Do you ever compare yourself to others?  Does the grass seem to  look greener on other lawns??

Comparison is a  dangerous trap we all can  easily fall into.  It can definitely be  a stronghold in our lives if we are not on guard.

"The best thing I can do for my congregation is to quit comparing myself to other pastors and simply strive to be genuinely me."  ...These are words I heard from a local pastor several years ago.   

Last night, as I was going through some old papers and came across a note with this quote at the top.  Underneath it were my thoughts about these words and I want to share that with you today.

I think the words from this pastor have application for us all.  God designed each one of us in a special and unique way.  Our lives are not meant to look the same.  We are not meant to do everything the same way as our neighbors, friends, or even our family.  Our pieces of the puzzle look different than everyone else's pieces.

We can make the words from this pastor personal and say to ourselves, "The best thing I can do for my family, and for God, is to stop comparing myself to other (moms/wives) and simply strive to be genuinely me."  

Comparison is a waste of time.  Unless someone is a close friend, we really don't have any idea what is going on in other peoples lives and what they  are going through.   ...And when we do know what is going on, we should be on our knees in prayer for those individuals, not using their circumstances to feed the destructive stronghold of comparison.

An unintentional, but very negative by-product of social media is comparison.  In social media we get a snap shot of someone else's life and it is easy to think that person/couple/family has a "perfect" life.  Spoiler Alert...Their lives are NOT perfect!  No one's is.  

Now I am not faulting anyone for sharing  the "best" parts of their lives.  I do it too...but when we are on social media we need to be aware of the pitfall of comparison.  We can be on guard, turn our thinking around and share in that person's joy.

If you have a tendency to fall into the comparison trap, like a do, I encourage you to spend some getting to know yourself better.  Learn your strengths, your passions; get to know your family members better, learn their strengths and passions.  If you haven't thought about your own strengths and passions lately, you might even be surprised to learn that some have changed.   

And spend time with The Lord.  Get to know what His words says about you.  Our Heavenly Father cares for you deeply.  He loves you immensely and He wants to bless you beyond measure.  He made you in His image and He gave you strengths and talents that no one else has.  His plan and will for your life is perfect, you just have to be willing and ready to do it.

Let's strive "To be the most excellent we can be; and not strive for someone else's excellent."

Blessings for you today.

This homeschooling mom and wife thing is hard.  I mean really stinkin' hard.  Tantrums, bad attitudes, and needy people can make for a frustrating and exhausting day (...sometimes I am the one guilty of these).   But should I just give in and quit?  

If you are like me, God has called you to this life of being a wife and a homeschooling mom and it is a blessed responsibility.

I never imagined myself here.  I was a professional medical provider, a business owner, but I was also crazy consumed by my career.  God changed that a little over 2 years into my motherhood.  

Thinking about where I was and where I am now gives me clarity and realization to the importance of my current responsibilities.

There are times when I get so frustrated with the events of the day I briefly convince myself that I am crazy to be homeschooling and that the alternative must be a better option.  But I don't believe that is God's will for me.  And as a follower of Jesus, I remember that my hope and strength does not come from within myself.  My hope and strength comes from the One who shed His blood on the cross for me.  I am not in this homeschooling journey alone.

Most of the time the reason for all the frustration and chaos is because I am trying to do too much.  I get consumed by all the "things" to get done and miss time with God.  I overcommit our schedules and convince myself I can juggle it all well.  But it just isn't possible and the ever important priority of spending time with Jesus falls to the way side or gets drastically shortened.  In the chaos I can also lose sight of my purpose for homeschooling.

Our children need us to be their cheerleaders and coaches.  When one of my boys has a bad attitude or throws a tantrum, it can be easy for me to get annoyed and want to just walk away to avoid the tough stuff.  Sometimes we may need to walk away for a moment or two to take a breath, but ultimately we need to return and press into the tough stuff.   We need to get down on their level, hear what they have to say, console and sympathize with them.  We need to draw out their strengths and encourage them.  We need to guide them the best we can.

We also need to be praying for them and to stay connected with other homeschooling moms.  We must remind ourselves that many of our struggles our not of this world.

Don't give up.  Don't let the devil win.  Your children's hearts and souls are way too valuable to let your enemy win.  You and I can do this.  We can fight the good fight and be the victor.  And our children and husbands will be victors as well.

God is so pleased with us when we lay down our lives.  When we sacrifice for His Kingdom.  

If you are a homeschooling mom and are feeling down today, please know you are not the only one who experiences this.  But you don't need to stay in this mindset. 

Remember who you are in Christ.  You are redeemed and loved.  You are a royal priesthood.  He sees you and knows your flaws, but loves you with an everlasting love.  

