Women at War Online book Study Chapter 7

Hi Friends,

We are more than half way through Women at War. I’m taking time right now, as I write these words, to pray for you. May you find grace as you press onward toward healing in your life and wholeness for your relationships going forward.

This week we are discussing chapter 7 of Women at War with Kristina Tanner at http://kjtanner.com/blog/chap7waw. Come join us as we discuss mentors and mentoring.

Lastly, I wanted to let you know that, for the rest of the series, all of the comments will be on the blogs themselves. Some of the bloggers in the tour did not have commenting abilities and so we turned to Facebook as an alternative. However, as someone pointed out and as I discovered, Facebook is not the safest place to share these deep stirrings in our hears and I apologize if you felt like you couldn’t comment because it was on Facebook. I completely understand and wanted to offer you the opportunity to share your thoughts and heart on former chapters today at Kristina’s as well.

We love you and pray that you are blessed as you do the work to seek whole relationships.

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16 Years Of Marriage

By Kristin Leave a Comment

So, today is my anniversary. 16 years. 16 years! My how time flies.

I hardly ever talk about my husband in this space but you need to know that this space would not exist without him. A large part of who I am is thanks to him. I say that because this man challenges and encourages me constantly. He helps me to really think about how I communicate and he is the biggest supporter of my gifts and dreams. He leads our family with grace, humility and godliness.

Our road to 16 years of marriage has not always been easy {and not always pleasant} but we both have worked hard to get where we are. We have done a lot of dying to ourselves and yielding to the work that God wanted to do in us. My husband has fully embraced loving me as Christ loves the church. I feel so very secure in our marriage because of his “no matter what” kind of love.

I am so grateful that we have stuck it out through thick and thin and are reaping so many incredible blessings as a result. Really today I just wanted to introduce you to my incredible husband whom I love so very much. He’s amazing and I’m grateful for 16 years with him. I look forward to many more to come!

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Women at War Online Book Study Chapter 6

By Kristin Leave a Comment

Hi Friends,

Last week in Women at War we went deep didn’t we? I hope you are sticking with us because there is some overcoming we are going to do! Eryn is hosting Chapter 6 on her site this week. Come join in the conversation as we are encouraged to birth life and not hate.

Don’t worry if you’ve missed a week or are just now joining. You can find a list of each week’s post here and follow along.

Hope to see you over at Eryn’s!

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5 Ways to Awaken Your Dreams for Motherhood

By Kristin Leave a Comment

Hi sweet friends,

Don’t we all long to be good moms? Sometimes that is why motherhood is so hard. If we do anything that seems like failure we loose heart and go through the motions without conviction and determination. Nothing stifles your dreams for motherhood faster than percieved failure.

Maybe now you just make it through the day? Perhaps you wake up and brace yourself for the day and still feel exhausted by mid afternoon? You can barely think through the week much less to next year.

We can grow weary and loose perspective very easily. This is the battle we have entered. One of the ways we can overcome this is to allow ourselves to awaken our dreams for motherhood. I would love for you to come visit me over at Allume today where I am sharing 5 Ways to Awaken Your Dreams for Motherhood.

Come join in the conversation as we encourage each other to dream again!

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Finding and Using Our Gifts

By Kristin 2 Comments

Dear Friends,

You know how I’ve told you before that to obey is better? Well, this just may be a lesson that I need to keep learning.

Obey. I need to remember to obey.

God doesn’t give me instructions to keep me from fun or control me but rather for my good and my protection.

Case and point: I had a rough past year. Nothing major happened but lots of little things adding up to frustrations and hard situations seemed to all happen within the past 12 months. I’ve swung from being on top of the world and feeling amazing to some very low, hanging out in the pit, kind of days.

All of this and I have been a busy girl. Busier than I have ever been. Knee deep in mothering 6 kids, attempting to be a great wife, an attentive friend, a small group leader, a blog conference planner, a blogger, a homemaker…. It’s been a lot. Things, important things, have slipped by me. I had to do a lot of reassessing, changing and repositioning. I had to stop and make sure that I was being filled up before I could go one. step. further.

Then I remembered something. In the very beginning, when I began this blogging journey, I only ever started because God said “Write. Every day write.” So I decided to take some of that writing and turn it into blog posts and here I am and here you are {I’m ever so amazed that you journey with me and I just love you!}.

Writing is what I am anointed to do. I know this because God meets me here where fingers meet keys and pen meets paper. I feel it like a bubbling brook in my chest that is ready to spill over from my heart down through my veins and onto the page. I bleed what I write and God meets me here when I do this thing I am called to do. I feel more alive and more aware of His presence when I write than almost any other time. It’s so incredibly hard to describe but I know when He is pressing things out of me to share with you. I feel it all over.

But then I stop writing or I put off writing because I get busy and these other things are important too. But here is where my obedience comes in – when I write I am doing what God instructed me to do and it is blessed. I am filled up in the pouring out of words. God knows that I need to operate in this gift and anointing or I run dry all too easy. I just need to obey this call to write. I feel so very alive when I write. every day.

So here is the lesson I have learned and hope you will too: What is it that God has told you to do with your days and your time? For me it is a 15-30 minute a day activity that fills me to the brim. Is there something inside of you that has run dry because you don’t give it the time it needs for the anointing on you to flow out? What area are you gifted in? You do know that you operating in your gifts is like giving the easiest gift you ever could right? It thrills God’s heart and He fills you back up as you pour yourself out.

My hard year was made harder by my inability to remember the instruction to write. Now that I have repented and begun to walk in obedience again my heart, even in hard moments, is so refreshed and incredibly full.