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Whatever is Commendable

Whatever is Commendable

by | Feb 7, 2022 | Melinda, One Blessed Momma

Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Philippians 4:8

What is “Commendable”?

As I have been looking at the definition for commendable over the last couple of weeks, the thought of yeah, but… keeps coming up. Commendable is praiseworthy, but what is praiseworthy? Commendable is admirable, but what is admirable?

As I picked verses for this month, I chose ones with the word commendable or commended, or commmend, but I hope you will read the context and find what it is that was commendable. What did the people do that deserved commendation?

commendable: admirable, praiseworthy, laudable, estimable, meritorious, creditable, exemplary, exceptional, noteworthy, notable, honorable, worthy, deserving, respectable, sterling, fine
As we read through this month’s scripture plan, we will see many examples of people commended by God.

“For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭10:18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

What is commendable to God? Proverbs 12:8 tells us that insight and sound judgement are commendable. Hebrews 11:1 is one of my favorite scriptures. Because of this month’s scripture plan, I kept reading.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11:1-2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

 

Keep reading Hebrews 11, it gives many examples of people commended to God by their faith. I know seeing these other people’s faith condensed in one chapter always encourages me!

Are you sharing your faith with your children? How are you teaching your children to develop their own faith? Do you share with your children when you are relying on God to take care of something and then how he provides for you?

Think back over the last couple of weeks, months, or years. (Depending on your children’s ages and what they’ll remember.) What has happened in your life that they have seen and has come from God. What healing, what provision has he given to you that you can share how the God you place your faith in has worked in your life?

This doesn’t have to be a sit down conversation. In fact, I find it is generally a better conversation if we are driving, or going for a walk, or playing something and you plant these little seeds of faith in their day-to-day life.

Can we commend God?

“One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭145:4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I believe we must! By sharing God’s works in the Bible as well as how he’s working in our lives, we commend him. Are you telling your children, your friends how great your God is? Singing songs is an easy way to break into a topic with our children.

“My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do. The mountains are his the valleys are his. The stars are his handiwork too. My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do, for YOU!”

Another song we sing frequently with our kids is from VeggieTales, “God is bigger than the boogie man, bigger than Godzilla or the monsters on TV, God is bigger than the boogie man and he’s watching out for you and me.”

It leads to deeper conversations about what they are fearing and whether or not they can trust God to handle it. Spoiler alert: God can handle it all 🙂

Sharing with others

When we need a reminder of how commendable our God is or encouragement to share with adults, I like “How great thou art”.

We serve a truly great God and should be at no shortage of things to commend him to others. Unfortunately, I allow myself to get bogged down in the day-to-day trials and struggles and forget the big picture sometimes. The scriptures for this month should help with that! here’s a song to help as well.

Come back in February for “whatever is commendable”.

September - True

October - Honorable

November - Just

December - Pure

January - Lovely

February - Commendable

March - Excellence

April - Worthy of Praise

Download your free printable

Whatever is lovely Philippians 4:8-9 scripture list

.

Meet Melinda!

Melinda is a Christian, a wife, and a mom of 6. She has a blended family. She's a recovering perfectionist who is far from perfect, but it makes her that much more grateful for God's grace and mercy in her life.

Learn more about Melinda and her family

When Satan Steals the Joy of Motherhood

When Satan Steals the Joy of Motherhood

by | Jan 28, 2022 | Guest, One Blessed Momma

The Bible tells us in Psalm 127:3, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.”. Our children are a reward. The gift of raising children is one of the greatest blessings from the Lord, but Satan will do everything he can to convince us otherwise. After all, a mom who becomes overwhelmed by the responsibilities of motherhood and therefore neglects her duty to “train up a child in the way he should go” would be a great asset. As the saying goes, the most important work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own home.

The most important part

While this should include being good stewards of the homes God has blessed us with, I believe the most important part is developing relationships with our children that will enable us to lead them to be disciples of Christ.

As a mama with sweet children depending on you for every need, both physical and emotional, motherhood can come to feel more like a burden than a blessing. Something that you have dreamed of for most of your life, seems somehow to be draining the life out of you. The house is always a mess, the children are always fighting, watching too much TV, or making more messes. We can’t seem to get everything done, so we start prioritizing.

Prioritizing

The problem with trying to weed through all of the responsibilities of motherhood and decide which ones are most important, is that sometimes it is much too easy to focus on the physical – what we can physically see needs done. So we clean the house, do our work, keep the kids clean and fed, and never get around to our family’s spiritual and emotional needs.

