Proverbs 31 Bible Study - Manager

I am so excited about the topic of our study this week! I think, right now, this is where I need the most help. If you read my last post, you understand that I have a hard time keeping our home and need help in figuring it out! God really knew that I needed this this week. I have such a struggle with getting things done. I am lazy and unmotivated and get tired very quickly. I also get distracted very easily. Usually once I get in the groove I am good. So it's getting that motivation to start!

Amy says, "We are to succeed despite difficulty and hardship and we already know the only way we can succeed in spite of hardship is to put God first before everything else." I love this statement! But it is so hard to put into practice!

1) God set things up to operate effectively and efficiently and we can learn from his example.

God created seasons and your home also functions in seasons. Amy used the examples that we only shovel snow in the winter and cut the grass in the spring and summer. We are also in seasons when it comes to the age of our children. Right now we do not have kids in our house full-time. When we have a baby life will become much different and our list of things will change.

2) Plan but don't let it rule your life. Use it as a tool.

This is great! A schedule can be very useful but it can also hinder us. What if you have planned to clean the bathroom but it just stopped raining and your children want to splash in the puddles and look at the rainbows? What do you do? Well, I know that I wouldn't miss a chance to splash in the puddles and share one of God's miracles with my children. Don't become a robot and be flexible. Use it as a guideline. A schedule and a plan is especially helpful when your life becomes stressful and you need help putting one foot in front of the other. You don't need to come up with a new cleaning schedule everyday. It's already there. This is where a household management binder comes in very handy. I'm still working on putting one together for my household.

3) A good manager delegates responsibilities accordingly.

Many women have problems with this. I do. Especially since we think that since our job is keeper of the home, it all falls on us. We are allowed to have help. From our children and from our husband. We should take into account though all the work outside the home that our husbands do. So we shouldn't boggle them down with a "honey-do" list. But I'm sure they would be happy to help every once in awhile. And children definitely need to learn how to contribute to a well-ran household. If you don't teach them, then who will. They will grow up and not know how to do anything. I'm sure they will learn, but their learning curve will be significant.

Amy says, "Your job as manager is simply to make sure the household functions and sustains life - to the best of your ability.

Scripture for Memory

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

-2 Corinthians 7:1

For Study Purposes:

Right now, write down the "to do" list in your head. Tonight you are to get a good night's sleep! :) Done!

Devise a plan of attack for your home. It should contain seasonal chores or tasks as well as daily tasks. Will work on this!

Ask God to show you ways to run your home more efficiently. Seek to solve at least one problem area this week. Dishes is a big problem in my house. I hate them! And I don't have a dishwasher (well I guess it's me!). I need to figure out a better way to get them done and realize that they have to be done no matter what!

Questions to ponder: Has housework become a source of validation for you? A source of pride? If so, how do you intend to change that? Housework has become a source of pride for me when my husband praises me on a job well done. I need to work on me not needing his praises for something I should be doing anyways. I am doing it for the Lord and for him.

I hope you enjoyed this week's study! Please go visit Amy to join or view other participants' responses!

Proverbs 31 Bible Study - Being a Mother

So on to our next part of the study. This part really interests me because I am trying to become pregnant. I have desired to become a mother for a really long time and am so excited that I am finally getting the chance (well soon at least!). Amy shared some really great thoughts that I would like to share with you!

1) Children are a gift from God.

2) We must parent on purpose.

3) We must allow our children to become who He designed them to be.

Society does not seem to value children these days. It is just horrible! If you have more than 2 or 3 children you are looked at like you are crazy. Women are ridiculed for choosing to marry or have children too early....these are the best earning days of your life...blah....blah...blah! Women are afraid to tell their employers that they are expecting or talking to co-workers about trying to get pregnant. All I have ever wanted to be is a mother. I never knew when it would happen but I knew that I wanted it to happen. Every child is a blessing no matter how it happens.

Also, a little rant of mine. Some people who do have children seem not to want to parent them. They want to be their best friends and induldge their every desire. Now wanting your children to have a better life than you is not a bad thing but you are not preparing them for the future. Disciplining them is a good thing as long as it is does with love. Why are you telling your child no? Is there a good reason? The same goes for when you are telling your child yes. You have to consciously make a decision based on what your child needs.

