Come, Have a Peace

Life Off Line: 5 Ways to be sure to pray

2012-01-27T09:48:00.000-05:00

Today you can find me over at The MOM Initiative posting about Parenting out of the Pit of Addiction.

Today is also the official merger day of Scripture Dig and Do Not Depart. I'm excited to be "going along" as part of the Do Not Depart contributor team. Right now our Bible study together is called Run to Him and is based on various Psalms. This week we read Psalm 4, and 2 phrases got my attention in my real Life Off Line:

"Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!" v. 1
"the Lord hears when I call to him." v. 3

The "when I call" repetition grabbed me, because it's so easy to be so caught up with so many things that I just fail to call. .... Kid appointments. Work demands. Laundry loads. Physical weakness. People pressure. Legitimate needs. I can get caught up in all the "doing" and in attempting to work out my own answers that I leave out "when I call."

5 Ways to be sure I call:

Get up a little earlier or stay up a little later

Find a place to be alone (when all else fails, the bathroom ...)

Sit still and think about God (the car works!)

Open my Bible and pray back His words

Use a simple prayer journal to keep me focused

Next week I'll wrap up the Life Off Line focus, but I will never cease to need to stop and call on the Lord. He will hear and answer ... when I call.

Other topics you might want to read from our Life Off Line series:
Friendship

Marriage: How to Have a Real Fight

Real Hospitality

God's Word

Real Truth, Real Women

7 Real Habits for Happy Marriage

Real Encouragement

Snowman Craft

Marriage: How do you do w/mess?

Are you resting?

Life Off Line: Are you resting?

2012-01-25T04:00:00.011-05:00

In my Saturday closet cleaning, I discovered some long forgotten items. My 2 teenage "fashion consultants" encouraged me to get rid of more than a few items. I've threatened them not to send me in to "What Not to Wear." I firmly believe that most things WILL COME BACK IN STYLE. ;)

I also discovered some lost opportunities. Among other things, I found a FREE MOVIE TICKET that runs out TOMORROW. I'm not good at relaxing. I'm good at working. I usually stuff those "fun things" away for another day, a day when I'll have nothing to do. I'm afraid that day doesn't come very often, does it. But in Life Off Line, it's important to take real time off to relax and rest.

Jesus set a pattern for us when He took time away to rest. Following the feeding of the 5,000, people did not stop looking for Him, asking for Him, or wanting Him to "fix" things. Maybe this is one of the many reasons He understands women! :) But He still rested.

"After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. "John 6:1-3

Sometimes the most godly way I can use a day is to rest.
Real life isn't very sweet without rest.
My busy mind/body/spirit fail to remember who is God unless I stop and sit down.

So I don't know if the movie ticket is going to be used now or if it will just be a reminder of what I miss when I stuff the priority of rest to dark and forgotten places. After all, the Muppet Movie was showing, and I could've used a good laugh more than a few times since I got that ticket! ;) Instead, I've taken a step to plan a few nights away at a quiet place offered by friends, and I think I'll go up there on that mountain and sit down.

What do you do that helps you to find real rest?

Today's Life Off Line Challenge:
- Sit down. :)
- Take a deep breath.
- Pick up a pen (or however you plan) & mark off a "piece of a day" to rest. Keep it sacred, because it is.

Marriage Mondays: How do you do w/mess?

2012-01-23T08:09:00.000-05:00

What makes you hard to live with? Are you afraid to go there? Even more afraid to ask someone else? It's not easy to face our "ugly spots;" we tend to want to cover up or stuff them. Real love doesn't back away from a mess.

Photo credit Flickr ~ Grace and Lily

I've been stuffing for the last six years. In my closet. It's one of the ways I get a lot done. :) It's part of the "messy" in my Life Off Line. I just "stuff it" in there to deal with later. You can imagine where that got me! And can I say here that I fully intended to take a picture and show you, but it didn't happen, because ...

My Jeff really loves me, and he knew I needed help with my mess. He took his Saturday afternoon to tackle my mess. First he told me to keep in mind that anything to follow wasn't personal, a reflection on my worth as a person (he had a trash bag in hand), or his love for me. :) You may remember that when he helped with my pantry, I didn't respond with total grace. :/ So while I grabbed a Diet Dr. Pepper, he started emptying my vault. My first thought: "Wow! I can pack a lot of stuff in a closet!"

It's hard enough to call a mess what it is, whether it's a closet, a habit, or a circumstance we've made, but it's harder to tackle the mountain alone. Don't get me wrong; I'm not a candidate for "Hoarders," but that might only be because Jeff doesn't back off from a mess. A working friend is a blessing, and in marriage a spouse that will get dirty and make our mess their own is truly a gift. It's a timeless truth that, "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor" (Eccl. 4:9).

Knowing we have to tackle a mess alone often keeps us from tackling it at all.
Our husbands are blessed when we allow them the privilege of meeting a need, lifting our load, and being our knight in shining closet organization.
They are helped when we come alongside them to help tackle their mountains with an attitude of humility and love, instead of criticism or belittling.
They don't want to see us standing in front of them with a trash bag in hand and a glimmer in our eye!

My closet wasn't my only mess, but it was a big one. I'll bet you have a mess somewhere. It may not be the shape of a closet. It may be habit-shaped or attitude-shaped or heart-shaped; whatever the shape of your mess or your husband's, real love won't back away.

Today's Life Off Line Challenge:
- Ask God to show you an area in your life that needs to be addressed, instead of overlooked.
- Ask your husband if there's anything in his life that would be a relief to have help to take care of ... and then change your schedule to be his helper.