Creating A Home That Says Welcome!

Home: A Place of Welcome

By Sarah

I arrived home this past Christmas at the end of a rather grueling journey. The process of any flight from the UK to CO is quite an undertaking to begin with (bus, multiple airplanes/airports, then shuttle, all with huge and heavy suitcases in tow since I’m forever trying to shift a bit more of my library overseas), but this one had included stopovers in odd places, late flights, and a blizzard that stranded me at the Denver airport after arrival. On top of this was the sense of twilight zone disconnect from self and place that modern travel and jet lag produces in a weary mind. Wendell Berry has written of airports spaces of great anonymity - something that rings truer to me every time I travel alone, feeling myself unnamed and isolated in the great crowds and strange places. All this combined meant that by the time I stumbled through the foot of new snow up to the door of the Clarkson home, I had a frayed soul, exhausted body, and a mind that felt like a whirlwind out of which I looked out upon the world.

But as I stood upon the doorstep, I glanced to my left and saw something so eminently familiar I’d almost missed it: the old, chalkboard sign hung by my parent’s front door on which the name of every new guest is scratched. Welcome home Sarah. This time it was my name, and in the instant of spotting it, the storm in my mind began to subside. Out of the frantic, hurried, grey hours of the past days, I was pulled into the particularity of that place on earth, where people who knew my name and my story were waiting to greet me.

Then the door opened and arms were thrown round me - two pairs at once. I felt the soft familiarity of my mother’s touch and the tangle of my sister’s hair. I was drawn into a space prepared and lit especially for me. Having hugged each member of my family, I set down my bag and looked around the home waiting to greet me. Christmas lights tangled with the green of the tree, my grandmother’s Christmas dishes lay waiting on the set table, candles were lit, the old family favorite music played and I was drawn into the living room where a cup of tea (for oh, we love strong tea, we Clarksons) was waiting to warm my weary bones.

As news was exchanged and stories told, I settled into the place that had been prepared for me and marveled at the way that a home where one is loved and known, even in the first moments of welcome, can repair and restore the lonely exhaustion of the soul. To be known, remembered, desired, and to come to a place where those qualities of love have been enfleshed in food and candlelight and comfortable rooms is what it means to come home.

Home is the place where we are known, where love has prepared a room for us.

Home is the place where our stories our remembered, our griefs comforted.

Home is the place to which we can return from the wild storm of the outer world, to heal, to rest, to remember who we are and what it is we were meant to be.

But homes like that are only present by the grace of those who keep, prepare, and enrich them.

I knew, on that Christmas arrival day, that every candle had been lit, the rooms cleaned, the food made, by hands driven by love. I knew the amount of work it took to welcome me back, because I had done it many times before for other returning Clarksons. Often, in my teenage years, I questioned the amount of preparation we invested for each person who came to our home. Now, as the guest myself, I knew, in the moment of rich, prepared welcome, why we did it, and what it meant to those who returned.

The world is roamed by lonely, homeless people. We live in an age that isolates, a time that drives us to hurry and harried living. We live, often, in the fractured pain of broken relationships, of broken homes, with the feeling that we cannot return to a place of beauty or love. But home can always be built anew. All it takes is a single heart given in willingness to love, create, and keep. I have had to begin anew in every place I have moved as a single adult, but the creation of beauty, the formation of friendship, the lighting of a candle… its always possible. The home my parents have built, the family home to which I have the grace to return, began with that willingness to create a place of belonging in student housing, a tiny apartment, or one more new house as they moved yet again. It was built by years of love and grit, but it became a place of belonging because of the faithfulness that undergirded it.

I tasted that long-given love as I walked in the door at Christmas and was embraced by the sense of belonging, of welcome, of love. That is what home truly is. As you read, as you love, as you give in your own lives, may you too both find and keep the beauty of home.

GREAT NEWS!

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MY WONDERFUL PUBLISHERS HAVE SAID THAT IF YOU ORDER THE BOOKS, AND SEND YOUR RECEIPT TO momentum@tyndale.com, you can receive a pdf of the book ahead of time to read portions before the actual book ships. (All they ask if that you please do not share the pdf with others as it is copyrighted material and is for private use only.)

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Routines That Give Children Security and Love

It is useless for you to work so hard
 from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat;
 for God gives rest to his loved ones. ~Psalm 127:2, New Living Translation

Keeping "Home" as a place of lifegiving, inspiration and love requires constant attention because it is the place of life 365 days of the year. There will never be a moment in the life or story of home when everything will be perfect, but constantly simplifying my home, ordering my place and days keeps me moving toward a place that gives life back to me and all who live in its walls.

