Finding Joy in Your Home

It's one thing to pay lip service to the importance of reading God's Word - it's another thing to actually cherish God's Word and to dig into it as often as we can. It's one thing to hear God's Word preached on Sunday and then move on with our week and forget about it - it's another thing to be daily savoring what God has revealed to us in His written Word. 

Join me this week as we cover part 3 in our brand new series: Practical Theology for Homemakers. Part 1 we covered Why Theology Matters for Homemakers (HF #72) and part 2 we covered The Goal of Our Christian Life (Hf #74). 

Listen to the Podcast:

We also recorded this blog post as an audio podcast. If you want to listen in instead of reading, click play below or do a combination of both

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As we move deeper into this series, soon we will be covering the attributes of God, how to be more discerning with what we read and listen to, how and where we find our identity and more. We are about to move into some really good episodes. 

But first, we need to establish a VERY firm foundation: Do we REALLY trust God's Word? The entire scope of our Christian life is based on this. If we can't trust God's Word to be accurate and true, then how can we base our life on it? 

So we are going to briefly cover the inerrancy and sufficiency of God's Word and then move into some practical ideas for studying God's Word and how you can come to truly cherish God's Word. 

Can we really trust God's Word? 

First question we must ask, is what is the Bible good for? Why did God give us the Bible? The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, 

Q. 3. What do the Scriptures principally teach?

A. The Scriptures principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.

Essentially, the Bible teach us who God is and how humankind relates to God. The Bible is the story about God redeeming His people. 

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." - 2 Timothy 3:16-17

The study into this goes way beyond the scope of this podcast episode, but as protestants, we believe that God inspired all the human authors of the Bible to write it. The Holy Spirit prompted the writers of the Bible and because it's all God-breathed as 2 Timothy says, it is God's perfect and Holy Word and it is without error. 

"For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." - 2 Peter 1:21

This is called the inerrancy of Scripture. That God inspired the human writers and each word contained in His Word is without error. We can fully trust what God's Word teaches us about God and our world. In fact, it's the only trustworthy source we have at our disposal. It's the sole place we can find truth in this world as we seek God. 

"God’s Word is sufficient to meet every need of the human soul as David verifies frequently in his psalms. Psalm 19:7-14 is the most comprehensive statement regarding the sufficiency of Scripture. It is an inspired statement about Scripture as a qualified guide for every situation. Scripture is comprehensive, containing everything necessary for one’s spiritual life. Scripture is surer than a human experience that one may look to in proving God’s power and presence. Scripture contains divine principles that are the best guide for character and conduct. Scripture is lucid rather than mystifying so that it enlightens the eyes. Scripture is void of any flaws and therefore lasts forever. Scripture is true regarding all things that matter,

I talk about reading a LOT. It's a hobby of mine but it's also an important tool I use in my Spiritual growth. Because I read a lot and talk about it a lot, I get a ton of questions about reading and the best ways to fit it into a busy homemaker's schedule. 

I get it. It can be really hard to fit any reading time into your already too busy and too full schedule. But I want to encourage you to try and find a few minutes in your week to invest in a good book. Reading is so life giving and encouraging to me that I sorely miss it when I get out of the habit. 

Listen to the Podcast:

We also recorded this blog post as an audio podcast. If you want to listen in instead of reading, click play below or do a combination of both

And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. 

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

This week, I got a question from someone inside my online training academy for homemakers. As I was thinking of how to respond, I decided I had too much to share on the topic and wanted to record an episode for you since I know others will have the same/similar questions. She said, 

"Jami Reading question! How do you choose where to start? There are so many books and ebooks and audiobooks I want to read. I'm also the type who doesn't like to have more than 2 books at a time (one nonfiction and one fiction - although I never read fiction anymore). How do you decide what's most important to begin with? Pick an area of study (motherhood, parenting, hospitality, etc.) and focus down for a month at a time? Hop around?" 

I'm honestly not sure I'm the right person to answer this question since my Goodreads account since my Goodreads account currently shows I'm in the middle of 12 books! I'm not good about staying in one book at a time...but maybe that's just my personality ;) 

How to Choose Where to Start 

Are you ready for my brilliant advice? Don't think - just grab a book and start reading! I think sometimes we make this far too complicated. We procrastinate and get overwhelmed when we think of all the books out there that we really want to read. 

So walk over to your bookshelf  - or open your Kindle app - and give yourself about 30 seconds to grab a book. Then start reading!! 

Follow a reading plan:

I know sometimes if you are trying to expand your reading and want to read different things, it's easier to follow someone else's plans. So here are a few suggestions to breathe new life into your reading plans: 

2017 Christian Reading Challenge for Women (my very own plan!)

Tim Challies' 2017 Reading Challenge (this is what inspired MY reading plan)

Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge 

Set up Categories:

Another fun idea is to pick 4-6 categories for yourself and cycle between then. For example your categories might be 1) Christian Living/Theology 2) Biographies/History 3) Biblical Womanhood/Homemaking 4) Marriage 5) Parenting 6) Fiction

Then add 5-10 books to each category that you've always wanted to read. Start with category 1) Christian Living/Theology. Go to the your reading list for that category and pick the first book. Read that one, and then move on to category 2) Biographies/History. Read the first book on your list and then move on to category #3, etc. 

This is pretty much what I do and it allows me to cycle through different kinds of books! I'm reading more fiction this year and I tend to get really sucked into fiction books so I make sure between series to read several other non-fiction books before jumping into my next fiction series. 

Pros: The pros of this reading plan is that your reading is varied. You get your face in many different subjects and you are diversifying your ...

