words, “The perfect Son of God bled on wood, stretched out top to bottom and side to side like the stained door frame of the ancient Jews’ thresholds the night the death angel raided Egypt. He became our Passover lamb, offered once for all time.” (see Hebrews 10:11-12, 14)

Jesus’ death became OUR death. Or rather HE experienced OUR death. John Piper says, “Death is now a transition from life to better life, from faith to seeing, from groaning to glory, from good fellowship with Jesus to far better fellowship with Jesus, from mixtures of pain and pleasure to all pleasure, from struggles with sin to perfect affection for Jesus. We have [already] passed from death to life.“

Are you hearing this? Holding on to it?

Death is dead.

When Jesus died he really did destroy death.

You can fear death, you can hide from it. You can be saddened by another’s death. But your death? As a Chrsitian, it does not exist. When you placed your faith in Christ, when you put your life in His and made His life your own–you gave your death away.

And when your peanut-shell of a body gives out on this earth, you will just continue on in the life God created for you. I love CS Lewis’ description of moving into the “afterlife”:

The term is over; the holidays have begun. The dream is ended; this is the morning…All their life in this world…had only been the cover and title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever, in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

Jesus offers life. Rather, he offered up HIS life so that you can keep your life. An eternal life with Him.

Death has been swallowed up in victory.
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:54-57

{this post was inspired by–and has quotes from Leigh McLeroy’s book, Treasured. Yes, I received it for free. No, this post was not because I got it as a review. I just LOVED reading God’s truth in it today. And wanted to share it with you.}

A Blood Stained Piece of Wood is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
:: :: ::

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I’m nervous about posting this. I was going to announce the winner of the purple PRAY necklace this morning. I was going to get out my calculator and figure out how much money I was going to give to The Mercy House. But I feel kind of bad. I feel like I should have done more–I should have promoted it more. I should have talked about it every day after I posted. Instead, I just jumped back into my daily posts and life.

And I’m sure most of you did, too. There’s no shame in it. We live in this world! Our lives are important! I don’t want to guilt any of us (myself included) to do something. But I want to encourage us to not let things roll off our backs. I want to be the person that allows God’s call to penetrate my heart. To let other’s needs get into my system.

So, even though it makes me feel weird, like I’m trying to scrounge up some traffic or some other bloggyness. I’m going to ask you to do MORE. I’m going to leave up my Belt & Necklace challenge for 12 more hours. Tonight at 9pm, I’ll close comments, close the linky and calculate what WE did for God.

So, here’s the deal:

1. Go back to my original post: A Belt & A Necklace.

2. Read.

3. DO SOMETHING.

4. Link up your name (or blog name) on the linky.

5. IF YOU HAVE ALREADY GIVEN: THANK YOU! I cried reading all your comments and seeing your names linked up! But can I ask you to let others know? Would you link to it on your facebook, your twitter, your blog or just send a friend an email? (If you tweet use #beltnecklace.)

On my Top Ten {Tuesday} post tomorrow, I’ll announce how much money WE raised, how many people GAVE and the winner of the beautiful purple PRAY necklace. AND because I’ve been wanting to give it to you forever, I’m going to give away my favorite book A Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns to one commenter. (Yup, that means 2 winners!)

Are you in?

{I’m closing comments here so you can go back to my original post and comment, etc.)

A Belt & A Necklace Part 2 is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
:: :: ::

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I have been trying to write this post for the last 30 minutes. (Seriously, it’s 6:30am. I’ve been trying since 6:00. #hellomornings!) I’ve been trying to think of a great hook to get you focused on this post. Why? Because today I want to grab your heart and encourage you to DO SOMETHING.

Do something?

Yup. I want us to do something together. I know my blog can be all over the place. One day I’m moaning about the fact that I want to be wilder. The next day I’m squeeing about Disney World. I hypocritically write about whole foods and gluttony. I feel the tension. It’s the extremes of being a rich American Christian.

So, I hope when I write something like this you see my true heart. Yes, I love Disney World but I love Jesus more. Yes, I am excited about buying raw milk AND a pirate ship cake…but what I really do want kids in Africa to go to bed with full stomachs. I hope you can feel that I struggle with the dichotomy of my rich life, too.

There are some people who just write about doing hard things for God (ie. ME) and then there are some who actually DO something about it. Today we are going to join those people.

