Authentic Intimacy!

My most favorite Christian ministry for women is Authentic Intimacy. I'm incredibly passionate about having a godly marriage and God's design for intimacy. I strive to be the Smokin' Hot Mama described in Song of Solomon (my "Passion Pursuit" friends will understand what I mean!) and I long to share what I have learned along the way with others.

If you haven't heard of Authentic Intimacy, you must check it out! For you, your spouse, your kids, your friends, etc.. There is someone you know that will benefit from this ministry! A good friend of mine asked me to join her and a few friends in a Bible study called "Passion Pursuit" written by Dr. Juli Slattery and Linda Dillow (founders of Authentic Intimacy). The study was A-MAZING. Biblical. Practical. Marriage changing. Eye opening. And did I mention A-MAZING? I was so moved by their mission and their heart for women and marriages and intimacy that I took the study to my church and lead a small group of 4 women through it. We've just recently finished and my hope is that each of those women take the study and share it with 4 more! 

A popular book of erotica is "50 Shades of Grey" and in response to this book, Dr. Juli Slattery and Dannah Gresh wrote "Pulling Back the Shades". I was chosen to be on the book launch team of "Pulling Back the Shades" earlier this year and I was just chosen to be on the new book launch team by Authentic Intimacy called "25 Questions You're Afraid to Ask About Sex, Love, and Intimacy" by Dr. Juli Slattery. I'm so excited about the opportunity to share with the social world and my real life relationships about this book. Perhaps the thing I love most about Authentic Intimacy is that these ladies share the Gospel and they don't shy away from the tough stuff!

Check out their website and the new book! I'd love to answer any questions you may have about the resources I've used through Authentic Intimacy!

https://authenticintimacy.com/25-questions/

Gardening for my heart!

It's such a nice afternoon I decided I'd weed my overgrown flower beds while JohnDavid played. I collected the weeds in his John Deere wagon and upon finishing I found my helper's shoes placed neatly on top. 😊 Weeding hurts my back (like that's anything new!) but it's therapeutic to my mind and soul. I realize how weeds look so similar to the plants, I realize how many weeds are present when I'm up close and personal with the flower bed, and I realize how even the smallest weed has the longest root. The same is true for our spiritual lives. Our sin roots are deep...even for those "small sins." It's easy to miss how flawed we are when we view ourselves from afar but when we examine our hearts and minds up close we realize how wicked and sinful we are. And Satan crafts sins to be almost as pretty (if not prettier...ask Eve!) as the godly things. I'm thankful for my time in the flower bed today. I'm thankful those ugly weeds/sins don't have the last say. I'm thankful for my Redeemer and that I know He lives! 

Encouragement

A friend told me over dinner last night that I was doing a good job with JohnDavid. Her words of affirmation and encouragement couldn't have come at a better time as I was beyond exhausted and weary from the consistency required in disciplining a toddler. Isn't it nice to have friends that encourage us? And isn't it nice that God sends those encouragements at just the right time? When was the last time someone encouraged you? When was the last time you encouraged someone?

Motherhood is exhausting but I'm so thankful I get to be a mommy to this silly all boy toddler! 

JOY!

(image found on google)

There's a lady at church that is always radiant with joy. My fellow Providence members will know who I'm talking about without even saying much more. It doesn't matter what she has faced or how bad her external circumstances are, she is absolutely JOYFUL. I'm convinced she sweats the radiance of Jesus. Oh how encouraging she is. I'd love to be so saturated in Him that I sweat His radiance. This past Sunday I spent a few moments talking to her and I told her I hoped she had a good week. Her reply was : "Oh I'll have a good week!" I told her how much I loved seeing her joy and how encouraged I was by her confidence in the Lord. This is a woman who fights her battles on her knees and from the victorious stance she has in Christ. I want that. What about YOU? Where do you fight your battles? Too often I fight them with my mouth venting or with my fingers texting instead of with my knees bowed in submission and prayer to the One who already knows my battles and has won the ultimate victory. To type this vulnerability out makes me feel silly that I wouldn't go straight to my knees, but I identify with Paul so much from Romans 7:

15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. ESV

If Paul, the great apostle, struggled with sin, you can rest assured that I struggle. I really would love to run to Jesus as a first response instead of when I'm at the end of my rope with all my weakness exposed, but too often I just don't. Once again, I identify with Paul from 1 Corinthians 12: 

7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,[a] a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. ESV

I can't tell you the number of time recently I've sat down in the rocker to rock my sweet JohnDavid and just felt utterly weak. I ask the Lord to remind me that when I am weak, He is strong. I hope at some point during my sanctification I learn to go to God before I'm weak and exhausted and stained with so many sins, but if not, it's comforting to know that when I can't go on anymore, He can. I read this blog today and just loved it so I wanted to share: 

http://smarttereachday.com/canweplease/

Whatever your load is (homeschool, marriage, raising children, work inside the home, work outside the home, etc.) this is the truest statement:

"The truth is, My Load is heavy for me, too. And it is by the grace of God I carry it."

Let us carry our loads for His glory! Let us fill up with Him so that we spew His joy for others to see.