Divided-Heart Soul Mind and Strength

Posted on by Mary
Divided

Hello friends- last week I promised a mini- series called DIVIDED based on the verse Luke 10:27 (NLT)

The man answered, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

The point of this verse is to say that we are to love God with EVERY aspect of our lives. . Four different times Luke tells us….ALL- repetition is emphasis on an idea…..You truly love God when he has ALL of our hearts. ALL of souls, ALL of our minds and ALL of our strength.

We show God just how much we love him by our complete and total devotion to him. Sometimes we think we are completely devoted to God but we have let little things that creep in and place a wedge between us and God. So over the next week we are going to touch base on these four areas.

Now that we have set the stage join me tomorrow for a double header of blog posts…First this weeks Joy Dare and then what it means to have a divided Heart.

Thanks for joining me today! And I cannot wait to get to know each one of you! If you are knew here feel free to poke around and check out the other Choosing Courage 100 day Blogging project posts.

What was I Thinking? -Week 12 Update

Posted on by Mary
Thinking

Have you ever asked yourself “what was I thinking?” That is definitely what I am asking myself this evening.

At the end of last week I had planned to write my “DIVIDED” miniseries this week. Specifically starting today…Today was my second IVIG infusion. Yep I came home and slept AND still woke up with a dull headache and heart racing. I had to leave very early this morning as I was a little shocked on Friday when I realized that IVIG was scheduled on the day hubby needed to be at church! UGH AGAIN what was I thinking! It led to rather complicated day and I spent a bunch of extra time at the hospital but it all worked out.

So IVIG-

Today I had a little more of a reaction on the first day. The last time I didn’t ,the reaction came the next day. But have no fear ZOFRAN! I am not nauseous. Just a dull sort of headache.

Hubby

Big week for him this week. It’s his second of two teaching weekends teaching Old Testament survey class

AND he is filling in for our pastor this week so he will have the new adventure of being simulcast to our other area campuses and do two services back to back. I know he is nervous but I also know he will do great!

The kids

Today wraps up the end of their first quarter of this school year! They have been working hard and enjoying life. I love hearing their happy chatter each morning and learning about other Christians who have gone before us!

We checked off a family bucket list item we have always wanted to do- We sponsored a Child through cCompassion International. Its not just something hubby and I wanted to do but our kids have ALWAYS had a heart for this kind of ministry so we surprised the kids this last week with it. (Something I didn’t have to ask myself what I was thinking!!)

They now refer to the little treasure as their sister in another Country….Not just one or two of them BUT ALL of them!

Choosing Courage- 100 day writing Project

How can we already be to day 86? My head is spinning with the idea that we have 14 days left! THAT”S ONLY 2 WEEKS!!! WHAAAT??

I know that I said I was going to start the “DIVIDED” series today but that is just not going to happen In the future I won’t be scheduling or planning any bloggy things on IVIG days.

Thanks so much for joining me on this journey and I pray that you all have a blessed week! And I will see you back here tomorrow.

If you are new here please introduce yourselves in the comments below and feel free to check out the other posts in the Choosing Courage project.

What a week- Happy Homemaker Monday

Posted on by Mary
Week

What a week we are in for! It’s exciting and daunting and all the crazy things wrapped into one! Some I can’t share and some I will. All of which though are fun (ok except for maybe two) and we are so blessed to be able to do these things!

Somethings coming up this week:

  • My second dose of IVIG
  • Bloodwork to check my iron
  • Meetings (Exciting ones)
  • Dentist appointment (I broke a tooth again-Just a filling)
  • Hubby’s second class in His OT survey class he has been teaching.
  • Hubby is preaching on Sunday at the church we have been attending! (Simulcasted to 3 campuses and online).

Pretty exciting Stuff!

Well Let’s Jump into this week’s post!

♥♥The Weather♥♥

Definitely fall- we saw snow last week- But it’s November so no complaints here…This week it’s supposed to be 50’s with somedays getting mighty close to the 60’s (This is VERY exciting) There are supposed to be two days of rain at the end of the week and then 40’s over the weekend. All in all not too shabby for the second week of November.

♥♥How I am feeling this morning♥♥

Very good. I have a lot of stuff to do this morning and afternoon- with a kinda labor intensive dinner for tonight and cookies for dessert.

 ♥♥On my mind♥♥ 

Lot’s of happy things buzzing around in my head I can’t wait to share them with you

♥♥On the breakfast plate♥♥

OHHH I am so excited fr breakfast this morning! the short answer is Bagels and Cream Cheese BUT since I am now completely gluten free I haven’t had a bagel. SOOOO last night hubby and I were doing the grocery shopping for the week- Because CRAZY- and we found Aldi had Gluten free Everything Bagels I LOVE EVERYTHING BAGELS. So we bought bagels and will have them for breakfast tis morning. (he also found these amazing Harvest Bagels for everyone else who isn’t gluten free)

♥♥Right now I am♥♥

writing this post all the while jotting random things I need to remember into my planner

♥♥On my reading pile♥♥

I will be finishing up James and I will be spending more time in Philippians and Colossians over the next month.

Nate Saint Biography

I will *hopefully* wrap up Get Out of Your Head, Hello Fears and Practical Dreamer this month as well.

