The Secret of Homeschooling with Life, Grace and Excellence Part 1

Such a fun weekend with my two boys--I was so sad to leave. They are best friends and great companions.

Talking, discussing ideas, sharing thoughts about God, what we have been reading--just bubbling over each other with chatter and sharing of ourselves with each other is the "Clarkson" way. Always lots and lots of words spilling between us. But my mama heart loves seeing who my adult children have become. They are most interesting and inspiring to be around for me as an adult--and they call me to my highest ideals.

Often, when people get to know my adult children, they ask me, "What did you do in your home? What curriculum did you use? Why are all of your children writers? Why do they still love God?"

I believe that all homes are designed to be a sanctuary of all that is sacred and all that is excellent and true. Discipleship, (mentoring our children or others to love Christ and to live for His kingdom) is at the heart of our home. Shaping it into a place where all that is good, true and beautiful can be cultivated in hearts, minds and souls. As mothers, artists of all that is excellent and true in the world, we get to design our homes and cultivate them into a place that fills the souls of our children with wisdom, truth, and the skill of living. What we invest into them is what will come out of them.

But now, with the proliferation of curriculums, things to buy, activities to be involved in, mamas overload themselves with pressure to perform, schedules that are overfull and impossible tasks to accomplish. No wonder women burn out and become exhausted, angry and disillusioned. And so much of what they buy into is exhausting their lives and un-useful and demotivating to their children and to them.

Homeschooling really is a heart issue--capturing their hearts with vision, truth, story, imagination of what they can become in their lifetimes and lots of great resources stored inside.

No doubt about it, homeschooling is a long, arduous journey that requires many years. But God intended home and family to be a place of great blessing and joy. Homeschooling should be organic, an extension of home life.

Today, Kristen and I begin to discuss some of what that looks like for us. Hope you enjoy our podcast. We are learning a lot and are hopefully both going to have balanced microphones for the next sessions! Little by little.

Mom Heart Registration is Open! Hope you can come for our last year!

A Personal Letter from Sally

Dear Sweet Friends,

I hope you will be able to join me and my friends for a Mom Heart Conference this year. Every year is special, but this one will happen in a perfect storm of three converging realities—(1) the release of my newest book, The Lifegiving Home; (2) the celebration of 20 years of conference ministry to mothers; and (3) the official final year of our conference ministry. Yes, I know. I’ll get to that third reality in a moment, but first let me share with you about the first two.

As a woman made in God’s image, I have always believed I have a special role by God’s design to be a lifegiver. Like Eve, whose name means “Life,” I believe I am divinely designed with both a biological capability and a spiritual capacity for giving life—I bring life into this world by child-bearing, and I bring life into my world by home-building. I believe that every woman of God can tap into those parts of her nature. This year, I want to encourage moms to become confident, convinced, and capable lifegivers at home.

My new book, The Lifegiving Home, has been percolating in my spirit and in Sarah's for many years. I am grateful Tyndale gave us the opportunity to get out of us and into a book that has been in my heart for so long. It’s a history of the Clarkson home, the ways we lived life, celebrated Christ and His incarnation into all the corners and moments of our lives and a definition of what home was created to be. Join us also, in our journey through the twelve months of a year exploring the ways that I have tried to bring God’s life, and the life of Christ, into our home for over thirty years as well as seeing it from Sarah's eyes and memories as a child. It’s how that lifegiving home is an integral part of my mission and ministry of motherhood, and even my walk with God as a mother. And as the subtitle of the book so perfectly captures, I want to help you become God’s lifegiver by “creating a place of belonging and becoming” in your lifegiving home.

In many ways, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for the twenty years of this conference ministry. It’s all been about becoming a woman and mother after God’s heart, the one He designed you to be and put in your heart to be. That simple, biblical message began in a small church in Texas in 1996 for about 120 women. In 1998 it moved to a hotel as the WholeHearted Mother Conference and then expanded to other states. In 2006 we took a year off, but came back again in 2007 as what would become the Mom Heart Conference. And here we are another decade later. I am grateful for this ministry that God placed into my heart and hands, and this year we’ll take some time to celebrate the twenty (20!) years of mom conference ministry we’ve been able to enjoy.