In my new book, The Lifegiving Home, I have listed 5 areas where I have tried to make plans each year that will help bring some order and rhythm to the days we live together. Here are some questions I ponder each year for planning.

• What daily rhythms will help me accomplish what needs to be done and enhance our relationships? How can I include meaningful expectations of the work to be accomplished and the ways we will spend our time together? Morning, noon, and night bring their own demands and practices, and a good plan will take these into consideration. Planning daily rhythms—meals, devo- tions, cleanup, bedtime routines—should take into consideration the abili- ties and personalities of everyone who lives in the home.
• What chores need to be done each day? Who will do them, and how will I make sure they are done? Housework, cleaning, paying bills, yard work, shopping, hosting guests, setting the table, washing dishes—all of these must be done. Establishing routines for handling these things builds an expectation for my family or roommates that will bring a constant stream of order to our lives.
• Am I doing something now that doesn’t need to be done? How can I simplify my work to provide more time to do what I value most? I want to avoid “mile-wide and inch-deep” commitments and commit to a few activities that are central to my values.
• What daily and weekly rituals will bring pleasure and mark important areas in which I can invest my moments? Celebrating life on a regular basis keeps me happier and more energized in the midst of caring for my four children, my husband, and our family of friends. I have learned to provide life rituals that bring energy back to my heart, mind, and soul—Saturday night movie and pizza, Sunday afternoon tea times, going out for dinner as a family every Friday night.Many years ago, Clay, my very organized husband, gave me an acronym to work from. 'the categories below are just general areas but the most prominent. He said if I made a plan for managing the following areas, life would be more centered--and he was right:

Family--Personal relationships, rhythms and routines in our home that will keep us close, loving, moving ahead in a healthy way, is the place I have to start. What intentional routines do I need to establish in order to be sure our relationships, faith and love are growing.

Information--Planning for organizing, throwing out, filing important emails, receipts, addresses, etc. is a constant for me. I never catch up, but having a plan keeps me from feeling constantly overwhelmed.

Rest--planning to take care of our need for recreation, rest, a break from the demands of life every week, insures that we will not burn out and get totally out of order in our personal relationships and will promote  more long term health.

Stuff--clutter, clothes, kitchen stuff, seasonal stuff--taking time to simplify every few months keeps me from always being overwhelmed by all of our stuff. Having a plan for how to order it all the time gives me goals for decluttering every day.

Time-Learning to manage my commitments and demands up against my limitation for our time keeps me from getting our lives out of control. Margin is always required in each day because every day there are interruptions.

There is no one right way to live life in a home. No one size of routine or rules or order fits all…. But the more carefully we plan our days, the better our homes will provide us with freedom and enjoyment as well as purpose and accomplishment. … Familiar rhythms and routines give structure that provides leadership and personal care to all who live there. When children and guests know what to expect, they also know how to ask for their personal needs to be met and understand what part they play in the life of the home. ~ Sally Clarkson, The Lifegiving Home

Here are some questions for you to think through.  I pray they’ll help you develop your own rhythms and routines!

• What chores need to be done each day? Who will do them, and how will I ensure they’ve been done?

• What daily rhythms will help me accomplish what needs to be done and embrace our relationships?

• Am I doing something now that doesn’t really need to be done? How can I simplify my work to provide more time to do what I value most?

• What daily and weekly rituals will bring pleasure to my life and mark important areas in which I can invest my time?

These are just a very few thoughts contained in the chapter about ordering the new year in The Lifegiving Home. Hope they help you this month!

Owning the Spiritual Disciplines (Own Your Life Fridays)

The more we know Him, the more we will desire to know Him.

Brother Lawrence

“Well, I don’t know, it’s just, like...” These words had barely slipped out of Joy’s mouth before my eyebrows raised at her and we both started laughing. Ever since she had returned during breaks from her university in Southern California, the word “like” frequently visited itself upon her vocabulary. Joy had never been a “like” girl before, but after a few months in the land of surfboards and juice shops, that word, along with the slow rhythm of the Southern California accent, had begun to work itself into her way of speaking.

“I don’t mean to, Mom! It’s just the way I hear all of the voices around me speaking, and I can’t help but let it slip in to the way I speak and think.” I believe that Joy’s “like” predicament exhibits the power of the voices to which we listen.

We live in a culture that loves to quote movies, books, and song lyrics. I marvel as I watch my kids hold almost entire conversations in quotes from their favorite characters from television and literature. I have realized that as my children engage in certain forms of media, those forms begin to shape their vocabulary and way of thinking.

