{ children's books }

If you are looking for some great children books, these are my absolute favorites! Check them out!

 

The Prayer that Makes God Smile

The Prayer that Makes God Smile was given to Harper as a gift and I did not realize how amazing it was up until last week! Its long, but friends…it’s a precious guide to understanding who God is and Salvation through Jesus.  I love when books point kids to Jesus!

  

Psalms for Young Children 

Psalms for Young Children is such an amazingly illustrated and paraphrased version of scripture. The first time I read this book was at a Vineyard Conference and I can honestly say that I cried when I read it. It helps kids truly connect to scripture (and adults!). Its a great bedtime book.

The Jesus Storybook Bible

This last one is the Jesus Storybook Bible. We promote this in JAM and I absolutely adore it. Awesome illustrations and the wording is easy to understand. Just love it. That’s all. :)

These are just a few of the books that I love to share. If you have any other books that I should look at to share with other parents, please let me know!

 { sara }

 

{ come to me, all who are weary mothers }

I'm in this season of trying to find true 'rest'. I automatically go to the thought, "maybe I need 'me' time", which seems to include thoughts of getting my hair done, maybe an eyebrow wax, how about shaving both legs for a change before my baby screams bloody murder for me? maybe I could use my hairdryer this week, or possibly buying jeans that actually fit me, or even shoes that fit my now larger feet from pregnancy?  I would like to think that shopping would help, but yet today I bought a scarf, and here I sit with the same emotions prior to purchasing the scarf...and I'm now short $10.17 from my envelope system...

I just know in my heart that this kind of stuff is not what God is wanting me to do to find rest. That as a mother, in order to find true rest, I need to soak up scripture, pray over my family, work diligently, love deeply, listen intentionally and maybe pick up my house occasionally (for sanity sake during my Jesus time).

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

God, may we as parents take on your gentleness & humbleness. Help our souls find rest so that we can love our children, and most importantly, be content in life! AMEN.

{ sara }

{ words }

Submit Yourselves to God- James 4

 "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴ You adulterous people,don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? ⁶ But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud
    but shows favor to the humble.”

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?"


Coming out of years of depression was HARD WORK. Looking back, I see that prayer is what truly was my freedom. I cried out. I screamed. I whispered my pleas to God. Words are a BIG DEAL. Speaking things into your life is real. 

Joel and I are very careful what we speak out loud. We are careful what people say in our home, about us individually, about our marriage, our daughter...etc. Many times when someone speaks something about us or our daughter that we do not wish upon ourselves or Harper, we renounce word for word what they said, and declare a Truth to replace it.

A small example is this: If I say "watch our car not start again..." Joel immediately will respond with "no, Sara...our car WILL start in the name of Jesus!" And I will agree with that and we move on.

I think it is so easy to forget that Satan is real. Spiritual warfare is real. Just like in the verses above, he is out to get us, whether or not we acknowledge it. We need to acknowledge it. Satan takes our words and, in a sense, shoves them back in our face. Taking our thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5) is so important. Our minds are sensitive, and we need to realize that we are in control of our thinking! 

Every night, I declare protection, health and rest over our family. And it happens! Every morning I declare that Harper will have a great day with whoever she is with, and it happens! I declare financial protection over our household, and it happens. I declare that I will not crave pop..and it happens :) I am not saying "look at all I have because I declare it". I want us all, as followers of Jesus, to realize the power that He has given us to speak Truth over our lives, and over the lives of others. When we pray, declare Truth and healing in the name of Jesus over those who need it. 

"...in the name of Jesus we declare healing"
"...in the name of Jesus we declare protection"
"...in the name of Jesus we declare wisdom"

Your words can be your fight. Your words can declare to Satan that you are serious about living for Jesus, and you are not one to be messed with. Start declaring Truth into your life and see where it takes you! 

{sara}

{ peace }

As we all know, there are TONS of articles out there about what we want for our kids, what we hope for our kids, what we dream about for their futures....

but what do we PRAY about? Praying over our children can be the most powerful thing we ever do. Ever.

