MrsMoneysaver giveaway

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Starting a 366 day devotional!

I had a random idea come to me this morning that I could write one of those daily devotionals that have a short passage of Scripture and then a few words of encouragement, advice to go along with that passage. It's something that I can do each day and finish instead of an ongoing story that I just don't have the time for with my two young children running around. So I did the first three days of the devotional today and want to get your input...do you think this could be a success? Is it something you would want to read?

January 1

“…These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.”

Mark 7:6b-7

Lord, help my worship to be genuine and heartfelt.

Let my life be an example of You and Your mighty works.

Please help me to not get caught up in the motions

But rather serve you with a committed and willing life.

Are you just going through the motions of worshipping and serving God?

Do you need to experience God in a real way? Make a conscious

decision today to make this year one of true worship and service to the Lord.

January 2

“Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends.”

Proverbs 17:9

Lord, are there any areas of unforgiveness in my heart? Am I holding on to some wrong or hurt that I need to let go of and ask You to heal? Lord reveal to me any areas where I need to forgive someone and mend any rifts between me and my friends.

You may feel justified in holding a grudge against someone for some past wrong, but when you do not forgive a person for whatever they have done to hurt you, you aren’t hurting them as much as you are hurting yourself. Think about God’s amazing forgiveness that He has bestowed on us! If He can forgive us, in His almighty perfection, then we most certainly can forgive others when they wrong us.

January 3

“The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh every morning.”

Lamentations 3:22-23

Thank you Lord for your unending, limitless love and mercy! What comfort I get from knowing that there is nothing I can ever do to make you not love me; in knowing that your forgiveness toward me is immeasurable!

Did you know that God loves you exactly like you are at this very moment? Did you mess up today and do something you regret? Guess what, God’s love for you hasn’t changed one little bit and His forgiveness knows no bounds!

And Life Goes On...

With the sudden and heart breaking loss of my mother in law I feel as if I am walking in a haze, as if the world I see around me isn't quite clear and not what it once was. I never in a million years thought that I would lose my mother in law only 5 and half years after marrying her son. I never thought that I'd be going through this at age 25, that my children would grow up not having two sets of grandparents. Through Elsie's death I realized how close she and I truly were. The countless conversations about life, God's Word, children, marriage, cooking, decorating, and hopes and dreams... The many outings together... The days of sending the kids to visit her for the day while I had a day to myself... The future plans of going to Disney World and Hershey Park... All of that has come to a sudden end. Death is the one thing in life that is unchangeable. Pretty much everything else you do or go through in life can be changed if you try hard enough. Death cannot be changed, no matter how badly you want it to. I've never been one who handles changes very gracefully. Change makes me uncomfortable and sometimes down right panicky. This is one of life's biggest changes and I don't know how to handle it. I think I am handling it well to all who observe me, but internally it's not going so well. I don't want my mother in law to be gone. I dont' want my husband to not have a mom anymore. I don't want Aden and Emma to never spend time with their grandma again. I don't want any of this and I don't like it and there is nothing I can do about it. Whether or not I am ready for life to going on, it does. When life stops for one, it keeps going on for the living. I know that eventually we will find ourselves in a "new normal". I know that because it's so fresh, and I can't imagine life without her, it doesn't seem that life will ever be normal again, and in some ways it won't. It won't ever be the same, it can't be, but it doesn't mean it can't be good again. I don't see how the ache of this pain in my heart will ever lessen, but I know it will, it does for everyone who loses a loved one. It's hard right now to get out there and do the things I've always done, like clean house, run errands, take the kids to playdates. It is what it is and I won't act like there isn't a big ugly monster named Grief hovering around me.
I know my mother in law would want us to keep living life to the fullest and to grow closer to God and to one another. I know she would not want us to sit around and mourn our lives away, and I have no intention of doing that. I just have to sort out what life will be like now that she isn't in it and that's hard. It's the hardest thing I have ever had to do. This year has been filled with the hardest things I have ever had to live through. I think I've had to do a lot of growing up this year and all that growing is painful. I know that I will see my mother in law again. She was a devout Christian woman and I draw comfort in knowing she is with our Savior now, immersed in His glorious presence, that when my time comes I will see her again. It's not a goodbye, but rather a see you later.
I am not sure where all this was going, other than I just needed to write about my feelings. I pray that the Lord has some better times for Jon and I and that they are coming soon...
I love you Elsie and I will miss you greatly.

