Book Review: I Am By Michele Cushatt

Posted on by Mary

I Am by Michele Cushatt is a 60 day journey to learning who you are in Christ!  Basically the book is broken  into 6 parts with 10 chapters (days) in each Part,  Michele’s transparency throughout the book is both touching and humorous as she gets down to the nitty gritty and the not so pretty in our daily walks with christ.  BUT she does it laced with mercy grace and humor. Michele takes passages that speak to who we are in Christ and carefully weaves in her life experiences which are many, some humorous and some very hard hitting.  You will travel from laugh out loud moments to tears of conviction and sympathy and back to laughter again. I  greatly appreciated how Michele hand scripture with care as well.

When I think about I AM , the word that immediately come to mind is WOW.  And it is not a cop out type of wow either.  Earlier this year Through a series of prayers I realized that I had kind of lost myself.  I began seeking out books that could help me through this process of rediscovering who I am  when I stumbled upon the launch video for Michele’s book I Am.  It was an answer to prayer!  I sought out who the publisher was and when I realized it would be released for review through BookLook Bloggers I was over the moon excited.  Little did I know the journey It would take me on.  This book is not a fast read nor an easy read.  This book is meant to be digested.  It sometimes took me days to read through one short  2 page devotion.  I have yet to work through the questions at the end of each day.  They are set aside in a gray blog…they are thought provoking questions that I plan to use as journaling prompts as I work through the chapters again.  As I looked back over the last 60 days I want to find some quotes to share with you but quite honestly most of the book is highlighted.    This book is well loved and I can promise you that I will be passing on other copies of this book!  I found it to be a great encouragement to me….And I know that no matter what you are going through, no matter you are or circumstances, you too can glean truth about who you are in Christ!

Now there was one slight problem when I received this book ad it was not that of the Author.  When I received this book from Harper Collins half of the packing sicker was stuck to the back of the book which in turn damaged the book’s back cover.  I was disappointed but  it didn’t  effect the reading of the book.

damage

All in all I give the book 5 stars

Thank you BookLook Bloggers for providing this free copy for review purposes. Positive reviews are NOT expected in return

Life Unexpected: Living Outside the Normal Everyday Crazy

Posted on by Mary

Unexpected things happen ALL the time…Have you every heard the expression

“When it rains it pours”

Well, yesterday it was a monsoon.  I laugh now as I look back at the unexpected happenings.

So yesterday started out in its normal crazy fashion…Up at 5:30 (First day back after Spring Break I might add) Yeah that was easy!!   Ha!!  Lunches made kids fed, three of them on the bus at 6:25. Whew!

Finished up my study Questions from “You Are Loved No Matter What” by Holley Gerth (THAT BOOK IS AAZING)

Bus alarm goes off a second time ..Fourth child out at the bus for a 7 50 pick up.

Back inside:

Blogging

Bible Study

Reading

Normal household chores

Then I did something that is completely normal and it led to something SOOOOO completely Unexpected.  I went out to the garage to get chicken to thaw for dinner….the unexpected was that the upright freezer door wasn’t shut all the way….UH OH!  yep, so the rest of the normal plans out the window and I collected all the thawed gross things from the freezer that now resembled that of the abominable snowman fro  Monsters Inc….WELCOME TO THE HIMALAYAS was all that ran through my mind!  well after my hands we frozen and completely sticky…my sweatshirt and my pants doused int the  conglomeration of mystery liquids……I had all the Ick taken care of….found chicken in another freezer and thawed that, put it in the crockpot and what’s that?  the alarm for group #1 of our kiddos returning from school with #2 returning soon after group #1.  Did I mention I was having Bible study with a teen from our youth group around the same time?  Hubby was picking her up.

Hubby and I had realized that the freezer had been ajar since we left to visit family on Thursday YAY! Hubby also informed that while he was on a run to deliver a tractor (normal) His glasses broke and feel apart while he was driving (UNEXPECTED and dangerous)  he made it taped them together BUT now had t run to the eye place we get our glasses prescriptions filled.  At that point he offered to take the kids with him and to pick up groceries (Normal and AMZING) But half way through his trip the fan in our van  wouldn’t shut off…even when  the van was shut off and key removed (UNEXPECTED but isn’t can trouble almost always)  I finished my bible study, her dad picked her up, I finished dinner and I sat down on the couch.

Everyone cam rushing in and quite frankly if you have read  Hope for the Weary Mom or seen Mom’s Night Out  you will get what I am about to say.

I had a moment…..And my kids ate  dinner  in silence…and I felt horrible (after all hubby’s sermon was coursing through my brain….Saying” you blew it”!!

Hubby left for a meeting, saying that if it ended before a certain time he was going to run to the store to get the part for the car. Ok off he went I gave the 45 minute warning till bed….

Homework

Chores

Reading

Child #3 asks “mom can I get my shower?” (NORMAL)

” Yep you can”

10 minutes later….As he stands at the top of the stairs , “Mommy why do you have your razor in the shower?”  Ummm because it’s my shower and it’s hanging up above your reach!

