The winner of the new e-book, Not A DIY Diva, is……
SARAH NUTTER!
Congratulations! Thank you ALL for entering! And I definitely recommend jumping over to The Inspired Room and reading more of Melissa, or picking up your own copy of Not A DIY Diva. I’m reading my own copy now and love love love it.
ONE :: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”
Hebrews 6:19
TWO :: “He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.”
2 Corinthians 1:10
THREE :: “I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints…”
Ephesians 1:16-18
FOUR :: “To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Colossians 1:27
FIVE :: “But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.”
1 Thessalonians 5:8
SIX :: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
Hebrews 10:23
SEVEN :: “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
1 Peter 1:13
EIGHT :: “…therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope“
Acts 2:26
NINE :: “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
Romans 8:24-25
TEN :: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
Romans 5:1-5
I HOPE you have an amazing day, filled with the remembrance of God’s awesome love!
And be sure to check out the “Not A DIY Diva” giveaway, open until tomorrow evening!
Call me crazy, but I recently signed up for Pinterest. As if I need one more interactive thing to do on the web, right? Pinterest is a virtual pinboard of ideas. Many ideas. A vast expanse. An exciting adventure into the world of What Could Be. But there are downsides to this new adventure. The ideas come so fast, and I am pinning and pinning and pinning, all the while thinking, “When will I ever have time to do any of this?” Or, “Man, my home is nowhere near where I’d like it to be.” Or, “I want my life to look more like this pin.” And once again, something that was meant to inspire, actually leaves me feeling defeated; like what I’m doing just isn’t good enough. My efforts have fallen short of what the culture has required.
But then, alas, I was turned on to a (new-to-me) blog called The Inspired Room. The author of the blog is Melissa Michaels, and she writes wonderful things about home and design – none of which you’d expect. Melissa encourages her readers to design an authentic life that is reflected in the home, instead of striving (and often failing) to make our homes look like the pictures in the magazines (or the pins on your virtual boards).
Her words relieve me. I want to shout and cry “YES YES YES!” while twirling and dancing a little jig around my laundry-adorned living room. I have always wanted my home to be a place my family wants to come home to. As an admitted home-body myself, I want my home to be a haven. Comfortable. Inviting. Unintimidating. Real.
I am so excited to be reading more of her blog. And also excited that Melissa is publishing an e-book this Tuesday!
Not A DIY Diva, How to Create An Authentically-Inspired Life in a Pinterest World, is a compilation (prettier and neater) of all that she’s been writing on her blog for the past four years. (Talk about seeing a work completed!) I am so looking forward to reading it; to finding encouragement for moving forward in my home, making it a place of invite and peace – from the inside out.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.”
Matthew 23:25-26
Trying and trying to make my life and home look a certain way does not change what it actually is. That is not fulfilling the purpose God has for me as a mother and a home-maker. I think God wants me to be a life-maker, spreading His good news like seeds over all the hearts in my life. This begins in my home. I want to change what my home inherentlyIS, that the way it looks might be an authentic reflection.
I thought you might feel the same way… and be interested in reading the e-book, too! So I’m giving away a FREE COPY! Hooray!
To enter, just leave a comment at the bottom of this post telling us why you’d like to read the book. Simple!
If you want an additional entry, head on over to our Facebook page and share the link to the giveaway on your FB page. Then just lemme know you shared the link.
Winner will be selected at random and announced Wednesday evening. Until then, skip on over to The Inspired Room and browse the archives. And have a great week of life-making!
I have a love-hate relationship with our local zoo. It’s a beautiful zoo. There are many fascinating animals and unique exhibits. Frankly, I’m not sure how this non-major city managed to pull off such a fabulous zoo. But it’s here. Nestled half way up my favorite mountain. Gates open, beckoning children everywhere to come get licked by a giraffe (or whatever).
But then there’s the hills. Oh, the hills. I want to cut my own legs off every time I have to push the double stroller through the entrance and up that black hole of a road to get to the hippos. The last time I did it, nearly horizontal behind the stroller, inner pep talk in full force, a woman happily passed me coming down, with a little skip in her step, and said, “Look at you go! I bet you can out-arm-wrestle your husband!” Ha. If I could have gotten a breath out of my tightening lungs I would have asked her to stand behind me and push. The mustered smile was probably better.