But then there’s that third reality. The “final year” thing. When Clay and I started Whole Heart Ministries in 1994, having a hotel “conference ministry” was not on our spiritual radar. We just wanted to write books and speak, but things change—God had other plans, so conferences happened, and we’ve been faithful to do this conference ministry for twenty years. But now it’s time for another change—our children are all grown and gone now, volunteer families have aged, hotel costs are going up, winter weather is more uncertain, and Clay and I are slowing down. We feel it is time to switch gears so we can find a good cruising speed for the next decade. We’re not going away as a ministry, and there will likely still be some smaller speaking events along the way, but twenty years seems like a good time to say, “That’s a wrap.” It will be a quiet ending with no big fanfare, and we’ll appreciate whoever is there with us to mark the memory.

My heart will beat with a passion to give Christian mothers hope and help for their strategic role in God’s plan for as long as God allows me to minister. My mind is alive with vision for how to reach and help more mothers—the Internet, small groups worldwide, Spanish language materials, new books, and more. I hope you will join me this year as we reach out together to take hold of all God has for us as lifegiving mothers. That’s what I’m here for. That’s what we’re all here for. Join me.

In his heart,

Sally Clarkson

To Register, go HERE

Registration officially opens at noon tomorrow. :)

Be sure to tell your friends about it and tell them to register early as we expect this year's conferences to sell out quickly.

We have lots of great speakers and fun surprises for our conferences this year. I am so excited. We shall have a grand time together and change our worlds together!

A Little Autumn Gathering: Making Time to Know Women

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Hebrews 10:25

Tears have been welling up in my eyes--can't help it. I have been editing the final version of my new book coming out in February. But, reading it and having written it is touching a deep place in my heart. This book is the story of our home, our children, our traditions, our stories, our lives. To re-live what God has allowed our family to weave together into the Clarkson history has been one of the most profound privileges of my life. And I want to inspire others to live a story worth telling to their own children for generations to come.

But in the midst of writing this, I realized that I wanted to be sure I was not living such a "working" life in ministry, now that my children are adults, and working, living and going about their own responsibilities--without making time to invest in the sweet women around me. I knew that our home had always embraced the people God brought into our lives. So, I also knew I needed to make room in my life for real live relationships.

I have been teaching a Bible study for about 10 years here in the Colorado Springs area. But eventually, our email list contained 180 women--sometimes as many as 100 would be at my monthly meetings. I never had time to know anyone individually, so I taught and felt a distance between me and the many women who came.

My leadership team and I decided that this year, we wanted to make room for personal relationships with the moms who were in our monthly meetings.

Last Bible study I taught, I gave them an outline for making plans for their years. We told our women that the first 10 women who completed a plan for their year, would be invited to a dinner at my house for a personal time of sharing. We were designing some accountability in that the sweet women had to do something that would help them ultimately, and 10 women accepted the challenge within a couple of days. Tonight was the night.

I made a simple meal--homemade chicken vegetable soup. My friends who help me lead the study brought salad, bread and an apple crisp. We gathered around the table with candlelight and music and I pulled out the china from my mom and we had a wonderful time together.

Each of us had several minutes to tell our story and what we were planning for this year to "Own Our Plans and Schedule." Sharing heart issues, struggles, ideals, loneliness, exhaustion, hopes, dreams, goals--such a warm, lovely evening together. Now, when I go to teach the large Bible study, I will know the stories behind these precious ones. I know how to pray for them. Some have determined to get together for coffee to share further.

I have observed over the years that when I extend an invitation to others, over a simple meal or mug of tea, and we sit together face to face, God shows up. He knits our hearts together when we make time for personal, intentional time to talk, share burdens and just laugh together.

It was so easy to do, but sooooo great to be together, and now we are beginning to build bridges toward closer friendships. What about you? What might you do to begin building bridges with women in your area who also need and want friends. I would love to hear what you are doing.

The Kristen and Sally Show: Keeping your Soul alive to you can thrive! Mentoring Monday

 

Kristen and I: Sharing Some of the Ways we invest in ourselves to cultivate a rich inner life

"Let your soul shine from the treasures you have stored inside through your eyes that smile and your face that shows love, so that you can bring light to all who are in your world!" 

