KHATS 13...Speak Life!

 
So often I hear mothers, usually single mothers, speak SO harshly to their children.   "What's wrong with you!!!...You always doing something dumb!!!...That was so stupid!!! You look so ugly." - Saying things like this to your children will bring only death.  Death to their spirit.  Death to their love, trust, and admiration for you.  Death to the atmosphere of your home, or of the atmosphere of the public place you are visiting.  And death to your child's potential. 
Mothers,  SPEAK LIFE! 

I understand that so often you are tired and frustrated because of the everyday dealings of life; but don't take it out on your child(ren).  When they do dumb things...and they will; or when they do clumsy things - correct them with a loving spirit or ignore it until YOU can address it calmly.
Once again this is an issue of self control.  Temperance (Galatians 5:22-23)  Life will be harsh enough for them without us adding to its harshness.  As the saying goes...if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.  That applies to us moms as well as children.

I'd like to take it a step further and encourage you to speak the Word of God to them.  I am not saying quote scripture AT them.  I am saying use Bible words when speaking to them. (ie Obey, be kind, was that a wise choice?, etc.) Let the Lord be our example in this area.  Remember that He spoke the world into existence.  I wonder what we could speak into our children if we purposed to do so.

Until next time,






Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.  Proverbs 18:21

   VS.

 

Weight loss

 

The photo on the left is me about a year and four months ago at a whopping 230lbs!  No, I am not pregnant...baby Beckles is in the photo with me at a antiques sale. The latter is me in the 160's club!  If you have never heard of the trim healthy mama way of eating, let me introduce it to you! CLICK HERE! My husband bought the book for me because I was discouraged about my weight.  I would gain 40 - 60 pounds with each pregnancy (3) and I would work hard for about a year just to loose all but about 10 pounds before I became pregnant again.  We would like to have as large a family as the Lord allows...I'm  thinking 8 to 10 kiddos...but I just can't imagine what would have happened to me at the aforementioned rate of weight gain. I am SO thankful for this knew knowledge about food and health.  Should you choose to try it, Remember to keep it simple!!!  We have a VERY limited budget. (My husband is the pastor of a small church and works part-time at Wal-Mart to make ends meet.) I mention our budget because there are a lot of things recommended, but not necessary to follow this eating plan. I follow the principles taught by Serene and Pearl and add the "extra" or "special" things as I am able.  Thank you Lord (and Serene and Pearl... and their families who sacrificed time with them for our benefit!)  for helping me to get control of my weight!!!

Until Next Time,
 

Ten Minute Challenge!

10 Things I can do in 10 minutes!

1. The girls hair - 10 minutes each!

2. Tidy my home.  Often if it's been a busy day - my home reflects that...so I will set the timer to alarm when my husband is scheduled to get off work.  When it sounds I give each of the girls a job, re-start the timer for 10 minutes and I start a 10 minute cleaning blitz.  This way when Daddy gets home the house looks somewhat peaceful.

3. A workout.  I love the knock-out body kickboxing version from the 10 minute solutions workout series. See their website HERE.

4. Make a smoothie.  Often I do this directly after my workouts.

 

trimhealthymama.com website

5.  Clean my bathroom.  It doesn't take long for this room especially to become a mess.

6.  Fold a load of laundry.

7.  Read a book with the kids.

8.  Call or write a note to a friend.  I am horrible when it comes to keeping in touch.  This is my new challenge for myself.  It really has helped, except in yesterday's case...I called three friends and no one was home.

9. Walk my dog.  Exercise for her and a breath of fresh air for me.

 

 

10.  Blog!  Fun, Fun, Fun.  Write a post and read a couple from others' blogs.

Couldn't resist...This is an old photo of me and Aaliyah that Raymond took.

Until next time,

 

Sleepless Nights

I mentioned in a post before about not being able to sleep very well at night due to an active baby .  Well, last night was one of those nights; but it hit me all of a sudden that the active baby may not be the only reason why I can't sleep.  This year I asked the Lord to help me in my prayer life...So what do I do in the middle of  the night while everyone else is sleeping?  I pray.  I had a sweet time with the Lord last night and he showed me some things about myself that I really needed to know. 

