I had this thought today, as my daughter is whining about sitting down for her devotional & school time. Shouts of “I’m going to be so bored” (her newest phrase , thank you, Sofia the First) and “But I’m going to be exhausted after this and not be able to play with my shopkins” where heard throughout the land, demands that the unjust and not fun rulership be overthrown and for the young citizens to have their way!

Despite the compelling arguments, we still proceeded with a time-out for an attitude adjustment and started again. In the authority that God has given me as her mother, I stood my ground and let her know that she’s not going to determine the agenda and that she needs to go sit in time out until she can have a better attitude and to pray for God to help her in this.

But this was such a great picture of my flesh often does when it’s presented with anything opposed to its nature (meaning anything of the Holy Spirit, that is actually good for me).  It whines and throws tantrums, balking at the idea of anything remotely constructive and life-giving -getting into the Word, exercising, praying, serving others, saying no to myself (gasp!). But the Holy Spirit inside of me, like I did with my daughter, tries to encourage and lead me to what is really good for me.

And that is exactly the authority that I’ve been given in Christ, to now say no to my flesh, that it doesn’t have the authority to tell me what I am or am not going to do anymore.

But how often do I let the screaming child inside of me win? How often have I wanted to avoid the battle or struggle or pain, and just do what feels good or easy in the moment?

The Holy Spirit nudges me, suggesting that I get up early to get into the Word before my day starts.
“Nah – I would rather sleep in. I mean, I need to rest to take care of the kids, right?”

He nudges again – ‘You need to start an exercise routine so you’ll have more energy and be healthy, and to be a good example for your kids in this.’
“Nope, I think I’ll rest while they do. I mean, I need whatever energy I would use for exercising for the rest of the day, right?” (enter the enemy’s scarcity tactic, the lie that there is limited amounts of _____ and I better conserve and hold on to and control instead of surrender and release and trust)

I could go on. This is the usual dialogue that I’ve struggled with for a while in my head, easy rationalizations in response to life-giving suggestions in order to stay in the same stuck routines and rhythms.

BUT, as I’ve shared, the Lord is doing a new thing with me. He’s not leaving me alone on this anymore. And He’s revealing more and more truth  to reveal where I once fell into traps that have kept me stuck.

See, if you notice above, all my responses above were still questions. I still had a choice to agree with myself – my own logic and understanding and preference (my flesh) – or, by the power of the Holy Spirit, choose differently.

Do you believe that? Do you believe that you have a choice? That even in the deepest, most dark struggle and ingrained habit that you may have, that you still have a choice?

Because you do, if you’re a follower of Christ. As a believer, you have the Holy Spirit inside of you, and scripture says that we can now say “No!” to sin and to ourselves and to our old nature.

Romans 8:1-17,

“1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,”

If I believe that the Gospel is true, and I do!, then part of that amazing truth is that I am now freed to live a life by the Spirit, no longer held captive to sin and my old way of thinking and living. I can trust that the Holy Spirit will reveal what are life-giving choices for me, and I now have the ability to choose them over the old ways.

A new way exists! Where I used to succumb to laziness and selfishness, I can ask God for a picture of what a different response looks like. And He will give it. He will!

He gives us vision and inspiration and encouragement. I have seen it and experienced it first-hand. And it is personal and will cut you to the core, as it should. But it needs to be personal, so that you’ll know that He is personal and knows You intimately.

That’s usually the first step for me, asking the Lord what it looks like. Because I don’t know where to go if I haven’t seen it before. And this is why sharing your stories of victory with the Lord is SO important! It shows people that there is another way, that progress and freedom and change are possible,  and gives them a jumping off point.

And  a first step may just be as simple (but not easy) as admitting there is a problem. That you are stuck. That there is a bad habit. A sin. A struggle. A hurt that you can’t seem to get over by yourself.

Admitting this to yourself, to God and to someone else is a very powerful first step! It may not seem like much compared to where you want to be, but it’s necessary and it is the first step to freedom.

And so back to my responses. I had a choice – to agree with myself and stay stuck. Or to say No.

“No, I need to get up and get into God’s Word and connect with God personally MORE than I need sleep. Because I need to know what He has written in my day today. I want to be in step with His Spirit and to receive all that He has for me and my family and others I will interact with today. Because this isn’t just about me. I want to be able to abide in His Spirit so that I choose patience when my temper wants to flare, or I can have discernment through His Spirit when I have a run-in with my child, to see the heart of the matter instead of just addressing the behavior. I need His sight and His empowerment to live differently than I have in the past, and therefore I must get up and get into His Word.”

