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Awareness

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RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Seven – Jen Hatmaker
Hole in the Gospel – Richard Stearns
OperationWorld.org

  • This. I read this verse and felt God telling me, need proof prayer works? Need proof I bend my ear to believers? This is it. He gave heed to the cry of the Israelites and sent Moses. Had they not cried, would God have sent Moses? I'm not really sure. But because they cried out to Him, He DID send Him. Because they cried out, they got to witness the miracle of crossing the Red Sea on dry ground. Their generations experienced the land of milk and honey. All because they cried out to God. Friend, if you are in a hard place and wishing it would change, stop wishing. Start crying out to the only one who can change your situation and moreso, the one who can change you too! #vmpprayer (this hash is filled with encouragement on...prayer 😁) #valintheword
  • Do you feel super distracted right now? Like too distracted to read your Bible or pray? Here are a few heart checks you can do to try to clear away the noise and get that lovin feeling again with our Creator. . 1. Do you have any unconfessed sin? If so, confess it. 2. Do you have any unresolved quarrels with others? If so, resolve it as much as it depends on you. Remember you can't force them to do anything but their response is not on you. 3. Are you letting the world (AKA our phones mostly) in before the truth of God? Deuteronomy has a hard time competing with funny memes or a favorite celebs latest pics for our squirrely minds. Put your phone in another room or a drawer so the first thing you fill your mind with is God. . I shared this in Fresh Start from Bill Hybels so you may have heard it but I think it's worth reminding us. He says "When prayers go unanswered, most people want to know what's wrong with God. After all, it's a lot easier to blame God than to look in the mirror and say 'Oh maybe I'm the problem.'" . Maybe you'd never say it's God's fault, but I think it's really easy to assume that the reason we are far from Him is because He keeps backing away or something. Just thinking that way leaves me feeling defeated, like any attempt I make to draw near to God is futile so why try? That's not the case friend. We can take 10 steps away from Him, but it only takes one step to turn back to Him. He longs for our communion with Him. . So be encouraged today to figure out what might be creating distance if you are feeling far from God right. . And I'd love to pray for you if that's the case. We ALL have seasons like that! Leave your name below and I'll pray by name. Love this photo from @demibrooke!
  • I think about this often but have actually never said it. I have this fear that someone will binge on my blog and read all the things I have done or implemented over the last few years and think I am still doing all those things. I fear they will get overwhelmed thinking they can't possibly do all those things and just scrap the whole thing or worse envy what they think is my current life. . Seasons change and people do different things. . I have a post about having between 5 - 8 AM to have a QT, read books and work. Those days are looooong gone. My sweet girls are up at 6 now. Can I just tell y'all what a rough adjustment that was? 🤦🏻‍♀️Now I'm lucky to finish reading my Bible and only crack open the computer on the rarest of days they sleep in. I'm just imagining some work at home mom like me reading that post or seeing me working at a coffee shop in this current season while they go to school and mashing it all together for one spectacular and enviable work day. . I know I do this with other people so tell me I'm not the only one! . What's the moral of the story? . 1. ENJOY inspiring content without the overwhelm. 2. LEARN from others without feeling your life will never be so complete knowing theirs actually isn't either. 3. FILTER what you read and don't feel like you need to implement it all. The past few months have been a battle as I feel like there are a thousand things I need to be doing for my business. I have to filter! . ENJOY / LEARN / FILTER . that sounds much better than . GET DEPRESSED / GIVE UP / GET OVERWHELMED ------------------------------------- Double tap if you agree!
  • Wow wow wow! All my fellow phone addicted friends 🙈 go grab 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You by Tony Reinke! . Here's a snippet I have been chewing on and would absolutely love to hear your opinion on!! He talks about how our worlds are slowly getting smaller and more isolated. . HEAT "Gathering around a fire gave way to central heating, which pushes heat to all corners of the house." . NEWS "Gathering together for the local news at a pub gave way to the reading of newspapers, creating a paper wall shielding our faces from one another." . MOVIES "The community cinema gave way to a large shared television in each family's home, which gave way to portable televisions, and now to personal LED TVs in every bedroom." . MUSIC "Attending a live orchestra performance on a Saturday evening was, for many people, replaced by the stationary phonograph (or record player) in the family room, which was replaced by a large transistor radio, which was replaced by a portable transistor radio, which was replaced by a boom box with open speakers carried on the shoulder, which was replaced by a Walkman clipped to the belt, which was replaced to a tiny iPod clipped to the sleeve." . When I read this for the first time, it was a big "aha" moment for me. I never really identified how much more in community life was. . So here is my question: HOW DO WE INFUSE OUR LIFE WITH MORE CONNECTED MOMENTS? I know our phones aren't going away and I'm not trying to reverse the clock completely, just simply make some intentional effort to not become so isolated even when we are surrounded by technology that is drawing us to it. . I would LOVE to hear your thoughts!! Leave a comment. . And just to get this connectedness ball rolling, tag a friend that you want to have this conversation with in person! #valandthesimplelife
  • Some days I am a terrible measurer. If you constantly end your day wishing you had done something completely different with your time, maybe you fall into this too. What if we started measuring things more accurately? . What's the cost to write that blog post? - Overwhelm? - A missed pool trip with my girls? - Letting Moana babysit again while I try to hide my keyboard from Vana? . When I really think about the actual cost, I can make decisions that are in line with my goals, which feels obvious but am I the only one who can end a day feeling like you did all the things you know aren't adding value to your life? 🙋🏻 It's way too easy to simply react to life. So here's the best advice I got for how to live out what you say you want: Before you commit to things or just go on autopilot doing tasks that you aren't actively trying to create a habit out of ask: WHAT'S THE COST? IS IT WORTH IT? . It's almost too simple but we can't gloss over it. I'd say that's way better than not counting the cost and blaming everyone else for "making me" do things that I know don't matter most. Again just me? 🙈🤷🏻‍♀️🙋🏻 #valandthesimplelife