In Sunday school I have been teaching about the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians chapter five. We covered love first, of course, about three weeks ago; but the lesson has been on my mind here of late.   We went from Galatians chapter 5 to First Corinthians 13. Yesterday I was reading a blog by a dear friend in California and she mentioned something about how her childhood home life shaped the way she viewed the Lord.  I believe this is true for all of us; but my childhood shaped my ability to love others with the type of love that I believe the Spirit gives. 

4Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

5Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8Charity never faileth...

My husband is a great example to me in many things; and in the area of genuine love, this is no exception.  From the very day of our wedding when we made our vows, I could see and hear the love he has for me in his voice.  Since that day his love for me has continued in spite of my faults and failures and all of my idiosyncrasies.  I really do love my husband, my daughter, my family, and others; but I find that my love has not always been the love that is Spirit led.  It has been the love that I was trained to have as a child.  Love by default, if you will. 

As a Ceasar, I must be tough.  I must keep my guard up at all times.  I must be always in control.  I must not allow myself to be hurt by anyone.  In the wee hours of the night, the Holy Spirit asked me to let Him lead me to love others in a way that would honor Him.  I thought...This is going to take a lot of work; but with the help of the Lord I know that only good can come of it.  I am excited to see what He will do with me when I yield to Him.

Until next time,

Tinyla

Ladies Bible Study

In September I began to have a ladies Bible study the first Monday night of every month.  The first meeting covered the basics of Christianity (Biblical Salvation, Baptism, Giving, Fasting, etc.).  I have twelve topics I would like to discuss with our ladies including the following:

1.  Christianity 101
2.  I'm Glad I'm a woman (Our role as defined in the Bible)
3. Child Rearing 101
4.  Women's issues (what does the Bible say about abortion, birth control, bitterness, etc.

For some reason the Lord just kept putting it on my heart to go directly to the importance of eating together as a family.  We watched the majority of the video about (The Family Meal Table with Nancy Campbell) and discussed the benefits of eating together as a family.  We didn't quite finish all the material, so this past Monday we completed the study.  We discussed table setting and the importance of what you put on the plates of those you love.  To be honest with you; I was quite shocked to find out the lack of knowledge that we as women  - including myself - have about basic nutrition.  A couple of months back I did a post about reading food labels.  This was the beginning of my "official" study of nutrition.  To be honest, I have had a lot of fun with this. I hope to share some of what I learned with you all; but for now I just wanted to recommend Mrs. Nancy's video.  You can purchase it from her website  http://www.aboverubies.org/ .  Between this post and the next, what are some benefits that you can think of to support eating together as a family around the table?

Tinyla

To be discreet...

What exactly does it mean to be discreet?  Unfortunately my "Created to be His Helpmeet" book is on loan, so I had to go and grab my good, old Websters 1828 dictionary and look it up. 

Discreet: 
The literal sense is, separate, reserved, wary, hence discerning.
1.  Prudent; wise in avoiding errors or evil, and in selecting the best means to accomplish a purpose; circumspect; cautious; wary; not rash.
2.  With nice judgment of what is best to be done or omitted.
(discreetly)

I just want to give you and myself something to chew on for today, nothing really deep - I am not usually a deep kind of person. :)

Lesson:

Looking at the definition of the word discreet (sometimes spelled discrete), I find myself challenged.  The first person in the Bible that came to my mind was Mary, the mother of Jesus.  I would call her a discreet woman.  The Bible tells us that just after Jesus was born, when many amazing things were happening in Mary's life, she simply pondered them in her heart.  She did not rush to respond, or feel like she had to say or do something.  She simply pondered.

Webster says to be discrete means to be separate.  Separate from what or whom? To be reserved and wary; and because you are reserved (restrained from freedom in words or actions; backward in conversation; not free or frank) and wary (catious of danger; carefully watching and guarding against deception, artifices and dangers; scrupulous; timorously prudent) you will be able to be discrete.

The Bible says that among other things, a woman should be discreet.  Why? That the word of God be not blasphemed.

Application:

How could being discreet cause the word of God not to be blasphemed?
How could you being discreet be a blessing to your husband?
Your home?
Can you think of a woman in your life today who is characterised by discretion?
What are some areas that you can be discreet in today?
Give me your thoughts on this subject.
(Soon I will figure out how to let you email me directly from my blog.)