womenNtune

     I went through depression 12+ years ago.  I was in my 20s.  I had just became a follower of Christ.  Not many months after that some dark times followed.  Life seemed well on the outside.  But for some reason on the inside there was a deep gloom and darkness.  It was like living in a dark tunnel with a glimpse of light.  I knew that light was Jesus.  It was only a glimpse of it though.  I didn't understand why I felt the way that I felt.  Something was wrong but I didn't know what.  I felt trapped and unable to get of of the dark gloom that had surrounded me.  Why couldn't I feel happiness and joy anymore??  I didn't understand.  I would suffer from horrific stomach cramps.  My stomach would get in knots.  I didn't tell anyone because I didn't think they would understand.  Hell, I didn't even understand.  I knew they would look at me and say "What reason do you have to be depr...

When you first realize who you are...........  There were certain books that I would not read.  When I saw books on "How Successful women juggle it all".  Or just books on success,  I would say to myself "That book is not for me".  It's funny because the books were for successful people and in saying "This book is not for me", I was ultimately vocalizing that I didn't see myself as a "successful person".  Even though I felt I was a great stay-at-home mom and wife, " I didn't feel like these books were written for me or my life".  I now realize that I felt this way because of an internal belief about myself and, my path.  Well,  God has changed that.  I was drawn to this book recently called "What the most successful people do before breakfast".  For the first time ever, I heard within myself "Your a successful person, so you need to find out what other successful people do." I had never heard that withi...

I'm Getting better at recognizing what "times" and "season" mean and how we should respond to them. Ecclesiastes 3:1 -To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: This verse is so powerful to me because it tells me that everything in life has it's time.  As a women, I have been guilty of trying to "do it all at one time".  I believe many of us, as women, have fellowship in this issue.  But learning everything has it's own time assigned to it, is helping me to keep things in perspective and it's keeping me from beating myself up so much. It also helps me to look for, wait for, and honor God's timing.  When women are on their menstrual cycle, that indicates that it's a time of the month to focus on some things concerning ourselves.  Cleansing,  our menstrual cycle should be a time of cleansing for us as it requires as to be particularly mindful of the cleansing of our bodies, and I believe that what...

The reward of "no reaction".  Many times in life, when things get rough, or we get uncomfortable, or we have a bad day, we go into "fight or flight" mode.  This can be dangerous when there is no real threat.  "Having a rough day" does not mean you are in danger.  Being uncomfortable with the current season of your life does not mean you are in danger.  I say this because I believe we are so conditioned to react.  We are a culture that wants to medicate everything.  We don't just medicate with medicine, but we medicate with "alchohol", we medicate with "shopping", we medicate with "eating", we medicate with "television", we medicate with "drug abuse".  There are so many things that we medicate ourselves with.  I don't "blame" anyone for that, I'm just saying that it's a toxic cycle.  The fight or flight mechanism in all of us, is there to respond to an immediate threat to us or some...

When the shift happens.  What does the current season demand?  How many ways do we fight the season we are in?  What about the Winter time, it's cold and they are not conditions that promote much recreation outside of the home. Do we try to fight that by going out anyway or do we embrace it by staying inside and out of the cold, letting God have His way with that season?  What about the springtime , when the flowers are blooming and the weather is ideal for getting out into nature?  Do we lock ourselves indoors?  Is that what God wants?  The bible says to "everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven".  This is the first time in my life where I want to sit in every season, just the way God designed it, according to God's design.  I don't want to go against the "wind" by trying to go against the weather of that season.  It's like something shifted in me where the fight in me calmed down.  It's like all the sudd...

Genesis 2:18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”  I believe women struggle with the role that God designed them for much more than men do.  It dates back to the garden when the serpent decided to deceive Eve.  He obviously saw her as an easier target.  I believe Satan still see women as easier targets in some areas.  I find that the biggest debates among married women or whether or not to have children, whether or not to work outside of home or inside of home, whether or not to send kids to school or homeschool them.  These issues stir up the strongest emotions among wives and mothers.  I wonder why???  What side does media lean more towards in these debates???   What does all this have to do with Eve way back when, in the garden???  Well when God created Adam, He gave him a job; to tend and keep the garden.  When God created Eve He did not give her a "job". H...

I have spent years being motivated by many different things and people.  I have been motivated by trends of the season, by people that hold different roles in my life.  I have been motivated by happiness and I have been motivated by sadness.  I have been motivated by envy, I have been motivated by jealousy.  I have been motivated by pride, I have been motivated by curiousity.  I have been motivated by ambition.  I have been motivated by sickness.  I have been motivated by clutter and I have been motivated by organization.  The most important person I have been motivated by is Jesus Christ.  Most of the sources of motivation I listed above are really not healthy motivators.  Most of them yield very short term results.  I say that because I have wrestled with the Holy Spirit for years with the struggle of wanting to impress people.  I was concerned about what people thought about me.  I am a homemaker and writer.  I h...