I have said this many times to my children--what you have stored in your heart and soul is what will come out in the moments of your life. Enjoy our newest podcast below!

Many of you have heard me tell the story of Joel, as a teenager, when we had come home to a messy house after conference season was ended.

"Mama, don't you worry. We can clean up our messes like always, and then it will get messy again. But, please mom, what we want from you, is a happy mom. When you are happy the world goes well. When you are unhappy, we all feel guilty. So, mama, can you just chill today and be happy? Then we can all have a good day!"

Kristen and I have both pondered how to cultivate a long-term sense of joy in the life of our own homes. The beginning of joy is to cultivate an inner attitude that is willing to see every day as a gift, every season as one in which you can enjoy the presence of God.

We have realized that it is our attitude in our heart that will determine how peaceful we will be at each season. If you learn to expect limitations, difficulties, stress and life and children pushing back against your best efforts, you will have a more realistic view of what it means to be a mom. Depression often comes from disappointed expectations. If we are surprised or angry every time something goes wrong or a child has a new developmental challenge or they keep eating, wearing clothes and making messes, you will spend a lot of your motherhood years being angry and disappointed.

We will never change the stress level by being angry or bitter.

Often, when we fight against the very nature of motherhood, we find ourselves fighting against God.  

Funny that we want our children to change their attitudes, but somehow we feel we have a right to our own bad attitudes. But they end up draining our energy and stealing from the potential joy of life. Live into this season, accepting the limitations and learn to see each season as something God designed for a purpose. Don't try to rush life or push your children to develop or be independent too early.

This season is from God to slow you down, to train you to be more humble, more in the moment, more patient--to build the very character of Christ into the deep places of your heart. Learn and don't resist what He has built into this season and even though you will always feel exhausted, your heart will be more at peace, happier, if you know it has a purpose.

My Own Journey

Having 3 children in less than 5 years was a shock to my whole being. Not only had I not been trained for motherhood, I had not been developed to live a selfless life. No one told me about how much I would have to give, how much I would have to sacrifice--forever! Having grown up with 2 older brothers, the only girl, my mama, at times just wanted to spoil her little dolly. I was spoiled much of the time, left alone to fend for myself other times, but definitely not prepared to have multiple children, nurse my babes, have them naturally, and then homeschool them eventually.

Idealist should be my middle name. I wanted all of this, and to be the best mom in the world, but had no realistic idea of how to accomplish it. Today, I thought I would address some of the desperate times and a few ways I have learned to cope with them.

Always a new phase, always needs

The baby-toddler-never sleep years when you lose your body shape, have someone grabbing you all the time and are constantly in and out of different sizes of clothes (that is, if you have time to shop for clothes!) were daily, moment by moment a challenge to my centeredness in life. Losing total control all the time, every day, day after day, was a shock to my system.

Is anyone really prepared for exhaustion that lasts for years on end? I wasn't. Besides having children in quick succession, which meant I always had immature little beings making messes, fussing, sleeping, potty training or making messy diapers and getting me up at night. I fell in love with my children--just had this overwhelming, deep affection for them, but still would blow my stack, be impatient when they pushed all my buttons and I felt vague desperate feelings.

I look back now and just wish I had understood baby years. And the pre-school years, and the teen years, and and and. Because I have lived through it all, I know I had God given capacity to complete the tasks, and I am a richer, stronger person for my journey. God made each season for His own purposes.  God made babies to be dependent so that we could touch them, sing to them, bond with them, teach their little brains to believe in His love because of the way we tenderly cared for them and enjoy their sweet fat baby hand pats and smiles reserved for us. This is a time to try to just breathe, to try to notice the moments, to kiss often, smile into their precious eyes, and simplify. If you are feeling stressed because your babies push against your own schedule and expectations of life, know that you are normal. Feeling guilty for having these normal feelings is a waste of time. Just learn to grow stronger and more resilient one day at a time.

But seeking to bring gentle order, little by little, in each season of life is an essential part of having a more ordered, peaceful home.. Have eating times, play times, feeding times, bed times at the same time every day. When a little one or big one knows what to expect by the rhythms he lives in, he will be more secure and more calm. These are the anchors that bring order to the day. Babes who are held more during the day are quieter and more at peace. Teenagers who have lots of private "talk to me", "understand me" time are less likely to rebel against the mom and dad's ideals.