First, the belt:

Allow me to introduce you to Amy from Permission to Peruse. She’s one of the first folks I met on twitter. I thought she was a famous blogger, so I followed her. She’s been in my favorite-people-column ever since. She really is a bloggy genius, she’s funny, has a tender heart and a great sense of style. This sense of style is what led her to blood: water belt.

Amy went to Anthropologie one day last month and bought a belt. It was $28. That’s a lot for a belt, I guess. But $28 at Anthropologie seems like a steal! At this same time she was reading Radicalby David Platt. And she got convicted. The $28 she just spent on a BELT she’d wear a few times could give clean water to a village in Africa for a year!

So, just like that, on a whim, she offered to sell her belt on her blog. She wasn’t sure if anyone would even buy it. But she wanted to “sell her possessions and give to the poor”. And here’s where it gets good! One of her bloggy friends, Dani (who has a great fashion blog) latched onto this idea and said, “I’ll buy the belt, but I don’t really want it. I just want to give $28! See if someone else will buy it, too.”

Now Amy and Dani are asking women to donate $28 to Blood: Water Mission , an organization that brings clean water to those that need it. If you donate $28, you will be a member of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Belt! And everyone in the sisterhood will get the belt for one day! You’ll get to wear it, post about it on your blog and then send it to the next member of the sisterhood. How awesome is that?!

I signed up the second I heard about it and am eagerly awaiting my chance to wear the belt!

Now, the necklace.

I’m sure most of you know Kristen from We are That Family. I link to her regularly and she’s a hero in the bloggy world. After her trip to Africa with Compassion, her life turned upside down. She felt the need to do something. And she jumped into that something with BOTH feet.

She and her husband, along with a Compassion graduate from Kenya, are starting The Mercy House. A home for pregnant teens in Kenya. A place where girls who have been raped, turned out of their homes or are simply poverty stricken can come to live, have their babies and meet Jesus.

Do you see how big this is? A mom in Texas is helping pregnant teens in Kenya! God is making our world smaller through the internet and we are seeing lives changed all over the world! I love it!

Kristen has set up tons of ways to help with The Mercy House. I love this because that means anyone can get involved on any level. You can donate monthly, buy a gift from The Mercy House etsy shop (how cool if you went Christmas shopping in here?!) or (and this is my favorite) set up your paypal to donate $3 on the 3rd of each month. Why $3? To remind you of the 3 girls that are raped EVERY 45 MINUTES in Kenya.

This just stirs my heart! I want to be a part of big things like this! What? You don’t think it’s big? Giving $28 so a village can have water? Buying a necklace so The Mercy House can buy a blanket for a baby? Well, guess what? It IS BIG. We cannot save the world. God’s already done that. Our job is to be His hands and feet. Our job is to take the one, two or three steps we can take to help others.

Will you take a step today?

Will you join one up with Kristen and Amy?

Here’s what I’m asking you to do. Click around through blood: water belt and The Mercy House. Let their missions settle into your heart. Hear their passion. Then do something:

1. Join the Sisterhood of the Traveling Belt {someone is matching ALL donations to Blood: Water Mission this month!}

2. Donate to The Mercy House

3. Buy something from The Mercy House etsy shop

4. Set up the $3 for 3 donation.

If you actually GIVE and do one of these things above, I want you to put your name in the linky below. You don’t have to blog about it (unless you want to), just put your name in so we can all see! {This is obviously the honor system, you don’t have to prove to me that you donated! Just make sure your email address is valid!}

Now, just to show you how your gift is bigger than you think, for every person that links up I will donate $2 to the Mercy House. I’m kind of hoping at least 50 people will link up. Can we do that, dear readers and friends?

On top of that, I bought this pretty purple PRAY necklace from The Mercy House shop and am giving it away to one reader today. Just leave me a comment–you don’t have to give or donate. Just a comment will do. When this necklace hangs around your neck, you can remember to pray for Amy, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Belt, for Kristen, The Mercy House and for women like me and you who want to DO SOMETHING for God and for others.

{{Updated: I’m also giving away one copy of Richard Stearn’s book, A Hole in the Gospel to one commenter.}}

Don’t forget: Let others know and let’s see how much we can DO for God today–LIKE on facebook, tweet with #beltnecklace or send an email to your friends! Comments and linky will close at 9pm on Monday, October 25!

:: :: ::

linked to wfmw at we are that family

A Belt & A Necklace {and a Giveaway!} is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
:: :: ::

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