There are also the parents who live through their children. Or they push their child to become something so hard that their child resents them for it. For example, you were a football star so you think that you're child should be. Or, you didn't get to play college ball so you push you're child as hard as you can even if they don't want to do it. God has a plan for your child. Pray for your child daily that he will lead your child and that he will reveal to you his plan for your child so you can help.

Scripture for Memory

The righteous who walks in his integrity - blessed are his children after him!

Proverbs 20:7

Go visit Amy if you want to join the study!

Proverbs 31 Bible Study - Being a Wife part 2

This was an absolutely wonderful lesson! I learned so much from it. I first became interested in becoming a submissive wife right before Tim and I got married. We had been going to church for a little while and I was getting more interested. Well then we asked Tim's aunt to do a reading for us and she suggested the submissive scripture from Ephesians (can't remember the exact verse right now). I loved it! That's exactly what I wanted to incorporate into the wedding. Well fast forward to the wedding and some people took offense to that verse! I know why....because we are in this ultra feminist phase where even men find that demeaning! I mean come on! I didn't care because it was my wedding and that's what I wanted put in there but it's just funny. So on to the study!

Amy shared the following thoughts:

1) Although we should have an overall vision for our life and marriage, each day should be focused on with the greatest intent.

We should be serving side by side instead of living in 2 separate worlds while under the same roof. I completely agree with this. All to much husbands and wives seem like roommates more than husband and wife. It's very sad. Marriages often turn into conveniences. They split the bills, the responsibilities, have separate interests. No wonder so many marriages fail. They have to be a partnership. The definition of marriage is: the social institution under which a man and woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc. You have to decide today that Divorce is not an option. Divorce has to be a big scary and dirty four letter word! That's the way that we need to think about it. Amy suggests that you make a new decision each day to show love to your husband. That is because love is an action. Many people say that they fall out of love with their spouses. If only they would try doing something lovingly towards their spouses, I'm sure that they would fall back in love with them!

2) Submission is not a dirty, four letter word.

Some people think it is though. They have completely the wrong idea about submissive. Someone has to be in charge. That's the way it is everywhere. But it doesn't mean that this person is the sole person making decisions. There are checks and balances just like the government. And women are allowed to give their input and disagree with their husbands but they need to know when enough is enough and allow their husbands to make the final decision. At the same time, that means that the man is responsible for that final decision. Amy says that submission is for your protection. She goes on to illustrate that if a soldier told you to follow them, you would. You trust that the soldier is going to protect you. Why not your husband? Maybe he's made some decisions in the past that you didn't agree with or that put you in a bad place. You have to trust that your husband will make mistakes.....you sure do! Your husband will learn from his mistakes. Pray to God for him to learn from those mistakes and pray that he will consult God before making every decision.

3) Be so faithful to your husband that it is reflected in your speech.

Why is it that we are meanest to the people that we love the most? We are so politically correct and thoughtful and think before we speak with the public but that all goes out the window when we talk to our loved ones, especially our spouses. I know that you should be able to tell your spouse the truth...honesty is very important, but so is compassion and kindness. Our spouses fight everyday in the real world, horrible temptations, mean and nasty people. I want my husband to want to come home because I provide him with a warm and kind place to replenish his spirit. Also, don't complain about your husband to your friends. That makes him look like less than a man! If you won't speak his praises, who will?

Scripture for Memory

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Ephesians 4:32

Hope you enjoyed this week's lesson, go see Amy for more and to join in!

Proverbs 31 Bible Study - Being a Wife part 1

I just love how our bible study is coming along! It is really speaking to me and I feel I am learning a lot from it. If you are interested in joining, go see Amy. Here are some thoughts she shared:

1. Our relationship with our spouse is parallel to our relationship with the Lord. God has many times compared His relationship to the body of Christ to the relationship between a husband and wife.

