Archived Goodness: Unusual Wisdom

I'm taking time off to refocus and enjoy my family this December. So I am sharing some of my favorite posts from the past. Here is a post from the archives:

In my effort to be what I am called to be and to trust that God knows best, I have come back to simply seeking wisdom.  Proverbs talks about wisdom being a great treasure worth pursuing and James 1:5-7 says:

 "If you need wisdom -- if you want to know what God wants you to do -- ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord."

There you have it.  If I ask, expecting to receive it, I will be given wisdom.  Done and done.  If I don't know how to handle a problem with my kids, I ask for wisdom. If I don't know how to organize my day, I ask for wisdom.  If I don't know the next step to take in life, I ask for wisdom.  How loving must God be to "gladly" tell you what He wants you to do?  Is anyone more wise than Him?  Could there ever possibly be a better answer than the one He would give?

So why don't we practice asking God for wisdom more? Could it possibly be that we have believed a lie that God doesn't care about our circumstances?  That He is concerned with the big stuff but not the small details in our lives?  If we don't believe that He really cares about us and every aspect of our lives do we really believe Him and His Word?  Psalms 37:23 says "The steps of the godly are directed by the LORD. He delights in every detail of their lives." (NLT)   Every detail means all of it!  Even what we may have deemed unimportant to Him.  With that knowledge we should be quick to sit at His feet seeking wisdom for all of the details. The things that trouble us day in and day out are not too hard for Him to fix.  They are not outside of His knowing.  All wisdom comes from God and if we have understanding or wisdom about anything it is because He has revealed it to us. 

I was reading in Acts one day a couple months ago where Stephen shares the story of Christian History leading up to Christ in a very condensed way.  Something new stood out to me this day though because God had already been stirring in my heart this new desire for seeking wisdom and a new understanding of the importance of it.  Acts 7:10 has a sentence right in the middle of it talking about Joseph (coat of many colors Joseph) where it says "God also gave Joseph unusual wisdom."

Wait.

Stop!

What?

"Unusual wisdom?"  I want that!  Can you imagine if there were more Christians in this world walking around with unusual wisdom from God?  How much more effective would we be in every aspect of our lives from the every day stuff to the once in a lifetime stuff?  My prayer has become "Lord, would you give me unusual wisdom?"  I am asking for wisdom anyway but unusual wisdom would be really great!

My belief is that Joseph had unusual wisdom because he was faithful to God, even in trials.  He endured, trusting God all the way through.

Let us pursue that kind of wisdom. It is beyond just doing what other smart people suggest.  Let us seek wisdom that allows us to become all that we are meant to be.  Let us be faithful in little so that we will be given much, unusual, wisdom.

I would encourage you to read Proverbs 2 and really ask God to show you how important His wisdom is to you and your walk with Him.  I'll leave you with Proverbs 2:9 to think over.  Speaking about wisdom and understanding it says: "Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will know how to find the right course of action every time."  What a promise!

What Christmas is All About: Love Came Down

A friend and I were talking the other day about how we can make sure our children know what Christmas is all about in this culture that is saturated with Santa and often times a water down version of the truth of Christmas.  It makes me question if our children miss the real reason? Even more than that, do they think the real reason is much less of a reason to celebrate than what they are saturated with?

All of this is why I love DaySpring and their heart for projecting our faith on our daily lives and in our homes.  The Love Came Down products are all about the real reason for the season.  I have fallen in love with this Love Came Down - Felt Advent Calendar.  You move the heart each day and you end up with Jesus.  Not just Christmas but Jesus.  The message is so beautiful and simple. As my children move the heart each day they are getting excited about getting closer to the day that "Love Came Down" in the form of a babe that is our Savior. 

When you hear that "Love Came Down"  I hope that your heart sings with joy.  I pray that this simple phrase stirs your heart with excitement because you have experienced that love and in return your children see you as the best example of what the real story of Christmas is really about.

The lovely Advent Calendar is on sale for $13.99 and DaySpring has several other products that speak to the beautiful reason for the season: Love coming down from a throne to feel the limitations of flesh, to experience pain and loss and grief and suffering...to pay the price to redeem our hearts of stone.  I am grateful for this message and the ways that DaySpring spreads the good news.

DaySpring has graciously allowed me to giveaway a $20 gift code to their store.  I am grateful for the chance to bless one of my readers.  Just leave me a comment to enter.  I will announce the winner Sunday the 18th.  Please note that shipping is an additional charge to the gift code.

Disclosure: I was sent an Advent Calendar for free to review. Because I love it so much I am sharing it with you.  As always, the opinions stated are my own.  Affiliate links are included in this post.