The same is true of friend groups. I am amused to see best friends who inadvertently dress and speak like each other, or friend groups who all order similar coffee concoctions. It is a part of human nature that we naturally begin to emulate who or what we spend time with and on, respectively. Proverbs says, “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm” (Proverbs 13:20). We are formed by the voices that we allow to speak into our lives.

Cultivating the Practices That Deepen Your Faith

This is why spiritual disciplines are important. Cultivating such practices in your life creates a space in which one can be formed by the voice of God. In reading Scripture, we allow God’s truth to speak to our heart. In prayer, we listen for the whisper of the Holy Spirit. In honoring the Sabbath and resting, we train our hearts to rest in the knowledge that God will always provide. Spiritual disciplines remove distractions from our practice of faith, allowing the voice of God in our spirit to shape our vocabulary and our attitudes.

Women often say to me, “I’m too busy to have a quiet time or pray” or “I have young children and don’t ever seem to have free time” or “I don’t want to be legalistic about it.” When I hear this, I often respond with a question: “What voices are you allowing to shape your view of the world instead of Scripture and the Holy Spirit?” We are all in the business of listening to voices, and allowing various channels to broadcast over the rest.

I often find that when I don’t think I have time to listen to God, it is because I am busy prioritizing other voices. This is something that happens to the best of us. For some that may be wasting time on social media, putting an overemphasis on perfect housekeeping, or getting caught in an endless cycle of busyness. Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong about social media, housekeeping, and a busy schedule. None of those things is necessarily bad, but nothing can replace the voice of God, and the value gained from time in His presence.

The spiritual disciplines are not about legalism, but about developing practices which tune your ear to the truth of Scripture, your will to the practice of faithfulness, and your heart to communion with God. My children are able to bring to mind the quotes of many of their favorite literary characters because of the time they have spent invested in reading. In the same way, as you invest time in Scripture, the Holy Spirit will begin to bring passages to your mind when you encounter difficult situations.

At the heart of any spiritual discipline is relationship with God. Genesis 3:8 says, “They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”

From the very beginning, God desired that we might share an intimate relationship with Him. His intention was that we would delight in our relationship with Him and reflect his image in us. Though the fall broke that relationship, Christ made a way for us to be once again in communion with God. God’s desire to be in relationship with us is the same as it was in Eden.

Spiritual disciplines do not take the place of that relationship, but rather, through the Holy Spirit, they give our impatient and sinful souls a way to engage with God. Because God delights in our relationship, He will always bless a heart that seeks to engage with Him.

 Buy a journal in which to write down all the things for which you are grateful or a list of your prayer requests. Be sure to write in it at least once a week. Then it will become a history of God's faithfulness in your life.

An excerpt from Own Your Life.

Own Your Life is just $3.99 on Kindle right now!

You're Invited to a Celebration!

I'm having a celebration for the LifeGiving Home with an online Launch Party and I'd love you to join me! You can find out more details here and sign up here.

Own Your Life on sale!

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Enjoy!

Accepting Today, Just As It Is

As Kristen and I recorded the podcast last week, one of the things we discussed was the way all of us tend to think our lives would be better and we would be happy ... if only something in our lives were different.  Though it's a common belief, it's not a true one.  I wrote about it in Dancing With My Father:

After I became a committed Christian in college, I worked my way to righteousness: I attended church and Bible studies, tithed, and finally decided to go into Christian work. And I sort of expected, though perhaps subconsciously, that God would bless my obedience by giving me everything I desired in life: marriage, family, success in my work.

My first thought had been, I will be happy when I get married. I finally got married at twenty-eight. Since I equated happiness with achieving my ideals in my life,I was surprised when my marriage didn't soothe the restlessness in my spirit and fill the vacuum in my heart.

I thought a child might fulfill me. So I prayed, Lord, please bless me with a child.  I became pregnant at thirty-one. I gave birth to three babies in the next five years, which left me reeling! Instead of feeling fulfilled, I found myself overwhelmed with the responsibility of motherhood.

I was blessed with three children and married to my best friend. But my best friend worked seventy hours a week, leaving me to handle the house and parenting responsibilities mostly on my own. I felt alone. I had few friends because we moved every two years into new ministry situations.

I kept finding myself thinking, I will be happy when... And I filled in the blanks with a list of events I had built up in my mind, which I was certain would fulfill my life.

I will be happy when all of my babies are out of diapers.

I will be happy when we have friends and support systems.

I will be happy when my husband is home more.

I will be happy when we can change jobs.

I will be happy when we have a bigger salary.

The list marched subconsciously through my mind each day of my discontent. And with each passing day, my dissatisfaction and expectations grew. During this time, I was reading my Bible and serving God the best I knew how. I didn't realize that I mistakenly believed I needed these things to be happy because I was basing my expectations on worldly, temporal values.