2. Love does not need to be felt in order to exist. It is an action.

3. Prayer is a key to a long lasting God filled marriage.

Scripture for Memory:

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another; God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 John 4:12

I love all of this. Our relationship with our husband is our most important relationship next to our relationship with God. It is that important! As a newlywed, this is important for me to hear. Right now we are working on making our relationship stronger than ever. This is a constant effort. Love is an action! People talk about falling out of love with their spouses. Well if they started acting lovingly towards their spouses, I'm pretty sure they would fall back in love. We need to stop treating our spouses as a roommate! That can be hard especially when life gets busy. If our relationship with our husband is second only to our relationship with the Lord don't you think we would make time for it. It's just like us making time for the Lord. We spend time in his word and praying and praising to Him, we need to do the equivalent with our husbands. Talk with our husbands, date night, intimacy, learning new things together, worshipping the Lord together, praying together, playing with our children, hobbies, etc. There are tons of things that we can do with our husbands. We have so many choices when it comes to building our relationship with our husband. Amy also talks about praying for our husband. I do this occasionally and need to make it more of a priority. Our husband's face such temptations when away from the home. We need to pray that they can resist. We also need to pray for their safety and things like that.

Amy wants us to ponder if we have ever consulted someone else about our marriage before God? Definitely have. Not proud of it but I am trying to improve. I have discussed my marriage with my mom and my friends. Sometimes complained, just sometimes asking for advice. I used to complain....now when I complain I think it is because I am trying to make my friends feel better when they are complaining about their spouse. I shouldn't do that. One, I shouldn't complain about my spouse to someone else and two, I am enabling my friend to do the same. I would like to work on taking my problems to God instead of other people.

I'm looking forward to part 2 which is about being submissive and other things like that!

Proverbs 31 Bible Study - Relationship with God

Wow! I thought that the last bible study topic was thought provoking! This topic really made stop and think. Two central thoughts that Amy shared was:

1) Our relationship with God is more important than any other relationship we could try to maintain or establish.

2) There is only one priority: God

Amy wanted us to think about whether or not we really knew God. You have to make an effort. You do that through being in his word, worship, prayer and serving his children. I am trying really hard on the first three. I am struggling on serving his children. Even my husband, which is sad. I have been in a funk lately that I have not been able to shake. Also with priorities, there is no priority list. There goes my God, husband, children, home, everything else theory I've been working on. Everything is equally important under God and the key is knowing what should be a priority and when. If the Lord tells you to do something then He will prepare the way. Thanks Amy for enlightening us on all of this. This is hard for me. I have a major problem with priorities so learning that God is my only priority actually makes it easier for me. If I focus on him then everything else should fall into place. Amy lets us know that it helps to be constantly praying over everything. That helps because most women do not have the time to spend an hour in prayer every morning. Praise the Lord for the beautiful day, pray when you need help with a decision, etc. I have been doing this more often and I hope and pray that I will continue this when I have to go back to work. It's actually the only thing that will help me to go on during the months that I have to go back to work.

Scripture for Memory

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

I love this! I pray to the Lord every night that I will begin to rely on him more and that he will direct my ways. Our question to ponder: Have you been following Him or trying to make your own path? I am slowly been following him instead of making my own path. It will take a long time to get where I need to be but I was definitely used to trying to be an independent woman. I am slowly learning to rely on Him and my husband. A true struggle for me is learning to rely on them for everything and not just the things that I am weak with. I say this because I do rely on my husband for a lot of things but their my choice. If I see myself as being more knowledgeable or competent with something than I felt I should control it. I am slowly learning and unraveling those old teachings.

Visit Amy for more insight on the bible study!

Proverbs 31 Bible Study - The True Woman of Proverbs 31

Wow! I have been gone for a long time! Life has been crazy...I haven't been able to focus online and did not want to work on this study until I was actually able to focus. We went to Red River Gorge a couple of weekends ago and had the kids last week. Tim has been really busy trying to get ready for his first hunting season! And we got a deep freezer for $20 today so he'll be able to hunt all he wants! So onto the study. This weeks study is entitled The True Woman of Proverbs 31. There are many different myths about this woman as we talked about in the last part of the study but no matter what angle you look at this proverb from we can come to these conclusions:

1) The spiritual aspect of Proverbs 31 is that this woman is a description of the bride of Christ.

