2 A Woman After God's Own Heart

Greetings fellow sojourners!  I hope everyone is having a nice day so far.  I have mentioned before on the blog that I am in a year long study at my church called Esther's Women.  The study is comprised of a group of  ten women and we meet once a month to discuss a book that we were assigned to read.  The purpose of Esther's Women is for us to commit to one year to the development of our leadership potential and Christian character formation.  I can already tell that this group is helping me to refine my leadership skills and is enabling me to have a deeper relationship with Christ.  I have enjoyed all of the books we have read, but this month I particularly enjoyed our book, "A Woman After God's Own Heart" by Elizabeth George.  I had first read this book when Raleigh and I were engaged but I really enjoyed reading it again from the perspective of a wife and mother.  It offers practical tips on building your ministry, taking care of your home, and supporting your family as a Christian woman.

I know some of you might say, "Well, I am not a minister, so I don't really need this book for a ministry."  My answer to you is, "Yes you do!"  We all have a ministry whether we realize it or not.  How we act in our daily lives directly reflects our relationship with the Lord.  People are watching you and me constantly to see how we react to conflict, trials, and even joyful occasions.  Do we rely on God's strength and give him the glory?  Or, do we complain when times get tough and brag on ourselves when something is great?  Elizabeth writes, "We want what other people see of our lives - the public portion - to stir up this kind of awe and wonder.  We want our strength in public to be explained by what goes on in private between us and God."  So, how do we draw near to God's heart?  Here are three steps:

1. Develop a habit of drawing near to God. Only through routine, regular exposure to God's Word can you and I draw out the nutrition needed to grow hearts of faith.  We have to be firm with ourselves and aim for habitual, scheduled time with God whether we feel like it or not, whether it seems like the best use of my time or not.
2. Design a personal time for drawing near to God. As women we're used to designing, planning, and scheduling the events of life.  We know how to pull off parties, projects at work, weddings, and retreats.  When it comes to planning, your quiet time should be no different - especially considering its eternal value.  Plan out when, where, and whatever aids you need to have an intimate moment with God.
3. Dream of being a woman after God's heart. Motivation is key when it comes to nurturing a heart of devotion, and dreaming helps motivate us.  As a wake-up call to the seriousness of daily life and to find fresh urgency about your walk with the Lord, describe the woman you want to be spiritually in one year.

The next area in the book that captured me was about having a heart that creates order from chaos.  If any of you are like me, cleaning my home is seen as a chore rather than an enjoyment.  1 Timothy 5:14 states, "I will therefore that the younger women...guide the house."  How do we find time to manage our home with work, kids, husbands, and other activities?  Elizabeth tells us to:

1. First, understand that home management is God's best for us.  Home management is His plan, His way.  It's His good and acceptable and perfect will for us (Romans 12:2).
2. Second, decide to take home management seriously.  If we manage our homes effectively, we will have time to be involved in church ministry.
3. Third, live as though you will be accountable for the condition of your home and the use of your time...because you will!  How would the Lord - and your family - rate your service, your meals, and your management?

Finally, one of the most helpful parts of the book was about caring for my family and myself.  Elizabeth writes, "Your husband is your life mate.  Whatever he is like, he is God's good and perfect gift to you, part of God's plan for your personal fulfillment and, more important, for your spiritual development.  Your Christian character becomes evident each and every time you choose from your heart to bend, to yield, to honor, to submit, to follow your husband.  It's one way that you, as a woman after God's own heart, honor God."  In regards to being a mother, she writes that we are the Number One influence in our children's lives and we should treat them as people that we want to be with, play with, and people that should be our highest human priority after our husbands.  In order for us to practice our priorities, she tells us how to assign numbers to our priorities.

1. God
2. Your husband
3. Your children
4. Your home
5. Your spiritual growth
6. Your ministry activities
7. Other activities

During your quiet time, ask God to show you how you can manage these priorities and what he wants you to do today for each of these priorities.  If you follow these steps of planning, praying, and scheduling, you soon discover how comforting it is to get up from your time of prayer with a clear plan for your day.

"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.  Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands so that no one will malign the word of God."

Till next time, let your light shine!

Blessings, christen

***All notes are from "A Woman After God's Own Heart" by Elizabeth George

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3 Smitten

Almost ten years ago, my sweet husband began to knock me off my feet.  We started dating my senior year of high school and the whole year we wondered if we would be able to continue dating when I went off to college and he stayed in Dothan to start his final year of high school.  That year, he truly did everything he could to convince me that it was possible for us to continue dating in a long distance relationship.  One night, about this time of the year, he surprised me with a very romantic date.  He picked me up in his green Explorer and told me that he had a surprise for me.  I believe I had to cover my eyes with a bandanna as he drove so I wouldn't know where we were going in our very familiar town.  As we zipped and turned around the corners, I had no idea what he had up his sleeve or where we were going.  Finally, I was able to remove the bandanna from my eyes and to my confusion we were at the local soccer complex.  I looked at Raleigh Price with a bewildered eye because surely he didn't expect me to play soccer in my sundress?!?  He gave me a smile and told me that tonight we would not be playing soccer but we would need to go out on the field for me to get my surprise.  Hand in hand, we walked to the center of the field and there before me he had laid out a blanket, c.d. player, food, and a box.  As we sat down on the blanket, he told me to open up the box for my first surprise.  Anxiously, I unwrapped the box and inside I found a star-gazing kit.  After opening up the kit, we laid on our backs and tried to figure out which constellations we were looking at.  After gazing for a bit, Raleigh told me to look for one particular star and after finding it, he looked at me and told me that was my star.  He had bought a star just for me!  I was shocked and in love all at the same time!!!!