Tuesday found us at the zoo. Hills and all. Some friends were in town, and they were celebrating their son’s third birthday, which of course calls for a trip up the hills to see the wildlife! It turns out, my son wasn’t too excited about the zoo either. In fact, the entire ride across town to get there he kept whimpering from the back seat, “Let’s go back hoooome. I don’t like zoo.” The last time we had been there, he was gripped by sudden terror when given the opportunity to feed the giraffes. Very up close and personal. Too much for the little guy to take in, I guess. He must have remembered too, because his reluctancy heightened as we took the exit, climbed the mountain, pulled through the entrance, and finally parked the car. I thought I was going to have to pry him out of his car seat.
The situation didn’t improve as we paid our admission and crossed the threshold. I thought things were looking up when he agreed to get out of the stroller to deposit a quarter in the “Save the African Vultures” display, but then it was right back in the stroller.
“Maddox, let’s go find our buddies!”
“Noooo.”
“Don’t you want to see Gabby and Zach?? Today is Zach’s birthday!”
“Noooo!”
Fearing a melt down right there at the entrance, I just started walking. And by walking, I mean heaving myself and double stroller up the mountain.
Complaints the whole way. Small. Scared. Hesitant. My normally confident, outgoing, adventurous little boy was shriveling in fear. And I felt guilty. Should we turn back? Should I call our friends and tell them we can’t meet them after all? I do feel for the kid. I can empathize. Fear can be paralyzing. The not-knowing can be too much.
My soul has been overwhelmed.
I have felt small.
I have been scared.
But there’s no turning back. I’m half way up the hill now. I have a hunch… ya know, one of those mama hunches… that if he can just see his friends, he might forget his fears.
And ya know what – my hunch was right.
As soon as we found our friends (very much over the river and through the woods and back again to finally find them), the fear dissipated into the wind. Completely. Gone.
All at once, my son was staring the mountain lions in the face, looking on wide-eyed, taking it all in; all at once a friend was beside him.
That’s why I kept pushing up that hill. I knew if I could just get him to a friend, he would love the zoo.
We even had a carousel ride! Horse going up and down. Platform spinning round. No melt down. Our buddies were right behind us, riding the same ride; feeling the same bumps; holding on tight, smiling, laughing, eyes dizzying; all together.
“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents.”
Philippians 1:27-28
There is a deep connection between unity and fearlessness. When we allow ourselves to retreat into the cave of isolation, fear is soon to follow. But if we can humble ourselves, and chance the vulnerability that is the precursor to joining an authentic community, we might just find everything the Lord intends for us. We might just find a life of joy; a life of freedom; a life filled to the brim with limitless possibilities. We might find hope.
Fear dissipating into the wind.
If we could let a friend stand beside us.
Wild turkeys, indeed.
(pictures by Amber Cicchillo)
This month we’ve been focusing on the word “THANKS” in our home. You might be thinking, “Wouldn’t that be a better for November? Not too quick on the uptake there, Tasha.” And you’re right. But I was eager to get this word on the fridge for the sake of my son, who can really stand to learn a little thankfulness these days. In my eagerness, I decided not to save it for the month of Thanksgiving, and in my excitement, totally underestimated what a challenge this word would be for us.
Maddox has learned how and when to say “thank you” in interactions, but understanding why we ought to have an attitude of thanks is a completely different beast!
“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
An attitude of thanks is not necessarily the same thing as the words “thank you” coming off the lips. An attitude of thanks turns its face toward the good. It strives for peace. It struggles for humility. It is willing to put griping and complaining aside, for the sake of Christ-likeness.
These are things that most adults, myself very much included, can’t even grasp on a daily basis. I don’t really expect that my two-and-a-half year old could. But if I’ve learned one thing in parenting, it’s that children pick up on attitudes quicker than anything else. Attitudes seem to be a great initiating point for understanding concepts and ideas. So if I can model an attitude of thanks, then my children will learn to walk in an attitude of thanks as well.
Maintaining thankfulness in every circumstance, day in and day out, no matter what is going on in the day – that’s not easy thing. But I know we can get up every day and choose to walk in the Spirit, taking on an attitude of thankfulness.
How do YOU do it?