2) She has a pure heart. God sees a clear distinction between a person's actions and a person's heart.

3) She fills her heart with God's word and praises to her King and He will give her the desires of her heart. The desires He placed within her.

This section of the Bible Study was a lot deeper to me than the others, which makes sense that I would feel this way as we progressed into our study. Knowing these qualities about this woman makes me feel better about myself. A question asked by Amy was why we should not compare ourselves to other women? I think that it is clear when we discuss who this woman truly is. We have to follow the desires that our Lord has put in our hearts and not try and be like other women around us. Only God knows what is best for us. It is pointless for us to try and be like the Joneses. I think that we will be more blessed when we do not stray from the plans that the Lord has for us. We also have to be open to these plans. I never thought that I would be a country girl but here I am a year later and I wouldn't have it any other way. I truly believe that God lead me to where I am today and I am glad that I followed. I have taken a lot of slack from other people but I can't compare myself to them and what they have done with their lives. I can only see what I have done with mine and pray for my family's future.

We have learned that the desires of a woman's heart are the following:

She desires to love God with all her heart, soul, and mind. (vs. 31:30)
She desires to be a good Godly wife (vs. 31:11, 12, 23, 28)
She desires to be a good Godly mother (vs. 31:28)
She desires to be a good manager of her household (vs. 31:15, 21, 27)
She desires to be resourceful (vs. 31:14, 16, 18, 24)
She desires to be used by God (vs. 31:13,17, 19, 20, 21)
She desires to be transformed by God (vs. 31:25, 26, 29, 31)

Scripture for Memory:

And ye shall seek me, and find [me], when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

-Jeremiah 29:13

That's all for now. I should be answering the other two parts of the study sometime this week (I am really behind). Please visit Amy if you want to join the study and for other people's responses.

Proverbs 31 Bible Study - Shattering the Myths

This week for our bible study we are shattering the myths of the Proverbs 31 woman. She is quite intimidating especially for a young wife and mother. To think that you have to do all of those things....I'd rather crawl back in bed! Just kidding! Amy shattered 3 myths which I would like to share with you.

1. Proverbs 31 was written about a compilation of women.

2. The Proverbs 31 was an actual wife at that time.

3. Proverbs 31 is a set of guidelines or a "to do" list for Christian women.

If you want these myths explained, please go visit Amy.

Next on the agenda was to think about Matthew 6:33 in relation to Proverbs 31. Actually, thw whole chapter but I will only post Matthew 6:33:

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

My personal thoughts are that we should not be doing the tasks of homemaking because we want our husbands and children to bless us but because we want to do them for God. A blessing from our children and husbands is a result of our actions but cannot be the reason for our actions. What do you think?

Amy posted a question for us to ponder and that was which verse would you like to accomplish most out of Proverbs 31? For me that would have to be verse 27, "She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness". I have a serious problem with laziness and being on the computer. I naturally do not like to work. I promise that I am getting much better but I still have a long way to go! Please pray for me as I pray about this daily.

You can join this bible study by visiting Amy at In Pursuit of Proverbs 31. Tell her I sent you!

Proverbs 31 Bible Study

I am participating in a bible study over at In Pursuit of Proverbs 31. Since getting married I have been very interested in aspiring to become the Proverbs 31 woman. She is a wonderful role model and it takes a lifetime to become like her. But if we are not aspiring and studying her, we will not make progress.

Amy wanted us to answer some questions for the introductory post to the study and I will be updating you on the study weekly. If you would like to join, go here.

"For this introduction post, I would like for everyone who intends to participate to post about it on their blog and answer the following thought provoking questions:

What do you hope to get out of this bible study? I am hoping to become a better Christian, wife, mother and general person.
What, if anything, has prevented you from studying these scriptures in the past? I have just recently become a Christian and learned about the Proverbs 31 woman. I do regularly read that scripture but have not studied it in depth.
What have you found helpful or frustrating about living out these scriptures? I am a lazy person most of the time and have a hard time doing things on my own. I feel that I am finally growing up and accepting my responsibilities even though I have been in and out of the real world since I was 18. It is helpful to read other blogs about women who also aspire to be like the Proverbs 31 woman.