Umm no it’s not and I think Im bleeding everywhere .  (SO UNEXPECTED  that it took a few seconds to register, but I snapped into  nurse mommy mod) e. let’s add to this that this is the child with Autism AND he is JUST out of the shower.

So after some minor freaking out (on his part) my little army of three non injured kids snapped into a well oiled machine f helpfulness.  And I could not with all the pressure I could get the bleeding to stop.  I had to call hubby.

Hubby came home….Off to urgent care….To sit and sit and sit some more .  Usually our urgent care is very quick….Not last night.  They finally got him in at 10-ish.    due to how his foot was cut they had to create  an imitation scab.  When they left, the battery in the car was dead from the constantly running fan (Unexpected, kind of) they came home at 12:30 am.  (UNEXPECTED)

SLEEP (normal)

Now this morning had a few unexpected things like oversleeping and leaving child #4’s math homework on the table, but compared to yesterday it was a breeze!

Thankfully in all of the UNEXPECTED events of yesterday, it could have led to major strife and minus the MOMENT I had unrelated t all the rest going on, it’s those moments that show our true colors.   Does our responses point to a Savior who is in control of every detail, or do we get bent out shape and let everyone know it , that it didn’t go according to our plan.  I know it wasn’t in my plan to smell like a garbage can. Do we moan and groan about how awful these circumstances or do we whisper a prayer and say ok LORD it’s not about me.  There has been a lot in my life that has been UNEXPECTED, soon good, some not so good and some just horrible things.   Thankfully God doesn’t expect us to be perfect through it all, he wants us to rely on Him, for everything!

Happy Homemaker- 4-24-2017

Posted on by Mary

 

The weather:::

The weather is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous today…I can’t wait to sit outside and read! This makes me oh so happy!!

On my reading pile:::

The Best Yes (for Bible Study)

I Am (book review)

Unglued (my own reading)

Movies or Shows I watched this weekend:::

Family Affair

Tiger Cruise

On my TV:::

Nothing

On the menu for this week:::

Monday-Chicken with Roasted Potatoes and Veggie

Tuesday-Pulled Pork with Mashed potatoes and veggie

Wednesday-Pasta and salad

Thursday-Taco Salad

Friday-soup and sandwich

Saturday-meatloaf and mashed potatoes and veggies

Sunday-chicken and pasta salad with veggies

On The To-Do List ;;

clean bathroom cabinets (declutter)

Shelves on the back of our bed needs cleaned

upstairs desk needs cleaned

fold and put away laundry

What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating:::

These are what I was working on…

Now to move onto the apartment.  I am working on creating some vinyl work with my cricut for our ministry apartment

Happening this week:::

Hubby has meetings coming out his ears,

it’s our last week of regular awana

And we have Ladies Bible study this week  YAY!!!

Looking around the house:::

Things are looking pretty good, though we have a laundry problem, though its related to what we think is the pump in the washing machine being fried  (UGH)  hubby ordered the new part and hopefully I will be back in business before the end of the week 🙂

From the camera:::

 

Our #3 man-child dressed in  Pop-Pop’s WWII uniform.  We got a chance over spring break to visit hubby’s grand parents who are both in their 90’s and who have been married for over 70 years…What a blessing Mimi and Pop-Pop are!

What I’m wearing today:::blue Jeans, navy blue hoodie and sneakers

One of my simple pleasures:::

Sitting out back enjoying the sun, the view, a good book and a cup of coffee!

Bible verse, Devotional:::

I just read day 49 in I Am by Michele Cushatt and on that day she talks about having faith that moves mountains.  we sometimes struggle when we have faith that something happens and it doesn’t.  and then she points us to Jesus, the beholder of perfect faith, and yet, God does not answer his prayer for the crucifixion to pass from him…..her response to this is the answer wasn’t in moving the crucifixion mountain, but in the giant stone that covered his grave  and him walking out ALIVE.  . He overcame death, that is a far bigger mountain, and sometimes we have to walk through a valley to get to that much bigger mountain….wow…just wow (this is not a direct quote I just paraphrased it)

For More Happy Homemaker Posts Check out Diary of a Stay At Home Mom

My Brain, My Filing Cabinet : Confidence Uncluttered

Posted on by Mary

Confidence

This is my journey to finding my confidence.  I’m not sure I have  really experienced true confidence.  I can fake it well enough! Not the kind of confidence that I have in myself with, but the confidence I should have in my relationship with Christ!  This is a journey I am currently on.  I have not arrived, nor do I have complete understanding.  Will you join me on this journey and we will begin by unflattering confidence?

I have this filling cabinet, it sits in my living room.  It looks all nice and neat around it.   BUT I almost never open it.  Do you know why?   BECAUSE I knew what the inside looked like!  It looked like two years of paperwork crammed inside of it.   It was overwhelming to even consider the amount of work it would take to get back into it and make it use-able again.   It haunted me …it called to me from deep within me. There was no more room in it so the papers that were most recent were siting in mostly neat stacks…on the piano, on the couch, on my desk…and on the floor.  That is until last week.  And as I sat for HOURS every day,Sorting, and tossing, a thought crossed my mind….

