Being a Stay-at-Home Daughter Means...

Being a Stay-at-Home Daughter Means:

Doing laundry. Lots of laundry. In fact, doing more laundry than you thought 4 people could generate.

Sometimes trying to help with the cooking. Even if it does take you twice as long as your mother, and you make even a bigger mess than your father.

Cleaning: Vacuuming, polishing, and dusting. And trying not to break anything in the process.

Driving your brother around when your parents can't.

Spending time writing that story that you just know will be a national bestseller someday. ;)

Teaching lots of piano lessons. And realizing the interesting ways God answers your prayers for patience.

Babysitting & nannying for church families. Getting invaluable experience for when the kids you spend time with are your own. : )

Playing the piano for an hour at a time...just because you can and you love it.

Getting to know Jesus more and more every day.

Realizing that God's plan and timing are PERFECT.

Making new friends and cherishing old ones.

Realizing that no family is perfect, not even yours, but yours is pretty amazing anyway.

Diving deeper into God's word.

Communicating with God daily through prayer.

Realizing that as great as your dreams and plans are, it's not about you. It's about bringing glory to God.

My Daily War

I'm going to be completely honest. Sometimes I get really tired of waiting. Sometimes I just want what I want and I want it when I want it. But whoa there, that's pretty selfish. And sometimes I just feel like saying, "Yes! It is selfish! Can't I just be selfish for a minute?!"
But of course that answer is no. Of course I know I shouldn't be selfish. But I can't escape the fact that sometimes it is hard.
So what should I do? God warned me of this. In His word He told me that there would be times when my flesh and my spirit would wage war with one another. Because really the truth is that my spirit desires to do God's will more than anything. I desire so much to please God. No matter what. But my flesh desires to have it's own way. To get what it wants now. So I struggle. I struggle daily because it's not easy to deny myself. It's not easy to say, "Not my will, but Yours be done, Lord." It's definitely not easy to deny myself. But I know that it is necessary. Because I know that my flesh will some day pass away. But my spirit is eternal. The decisions I make now do not just effect me now - they have eternal effects. And I must remember this. So I decide, right now, every day, to die to self. I decide to submit myself to God's will. I decide to trust Him. No matter what. No matter where that takes me. No matter if He ever gives me what I want or not. No matter if other people understand. I decide to follow Him. No if's, and's, or but's. And I know HE will provide me the strength I need. I can't do it on my own. I won't ever do it on my own. But with my focus on HIM and through His grace I will make it. And I know that every step is extremely worth it.

Where Did All the Jonah's Come From?

In the past I talked a little about men and women after God’s own heart: David’s and Mary’s. Today I will talk about another person- Jonah. Did you notice how our world is full of Jonahs? What do I mean by that? Well think about Jonah of the Old Testament. God told him to do something, and he ran away. He even hid. Later we see examples of his selfishness and self-centeredness. A far cry from the man who tried to follow God with his entire heart and being. So did you notice how so many young people these days are being raised to be Jonah’s? We continue to see young people who are selfish, self-centered, and running from God. So many young people are falling away from their faith and the church. So many of them are becoming Jonah’s. What can we do about this? First, we must make a commitment to never become a Jonah. We must strive to be a Mary or a David. We must make it our goal to follow God with our hearts, minds, and souls, even when it’s hard or inconvenient. We must be godly examples to other young people in our lives. Secondly, we must purpose to raise godly children. We must realize that we need to someday teach our children to be Mary’s and David’s. We must help them realize that their life is about serving God, not serving themselves. Then maybe we can rid the world of the Jonah’s. 

~Brooke