Simplify

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
look full in His wonderful face."

What interferes with you doing this? I know that there have been times that there were so many things in my life, I couldn't even see Him. It wasn't that I wasn't looking. Sometimes there were just so many distractions and things vying for my attention that I couldn't turn my eyes on Him.

What keeps our eyes off Him? Sometimes it is actual, tangible things like work or television or friends or family. Sometimes it is emotion things. Hatred or anger or sadness or unforgiveness. These things can cloud our vision for Him. Usually, it is some of all of it. For a lot of people it is serving God that gets in the way of seeing Him.  You get so busy doing for God you forget to just be with God.

For me, it was (and sometimes is) many things. As a home school mom, sometimes the work of educating my kids gets in the way of the reason I home school in the first place, which is to glorify God. Sometimes it is silly things like Facebook or Pinterest that take my time away from where it needs to be. (Not that these things are bad, but when they take your time and focus away from more important things, they can become destructive). A life-long struggle for me has been one with sleep. You see, I am a night owl. But to compensate for staying up late, I want to sleep late and/or take a nap. This has always been a struggle for me and continues to be as I need to get up and spend time with God before the day begins, but this is hard to do when I push "morning time" as late as I can. Another issue I have had before was my own emotions, whether it be anger, unforgiveness, selfishness, pride, or a number of other negative emotions that keep me from doing what I should do to spend time with my maker.

Do I have this perfect? Uh, no. I struggle with some or all of these things, and others not listed, not on this list. But, I will say, I am making the effort to simplify my life and make room for God, instead of trying to squeeze Him into the crevices. I limit my time on electronic media and TV time and I am working on getting to sleep sooner so I need less daytime sleep. I am trying to be more organized and streamlined so I don't waste time looking for things or redoing things that came undone. And there are a million ways to try to simplify your life. It is hard to prioritize your life, but if God is not number one in your life, all other areas will suffer. Trust me, i know.

So, in closing, look at your life. What is drawing you away from God? Where can you be more efficient with your time so you can spend time with the Savior? Take inventory. Make a list. And get to work!

Making good decisons

I recently read something that said one of the reasons people home school is out of fear of what their children will be exposed to. It went on to say that God does not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and a sound mind. It is that sound mind, not fear, that I feel motivates me and most if my fellow home schoolers. It is not that we feel we have to home school or our children will not grow up ...

Godly ( because God can work in any situation) but that we choose to raise our children up in the fear and admonition of the Lord on a minute to minute, day to day basis. We choose to make sacrifices of things that may or may not be an important part of growing up so that we can do this. Every man (or woman) needs to be convicted in their own heart as to the way their children are educated. Not motivated by fear of ridicule, social standards, financial hardship, rebellion from their kids, or personal inability.

 

Do I feel that home schooling is the best way? Of course. If you don't feel the same about the way you educate your children, maybe you should re-evaluate. Same with all the things you do. Don't settle for something less than what you have seen in scripture to be the best for you and your family. This goes for everything from education to church attendance to the way you eat to the job you have. We as Christians often settle for what is easier and sacrifice what God has planned for us in the process. A former pastor of mine said that in the Christian life, there is the good, better and best in most situations. Just because something is allowed by God, it does not mean it is the best for you or anyone else (1 Corinthians 6:12).

 

One other thing: I hate the phrase "Just follow your heart." Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" You heart can, and does, often lead you astray. Look at the divorce rate. Look at the number of unwanted pregnancies. These things often result in someone "following their heart" and not basing their life on scripture. Scripture will not lead you astray if you read it with an open heart to God (not what you feel) to reveal to what He wants you to do and not necessarily what you want.  Because we want things that are not Godly a lot of the time. Ok, most of us, most of the time, want to do our own thing. We want God to be pleased with it, so we do it and pray for His approval. Some questions are answered cut and dry in scripture. Others require research to find the answers. But the answers are there.

 

There have been many things that God has called me to do that I did not want to. But I knew it was the right thing. Did I like it? NO! But as soon as I got my own attitude in check, I began to enjoy it. This is how home school has been. I home schooled in obedience to God long before my "heart" was in it. I did a good job at it evidenced by the fruit I saw in my children. And as soon as I quit looking at it as something I was "forced" to do by God and looked at it as the privilege that it is, I began to enjoy it and was able to do it with a much better out look. That being said, I let God make that decision for me instead of doing it "my way" and asking Him to bless it. I knew from the beginning that this was the choice God wanted me to make and all I had to do was get on board with my attitude. The right decision was easy to make because my husband and I searched the scriptures diligently and sought counsel from spiritually mature people. And some of the tough decisions in life take time to make. But, once they are made, you can rest in the peace of knowing that you are doing what God wants you to.

