faithfulness

A Little Valentine Advice

/ Sarah Janisse Brown / Leave a comment

Homeschool Mommy – Don’t forget that you are also a wife! (I know we have a few single moms here too.)

We were just having a conversation about the guilt that some of us have experienced in the homeschooling community because we don’t always grind our own wheat, bake our own bread, do desk work for 6 hours, and look like pioneers. I think that it can be a beautiful life to do all that, I used to play pioneers with my children and do the whole classical education thing.

Here is the problem that I had… at the end of the day I was too tired from baking my own bread and arguing with my girls about wearing dresses… to give my husband all the love and cuddles he needed! So, first things first, you know! If what we are doing makes us too tired to be a good lover, we are doing too much.

Your marriage is first. The best thing you can give your children is the example of being an awesome wife who truly respects and adores her husband. Keep your husband happy, and let go of the things that make you tired at the end of the day. Save a bit of yourself for your lover . Give him your best.

If you have little ones this may seem impossible… but it’s not. Find out what your husband and children really need and let go of the expectations of mother-in-laws, and people who push academics as the key to success. Follow the advice of the people you actually want to be like.

If you have homeschooling friends who seem to have everything perfect, beware, their marriages are often suffering, and they have forgotten that they have husbands. Don’t trade your marriage in for the appearance of being a perfect homeschooling teacher. You are free to be a lovable wife, that girl that he married. That’s you!

Three Tips from Sarah and Josh:

  • Use the Bible as your guide to decide what is a blessing according to God, and pursue those blessings with all your heart. What God says is GOOD is good!
  • Read the Bible together every night before bed.
  • Have as big a family as possible! There is no greater investment! We were just TWO and now our family includes 21 Browns! Family is everything! No regrets.

Click here for the “Best Tip for Busy, Unromantic Moms”!

We teach everything by example…

Marriage Advice: Completing Not Competing

/ Sarah Janisse Brown / Leave a comment

About thirty years ago, I fell in love with Josh. We were just kids! I saw in him something amazing- he was living life to the fullest, even as a teen – a musician, training to be a pilot, adventurous, and so sweet to his mom and tender with babies and kids. His love for God and boldness to share his faith at age 14 impressed me. And he was such a gentleman, showing great respect and kindness to all, like his dad.

Over the years he’s been my greatest encourager, my rock, and the one who saw potential in me I didn’t even recognize myself. He calls me his treasure, and he recognizes my gifts, which are different from his.

In our marriage we complete each other – we don’t compete with each other.

As moms and wives, we often carry so much on our shoulders. The house, the kids, the schooling, the meals—it can feel like a never-ending list of things to do. Traditionally moms hold down the fort, that our men have built for us. In the modern world women are striving to show their strength by doing it all, and not appreciating men for their traditional role as the providers and protectors. We don’t want to look weak, right?

I think our marriage is so strong because we value each other’s gifts and traditional roles too.

I’ve discovered what happens when you have a husband who not only shares the load as each of us does what we do best; but he also gave me the freedom to flourish in my gifts!

That’s what Josh has done for me, and it’s made all the difference—not just in my life, but in the lives of our children and, eventually, thousands of families around the world.

Continue reading by clicking here.

Pages: 1 2

Untangling from Mediocrity

/ Sarah Janisse Brown / Leave a comment

Was there a time when you understood what really mattered, and then you looked at your life?

Was there a moment when you understood the truth about all the things that were irrelevant to the precious, meaningless in light of the meaningful, and futile when side by side with the greatest?

When your eyes were open to the purpose of your life, did you find your calling there?

And when you found your calling, did you listen?

And when you listened, did you surrender?

Did you learn to obey the voice calling you to surrender everything, break the chains, and unload the burdens so that you could be free to run your race? Or are you still entangled with the everyday pressures and demands of mediocrity?

Here’s some inspiration for those of you who need to get to that place of throwing off the entanglements.

If you are not free to run your race, it really is time to stop everything and change direction.

Look ten years down the road. If you change nothing, you will be exactly where you are now, just older and with more debt. Every day like the last, striving, struggling, climbing a ladder to nowhere, or digging some hole ever deeper.

But don’t mistake faithfulness in the little things for a meaningless life. If you are being faithful where you are, doing the hard daily work of your calling, you must persevere! For example, your faithfulness as a mother with young children. Your days are long, your work gives you little rest, but the influence of your sacrifice for others is precious, meaningful and great.

Perhaps you heard the call to missions, and you work in the dirt and spend your days feeding dozens of hungry children, cleaning bathrooms in an orphanage, serving in gardens, villages, churches, and schools–but there is nothing romantic about your missionary life. It is hard work and you have dirt under your fingernails. But you are storing up treasures in heaven, and adding many smiles to earth. This hard work may seem thankless, and it’s lonely at times, but your love brings hope, and that’s enough.

Maybe you are a dad, looking for another income stream, putting a roof over dozens of other homes so you can keep a roof over the one home that matters most. It’s hot. It’s long days. It’s thankless work, and you come home to smiling kids and a weary wife. It’s a season where nothing seems romantic; but in a world where so many families are falling apart, your family is sticking together. You look around and what might not seem like much, is actually everything. When it comes to the value of family, you are rich, proud, and looking forward to the day when He says, “Well done my good and faithful servant!”

Click here to continue reading.

Pages: 1 2