The perfect woman...??

Face it men! There is no such thing as the "perfect woman"! Although, there is such thing as a woman who strives to be a "wife of noble character". The Proverbs 31 woman.
When I read Proverbs 31, I was quite confused as to what my job description as a wife is supposed to be according to the bible. Therefore, I have done some more research.
The Proverbs 31 woman:
-Seeks God regularly
-Is confident
-Her family's basic needs are taken care of
-She makes her husband proud
-She has a good reputation, as well as her husband and family
-She is a trustworthy and full of integrity
And the list goes on and on....

The most wonderful part of all this is that God allows it to come naturally if you let it! If you fight the urge to be submissive to your partner then it will definitely require some effort.
Now, I am in no way an expert on this subject! I am not married, but I do believe that this mindset should start during courtship. That's what dating is anyway, right? Practice!
I have a long way to go to being anything close to a Proverbs 31 woman, but I am excited to start practicing! Unfortunately for me, my boyfriend lives in Colorado and I live in Texas. Once every two months is difficult to practice. But I have tapped into my creative energy and have found ways to speak to his Love Language. (A topic for another entry).
A Proverbs 31 woman is also good with money. Another area that this particular woman needs help with! I would like to say that the effort alone is worth the battle, but I would be saying that just to make myself feel better. God blesses the effort, I'm sure, but that is no excuse to give up. I love and respect Andy very much and do not want to go into a marriage with debt that he will have to be responsible for as well! That's not fair to him and is in no way what a "Wife of noble character" would do! So.... My daily struggle with money continues, but with great effort I will achieve this difficult goal and be a better person with better credit! Not to mention the overwhelming pride from Andy! That's the worth every penny!

The hard lessons....

Sometimes no matter how hard you try, you just keep falling back on all the stupid mistakes you've always struggled with. Even though I know God is holding my hand and leading me through everything I do just like I asked him to, it doesn't always help.(Romans 7:18) I think sometimes, he lets us screw up... does that make sense? I think that he might have a different kind of punishment.
You know how parents discipline their children... kinda like that. "Tough love". (Jeremiah 23:2) That thing nobody ever likes to do or experience! If God is our Father, than why wouldn't he discipline us?!
Praise God for his mercy and forgiveness! (Psalm 130:4)


Much love and many prayers,

~Heather~

"If You want me to" -Ginny Owens

The pathway is broken
And The signs are unclear
And I don't know the reason why You brought me here
But just because You love me the way that You do
I'm gonna walk through the valley
If You want me to

Chorus:
Cause I'm not who I was
When I took my first step
And I'm clinging to the promise You're not through with me yet
so if all of these trials bring me closer to you
Then I will walk through the fire
If You want me to

It may not be the way I would have chosen
When you lead me through a world that's not my home
But You never said it would be easy
You only said I'd never go alone


So When the whole world turns against me
And I'm all by myself
And I can't hear You answer my cries for help
I'll remember the suffering Your love put You through
And I will go through the valley If You want me to


I heard this song earlier today in a very low moment and was brought up out of my pity party and into reality. I absolutely love this song and every single line spoke to my soul!
I hope you have the same hope and inspiration I felt from this!

Much love and many prayers,

~Heather~

Meditation and Christianity

Meditation is considered to be one of the best stress relievers and relaxation methods of all time. Although, it is considered to be a buddhist technique. Why is it that the best relaxation technique leaves God out of it completely? It does not make sense to me, so I researched it. I personally love meditation, but I did not want to feel like I was leaving God out of it! After a little research I realized God is very much involved in meditation! He just tells us to do it differently than the buddhists do.
In Joshua 1:8, God says to meditate on His word day and night. And Psalm 1:2 says ...and in His law he meditates day and night. The bible actually mentions meditation about 20 times!

Psalm 77:12 - I will meditate on Your works and consider all Your mighty deeds.

So, considering all of this I have put together a simple "how-to" do a God centered meditation, rather than the buddhists method of "finding your inner peace". God IS your inner peace!

Step one: As any other meditation, find a quiet place with no distractions.

Step two: Sit or lay in a comfortable position for you and close your eyes.

Step three: Clear your mind by focusing on your deep breathing.

