Scrapping My Plans

Hello friends,

How do you start your days? Do you begin by making a plan? I generally begin with a plan, normally on paper but sometimes just in my head. It has things like: "Wash towels", and "fold laundry", "clean the kitchen", "vacuum living room", "bathe the puppy", "read Bible study book" etc. And then as I accomplish these tasks, I scratch it off my list with satisfaction. I don't always finish my list, my plan for the day and then I tend to feel like I'm a failure and beat myself up. I'm learning to let go, to be okay when I don't get it all down. As long as I know I've been a faithful steward of my time, I know everything is okay. I'm trying to live with open hands. I have a "Plan A", but most of the time, God has a "Plan B". I'm learning to trust in His Plan B when my Plan A has to be scrapped.

There are times when I can't accomplish everything on my plan because of sinful choices, but instead of succumbing to the temptation to give up the rest of the day because of my laziness or lack of discipline, I am learning to confess my sin and repent, then moving on with my day and starting anew. And when I look back on my day and regret that I couldn't do all I wanted to, I'm learning to see the difference between God's Plan B and my sinfulness. Some weeks are harder than others. Monday morning last week I woke up energized and ready to be faithful with my time. I accomplished much last week. This week? I woke up later than I wanted because I stayed up too late last night and then my day got started slowly. So today I'm choosing to confess my laziness and deny the urge to let my entire day go to pot and use the rest of the time I have wisely.

So far, the dishes are washed, the bed is made, the rice is cooked for dinner tonight, I've worked out and showered. To go? The floor is covered in leaves and dirt tracked in by the dogs, there is a pile of clean laundry on the bed and piles of dirty clothes in the laundry room. So off I go to use the time God has given me wisely.

Anna

May the Mind of Christ My Saviour

May the mind of Christ my Saviour
live in me from day to day,
Jesus' love and power controlling
all I do or say.

May the word of God dwell richly
in my heart from hour to hour,
so that all may see I triumph
only through God's power.

May the peace of God my Sovereign
rule my life in everything,
that I may be calm to comfort
sick and sorrowing.

May the love of Jesus fill me,
as the waters fill the sea;
Christ exalting, self denying,
this is victory.

May I run the race before me,
strong and brave to face the foe,
looking only unto Jesus
as I onward go.

- Kate Wilkinson

Link Love

Just some good reads lately.

• Increasing the Passion in Your Homemaking
• Teaching our daughters to be Godly wives - now!
• Just Say No to Sibling Rivalry
• Live Near to Jesus

Anna

Marriage and Motherhood

I get to see this precious little one day in and day out. I am so privileged to be able to be home with her 24/7 and watch her grow. My heart wells up with love for her more and more. I love to go into her room in the morning and see her after being away from her all night. I just love her with all my heart!

No matter how much I love her though, she is still a sinner. We've only seen slight glimpses yet, but I'm sure we will see it in full force before long. It's important that I respond to her sin in a Christ-like way, not in kind. This is impossible in my own power! I must have the power of the Holy Spirit helping me, and thankfully I do because I have been saved and the Spirit of God lives within me. All the same, I must be putting on Godly responses instead of reacting in my flesh because I am not held in bondage to sin anymore! Everyday I must be filling myself up with His Word so that my thoughts are on God and His ways. I desperately want to be the best mommy I can be to this precious little blue eyed girlie. Notice I said best, not perfect. I don't want to try and be a perfect mom, I want her to see my sin and then see me confess, repent and change. I want to instill the marvelous truths of God and His marvelous plan for the world in her heart and mind and then watch as the Lord opens her little heart to His ways and works. I am so glad He is in control of that and not me because I would be so stressed if it was up to me to convince her to believe in the Gospel! I am content to trust in the Lord on that account. 

Even though most of my days are spent holding, talking to, changing, feeding, dressing, laughing with, teaching, reading to, and watching this little one, I need to remember that my role as wife comes before my role as mother. Am I loving my husband? Am I submitting to him? When Aaron and my marriage take precedence over Brielle, she will feel secure because she knows her mommy and daddy are committed to each other for life. We love our daughter so very much. But not more than we love each other. 

Anna

Light For The Lost Boy

I'm loving Andrew Peterson's new CD.

An Update and Ramblings

Where has the time gone? I'm not sure where blogging went in my life. I don't want it to feel like an obligation, but I do like the mental catharsis blogging brings. My life has change drastically since March 6th. I have a precious little 3-month-old baby girl named Brielle Madelyn. How could I spend time online when I just want to stare into her bright blue eyes, watch her giggle and kiss her round baby cheeks? But she is napping so sweetly in her crib at the moment so I decided to sit down and write some thoughts out for my poor abandoned readers.
Brielle was born five days early, June 6 at 3:50pm. I was induced because of preeclampsia, meaning I had high blood pressure. Aside from a scare due to the epidural, she was born without mayhap, small and precious. No words can describe that feeling when she slid out of me and they placed her naked, bloody body on me. This gorgeous little girl was my daughter. One of my favourite things to watch now is Aaron's love for her. It never ceases to fill me with love for my best friend.

Picture taken by my mom during Brielle's first week.

She smiles most of the time, this huge, open-mouthed smile that makes us laugh. She talks to us, to our pastor preaching at church, to her mobile, to the phone, to anyone who will listen. We're seeing more and more of her personality every day. We are just so blessed with her little presence!! 

When I think of Brielle getting older, I think of things like reading good literature with her. Books like Les Miserables, The Count of Monte Cristo, Anne of Green Gables, The Phantom Tollbooth, Wuthering Heights, and David Copperfield. I think of listening to good music like Bach and Beethoven. I think of playing music together, teaching her how to play, playing together and all of the good times we will have together as a family. But most of all I think of teaching her about how grand God is, what an amazing God He is, showing her how sinful she is and how desperately she is in need of a Saviour, of praying for her each and every day that she would be saved, of catechizing her in the Scriptures. And when I think of that, I think of how wholeheartedly I need to throw myself in prayer upon Christ for help and guidance in parenting this little lost soul. 

I hope to post here more often. Blogging helps me to think, helps me to organize my wayward thoughts and put them into coherent sentences. I do believe I am back, my blogging friends.

Anna

Pin of The Week

Today you get two pins! I made these two recipes in the past couple weeks and found them to be absolutely delish so I thought I'd share!

Perfectly Chocolate Cake  (By the way, I made this as cupcakes. They turned out great and made about 24. Even Aaron liked the frosting, which is not normal at all for him.)

Source: rita-may-recipes.blogspot.com via Anna on Pinterest

Crispy Cheddar Chicken

Source: jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com via Anna on Pinterest

Love
Anna