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God's Spiritual Warefare

I love fairy tales. I am a huge Disney fan. No seriously...I LOVE Disney. The princesses (Rapunzel and Belle are my favorite), the handsome prince as their knight in shining armor fighting evil to save them. I love a good fairy tale story. Have you ever viewed yourself as a knight in shining armor? Me either. I always saw myself as the beautiful princess. But God calls us to be knights. And that is where we will begin our devotional. Ephesians 6: 13 This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. Let's talk bluntly...this world is evil. It has corrupted what God created beautiful. As His children, we are called in Romans 12:2 not to conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. In order to fight against the evils of this world, we are to be knights and put on our armor of God.  But what does this have to do with our marriages? I
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Choose Joy

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This is one of my favorite bible verses, yet it is probably one of the hardest to live by. And this is where we will camp out today for our devotional. This devotional, Wife After God, has really spoken to me on different levels. But today's reading really got to me. She tells of a story of a woman who has been struggling with anxiety after having her baby. A friend who God has blessed with the gift of hospitality, reaches out to the new mom and shows God's call to us of displaying joy and sacrifice to her friend in need. The reason this spoke to me is because I can relate to the new mom. I am the one struggling with anxiety. Before I knew what was happening to me, I let it steal precious moments and completely became consumed by it. God helps me through it and gives me strength to overcome the anxiety every day. But, the truth is I want to be like the friend who reached out to her. I want the joy to be seen on my face for doing God's work. I want to reach out to som
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Attitude Adjustment

For me, It's rolling my eyes. Or giving a sarcastic remark. That's how I respond with my attitude when K does something I don't like. In fact, I can be very sarcastic sometimes. What are some ways you respond with your attitude? Do you put your hands on your hips? Cross your arms over your chest? In today's devotion, the author, Jennifer Smith, states that "attitude is the posture of your heart". (51) We can convey our attitude through many ways like the way we pose our bodies, speech, and tone. The perfect example of attitude is Jesus. No matter what He endured, He expressed the right attitude. When He was tempted, He quoted scripture. When He was mocked and spit on, He was silent instead of exploding and firing back. When He was faced with fear of what was ahead of him, He prayed. He carried the weight of the world literally on His shoulders when He carried the cross, yet He never uttered a complaint. In the devotion she mentions that we can use our body
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The Makings of a Good Wife

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What makes a good wife? I will be honest, I have been struggling with this one lately. My problem has been finding balance and routine with an infant. I only have one...I can't imagine what you go through if you have more than one! And putting our spouse first (under God) is essential to a successful and happy marriage. I know this...but can I whine a little...It's hard!! But God didn't say it would be easy. That it would be all "smooth sailing" in this life. And of course we have heard anything worth having is going to take hard work. So what is the biblical definition of a good wife? In the devotional Wife After God, she focuses on several bible verses but we will camp at Proverbs 31:11-31. This woman is the perfect example of a good wife. Let's break this down together. The makings of a good wife based on the Proverbs 31 woman: 1) Her husband trusts her (v.11) 2) She provides him with good (v 12) 3) She works with her hands (v 13) 4
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I am Worthy of His Love

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Where do you get your worthiness? Or let me ask you this, where do you try to get your worthiness? Is it from your job? From your spouse? From how you parent your children? You know who sees us as worthy? God. No matter what I have done, God loves me and I am worthy. God is worthy of our trust, love, devotion, and worship. That is the topic of the devotional today. Sorry it took me so long to get back to it...it's been a little crazy and I am finally getting back to a good groove with Remy. To let you in on my world for a minute before we dive into the devotional: my sister, brother-in-law, and their two children moved 8 hours away from us. My sister and I spent a lot of time together before she left, which I am so thankful for. We are very close and we won't let distance stop us from that. I am excited about what God has in store for them.  I have to admit to you...I struggle with my worth. It's hard sometimes to view myself as worthy. But I am. To my
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High expectations

I am going to take a small break from the devotional to talk to you about expectations. Have you ever had high expectations of something? Did you plan something down to the last detail and expect it to turn out exactly like you planned? Does it ever meet those expectations? I am learning a lot about expectations with having a child. My sister and I recently adventured to our favorite city to shop at our favorite mall. It was the first time I took Remy on an hour and a half car ride and I figured it would be a good experiment. She has two children; a boy who is 6 and a little girl who is 2. I love those kids. Anyway, we got there and went to our favorite Christian bookstore and headed to the mall.  Well, we didn't get started actually shopping until an hour and a half after we got there! Both of our girls had to be changed, fed, and then changed again. Fun times!! It didn't go exactly like we planned, but honestly, it was a fun time. It taught me a lot about expectation
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Holy, Holy, Holy

" Therefore , as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord , walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, overflowing with gratitude."  Colossians 2:6-7 It's hard to accept sometimes that life isn't always easy. We want it to be; we want it to be smooth sailing. But the reality is...it's not. We will be tested and have trials and hang ups. I am learning that it's what we do in those hardships and how we lean on God that matters. The devotional today focuses on our transformation in Christ when we become a Christian. Our pastor preaches on this quite a bit. When you accept Jesus as your Savior, your life will change. The Holy Spirit in us will work in us to change old habits and characteristics from our old self. We will need to change and be transformed and the spirit will help us to become holy. We can view our marriage in the same way. When we become married and become one, we are transformed. "Marr
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