Worship. What's your first thought?
Most likely you thought of your favorite song from Sunday morning, or your local Christian radio station.
How can you cultivate a lifestyle of worship?
Check out the full blog post as we talk through what it would look like to live out a lifestyle of worship, and to grab your free printable of the Daily Habits of a Godly Wife to help you develop your own rhythm and routine.
Read more...
Last week we talked about making daily Bible study a habit in order to grow as a godly wife.
Today, let's talk about prayer.
Most of us would say that we pray regularly. We tell friends and family and co-workers that we'll pray for them.
Sometimes we even do pray for them, right there on the spot, or we have our handy prayer journal where we write them down and pray over those requests.
This is important, and such a good routine to get into!
But...do you regularly pray for your husband, for your children, and for yourself?
For your husband
I know many wives I support are praying for their husband to be delivered, to find Jesus, or to be convicted of certain sins.
While this is well and good, I want to offer some additional prayer points that we need to be covering for our men.
- His physical health
- His protection from the enemy's tactics over his body, mind, and spirit
- Favor at work, that he would do his job with efficiency and be well-respected
- Ministry opportunities
- Mentor relationships (that he would find an older, godly mentor and also someone younger to be a mentor himself)
- Growth in wisdom and discernment
- A deeper desire to know and follow God's will
- That he would fall more deeply in love with Jesus, and with you, his wife
- That he would love you as Christ loves the Church
For your children
It can become habit to pray for our children to grow closer to the Lord. This is a necessary prayer and we should always ask God to draw them closer to Himself. Here are several more prayer points to consider:
- Their physical health
- Their hearts to be soft towards God, and towards others
- Protection from the enemy, especially over their minds in light of how our current society is trying to deceive them
- Godly friendships
- Wisdom in making decisions
- Discernment in choosing friends, and choosing their future spouse
- Their future spouse, that they are growing in godliness and spiritual strength and wisdom
- They would desire to glorify God each day of their lives, from the most mundane act of picking up something a person dropped, to the most heroic in serving and saving others
- Joy would abound in their hearts as they rest in Jesus as their sufficiency
- That they would honor you and their father, as God commands
For yourself
This is an area we often find imbalanced. Either we're praying for God to bless us and neglecting to pray for growth, or we're praying for conviction and neglecting to ask for things we simply want. Consider adding these prayer points to your daily prayers over yourself.
That God would reveal to you His instructions for godly wives, and equip you to follow them.
That God would cultivate a deeper desire to obey Him, and to please and serve your husband.
For more joy in motherhood, and strength to intentionally cast off self-pity
Blessings over your home, those who enter it, and grace as you pursue hospitality
Your physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental health
Protection from the enemy's tactics - wisdom and discernment to recognize them when they come
That God would equip you to submit to, respect, honor, and obey your husband
AND...
Birth Mom or Birth Dad
If you're part of a blended family where the birth mom and/or birth dad are still involved, pray over them as well:
They would come to know, or grow in the knowledge of, Christ as their Lord and Savior
Their relationship with their child(ren) would be healthy, thriving, and close
God's blessing over their families and marriage, if applicable
Protection over their physical, spiritual, and mental health
I would love to hear: are these already part of your daily prayers, or are these some points that are often forgotten or overlooked?
What would you add to these daily requests?
To grab your free printable with ALL the daily habits of a godly wife, click here!
Oftentimes the discussion around living a godly wife lifestyle has a lot to do with ensuring you're studying scripture and learning God's instructions and expectations.
This is the most important thing to do!
You can't become a godly wife when you don't know what you're supposed to be doing. Read the instructions (aka The Bible).
Likewise, it's very, very easy for us to fall back into sin when we aren't feeling well.
When we experience:
- fatigue
- exhaustion
- headaches
- sleeplessness
- irritability
- inability to concentrate
Despite knowing that we *should* submit to our husbands, and we *should* show them respect, we can often snap at them (or our children) when we're experiencing anything from the list above.
There are several tools related to this area of physical, mental, and emotional wellness that I have found to be extremely helpful.