♥♥On today’s to do list♥♥

  • Dishes 
  • Table needs to be cleaned off and moved back into place
  • Laundry 
  • change our sheets
  • Phone calls
  • pack bag for my infusion tomorrow

 ♥♥On my tv♥♥

nothing really other than Promised land in the evenings as a family

♥♥On the menu this week♥♥

Monday –Family- Night- Dorito Chicken casserole and Pumpkin Cheesecake cookies for dessert.  Tuesday – Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Wednesday – Chicken and Dumplings
Thursday – Chef Salad (Hubby and I will take salad to Bible Study)
Friday – Hot Dogs and French Fries
Saturday –  Mac and Cheese
Sunday –   Soup

♥♥From the camera♥♥

Because this is how normal people sleep

♥♥Looking around the house♥♥

There is a lot going on- Homeschooling mostly- so there is school stuff around and we have been preparing Christmas presents for family and friends so there is that.

♥♥New recipe I tried last week, or one that we really enjoyed♥♥

We are actually going to try a new recipe TONIGHT. It’s the Pumpkin Cheesecake Snickerdoodles I mentioned up in the menu

♥♥To relax this week, I will♥♥

Read and craft! HEHEHE Christmas is coming.

♥♥On my prayer list♥♥

  • Friends and family with COVID and other sicknesses.
  • Wisdom (LOTS of it and clarity too)
  • Friends going through some hard stuff right now
  • my own personal perseverance and patience (On many levels)

Thanks so much for Joining me today for another happy Homemaker post! You can find more Happy Homemaker posts and join in on the fun by visiting Diary of a Stay At Home Mom.

You can Also Check out the rest of my Choosing Courage blog posts here!

Playing Catch Up

Posted on by Mary
catch

Good morning everyone- today for A Time to play- I’m playing catch up! I had stayed up on inktober but I just could not stay up on posting them here! so today I am going to share the inked versions 9just the line art- and then in the coming weeks I will share the colored in finished products. I can’t wait to catch up on the coloring in because I have some fun techniques I want to try out!!!

October flew by so fast! and our schedules went a little nuts! So I had to let go of the blog posts that were scheduled every week to be sure I spent enough time on the influence posts everyday.

Day 11 Sour

day 12- Stuck

Day 13- Roof

Day 14- Tick

Day 15- hemet

Day 16- compass

Day 17- colide

Day 18 moon

Day 19- loop

Day 20- sprout

Day 21- fuzzy

Day 22-open

Day 23- Leak

Day 24- extinct

Day 25 Splat

Day 26- connect

day 27-Spark

Day 28- Crispy

Day 29- Patch

Day 30- Slither

day 31- Risk

Thanks for joining me on my catch up day!

Feel free to check out the resting of the Choosing Courage posts and introduce yourself in the comments below .

Let’s Talk Purpose

Posted on by Mary
Purpose

Purpose, We all struggle with knowing and understanding it sometimes. Even as believers we want to know what my purpose is. What am I called to do? (and let me begin by saying that this topic answers this question for followers of Jesus.).

Jesus tells us exactly what our purpose is. We have discussed it here many times before. We have talked about them as COMMANDMENTS WE MUST FOLLOW but it is also our purpose. It is our WHY. Why we do what we do. It’s why we are kind, it is why we are self controlled, it is why we have peace, joy and patience (It’s why the fruit of the spirit is evident in our lives!)

Mark 12:29-31 NLT

29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lordour God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’[a]31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] No other commandment is greater than these.”

The purpose is two fold-

  1. You MUST Love the Lord Your God with ALL your Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength (it’s not optional)
  2. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Now I am going to say something radical

It doesn’t matter WHAT else you do with your life as long as you do these two commandments and you will be fulfilling your purpose!

You can be anything! You can do anything! because when you keep these two commandments (your purpose) you won’t sin against God . Ok so I know what you are thinking. Yes we are still sinners, yes we are going to make mistakes. But when you keep these things forefront in your life. You aren’t letting things like anger and bitterness hold on to your heart…Your heart isn’t divided.

See there is this little word ALL and it is used as emphasis. I didn’t when I listed the first commandment.

When you love God with :
  • ALL of Your Heart
  • ALL of your Sul
  • ALL of your Mind
  • ALL of your Strength

There isn’t room for much else.

See you cannot love God with ALL of your heart and have hidden anger and bitterness in it. It’s just not possible. You aren’t going to sacrifice your morals and convictions to follow your passion or dream. Too often we think we have to let those go in order to achieve……..You fill in the blank. Often times it starts with dishonesty on a resume).

It’s not about doing better

I know that the propensity for me is to look at these things and be like “I’ll just do better” I’m not relying on God and building my relationship with him. I am fighting to do things on my own and THAT my friends is not what we are called to do.

I need to surrender these things to God. That’s what it means to LOVE HIM WITH ALL of our being.

Let’s be honest- We live divided

We don’t want to admit it- I know I don’t but we have divided hearts, souls minds and strength.

I live in a constant state of dividedness and if I don’t keep myself in check with Jesus it isn’t long before impatience, unkindness, anxiety and all of those other negative influence traits we talked about a few weeks ago start creeping in.

I want you to see that ALL of these things are connected. Our purpose is DIRECTLY connected to our influence. We cannot subdivide our lives and declare our influence different from our purpose and our purpose different that our walk with Jesus. When we become Followers of Jesus we surrender ALL parts of our lives and dedicate them to Him- They become His and if they aren’t his that we have

  • divided hearts
  • divided souls
  • divided minds
  • divided strength

And a negative influence.

Hmmm Sounds like a blog series to me!

(The one I promised a few weeks ago). Welcome to the DIVIDED series! We will discuss these areas of Dividedness next Tuesday Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Thank you

I am so glad that you joined me today as we learned about our purpose and set up the framework for our upcoming mini series.

If you are new here please introduce yourself in the comments below. I would love to get to know you.

Feel free to check out my 100 day blogging project series called Choosing Courage and My Write 31 Days Challenge called The Power of Your Influence