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A New Adventure

I have decided to start being a better steward of the money my hard working husband makes for us. I have never been one to recklessly spend money and have always hunted for good bargains and shopped clearance racks and sales. We live quite frugally compared to alot of people, but there is one area where I can really do a better job, and that's in the grocery department. The playgroup I am involved with is very much into coupon clipping and watching the ads of various stores to make the coupons and their money go as far as possible. After listening to all their stories of finding good bargains and getting things for next to nothing/free I have really been inspired to begin this journey for myself. I am not exactly sure how to do it all yet, but with time I am sure I will get the knack of it and I cannot wait to see the money we will save. I already can feel it will become a new obession in my life and will benefit my family greatly! I hope to have some awesome results from this new adventure to blog about soon!

I have learned in whatever circumstance to be content....

What a trying 6 weeks it has been. February 27th brought about news that could have been devastating if it weren't for my relationship with the Lord and the steadfast knowledge that He is faithful and I can trust that He has my best in store. Due to things beyond our control Jon was faced with the situation where he had to find another job by April 1st. This news brought about overwhelming fear and amazing excitement. How can one experience both these emotions simultaneously you may ask. Well I was fearful simply because of the unknown and the lack of job opportunities in this economy. I was excited because we both knew this was an opportunity from the Lord. We both knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was all orchestrated by Him and that He had something much better planned. So the struggle began...my human nature to worry and fear over the what if's this situation brought about and the spiritual nature to give my worries to the Lord and trust Him throught it all. I made a conscious decision to do something that didn't come naturally and that was to worship God and praise His name in the face of the storm. I clung to certain songs on the Christian radio station and sung them from my heart to God's. One in particular is a song called "Blessed by Your Name" by Tree63...here are the lyrics.

Blessed be your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where the streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

Blessed be your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's all as it should be
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, Blessed be your name

Then on March 24th I got more bad news. News I wasn't in any way prepared for. News that sent me reeling and despairing for a bit. I found out that day that doctors had found a tumor on my moms lung and it was indeed cancerous. She had been suffering with severe back and chest pain for 2 weeks when she finally went to the doctor seeking relief. During the course of these doctors visits they did a Cat Scan and found this tumor. We all saw Gods hand in this though, because they caught it at the very earliest stage and therefore it is small enough to be removed with surgery. Usually with this kind of cancer people don't know they have it until they are coughing up blood and then it's advanced and much harder to treat. I went through all the what ifs on March 24th. I think I must have cried for five or six straight hours. I cried until there wasn't anymore tears left in me. My soul felt like it was breaking. To be faced with this uncertain financial situation and then with my mom being sick was more than I thought I could bear. God apparently thinks more of me than I do myself! I summarization, this hasn't been easy, but I know the Lord is growing me through this. I can't wait to see the testimony that comes out of these situations. I pray that I can be an encouragement to others through this and because of all this. I know that God has amazing things in store for my family, all in his time, which is never late. During the course of these trials my little boy Aden accepted Jesus into his heart! Nothing could be better than that and I got to be the one who led him to the Lord. God has sent me amazing friends who have been such encouragements to me during these difficult weeks. God has already worked miracles and will continue to do so. Jon still hasn't found a permanent job but God gave him something temporary until May 1st. God knows the deadline, he knows our needs and He has unlimited ways of providing for us. Mom's surgery is on th 16th and the doctors are certain they can get it all with surgery. Praise the Lord she doesn't have cancer anywhere else in her body. Praise the Lord that he has shown her an abundance of love through so many people through this. Praise the Lord for his faithfulness and goodness in the midst of lifes storms. He never leaves or forsakes us. He does want us to grow and without difficulties we would remain immature. We have to allow Him to change us and mature us. We have to make that choice to worship and trust Him in the scary parts of life. If God can save my soul and make this world in 6 days I know he can take care of all our needs, and take care of my mom through the surgery and give her a quick and uncomplicated recovery time. So after you read this I would appreciate your prayers for my mom's surgery on the 16th and her 6 weeks of recovery to follow and for God to open up and lead Jon to the job He already has picked out just for him. I pray you have been encouraged that God is there for you too and that no matter what you are going through at this very moment He is right there working in it behind the scenes for your best. Just let go and trust Him, He'll never let you down.

Update

This blog is to update everyone on the fact that for the time being I am not completing the 30 day challenge in it's entirety. Without going into detail, something has come up (not between Jon and I, we are doing wonderfully!) and is taking most to all of my attention and focus right now. I would appreciate everyone's prayers. God knows the situation and the need and I know He already has it all worked out, we just have to wait on His timing and direction. So with that being said, I am going to continue to be positive and encouraging to the best of my ability but I am not mentally in a place to do each and every specific challenge every day. I hope that sooner rather than later I can blog about what the situation is and will have a testimony of how God worked it all out!