“No, I will choose to start to exercise, as much as my body resists and hurts and I don’t enjoy it at first. Because I know, that even though it seems counter-intuitive, that it will eventually give me more energy and You have designed my body to need this type of activity, and it will function better if I am using it how You designed it to be used. And so I’m going to choose to start to take better care of myself so that I can honor You and take better care of my family. And I’m going to trust that what energy I do expend in pursuit of obedience to You that You will cover with Your grace and will provide for that as well.” (take that, scarcity tactic. My God will provide for all my needs in Christ Jesus.)

“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17

Freedom means we have a choice, and we have the ability to choose well! Not perfectly, but to make imperfect progress.

So, back to this morning. Once Natalie and I got into things, she actually enjoyed herself. Once she submitted to the authority in front of her, she was able to receive all that this morning’s activities had to offer – the routine, the discipline, and the fun. We had a great conversation and she was able to see that what she predicted this morning was going to look like wasn’t the case at all. Instead, it was time connecting with her mother, talking about God’s love, and writing a little bit. And she loves connection. And she loves writing (once she pushes past the whining). She didn’t realize that I had tailored this morning to fit her personally, things I know she enjoys to do.

Isn’t that so how our loving God works, too? That once we push past the whining and submit to receive what He has to offer us, we discover that He actually shaped what He is handing us to be exactly what we need, and if we really offer Him our hearts, He’ll even give us a desire for it, too. It’s really unfathomable goodness that He offers us.

Every single time I choose surrender over selfishness, the Holy Spirit reveals to me more of Who God is, more of His love and compassion and extravagant grace, and I get a closer glimpse of what this whole life is really supposed to be about.

So, is your inner child screaming today? Do you need to send yourself to time-out to consider your choices, your attitude, and to pray for God to help you? I know that I need that prescription A LOT.

And don’t forget that last part. It’s essential. Ask God to help. Because it’s really not about us trying our best to be good or pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. It’s about acknowledging our dependence on Him to help us to make any good and lasting changes in our life. By confessing that I have a sinful heart and faulty vision, and that I need Him to give me a new heart and His perspective, so that I can really see.

Oh, how humbly and incredibly exposing parenting can be. I’m thankful that as I’m walking through this years of training my kids through time-outs and other various things, that it’s also a reminder to me of how I need the same exact training, and He’s offering it, if I will surrender and receive it.

Proverbs 3:11-13 (AMP)
“My son, do not reject or take lightly the discipline of the Lord [learn from your mistakes and the testing that comes from His correction through discipline];Nor despise His rebuke,
for those whom the Lord loves He corrects, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.”

Or a better word picture for my whiny heart:
Proverbs 3:11-12 (MSG)
“But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline; don’t sulk under his loving correction.
It’s the child he loves that God corrects;a father’s delight is behind all this.”

Hebrews 12:5-6
“And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,and chastises every son whom he receives.””

And the promise:
Hebrews 12:11
“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

 

This past December was really enjoyable.  It hasn’t always been this way. Years past, this was a crazy-busy time of year for our family and I hate to admit it, but Advent was the last thing on my mind. We loved Jesus (still do!), but there were ‘more pressing’ things that needed to be done, deadlines that needed to be met, and our lack of preparation for this month dictated our schedules and attention. And we were so surrounded by this type of rhythm and pace that we never really knew it could be different. It fell into the category of “that’s just what you do,” like a lot of things that go unexamined (car payments & credit cards being a way of life before Financial  Peace University, anxiety and shame being accessories I had to carry before Celebrate Recovery, just to name a couple).

But in the Lord’s faithfulness and leadership, because we definitely wouldn’t have gotten here left to our own devices, no matter how smart they may be (see what I did there?), the Lord has been doing a new thing in us – over and over again. Gosh, I am so thankful for His faithfulness.

Since coming home, life has looked a lot different. Obviously without the actual job outside these four-walls, I don’t have the deadlines or demands that I used to face this time of year to compete for our time and attention. But for me – and maybe you can relate – it was still there internally, those rhythms and habits and defaults – “this is just what you do” in December – be crazy and spend more money than you would ever consider any other month or context, etc. Even though the context had changed, my heart hadn’t. And so His work continues.

