Today's featured contributor is Tauna from Proverbial Homemaker:
Tauna, Proverbial Homemaker
I am wife to a wonderful husband and mom to a small brood of sweet children. Both my husband and I are native to the Northwest and live in beautiful Oregon.
I'm an ordinary woman who loves an extraordinary God. One who changes, redeems, transforms, and loves like crazy. I write this blog for Him as well as to be an encouragement to you!
It is my hope that you'll find support and encouragement at Proverbial Homemaker.
I'm an ordinary woman who loves an extraordinary God. One who changes, redeems, transforms, and loves like crazy. I write this blog for Him as well as to be an encouragement to you!
It is my hope that you'll find support and encouragement at Proverbial Homemaker.
Here are some things I write about:
- Following Jesus
- Biblical marriage and parenting
- Homeschooling (pre-k/k/early elem.)
- Loving and serving others
- Making our homes a haven for our families (from a recovering messy)
- Gardening (from a recovering brown thumb)
You will not see perfection there. My life walking with Jesus began in my adulthood, and much to my surprise and delight, He completely transformed me.
This journey as His daughter and pursuing the call of wife and mom is a recent one. Truly, me being a wife, mom and homemaker proves that anything is possible with God.
As He guides me, I promise honesty and transparency, and to share what I'm learning from Him and the wise people He's placed in my life.
This journey as His daughter and pursuing the call of wife and mom is a recent one. Truly, me being a wife, mom and homemaker proves that anything is possible with God.
As He guides me, I promise honesty and transparency, and to share what I'm learning from Him and the wise people He's placed in my life.
Today's topic is, Serving Together
Sarah, Hope In Every Season
Jamie and I have always had sort of a motto that goes like this: "If I serve you and you serve me then both of us have our needs taken care of and neither of us is being selfish."
Thinking this way has helped us so much, over the years, to really remember that we were put here to serve others, rather than to look out for ourselves.
We do our best to instill this in our kids, as well. No matter the age or ability of our children, we want them to know that their lives are not their own. Each one of us was born to serve those around us in some capacity. What a blessing to live in a place where we are able to freely serve God, and one another, as a family!
Sarah, Hope In Every Season
Jamie and I have always had sort of a motto that goes like this: "If I serve you and you serve me then both of us have our needs taken care of and neither of us is being selfish."
Thinking this way has helped us so much, over the years, to really remember that we were put here to serve others, rather than to look out for ourselves.
We do our best to instill this in our kids, as well. No matter the age or ability of our children, we want them to know that their lives are not their own. Each one of us was born to serve those around us in some capacity. What a blessing to live in a place where we are able to freely serve God, and one another, as a family!
"But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me." ~Luke 10:40
I have a vision that our family will serve together, and often we do. We play in a brass band with other families in our church. We get all dressed up but sometimes when the 'lights' aren't focused on us we don't shine so bright!!
Sometimes at home when we are just our family, serving together doesn't quite pan out the way I'd like. I serve our family from early morning before the sun comes up until late at night but to be honest, sometimes in my heart and tone, I get kinda ruffled when we don't serve together quite like I'd like.
I love the story about Martha because she is a woman who has such a heart for the Lord but she is kind of messy too!! I know I don't neglect the 'good part' but if you made a comparison between Martha and Mary and asked one of my children someone who I emulated the most, the answer would be Martha!!
When my children were growing up and we were busy homeschooling, our home ran like a well greased wheel. I made a chore schedule and the home was cleaned, chickens and rabbits cared for, as many hands make the work light.
When I am tired and overwhelmed and the list of things needing to be done piles high, I can be like Martha, whining in my heart that no one is helping serving together. When I don't give my 'To-Do List' to the Lord, that whine can be heard escaping my lips and my husband's response, "Judith, Judith, you are cumbered" sounds a bit like Jesus.
I have asked the Lord to do "Anything" in my life and to do that I first have to allow God to remove sin from my life that would hinder me from a surrendered life. I have to remove the fig leaves that I was hiding behind.
As long as my children and I were busy serving together, it was harder to see that my heart needed to be more willing to serve. Martha was caught up in her perfectionistic serving, so much so that it was hard to see that she really didn't have the heart to serve.
Even when I am beyond tired, it is detrimental to the family to complain, and it somehow squelches any possibility of truly serving together.
To serve together, I as a mother have to first set the example of serving as unto the Lord, so that my children (grown or little) will also choose to serve.