Step four: Once you've cleared your mind, start praying. Do not pray for anything or anyone just thank your Father for the blessings in your life. Do NOT complain! Search for the good and praise Him for it. Since you are focusing on your deep breathing, thank Him for every breath you're taking. Take every breath for Him.

And in this, you will acheive "inner peace" through Christ Jesus.

Psalm 145:5 "...And I will meditate on Your wonderful works!"



~Heather~

It's just another manic Monday...

On days like today, when I feel like staying in bed until Friday, I have to think of why I am doing what it is that I'm doing.
I went looking for some answers and found an awesome website yall should check out called ChrsitianFinanceBlog.com.

Awesome blog!

Colossians 3:23-24 (NKJV)

"And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ"

My Monday Verse!

From the Life Application Bible:

Since the beginning, God has given us work to do. If we could regard our work as an act of worship or service to God, such an attitude would take some of the drudgery and boredom out of it. We could work without complaining or resentment if we would treat our job problems as the cost of discipleship.

Oh! Don't you just love that?! That kinda changes your perspective on Mondays, huh?

~Heather~

My Spiritual Growth Spurt

In my younger days I seriously thought that I could live without God. my thoughts were, "Other people do it everyday and are happy! They can do whatever they want". That's how I lived my life for longer than I am willing to admit to. That whole time I kept thinking something was missing. There was a certain void. I tried to fill that void with anything I could. Anything but God. Because I knew what he would want me to do. I would have to change, and I didn't want to change. That's been a few years back. God saw this resistance and responded. He took everything from me. I had nothing, and I had no choice but to fall back on Him. (That's what Mom says anyway, I think she's right.) That was the best thing that could have happened to me.
I got to a point where I hated who I had become and grew an anxious, serious hunger for God. That's when I joined the Media Ministry and the Link group (a fellowship of 20-somethings) at Pantego Bible Church. By surrounding myself with godly people I thought I myself would become a godly woman.(Acts 2:44-47) I ditched all my friends who were bad influences (Which were basically all of them.) and noticed even though I was lonely, I was happier being right in the eyes of God than being around a bunch of people that were just bringing me down.
After a while, people started to notice this change in me. First, of course my family. They were actually proud of me! Something I had not experienced since I was a little girl. People that didn't know me personally but saw me everyday at work or every Sunday at church started noticing a brighter beauty around me and mentioned it to my parents. (1 Peter 3:4)
I noticed in myself this change. The realization came to me that this is one of those "Defining Moments" that changes who you are. Except my moment was turning into a Constant Change. I was continually looking for God, listening to God, talking to God about everything!
He started talking louder and clearer and it was easy to know what God wanted from me. It would have been just plain disobedient not to do what he was clearer telling me. He was telling me to Never Stop Praying (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
So, I did just that. I never stopped praying. That's when I changed my way of praying. Depending on the subject depends on how I pray. Usually, I just talk to him like he's sitting right next to me. He talked back.
Anytime I pray for selfish things, he will interrupt me and tell me to pray for someone who has a real need! The first time I experienced this it was like a slap in the face! He yelled at me and told me to stop what I was doing and pray for this person that he set on my heart because she needed prayer.
Talk about RANDOM!! Lol! Seriously!
After that, I decided to have lunch with an old mentor of mine that I haven't talked to in years. (Proverbs 11:14)
She just happened to call me out of the blue about a week earlier.
Coincidence...? I think not!
I told her what I had been experiencing and she knew the answer before I even finished my sentence! Without skipping a beat she said, "Heather, God's using you in an amazing way! You're an intercessor!"
She was excited to be telling me this. I was just confused.
My first reaction was "Huh...?? What is that??"
She told me, " intercessory prayer is the act of one person praying for or on behalf of another"
That would definitely make sense because of my personal beliefs in the power of prayer.
After many years of searching, I have finally found my spiritual gift! VERY exciting!

This whole area of my life I have labeled as my "Spiritual Growth Spurt"
My Spiritual Growth Spurt is what I will continue to blog about, mostly because this is very exciting to me!
God has been working in me in ways I never thought possible!
I can not wait to share with all of you who read this about the continual growth spurt I'm going through. I just hope and pray that what I'm telling you, helps you in your own spiritual growth spurt!