Prayer Box Sunday - Orderliness

It is a blessing to have the windows open today and the temperature below 90 degrees again!! I am sitting next to an open window and enjoying a slight breeze more cool than warm - Fall is teasing us here in North Alabama. Woo Hoo!!

This morning we shared our prayer time with some wonderful homemade cinnamon rolls (I will share the recipe soon - they were fantastic - I ran a plate across the street to a neighbor while they were still warm and they called in raves reviews a little while later), on the patio with a cup of flavored coffee, while several flocks of geese made themselves known as they honked and flapped on by - glorious!!

Last week WonderBoy was tasked to pray for my self worth - did you feel the shift that took place this week? It has been a little bizarre how it has all played out, but I seem to have found my 'voice' and I have to credit at least some of that to the prayers my sweet boy has been praying on my behalf!! This week......... look out Micheal H. you are the recipient of WonderBoy's prayer focus! The Principal has a fantastic prayer mission this week - he is seeking God to guide our family in the words we speak and how we speak them - wow we could rest on that topic alone for an extended post! As Christians, it is crucial that we have hearts that are soft and pliable and open to the teachings that will ultimately bring us in line with God's plans and purposes for our lives, this week my prayers will be directed at petitioning God on behalf of my family to give us hearts that willingly embrace His commands, hearts that seek to please Him.

Our family prayer this week is for a special neighbor friend of ours, a single mother who was diagnosed with brain cancer at the beginning of this year. She had surgery shortly after the diagnosis and then went through many weeks of radiation and chemo treatments that were necessary following. She still has weeks of chemo, but is now back at work and able to drive again after being restricted from doing so for 6 months. I spent a great deal of time with her and her mother during this time as their 'driver'. It is my prayer that she will one day be able to say she enjoying life as one of the healed of the Lord !

Our Character Building for Families has taken us on a journey of Orderliness this week. We have enjoyed our discussions about all the ways that God values and requires order and planning in our lives. We see miraculous orderliness all around us - how would it have been if on the first day of creation, God created the fish of the seas but had not yet created the seas that they needed to survive? We are to be good stewards of all He gives us, our time, resources, finances, talents, blessings, we should not ever squander nor hoard what the Lord provides to us in abundance. We are not promised tomorrow so today should be treasured and spent wisely - every day really is a gift!!

If you are new here and want to know more about Prayer Box Sunday - visit this post which will explain the game plan. If know the game plan and want to add your contribution you can do so by linking up below. I would not know what to do if that actually happened - LOL~!!!

By the way - stay tuned this week for a new giveaway announcement as well as the likelihood of Chapter 2.

I love you guys - thanks for stopping in, hope you have a BEAUTIFUL week!!

Prayer Box Sunday

Another Sunday.....another prayer box post. If you want to know more read about what it is and how you can participate here. This Sunday we have a mixed bag or in this case box of prayers. Our family prayer focus for the week ahead is for The Principal's job - a blessing that in this day and time and economy we do not take for granted!! We are conscious to thank God and ask for continued favor in the marketplace on a continuing basis, our prayer focus this week will cause us to delve in to details and dig a little deeper into our prayers.

Speaking of The Principal, his prayer focus this week may be a bit of a challenge for him, but he will rise to the challenge of that I have no doubt and be found faithful in what he has been tasked to do - he will be praying for the family of my former husband (WonderBoy's dad)....God has such a great sense of humor doesn't He?? ;-)
WonderBoy is praying for me this week - some of you who know me may be shocked and surprised to know that I have struggled with self worth over the years (keep the laughter down to a dull roar girls - you know who you are). WonderBoy has pulled the slipped that says 'Mom's Self Worth' so that is his prayer mission for the week - big project for a young man - I have faith his prayers will be a huge blessing to me!!
And last but not least, me - mom.....my prayers this week again focus on people we know - I am seeing this pattern weekly lately. I will be praying for my dear sweet wonderful sister friend Jess and her family in Virginia. This will be a pleasure and an honor for me. It may even get her to participate in this little adventure with me.....pressure huh friend? ;-)
Well that wraps it up for the week. Our devotional/bible study Character Building for Families continues to be a time we are looking forward to several times a week. We have completed the unit on Obedience (waiting for the harvest on that seed!!!) and have just today begun Orderliness - this one is going to be great - I am really looking forward to digging in deep on this topic.
Before I run I wanted to take a minute to share a post I read last night from a sweet sweet woman I had the good fortune of meeting at the CHEF (Christian Home Educators Fellowship) Conference in May of this year. Marsha's post about the not so often talked about side of parenting opens up a topic I have been thinking about lately and was considering delving into a little here...I'm curious to see if there might be an interest in opening up some dialogue...let me know if the comments section - oh and while you are on her blog, be sure to check out some of her wonderful recipes. I have tried several all with great results!! Thanks Marsha for being transparent and a good cook!!
Alrighty, I guess that about wraps it up for me today. Go and pray with your family and come back and link up with us and tell us all about what God is doing!!
Yay God!!

