Grace and Peace

Grace and Peace- we hear these words all the time. My question is, how often do I stop to think about what they mean and how they can impact my daily life. I think they have become just words to me. They have lost their meaning. My devotional this morning brought them back up for me to focus on and remember how powerful those words can be.

Grace- "favor, loving-kindness, goodwill". God's grace gets us through anything we set out to do. It carries us. Hid grace in our lives means we are forgiven, loved, and blessed, and God wants everyone to have that grace, no just some. Grace has been an important word to me for many years. It's something undeserved and unattainable on our own. We cannot receive it or give it without God. Grace comes from Him and nowhere else. But with Him, we can have that Grace and we can show that Grace to others.

Peace- "a tranquil state, quietness, and rest". This word hit home to me today. We need peace so badly. True peace comes from Him. "Receiving God's peace gives us a quiet, tranquil, fearless heart full of confidence, assurance, and rest in God." My how we need this. I need this. Peace starts from within. My hope for today and for the foreseeable future is that I continue to have Grace and Peace from God. Every second of every day. I know it will take a lot of restarts, but it is so necessary. May everyone feel God's Grace and Peace on them in a time where it seems like there is none.

The quotations are from my morning devotional from the Bible app. "21 Days of Grace for the Pace"

Time

I think this is one of the biggest struggles of humankind. Time. We never have enough, or we are bored, with too much time. I myself would like about 6 more hours to the day. Lol. But would I really make use of those 6 hours? Probably not. What really matters is what we do with the time we are given. Each one of us is born with a set number of hours to our life. And we will never know that number. Only God knows. There are so many things nowadays to fill that time. Work, cleaning, multiple hobbies, kids, food, the list goes on. Some things that fill our days are good things. Some are not. It's those bad things we do that fill our time that we should really be looking at. In my opinion, those things usually are not that bad. Smart phones, gaming, and technology in general specifically. Those things are all pretty good things. I love Facebook and social media. I like to unwind sometimes with a stupid game. My kids do too. HOWEVER, it is the sheer amount of time that we devote to these things that eventually makes them bad. We should not spend hours at a time on social media. We should not waste our entire time playing stupid games. Our children should not spend hours at a time in front of a device. It's easy to do. Too easy. I know this. I am way too guilty of this. I treasure my evenings when all is quiet in the house. Sometimes, I make good use of that time. I love to read and bake during that time and it is so therapeutic. Most of the time though, I plop myself down on the couch and waste my evening watching tv and playing on my phone. I never feel better after that. Sometimes, there is nothing better than spending an evening doing nothing but relaxing in front of the tv, but daily? No it doesn't feel relaxing after a while and I never feel better about myself or the time I have used. What happened to devotional times? Workout times? Time spent in prayer and worship and reflection? I am severely lacking in all departments. My Bible rarely gets opened and time spent with God? Almost non-existent.

That needs to change. I know from experience that when I spend time with my Savior, things fall into place. My priorities seem clearer and easier to follow through on. It isn't a perfect fix by all means, but when I remember to focus my life on Him, everything else fits better.

For now, I am practically forcing myself into devotions and workout times. I have chosen to do it first thing in the morning so that I don't put it off. It's hard to get out of bed earlier than I would like, but I know it is necessary and I would eventually like for it to become habit so its not so much of a forced thing. (I may ALWAYS have to force myself to work out) I have noticed in the couple days I have done this though, I am more intentional with my day and my time. I focus on my temper a bit more so that I am not always losing it. I want my kids to see a mom that is healthy. Spiritually, physically, and emotionally.

A Fresh Start

Every Day is a new day. I love that. No matter how terribly a day can go, no matter how many regrets I may have about my decisions, I know I can can leave that behind and start fresh each day. Sometimes I really need that Fresh Start on a daily basis (and if I am really being honest, multiple times a day!!!!) I lost my temper, I don't get things checked off my to-do list that I should, I eat waaaaaay to much (I really love food), the list goes on and on.

Yesterday I went a little too gung-ho on my workout. I paid for it the rest of the day and today I can barely move. Oops. So I started today with a more relaxing/stretching/repairing workout so I can try again tomorrow! My devotion this morning was Day 2 of the Reset with Jesus. It talked about how messed up our world can be, but that no matter what choices we have made and what has happened to us, it is never too late for a Fresh Start. We can have that Reset and put our focus back on Jesus. I am thankful for that. I may need a fresh start frequently, but I also know I will never quit. All Jesus asks is that we put our faith and trust in Him. We don't have to come to Him perfect or in a certain way. He just wants us to come. So I will daily fall on my knees and come to Him. I know I don't deserve it, I never will, but Jesus took care of that for me.

"And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who had called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." 1 Peter 5:10

Our lives were never promised to be easy, but God ALWAYS promised to be with us.

Reset

Just so you know, the New Year starts today.....yep. not January 1, it starts the day real life begins again. Today, real life begins again. School, work, everyday chores and life. We took a nice break around here while John was out of school, and boy was it so nice! Relaxation, sledding, Christmas-filled activities, and so much together time (let me be the first to admit that my patience struggled a bit at time with so much togetherness). But all in all, the break was wonderful.

Today is a new day. Today is a new year. It's a reset. I worked out. I did a devotional. I was out of bed before my kids (!!!!). Today's devotional was perfect. It is a 7 day series about a reset with Jesus. Boy do I need one. In recent, and maybe not so recent times my faith has taken a back seat in life. Why? I have so many excuses and not one of them is a good one. So I am leaving my excuses at the door, and though at this time of year it's a bit (ok a lot) cliche', but what better time when life has to start again. My life needs a reset, a change. I hope I can stick with things long enough to create new habits. I am pretty good at messing things up after, all, but my family deserves this change from me. I need to let God take the center of my life and force myself to be healthy again (yes force for now). Happy New Year everyone! May your day be wonderful and while I can't complain one little bit about 2016, for it treated us pretty darn well, may 2017 be filled with wonderful blessings as well.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." Hebrews 12:1-3

I Didn't Know I Needed a Testimonial

I am so mad. I hate it when things happen to those you love that you have no control over and you feel so guilty afterwards. I know I couldn't have stopped it and I can't change it, but I still feel bad and I am so angry.