After a recent hard season, the Lord has been bringing to my attention some things that really need to change for me – crucial things that will allow me to not just survive and try to get through the day, but to flourish.

He desires to renew our joy and hope, to inspire us and excite us and remind us of His intentional design and orchestration.

I had forgotten these things, and had been living without them for a while. But the Lord, in His goodness, doesn’t let me settle for less than Who He is. He desires to be glorified, and when I am most satisfied in Him, He gets the most glory. It’s a crazy dynamic that I don’t deserve, this grace.

Part of this for me personally was revealing to me how much I need to incorporate Praise and Worship into my time with Him each morning. Often I struggle (and often blame it on not being a morning person) that when I get into the Word first thing, my mind is still distracted, fuzzy, and disengaged. I have a hard time allowing what I am seeing to really seep into my heart. But when I worship, when I sit long enough in the Lord’s Presence for Him to still my heart and allow the truth of Who He is to come out of my mouth – to proclaim it -then I really engage with the Lord on a heart level and my heart is more prepared to hear from Him – in His Word, through prayer, or really whatever He chooses to reveal Himself to me through that day.

As I have put on my oxygen mask in the morning, it has done WONDERS for my family.

“I call on you, my God, for You will answer me;  turn Your ear to me and hear my prayer.  Show me the wonders of Your great love, You who save by your right hand those who take refuge in You.” Psalm 17:6-7

A few months earlier this year, I prayed these verses often, intrigued by the idea of the Lord showing me more of the wonder of Who He is and His great love for us. And He has done that, in more ways than one, but in a new way, I am seeing how in His Love, He calls me to Himself. He knows that I need time with Him each morning – more than a 5-minute Bible App reading or quick couple of verses. He knows that my heart needs His life, to drink and be refreshed and renewed. My spirit needs to be awakened again to His Presence and the truth of His invisible Kingdom.  Otherwise I do walk around dry, surviving barely on the few morsels of His truth that I snag on the go through a minute in His Word or last week’s worship service or the last good sermon I’ve heard. And it leaves me with nothing refreshing to offer my kids, my husband, or anyone else.

There have been some really sweet times of worship, but NOT perfect. Often interrupted by littles, or squeezed into twenty minutes after breakfast while the kids are occupied, etc. There is often nothing ‘ideal’ about the appearance of this new priority in my day, but it has been so encouraging to see the Lord bring me back to life, to feel like I’m really ‘in’ my life again and engaged and excited about what He is doing.

And, although I won’t go into a lot details here – maybe a later post – the Lord is also leading me to drop my current plan for our homeschooling. Yes, we are still homeschooling, but some things needed to change. Part of this was the Holy Spirit confirming and challenging me that He desires to be my inspiration and where I look for ideas – not a curriculum plan, or pinterest, or anyone else. He desires to be my Source, and then He will provide whatever resources are needed to carry it out, in their proper place.

Whew – this was  a hard blow, y’all. I love my plans. I love my structure and the idea of a schedule (although I have learned I will buck a schedule in ten seconds flat when it is left up to me), and I love the sense of security that it all seems to provide. Yep – that was the heart issue right there. SECURITY. Where am I finding my sense of stability and balance? From a plan that someone else made for the general masses? From someone else’s walk with the Lord for their family? Or am I really seeking my Creator, the One who designed me with all my eccentricities and weaknesses and desires and the One who composed my family with all their unique needs and gifts and abilities?

He alone knows what my family needs to fulfill our purpose.

And that is what I want, at the end of the day, when all the extraneous stuff is wiped away, for us to fulfill our purpose. Not just manage. Not just get through these years with littles as unscathed as I can, praying that things get easier and more manageable in the future. But I want to dig deep into my life and be in it. Really in it. And loving it and them and Him through it. (Which doesn’t mean all cherries and roses and rainbows, but that isn’t what love is all about, anyways. Sometimes it looks like a whole lot of hard work and sacrifice and dying to myself and repentance and confession and asking for forgiveness.) And us walking in the good works that He prepared in advance for us to walk in (Ephesians 2:10).