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship , created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Design is very important in the way we decide to walk about to and fro in this world.  We live in a world full of influences to be like this person or that person.  We are all truly unique.  God is our Creator and He knows what kind of life we were designed to live and how we were designed to go about our business in this world.  I believe there are many occasions where some of us fight against our unique designs.  As women we feel pressure to conform in so many different ways.  God has designed an amazing role for women to play in this story of life.  It is diverse and multi-faceted.  However, if you start adding the "worlds" pressures to conform along with your god-given roles it can easily be overwhelming.  I think one of the most important pieces of information one can know about oneself is what...

My hubby and I have a contract on a house in Gainesville, VA.  It's a beautiful home.  But it's a short sale so it could take awhile before we even know if the bank is going to accept our offer.  But we strongly believe that this is the house we are going to get and it's not going to take too long to find out.  But in terms of the house we are in now.....................beautiful house but it is so not a good layout for our family.  With the pregnancy and all I have grown weary of trying to keep it organized and cleaned in such a way to fit our family.  Lately I've just been letting it go.  Not that it looks bad, because it doesn't.  It's always been kind of a high maintenance home as far as keeping it straight because of the floor plan.  It's very easy for everything to get all over the place especially with a little one.  I don't really function well with everything all over the place, but I have learned to tolerate it more lately beca...

I'm so excited that I found the perfect little winter coat for my daughter.  I actually had a good idea this year of where I wanted to go with her winter wardrobe.  My daughter has a good sense of style and she enjoys wearing dresses and tights and nice boots.  Instead of just buying anything this Fall and Winter I really wanted to cater to her unique style. So after looking in about 4 or 5 stores, I found her the perfect coat at Gap Kids.  It's pink, ofcoarse she loves pink and it's got nice lining but it also reaches almost to her knees so it will keep her little legs warm this winter when she is wearing her tights and boots. It kind of flares out at the bottom which I really like because it makes the coat really versatile and gives it a little bit of a dressy appeal even though it is an outdoor winter coat.  I can't wait to show it to her I do hope she likes it.  I just need a couple of other essentials to make her wardrobe complete.  Couple more ti...

When I started this blog it was suppose to be my uncensored space in a sense.  I place for me to reflect, ponder, and dissect the issues of my everyday life.  I don't and didn't really think many people were reading it.  I kind of still wonder if I'm one of the blogs that people glance at and say "nothing interesting here" and move on.  I know it's been helpful to me, but I wonder who else it's been helpful too.  I wonder how important it is that I put a voice to the going's on of my life on a daily basis.  While I am very interested in the lives of others I don't know if people are that interested in my life.  Someone recently has caused me to think and pray about the voice that God has given me in a lost and hurting world.  There was a time where I was very vocal about my faith in God and my belief about what he would do in my life and the life of others.  That voice was quieted a little by past hurts and disappointments.  Even though ...

When I started this blog, I declared it as "my space".  My therapeutic space to go through life's trials and triumphs.  But sometimes when people start reading your blog you start to question what to share.  But I love being a transparent person and I think I want to get back to doing this on the blog.  I am loving my daughter more and more everyday.  I really think my love will always increase with every passing day for her.  As  she grows God is revealing layer upon layer of her beautiful personality.  I find myself fixating on every little thing about her because she is growing so fast.  She started going to school 5 days a week about 2 weeks ago and she hasn't complained not once.  I have to believe that it's a result of constant prayer for her concerning school.  She is my beautiful little gem!  I'm loving our marriage.  Although we have our ups and downs, our arguments;  Our marriage is the most beautiful relati...

There are so many beliefs out there in terms of what it "should" look like to be a Christian.  Some think Christians should be poor, some think Christians should be rich.  Some know that how much you have or don't have is no indication of where you are in your walk with God.  I was reading this scripture today (Philippians 4:12,13) and Paul said that he has learned to both abound and to suffer need and then he goes on to say that he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him.  This scripture really caught my attention because of the context in which it was used.  Did you ever think this scripture would be used in the context of when you're rich, rolling in the dough and you need Christ to strengthen you so you can do it.  I guess we do.  I guess when we abound, we need Christ to strengthen us against the temptations that come along with that, so we conduct ourselves properly in the Lord.  I imagine Christ can strengthen us so that we don...