Finally, I came to the end of myself. At some point in life, it dawned on me that this is the "broken place." Earth is the temporary place where Satan rules and where all people are sinful and subject to the disappointments of a fallen world, to the longings that come from being separated from God.

I can picture ideals and dream of the life for which I was created, but Jesus never promised I would experience ultimate fulfillment in this world.

I realized that if I didn't build my foundations on eternal realities, I would never be content. Nothing in this physical world would ever totally live up to my expectations. The Lord had to dissolve my self-will in a slow, humbling process of my reluctantly giving up my ideas about what I needed to be happy. I had to become willing to place myself on the altar of God's will. Trying to control my life and whip it into shape by means of my own effort only brought frustration and disillusionment. I realized that in a fallen world, happiness, perfection, and the fairy tale of a Cinderella life are always doomed to failure.

As we're beginning a new year, might I encourage you to accept the cup God has given you *today*?  And look for your happiness and joy and contentment in Him, regardless of your circumstances?

"Godliness with contentment is great gain" 1 Timothy 6:6.

Dancing With My Father is available here on Amazon.

A Party, A Celebration, An Invitation: The Lifegiving Home

Home is more than just a house—it’s a place where love, life, and treasured memories can grow all year long.

Sign up for the event by REGISTERING HERE!

Keep up-to-date with the party at the LAUNCH PAGE!

Join me in a party, a month from today! Invite your friends! We shall have a grand time.

I am so very excited to be announcing my official pre-launch to the release of my two books, The Lifegiving Home and the companion guide and Bible study, The Lifegiving Home experience.

As a mom of 4 adults, married for 34 years, I have learned that as Proverbs 14: 1 says, a wise woman builds not just her home, but her family’s story. And a truly life-giving home is one that brims over with love, welcome, and stories worth telling. Over the years, one of my goals for my home has been to  weave the love of God into every room of my  home and then into the lives of the people that live there.

Home should be an outpost in this dark world that brings light, beauty, refreshment, inspiration, traditions, feasts, that fill the heart, soul and minds of those who live there. Then from this sanctuary of all that is good, people can go back into the world to bring the love, life and beauty of God that has filled up their souls.

What a privilege it has been for me to join my oldest daughter, Sarah, to create a book that retells the story of our own home. Even more, our desire was also to re-ignite a vision in the minds and hearts of others to intentionally build such a home right where they live. We have sought to share secrets that will help you craft your home life into a beautiful heritage.

The Lifegiving Home book provides foundational ideas, inspiration and stories that will lead you to refresh your own vision for the profound importance of "Home." As we journeyed through the seasons of our lives, we wanted to provide a month by month story, ideas to implement, books to read, movies to watch and traditions to celebrate.

The Lifegiving Home experience is a Bible study, planner and guide  to plan for each month and to provide  practical touchpoints to guide you in your own plans, ideas, and dreams for what you want your home to become. Containing sections for each month of the year, The Lifegiving Home Experience offers:

• Creative ideas, new stories, personal reflections, and advice that will help your family to celebrate and enjoy one another
• Thought-provoking Bible studies and reflection questions to help you plan and establish the home that is right for you
• Clarkson family favorite recommendations for books, movies, holiday traditions, special events, and more
• A place to write your own thoughts and plans as you go through the guide

We have planned something very special to celebrate these books and more ideas with our friends all over the world.

On February 9, we will host a live webcast party!

Our idea is to ask you to invite your friends to a casual party in your home where we will spend the evening talking about home, how to build traditions, how to create an environment of love as well as lots of personal stories from my own life about the story of our own home.

Through the evening, we will be giving away fun prizes, provide some recipe cards, and ending with the final grand prize of:

*Two airplane tickets for one woman and the friend of her choice to Monument, Colorado

*A visit with Sally in her home and free entrance to a weekend leadership intensive where the winners will have personal mentoring and spiritual inspiration with an elite small group of women. You will have homemade meals in her home, tea times, a lovely brunch at the famous Broadmoor Hotel, and lots of other special moments

*A free hotel for 3 nights during the personal and inspiring retreat weekend

We would ask you to sign up below to register for this free conference, as the winners will be chosen from the entries into this party. You can sign up yourself if you are the host of the party in your neighborhood, but be sure to also sign up all who will attend so each one can be entered for the prizes that will be given away that weekend.

What to expect from joining the party?

*That evening, we will have prizes and giveaways

* We will have emails for all who register with support and prayer for their night of hosting, as well as printable recipe cards and  frameableart to give their guests.

