Finding Joy in Your Home

In hard seasons, in mundane moments and everything in between, the Gospel needs to shape our responses, our attitude and our home. Often we think of the Gospel as something that was important at that moment of salvation. Christ died for me, I'm forgiven...then the Christian life starts. But the Christian life is the Gospel. It affects our work, our marriages, our parenthood, our attitudes, and responses to all that life throws at us. And that's exactly what we are discussing today. Let's dive in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find the notes for this episode down below. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. What is the "goal" of the Christian life? "For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better." – Philippians 1:19-23 Living in light of the Gospel: "It is our obligation, as people created and owned by God, to give him the honor and glory that is due to him, to live and speak and act and think in a way that recognizes and acknowledges his authority over us. We are made by him, owned by him, dependent on him, and therefore accountable to him." - What is the Gospel? By Greg Gilbert Finding Glory in the Mundane Moments You see, I struggle sometimes with finding worth in the mundane. I struggle finding glory in the ordinary. I sometimes struggle knowing how the second load of dishes or sweeping the sidewalk is worth anything. Do you ever struggle with this? Do you ever struggle knowing how our work in the home matters to God? Both of these books this year have helped with that. I feel like I've gone on a similar journey as the author has in Glory in the Ordinary. I love how she's open about her struggle with this as well: "Like all major changes, my early days as a stay-at-home mom rocked me to the core. I had gone from days filled with fruitful conversations to days filled with crying and blank stares from two needy babies. Over time I began to see that being home had inherent value, but what I couldn't immediately see was how the work at home had value as well. It was not merely about staying home to take care of the children (which made sense to my exhausted brain); I had to learn there was value in the laundry and cleaning too." – Glory in the Ordinary page 25 This is the impactful part, she goes on to say: "What I've learned is that God is glorified in the mundane work as much as he is in the magnificent. In fact, it is in the mundane moments, the moments where we live each and every day, where we come to see the true greatness of God and his love for us." – Glory in the Ordinary page 25 Life is lived out in these tiny moments. I may not always have the mental capacity to remember and realize that I am doing big, grand work, even when I'm scrubbing toilets, but that doesn't mean it isn't true. Something that I love throughout her book is this concept of how our culture views work in the home versus how God does. Our culture views work as simply a means to an end. We work just enough to be able to afford leisure time. And we look down on those blue collar jobs or work that seem to have little worth, such as workingMcDonald's. We value big important jobs. We admire people who are in charge of large ministries who are making changes in the world. That's not a bad thing to admire those people, but we tend to put all our value into these jobs or those people. So we tend to think then,

I have one big goal in my kitchen: nourish my family with good, nutritious food so that we all have the energy and vitality to serve the Lord. BUT it has to be simple and easy or I'll never be able to do it. So in this episode I'm going to share a bit behind how I run my simple kitchen to save money, save time, and eat healthier. Listen in! Listen to the Podcast: You can find the notes for this episode down below. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Find all my favorite kitchen appliances in my Amazon store Join me over on Instagram Our Sponsor: Get 50% off your first month of Care/Of by going to TakeCareOf.com/home50 and use promo code home50 at checkout! Grab your ticket to this year's conference! Tickets went on sale this week for the 7th annual Homemaking Ministries Online Conference. The theme this year is Finding Joy in Your Home. It's going to be our BEST online conference yet. I invite you to come check out all the speakers, sessions, and other goodies.

Are you feeling frazzled right now? Maybe overwhelmed as you look to the end of the year and a start of a new one? I've been feeling that a lot this year so I had to remind myself: There is important Kingdom work for me to do each day. I just need to refocus enough to see it. We are going to talk about the right priorities today: Listen to the Podcast: You can find the notes for this episode down below. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Our Sponsor: Visit JennyLife.com/HOME to get a FREE quote right now on life insurance! Our Sponsor: Go to HelloFresh.com/HOMEMAKING90 and use code HOMEMAKING90 to get $90 off including free shipping Grab your ticket to this year's conference! Tickets went on sale this week for the 7th annual Homemaking Ministries Online Conference. The theme this year is Finding Joy in Your Home. It's going to be our BEST online conference yet. I invite you to come check out all the speakers, sessions, and other goodies.

It's November and the Holiday's are almost here. I don't know about you, but once November hits, I feel like we hit fast forward on the year. So as we look forward to Thanksgiving, Christmas, and making memories as a family...I want to be intentional! Here's how we can start to prepare our hearts to better focus on Christ and make memories as a family. Listen to the Podcast: You can find the notes for this episode down below. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Linka & Resources: The Tech-Wise Family by Andy Crouch Hidden Christmas by Timothy Keller Our sponsor: New customers get 20% off plus free shipping at Nutrafol.com coupon code: HOME Christ-Centered Christmas Kit! If you are looking for another resource that will give you the tools to focus more on Christ this year, I want to share with you my Christ-Centered Christmas Kit! The kit includes 6 audio lessons, Celebrating a Christ-Centered Christmas eBook, and a TON of printables to help you this Christmas season! And you can get the Christmas kit for 25% OFF making it just $14.95 (it's normally $19.95). Just use coupon code: CHRISTMASBUNDLE18 at checkout for 25% off! Purchase the Christmas Kit Here The Christmas kit even includes these beautiful printable Scripture readings that go along with each day of December. It's already December you say? Who cares! Jump in now and you will also have these next year to use!! Plus a ton of other great goodies inside the kit! Grab your ticket to this year's conference! Tickets went on sale this week for the 7th annual Homemaking Ministries Online Conference. The theme this year is Finding Joy in Your Home. It's going to be our BEST online conference yet. I invite you to come check out all the speakers, sessions, and other goodies.

It's been such an insane year. And one thing has been clear to me: I haven't been making relationships in my life a big enough priority. Listen in to the 3 areas I'm working on relationships in my life: in my parenting, in my marriage, and in my friendships. Listen to the Podcast: You can find the notes for this episode down below. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Find out more about the Homemaking Ministries Online Conference 2021 Preorder Crystal's NEW book: Love-Centered Parenting Our Sponsor: Get $80 off your first 5 boxes at HelloFresh.com/Homemaking80 and use code Homemaking80 Grab your ticket to this year's conference! Tickets went on sale this week for the 7th annual Homemaking Ministries Online Conference. The theme this year is Finding Joy in Your Home. It's going to be our BEST online conference yet. I invite you to come check out all the speakers, sessions, and other goodies.

It's been a rough year. Am I right? But 2021 doesn't have to be. Let's head into this next year with JOY! Here's what I'm working on: Listen to the Podcast: You can find the notes for this episode down below. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. Links & Resources: Find out more about the Homemaking Ministries Online Conference 2021 Bible Verses Mentioned: Romans 15:13, Psalm 90:14, Phil 4:4, James 1:2-4, Psalm 94:19, and 1 Thess 5:16-18 Our Sponsor: Sponsor a child today with WorldVision.org/Home Grab your ticket to this year's conference! Tickets went on sale this week for the 7th annual Homemaking Ministries Online Conference. The theme this year is Finding Joy in Your Home. It's going to be our BEST online conference yet. I invite you to come check out all the speakers, sessions, and other goodies.