It seems like we are always working. Always striving. Always doing and always trying. As Christians, we can easily feel pulled in a million different directions as we try and figure out what we should be spending our time on. 

What's the ultimate purpose and goal? What is the goal of our Christian life? 

Last week we covered Why Theology Matters for Homemakers and covered the introduction to our new series: Practical Theology for Homemakers. In that episode we talked about what theology is, why it matters, and why we need theology in our life. 

Listen to the Podcast:

We also recorded this blog post as an audio podcast. If you want to listen in instead of reading, click play below or do a combination of both

And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. 

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

As we move through the practical parts of learning theology, the first thing to cover is our ultimate goal of our Christian life: to Grow in Godliness. We are on a continual process as Christians of growing in our faith and of growing closer to the Lord. But it's not always easy is it?  

"As housewives, we often add to our job titles cook, chauffer, accountant, nurse, maid, and many other things. But have you ever considered being a theologian as a necessary part of your vocation? I have heard many people tell me, 'I know that I am a Christian. I have faith, and that is good enough for me. I don't feel the need to make it all complicated with theological stuff.' It is heartbreaking and shameful that theology has such a bad reputation. Because of this, I am compelled to investigate such a profound misunderstanding.

Faith is a gracious gift from God, and this faith has content. It is not just faith in faith. When you fall in love with your husband, are you satisfied at that moment to learn nothing else about him? Of course not, the opposite is true; you want to know more and more of him. And your love grows in this way. Now think of our all-knowing, all-powerful God. Can we ever exhaust our learning of him? What a privilege and an honor to be able to know our God!" - Housewife Theologian, page 13 

Studying theology simply leads to growing in our faith which then means growing in our relationship and love of the Lord! 

We are no strangers to growth. Growth is all around us. We are continually growing; our kids sprout up before our eyes, we are growing in our careers and knowledge of the world. We sense it in the seasons and the changing of the year. We are always growing and changing and being molded. 

But what are we being molded into? What image are you reflecting? With each passing day are you becoming more and more like the world? Or more and more like Christ? You are always growing - so the question becomes: What are you growing towards?

The Bible assumes that we will always be growing and Peter in particular urges us to be growing in the Lord. 

"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen."- 2 Peter 3:18

"Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ," - Ephesians 4:15

We are not meant to be stagnant in our walk with the Lord. We are called to always be learning and growing and drawing closer to God. 

We grow in our faith in two ways: 

1) When we are intentional 

God calls us to be intentional with our Spiritual walk. This is where our obedience is expected in reading God's Word, prayer, and being active in our faith. 

2) The Holy Spirit Working in Us

While we are called to obedience, we also must recognize that nothing we do is of our own effort.

A few weeks ago I got a comment from a friend who was feeling overwhelmed and like her work in the home is just plain pointless sometimes. And my heart went out to her! 

Last week I addressed the first part of her question: When Your Work Just Doesn't Feel Worthwhile. In that episode I addressed the heart aspect of it. And today, I want to address the practical parts of her question. Where can you turn to for help when life seems overwhelming? 

Listen to the Podcast:

We also recorded this blog post as an audio podcast. If you want to listen in instead of reading, click play below or do a combination of both

And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. 

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

Here's her question: 

“Jami, I’ve really been struggling with something lately, and was hoping you’d have some advice for me. Lately, I’ve been so tired. Just tired of the everyday. I get up and feed the kids, then the baby, then do laundry, dishes, a bit of school work, change diapers, feed everyone lunch, and so on and so on. It feels like 80% of my time is spent dealing with feeding my family whether it’s prep, cooking, eating with them, or cleaning up afterwards. I go to bed dreading the next day because I think “I have to get up in 7 hours just to do all this again”. Seriously, I am missing the point here. I don’t feel like I am doing important work, and when I consider the possibility that what I’m doing is important, I don’t think I’m doing it right. I mean most days I’m lucky if I get any work done at all or the kids get a bath that night. Sometimes it’s several days before they get another one. I know that’s not super important but I think it get the point across a bit more. If this all makes sense, please help me see the point or bigger picture in all this drudgery!”

I think she has a lot of different emotions and feelings going on in this question (which is why I'm taking two whole podcasts to address it). So we are going to discuss a few different things. 

Make sure you are taking care of yourself

This is one of the first things that stands out to me from what she said. She's tired, tired, tired. I have been there so many times over the past few years that I have been so so wiped out simply because I'm not taking care of myself the way I should. I used to be able to get by without a lot of exercise and not eating well. But after five babies and getting older...I NEED to take care of my physical needs. 

And the last three months I've actually been eating really well. I've been making myself eat more vegetables, fish, and actually sit down for lunch. This simple act has already had a big impact on my energy levels and how I feel. 

When I'm done breastfeeding, Jason and I are going to do this 12 day herbal cleanse. He did it already back in January and loved it (it even helped him lose weight)! 

And as I type this, I am SHOCKED to admit that Magnolia is now over three months old and I haven't worked out once since she was born. Wowza! So this is a big thing I am going to try to work into my schedule more the next few months. I know my body needs it and my energy will eventually thank me for it. I have Lindsay Brin's Post Natal Slimdown that I did after my second set of twins and LOVE it!! I've also heard wonderful things about Trim Healthy Mama's new workout DVD's! 

Set some goals in your home

It is seriously discouraging when you are aimless in our home. When you wonder around, just keeping up on things. It's easy to feel discouraged and like you are not working towards anything. So I like to set goals, even if it's cleaning goals or reading goals. 

Setting goals helps me to keep track of things, cross things off a list,