It requires so much of you every day, all the time--so to understand this is how to be an effective mom, learning to be a servant leader over and over again in every season, all the time, will help you to understand your long term call. I practically carried Joy everywhere we went, all the time, when I read to the kids, when I did things around the house, just kept her close and she was sooo much more calm and slept so much better. And during her young and elementary years, I sought to read to her, play with her and blow bubbles and rock her to sleep at night, just as my  teens were wanting me to stay up, talk to them, understand them, be their friend.  And, when I fell into bed exhausted,  then before I knew it, Joy would be up again wanting my attention, early in the morning. But now, I am sooo grateful that God led me through these years, because my children's hearts are tied closely to mine and we have grown into each other's best friends.

To live inside yourself thinking that at some particular time, you will have more time to yourself, or have more control, is an expectation that will probably be disappointed. Life does become easier when children are old enough to help, to do things for themselves, to learn a little more independently. Yet, each seasons requires a different kind of energy for us as moms.

Learning to see God's design in all the stages, gives meaning to the journey. But to have the wrong expectations about life becoming suddenly easier brings disappointment. Disappointed expectations can lead to depression. Anger can result. So learning to accept the limitations of a realistic life and learning to see each day as a gift, a place to worship God by choosing to accept the limitations is the beginning of growth.

Ways to Fill your heart, mind, Soul and Strength

 Make Yourself Happier! Learning to manage your life so that you can refill your heart, mind and body on a regular basis is essential to good health.

Invest in your own soul's need for pleasure, it is a God-given desire--make room for pleasure in your days, so that in spite of the seasons, you take care of yourself. Sometimes it is more important for a mama to take a nap than to wash dishes . (Isn't that what paper plates are for?)

Sometimes it is better to go to dinner or lunch or brunch with a friend, or go to a movie that is romantic, to buy yourself a new dress, earrings, get a message, than to stay home and gaze at all of your problems and worry or focus on being depressed. Whatever you water is going to grow. If you cultivate fears, stress, worries, anger, then you will grow more anxious and darker every day. But if you learn how to release these issues into the file drawer of heaven, into God's hands, and then lighten your load, you will walk with more realistic joy and contentment. Learning to cultivate hope and joy, to water the faith and happiness of your life, is an essential commitment to becoming a wise woman.

These are my pleasures that keep me happier and stronger:

I make time with old, friends--who get me and still love me, those who are fun, know my limitations, heart-breaks, weariness, desires and dreams and don't criticize or want something from me. These friendships have been built over many years. Adventures or just sitting on the couches in front of the fireplace,  chatting as the flames crackle and the night gets late.

A Hot Bath with candles late at night when NO ONE can disturb me. My clan doesn't go to bed usually until midnight, so I have to hide myself away when I just need a moment.

Sitting on the front porch watching the sun go down with something wonderful to drink and music playing out of my little Bose Speaker that goes everywhere I go. Peace, calm, beauty, quiet--so rare and so soul filling for me.

A one-woman 15 minute tea or coffee time in the middle of the day.

Ten minutes reading the psalms and then quick prayer, refocuses my mind on who God is and how much He loves me and desires to help me.

Going for long walks early in the morning or early evening--(the adrenalin builds up in me and I walk hundreds of miles a year to equalize my blood sugar  and heart attitudes.) It is a great way to build friendship with your children, too.

Travel--I love adventure and change, (I was ADD before my children were born!) so I have taken myself and the kids to new places if I could figure out how to save money to afford it or speak to pay for my travel--or stay with friends along the way.

Developing a few covenant friends who I can be myself with and who mutually pour into each other's lives who invest love together over many years--making time to be with them when the stress gets me down.

I have learned the wonderful value of massages in the past couple of years. I save, save to make this happen on occasion.

Watching a beautiful movie or reading a long great inspiring novel gives me hope.

Dark chocolate salted almonds

Reading my little daily Bible time book, reading even a half chapter in an inspiring spiritual book--even a little progress helps-- and writing one thing I have thought or learned in my journal. Spiritual strength keeps my attitude stronger--longer.

