Is Your Heart In It? Guest Post by Bridget at Becoming A Godly Wife

I'd like to introduce you to Bridget from Becoming a Godly Wife.  This is her first time guest posting at Hope In Every Season!  I sure appreciate her helping me keep the blog running while I'm off galavanting through the beauty of England!  She makes some excellent points about making ministry decisions. Take it away, Bridget! 

At our home Church there seems to be a million and one different jobs and missions that one can volunteer for--all of which can be very rewarding. Our home Church is currently looking to fill several different positions, as we do every year at this time. Now, it is during this time that one really needs to be prayerful and careful about knowing one's heart desires.    

So often I see people (myself is included in this ) who volunteer for whatever is needed without thinking. After all, what is one more task? Many times, those who have too many pots on the stove sadly lose out on the joy that can be obtained from working in a ministry, because they are just too tired and stretched way too thin.

Thoughts To Ponder: Many times, we compare how much we do with how much others are doing. Sally can be part of the women's ministry, run a Sunday School room, care for her family, and be part of the outreach ministry--- so can I. What we seem to forget is that what is good for Sally may not be good for us.  So before you go and load your plate, here are a few things you should ask yourself...

• Are you doing it for the right reason?  If you are doing it because you refuse to be outdone by Sally, then chances are you are not doing it for the reasons the ministry was intended.
• Did you take time to pray about it?  Too many times we agree to do things without talking to God about it first.
• How will this affect your family?  Working in a ministry can be a positive thing for your family to see you being a part of. However, I can not tell you how many times I have over-extended myself, and the ones to pay were those who lived in our home. Make sure to take time to talk to your husband to get his point of view on the situation.
• Do you have a passion for it? I love working with children, so I am a Sunday School teacher for our pre-k program. This is where my passion is. However, the teen program is not something I am interested in---at least not in this season of life. So, therefore, you will not see me in the teen room for a while.

Final Thoughts:

Make sure all that you are doing is being done to glorify God. In your housework, child-raising and, yes, your Church commitments as well. Before taking on a new role, make sure you are not doing it just because you have to. After praying about the new role and a lot of soul searching, don't be afraid to say no if that is what you feel is the right thing to do.  

Your Assignment:

• Are you doing something your heart is just not in?
• Are you doing something that is affecting your upmost calling as a wife and mother in a negative way?

If so, then maybe it is time to pray about the situation and pass the reins to someone else.    

Until Next Time Just Keep Soaring 4 Him,

Bridget is a blogger at Becoming a Godly Wife, where she shares her life observations and tries to empower women to be the best possible help mates, mothers and Christians that they can be.

Submission vs. Obedience -- Guest Post from Misty at Simply Helping Him

Thanks so much to Misty from Simply Helping Him for guest posting today while I'm in England. I love this thoughtful article she's blessed us with today, and fully endorse everything she's written here. Thanks for being a blessing, Misty!

Obedience and submission; did you know they are different? Do you know what they both mean? K.P. Yohannan describes these words in his book, "Touching Godliness", as this.

"Submission is a heart attitude toward authority, whereas obedience is an action."

As help meets we are called to obey our husbands, and we are also called to submit to their authority. Choosing to fall under my husband's authority because I'm "supposed to" does not mean I am submitting. That is a choice, and is obedience not submission. 

In order to submit to our husband's authority, our hearts must be changed. We must allow God to work on our hearts, to bring them to the place where we submit to our husbands. 

Submitting to our husbands does not mean we are going to allow them to walk over us. We are still part of a relationship, in which we both are a picture of Christ and the church. It takes more than one person to create that picture. We are accepting that our husbands are in authority by submitting to them. They are responsible for themselves, their wives and family. God will hold them accountable for how they handled their families. 

Our husbands are a measure of protection over us. As women, we tend to be more emotional and make decisions based on feelings. A marriage relationship functions through communication together. It is this relationship that we can be protected when our husband senses our emotions and feelings are affecting our decisions. Our marriages will be off-balance and never reach the place God intended, should our hearts not be aligned with God's will for us as help meets. 

Submission requires selflessness and humility. Our wants and wishes must be given up, should our husband's blessing not be given. Choosing to listen to him and give up these things, demands humility. Without humility, our hearts aren't truly submitting. We must remember that our husbands are human, just as we are. 

Should you believe that God's hand is in a decision you brought to your husband, then there are 3 things you should do.  

1. Pray.

Ask God to guide you in how to re-address the topic with your husband.

2. Humbly talk to your husband (in God's timing).

Sharing your heart and how God has brought this to your heart.

3. Wait.

God's timing is perfect. Ours is not. He will work on your husband's heart.

 

Remember, obedience is the action and submission is the humble, selfless heart behind the action.

We have an amazing opportunity in marriage! To watch God's plan for marriage unfold before our eyes, as the beautiful masterpiece He created!

May we all become part of this beautiful marriage picture that God planned from the beginning of time!

Misty @ Simply Helping Him

I am living life unfulfilled with my hubby (and our lil blessings).  He is a self-employed fisherman, and a Mainah through and through.  Thus, we live in Maine.

I love to write!  I love to talk, though for some reason, when I do about things of importance, something gets lost when I speak.  Thus, I blog at Simply Helping Him!

I thrive on music, coffee, sweet tea, hot tea, reading, and gardening in my "spare" time!
     

Country Yarn Vase: Guest Post by Tauna at Proverbial Homemaker

Thanks so much to Tauna at Proverbial Homemaker for guest posting today while I'm in England! Isn't this an adorable little craft? Make sure and pin it---then stop by Proverbial Homemaker to check out her excellent blog!

While we were on vacation last month, a sweet neighbor watered my gardens for me. I wanted to get her something nice but simple, so I thought I'd try an idea I saw on Pinterest and make her a vase with some flowers from the garden. 

This project is just right for my attention span and my level of skill, which is nothing to speak of. I love projects that look fancy but can be done in 15 minutes! I'm not sure where I saw the idea to begin with, but here is another example. 

Fortunately, I had all I needed on hand, including an empty bottle of coffee syrup and that giant skein of white yarn I bought years ago with the funny idea of knitting something. 

What you need:

• Yarn
• White school glue
• Tape
• Empty, clean bottle
• Scissors

My first attempt was a lazy one where I tried to skip removing the labels. Bad idea. They show through! Remove them.

Any yarn will do. Some people say the flat, thicker kind is better, but generic worked for me. Any tape is fine. I had packing tape available. Some people recommend hot glue but I found plain old white was fine. 

 

1. Tape the end of the yarn up toward toward the opening. 

2. Start by drawing a line of glue where you want the yarn to go and adhering it, pausing to set when needed. Proceed around the bottle.

 

  3. Soon you can lay down blocks of glue like this and wind the yarn around quicker. 

 

  4.When you finish a block, press the strands down to close the gaps. The yarn is very forgiving, so you can fix the straightness as you go or at the end.

5. Wind to the end, close all gaps and straighten strands, and let dry!

 

  See where I got a little eager to take a picture and didn't close the gaps correctly on the neck of the bottle? Don't do that! ;)

I may try a couple more in different colors to make a set of three. It would look pretty on a mantle or as a centerpiece. 

This might be a fun project for you or your kids to do with some scrap yarn and empty bottles! 

Tauna @ Proverbial Homemaker

Tauna loves her family and loves God.  She has been married for 7 years and has 4 young children.  She writes at Proverbial Homemaker, so named because, as she says, "me becoming a wife, mom, and homemaker proves that anything is possible with God."

Follow Hope In Every Season's board Craft Ideas on Pinterest.