For the most part, I think God wants us to do what we want to do. As long as we’re anxiously engaged in a good cause, He doesn’t necessarily care how we go about doing that. WE get to choose. We get to choose with God. The power is in us to govern ourselves. And make our own choices. And do things that make our souls come alive. So we get to make a decision and go the direction we want to go as long as we’re going about doing good.
Happy Sunday, friends! It’s midnight and my family and I just pulled in from a weekend get-away, but I didn’t want Sunday to come without having an uplifting message and quote for you.
I’ve been thinking a lot about my blessings and how thankful I am to God for all I have. It truly is an honor to serve Him and I know that I can never do enough to pay Him back…
Family Night is a family activity that can be held once a week. Set aside one night when your family can all be together. Teach your children important values and how to be better family members, people, citizens, friends, and neighbors. The dedicated time together is the most important thing.
When I think of all of the problems, the issues, the struggles and the trials in life, I have no doubt that we could all make it through life a little happier if we all followed this message of charity and love. We would look outward to serve and bless and each time I have done that in my life, I am filled with love for others immediately. I made these sweet printables for you to share (and keep) and hope they will help to share the message this month!
A few months ago, I shared a 365 Reasons to Love Your Spouse Journal here at OSSS. That was my first attempt at offering a small bit of marriage insight with you. And today, I’m going to try my hand at it again. The topic this time, charity in marriage.
For me, pure Christ-like love leaves no room for anger, jealousy, faultfinding, or resentment. Now we are all human, we’ll fall short many times, but I am here to say this charitable love is attainable as we work on it daily.
Recently there has been a lot of focus on addiction, and the miracle of addiction recovery. I would imagine that there are few, if any, left in this world who have not been affected by addiction in one form or another. I would like to lend my voice in support of those battling addiction and perhaps even more so to the people in their lives who bear the unbelievably difficult burden of loving and assisting someone in their life struggling with such. I would like to focus specifically on pornography for this post. Pornography, as you will read shortly, has recently found its way into our home.
It’s nearly midnight and I was convinced I just didn’t have time to write a blog post. It’s been a crazy hectic week. I’m still trying to adjust to our homeschool schedule and in the morning I have to teach Relief Society (the class for women) at church. So, after hitting up the local classic car show with my family, I’ve spent the rest of the day studying, praying, reading, praying some more, doing everything I can to pull this lesson together. It’s an intimidating thing to teach a class of 50 women, but greater than that is the responsibility that I feel to share with them what God wants them to hear. I truly believe that because they are there for Him, if I am in tune and prayerful, He will help me to know what I should teach. And, He does!
First of all, let me explain visiting teaching. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we are in a congregation where we are asked to go and visit certain ladies each month to really get to know them, share a quick message and find out if they have any needs that need to be met. It’s one of the ways we build friendships and help our leaders know any needs that families have.
Though unaware then, I now view our family moving the year between 5th and 6th grade as being inspired. Not just for the family, but for me specifically. I really needed to get away from the environment I was creating for myself. I have no doubt that my bad momentum would have carried over into my 6th grade year had we stayed.
For me personally, I love to give. I love to serve and help and be busy doing good things. I love taking care of my family and making sure they have what they need. Those things are important to me because they are important things! BUT…we must be willing to stop and take care of ourselves as well. When we get so wrapped up in taking care of everyone but ourselves, eventually what we will have to give may not be enough.
Am I busy doing the right things? Am I sacrificing the best things I could be doing for things that are good, just not the best? If I were to strip the purpose of life down to the bare bones, I would say the thing that counts most is how we treat other people. How we make other people feel. What kind of real, authentic relationships we have created. The question is, am I too busy to do this?
What if your neighbor asked you to take 20 minutes one night to help him? Would you do it? Most decent people would.
But what if he asked you every night following, with no end in sight? Would you be willing to do it? When would serving your neighbor feel more like servitude?