As we journey together “let us think of ways to motivate one another in acts of love and good works”(Hebrews 10:24 NLT)

REVIEW AND A GIVEAWAY: The Virtue Training Bible

Have you ever thought to yourself……”I wish that kids came with a manual!”

What if I told you they did! Your response might sound a lot like this…
“Yes Mary, I know. You are going to say the Bible is the ultimate life manual, but it is just too difficult and time consuming to know all the verses to any given subject.”

I know it’s challenging to run a home, manage schedules, raise godly kids, and be in ministry. And friends I have a full four year bible degree. And yet that was still SUPER hard for me. I had great intentions, but great intentions will only get you as far as you can throw them!

So back a year or so ago I was introduced to the Child Training Bible! As we have used it time and time again, I told my hubby that they needed to make one of these Bible’s based on the positive attributes we want our kids to embody…..AND low and behold a little less then a year later what should show it’s pretty little face in my Facebook newsfeed….THE VIRTUE TRAINING BIBLE! And what a blessing it has been!

We love and use both Bibles!

I highly recommend them, whether you are a mom or dad, grandparent, aunt or uncle, teacher, school administrator . These two tools can help your kids grow in their walk with God.

But what if you don’t interact with kids at all? This is a great way to study the Bible and the godly virtues it describes.

So I think it only fair to share a couple of struggles I faced in putting this bible together…..
1. It’s tight! The tabs have to overlap!
2. Use the right size Bible. I accidentally bought the smaller sized pew bible….yeah that was a bad move.
3. With all the tabs and highlighting, I started with highlighters but quickly decided colored pencils were the way to go! ( I really liked using the Crayola Twistable Colored pencils!.)
4. DO NOT do this in the car! I got myself so frustrated. I thought I was using my time wisely…..totally not worth it!

So outside of those really minor things, I highly recommend this tool! You will find that is truly is worth the time put into making it as you watch your child’s heart change!

So my next big question…….WHO WANTS A SET OF VIRTUE TRAINING BIBLE TABBERS?

You are responsible to buy your post it flags, and highlighting tools.

All you have to do it comment here and let me know why you want these TABBERS.
I will choose the winner next Friday!

GO CHECK THEM OUT,

VIRTUE TRAINING BIBLE

———————-THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED ————
CONGRATULATIONS ANESSA YOU WON!!!—————————-—

Book Review: Say Goodbye To Survival Mode By Crystal Paine

Do you live in survival mode?
You know where you never can get quite enough done. You are running from one place to the next, and doing lots of great things, and yet at the end of the day feeling as though you have accomplished next to nothing. Your exhaustion level is through the roof, and there most certainly cannot be enough hours in the day!.

I know exactly where you are.

As a mom of four, a Pastor’s wife and all the normal day to day stuff….I was living the above every single day! I went through this routine every year of setting goals but rarely accomplished them…mostly because I didn’t know or understand the rest of the process.

On a regular basis…literally every few minutes some days, my schedule/routine needs to change. Whether it’s an emergency my husband needs to take care of or unexpected issues with our autistic son. But our life is no different from yours! You have things too. Stomach bugs, broken arms, a death of a loved one. Work problems, washers and dryers that give up the ghost OR AS OF LATE FROZEN PIPES THAT YIELD LITTLE TO NO WATER,

After Reading Crystal’s Book at the beginning of this year, I realized that I had been approaching things only partially the way I should have been! Already in the two weeks, I have put these very simple ideas into practice, and what a huge difference!

The great thing I love about all of Crystals books and her blog MONEYSAVINGMOM.COM, is that everything is in small bite sized pieces. They are doable and VERY much attainable. As I head into 2014, I am not overwhelmed…I am excited!

Despite the fact that my routine or plans may change a bazillion times during the day, I have found that having a routine set and followed both before the kids AND hubby wake up in the morning and after the kids go to bed at night has really helped with the changed in between!

Here are just a few of my favorite quotes from the book!

Go check out her book!

www.GoodbyeSurvivalModeBook.com

I highly recommend it…..even if you are a highly organized person, you can still  gain wisdom from Crystal highly transparent book, and then share it with a friend!

