America's got talent, do you?

     I haven't been able to think of a catchy opening paragraph for what I want to talk about today, so I'm just going to come out and hit the ground running.


     Talents and gifts....do you have any? If so, what are you doing with them?
     Maybe we should back up and define what exactly a talent/gift is...
     Websters dictionary online defines a talent as a special ability that allows someone to do something well. "Gift" is defined as something that is given to another person or group; a special ability.
     So Mr. Webster seems to think that having a talent or gift is special (aka unique), something we can do well and should be given to others.
     So now that we have a working definition, and we as Christians know that our gifts and talents come from God, let's get this discussion going.
     I believe that EVERYONE has been given a specific talent or gift and that we as Christians are called to use those natural abilities to help others. But sometimes the tricky part is figuring out what our talent IS....
     For a long time, actually most of my life if I'm honest with myself, I've struggled with identity and self esteem. for most of my life I have honestly felt like I'm not particularly great at anything. So was I skipped in this whole natural ability thing?
     I don't think so or at least I hope I wasn't. I have a pretty big soft spot in my heart for people that are less fortunate, orphans and children in general. So I would hope that the Lord would give me something that I'm naturally good at to help the people that I empathize with.
     As for me, I'm working on figuring out what my talents are and what exactly I can do with them to help others.
     But what about you? What are you good at? What comes natural to you? What can you do easily that others struggle to accomplish?
     Are you a natural leader? Do others hang onto every word you say? Are you a good cook without even trying? Maybe you can make plans and build things that others only dream of!
     Okay so maybe you already know what your talents are, but you're using them to make money (nothing wrong with making money from what youre' good at, just make sure its not your first priority :-) ) or to manipulate people to do things for you or you're just not using them at all....
      If that's you STOP right now, get on your knees and ask God to show you what you can do with yours gifts to glorify Him and help His people!!
     Hey you! The leader, see those young people that flock to you and hang onto every word you say? Tell them about Jesus! Maybe you could be a youth pastor one day!
     Mr. Good cook, how about using your talents at a soup kitchen? OR make a meal for a new family in your church or for a new mother!! And you, the builder, maybe you could build churches in 3rd world countries?
    Remember, there's absolutely nothing wrong (I even encourage it!) with using your talents to provide for your family!!! But ultimately, God gave us our abilities to glorify and lift up His name. So when someone compliments your natural gifts, remember who gave them to you. Stay humble :-)

So how did you like the first "Moments with Mom"? Want to see more? Maybe not? I'd love to hear from you! Leave me some feedback!

Becky

Its been a while......

So it appears as if I've been MIA for a while...sorry!! Life happens when you're busy making plans! What starts out as promised weekly posts turns into months of silence.
So today I'm starting over...again! I'm working on scheduling posts and coming up with themed topics for certain days.
So far I've come up with:
~ Moments with Mom Mondays- this will include crafts, devotions, outfit posts, thoughts and recipes.
~ Bookworm Wednesday (this one is a BIG maybe...)- this will be a weekly review of books I'm currently reading
~Down on the Farm Fridays- this will include all the happenings and news from our budding farm, life with boys, and homeschool nuggets.

So what do you think? Is there anything you would like to hear/read about our family?

Financial Freedom

Sometimes change comes quickly-- like birth or death. But sometimes change happens so gradually that you don't even notice it happens until one day you realize that you are not the same person you were a year ago.
This is what happened to us!!
In March 2013, we attended a marriage retreat at Fort Rock Family Camp.

It was such an amazing experience, we learned so much and my heart was forever knit with Arkansas!
But while we were inspired-- we were not CHANGED. The camp and the Holy Spirit did their job, but we weren't doing ours. We left what we had learned in Arkansas...
While we were there; however, we met an amazing couple-- Gil and Cynthia Fleshman ( you can read their testimony here) who spoke to us about living debt free and how that enabled them to truly live for God and their family. They also loaned us the DVD's of Jim Sammons Financial Freedom Seminar.

If that rings a bell, you may have heard the Duggar family give credit to this seminar for their financial freedom.

We left Arkansas excited about watching the seminar and making changes.... however, life happens. One day turns into a week, which turns into a month. And before we knew it, it was a new year and we still hadn't watched the seminar.
Frustrated with each other and our circumstances (and knowing that we would need to return the dvd's when we saw the Fleshman's at the upcoming marriage retreat in March) we began watching the 16 hour long seminar.
We were amazed at what we were hearing (and its all from Scripture!) that we had never heard before. Concepts such as:
--owe no man nothing but love
-- never cosign a loan
--listening to the cautions of your wife ;-)
--the hidden message of the lost pearl( loving children as God does)
We were humbled and determined but had no clue where to start. So we wrote out a list of all of our debts including mortgage, car loans and credit cards...gulp!
It totaled over $99,000!!! And would take us approximately 26 years to pay off at the rate we were going!
We went again to Fort Rock for their annual marriage retreat. If possible, this time was better than the last! God really opened our eyes and turned our hearts to our family. We confessed things to each other and rededicated our lives and marriage to Christ.
Leaving Arkansas this time was hard for both of us and we left more determined than ever to become debt free!
I forgot to mention that for about a year now, our boys (with no prompting from us) began praying for a farm!

They talk about the animals we will have, a barn and a big blue tractor.
They are so convinced that this is God's plan for our family that we have begun praying about a farm as well !!
So that is what we're up to!
Making plans, paying off debt and starting a family farm!
My next post will dig deeper into our actual plan.

Take care and be blessed!
Becky

New Blog: Same Family, Different Objectives!

Hi readers! If you were following Boys & Butterflies you may have wondered what happened. Well, a TON has changed in our family since I last posted there so I decided to start a new blog over here to discuss our changes and our upcoming adventures!
"What adventures?" You may ask. And I'll be more than happy to answer you!! In the next few weeks I'll be posting about our family's new convictions, life direction and challenges along the way. As well as some fun we've been having!!
So here's a teaser of some of the topics I'll be covering:
--Financial Freedom
--Starting a Family Farm
--What Happens When You Give God Control
--Homeschooling
--Life With Boys
--BABY #5!!!!!!

Thanks for reading!
Take care and be blessed!!
Becky