Spending time, with one or both of my girls, shopping and doing girl things-- just hanging out on our beds talking.

Lighting candles all times of day (when I need atmosphere--not wo much when the kids were little--but when I needed to pretend that the mundane day would be special. It was a sort of visual reminder of what I needed to live int.) Having my music playing or buying myself flowers. Beauty lifts my spirit.

And actually in the making of beauty for yourself, it will be the way that others around you will learn to love and celebrate life, And they will learn to take care of themselves, too. Even those little babies that seem to need you all the time, will eventually mimic the habits your practice!

What is therapy to your soul? What 2 things will you do this week? Share your ideas--I may need a new one!

Own Your Life: Creating A Plan Suited to You!

Some friends just have the funnest knack of gift giving! I love this mug--Keep Calm and Own Your Life that an angel friend sent as a surprise! But the message is so true. You have a lifetime to grow, mature, get better, stronger, and to leave a legacy, a story worth the telling.

Keep Calm. Own Your Life.

Love this mug.

I have received so many letters from women all over the world that have said they are encouraged by my book, Own Your Life. Yet, still, they want some more encouragement. And often I see women stuck in their tracks. I hope that on Thursdays or Fridays of the months ahead, I will be able to discuss some of these issues with you.

I will attempt to have a podcast with each lesson and give some of my own ideas, scripture, and applications. So you can listen to the podcast or read the blog or both! Whatever is good for you. But I will also be taking excerpts out of my book and out of my study guide. If you would like to make it practical to your own life, the Own Your Life Bible Study Guide has scripture, application questions and places to write down your ideas. But, hopefully those of you who want to read my blog will have an article or story and those of you who also listen to my podcasts will be able to listen to some of my perspectives about the chapter we discuss.

I am off to Dallas tomorrow morning early for the intensive training of 20 women from 11 countries, 8 languages. Because traveling and speaking, ministry trips, books and deadlines as well as blogs and podcasts are just a part of my life amidst my family, it automatically means everything and any new project takes me a long time to get going. But, the plans are to perfect this podcast arena, add bumper music, a photo of Kristen and I, and to maybe even have some new looks for my blog--but little by little, step by step. But, though I will not always have lots of time to comment or speak exactly to the issues, (I am traveling the next 3 weeks), I will try to have something up that will inspire or encourage you where you are. That is how we all make progress--baby steps one after the other! So thanks for your patience.

Many years ago, we lived in a home in Tennessee that was sitting on a hill with three gorgeous acres of land, planted with a variety of trees, fruit bushes, roses, and all sorts of other plants. However, the highlight of our year there was that the previous owners, who had built the home and cultivated the land for 15 years, had planted a couple of thousand daffodils all over the land. Our joy each spring was seeing an ocean of yellow everywhere we looked of the plants that would hail the beginning of spring--a new season, a season of growth, warmth after a long winter--and hope for the joy that would fill a new season. I think this memory is why Joy always loved to plant these lovely flowers.

Here is the story!

"We should plant daffodils!” Joy’s brown eyes were aglow and there was a dreamy excitement in her voice. With mugs of tea in hand, my youngest daughter and I were gazing out from the comfort of our living room on yet another thick March snowfall. Colorado winters can make one wonder if spring will ever come. That particular year we were beginning to wonder if we lived in C.S. Lewis’s literary land of Narnia, where it was “always winter but never Christmas.”

Daydreaming and planning our summer garden brought warmth to our gray day. Gardening in Colorado is an act of vision and intention. The good gardener must be able to envision the garden they desire, a difficult thing to imagine in the dead of winter! But if the gardener wants their little patch to bear fruit and be beautiful, she must have a plan.

The high altitude, clay soil, and unpredictable temperatures require a gardener to anticipate the needs of her garden with insight and care if she wants it to be fruitful. One must choose the right plants, fertilize the ground, and water each plant according to its need.

I believe our lives are much like gardening in Colorado—they require vision, planning, and faith.