Joel and I are really big on trying to make sure we are careful with what we speak into Harpers life, and our lives for that matter. Speaking truth over Harper has been such a powerful turning point for my life. My worry for my child is gone. My hope in my Saviors hand over her life is so real. My desire for her soul to find rest in our loving God is more stronger than I could have ever imagined.

Dear Parent, God loves our babes more than we ever will.  Jesus will pursue your children just like He has pursued you. He desires a relationship with them just as He did you. We need to make sure that our children know about God's continuous pursuit of their hearts.

I am so grateful that my God is big enough to know my child even more than I know her. She is in good hands, and because I know that, I have peace.


{sara}

{the day i felt important}

Yesterday I answered a call with no caller ID. Usually, in this case, I don't answer the phone, but for some reason, this time, I did! The lady on the other end said, "Sara, I would like to congratulate you for being accepted into the National Association of Professional Women! May I interview you further for your profile that will be published with your name in our next edition?" OF COURSE!

After a pretty good interview, she was impressed. I'll admit. I felt my answers were pretty good for being last minute. I mean, all I did was fill out a form that was sent to me, and then I was approved. Easy! OR NOT...

"OK Sara, ::insert big long lecture about how honored I should feel and what they will do for me...blah blah blah...:: So, Sara...would you like to pay $9.99 for our elite membership? Or $7.95 for our regular membership" (It also included a plaque with my name and the date I was inducted!)

"I'll go with the $7.95", I say. (I then get my card and give her my info)  "Great!" she says, "So, SEVEN HUNDRED AND NINETY FIVE DOLLARS will be on your account!"

WHAAAAAATTTT???!? Tricky lady. Real nice.

After 10 minutes of me declining several more membership offers (she got down to $199), I was trying so hard not to offend this lady, because I did feel honored, and I did feel special. I began to cry, because, well, I had to take money out of my savings that day just to get lunch. I was lucky I had $7.95 to give! I think she finally understood, that even if she tried to take money, I wouldn't have any for her to take. And just because I work 7 days a week, doesn't mean I have money. After she explained to me for the 6th time that I would never be considered again, that this was a ONCE in a lifetime opportunity, I had to decline..again.

Here is why I share this story. For months I have been feeling unworthy. I have felt like I am not good enough, I don't do anything to be recognized, and I just feel looked down on. These are lies that are slammed in my face every day. I've really been struggling, and I felt like this whole experience was a slap in the face.

My worth is not based on my income. My worth is not based on whether or not I work in the house, or out of the house. My worth is not based on affirmation or acknowledgement. I have never gone from feeling SO appreciated to SO unworthy. After I cried a good cry, I heard God whisper to me "Sara, you are worth so much more than anyone will ever acknowledge."

I have learned my lesson. I don't want acknowledgment, especially if it will cost me $1,000 ;)

{sara}

PS I went from liking the NAPW organization to being very offended. Because of the obvious reason of me not being rich enough to be a part of it.

{faithfully walking}

"after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters..." Genesis 5:22

sometimes geneologies arent the most fun to read in scripture, but this verse stuck out to me. Enoch was mentioned because he walked "faithfully" with God for THREE HUNDRED YEARS!

can i faithfully walk with God for 300 years? would i? what about...

300 months...
300 weeks...
300 days...
300 hours...
300 minutes...
3 minutes...

what does faithfully walking with God look like, and how long can i do it?

{sara}

{breaking free-wk3}

this week we did ancestral sins. i've always been aware of generational curses and the Bible mentioning "sins of the the fathers", but call me crazy, i never realized how SERIOUS God is about ancestral sin!

God is serious about this subject! i'm not going to type out my defense, because i know it to be true, but so many times in the Bible, God addresses this subject. our supervisor shared many stories, but one of them was about a women who had trouble stealing, and that was linked to one of her parents being in an occult or doing occult like things. the sins we deal with now, may not be the exact sins of our ancestors, BUT we cannot rule out that what we deal with daily could be a generational curse. i have also never fully comprehended that, with JESUS, we have the power and authority to claim legal ground back from satan that he took from our ancestors. the ground that he had with them, we can claim back in the name of Jesus!

there is a great chance that the sins you deal with today could be linked to your ancestors. my prayers for a family member have been powerful lately. its been so wonderful to be reminded of the legal ground we can claim back in the name of JESUS!