Prayer Box Sunday - Obedience

If this is your first Prayer Box Sunday - welcome ;-) I hope you will be encouraged to make time to pray and grow together as a family as I share each Sunday what God is doing in our lives through our family's devotions and our Prayer Box Sunday time together. If you would like to participate and link up with us on Sundays to sharing what your family is doing you can read about the plan here.

We are currently working our way through a devotional/study called Character Building for Families . The first character in the study is obedience - wow what an opener! We have been doing this three times a week for several weeks now and it has been great! If you are looking for a good family study/devotional , I recommend this. We have been reading this week from 1 Samuel 15 about King Saul and how he partially obeyed God, because King Saul chose to obey the way he wanted to rather than exactly as God instructed he lost his kingdom. God values our obedience above sacrifice 1 Samuel 15:22b reads; to obey is better than to sacrifice. God wants our obedience - bottom line, no questions asked. I have mentioned previously that we are focusing on character training/building in our family on a greater level than we have in the past. As parents, it is our calling to make sure our children know right from wrong and that we lead them and guide them to be and do what pleases God. Through family time spent studying what God requires and why, we break down the barriers that the world places between us and God to destroy the relationship that God desires to have with us. Ultimately what God desires most is to be in relationship with us. If we are not obedient to His ways and laws for our lives we cannot ever have the kind of fellowship that will bring wisdom and blessing to our families. The enemy works hard to lure our focus away from God and ensnare us with worldly wants...if we can teach our children to listen to the Holy Spirit and allow him to guide them the enemy's stronghold is destroyed - PTL!

Several times this week I have heard myself reciting the same thing "son, if you will learn to be obedient in the small things, it will become much easier to be obedient in the bigger things" Stewardship is everywhere!

The other side of this obedience coin is that as parents we must be obedient to God in our actions, words and deeds if we ever hope to see the fruit in the lives of our children. I won't bore you with the conviction I have undergone as I strive to give WonderBoy a foundation in this area - there is much for us all to learn ;-) Our Pastor's wife has an expression about obedience that I loved the first time I heard it and have used many many many times since- Obey right away, all the way and in a cheerful way. Pretty simple but this is truly what God wants from all of us.

Our Prayer Box this week held the following prayers for the week ahead. As a family, we are praying that God will help us to be obedient to live in His will for our lives !! I love how He always finds a way to let us know there are no accidents ;-) The Principal is praying for our desire for a home based business, something that we are hopeful to begin when we move and establish over the years between now and his official retirement in about 7 years time. WonderBoy is praying for our family time, this is something that needs to be continually nurtured and covered in prayer lest it be taken for granted or forbid- fall to the wayside. My prayers this week will be for my Aunt Jean in Toronto. I have so many wonderful memories of time spent with Jean growing up, it is an honor to lift her in prayer this week - love you Auntie Jean ;-)

Just by way of clarifying should you be wondering and especially if you are doing this with your own family - we put all our prayers back in the box each week. We feel that if a prayer is drawn again this is because the Lord desires us to pray further in this area so in those circumstances we add those repeated prayers to the new ones for the week. This week for example, The Principal again selected the slip of paper to pray for my writing, so he will, along with praying for our home based business desires. When WonderBoy was selecting our family prayer he drew generational curses and family mission opportunities both of which we have had previously so these will be added to our prayers of seeking God's help to be obedient to His will for our lives.

It really is wonderful how these simple steps are weaving our hearts together as a family who is drawing closer to God and celebrating His many blessings in our lives!

If you would like to share what you are doing in your family, please link up below. As always, have a wonderful and blessing filled week, Prayer Box Sunday is only 7 days away - get ready this week and join us next Sunday won't you?

