The Books on my Nightstand...

I love books. I love to read. I just don't have a lot of time for it these days. At the start of summer, my good friend Sheri sent me a Bible study for us to do together. She lives in the States and I of course am here in Germany, so our plan was to chat through email and over the phone once per week. I felt honored that she thought of me and could not wait to get started. The ladies in my church were doing a summer Bible reading challenge that took us through the New Testament books except for Matthew, Mark, John and Revelation. Since I had already signed up for it, Sheri and I decided that we would both do the reading challenge and then start our study 14 August.

The book she sent is called Becoming a Woman of Beauty and Strength by Elizabeth George. It is one of her books in the series A Woman After God's Own Heart and this particular study is over the book of Esther. Back in February, I did a study in this same series that covered the book of James. Sheri also gave this book to me and I wrote about it here. We are now in our third week and I cannot help but speak of the amazing things that the Lord is doing in my heart as I open His Word each day. This study is perfectly fitting for my current season of life. It does not take hours each day to complete, and each lesson can easily be broken up into two or three days if needed.

In an effort to not make this post ridiculously long, I'll just summarize some of the things I feel God has been working on in my heart. I love sharing what He does in my life and wish I could be more detailed, but the thought of typing it all out is very exhausting...especially when I am leaving for one month in the States in 9 days and have a lot to do.
- People tend to admire four qualities in others: human wisdom, power (strength), kindness, and riches...But God puts a higher priority on knowing Him personally and living a life that reflects His justice and righteousness.
- Do not covet a life of wealth. If you have plenty, give liberally. If you have little, seek contentment.
- The wonder of God's sovereignty - Proverbs 21:1 "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes."
-God does not see as we do. He looks at the heart and not the outward appearance. Faith and character are what's important to God. He cares about your heart!
-I'm learning to relax...a lot more! For anyone who knows me well, I'm prone to get stressed about things. I think it has to do with my issues with perfectionism. I feel He is showing me more and more how little I control and how much He controls. It's a huge weight off of my shoulders!
-Moderation in all things! Balance! I can't be 150% at everything!
-Giving love and extending grace to my child are so important. I will not ruin him if I don't feed him perfectly, provide the perfect amount of mental stimulation, play with him too much one day or too little the next day, etc.

It is amazing how life changes in every area when I make time with Him a priority. It is amazing how he works in my heart in areas that I haven't even covered in Bible study. He permeates every part of my life when I make time with Him a priority. I am so thankful for Him in my life. Do you know Him? I hope so because His love is better than life. I can't imagine my life without Him!

Another book that I'm reading is called Grace-Based Parenting. So far, I really like it. It is helping me take a step back and look at parenting with a much bigger view and mindset. I so desperately want to love my child like God loves me. I'm praying He'll show me how. I know that the more time I spend in His Word, the better I'll understand what that love looks and acts like. Parenting is such a huge responsibility. I just want to do it His way!

I'm also flipping through a few Montessori books. I really like her approach to education. We studied it a lot while I was in college because the Science Ed department at OU was a big believer in her methods. I'm finding that I naturally use her approach in our day-to-day living. I don't have the names of the books because I'm at the coffee shop where the internet speed is 20x faster than at home. I'm uploading photos to our online albums for my MIL and it is saving me hours and hours!