It is no coincidence that the Bible speaks so often about life using the image or analogy of a garden or a field. Jesus taught the parable of the sower (Luke 8:4-15),

and Paul’s teaching reflected the same principle, “... for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

Just as with a garden, the legacy of our lives will be evidenced by what we sow, cultivate, and grow. And even by what we uproot and remove. In the realm of spiritual gardening, if you want your life to bear the marks of the kingdom of God, then you will need to tend it faithfully, and with faith.

We can choose not to tend to the garden of our life, but when a garden is not nurtured and cultivated, it can become fruitless and vulnerable. The legacy of your life will be evident through what you plan, plant, nurture, and tend. Gardens grown when they are cultivated. This Own Your Life Bible study guide and planner is intended to help you, as a faithful gardener, own your life—by reading and applying the Word of God in your heart, and by making a practical plan to live your life for God’s purposes.

Becoming a good gardener will involve three key components: vision, intentionality, and faith. If I want to see daffodils peak their cheerful heads out in April, I must preemptively plant bulbs in September. In the same way, if I want to live a life that leaves a legacy of God’s kingdom, I must be a visionary gardener, planting seeds that will become fruitful after years of faithfulness.

Just as there is a vast diversity of flowers, so each person’s vision for owning their life will be a little bit different, each involving different stories, strengths, challenges, relationships, and callings. Developing a vision for how you can own your own life involves praying and, evaluating your personality, your life puzzle (single or married, children, job, ministry, life circumstances), eternal goals and priorities, and then beginning to make a plan that is practical for your life.

Imagining with God what sort of legacy you could leave because of your commitments and decisions. Once you begin to have a vision for your life, you must develop a plan to sow, cultivate, and maintain seeds of righteousness.

As famous horticulturist L.H. Bailey wrote, “A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them.”

Thanks to my wonderful Joy, I was able to have this planner. She worked diligently with me all summer and came up with much of the content with me for this book. This first story is out of the introduction to the study guide. So today, think about what the "garden" of your life looks like. Are you subduing your land? Clearing the weeds and rocks of sin, selfishness, drainers, --those things that keep you from growing? Are you planning what you want to cultivate in your life--character qualities, habits, skills long term so that slowly your will begin reflecting the intentional plans you want your life, (garden), to reflect? Growing a beautiful garden or growing an excellent life takes time, but without a long term plan, nothing will be beautified. Make plans this week for what you want your life to become long term. Be practical with long range and short range goals. (What is one character quality in which you want to grow the next 6 months? or one in which your children need to grow? How will you follow a plan to build this? Little by little, make steps forward--not all at once.)

Remember, God's desire is that you flourish in your life, and see fruit growing in all the areas of your life where you are planting, nurturing and growing.  

For the podcast version and some personal comments from me, place your curser on the triangle below and press it to play.

Join us For our Second Podcast: Foundations for Flourishing

All of us women and mamas give out of our resources on a daily basis. We give love in relationships, we use our physical energy to serve others and to work, and we become emptier the more we give. So often as a mom plans a new school year, she considers the most important activities for herself and her children. She buys and collects books, resources for her classes. She plans meals, routines for keeping her house going, and she takes care of all the practical issues from grocery shopping to keeping the house relatively in order.

Often, though, women do not realize that the most important planning should be for the most important resource to insure a flourishing year for herself--she must plan how she will fill her own heart, soul, mind and strength as she is the most important factor in helping her family to flourish. If a woman is not filled, she will not be able to accomplish all of those great plans or build healthy relationships or mentor her children.

In our podcast today, we will explore how a woman can keep her heart and emotions strong and healthy. We will also pursue those greatest priorities to insure that her soul is full, her life delightful and her personal desires having a place to be fulfilled.

Hope you enjoy our newest podcast.

For those of you who want to subscribe, you can go to itunes and subscribe to At Home With Sally, where I hope to be putting more encouraging podcasts.

Kristen and I so appreciate it when you share about our new podcasts with your friends on facebook, twitter and in your own ways, as we would love to encourage moms who need a little boost of inspiration in their day. We so appreciate the many messages, emails and notes of encouragement you have sent. We hope we can get better at this medium of communication each time.

Be sure to look for us HERE on itunes.

Thanks so much for joining us.

Be Nice to Yourself Monday

Cappacino with extra whip!