Keep pouring truth into your kiddos.  Continue to love them with everything you have because it is worth it.  Especially when they have bad attitudes...hold them accountable to their actions in a biblical way, but love and model respect to them.  Don't take their immature attitudes personally.  Show them emotional maturity and unconditional love.  They need you and your husband to show them the way.

As I have been reminded many times, the training up of a child thing is not a sprint, but a marathon.  Run the race well.  You have what it takes when you rely on the Almighty One!

God Bless you and keep you today!  May he make His face shine upon you.  He loves you dearly.

Check out this awesome and uplifting song by Tenth Avenue North, click here.  

This detour was a bit of an annoyance, but it really wasn’t that big of a deal.  I really didn't want to take the detour, but in this situation I had two choices.  I could chose to be frustrated at the situation, get upset and be irritated by the detour; or I could accept the detour and make the ride enjoyable for me and my kiddos.  I chose to accept it, take it, and enjoy the ride.   

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Unfortunately, I have not taken this same approach to different area of life.  If there is one thing that irritates me most, it's being sick or my husband and/or kiddos sick.  I'm busy ya know?!  I have plans, things that need to get done, things I want to do, and being sick or taking care of sick ones is going to mess all that up!  The house chores will fall to the way side which means the house is going to become a complete wreck and I will mostly likely become totally stressed out.  Ugh!  Illness can be so  frustrating!  Can anyone else relate?  


At the time the road construction was going near our home, my family had actually been sick on and off for several weeks.  Thankfully, I managed to not get sick during that time, but emotionally I was down.  I was tired and my patience was wearing thin.  Being mom, wife, and nurse 24/7 to all members of the family is exhausting!  Caring for my sick family stretches me beyond my capacity.  This bout of illness though was different for me in that it brought awareness to my unhealthy attitude about sickness, really with life interruptions in general.
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​Hubby and I are working on changing our family’s way of life to be less hectic, less “busy”.  We want us to slow down, live more calmly and MAKE time to ‘rest’ in God on a regular basis.  We are not to rest only when we get sick; but I think God sometimes uses things like sickness to help give us a little push in the right direction.  Some of us more stubborn types need that extra push.   

Side note:  I actually began to like going down the road that was the detour road and now it's my "normal" route. 

Peace be with you

My hubby can not stand going to the grocery store.  It is one of his least favorite things to do.  Any time we are out together and I mention the grocery store his face scrunches up and his shoulders drop.  I on the other hand, like to go grocery shopping.  I am pretty picky about food, especially produce, so when it comes to grocery shopping I really prefer to go.

Although I enjoy grocery shopping, I do not like to go often. 
Going grocery shopping takes time, especially when one or two
of my young boys are with me; it can eat up a chunk of our day.
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Last year life got a bit out of control and we got lazy with our money.  We were not consistent with doing a budget and I got lazy with
meal planning.  

I was shopping sporadically and usually showing up at the store with a 'sort of' list in my head of what we needed.​

On top of that, we ate out way too much, threw a lot of food away, and…blew any kind of pseudo food budget we were trying to maintain.  Being a household of one income means we really have to be purposeful with our money; otherwise it disappears fast!  

Hubby and I recently started going through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University again.  (We took it 7 years ago and really need a refresher!)  I am so glad we are in the course again and getting back on track.  To find out more about FPU click here.

After evaluating where our money has been going, we discovered that I have not been as in control of the grocery shopping spending as I thought I was.  I realize now that have been putting unnecessary strain on our lives because I have not been diligent when doing the meal planning or household shopping.

Are any of you like me?  You get to the cashier at the grocery store and they ask, “Did you find everything you were looking for?”  You glance at your items on the conveyor belt and say, “Yes, and then some!?”  I don’t know how many times I have gone to the store for “just a few things” and come out with a whole lot more.  

I realize now that if I walk in unprepared, my inner child takes over and I am drawn to the “shiny” stuff.  I get sucked in to the ‘Deals’ and can end up putting way more in the cart than we actually need.  They can actually be great deals, but maybe not for our family at that particular time.  As the old saying goes, 'You go broke saving money'.  

I personally am not disciplined enough to stay away from the deals and “Buys of the Day” unless I have a plan.  Going into a store without a shopping list is like going into battle without your shield.  You are going to get hit and hit hard!  So don't get hit, be prepared and have your ever so vital shopping list!

In order to get back on track with a budget, having a shopping list is a big help.  Hubby and I are Mac users and we use the Reminder app that is built into the devices.  We also have iPhones, so this app syncs automatically between the two.  You can create as many “Reminders” as you want.  We have a ‘Grocery List’ reminder and a 'Costco' reminder.  It's great because can both edit the list as needed.   