Prayer Box Sunday

Are you ready for another episode of Prayer Box Sunday Adventures? We had a sweet time of prayer and devotion this morning on our patio after breakfast, the weather here in North Alabama has been absolutely spectacular this weekend. Yay God!!
I am still hearing rumors of others who will be joining me here and linking up to share what the Lord is doing in their families. If you are new to Prayer Box Sunday - click here to find out how to get your household involved.
This past week our family prayer was for Jeison, the 9 yr. old boy that we sponsor through Compassion International in Columbia. This past Friday, as if in answer to our prayers we received a letter from Jeison - we are always so delighted and blessed to get a letter from Columbia! ;-) Our family prayer this week focuses on our own family - more specifically our desire to live a simple life. We will seek the Lord's guidance this week as a family and give ear to His leading in this area for our lives.
The Principal has a weighty prayer focus this week.....parenting - wow - a week is not enough - this is a daily cry to the Father for me ....if only they came with manuals! Speaking of.....WonderBoy is praying for friends currently living in Vietnam in the week ahead. Last and certainly not least, I have the honor to be praying for The Poplar Family, treasured friends that we do not see enough of - unless you count running into Melvin at WalMart or Sam's Club on his lunch break!! ;-) I really could use some Toya time - hint hint nudge nudge.....I'm just sayin' ;-)
Life is good we are blessed and I for one am so grateful to live in a country where I can freely and openly share the Love of my Lord & Savior with those around me without fear of persecution -
Thank You Father for the freedom to worship and pray and post blogs about You and how You are moving and teaching and guiding us along this path called Life.
May God's abundant blessings surround you and yours this week ;-)

Prayer Box Sunday

Sunday, specifically our Prayer Box/Devotional time is quickly becoming a much anticipated and treasured time for our family. I can feel God weaving our hearts to Him and each other and it just blesses my socks off!! Really - I am honestly barefoot! If you are new here and would like to know about Prayer Box Sunday pop over here and get caught up.
We are really digging in to our current Family Devotional, Character Building for Families and have been enjoying digging deeper into God's word together each week. Three days seems to be a good schedule and is working well - if anything more would be better than less.
This week's prayers are focusing on WonderBoy more than anything else - I love how God orchestrates a theme of sorts each week! The Principal and I are both praying for WonderBoy. My prayer is for his future wife! Do you pray for your future sons/daughters in law? I have done this for years - after all she will be the woman who captures his heart and raises my grandchildren - she will be the woman to whom I hand over the baton in a sense ....and truthfully - I KNOW she will need my prayers!! Better to start now right? ;-) In all seriousness, I feel very strongly about this kind of prayer. God hears prayers from a mother's heart for her family and they can change future generations!! This is one of those prayers in the box that is a given in my opinion but at the same time a good reminder of how we can bless our family by paving the way for them in prayer.
The Principal has a rather fitting prayer task this week. A little background is necessary here. For those that do not know me and my family personally - we are a family brought together by God - The Principal became WonderBoy's Dad when we married 5 years ago. WonderBoy still maintains a relationship with his 'Daddy' however it has it's share of challenges and struggles for him. SO.....this week the Principal is praying for healing in the relationship that WonderBoy has with his 'Daddy' - how cool is that? One Dad blessing the other in prayer!!
WonderBoy is praying for a dear family who moved away from the area several years ago that we used to attend church with, The Beasley Family. Sending love and prayers to Kentucky this week for The Beasleys ;-)
Our family prayer this week is one close to my mother's heart. We are praying for Jeison. Jeison became a member of our family several years ago now when we began sponsoring him through Compassion International. Jeison is just 2 months younger than WonderBoy and lives in Columbia. We have been delighted by the relationship that has grown with him over the years. If you have ever considered sponsorship through Compassion or any other organization, let me encourage you to move forward with it, what a wonderful way to grow a heart for the nations in your own children, by reaching out and loving others around the world!!
Again this week you will find Mr. Linky available for you to link up your post if you feel so inclined. I have heard from a few of you that you are getting ready to join in - I will be so thrilled to have you share your Prayer Box adventures with us whenever you are ready.
Have a wonderful week......see you next Sunday!!