Saturdays are my "Don't take life too seriously" day. Saturdays are my "Don't worry how much T.V. my daughter watches" day. Saturdays are my "Avoid cleaning like the plague" day. Saturdays are my "Don't worry about my family's nutrition" day. Saturdays are definitely my sabbath days.  See on Friday things are kind of tapering to go into my Sabbath day.  Like I normally don't cook on Fridays, but I do clean and make sure Noah is occupied with fun productive activities.  Sundays are like my jumpstart for the week.  I jump back on the cleaning bandwagon on Sunday, the cooking bandwagon too.  I'm back to doing activities with Noah and I'm thinking about the week ahead.  As God would have it, I do only has 1 day a week for a day of rest and thank God for it.  TGIS

Mondays are actually the only day of the week where I intentionally focus the majority of my attention on Noah.  It's kind of "Spotlight on Noah" day.  I was a little tired today, so I wasn't as energetic as I normally am but we were still able to get out to our new, neat little place we found, that has like 12 swingsets inside a showroom with 2 big trampolines.  It's this company that sells swingsets and slides.  They have a freeplay twice a week in their showroom that's free for kids 8 and under from 10am -1pm.  I'm keeping it a secret, because as of now not many people know about it.  We made it to that, which gives me a chance to run around with Noah a little bit and jump on the trampoline with her and stuff.  Then we went to the Vitamin Shoppe.  We vacuumed the car and came home.  She had a little T.V. time, ate lunch, bathroom Then we hung out in her room reading books and going over her sight words.  Then we designed an invitation...

I believe the answer is "yes".  I mean didn't it hurt Jesus when He was nailed to the cross? Although He was God, He had taken on human form.  It hurt Him just as bad as it would hurt any of us.  Didn't it hurt Jesus while He suffered for our sin.  He was without sin.  He was the only perfect man that walked the face of the earth.  But He was a man and it hurt Him.  If God was not hurting for His people, why would He send His only son, Jesus Christ to die for us.  God took action and these actions had to come from a place of grief and compassion for His people.  So yes, we have hurt Him and continue to hurt Him when we reject Him.  He does hurt because He loves us.  See, God is the inventor of love.  He is the source of true love, the only source.  God has made us the object of his affection.  It was a love affair that started in the garden of Eden long ago,  God didn't just want to "create" something, He yearned...

Once upon of time there was a girl and God gave that little girl a violin and she enjoyed that violin and played very well.  When she got older, God came to her and said "Remember I gave you a violin, won't you play it for me?"  The girl said "I don't feel like playing it, plus it's not that important to anybody.". On night the same young woman was sitting on the couch and she heard a tune in her head.  She thought "Maybe I should get up and write down the notes to this tune" Then she said "No, I don't feel like it and it's not that important to anyone." On another night, the same young woman had a particular feeling of joy in her heart and she wanted to express it in music but she thought to herself "No, I don't feel like it plus it's not that important to anyone".  Then God said to her "It's important to me.  I want to hear it.  Would I have given you this wonderful gift of being able to play t...

It's funny how people will believe these author's of all these "Self-Help" books but won't believe what the bible says.  I know it's hard to believe someone that you can't see.  But God is more "real" then any person I've ever seen with the naked eye.  I would surely believe Him over anybody else.  Not only is He my Father, but my closest friend.  We live in a fallen world and it has invaded our family structure, so we don't always have good examples of what fathers should be to their children.  We do have a Father in heaven and if we let Him he will take authority over our lives and guide us along a path that will always lead to Him.  Everyday we can find comfort and peace in Him because it is His to give to us.  We can't find peace anywhere else.  Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace, you can't find it with anyone else.  Thank God that I am at peace with Him now and I am no longer at enmity with Him

Jesus tells his disciples "lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the age".(Matthew 28:20).  This was a very comforting thought in my devotional today.  It's my Father telling me, he will always be with me.  Who doesn't want that.  When you know your Father is with you, you can stand tall.  When your Father is with you, you can walk boldly.  When your Father is with you, you can love passionately.  When your Father is with you, you can give of yourself completely.  When your Father is with you, you don't have to be scared.  When your Father is with you, you feel accepted.  When your Father is with you, you feel strong.  When your Father is with you, you feel free.  The waves of life beat against and the current of life tries to drag you away, but you can take comfort that you are safe in the shadow of His wings and nothing can take you out of the palm of His hand.  You may feel the beat of the waves but they won...

I am happy to announce my first online event in which a portion of the proceeds will be donated to a nonprofit organization.  The organization I'm teaming up with for this event is the SPCA of Anne Arundel County.  The SPCA is a nonprofit organization that removes animals from unsafe conditions.  They take in 3,400 animals annually and they do not receive any government funding. Please join me as I join them in fighting animal cruelty by shopping my online Avon store!  The link is below http:// andecarr.avonrepresentative.com/online_event/