Scheduling Time for God

Let's take a look at the lives of a 21st century woman: you grow up, go to school, go to college, get a full time job, get a husband, get a house, have 2.5 kids, a dog, try to eat healthy, try to balance your budget, try to make time for the gym, try to make time for that project you've been dying to work on since the day you graduated college, cook, clean, remodel, make time to spend with kids, make time to spend with husband, try to make time to treat yourself, try to make time for your girlfriends that you now see 2.5 times a year, on and on and on! Add in, if your a believer, go to church, sing in the choir, volunteer in your kids Sunday School class, volunteer with Women's Ministries.....sleep.

Isn't it amazing how much we have to do and how little time we seem to have to do it in? What amazes me even more, is that I bet I could ask all of you if you feel like there is time in your day that you waste, time that could be better managed, you would all answer with a resounding yes! Time management is essential, yet so easily escapes us. The twentieth century woman has a blackberry or iphone surgically attached to our hand, with our jam-packed calendar flashing across our eyes so often it's amazing we don't all suffer from epilepsy! I now schedule everything in my day, including eating, sleeping, cleaning, spending time with my husband, social events, gym time, bills, doctors appointments, Jony's music schedule and most importantly....quiet time with the Lord.

Do you schedule time for Him, or just wait to see if it fits in somewhere between breakfast and your nightly skin care regime? I know that for my life, if I don't set aside a pre-set time, it probably won't happen. Yet at the same time, I am sad when I look at my calendar and see a kaleidoscope of colored blocks, all denoting different daily activities, and then the small sliver that represents my quiet time. Ok weird analogy but it's like pickles on a cheeseburger, you can't even see them amidst all the other toppings until you take a big bite! But you definitely can tell when you taste them can't you!

Of all the things we do throughout the day, isn't spending time with our Father the most important?  I really got to thinking about this lately. We need to make time all throughout the day, in the midst of our other activities, to build our relationship with Him. Turn off the radio on the way to work and use that time to pray for the people in your life. When you go to the gym, listen to worship music as you compete with the girl next to you to see who can run the longest (maybe that's just me!) For the wives and mothers, reflect His love in the way you treat your husband and your children. There are so many ways that we can make our daily lives about Jesus - and the more we do it, the more it will overflow into every area of our lives. 

This is something I am praying that I am able to implement in my own life and I encourage you and pray that God helps you to do it in your own. 

love,

Emily

A Fresh Start

Do you ever feel like God is calling you so strongly to something, but you only put about 50% of your heart into it? That's my confession to you with this blog. I started it last summer, and only wrote two posts. I was a poor example and a poor facilitator of the gifts and dreams God gave me. But, that's the beauty of Jesus isn't it! We get another chance!

I need your help! My goal is to have an open forum for young women to share and grow in their love for Christ and their love for each other. In a world full of insecurity and lies, Christian women need to stand together, supporting each other with encouraging words and actions. That means that if you have something on your heart you need prayer for, an encouraging word, a lesson you learned from a peer or scripture, or a topic you would like advice about, post it!

By discussing our thoughts about the bible and its abundant truth we can learn what God intends for our lives, serve Him better in all we do, and promote His Word with extraordinary effectiveness. There is a serious strength that comes from knowing God's word, and I think that as young women, young wives, young Mother's and young sister's in Christ it is of the utmost importance that we sharpen each other in the beautiful words of the bible. I know for one, that I have so much to learn - so much I can learn from all of you!

I look forward to taking this opportunity to grow our friendship and enrich each others lives!

What sets you apart?

This is a blog I wrote last fall, and I feel convicted from it. I needed to reread this and desperately need to apply it to my life...


As young Christian women, what truly, sets us apart? I'm sure your mind immediately jumps to the same things mine does. I believe Jesus Christ is the son of the living God, I live my life for Him, I try to live in this world but not be a part of it, ... wait. Stop for a moment and let's really think and focus on that last one. We know we are different, we know we are chosen by God to be lights in this world, but how differently do we really act? Sure, we don't sleep around and go binge drinking every weekend. But how do we treat each other on a daily basis? Are we confident enough in who we are in Christ to not fall in to the catiness that defines young women today?

I think that, as a group, we need to start treating each other with a whole lot more love than animosity. From my own personal experience, if you are not confident in who you are in Christ, then you lack confidence, if you lack confidence, you lack self-esteem, and it is when we lack self-esteem that we turn to critical thoughts and actions towards each other.

Don't you think this is a mysterious phenomenon in young women? When we don't feel good about ourselves, we turn our attention on the short-comings of others, which gives us a temporal feeling of superiority. Temporal. Ultimately, it causes us to feel ashamed, regretful, and ultimately worse than we did before, maybe only subconsciously. It's a vicious circle we have created for ourselves isn't it? Once we start to feel bad again, we begin to do the very thing that made us feel bad in the first place.

I have several wonderful, amazing single girlfriends, who tell me all the time how there are no "good" men out there in their social ouevre. (You know who you are and you know I love you!) I always tell them to focus on being the Godly woman they need to be in order to attract the Godly man they want in their lives. Can't we look at friends the same way? What are you doing to be a good friend to the people you love in your life? If you are having a problem with someone, focus on showing them love, instead of giving them the cold shoulder. They may have hurt you, they may have a malicious streak a mile long, and yes, I agree, that often times those are not people you need to have in your life as friends. But the bible teaches us to love one another. Sure, we've all heard that how many millions of times. But do we really, really act it out in our lives?

John 13:35 says, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." That my beautiful friends, is what truly sets us a part from the rest of the world. Let's all start practicing it today. Forgive that friend, look beyond our shortcomings, pray for each other, support each other. I want to prove the world wrong. Don't you?