Learning as I go,

Leisha

Prayer Box Sunday

Well - I feel a little like Mary Tyler Moore......you remember she used to have these parties and they ended up being duds? My great anticipation for a wonderful outpouring of Prayer Box participants was....well, let's just say ended quite sadly. Alas, I will not be discouraged, this is not about how many people connect to the post or even how many choose to participate, rather sharing what God is doing in this time together each Sunday in the hopes of being a blessing and encouragement to just one. SO in the spirit of sharing and encouraging I will press on.....I will continue to post the Mr. Linky each week just in case someone does want to share their post and also because I spent the money to make it available so why wouldn't I do that right? For those of you who are not yet familiar with what Prayer Box Sunday is you can get the details here. Get your Prayer Box ready and join us!!

Today we had a wonderful devotional time as we dug into a new resource that we hope to use a few days a week and will include in our Prayer Box Sunday time as well. If you are looking for a good straight forward tool for Character Training may I suggest Character Building for Families. A dear friend in Maine sent me her copy of Volume 2, a ' pay it forward' act of kindness with the intention of blessing our family the way it had been a tool of blessing to hers. I ordered Volume 1 which is reasonably priced and it came very quickly! This is a great resource which can be used any way you want to use it. It is ideal for families of any size and can be used as a daily homeschool curriculum or as a devotional tool, which is how we plan to use it -as many or as few days per week as you chose to use it. I would love to hear your thoughts or experiences with it if you are familiar with it!

SO......on to what the Prayer Box held for our family this week. We have some great prayers this week and I am really looking forward to what God does with them!! Our family prayer focus this week is directed at me.....we will all be praying for my character (feel free to join us - I welcome these prayers as God helps to mold me into who He has called me to be!!), The Principal is praying for me too as his prayer is to pray for my writing - a deep rooted and long dreamed of desire which coincidentally I just this past week committed to on a level that I have not done in many many years. Are you seeing the pattern here? My character, my writing, all on the Sunday of the week that I made a commitment to myself and my writing. I used to believe in coincidences - I no longer do - God is the Master Weaver, He knows every thread He weaves, He knows where it will go and what it will look like when all the threads are woven together! This will be a tapestry I will look forward to seeing the results of ;-) WonderBoy has a pretty awesome prayer focus for this week and it will hopefully get him thinking outside the 'traditional' prayer request mind set just a little. He is praying for Generational Curses this week. We spent a little bit of time talking about what that meant and how it can manifest in families and individuals. My prayer for the week really blesses my heart, I am praying for our Family Time ;-) I love to have my family together sharing an activity, game or project so this is something that I will roll up my sleeves and jump into gladly!

Please feel free to share what was in your boxes, bags, old lunch boxes or any other prayer holders you may have used. Mr. Linky is here and I would be tickled if you used him!!

Learning as I go,

Leisha

Prayer Box Sunday

Welcome!! I am so excited about the journey that lays ahead for each of us and our families as we venture forth with our boxes, bags, jars, hats or whatever else creative genius inspires, filled with prayers that will draw us closer to each other and our Magnificant Creator !!!

So..... let me just jump right in and tell you about our devotion and prayer time. We talked today about 'Jesus Love' the kind of love that loves even when it is hard and not what comes naturally. We talked about how we all know people that we have a hard time being nice to and feeling much love towards and then we talked about how we can show that 'Jesus Love' to them even when it's hard or we just flat out don't want to. The good news here is that the more we purpose to be like Him the more we draw oursleves to Him!! Go ahead and add an extra prayer to your regular prayer time for someone who in the flesh you have been hurt by or for whatever reason just do not like - I dare you! If you will commit to consistently pray for them for a period of time say one month, I would venture to say that you will no longer feel the animosity and disdain for them that you did when you began praying for them - in fact - I would go so far as to say that your heart has been softened to them and that you are loving then with a 'Jesus kind of Love' !!

Our prayers for this week are varied. WonderBoy is praying for my family in Canada, The Principal is praying for Peace & Harmony in Our Home (sorry if you were under the mistaken illusion that we have that at all times - we don't, but we sure love it when we do so praying for more seemed like the logical thing to do), I am praying for Our Public Servants - Military, Police, Paramedics, School Bus Drivers & Crossing Guards and anything else that the Lord brings to mind this week. As a family we have another great one this week!! The Lord seems to really bring those to us to share each week and I love that! We are praying for Our Relationship with Him ;-) Both as a family and individually, isn't that a great Family Prayer?? ;-)

WonderBoy did a wonderful thing this week by reaching out in love to a boy in his Wednesday night class at church who tends to be a bit of a bully to the other kids. This plan was formulated during our time together last Sunday, when we talked about Zacchaeus and how unepected kindness is a wonderful way to share the good news of God's love. WonderBoy chose to walk out an unexpected kindness and he was the one who ended blessed by it. This is the fruit we seek for ourselves and our children - this is the fruit that brings a sweet fragrance and a smile to the face of the One who made us!