1. MightyPro
This is a pre- and pro-biotic, technically formulated for kids, but I love it so I take as well. Gut health is HUGE. When our gut isn't healthy, it can throw everything else out of whack, like our immune system so we get sick more easily, it affects our emotions, brain function, everything.
It tastes like a Pixie Stick, so my 2-year-old loves it as well. He can't quite "shoot" it like a Pixie Stick, so my tip for little ones is to put it in a shallow bowl or cup and let them get it on their finger and lick it off.
2. NingXia Red
Ningxia Red is a powerful antioxidant supplement drink made from wolfberry puree that packs such a punch, you only need a tiny 2oz serving each day. This is another one that my little guy loves because it's delicious! NingXia provides total body wellness. Here are just a few of its benefits:
- Supports a healthy immune system
- Helps us be proactive against all the germs coming our way
- Provides energy support
- HUGE source of antioxidants
- Support brain and joint health
- Supports healthy hormone levels
- Supports healthy blood sugar levels
- Can help curb sugar cravings
- Whole-food, nutrient dense supplement full of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and polyphenols
3. Super B
Super B is a B complex supplement that is great for maintaining healthy energy levels, supporting mood and cardiovascular and cognitive function. Our current lifestyles often leave our adrenal system (our fight or flight response) on overdrive, and B vitamins are a great way to support that system!
NingXia Red and Super B work so well together to help with regulating all the body systems and having natural energy. If your energy is depleted, it's so much easier to get irritable and impatient.
4. Exercise
This is a HUGE factor. Exercise not only helps our body to maintain the movement it was designed to have regularly, but it also helps our organs and muscles to be challenged. Regular exercise ensures that our bodies burn calories, which is a natural function of the body. It helps us to increase energy, strength, stamina, sleep better, reduce stress, and just feel better.
If you don't yet exercise regularly, please check out BodyFit by Amy on YouTube. Her channel is full of FREE workouts that you can do at home, many of them with no equipment so you don't have to purchase a single thing. She offers modifications not only for beginners, but also for pre- and post-natal moms, as well as experienced exercisers who need to up-level.
God created plants, fruits, and trees with so many different functions, all for our benefit. Scripture speaks of using plants as medicine.
When choosing oils, you want to be sure they are of the highest quality and purity. This is why I choose Young Living. They are the only company that owns their own farms and is involved in the process from choosing the soil to packaging the product. They ensure quality the entire way through with their Seed to Seal Promise, never leaving anything to chance. They perform rigorous testing, using third parties, and will often allow an item to go out of stock simply because it doesn't meet their high quality standards. You get what you pay for, and in order to ensure the health of my family, I will gladly pay for the quality, purity, and expertise I know goes into each Young Living product.
Here are some oils I would recommend for us with helping to regulate emotions:
Valor (helps with anxiety)
I recommend diffusing in your bedroom nightly to help with getting restorative sleep each night.
The most important thing is to take care of your health with good food, sleep, water, exercise, and ensure you are studying God's Word every single day.
The other measures won't mean anything if you aren't plugged into Him as your source of power.
They are simply tools that He has created in order to help you in your journey.
I am so grateful for these tools and will gladly accept them from Him! Will you?
If you have questions any any or all of these, please reach out and let me know. One of my goals is to make sure that we are being good stewards of our finances, and that means helping you save money. Please reach out to me so that I can help you place your first order and get the best deal possible for you and your family.
Which of these areas do you struggle with the most?
Fatigue, irritability, focus, something else?
Share in the comments and let me know how I can pray for you.
When you're in a difficult season, it's so easy to feel defeated.
- When your child is a prodigal.
- When your marriage is falling apart.
- When your doctor gives you a terrible diagnosis.
- When a loved one dies.
- When you lose a home, a job, or a friendship.
- When finances are tight, or non-existent.
It can be SO easy to think to yourself, "If only this would change, I could be happy. If only..."
What does God have to say about things like this?
First, we are to weep with others when they weep. When you find yourself in a season of weeping, you allow yourself to weep and work through those emotions, and you surround yourself with people who, like Job's friends, will just sit in the weeping with you.
Second, you lean into God as your source of comfort, of relief, and of your JOY.