And go check out her website

www.moneysavingmom.com 

 

1. I believe God loves us.
2. I believe Jesus came to walk among us and died to save us….and rose again.
3. I believe you should take a stand for what you believe in. Be non-violent in doing so and exercise your freedoms. If you don’t someday they could be gone, and you will regret not living out your freedoms.
4. I believe trying to ride the fence is dangerous business.
5. Live life as God created you to be NOT what everyone else thinks you should be.
6. I believe forgiveness is required but trust is not a given. (Humanly speaking)
7. I believe I am not perfect and have failed miserably in this life but God loves me despite all of that and refuses to let me stay that way!
8. I believe there are two sides to every story…if you don’t get all the facts and pass judgement on someone else you very well might miss out on some amazing people!
9. I believe Gossip damages more families than anything else.
10. I believe that no matter what, there is always an option to not sin and that we hold the choice in the palm of our hands……(let’s not split hairs people)

What are your pet peeves?

What’s your biggest pet peeve?

These questions all make me chuckle…..no joke….it makes me laugh!

Why?  Well because in a nutshell this is what you are asking….

” what do you like to complain about?”

            OR….BETTER YET…..

“What do you like to nag about?”

……or rant and rave about…..

Any everyone is willing to let you know what their pet peeves are, but call it what it is, and all of a sudden, everyone is saying oh but I was just sharing my opinion.  Now there are no borders…..young, old, saved, unsaved, every person has a pet peeve AND EVERYONE WANTS YOU TO KNOW WHAT IT IS.

I hear it at church, I hear it at the store, I hear it from friends and Facebook is littered with them.  So tell me how my believer friends are you different from my unsaved friend just below you on my newsfeed…these are what I see….

(Unsaved friend : ” OMG. I hate it when Facebook changes …it’s my biggest pet peeve EVER!”)

(saved friend : “OMGoodness,my biggest pet peeve is when FB Changes”)

Now what on earth is the difference?  NOT MUCH!

Okay so next scenario….

A huge picture of some guy that is supposed to be a representation of Jesus holding out his arms  (coincidently he looks more European, than  from Isreal) saying click like if you love Jesus and want to be like him, and then the very next thing you write is a RANT…..what are you communicating to people?

Hypocrisy?

Lack of Joy?

Lack of love?

Lack of grace?

Lack of patience?

How about …lack of self control?

How about what you are saying  Jesus is like?

Did your pet peeve help anybody grow in their walk with God?

Do we all complain?  Absolutely, we are all human!   But I challenge you to instead take those pet peeves to God, not post them to Facebook.  Keep a journal to write your frustrations in, don’t just share them to any old soul who will listen.

We all have things that frustrate us or drive us crazy, but our testimonies are on the line when we constantly complain, nag, gripe, rant, rave,…or share your pet peeves.

Whatever you cal it, it goes directly against God’s word which tells us

Rejoice in The Lord ALWAYS and again I say rejoice 

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. ESV

And

In EVERYTHING give thaNks

1 Thessalonians 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ESV

So I in thinking much about this over the last few months realized I have but one true pet peeve, and that is PET PEEVES!  lol how’s that for irony!

Lots of things take my breath away….the writing challenge told me I couldn’t use my husband or kids (because that is a given…AND IT IS). So know that they would be close to the top of my list.

It’s that moment when you go. ahhhh.   It makes you speechless and fills you with Joy all at the same time.  It can make you, smile, laugh and cry within minutes of each other or all at the same time….have you had moments like that?  I have and here are just a few of those  instances….

1. Creation…..in particular sunrises, sunsets, great views, baby animals, adult animals, and how the human body works…just to name a few!

2. People with great talent, whether it be musically, in art, in photography, and the list goes on and on.

3. GOD SIGHTINGS- now this isn’t actually seeing God, but in those instances where you can see that God himself orchestrated a miracle! A time when God defied natural laws and preserved a life or made himself known in an amazing way!

4. God’s Word-and how it seems to fit in the most amazing ways just precisely when I need it.

5. How God has worked in and through other people’s lives, specifically taking something horrendous and making it amazing!