In this new revelation that we were throwing out The Plan, the Holy Spirit whispered to me that just as Jesus is the Author and Perfector of my faith, that He has Authored my days. He has written them all in His book before one of them came to pass (Psalm 139:16), and He wants to direct me and show me what He has placed in each one. He wants me to ask Him for ideas and inspiration, which has been equally as challenging and revealed my trust issues at their core.

And so that is what I have been doing. Like a child, I have been asking my Father for ideas, to inspire me and to renew my joy.

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Psalm 51:12

And guess what?! He has. He has shown me intersection points where what I’m passionate about intersects with my time in ‘school’ with the kids, how He can use His Word to bring a fullness to our day, a sense of purpose and contentment that 3 hours worth of curriculum accomplished can’t provide.

He fulfills His promises and He fulfills His Word.

And He fills us to overflowing.

It has been really neat to see Him move, and how in the meantime, it has subsequently quieted down my heart and mind. It has allowed me to let go of a lot of the questioning and self-doubt in the decisions I was making, because The Plan is gone. I’m looking to Him, and reminded that this was His gig from the start. This was what He has called us to, and He will bring it to completion. He has everything we need, and so I’m looking to Him for it.

As ‘quiet’ and ’empty’ as our December has been compared to all the things I had cluttered up our days with, the Lord has brought about fullness and joy and purpose and life in our days. And isn’t that how He works? He came quietly and took up residence in this earth, and then again in my heart. And He has filled my empty spaces, but not with clutter and not to just fill for fullness sake, but with purpose and life and joy. Left to myself, I tend to overcrowd and overbook and pretty much overdo everything, using up whatever space and time and energy is available and then some. But the Lord knows my capacity for any given season, the optimal levels for each area of my life, the right amount of space and light for things to grow.

I could go on and on about the specific ways He has revealed Himself over the past month. But that is our story, mine and His. And often that is where I get snared – reading other people’s specifics and thinking that they need to be my own.

And they don’t. He has a specific story for me, and for you, and for that person that your mind tends to go to when you struggle with what you think your life should look like. There is no one pattern to follow, as much as I would LOVE that. But all of this leads us to dependence and a deeper relationship with Him. And that – now that is the point, to be reminded that He opens His hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing (Psalm 145:16). He determine where our boundary lines fall (if we are to be married, what our family is made up of – biological or adopted kids, where we work, where we live, how much money we make, what opportunities come our way) and they are in pleasant places (Psalm 16:5-6). But we need His perspective to recognize that. We need that close and personal walk with Him to see that how He is shaping our lives is really, really good, and for His purpose.

As I am praying for vision for what 2016 looks like for the Harwood Household, I am also praying for those that will read these words, that God will give you a greater vision for what He has in store for you this year, to know that is immeasurably more than you could imagine on your own, that we won’t settle for less than a greater intimacy with Jesus this year, and that you will discover the good plans He has for you.

Lord, please give us eyes to see things as You do, ears to hear Your voice, because You are speaking, so that we can follow You into those good works You have prepared in advance for us. Thank You that You go before us and light our path. You are so faithful. In Jesus’ Mighty Name I pray, Amen.

 

This month, Mother Goose Time is taking us on safari!

Here’s a sneak peak into some of the fun we’ll be having with our last month of Mother Goose Time! As much as we have LOVED using this curriculum and still will highly recommend it for anyone looking for quality, fun curriculum for their littles, we have sensed the Lord leading us in a new direction for 2016 and that called for us to let go of a few of our current plans and commitments in order to make room for what He has in store! So although it is bittersweet to let go of good things, we are excited for the good things the Lord has in store for this new year!

So on to what our month is going to look like!

 

Here are some of the additional resources from the Member Resources page.

dot-to-dot marker pagesyay for rhinos!

The following cards are great! I’m not sure if they are included in this month’s curriculum package, but in previous months, we’ve had cardstock version of these that I’ve laminated so we can continuously reference. They’re a fun way to introduce Spanish and numbers visually.

(Front of Spanish Concept Cards)

(Back of Spanish Concept Cards)

(Front of Spanish Vocabulary Cards)

(Back of Spanish Vocabulary Cards)

A fun letter “Z” activity


And this is one of 5 worksheets to help with number recognition.

And here are some of the crafts planned for this month!

It’s going to be a fun one!

As an official Mother Goose Time Blog Ambassador,
I receive curriculum in exchange for posting about our honest and authentic experiences with the curriculum.
Click here for more information on Mother Goose Time.