*If you preorder books for all who attend, or have them bring their books, we will be posting photos of you and your friends with the book, as well as take some of the prize giveaways from answers to content in the books.ce

Our hope, prayers and wishes are that women all over the world will be strengthened and inspired to cultivate their homes into places where life, beauty, love and truth become the foundations and atmospheres of their homes.

Register for the party HERE!

Celebrating Home: What is the Story You Are Writing for you Home?

"Our home is the best place in the whole wide world."

A three week road trip with me, my four, my friend and her three, all stuffed into a suburban, had found us exploring historical cities all over the East Coast. From the Minute Man museum in Boston, Gettysburg battlefields, George Washington's amazing home, Mt. Vernon, and to Williamsburg. These were just a few of the amazing places we toured. Rousing adventures, amazing memories, stuffing all of us into the car and rotating seats just to be fair, found all of us fast friends from our mutual escapades.

Yet, when we rolled into our Colorado driveway, Joel ran upstairs, plopped on our couch, hugged the pillows and said, "Our home is the best place in all the world. My bed is best, our yard is best, our food is best, and I may never leave again."

It pleased my mama heart to hear his sweet words. But it also stuck in my mind as a goal I wanted to keep fresh through the years.

Launching the Lifegiving home book is dear to my heart because I have wanted to write a book about the profound importance of Home for many years. Now, what a gift to be able to launch it with the stories of Sarah, my oldest child, from her point of view, as well.

The next few weeks, on our podcast, Kristen and I will be discussing home, how to plan for the story you will tell through the days of your life. We are also going to be giving you a pdf you can print out to think about and plan your own story.

When I asked my four what were some of the things they thought defined our home story, they all said,

"Tea Times, books, dinner together every night with lots of discussions and homemade food, music and song parties, lots of people in and out of our home, devotions, ....., and you will have to read the book for more!

Home is a sanctuary for life where souls are shaped and values are breathed from the oxygen that is in the life of the home every day.

Defining your own story of Home

It's always good to evaluate my goals so that we can focus on our ideals at every season of life. Answer these questions for yourself:

How would your neighbors, your children, your husband, your friends, explain the story of your home as they know it now?

What would you like for those who come into your home to feel when they are there?

How can you create the atmosphere in your home that you value?

What do you want to keep?

What do you want to change?

We're happy to be offering a pdf you can print out with some things to consider as you think through some of these questions this week! Click here to find it:

Home Is Where Our Stories Begin

Join Kristen and me for our newest podcast. Share it to encourage your friends.

On sale for pre-order at B&N for A$9.15 for a short while.

The winners of the giveaway books.

Elise

Kate

Rebecca

Tara

Laura

Heather

Owning Your Motherhood (Own Your Life Fridays)

My Influence on My Children

I’ve learned that my influence on my children is limited only by the smallness of my dreams and my lack of commitment to the Lord and his purposes.

-SALLY CLARKSON (THE MISSION OF MOTHERHOOD)

Sipping coffee from a mug on a snowy Colorado day brought pleasure to my weary soul. As the mother of two children under three years old, I was in need of a break. Clay volunteered to take Sarah, almost three, and Joel, just shy of six months, for a couple of hours so that I could visit with a friend of mine I had met as a young missionary in Eastern Europe.

She was eight years older than me, and much further along the path of motherhood with her children approaching teen years at the time. I deeply valued her wisdom and had always looked forward to our times together in the past. And yet today, something she said to me did not sit well with my spirit. Always I had longed for encouragement in my role as a mom, but her words made my heart feel uneasy.

“Sally, you are so talented in ministry and such a great speaker. You and Clay should just decide not to have any more children. You have your daughter and now a son, so you don’t need any more kids. It would be a waste of your ministry skills and training to further distract yourself with the burden of more children.”

Our time ended shortly after her unsolicited and unexpected counsel, but I couldn’t shake the dark feeling her words had brought. The next morning, I rose early, before the two little ones called for me, and began to look up scripture about motherhood and children. “God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth ...’” (Genesis 1:28).

Eve’s nature as the first woman, and as the “mother of all the living,” was established before the fall. Motherhood was an important part of God’s design for man and woman before sin ever came into the world. God’s original intent for motherhood was not changed by the fall. This seemed to elevate motherhood biblically.

Since I had been trained to disciple adults as a missionary, I began to realize that God had created me as a mother to disciple my children, the future adults in my own home. The more I have studied this topic in thirty-plus years of motherhood, the more I have become convinced of the importance of a mother as a disciple maker. That has inspired me to write six books on motherhood, and I am not sure I am finished yet! I have come to believe that mothers have the power to civilize nations by taking seriously the opportunity they have to disciple their children and to raise them to be godly leaders.