What a great weekend. Busy every minute, lots of long talks with my out of town kids, a hope and then a disappointment for a dog we almost got but it fell through. Busy, busy, busy.

But I have found over the years, what goes up, must come down. Mondays are that sort of day. Weekends are off schedule, activities, sweets, church, friends, food--and then it is "getting back to the grind" Mondays.

I think Mondays are days for grace--be kind to yourself. Put beauty into your day. Turn on some music. Kiss a few people and touch them. Dance to music as you wash the dishes.

Get a cup of coffee with an extra shot.  Eat at least one square of dark sea salt chocolate almond. Forgive yourself today. If you forgive yourself, you won't be so grumpy and harsh and we all know that harshness creates tension--it doesn't create order.

"Mom, when you feel happy and sing and dance around the house, we all feel like we are on top of the world," said Joel.

Be happy, give your burdens to God. Everyone will be the better for your day. And so I am planning for a grace-filled day, because I know there are lots of demanding days ahead and I am pacing myself--with my heart aimed at joy.

Are you brave in your faith? Are you faithful in Ministry?

What might God accomplish in your lifetime if you were to trust Him fully to live through you to bring His light to the world?

Who are the people He has placed in your life to love? Teach? Serve? Inspire? Encourage?

You have a part in God's grand story to live and to tell.

Today, and every day, if you know and love Jesus, He has given you the opportunity to bring His Kingdom to bear on your world. Today is a day in which you can serve Him with your whole heart by giving your all to each moment of the day.

My life has been a grand journey of watching Him work supernaturally through a very normal, average woman. I am the little boy who was given my own portion of fish and loaves, but in His hands, my portion became enough to be used by Him.

Next week, Angela Perritt and I will be working together in a Leadership intensive to inspire, train in ministry, encourage, and instruct 20 women from 11 countries--

Uganda South Africa Venezuela Hungary Canada India Australia Holland Germany Czech Republic The United States

How did this come about? I dreamed of having small groups of women in my home to train them more deeply to grow in their understanding of becoming leaders in their own worlds. I began to invite women to these 3 day home conferences.

Angela met me at a conference where I spoke, responded to come to an Intensive. Through our friendship, formed through ministry, we wrote a book together, You Are Loved. The women who are coming to our conference next weekend, translated our book into their languages so that the friends in their arena could have our books in order to transform their lives through the truth of these words.

No one paid them to translate. No one motivated them to translate. But they were moved to do the hard work because they wanted their friends to know.

Angela said, "Sally, if I invite these women to my house and raise money for their airplane tickets, will you come train them and speak to them like you did at your house?"

A normal woman, having a great idea, and working to bring about an intensive--And I know God will show up.

These women represent 8 language groups and by training them, we are praying that they will take our messages to their countries and teach and inspire women in their own arena of life to love Jesus, how to know Him, how to study His word and how to model His life to others.

Will  you please pray with me that the Holy Spirit, who is so willing to do a supernatural work, will work deeply in our hearts and in theirs to bring about a deeper understanding of His word and His ways?

Will you pray that God will give me the words to speak, the verses to share, the messages that will transform their thinking?

So I ask you again today--how are you owning your life, your relationships, the messages you know that will transform others.

Next week, we will start talking about these very ideas in a series I will be doing on Owning Your Life. Hope you will join me.

Join me for our very first Momheart Podcast!

It's here! I am listening to all of your emails, messages and comments. I am just slow, as there is always so much on my plate, (Mom Conferences, blog posts, speaking engagements, leadership intensives, articles and of course, new books!) and it takes a while to get to everything. But I have to say I love ministry to sweet women and I so enjoy you in my audience who let me hear from you. It is a joyful work I get to do.

I hope that you will grab a cup of tea or a mug of coffee or something wonderful and just take a deep breath and join us for a time of friendship and sharing heart issues and fun together. Or if you are in the car or on an exercise machine, breathe in a moment just for you! We promise we will get better and hopefully more professional as we go, but it was so very much fun. We had such fun just taping the first one and getting excited about what will be ahead.

Kristen and I in New York City last year with her darling 4!

