Purity

My kid had a total meltdown in the freezer aisle at Trader Joe’s this afternoon, complete with people staring and making comments. I blocked them out, remained calm, and gave myself a pat on the back when I finally got her calmed down – which didn’t happen until I finally prayed, “Lord, please show me what to do here!!”

I’m planning my sister’s baby shower, two weddings, and a middle school girls sleepover in the next 2 weeks. Sorry hubby. I haven’t even thought about your birthday next week :/

I swear I spend half my day rolling toilet paper back UP the roll and the other half exhausted, trying to motivate myself to check off the things on my to do list. Even coffee didn’t seem to work today…

And, now, here I come before the Lord to find out what I should be saying to 20 middle school girls Friday night. The topic: Purity. Guard your heart.

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Honestly, it’s a topic I thought was boring most of my life. Ew, purity doesn’t sound fun. More like fun-killer! And yet,two years ago the Lord started speaking to me about purity. But wait. You’re married Lisa. Aren’t purity talks for teens and tweens. Save yourself for marriage and all that. Why is God teaching you about purity now?  Excellent question. Thanks for asking. Because purity is necessary to keep your marriage strong. That’s why God wants us to come into marriage pure. So our foundation is solid. From then on it’s about keeping it pure. Keeping out the things that will deteriorate your marriage – the things that will deteriorate the trust between you and your spouse.

But how do you stay pure? What does that mean? Continue reading “Purity”

Live Generously

Last night began our 6 week study of the book Story of Marriage by John & Lisa Bevere. A group of women married 3 years to 30 years. We were discussing the chapter, what we liked, what stuck out to us when a little tidbit of truth revealed itself… When we give to others, when we live selflessly, it feels good, right? We’ve all heard it’s better to give than to receive. And you’ve probably experienced that feeling of joy when you’re able to help someone and give of yourself. But there’s a double bonus here. When you give to others, they want to give back to you. The selflessness we exhibit is attractive. It draws people to us. They want to be generous with us and invest in us.

“Selflessness is attractive”

This works wonders in a marriage. If I’m pulling on my husband all the time, drawing on him, thinking only of my needs it 1) drains him and 2) makes him resent me. He starts thinking, “What about my needs, and what I want?” Or he thinks, “All she does is nag me all the time!” But if I’m giving of myself, being selfless, focusing on Josh’s needs instead of just my own, he totally recognizes it. It softens his heart towards me, and he wants to give back to me. He starts thinking “What can I do for Lisa?”

You can have a marriage with two people both thinking of themselves and pulling on each other.

Picture: Tug-of-war. Nobody wins. Both parties usually end up in the mud.

OR

You can have a marriage with two people living selflessly, constantly giving to each other.

Picture: A cycle (I give. Then, you give. So, I want to give, so you want to give…) Everybody wins.

Selfless Cycle

In the first scenario no one’s happy, and no one’s getting what they want. Stalemate.

In the second scenario both people are happy and both are getting what they want. It just takes one person to make the first move.

Conclusion: When you think only of your own needs, they don’t get met. 

When you put your spouse’s needs first, YOUR needs are met.

Mind. Blown.

So why aren’t we generous, selfless people all the time? It goes against human nature – look out for number one. We can try and override that, and do a halfway decent job. But there’s a better way than striving to do it on our own. It’s through Jesus. When you love Christ and live your life immersed in Him, it is SO much easier to live selflessly. When I’m focused on Christ – not on myself and not on the things that are temporary (this world and all the stuff in it) – then loving others is easy. It doesn’t feel like a “HAVE to” anymore. Loving and living selflessly is a “WANT to”. You probably know the old hymn Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

The temporary things that will all pass away – the things that I let get to me that don’t really matter – all of it grows so dim when I’m focused on Jesus. Then I can love my husband, my kids, my friends, my family, the poor and broken, because I’m focused on something of SIGNIFICANCE. I’m focused on the things that matter. When you turn your eyes upon Jesus, living selflessly just flows out of that.

Turn your eyes upon Him. Live Selflessly. Live Generously. LIVE life!

What can you do to live generously, today? Test my theory. I’m confident you’ll like the results.

