Preparing Home and Heart: Week 4

It is our last Preparing Home and Heart message in the  How to be Thankful study.  Is your heart ready for true Thanksgiving?  This week we wrap up our study by considering prayer and sharing so this is the inspiration for the....

Home and Heart challenge this week:

Thanksgiving is in a few short days.  Hard to believe it is almost upon us.  I don't know about you, but even with no company coming there is a lot to be done before Thursday.  Whether dusting or cooking or plotting out the order of events.... it is all coming down the line and even with my little family, I find it helpful to remember that joy Jesus has placed in my heart and stay centered on doing these things for the right reasons.

It isn't about impressing anyone.  It isn't about tradition (even though we do have them).  In the midst of the holiday madness it boils down to one thing: gratitude. 

So my challenge for you and for me this week is to do each task, whether cleaning or cooking or... whatever else... with prayer in my heart.  To be thankful for those Christian brothers and sisters (and blood related family) God has put in my life and prayerful for those who haven't accepted Christ yet.  Each spec of dust, each freshly cooked dish, each moment praying for open doors and opportunities to share my hope in Jesus and prepare lost hearts to receive it.


I pray this challenge will help you to enjoy the prep time more AND the big event just as much.  To see those around you (even the challenging ones) as a great blessing and a great opportunity to share your hope and faith with!

Blessings,

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Preparing Home and Heart: Week 3

It is time again for Tuesday's Preparing Home and Heart message designed to tie-into the  How to be Thankful study.  How is yours going?  Today you should have looked at the second part of chapter 3.  Hopefully you are seeing how powerful being made new in Christ begs us to put off the old ways.  On that note....

Home and Heart challenge this week:

My prayer is that you are finding transformation in this study.  This week's biggest challenge is to put on a new attitude... a new way of thinking.  This is what Paul was calling the Colossians to do and it is a message which speaks loudly to us today.

What area of your home do you typically have a bad attitude about cleaning.  Are you tempted to cut corners, get grouchy, or just simply not find joy in this task?  Tackle it this week!!!  BUT, in typical Preparing Home and Heart style, be renewed in HOW you do it.  Put off your old attitude and way of thinking about this task and put on one which sees it as a blessing:  a blessing to have a home (or this area of the home) to clean.  A blessing to get to make your home warm and inviting to guests (not stinky or dirty or grimy).  You are blessed, you are renewed in Christ, so EVERYTHING you do ought to be done in his name: with the attitude and mindset He would have in a task.

By the way, even if this mess was someone else's "fault", that doesn't matter.  Pray through that as well and be thankful for that person in your life.  Put off your frustration with them and, instead, put on a new attitude toward that person.

You will feel better when you are done with this task, having done it with more joy.  Your family will feel better as well because they will get the pleasure of not having you frustrated or.... simply outside of the peace God promises!


I pray this challenge will help you unlock deeper gratitude for how transforming God's Word is!

Blessings,

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Preparing Home and Heart: Week 2

It is time again for Tuesday's Preparing Home and Heart message.  Did you get to last week's?  I would love to hear your progress.  How is your How to be Thankful study going?  Today you should have dug deeper into chapter 2.  Hopefully you are seeing how powerful a relationship with Christ is when rooted in His Word vs. the world's idea of Him.

The idea of how and where activity and growth happen in our spiritual lives made this week's challenge an interesting one for me.  It sparked memories of our reading of Courage to Run by Wendy G Lawton and Harriet Tubman's ambition to live each day and work out each task with the deepest gratitude and thoughts to God.

Home and Heart challenge this week:

What area of your home is the most high-traffic and most seen spot in the house?  Maybe your house has a few of these areas so you can either pick the hardest one to do or share this task with other family members: Clean it!  Clean it good and deep.  Not the quick run-through you might do on a daily or weekly basis.  No.  A deep-down, company-is-coming kind of clean.  The catch?  As you scrub each corner and polish each part to shine, reflect on the areas of your life which have been scrubbed clean and shiny through study in God's Word.  As you straighten stacks of papers or put pillows just-right, consider how God's Word has helped you to straighten out the untidy areas of your life when you didn't know how to put it in order, and God showed you how.  After each reflection, thank Him! 

If you are new to the faith: pray for guidance and revelation into areas of your life you feel need cleaning up and straightening out.  Consider the bonus passages from this week's lesson and consult a concordance here or here and look into the deeper meaning of the scriptures and how it can speak to and help you.

I pray this challenge will help you unlock deeper gratitude for how transforming God's Word is!

Blessings,

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Preparing Home and Heart: Week 1

Well, we are moving along in our study of How to be Thankful through the book of Colossians.  Today you should have dove into the second half of the passage in chapter 1.  Hopefully you saw how Christ is preeminent and because of all that he has been, all that he IS, and all that he will always be... there really isn't much we can add!  Ours is simply to bear fruit from the abundance he feeds us in Spirit and faith and grace.

I know that message sparks gratitude in me because I am a doer.  I like everything in it's place and a place for everything.  I am simply beside myself without a good to-do list and if I don't feel like enough got ta-done... then I feel down-right inadequate.  I will confess it is an area I am growing in because I have so often self-imposed a need to earn my worth.  Yet, despite my domestic short-comings, it gives me peace and hope that I have no salvation short-comings.  My profession of faith and goal to live each moment for Christ alone makes my need to find worth in anything I do, well, kind of a worthless endeavor!  Christ already did all I need.

Home and Heart challenge this week:

Is there an area in your home you find it difficult to face because you feel like you can never get it just-right?  Do you get discouraged by what you feel are shortcomings in accomplishing this task or area? Well, FACE IT this week!!  I want you to hit it head-on, even if you have to do a little each day. Don't do it because you HAVE TO (I know many people have company coming at the end of the month for turkey and stuffing), instead, do it because you GET TO.  Don't worry if you get it just-right.  Do the best you are capable of in the time you have and give yourself heaps and mounds of grace for however it ends up getting done.

Hold your chin high because you are saved by grace... not by how clean or perfect any area of your house might be!  Have joy and gratitude nesting in your heart for the hope and peace you have in Christ as you work: Thank Him as you dust and tidy and organize for how He dusted away your sin, tidied up your messy inner self and organized your hope to rest on eternity rather than all the ups and downs of right now.  Find peace in your chore because you have peace in Jesus... what is really left to worry about beside this?


I pray you find this challenge a deliverance and a blessing this week!

Blessings,

 

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