 

Although it may seem like it, this isn't a pro-home school blog. I could give you a million and one reasons why I feel it is best, and in the future I might, but this is a pro-scripture blog. 2 Timothy 2:15 "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Do all that you do through faith, knowing why you do it, and having scripture backing you up. And if you do that, no one can tell you any reason that you shouldn't that will make any sense to you that isn't in the scripture.

Boneless buffalo wings

Ok, one of my favorite things to eat are boneless buffalo wings. I am waiting on my husband to come home to eat some with me now. He is a volunteer fireman and is at a meeting now. Anyway, my favorite ones are the ones we make. We buy Kroger brand pre-cooked chicken strips. They are not as good if you cook them from raw and make them fresh. We have tried. But Tyson's pre-cooked strips are just as good, but they cost more. So we try to stick with Kroger. Anyway...we cook them as instructed and check them with a meat thermometer. Now would be a good time to disclose I am a vomit phobe. Like majorly. I can be on Facebook and see a friend in Nebraska (I live in Mississippi) with a virus and get a little worried that someone else I know might have visited Nebraska, and particularly this person, and might have brought it to me or at the least the area around me that one day might come back to me. No exaggeration. Back to buffalo wings. We also make our own sauce. We use melted butter and Louisiana hot sauce. We have tried all the commercially prepared buffalo sauces only to find them too hot or too cool and ours is just right!!! Seriously, though, we have tried every kind and have not found one we love.  I also have tried them in almost every restaurant. Applebee's (Applebee's's?) are ok. They are a little hard sometimes. Ruby Tuesday's are a little too fancy. Buffalo Wild Wings are ok, too. I will eat any of those in a pinch. But nothing tops my homemade ones. I am also a purist. I do not use ranch or blue (bleu?) cheese. I like the burn. I also do not like the bones. I will eat the ones with bones if I am severely jonesing and there is nothing else available, but boneless are my favorite. I eat them until my mouth throbs and feels a little sore. I only drink unsweet (with sweeteners in it) tea with them. Sodas intensify the heat. Milk dampens the heat. I want the buffalo to invade my mouth unencumbered.

Why, might you ask, am I rambling about buffalo wings? Two reasons: 1. In case you haven't read my blog title, I like to be random. 2. I am hungry and tired of waiting to eat my beloved buffalo wings. 

Here is a picture of Applebee's wings (my second favorite) to make your mouth water.

 

Here is a picture of the actual wings we ate last night...jealous yet?????

 

 

All about me...ok, maybe not all, but a start

Okay, so here goes. This is like my third or fourth attempt at a blog. The others were on a specific topic, like weight loss. I was passionate about weight loss. I gave calorie counts. Exercise logs. Recipes. Then I got bored. You see, I liked talking about weight loss, but, well that is not all I like to talk about. I do like to talk about how to lose weight sometimes, but I also like to talk about home schooling. And crafts. And I love to cook. And I have diabetes. And I like to take vitamins as an alternative to medicine. And I have a son with Hydrocephalus. And I love clothes, but I am too cheap to pay full price. I love thrifting. I love God, and his son, Jesus. I like a good magazine. I love a good book. I am a little addicted to Pinterest. I always have to have my nails painted. I love dressing up but wear a t-shirt and jeans most of the time. I am curvy and finally like it that way. I am 32. I love music. I like to sing. I have been told I am smart and creative, but sometimes I act really dumb and what I create looks like poo. So, yeah...writing a blog about one topic is not my thing. I haven't ever been diagnosed with ADD, but I might should have been. I like doing more than one thing at a time and my thoughts often jumble and I make run-on sentences (although I am a huge grammar fan and could have been described in school as a nerd). So, this is me. If this sounds like someone you might be interested in following, please, go for it.

BTW: I may post five times a day or once a month. No promises here. I am not sure what I will actually do. As usual, I have huge plans and big expectations, but who knows!!