  • Struggling to be present with your kids? Here's what has done wonders for us. . Head to the public library, grab some books, head home and park it on the floor with a big stack. My friend @whitneyenglish started a challenge for herself to read 1,000 books with her kids. Even the book lover I am I didn't know the exact purpose behind it but I'm finding so many benefits: 1. It is a quick way to give them your undivided 2. It's fun mom again. I use funny expressive voices and grumpy mom is no where to be found. 3. We have learned about so many new things. 🤓 Uh...I mean Vivi has learned about so many new things. 😬 Me? I already knew everything in kid books! 4. My kids are way more behaved when they have my attention and don't see me glued to a phone. We've literally only been using my dusty old library card for a few months and it's been the biggest blessing!! And if books don't help out, here's what we do when things are particularly crazy at #woernerbungalow. The library has stories on tape that captivates Vivi's attention and imagination so we pile in the car with a CD, and me with earbuds, a podcast and chocolate and head for some country roads! 😁
  • We do a whole lot of living right here. Sometimes it's really really good. There are giggles and dancing, so much dancing. There's heart to hearts with Tyler after the girls are asleep. There's delicious food (Hi! We eat lots of meals from the couch! 🤷🏻‍♀️) and hilarious performances from resident silly girl, Vivi. BUT...there are also fights and tantrums. Tears. Soooo many tears. 😢 Yelling, from the littles (and the bigs too). There are moments I'm just ready for papa to get home. There are moments I'm way too distracted on my phone. And all this makes me realize that I'm human and I want this place filled with more than just my feeble attempts at a life-giving home. I want His. I want Jesus here. I want His Spirit to flood this place so that when people enter, they can feel His presence. Y'all. It is a prayer away. Walk your halls and cry out to God to fill your home with more joy than sorrow. Walk your halls and pray for kids that sleep all night or teenagers that choose Jesus over rebellion. Beg the Spirit to overwhelm the enemy. HE ABSOLUTELY WILL. We were in a devastating season last year after Tyler's dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. There was a heaviness that's inevitable when you are faced with the reality of losing your dad like Tyler was. With a newborn, all I could do was bounce a baby and pray. We did lose him just 72 days later. That loss will sting forever. It still doesn't seem fair. But Jesus literally carried us through it. I talk about prayer so much, but I'm seeing it change everything. If you aren't sure where to start praying through your home, here are some resources: 1. Stormie Omartian's book called The Power of a Praying Parent and The Power of a Praying Wife has fueled my fire for praying for my family. I highly recommend those. 2. I created a free worksheet called House Prayer with prompts to pray through each room of your house as you clean or bounce cranky babies. You can find it the link of my profile. Regardless if you get either resources, doesn't matter. Just start praying over the home where you do life and make sure it's filled with the one who created life itself and gives it to us for eternity! #vmpprayer
  • Two weeks ago I hit 500 gratitudes for the year, just a few days before July started. When I started tracking gratitude a few years ago, I remember getting toward the last two months of the year with only a couple hundred and still lots to fill out. It was a stretch. Now it feels a bit like breathing. It's literally the first part of my quiet time to jot down at least 3 things I'm grateful for. When it's 5 AM and I'm still a little groggy, it eases me into my time with the Lord as I'm reminded of what all He has done in my life. I think you already know all the science behind why you should track gratitudes but I stumbled on a study from Berkley that reminded me of why it's so important: - reduces stress - increases joy - improves health - helps you to be present - connects you with others - improves sleep - increases the likelihood of feeling good in the future - enables flexible and creative thinking - likely to build and strengthen a sense of spirituality Let's start our day out with a little boost! Leave a comment with three things you are grateful for! I'll kick us off!! #vmppeaceandjoy #vmpjournals
  • So last week was rough. 😬 This Blue Bell mint chip with Barq's poured over is evidence. And to be transparent, 😬 this was 1 of 2 cups. After several come to Jesus moments, listening to all the hiring advice (thanks @sheworkshisway, @nancyray and @jennakutcher 😘) and FB groups, I've decided to hire a position I have long needed but honestly wasn't ready to relinquish control of. When you build a baby from the ground up and are used to doing everything, it's hard to come to the realization that anyone could do it as good as me. That sounds terribly prideful and it is. And it's a classic control issue that the Lord has done some major work to transform in me this past week. I am officially excited at the possibility of turning over lots of tasks to someone else and hopeful to see what they can bring to my business that it's currently missing and embracing the fact that someone can manage things so much better than me. In other big VMP that I hope an office manager will teach me how promote better than a pic of ice cream, OUR BIGGEST SALE OF THE YEAR is happening now through the end of the month or until we run out of inventory before our September launch! We're already quite low on some things so order soon if you have your heart on a certain color. But we do have a small batch of men's, women's kraft that our printer is finishing up now that I'll add in the next few days. Otherwise if you see it sold out, it's gone until September!! Links to apply for a remote office manager and shop our sale are in the profile. PS I'm also hiring a shipping manager (local position) so look out for that application coming soon. TAG ANY FRIENDS YOU THINK WOULD BE A GOOD FIT FOR VMP!! We found our last fantastic ship manager from insty! 😊️ And this adorable mug from @lifelivedbeautifully!
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