 

The Casual Diva

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This girl is all about wearing sunglasses right now. And do these heart-shaped lenses say diva or what?! She looks so hip in her casual tee and crochet shorts. I’m totally jealous…

Sweet Shoppe 1st Birthday

We are entering the season of dinners and parties and dinner parties 🙂 and I can’t help but get excited. I want to plan all sorts of special evenings and yet it is the hardest time of the year to do so with all the commitments everyone has, not to mention it’s wedding season in Florida so my work schedule picks up as well. I’m a planner at heart, and I love events. I love the planning, the decorating, the cooking and baking. It’s a serious passion. I’m already thinking ahead to my kids birthdays and trying to rein myself in at the same time.

For G’s 1st birthday we did a “Sweet Shoppe” theme, and I thought I’d share the details here.

Continue reading “Sweet Shoppe 1st Birthday”

What RSV Proved to Me about the Church

Last week our baby boy ended up in the hospital with RSV for 5 days. The week was not easy… lack of sleep, hospital food, separation from my husband and daughter. And, of course, the fear that tried to creep in through “What ifs..?” and my overactive imagination. The evenings ended with me fighting tears as my husband went home without me and exhaustion got the best of my emotions. As our son slowly got better the rest of our family got worse. RSV is extremely contagious. By the time I was home I was fully sick, dealing with a sick 2 year old whose time away from mom brought on tantrums like I’ve never seen before.

Continue reading “What RSV Proved to Me about the Church”

Banana Nut Muffins – No White Flour

Let me start by saying my expectations for banana nut muffins are very high. I have always said my mom makes THE best banana muffins in the world. The. World. They are so moist they practically melt in your mouth, and she always makes them into mini muffins which makes them even more delectable. Yum. There aren’t any pieces of nuts. I guess she grinds them pretty  fine so you still get the flavor of the nuts, but with the capability of warm melty-ness in your mouth. So you get the picture. I’m in love with them. For that reason, I’ve never attempted banana nut muffins. If perfection has already been attained, why try to top it? Well, I don’t know her ingredients, but I’m guessing she uses white flour. That calls for an attempt at “healthier” banana nut muffins on my part.

Continue reading “Banana Nut Muffins – No White Flour”

She is Lovely

Look at this beauty.

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She’s such a gorgeous girl inside and out. I pray she’ll always know that, and I pray she’ll always let it shine through. I wish I could keep her from ever doubting it. I wish I could shield her from the messages the world will throw at her – the lies – that she has to look or act a certain way to be beautiful. All parents have hopes and dreams for their kids, but one of the deepest desires I have for my daughter is that she knows she is valuable and worthy and beautiful. I want to do everything in my power to instill in her the truth that G is the most beautiful when she is G. She only needs to be herself. I want her to always be bubbling little G even when she’s no longer little.

I know it starts with me. I have to believe I am beautiful. If I believe I am somehow of less value than those around me, my daughter will absolutely pick up on it. Children are sponges. Their brains can take in a lot more information than we think they can. The more information you give a child at an early age, the greater capacity the brain has to store information later on in life. Their brains are built to absorb massive amounts of information while they are young. I am constantly sending messages to my children with everything I do and every word I speak. What do I say about my appearance? Or how do I accept a compliment? What do I say about others? If I am confident in my value and self worth, I believe it sets up my daughter to value herself as well.

I am leading a small group this summer and we are reading the book Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge. This book is near and dear to my heart, because I read it in the season of my life when I learned to be Lisa. I learned to be comfortable being myself and confident in my beauty. I am reading the book for a second time now with a stellar group of ladies, and we were discussing the section where Stasi writes that the women at this ball she was attending were all exclaiming over each other’s beauty. I absolutely LOVE that we as women can delight in each other’s beauty. Instead of comparing ourselves, we should be celebrating each other! I think it’s such a beautiful concept, because it seems so rare that we truly delight in the beauty of others.  One of the ladies in our group shared this, “Admire other’s beauty. Embrace your own.”

So as I raise my beautiful little girl I hope I will exemplify a woman who delights in the beauty of others. I pray that she learns from me to admire other’s beauty and to embrace her own.

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Because I think she is lovely.

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