Wednesday: I failed - - but I won.

Today, I admit I have been on Facebook. But this encounfter with it was different. I posted yesterday's blog late. But I also had amazing conversation with people who missed me not being on. This is something that is always a feel good moment.

Now..

Let me explain how I failed..but I won. I did not make it a week. But get the opportunity to develop my mindset about this compulsive relationship I have with this website. I have been funneling my energy into projects, getting the house clean, imagining how to get Clara's room to look more like a little girl's room and less like a mess and many other life enriching things.

• I won because I am continuing to break the chain of needing that constant reassurance.
• I won because I am developing my relationship with God
• I won because I am working on projects left to sit for a while.
• I won because I am spending more quality time with Clara
• I won because I am breaking up the monotony.

Sometimes it's not about achieving the learning experience, the progress, the ability to re-prioritize, and the ability to love on people.

God has so many ideas floating around in my head. Now to get them organized. God had a greater plan for this experience. So excited to share life with you!!

~MJ~

Tuesday: A Long Day

Today is Wednesday but I am going to recap yesterday here and move on to Wednesday in a new post. Yesterday I worked out and planned much of my next week from a work out perspective. Getting on that treadmill after a week off was like moving dead weight. After fifteen minutes on the treadmill I had convinced myself that I was dying. I realized then that I need to get back on and do it again.

Yesterday I:
-brainstormed some ideas for a project
-did a devotional for the first time in forever, A Faith and Culture Devotional
-mopped the kitchen/cleaned the cabinets
-gained some insight through a beautiful parenting book "Girls!: Helping Your Little Girl Become an Extraordinary Woman"
-spent some lovely time with my little one
-took a risk adding milk chunky salsa, beans, and peas to my mac and cheese (which wasn't bad at all... just different.

I constantly feel God knocking on the door to a heart that has been filled with so many tasks and the chronic necessity to fill my time instead of using it wisely. As a person with ADHD, I am chronically distracted. It takes so much energy for me to focus that by the time I do I fall asleep. I fell asleep doing homework the other night for this very reason. Here is God telling me that I need to accept my adulthood and tune this disorder into a blessing. Often a blessing to having this is that I comprehend things quickly and have a constant desire to move on. When I fill my life with things that are not just tasks I have a fuller feeling.

I hope this blesses you.

Romans 12:12 says, "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be in constant prayer."

~MJ~

Monday Part 2: Time with God (John)

So I randomly picked John to read because I found out the deadline for my homework was extended. I decided now was a great time to read the Word of God over my Kahlua. Here are my conclusions drawn:

John 1:1 - In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God (typing from memory).

So the "word" in Greek is Logos. Logos in college English is a used as a method of persuasion. Logos in Eng 101 was using logic to sway someones opinion or market their idea. So the word, Logos, was in the beginning, it was with God and it was God. 

Logos means something said (including the thought); by implication a topic (subject of discourse), also reasoning (the mental faculty) or motive; by extension a computation; specifically (with the article in John) the Divine Expression (that is, Christ): - account, cause, communication, X concerning, doctrine, fame, X have to do, intent, matter, mouth, preaching, question, reason, + reckon, remove, say (-ing), shew, X speaker, speech, talk, thing, + none of these things move me, tidings, treatise, utterance, word, work.

Logos, long story short, is a motive, a topic reasoning. Basically the main idea. This verse tells us that God never changes. In the beginning He had the same character as he does now. He had the same logic and the same reasoning. So, in a sense He and the spirit were one.

John 1:4 - In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Light: to make manifest.

He manifested himself within humans. God gave us the capability to be one with him. That is huge.

John 1:5 - And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. 

Comprehended: to take eagerly, that is, seize, possess, etc. (literally or figuratively): - apprehend, attain, come upon, comprehend, find, obtain, perceive, (over-) take.

Darkness is the devil, those without the spirit of God within them did not take hold or take hold of the light (God).

MJ

Monday Part I

Well.. Hello!

As soon I realized it was Monday, even though the hubbs is home from work, I promptly logged off of my Facebook and have only preceeded to type the website address without logging in.

It is now 3 pm and I have am almost two weeks ahead in math class, the kitchen counter is clean and the sink is empty. I also stuffed my cloth diapers (that have been clean in the laundry bag for a few weeks now) and ran around the playground without desperately checking my Facebook every five minutes.

My strange addiction is become self actualized as I am really having to challenge myself on how to use my new spare time differently. I have cleaning the bathroom, folding and sorting the laundry, and mopping the floors. I have also considered opening the Word and having devotional time as well as going to the gym uninterrupted. 

So, I leave you this:

1-Find new things ways to spend time: a hobby, cleaning, or God time might suffice.

2-Slow down and enjoy the moments. Don't run from one thing to the next fueling that restlessness as well.

3-Breathe.. breathe in the Word of God.

~MJ~

...Facebook...

My neighbor's post really hit me. What are we communicating to the world when we post things on the internet

Being brutally honest, this often looks at like #mybabyisamazing, #lookatmylife, #lookatme, #lookatmyfamily. I post things simply to jab around and get people either laughing or discussing a topic. Often it is something I feel strongly about. I have very strong beliefs and social positions and I like to discuss them. While I try to post about God, I too often am the same person who is posting something inappropriate to generate a cheap laugh.

As I read his post I asked myself: Where is God? My fiance and I talked about how much time I spend/waste on Facebook. It is true, I am a chronic user. I am an addict. I check my Facebook page more than a diabetic checks their blood sugar. Then I chronically have every intention of getting into the word, or stop procrastinating about my college homework, and suddenly I am back on Facebook. I find myself pursing this need for validation or how many people have liked/commented my posts.

This is ridiculous. 

God desires to be the center of my life. He desires to use me as a vessel to show my daughter values. He wants me to open the window for him to come in.

Romans 8:38-39 says, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither ?height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  ...nor Facebook..

If I am filling every window with Facebook.. what else am I doing? The answer is...nothing.

If I am filling every moment with Facebook.. what time am I giving God? The answer is...none.

Maybe it's time for a break. A vacation. A staycation. I often dream of going to a cabin that is completely unplugged. The truth is I could create that environment without the woods or the cabin.

I challenge everyone who reads this: Journey with me.. to the center.. put God there.. and the rest will follow.

One Week sans constant checking and posting Facebook.
This week I will strictly post about Jesus and divine enlightenment... That's it.

Can you do it?

Starting Monday 2/17...

~MJ~

Does God call you in the Shower?

Before, I wanted to write this blog to bestow advice of motherhood to other new and needing mothers. I made lists of the places to buy kids clothing, what to do when thinking about medication for your child, and inspirations by other bloggers. I soon forgot it existed and consumed myself in other things.

Then God came to me in the shower.

He planted this desire to use this blog to glorify him. I have been consumed with brainstorming ideas on how to organize, make money at home, how to start homeschooling with my fourteen month old precocious daughter, and when to start devotionals with her. I have this burning desire to teach her Jesus and the fear of doing it wrong that consumes me. I have this goal of getting into the Word and this need to do everything but open my bible.

Immediately, I began to procrastinate. My dishwasher is loaded, the floor is vacuumed, Clara's high chair is squeaky clean, and I finished all of my homework way before it is due.

I began to ponder what to write about in my [His] blog...




MJ