Though my friend had good intentions in giving her advice, I instinctively knew that childbearing was imbued with eternal significance—raising children, building a home, and passing on a legacy of righteousness was part of God’s eternal design for the family.

My investment in my children as a strategic ministry of faith was no less important than the ministry I had outside of my home. That encounter, and the study that followed, paved the way for us to decide to have more children, and for me to put aside the demands of public ministry in order to focus on the new personal ministry in my home.

Now, as a mother who has raised four children from birth into adulthood, I can affirm that engaging my life and faith in the lives of my children has been the most fulfilling and fruitful work I have ever pursued. I have never regretted the decision to do less ministry, have more children, and give myself fully to the ministry of raising them. It was a challenge every day, but giving up my life to serve my precious children formed my character and faith as God’s child.

My investment in my children was about more than all the routine work of motherhood, and even more than my spiritual influence as a discipler. In the bigger picture of my life at home, I was civilizing my children, and shaping their hearts and lives. I was cooperating with God to mold them into well-rounded adults.

To “civilize” means “to create a high level of culture” and “to teach somebody to behave in a more socially, morally and culturally acceptable way” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). I believe home, by God’s design, is the fountain of civilization, and the incubator of mental, moral, and spiritual character, appetites, habits, and values.

“Mothers, you are the divinely-appointed teachers and guides of your children; and any attempt to free yourselves of this duty is in direct opposition to the will of God. If you neglect them, the consequences are swift and sure. … Spend most of your time with your children. Sleep near them, attend and dress and wash them; let them eat with their mother and father; be their companion and friend in all things and at all times.”

The above quotation was gleaned from a wonderful book a friend gave to me called Golden Thoughts on Mother, Home, and Heaven, published in 1878.

The words still resonate, especially in today’s culture where the imagination for how mothers can affect the overall well-being of the soul of the next generation has been lost.

It's not to say that women can't work or do other kinds of ministry. But a culture who has lost the imagination of the importance of motherhood, leaves children at risk. Children  are the next generation of adults who will make decisions from the foundations of their souls. If wisdom, righteousness, faith, education has not been a priority of shaping for them,  they will be deplete of wisdom, and they will go into adulthood with sawdust souls.

So, each mom has a different puzzle, but she has to keep what is a priority to God at the center of her decisions in life, and when she seeks the heart of God, her legacy will be one of faith and faithfulness and will have implications for eternity.

Write down two specific things you can do to cultivate a more meaningful spiritual impact on your children--or in the lives of children you know. 

An excerpt from Own Your Life.

Own Your Life cover

Changing the World, One Mom Heart Group at a Time! A Great Book Giveaway

Mom Heart Conference in Dallas, 2015

FOLLOW OUR NEW BLOG AT MOMHEART.COM

Adrenalin is already bubbling all around in my body as I anticipate the Mom Heart conferences this year. I just love women. I love that they love well, make close friendships, champion ideals and are so much fun. When Clay and I conceived of our ministry to moms over 20 years ago, and then hosted our first conference, it was out of a belief that if moms needed support systems, friendships, Biblical vision and encouragement in order to stay strong in the Biblical ideals of motherhood. Our dream was to build a minister that would strengthen families and inspire moms to leave a godly legacy through their homes.

I knew mamas needed this kind of friendship and support because I longed for it so much.

Fast forward over 2 decades later and everything we have done as a ministry has been to build these support systems in many ways--through books, conferences, web conferences, leadership trainings. But one of the dreams closest to our hearts was to help women start Mom Heart Small groups all over the world in their own towns, churches, neighborhoods. How exciting it has been to see over 1000 groups form.

Today, we are launching a ministry blog to help women know how to start groups, how to encourage women and how to find each other.

One of the biggest blessings of being in ministry all these years is to see how God has raised up friends and partners in this ministry who can do so much more than I could ever do alone. Let me introduce you to Jennie, a precious friend, who will be running this blog and running the Facebook group, so that women like you can find help, encouragement and inspiration to start a group right where they are.

Jennie Nelson, will keep us inspired as she runs the Momheart.com blog

Hi Friends!

I am so excited to be part of the new Mom Heart Website and Blog.  I will be here to inspire and help you form new groups in your local areas, solve problems that may arise in your groups, and encourage you in your own walks, both as leaders and mothers.

As a teenager God specifically called me to raise up and encourage small group leaders, so I am privileged and thrilled to play a part here. There is no better ministry for me to walk out this calling than Mom Heart.  Sally and I have been friends for several years now, and I have been challenged and have grown immensely through Intensive Leader Training in her home.  I am eager to serve you in the same ways she has served me!