Kristen Kill is my dear friend for several years. We have worked together in my ministry for several years and she brilliantly said, "Sally, you can do this and I will help you!" Kristen lives in New York City with her 4 children, ranging from mid-teens to 7 years old--one boy and three girls. She writes a beautiful blog at Hopewithfeathers.com

Please let us know what you think! And give us some ideas of what you would like for us to discuss. I will be taping some personal messages once a week, (if I can get to it!) and Kristen and I will be speaking together once a week. Hope you can join us! I want to get to some Bible time for you, too, and hope to be sharing from some of what I am reading or have read over the years. Pray for us and for this ministry that it will reach sweet women all over the world, who need to know their lives matter.

We love all of you so--you brave, wonderful, idealistic, sacrificing women who are changing the world, one day at a time through your moments of faith and faithfulness!

You can play our podcast below by putting your curser on the triangle--(the start button for those who are new to this!) Hope you enjoy!

Confidence to Build Well Amidst the Storms of Life!

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My sweet girls who made it through the fear and doubt.

The small flame of the candle flickered wildly as air from the opening door fanned the flame. Sarah, my gentle oldest child peeked through the door and asked if we could talk for a few minutes. Her quiet voice told me she did not want to attract the attention of anyone else in the house.

I had come to my bedroom alone. A fire was lit in the fireplace, a cup of tea steamed at my side, and a melancholy Celtic tune played softly in the background--this the perfect setting I had planned for a short, one woman retreat, by myself on a few stolen minutes of a Sunday afternoon. But, I could see she needed to talk about something that was important to her.

The tears began to overflow her dark blue eyes as she sat down. The past year had been hard and lonely for her. We had moved to a new city and not a friend her age was to be found. Several of her Christian friends had been dabbling in sex with boys they were dating, Christian leaders we knew had split the church over an immoral relationship, leaving many broken relationships behind.

On top of this, our country had just experienced the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and Sarah had been forced to manage through the trauma of the week without Clay and me as we were gone for a brief 20th anniversary trip away. All of these issues plus the questions of what to do with the rest of her life combined to trouble her heart and mind.

"Mama, I have having such doubts in my faith. So many believers seem mediocre and compromising, and our world seems to be falling apart and it is hard for me to make sense of it all. Have you ever felt like this?"

Fast forward 12 years, and Joy quietly sneaked into my room getting ready to leave for Oxford amidst the first onslaught of ISIS and was fearful to get on the plane fearing being away from us if a crisis should befall England.

"Mama, the world seems to be such a scary place. How do I know I will be ok, you all will be ok, when I am so far from home if a crisis arises?"

Now, having lived through all the seasons of 4 children, from birth into adulthood, I can see the hand of God leading me faithfully through all the fear-filled times. God whispers secrets to us in His word about how to make it through in tact with our souls and spirits healthy and strong.

Certainly the world today, and 12 years ago, is a place threatening the peace of our personal lives every day. With crisis looming at every point: Planned Parenthood atrocities, needless shootings and killings of teens, the murder of Christians in the middle East, the refugee crisis and storms and disasters all about, we are inundated with threats every day.

Since I wrote the book, Own Your Life, I have received literally hundreds of letters from all parts of the world asking me questions about what it looks like to "Own Life" in such times. This fall, I will be starting a new podcast that will speak to mom's issues, but I also hope to be doing a series of articles one day a week that will include some discipleship podcasts from my living room to yours about issues covered in Own Your Life. I will be talking about how to make a reasonable personal life plan for building foundations that cannot be shaken, how to find rest amidst weariness, making a plan for a growing spiritual life, dealing with disappointment, taking faith steps towards ministry and leaving a godly legacy and more. I hope many of you will join me.

I will be covering chapters from Own Your Life. So be sure to get a copy if you want to follow along with me in your own quiet time, or get the study guide to study scripture related to the chapters and answer your own questions in journal pages provided.

I hope you will enjoy the podcasts as well as the articles. And look for a new series of podcasts with my wonderful friend, Kristen Kill, as we begin a new series together on issues of Motherhood.

Looking so forward to this series. Hope you and your friends will join me. If you want to read along with my commentary, be sure to get your own copy of Own Your Life--and the study guide. I hope it will be of great encouragement to you--and I have already been greatly inspired working on it!

Buy Own Your Life

Buy Own Your Life Study Guide