Finding Strength and Building Habits

How many times have we all heard the saying, "you will never know love until you look in the eyes of a child?"  I think I had heard it a couple times before I had my own children.  And you know, those old sayings some times prove to be true! Us mothers and fathers think we love each other, but then we have children and we would do anything for those children.  We would give up on our relationships with each other just to ensure our children got all the things they needed. As mothers and fathers we stop meeting our own needs, especially when it comes to our relationships.  Well as I was actually taking some much needed quiet time alone this evening, I realized it is the same with the Lord.  We start out as children and praise the Lord and then as we grow older sometimes things fade.  We tend to give up practices that we were doing.  We just tend to forget to build things into our routines, especially as our routines change.

This is my biggest downfall in life! I can't seem to stick to things long enough to build it into a routine.  When I was doing a training for work I learned that doing something 7 times makes it learned but doing something 17 times makes it a habit.  Now if I could just get myself to exercise 17 straight days in a row or read from my bible 17 straight days in a row then I will be right on track with things.  ( I don't see this stuff happening).  I give of myself to others around me first! I would rather do things for other people than do something for myself.  I simply stress myself out trying to please other people.  How many of you do the same thing?  We simply can't stress ourselves out anymore.  I have to start looking at my day to day routines and cutting something out! I just have to give myself time to do something for me! Whether that is a little reading or crafting or just writing my blog.  I have to accept that my children will take up much of my time but if it means waking up earlier or going to bed later then I need to start taking the ten minutes to do something for me to continue to build my relationship with the Lord.  With God we can do anything including motherhood and fatherhood. Parenting is the hardest job that God has created.  I have not found any easy part to it yet.  I find myself praying for strength everyday when I am tired because of lack of sleep, or sore but the kids want to play, or even just annoyed because I have heard the word mommy a gazillion times in the day.  God has not failed me yet, but I have failed him.  We need to get back into our childhood routines, and make God important.  I want my children to see that I value my relationship with the Lord and their father.  I want my children to know that it takes a lot of work and dedication, but there is a much bigger payoff in the end. Our payoff is not here on earth but when we move on to be with the Lord.

I think we all should start to challenge ourselves with new routines.  I know we are well into 2014 and many of us have already given up on our resolutions, but we still have 10 months left to make good on our "new" routines and our new lifestyles.  I know it is going to be hard but like I said before 7 times we have a learned behavior 17 times and we have a habit.  So give yourself 17 straight days to build new habits into your routines. Don't forget to ask the Lord for Strength.  It says in Psalms 18:1-3 "I love you Lord; you are my strength.  The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.  He is my shield, the strength of my salvation, and my stronghold.  I will call on the Lord, who is worthy of praise, for he saves me from my enemies. The Lord tells us he is our rock and he is able to support us through anything and keep us safe from all our enemies.  Sometimes our enemies are us as we try to sabotage our new routines, but if we just keep praying for strength the Lord will help us when the temptation to sabotage ourselves start.  As a final word, Be strong with the Lord's mighty power Ephesians 6:10.  Whatever your "New" routines desire to be, make sure you do it all with the Lord and ask him for the strength to get you through 17 straight days of challenges and changes and the many more days after that!

Good luck and God Bless You all,

Amanda

The Hard Truth...

Talk about this new lifestyle being hard! I have a hard time controlling the temptations that my family puts in front of me.  I just can't help the fact that sometimes I want an Italian Sausage or Vension Sausage, or some other kind of yummy fattening food.  I must admit the food I am choosing to eat is expensive, time consuming to prepare, and at times not the most appealing.  I am having a hard time maintaining this considering I don't grocery shop very often and at times I despise cooking and trying new food.  However, I will continue because I feel that the weight loss is helping a little bit and I am looking forward to continuing to lose more.  I just hate how difficult this is.  I guess nobody said this is going to be easy but I have to just keep praying for strength to get through this.  I know that once I can get into the proper routine it will only get easier to continue.

Not only is this new lifestyle I am choosing to be on hard but so is being a stay at home mommy.  Especially a stay at home mommy that sometimes just doesn't feel good.  The last two days have been extremely tough.  I just couldn't nor did I want to do anything.  I have been logging my symptoms and my moods and I have found that the birth control pill and my symptoms match up.  I am noticing the changes based on certain days in the pack.  How ironic is that?  I am finally able to put two and two together and hopefully after my follow up appointment in Altoona on Monday I will be able to have some more answers.  I know I am having a hard time with the neurologist returning my calls.  I am hoping that things will work out! I can only hope right? This whole not feeling good and trying to be a mommy that takes care of the kids and the house has been extremely hard and not to mention this week I am trying to make a banner, clean the house, and make a cake for my foster daughter's birthday.  I just hope I have the ambition and the will power to do it all.  Last weekend I spent time creating a small craft and my worry jar! I utilized that today.  I am giving all my worries to God today because I have some.  I know that with him I can get through this.  With him I can continue to make my own baby wipes, my own laundry soap and whatever else I can find that "you can do yourself."  I am working hard at saving my pennies.  I need to at this point.  I am a stay at home mommy with limited money and I need to budget every last cent we have so that we can provide things for our family.  I am learning all kinds of new things....how to make laundry soap, dish soap, chalkboard paint (this is my favorite must say), and other different types of things in the home.  I have been making my own baby wipes for several weeks now and my little man with what I thought was "Chronic diaper rash" has not had many problems on his bum for several weeks!!! That makes for one happy baby, one happy mama and dada as we are saving some money! I am thinking I should start sharing some of the wonderful things I am learning! God is really amazing and after reading several passages out of the bible (yes I am behind on reading the bible every day for a year) but I am still reading it and I am finding out a lot about God and his glorious ways.  God is amazing and he will help me through my days when I sick and when I am feeling good.  He can do all that for all of you as well.  God is truly wonderful! With all that I am trying to do here at home this weekend, he has still laid a new idea on my heart and I just can't wait to work on it! I am hoping that it will be something I can make for others as well once I am finished with it! I will post pictures in my next blog of some of things I am working on! I want to start sharing things with you guys.  You are all so special to me and I hope that I can inspire you to take on different challenges with a strong heart and mind but especially a strong desire to follow God.

This life is proving to be tough, but I know that God is carrying me through especially as I continue to seek him out more everyday. I can't wait to show you pictures of the cake and of my creations over the next week! They are turning out to be better than I thought!

God Bless each of you reading tonight and remember this.... Even though life is hard, God makes it so much easier!

Amanda