Scripture tells us in Romans 18:18:
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."
It's important to remember that nothing happening to us on earth can compare to the beauty and indescribable joy awaiting us in eternity.
When we get there, nothing here will matter anymore. All that will matter is being in the presence of Jesus.
Yes, it's painful to think about your child rejecting God and missing out on this glory. It's painful to walk through a divorce, or scary medical diagnosis, or a betrayal.
But when you feel as though you need your child's salvation, or your marriage to be a godly marriage, or you need to have all of your bills paid, in order to feel joy, then you have elevated those things ABOVE Jesus.
When you seek something other than Jesus for your joy, you've made that thing an idol.
Christ is sufficient for us.
2 Corinthians 5:8 tells us
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work."
We have all sufficiency, in ALL things, at ALL times. And the reason for this is so that we can abound in every good work.
It's difficult to do good works when we're anxious, depressed, waiting on something else to bring us joy, isn't it?
Sweet friend, you don't have to wait to do good. You don't have to wait to find JOY.
Psalm 16:11
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
James 1:2-4
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Proverbs 10:28
The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.
When we place our focus on Christ, and recognize His sufficiency and ability to BE our complete joy, we will have that joy in abundance - even when we aren't getting the earthly things we want or think we need.
Can you believe this today?
Can you believe Christ alone is sufficiently able to bring you all joy and peace, regardless of your earthly circumstances?
Comment below and let me know how I can pray over you today.
Most of the moms I know who are stressed out and in desperate need of self-care are the same moms who insist that they simply don’t have time.
Between full-time work; distance learning with multiple children; running a household; building a business; supporting a husband; and being a friend, there just seems to be no time left at the end of the day.
I think a lot of the time, we equate self-care with taking a long bubble bath, or spending an hour at the gym.
What if I told you that some self-care activities could be done in just minutes, or even seconds?
If you find yourself too busy to commit to regular self-care, check out a few of these instant (or almost-instant!) self-care ideas.
1. Stretch
Stand up, put your hands on your back like they’re in your back pockets, and do a back extension. We spend so much time hunched over our computers, leaning forward over the stove, putting laundry away. This simple stretch is SO good for our backs! Then just raise your hands overhead and stretch upwards.
2. Drink water
The time it takes to get up and fill a glass of water, then drink it, can be used as just a minute to breathe. This also helps you to get a little more hydrated, which can do wonders for your mindset and health.
3. Check out the daily story on the Bible app
This is a new feature that has only just recently rolled out. It’s the verse of the day, a 1-3 minute video thought from a pastor or Bible teacher, a quick devotional to read, and then a 1-2 sentence prayer. It’s new every day, it’s not a plan that requires you to stay caught up, it takes only minutes, and it’s always refreshing. If you miss a day, it’s no big deal. You’re not behind, you just check out the story the next day.
4. Use a Stress Away roller
Stress Away is one of my favorite Young Living essential oil blends. I keep a roller in my purse to use any time I need it, and I diffuse it a LOT now being home all the time. If you’ve never used it before, I would be more than happy to send you a sample! Just one quick inhale of this blend and you feel like you’re transported to a tropical island.
5. Pet your dog or cat
Did you know studies show people with pets live longer? Why is that? Because spending a minute petting our furry family can slow our heart rate and release dopamine and seratonin, which regulates your mood and reduces stress. Just make someone else clean up the poop.
Here are a few other bonus ideas for you:
- Send a short Facebook message or text to check in on a friend
- Mail a hand-written letter or quick postcard
- Go for a quick, 5-10 minute walk
I also know that the idea of making sure you complete some kind of self-care can feel daunting and stressful in itself, because it’s just one more thing you “should” be doing. If none of these activities resonates with you, find something that DOES.
True self-care is taking care of yourSELF, not anyone else, so you need to find things that make you feel good. If you miss a day, don’t stress.
Just know that YOU are important. You can’t serve anyone if you’re stressed to the point of sickness. It’s imperative that you stay healthy, and one major component to this is finding whatever self-care works for you.
So tell me, if you had all the time and money in the world, what act of self-care would you choose?
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