happy homemaker challenge.

i've been debating posting this for a long time. but it's one of those things that i keep have a nagging {seemingly from the Lord} to do - so i'm going to give up the fight.

i just don't want anyone to think that i think i have this down. because i don't. that's why it has hit so hard at home with me. i have so much to work on. as a wife. a mother. a friend. it's overwhelming at times... and if you read this with a hard heart {like i did the first time} it's REALLY going to feel overwhelming.

but i encourage you to say a little prayer before you read it. {or say a prayer after you read and then come back to it and read it again :) } ask the Holy Spirit to move you to conviction where you need convicting and encouragement where you need encouraging.

then make your own list. {my list is this list minus one or two things and adding one or two things... one is not complaining or arguing - especially in front of brady}.

our challenge {in my women's bible study} was to pick one of these things to work on each week. the first week, mine was number 10. this week mine is number 11. my hope is to post an update each week with my experience - good & bad - with my challenge. if you have any suggestions, tips, etc. on ANY of these things - please pass them my way! we can all use a bit of tangible encouragement now and again, correct?

on with the excerpt:

"do you cherish your home? is it 'home sweet home' to you? when you are away do you yearn for it? is your heart truly centered in your home? are the place and the people there more important to you than anyone or anything else?

when i responded to God's call to homemaking and to questions like these so many years ago, i wrote out an 'i will' list about my home sweet home. i called my covenant with God "the heart of a homemaker'. you'll notice that it touches on much of what you've read so far.

1. i will get up before my family in order to prepare myself spiritually and physically.
2. i will prepare breakfast for my family and sit with them while they eat.
3. i will work diligently to send every member of my family off in a good mood.
4. i will consult my husband every day to see if there is anything special he wants me to do for him.
5. i will keep a neat and orderly home.
6. i will respond positively.
7. i will seek to meet my husband's needs.
8. i will put my husband before my children.
9. i will personally meet & greet each family member as he or she returns home.
10. i will be predicitably happy.
11. i will prepare special, good food for my family.
12. i will make dinner a special time.
13. i will grow daily in the areas of the Lord, marriage, family & homemaking.

is yours the heart of a homemaker? for help, ask God for his transforming touch. as he empowers you to obery, he will give you joy at the task to which he calls you and enhance the beauty of the tapestry you are weaving."

~chapter 16, "a woman after God's own heart" by elizabeth george.