The thought was this

This filing cabinet is really as my mind and heart have become over the last two years as I stuffed emotions, and  thoughts and…well anything else you shove into every crevice of our hearts and minds saying, “I will deal with this tomorrow or not this week I’m just too busy! ” It’s not a matter of it being to busy, it really is a matter of being too uncomfortable.    It’s too painful to deal with the hard places so we stuff it.  Just like my filing cabinet, I stuffed so much stuff into it that it started overflowing other areas. And that is what happens with our hearts and minds, stuffing things leads to negative overflow in the rest of our lives….It can lead to angry outbursts or even negative health effects llike high blood pressure and physical illness.

as I prayed the beginning of this year for God to show me my word for the year I asked Him for it to be one that would change my life, change me for the better and that at the end of the year I would be closer to Him than ever before. About a week after praying for that, the word CONFIDENT came to mind.   All the other years words were already set in my mind in November BUT this year it wasn’t until the second week of January.  I felt lost. I felt as though I no longer knew who I was…at all.  I felt as though I had to be all things to all people and I just could not do that anymore.  I was at a crossroads with a slippery slope straight ahead of me .    So as soon as I got my word I was off digging in scripture.  It took me two days searching God’s Word looking up verses and cross referencing them.  I went deep and I continue to do so.     My verses for the year to go along with my word landed me in the book of Jeremiah.  Here is what it says:

Jeremiah 17:7-8

But Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water, that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

But my study hasn’t ended there.  God directed me to various books.   Stripping away the years of clutter that had accumulated in my mind and heart muddying the waters of understanding as to who I was in Christ and who he created me to be.  I had lost my creativity.  I had lost my passions to pursue things that I loved.  I have asked God to reteach me , to show me who I really am  in Him,  And  to show me who He created me to be. I’m learning a lot and I have found a new sense of peace.

Am I there yet?  BY NO MEANS!   But where I am at this moment in time is knowing that I AM HIS.  My circumstances do not define me…HE DOES! And that is exactly where he wants me to be at this moment.

As for my filing cabinet, it is organized and back to working order!

How about you?  What is your word for the year?  Do you have some heart and mind clutter that needs to be stripped away?  And if so, have you taken that to God and given it to Him?  If not I challenge you to do so TODAY!

Next week We will discuss what the difference is between Confidence and “Godfidence”

Random Ramblings: CRAZY weekend

Posted on by Mary

Actually its been a super crazy week since I last wrote a Random Ramblings….. Crazy Crazy CRAZY!!!!

Let’s Start with last week.

J was home from school on Monday because he had a fever the night before..and the school holds to a 24 hour policy without meds. T, K, and S went to school, but we were all very aware about the storm heading our way.  Hubby had a meeting Monday night.  Snow showed up Early Tuesday morning and we quickly realized that things had changed over night…our original 12 inches was upgraded and by Tuesday evening we had 29 inches of snow.  did I mention the kids had a snow day Tuesday )YAY)…..and then Tuesday afternoon a travel ban was put into place…… so Wednesday no school….Thursday rolled around and the roads were much better excluding the drift spots, but no AWANA that night.  J’s respite care worker came Thursday and Friday instead of Tuesday and Wednesday…. Hmmm I wonder why. Hubby  was at church from 10-4-430 and then we had some errands to run and dinner out together (Are you getting tired yet, cuz I am just writing it.  THEN Friday Happened….Initially all the kids had off school for Friday but since they exceeded their 5 allotted snow days T, K, and S all had school on Friday  so it was just J home.  Hubby and J went to church to finish up the previous days project.  When they came home J’s service coordinator came for a brief meeting and his respite care worker came…we ate a quick lunch and were off to visit a church person who also had her gall bladder out last week (That is 3 of us from our church in about 3 months), then we had to pick up the kids from school (OOPS almost forgot that detail…thanks J for reminding us at lunch) had to o pick up K’s friend, whose parents are our church’s youth leaders, from her grandparents house so she could come spend the weekend with K while her parents, I and two teenagers went to a youth rally….. BREATHE!!! We drove home that night, stopped at Walmart  and came home….. slept….. then left AGAIN the next morning to head back.  We were there till 5ish and then headed home again… IN MORE SNOW.  I didn’t get to go right home though I had a meeting at church that took a while because it involved some artistic work… and you know artists, we are our own worst critics!   Yep OCD was strong!!  I came home to my children (T & K) preparing dinner for us!  What a blessing those two are!  And that leads us to Sunday with all the normal Sunday stuff for a pastor’s family.

This life is crazy and we all go through crazy times but in the end we have choices.  As the speaker at the youth rally I attended this weekend shared as he spoke through 1 Corinthians 13, we all have a choice in being loving we can be kind or we can be rude….. So in these times of  Crazy it’s very easy to become self absorbed and rude, I mean ungrateful… and much more or we can CHOOSE  to look beyond our crazy, our horrible, our circumstances and be who God has called us to be…… LOVING!   It’s not easy and it takes a ton of practice.  I know I’m not there yet.  I’m not perfect and I most certainly DON’T have this all figured out. So start small. That’s what I am doing. I’m picking one thing….. and I’m choosing to pay attention to others rather than my crazy! How about you? What keeps you from being loving when THAT is what God calls us to do?