Preparing for Easter

The Lord has been speaking to me these last several weeks about preparing my heart for the Easter Holiday. A couple of weeks ago, I had breakfast with two dear friends. During our meal, we got on the subject of Easter and I revealed to them that the Lord had been telling me to prepare my heart for Easter. We do all kinds of preparation for Christmas but somehow we loose the meaning of Easter and do not do nearly the preparation for this Holiday as we do for the Christmas season. I went on to tell them that Easter is just as important as Christmas. I told them that I could not figure out why it was like this. After breakfast that morning, I did my Saturday errands and stopped in at Lifeway Bookstore to look around. While I was there, I was browsing and found a book that would be an answer to my prayers. The book was called "Preparing my heart for Easter" by Ann Marie Stewart. It is devotional workbook that is an eight week course on getting your heart prepared for Easter! An amazing book!
I thought to myself, "Ok Lord I will buy this book. I get your message!" I guess it truly was meant for me to have this book as it rang up on sale! Thank you Lord! AS the next week passed and I did my study, my heart was convicted on the way that I celebrate Easter with the children. So once again I found myself asking God for help with this area. The next week Logan brought home a really cool resource for me to use. His teacher had made them "Resurrection Eggs" to teach the story of Easter in a kid friendly version. WOW! This was so cool. I am constantly amazed at how God will use anyone and anyway to help you get the message HE is trying to give you. I stand in praise today for the different ways He has used various opportunities to teach me what He wants me to do. I can honestly say that this year we will be celebrating Easter with a new perspective and a new approach. I have even passed this on to the Daycare Children I watch in my home. I have always known the meaning of Easter and celebrated it but never before I have been so consumed with the feeling to truly prepare my heart for the meaning of the season. So this year when we celebrate Easter, I do hope that we have prepared our hearts to celebrate Easter in its truest meaning! I pray that your families will too! Have a wonderful Easter and spend some time reflecting on the day and the meaning of the day. Thank You Lord for the lessons I am being taught! Praise God that I am not the same person I was last year and Praise God that I am learning more and more about you!

Frugal Living Learning

As most of you know, I have been doing a lot of research on frugal living these days. I have learned so much. I have learned so many different money saving tips and different ways of doing things to make life simple. I have learned how to make homemade laundry detergent, my own version of Cascade dishwasher detergent, my own air fresher, along with may other ways to stretch our dollars. It is amazing to me what the Lord has taught me during the process of researching. I truly feel that my relationship with the Lord has grown stronger. He has been teaching me how to be a good steward of my money as well. I think with the economy weak these days that the Lord is taking care of our family by teaching and showing me new things everyday with frugal living and simplified living. If you are wanting to learn how to save money I strongly recommend you start now and you start with internet research as there is a TON of information out there to help you get started!