Mrs. Smith, Just a Country Girl
I am quite "old fashioned" when it comes to families and how they are
to function. I believe that the man is the head of the household, with the woman coming next, then the children. Husband and wife are
equal, of course, but husband gets the final say so. This is what keeps a family functioning properly, and helps us all to serve together.
To serve together adequately, you need order. To have order, you need rules and structure. This order of the household can apply to so many situations. Child wants to do something; mom says she needs to talk to dad first, dad okays it, and child may do it. Big decisions need to be made; husband and wife must consult each other and make an appropriate decision together. And so on.
With this order in place, a family is able to serve together, in whatever way may be needed. To serve together, a family needs to respect one another. That means, following suit, so-to-speak, with the children doing as they're told so they may serve well. Just like we need to hear from God how to serve properly; a child needs to hear from their parents how to serve, too. We need to train up our
children to have a servant's heart. What better way to teach a child to serve than to SHOW a child to serve? Spouses serving each other; serving others in your family or community, etc. In this way, we show our children what it means to have a servant's heart and how to serve together.
I love seeing families serving the Lord together. If your family learns to serve together, no matter what problems you face, the unity of your family will keep you prosperous.
Some of the ways you can teach your children to serve together are:
- Sharing the housework
- Helping their younger siblings (with a smile)
- Conversation together as a family unit
- Praying for each other
If we all serve the Lord together and praise Him for what he gives us, and praise Him also when times are tough, we will prosper and live a happy life.
A few years ago I went to a seminar by Michelle Anthony, author of Spiritual Parenting. She introduced an idea to me that was so simple, and yet profoundly impacted how our family serves together. It is simply asking the question, "What needs to be done?"
I began talking to my kids about asking this question of themselves whenever they enter a room or a situation. What needs to be done?
Does someone look lonely and need a friend?
Is there some way I can help?
Can I pick something up?
Should I hold the door?
Can I volunteer to help?
Is there a way I can be encouraging?
Needless to say, my perspective was changed as well. And when our family goes grocery shopping, it's like having a 5 year old clean up crew on site, always saying, "Look Mama! Something needs to be done!"
Misty, Simply Helping Him
In my mind and my heart, I have a dream...that one day my hubby and I will have a marriage ministry together.
I have never spoken of this dream until now. When I think of this dream, my mind tells me how unlikely that it is. That ministry is my heart's desire, and not my hubby's, etc.
I love to share my heart, experiences, etc., while my hubby prefers to keep things to himself.
In looking back over our 8 years of marriage, I am reminded of all the unlikely and impossible circumstances that God performed a miracle through.
So, while serving together in a ministry seems completely improbable right now, I know firsthand that God's ways are not mine, and neither is His timing.
Patiently I must wait.....in the meantime I serve in my lil corner.
Linking with:
Linking with:
Home Link Up at Raising Arrows
Show and Tell Saturday @ Be Different, Act Normal
Or So She Says...
30 Min. Linkup @ 30 Days
The Homeschool Mother's Journal
Motivate Me Monday
Modest Monday @ The Modest Mom
Matrimonial Monday @ A Proverbs 31 Wife
Better Mom Mondays
Manic Monday @ Cupcake-n-Bake
Mommy Mondays
Making Your Home Sing Monday
A Return to Loveliness @ A Delightsome Life
Cottage Style Party @ Lavender Garden Cottage
Teach Me Tuesday @ Growing Home
Tutorial Tuesdays with Hope Studios
Courtship Connection
Women Helping Women @ Teaching What Is Good
Domestically Divine @ Far Above Rubies
(Titus 2)s Days @ Time Warp Wife
Tending the Home Tuesday
Tuesday Link Up Party
Show and Tell Saturday @ Be Different, Act Normal
Or So She Says...
30 Min. Linkup @ 30 Days
The Homeschool Mother's Journal
Motivate Me Monday
Modest Monday @ The Modest Mom
Matrimonial Monday @ A Proverbs 31 Wife
Better Mom Mondays
Manic Monday @ Cupcake-n-Bake
Mommy Mondays
Making Your Home Sing Monday
A Return to Loveliness @ A Delightsome Life
Cottage Style Party @ Lavender Garden Cottage
Teach Me Tuesday @ Growing Home
Tutorial Tuesdays with Hope Studios
Courtship Connection
Women Helping Women @ Teaching What Is Good
Domestically Divine @ Far Above Rubies
(Titus 2)s Days @ Time Warp Wife
Tending the Home Tuesday
Tuesday Link Up Party
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