The night did not end with that surprise.  After giving him a kiss and a hug, he turned on the c.d. player and asked me to dance.  I was a bit nervous because cars were driving by heading to the late-night baseball games but I took his hand anyways and we danced to the song, "Dancing in the Moonlight."  It was very "A Walk to Remember" but I didn't care....he had me smitten by the end of the evening.  Afterwards, I called my best friend and told her all about our romantic evening.  For days, my heart was so full I really felt like I was floating.

On Saturday, I got that same feeling all over again looking down at my sweet baby girls.  It is a feeling that is indescribable yet so gratifying to know that these little people were created from the love shared by their parents.  Raleigh and I both agreed that the kisses we got to plant on their foreheads were by far the best kiss of the day! :)

I knew from the moment I started dating Raleigh that he was a guy that I could have in my life for a very long time.  We always knew each other through playing soccer and mutual friends, but we didn't really hang out until one Friday night the beginning of my senior year.  From that moment on, our personalities just clicked and he became one of my best friends.  We have gotten to share so much of our lives with each other already and I am so thankful that we are sharing this experience together. A week before the babies were born, my Esther's Women bible study met at our house and we each received a gift and a scripture verse.  My gift was a deer antler and the verse that accompanied it was Psalm 91:1-2, "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust."  

When we started discussing the gift and the scripture, I shared that the antlers were a visual image to me of control.  As I have mentioned before, I am very Type A and I like to plan and have control of my days.  Since I have stopped working, I have really had to have a personality of submittance to my husband and let him have more control over our family life, finances, etc.  At first, I struggled with that loss of control because I felt like my days weren't as worthwhile as they used to be even though I was staying very busy and disciplined while at home.  It was not a coincidence that the verse that correlated with the antlers was about having a shelter (aka a "home") and trusting in the Lord.  As a constant student, I once again learned that evening that I need to put my home and our family in the hands of our Most High.

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."  We have gone back to that verse many times over the past three years but it certainly rings true during this time of affliction.  I had to patiently wait seven years to accept Raleigh as my husband and now the Lord is teaching me patience as our girls grow each day.

Friends, thank you so much for your prayers and for sharing with us in our joys and sorrows.  Please continue to keep our family in your prayers.  The girls have been doing so well the past couple of days and today we started to hit a dip on this roller coaster.  To our amazement, both girls are breathing completely on their own so that is a huge accomplishment.  Now, our giants to conquer are feeding and infections.  Maralee might have a new infection so they started her on a new medicine.  Since she is still having to take another medication for her yeast infection, she has to have two different I.V.'s in her body.  Because of her being premature, her little veins can only handle so much and the nurses are having to constantly re-stick her so the I.V's can function right.  Also, today we found out that both girls have stopped taking breast milk because their little tummies weren't digesting it properly.  I had to give them a fresh sample of my milk so they can culture it for bacteria.  If bacteria shows up, they will have to take formula.  This was hard for me to hear because we are firm believers in the power of mamma's milk and it made me feel like I was giving them sour milk.  In the end, what matters most is that they get what they need to start packing on the pounds but I was just hoping it would be breast milk.

Maralee showing off her baby blues

Adeline getting some tummy time

This is quite a journey but Christ is quite the Savior.  I am so thankful for his love and for him giving me a family to love.  I pray that each of you take time out of your day to soak up his love for you.

Till next time, let your light shine!

Blessings, christen

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2 Blue or Pink....look and see!

Happy Friday!

Yay for the weekend.  I am PUMPED!  I remember in high school how much I used to look forward to the weekend.  Remember making plans with all your friends at school?  I always had a late birthday so I had to make sure someone would pick me up so I could go to whatever dinner, movie, event, etc. that was going on. 

Well, I'm pumped about this weekend.  In about an hour, I am going to be heading to Lake Martin with a new group that I joined at church called Esther's Women.  It's a group of about 12 women that have made a commitment to study different books for one year and it is a training ground for us to become leaders in our homes, church, and community.  I'll do a separate post on the first book and this weekend but I am really excited to meet some new people and spend some time in worship this weekend.  I bet we will have some really yummy food too....

Anyways, without further adue, we have some exciting news!  Thanks to everyone that voted on our poll but I have to say that the winners were the ones who voted for.....

GIRLS!!!!!!!!!!!

We are going to have identical twin girls!!!!!  There is a chance that they are fraternal (we won't know for sure until we meet them face to face) but it looks like they are still identical.  On Monday, Raleigh and I got to find out if we were having boys or girls!  My parents and Raleigh's mom got to come up and they had the best time seeing the little munchkins moving around on the ultrasound machine.  My pants are busting at the seams and my friend saved me with loaning me her Bella Band for the next couple of months.  It is neat to see my belly grow each week...it makes it all seem more real to know that there are two babies inside of me!  Wow, it still blows my mind! 

Below are the most recent pictures.  It was cool comparing our 12 week pictures with these at 18 weeks.  We think they have Raleigh's long legs right now :)  Both babies are growing at the same rate and they are about 6 inches and weigh 1/2 pound each. 

  

 

Friends, thank you for being so supportive of us during this time of our lives.  I promise I have tons more to share with all of you besides babies, but this is such a life-changing experience.  I love y'all and hope you all have a great weekend.

Till next time, let your light shine!

Blessings, christen

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