I am sure there are lots of different types of list apps available.    You can use any kind of list.   Find what works for you.  In fact, old-fashioned paper lists work great too!  Who knew!?  

The point is…MAKE A LIST!  I promise it will help you stay on track.  It is not only like a friend there saying, “No, don’t buy that right now.  It's not on your list.”  You can also use it to tell your little tikes, “Sorry sweetie, we can’t buy this or that because it’s not on our list today.”  
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​I know life is busy.  It gets crazy.  But we can either let the chaos control us, or figure out ways to remove chaos from our lives.  I choosing the later.

The preferred place to make your shopping list at home.  You can see what you have and what you don't have and create your list accordingly.  But this isn't always possible.  

Sometimes you end up going to the store and you haven't had a chance to make a list at home.  When this happens, and you arrive at the grocery store without a list.  Before you even get out of your car, I encourage you to take the few minutes, and make a list.  Take the information regarding what you think you need to buy out of your head and put it somewhere else.  In an app, on paper, on the back of your kid’s homework, even on your paper coffee cup.  I doesn’t matter how you do it, you just need to make a list.

Let's stay on track with our food budgets and guard ourselves against those "Buys of the Week" arrows.   I hope this helps you in some way today.  

Do you make a shopping list?  What type of medium do you use?  Let us know in the Comments below.

Happy Shopping!

On Sunday the Pastor of our church, Pastor Boyd, shared a very heartfelt message, a personal message, a message that really spoke to me...the message was one that made me feel a bit silly, and a bit ashamed really because I had been there too.  Just recently in fact.  

Pastor Boyd spoke about how just that past week he was feeling down about himself.  He called the situation he felt, "Death by a thousand paper cuts."  And then he shared how he began to throw his 'party of 1'...a pity party.

Have you ever done it?  Thrown yourself a pity party??

I have.  You see Pastor Boyd's message spoke very loudly to me because I was just there.  Feeling very similar to how he felt.  Feeling down, a little depressed, and having a silly and destructive pity party.

It can happen so easily.  A few things might go wrong with household stuff, the kids might not be minding as well as I think they should, the house is an utter mess from the busyness of summer time. 

...and then it happens.  

I feel overwhelmed, frustrated, down, and I begin to focus on all the things that are "wrong" in my life.  I begin to worry about what will happen next.  And in this moment I lose focus on what is important.  

The underlying theme of Pastor Boyd's message was focus.   Life can get tough, no doubt about it.  But are we going to let our emotions control our attitude and allow us to take our focus off God?

During the message we looked at several passages from the Apostle Paul's letter to the believers in Philippi.  There were several verses that jumped off the page to me and so yesterday morning I spent time reading through the entire book of Philippians.  This letter Paul wrote is so encouraging for believers.  

I struggle a great deal with fear.  Unfortunately, fear invites itself into my life far too often.  But Paul reminds us to have confidence that Christ Jesus will complete the work He started in us.  Paul writes,  "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6 

Satan would love nothing more than for us to cower down and hide.  To let the 'things' of this world get us down and for us to lose focus, to let go of the confidence we have in Jesus.  But we must not give in.

I just, like Paul, want to encourage you...

Focus on the one who gives strength and confidence to face each day.  You are special to Jesus and He has a purpose for your life.  He will complete the work he started in you, but you have to be willing and available.  

What about you?  Where is your focus today?  Are you letting life's circumstances steal your confidence or are you focusing on God?  

Happy Freedom Friday!  I am back highlighting the Principles of Liberty and today we are on #7:     'The proper role of government is to protect equal rights, not provide equal things.'

It just amazes me how American society and our political ruling class has gotten this principle completely twisted.  It seems there are many double standards when it comes to "equal rights".  I don't even know if most people know what true "equal rights" means???

Our American culture has become so wrapped up in materialism; and sadly, there are many people who value things more than they do people.  Many in our society have become slaves to material things.  And this breeds a warped measure of how to value one's self.  Personal value is then measured by how much "stuff" one has.  Ideology likes this results in culture of entitlement and confusion about personal rights.  

​True personal worth is not measured by things, but by the One who created us.  Two Scriptures come to my mind to help understand how valuable we are to God and much our lives are worth.  

Luke 12:24 - Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Our Founding Fathers knew these scriptures and knew where true value of people comes from.  They also knew that government's role should be to protect people's rights.   A right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...freedom of speech, religion, and right to bear arms.  These are the kinds of rights we need our government to protect. 

Let's ponder principle #7 today and consider what the Founding Fathers intended for our government in America.

Have a wonderful day!

Please share any thoughts you have about this Principle of Liberty.  Thank you.