Archived Goodness: Having It All, Except What Really Mattered

I'm taking time off to refocus and enjoy my family this December. So I am sharing some of my favorite posts from the past. Here is a post from the archives:

If you know me or have read my "About Me" page or this post then you know that several years ago my husband and I lost our newborn son.  He was born prematurely at 25 weeks and died 6 hours after he was born.  Through that experience I have learned a lot of things.  It amazes me that I keep learning new lessons from it and am reminded often of what God did for me and my family through it all.  Yesterday I was reading Matthew 5:3 (NLT).
        "God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for Him..."

Another version says "Blessed are the poor in spirit..."  I didn't plan for that to remind me of Nathan (my son) or of how God worked through the circumstances of his death but God chose to remind me of how He proved his faithfulness in our devastating loss. You see, when we lost Nathan, we had everything (or so we thought).  We had 3 beautiful, healthy children (my twins had even waited until 38.6 weeks to make their appearance).  We had a good marriage.  I had been able to stay home with the kids because my husband was making a decent salary. We owned a home and were slowly furnishing it. We loved God and were attempting to serve Him but I think we were coming up short because...We didn't need Him.

Life was good and nothing was driving us to our knees in desperation for God.  I know that He didn't cause Nathan's death (He created us for life, it is sin in this world that causes death), or my pain and difficult pregnancy but He sure used it...for our benefit.  We had a wake up call.  We began to be thankful for all of God's blessings and acknowledged that they came from His hand.  Because we now understand how much we need Him in our lives we walk in even more blessing. It causes us to seek His face even more and He gives us the answers and directs our paths.

This is our sweet Nathan drawn by Portraits by Dana
She does amazing work! Grab a Kleenex box and visit the "Memorials" section of her gallery.

Archived Goodness: Getting My Priorities In Order

I'm taking time off to refocus and enjoy my family this December so I am sharing some of my favorite posts from the past. Here is a post from the archives:

I wanted to share about my list of priorities that I now have stuck up on my computer monitor.  I realized one day that I really needed a list in a place that I would see them often and be reminded of their importance. 

My life as a wife and mother tended to be one distracting adventure after the other. Often I would get to a point of feeling so overwhelmed and I would look for ways of doing things that would take some of the burden and stress out of my life.  Usually I would read a book or talk to friends or watch a show on a topic that would give me the tips I would need for more efficient and stress free living.  The problem is that there are a million books, a TV show on every channel and a lot of the time my friends advice would conflict with another friends advice. All of those things were taking up so much of my time and leaving me feeling even more overwhelmed and stressed.  

Don't get me wrong, I value each of those sources of knowledge and absolutely appreciate the wisdom of a woman with experience. I learn so much from other women that I respect and admire.  I think it only becomes a problem when we begin to idolize that advice.  We can be ever seeking the wisdom and forget to seek the wisdom giver.  We begin to spin in circles and get so distracted with trying to find the answers that we miss the point of having questions to begin with.  God created us without all of the answers because He wants us to seek Him.  He wants us to realize our need for Him and His hand in our daily lives. 

As I began to allow God to be the one I went to first for the answers to my questions He spoke to me very clearly about priorities.  I have so many things that creep into my day and demand my attention but what are the priorities?  These are the things that, in spite of everything else, I desire to be very intentional about and God has put it on my heart to make sure that I make time for them above everything else. 

My list is very simple.  It is 5 things and that is it.  Simplicity equals freedom for me. It is like a weight lifted off of me. It means that every day I am working towards the goals I have and the calling that has been given to me.   All of the other things can pile up but these things matter for eternity. 

When I didn't have this list the less important things tended to rule my days.  It has been absolutely amazing that when I focus on this list of priorities I somehow seem to get so much more done in a day.  I also don't seem to get stressed as much about getting it all done.  I am confident that God's to do list for me is far more important than my own and if His list for me is this simple then I can rest in knowing that I am walking obedience and His yoke really is easy and His burden really is light (Matthew 11:30).

Taking Time Off to Enjoy the Season

Hello Special Friends,

I just wanted to post quickly today and let you know that I am going to be taking a blogging break for the rest of the year.  During this season, that can get overwhelmingly busy anyway, I want to focus my time on creating memories with my children and keeping my priorities in order.  I'll be back after the new year to share the stirrings of my heart.  I will be posting from the archives several times throughout this month.  You can also find me on Twitter or Facebook if you'd like to see what I'm up to.  I would love to stay in touch with you!

I pray you have a blessed and beautiful Christmas full of love and deeper revelation of what the babe in the manger means for us all.

Love & blessings,

Kristin