I will leave this up for whenever you feel led to participate -please link your post here and share what your Prayer Box had for you and your family today!! We all need to encourage each other in our journeys, you never know when what you have to share may be just what someone needs! God is just like that!! ;-)

Learning as I go,

Leisha

Gratituesday

It's Tuesday - what are you thankful for? Visit Laura at Heavenly Homemakers and see what others are counting their blessings for today.......
It is so easy to get caught up in the yuck and struggle of day to day, far better off are those who can find a smile in the pleasure of the ordinary and simple. I have purposed to become with God's help a seeker of the ordinary splendor in the blessings that surround me each day. This morning while enjoying my quiet time and wonderful rich cup of coffee a flock of Canada Geese - about 30 of them honked their way above the house. We have been in a flight path apparently in the past week or so and they are so wonderful to watch as they just barely clear the roof tops and happily announce themselves. This is the kind of ordinary splendor to which I am intentionally tuning my radar.....and this......

..... sweet unexpected smiles, silliness, a home filled with love and a family who delights in random acts of love and goofiness that put smiles on each other's faces. That is what I am thankful for today - and everyday.

By way of reminder - I hope you are working on having your prayer boxes, bags, jars, hats or whatever you have in mind to use ready to help me launch Prayer Box Sunday this week!! If you have not read my previous post - take a minute before you move on and do so - and then get ready and join us this Sunday! I am excited to see what God will do with this - it was His idea after all so you know it can't help but be wonderful!!

Learning as I go,

Leisha

Prayer Box Sunday

Allow me to share something with you that our family has been doing for about a month now. It is my hope that by sharing this I will be able to encourage and inspire you in your walk with God to help build stronger families and memorable family time together.

A little over a month ago The Principal and I were talking about the spiritual climate of our home and our desire to grow our family a little deeper still in our walk with the Lord. During this conversation the Lord downloaded an idea that we have given legs to and been enjoying ever since. A Prayer Box. Here's how it works.....first the whole family spent about an hour or so talking about all the things we feel we need to and would like to pray about. I recorded these prayers on slips of paper and folded them in half and put them in a lovely wooden box that I bought at Hobby Lobby several years ago - use your imagination here - anything that holds slips of paper will work! The plan is to add to the box as inspiration and need dictate.

Every Sunday now, we gather together with our Prayer Box and each of us will draw a slip of paper which will determine our individual prayer focus for the week ahead. Then one of us (usually Wonder Boy) will draw a second slip of paper which will reveal our family prayer focus for the week.

Let me share with you our prayers for the week ahead....The Principal is praying for his co-workers, Wonder Boy is praying for family members in Virginia, I am praying for Our President and our family prayer focus for the week is ministry opportunities (how awesome is that one?!!). So each night we will come together and pray as a family at bedtime and then remember these prayers as well in our individual prayer time. Next Sunday we will meet again to select new prayers for the coming week at which time we will pray our prayers from the week just past as well as the week ahead. This is also a great time to talk about anything else that may have a special need. We also use this as a lead in or wrap up to a family devotion which typically ends up being a great time to talk and share and plant seed with Wonder Boy.

Today as we were praying I was thinking how special this time was and how wonderful it would be if I could share it with others so in that spirit, I would like to invite you to join us. This has quickly become a favored and anticipated time for our family each week. I would love to know that others are also coming together and sharing this wonderful family and faith building time.

Between now and next Sunday, get your box, jar, bag or any other paper slip holder and your slips of paper ready and I will, in the mean time figure out the whole how to add the linky thingy to a post (feel free to email me with help if you know how) and we can share and encourage each other - sound like a plan?? Great! See you then - it's a date!! Please feel free to invite anyone you think would be interested to participate - let's link arms (posts) and encourage and inspire each other to build our family in faith for Kingdom Purpose!!

Learning as I go,

Leisha