Over the next several weeks, I will be highlighting different areas of the site so that you don't miss out on anything.  Expect posts here about twice a week.  If you have any questions related to Mom Heart Ministry or Leadership, please visit the "About Us" page and send us a note.  I look forward to helping you begin or continue in ministry with local mothers in your communities.

To celebrate this new blog, we are going to give away 10 of our Mom Heart Study Guides:

You Can Make a Difference We live in a rapidly secularizing culture that is losing its heart for biblical motherhood. For over two decades, Sally Clarkson has called mothers back to God’s design, driven by her passion to restore moms’ hearts to God’s heart for motherhood.  Taking Motherhood to Hearts will give you a picture for how to join her by starting, leading, and tending your own Mom Heart small group. In this book you will find inspirational “why to” vision, practical “how to” advice, and motivational “can do” encouragement. Motherhood is more than just a biblical duty; it is a ministry of discipleship. This book will show you how to have a meaningful ministry to moms that will make a difference for eternity.

I am so excited to share this new study guide and planner that will be perfect to use in small groups, and personally for planning each month of the year to make your home a Lifegiving place. It is filled with personal stories about my home, gives space to plan your own home and each month--what days you will celebrate.

It’s time to plan some unforgettable moments with your family! Containing sections for each month of the year, this companion resource to The Lifegiving Home is a planner full of creative ideas that will help you be intentional about creating times and spaces for your family to relax, celebrate, and simply enjoy one another all year long. You’ll learn how to cultivate special times that will speak to your family’s hearts . . . and inspire cherished memories that you will all treasure.

To celebrate our new blog launch, I want to give away 10 study guides and 5 pdf's of The Lifegiving Home Experience. Please go to the new blog and then leave a comment here and share it on Facebook and twitter and let me know what you think about something you found on the blog or how you think this ministry blog might help you. We would love for you to join our community of small group Bible studies and enjoy new friends and fellowship.

Remember, You never know what God might do if you take initiative, step out in faith and see how He may use you to change your world. Everyone needs a support group. How about a new group in 2016?

Here is the link to the new blog: Momheart.com

The Secret to Peace & Rest: Decluttering Your Soul in 2016 & A New Podcast

My view on the freeway every day--Pike's Peak

Each year, on New Year's weekend, I get away to a private place whatever it takes, to view the state of my heart, mind and soul. This year, it seems I was carrying a lot inside that needed to be put in the file drawers of heaven. But, when I leave my past burdens in the file drawers of heaven, and by faith, trust God to move generously in my new year, I feel lighter, and ready to see what He will provide for me in the new year. Every year, I share these thoughts that I hope will give you a fresh wind blowing through your soul.

Snow blew through our whole area today and it gave me some time at home to begin my yearly tradition of planning my priorities, commitments and goals for a new year. Each year I write about how God has led me to de-clutter my heart, mind and soul. I hope it will encourage you to do the same!

There is something uniquely good about January 1. It marks a new year, a new beginning, a new possibility. It also marks, for me, the reentry into simplicity. I don’t know if there is a more satisfying feeling for me during the year than when we put all of our Christmas things away, the decorations, the remnant of cookies, the clutter. We did that in my home, today. I have also been revisiting an article that I rework every January 1, as it is a pattern I seem to keep needing to learn.

Every year for the past few years, I have pondered and written about de-cluttering my soul. I hope you will be blessed by these thoughts. I am pulling away for a few days, once again, to see what needs to stay and what needs to be cut. I am sending Sarah off to Oxford tomorrow and Nathan back to Hollywood and then we will get back to normal. And so I am deliciously excited to take time alone to get back to my soul.

I love the celebration of life and the traditions and the fun and the beauty of special times spent with my children, husband and friends. But, there is something deeply satisfying to me about getting it all put away and getting back to normal.

Perhaps it is because my normal responsibilities of caring for my family’s needs demand so much of me—cooking nutritious meals, organizing our schedules, cleaning and organizing on a daily basis, homeschooling and add to that ministry—these are enough, but holidays put on that extra load. Routines go by the wayside and so the clutter and demolishing of the house, slowly takes over.

I am not a person gifted in handling details—too much mail, too many catalogues, too many emails, too many options, too many things. The more there is, the more I become responsible for, the more work there is to be done, and so, the more anxious I become. Same with activities. The more I commit to, the more I say yes, the more I have to drive, the more my house gets into a mess, and the more anxious I become, the more hurried we feel, and the more weary I become. When I am not at peace, nothing in our home is at peace.

