Made to Crave

Today I am at the library to post. God bless free Wi-fi! Yesterday it took several tries, along with several restarts of my computer, modem, and router to get my blog posted. Today I can't stay online for more than 5 minutes, so I guess my modem really and truly is dead.

I'm in the process of planning Mia's birthday party for Saturday afternoon. She'll be eight, and we plan on having eight children (counting her) over for the party. Between Jesse coming home on Friday, getting the house ready for the party, an important conference at work on Thursday, and normal other drama, I was starting to completely breakdown under the stress of it all. I felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things I needed to do in four days. I am very grateful for good family. Doogie is going to help me get the house ready, and my mom volunteered to make the cupcakes for the party. Two huge burdens taken from my shoulders. I know it's a lesson from God. I often try to do everything myself and then panic when I realize all that I've undertaken, but when I delegate I'm far more successful. Successful on His terms, not mine. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what that means, but today's lesson helps me get a little bit better idea of what it looks like.

Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurst is an inspiring devotional for women trying to end their addiction to food. Terkeurst realized that she was really putting on too much weight and that she was using food for all of the wrong reasons; it was a comfort and reward, instead of simply fuel for life. She's tried other weight loss plans in the past, but ultimately, they have all failed, so she was determined to find a plan that would work for life, a way of truly changing the way she viewed food permanently. Terkeurst focuses in on how women tend to use food for all sorts of emotional reasons when we should be turning to God. When we are depressed or stressed, instead of turning to our Comforter and Refuge, we grab chocolate and salty snacks. Terkeurst made it her goal to turn to God for those emotional needs and finally fulfill the true craving that she was trying to fill with food. She isn't alone in this battle. Many Christian women are struggling with this exact problem, and Terkeurst's book is a unique and important way to truly change our relationship with food. She doesn't pretend that this will be easy, in fact she confesses to breaking down in tears on multiple occasions about trying stop the habit, but the end result is a woman who is feeling truly good about herself and closer to her Lord. That's a goal we can all aspire to, and Terkeust puts the tools in this book. The journey will be a hard one, but she's provided the tools and support to help readers out.

Thank you to LitFuse Publicity for providing me with a copy of this book for review!

What Happens When Women Say Yes to God

We think we have found our new church home. We visited a few churches and talked about going back to them, but three weeks ago we visited Celebration Church in Green Bay for the first time. Jesse's cousin Adam and his wife Heidi attend there and had invited us in the past. The first Sunday intrigued us, but the music didn't really move us. I missed last Sunday because of my RA, but Jesse, Mia and I made it again this Sunday. Mia enjoyed children's church, and Jesse and I were both moved to tears during the course of the service. His cousins (on the other side of his family) Johnny, Tina and Julie came along, and they all enjoyed it too. You know it's a good service when you get up at 6:30 on a Sunday morning and drive 45 minutes to get to church. I hope that the older two kids like it as much as we do. We really felt the Holy Spirit moving in us yesterday, and I pray that the kids will feel it too. It was wonderful to be in a church where I didn't have to worry about being judged if I raised my hands or closed my eyes or wiped away tears.It's a hard adjustment to make: leaving a church. My mom is disappointed, because our old church has been her family church for almost 80 years. Molly is worried that she'll never sing a solo in church again. Doogie is just worried about fitting in.

What Happens When Women Say Yes to God by Lysa TerKeurst is a wonderful devotional for women on the go. We have so much going on in our lives, and this books short chapters and easy readability make it perfect for tucking in the car or your purse. TerKeurst encourages readers to listen carefully for God to speak in their lives, and when he does answer yes with an unrestrained YES! She relates several times in her life when she did so and was amply rewarded for it, and her stories, as well as her humble attitude, are inspiring. My one and only complaint was that sometimes the telling felt a bit rushed. I think that each chapter could have been made into a book; she packs in so much good information, I wasn't ready to stop reading, and sometimes I felt like I needed just a bit more advice or aid to really get the point. I've passed this book on to my aunt; it's a good enough read that you want to pass it on.

Ian, Molly's special friend is coming tomorrow from Louisiana, so we are in a frantic rush to make sure that the house is up to his standards. He's a 15-year-old boy, so I'm not exactly sure what his standards are, so we'll use mine. Last time he came up, Molly was nervous and very edgy, because she wasn't sure what to expect. This time we're all a lot more relaxed, and we're going to have a good time.