I didn't know I needed a testimonial as to why I should use Norwex, why it makes SO MUCH SENSE to rid my home of harsh chemicals. It's not required, no. They sure are great to have, until you actually have an experience that you have to deal with.

So here it is:

A few weeks ago, it was a Sunday, so we went to church like we usually do. No biggie. After church Ella had a party to go to but we had to wait for a bit for it to start so we went and did some widow shopping. It was fun! Ella chose to wear a skirt that day and it has been fairly warm so no leggings or tights were needed. We made a quick trip to the restroom before her party, and I noticed a weird rash on the backs of her legs. Hmmmm. We went on with our day and we had a blast.

Now came the time to try to figure out this weird, non-spreading, strangely placed rash. We tried everything, For a long enough period of time. It should have gone away. It should have lessened. Now, it didn't spread, and it didn't get worse, but it didn't go away. I couldn't figure it out. When there is something not right with your kiddo, it drives you crazy until you can solve it, right? Well, at least for me it does. Ugh

The kids recently had their yearly checkups so I thought that would be a good time to show our Dr. Ella's strange rash. Know what it was? Chemical Irritation from a toilet.(I promise our Dr knows nothing about me or my Norwex.)

I really try hard to pride myself on cleanliness and keeping my kids healthy and clean, so this really triggered something. Somewhere, sometime, my daughter sat on a CLEAN toilet and it damaged her skin (not permanently, no, but still). Our pediatrician said that those cleaning chemicals used to wipe off the toilet seat are the culprit. So now do we not only have to worry about using disgustingly dirty public restrooms, but now we have to worry about getting hurt from CLEAN ONES?!?!?! For crying out loud, that just ticks me off. I am 99% sure she got this from a public toilet, first of all because I Norwex, and second of all because it is my daughter's personal mission to visit every public restroom in the whole world!

So now, I am determined. My loved ones will not be hurt from chemicals anymore. They are dangerous and something much worse could happen when chemicals are involved. So, bye nasty chemicals, HELLO NORWEX am I glad to see you. I know I talk a lot about Norwex recently, but guys I'M CONVINCED! This is finally what I have been searching for and I am just so excited about it. I truly love the stuff.

Be Still and Know

Changes are scary. And many times, it is hard to know whether those changes you are making are good or bad. Is there ever REALLY any way of knowing what things will be like before you "jump"?

We recently made some pretty huge changes in our life that include new schools, jobs, and different structures to our days. Fun things like that. I took a huge leap leaving full-time employment. Was I doing what was best? Are my kids going to handle the change ok? It is hard to make big decisions that impact more people than just yourself. We leapt, and I was terrified.

The first couple weeks were fairly uncertain, but the change was good. We saw immediate changes in the kids. More home time, less stress for them, and that's good.

As time is going by, one Bible verse continually pops into my head. "BE STILL and know that I am God." When I go with the flow and let the things happen that we planned for and agonized over, things turn out well. Better even, than what we were hoping for. When I start to step in and meddle into our already laid plans, our carefully laid plans, well things start to fall apart. Funny.

As my worrying brain takes over and I try to "fix" things that don't need fixing, nothing goes right anymore and our plans and hopes don't follow through. As I begin to let go of my worries and trust that things will go right, well they actually DO go right. Our plans are fulfilled and often things end up better than we expected. And I know in all this that God is simply telling me, "See, I've got this. You listened to me and jumped into the unknown. I will see you through. BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD."

I am comforted and hopeful for the future. I know who's got my back. I may be a little hard-headed, ok maybe a lot hard-headed, but I have a God that doesn't give up. And for that I am thankful. :)

Just a Few Thoughts about Norwex

So, been trying the Norwex thing. Really digging in. Since joining Norwex, I have gotten such a broader experience with so many more products! So far, I love every single one. My hubby is even warming up to the idea!

I have a few things I have noticed since making the complete switch, so here they are:

1. Um, seriously how easy are these Envirocloths?!!? Get them wet (I like to use warm water, I can't tell you why) and clean away. All you do is rinse and hang to dry when you are done. Clean. Done.

2. I don't know about anyone else, but I have been experimenting with sooooooooo may different cleaners to try to find the right one for so long. I have bought more brands than I can name, and I have made so many different cleaners using so many different ingredients (not all these are easy to find!) My biggest complaint about cleaners is that most leave a gross film on the surface when you are done cleaning. Yuck! I hate feeling a surface that has a weird coating on it. As soon as I cleaned my counters with the Envirocloth, I felt the surface and NOTHING! It was amazing. I made my whole family come feel because I was just so excited (It's the little things really)

3. The mop is seriously so much fun. My floors were clean in a matter of minutes. And they were CLEAN! Yay!

4. I have had multiple reasons recently to require the use of the Odor Eliminator. I don't like having those reasons, but hey, I have experienced it. Not only does it smell fresh and clean, but the odor you wish to remove is all gone. Even cat pee. Yup, gross.

5. Here's my last reason, and please pardon my gross house. We have no coasters in our home ( I know, we need them) and so have some bad "drink rings" I have been trying to get them out for a while with different things. Well, they are gone. Just the cloth and water.

Yippee! I love Norwex.