We can all see how too much clutter and too many piles causes us to feel overwhelmed with life. Consequently, slowly, I have learned to declutter as often as I can—throw away unnecessary stuff. Clay is really the master at this. He helps me get rid of things, organize things and put away things. Yesterday, he decluttered our pantry—threw away chip bags that held little but took up space, cleared out empty water bottles, bad, junky Christmas candy that had been given to us, but would never eaten; baskets that had fallen off of their nails, groceries that had never been put in their place. Now, if someone came into my pantry, they would mistakenly think that I am an organized person. (Thank goodness for Clay!) It made me feel good just to open the door and to see that all was manageable again.

But, I have also come to realize that my brain and heart can be the same way---cluttered with worries, responsibilities, duties, children’s future, finances, time constraints, expectations, disappointments, critical attitudes, resentment. All of these added together, can tend to create soul piles and mind clutter. If I don’t take the time to sort the piles of mind clutter, my spirit becomes a mess and my heart becomes overwhelmed and weary.

It is what awakened me at 4:00 a.m. this morning-soul clutter and worry. It is another reason I like January. It gives me an opportunity to make a new plan, to simplify the mind messes and to start off a whole new year well. In the same way that throwing away stuff and clearing out closets brings me relief, even more, soul and mind cleaning and decluttering brings me rest.

So, as I begin a new year, and head into my conference season, a very busy time for our family, I resolve to deal with my soul-clutter, so that I may have strength to face each day in peace. I come to the place where I know I will find the help that I need. I come to my Father and ask Him to help me, His child, to show me how to make get rid of the junk that is unnecessary, and to help me clean out and organize my soul.

He speaks to me gently.

It was in writing my book, Dancing with My Father, that I have learned so much about finding joy--and peace. In Him, with Him, by Him all the moments of my busy day. His voice leads me to what I long for--but I must get rid of all that causes me to fret, worry, criticize, control. There is a way....

“In quietness and rest shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15 You need to come to me and give me all those things that are weighing on your heart. Resolve to seek rest and peace.

“Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29

I listed all of my issues this morning in my journal (and there seem to be multitudes of clutter piles in my soul--worries, attitudes, bitterness, weariness, fear, sin and a few more!) These are issues that will suck me dry and my energy dry if I do not notice them in order to clean out my soul!

The Lord prompted, "List all of your issues, give them over to me, don’t hold on to them. I am capable of taking them from you and being responsible so that you will not be weary or carry what you are not capable of carrying.

"Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. “ Psalm 37:7

Focus on resting in me—sit in my lap, so to speak, rest in my arms. Let me carry you. I love you.. Wait for my timing. Don’t force things or beg me to hurry up. I am in control.

“Be still (cease striving) and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 “Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother; Like a weaned child is my soul within me.” Psalm 131:2

Give me your attention and get control of your spirit. Be quiet. Be still. Recognize my sovereignty and transcendence. Remember what Jesus said, “Our Father who art in heaven, holy is your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus modeled his understanding that my will is what you need to rest in. I am in heaven and I see all things—the future, the past, your children, your relationships, --all your clutter. Give them to me. Quiet your soul and rest in my strength and power.

“Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one little child like this receives me.” Matthew 18:3-5

Come to me as a child—even as your children, in their innocence and sweetness of heart, know that you will care for them and meet their needs because you are a loving parent who cares for them, so I am your Father who will take care of you. Leave the burdens to your father and take your rightful place as a child. Humble yourself and trust me. Enjoy me. Delight in the beautiful moments of this day. Notice the little miracles. Live as an unfettered child. Accept your little and big children and receive them as a gift from me, and your will indeed receive me into your midst.

“ ... a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.” I Peter 3:4

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about so many things. But really one is needed and Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Luke 10 41-42

Don’t worry and fret and stew and stir up unnecessary dust. Choose simplicity—just one thing I require—that you give it all to me and love me. I will take over. Even as I gave and provided a Sabbath in which all of my children should have rest from their work, so I want you to live in my Sabbath rest for your soul. Rest from your striving and labor. Take time for naps, for pleasure, for joy. This day you have to receive as a gift--I can't promise what tomorrow will hold. But today you can love, give peace, speak kind and wise words, dance in your soul with my secret pleasure that comes from knowing that I love you.Simplify your life, don’t make choices that will complicate or add unnecessary pressure or cause you to sin or grumble. “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life,” as Paul said.

So, as I yielded my lists into God’s hands and de-cluttered my troubled soul, I left feeling that even as my house has been coming to order, after we cleaned and straightened it yesterday, now my soul is moving in the direction of order.

Rest, rest, rest—in quietness and rest will be your strength every day, every year, until you see me face to face. I love you, my sweet girl. Don’t forget that I am with you each moment of today. Your doting and loving Father.

Our newest podcast:

A Fresh Start: Decluttering your soul in 2016!