As we wade through the swamp of our daily to-do lists, our heart, our Heavenly Father, places time with our children – teaching them, snuggling them, and showing them love – at the top of the list, but then there is Satan, whispering over our shoulder, “but look at this mess!”.
We start to panic, “What if somebody stops by, and sees toys strewn all over the house and dirty dishes in the sink, laundry in the basket, and crumbs on the floor?”. In order to quiet the panicky voices in our heads, we decide we’ll start with just a little cleaning, get at least the most glaring messes taken care of, and then we’ll play with the kids. Great plan! But then the kids need something, and then something else. At first, it’s fine, you can take care of these few little needs and still get your other work done. You patiently help each child and continue as planned.

Sadly, as the interruptions continue, as your children’s needs continue to slow your progress, Satan is back. “These kids are so annoying! All they ever do is whine and bicker with each other. Somebody always needs something from you. If you keep giving and giving of yourself to these little people who never give anything back, you are going to come up empty.”

So we join in the chorus of other tired moms all over the world, doing our own whining about how hard it is to be a mom. You’ve heard of mob mentality, right? We hear people, in the same position as us, constantly talking about how hard it is, how exhausting it is, how they’ve lost themselves to this new identity as “mom”, and we think – they’re right! I don’t know if I’m cut out for this. This is hard.

Encourage one another

Yes, motherhood can be challenging at times, but when we focus on being a mom and let the other stuff take the backseat, it is a huge blessing and a source of great joy! Why does it seem that everyone talks more about the hard stuff than the blessings? The blessings are huge! Shouldn’t the mom mob be encouraging one another with those, rather than pointing out to one another the things that we could be complaining about?

Shut Satan up!

I’ve discovered over the years that when I start feeling like my kids are annoying or a distraction, the best way to shut those voices up, is to take a break from whatever busyness has my attention, and give that attention to them. Just fifteen minutes of playing with them, teaching them, reading with them, or just listening to them can instantly remind me of what a blessing they are and make me realize that I want to spend more time with them. More importantly, it also reminds them of what a blessing they are.

The most heartbreaking moment of my life was the day that my middle son said to me that he was sorry for being such a pain and that it must be horrible to be a mom. How could I let myself get so overwhelmed that I made my children feel like they were the worst part of my life rather than the best?!?

The greatest blessing

When I focus on my children, they no longer seem like a burden or a distraction, but the greatest blessing God has given me in the physical world. They fill my cup, they don’t empty it. Raising children is the greatest joy of my life, even on the hard days.

Meet Desiree!

Desiree is a Christ follower. She is the wife of Aaron and mom of 3 amazing kids. She enjoys crafting and hanging out with her kids in her spare time. She’s the World’s best Seester to One Blessed Momma’s blogger Melinda.

How to feel blessed when you’re hanging on by your fingernails

How to feel blessed when you’re hanging on by your fingernails

by | Jan 24, 2022 | Melinda, One Blessed Momma

A mom of 4 I was with this weekend told me she was hanging on by her fingernails. Anyone else feel that way?

It got me thinking about the “why” behind the blog. When this idea first started mulling around in my head, it was because I was a new mom for the 4th time and barely hanging on. I wanted something that reminded me of the blessings in motherhood and I wanted to encourage other mothers as well.

“Behold, children are a heritage and gift from the Lord, The fruit of the womb a reward.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭127:3 AMP

So much of life is driven by our subjective perspectives. Whatever you focus on is what seems biggest. So if you’re focused on the dirty diapers, the fits, the back-talking, the arguing, the never-ending messes, it’s going to feel more like you have energy sucking leeches than precious gifts.

See the blessings

One of my most basic ideas of seeing my children as the gifts they are is to make myself stop and watch them, soak in the blessing. Sometimes it’s the smile they give you. Or the sloppy wet kiss. Maybe it’s the way they treat their sibling. Or watching your spouse with them. Write it down if you need to. Say it out loud. Thank God for the gifts (children) he’s given you. Take the time to spend with your children. The dishes, dust, and dirt will always be there. But the years with our children at home won’t be. As a momma of children from 20-4 I can tell you, the days are long but the years are short.

I find myself wishing days away, but then I look at my child who made me mom and in less than a month he’ll be 18. HOW??? Then I look at my “littles” and realize my baby is 4. Some days 14 years seems like a long time to still have children at home; other days it doesn’t seem nearly long enough. (Especially the days my 4-year-old tells me who she’s going to marry when she grows up, but that’s a topic for another day.)

4-year-old picking flowers for her wedding.

She can’t grow up fast enough and I can’t slow her down.

Please share with us in the comments below, or tag us on Instagram @one.blessedmomma or Facebook @oneblessedmommacom what blessings have you seen from your kids? Let’s help encourage each other!

Embrace the crazies

No, I don’t mean your kids (but yes, embrace them 🙂). When you have this picture-perfect moment in mind, the perfect day at the park, the way your kids will sit down and play well together, a nice quiet meal, etc it generally doesn’t work that way. Embrace the season you’re in right now. Check your expectations.

If you have a two-year-old there’s probably going to be a mess at dinner time. If you have more than one child they probably are going to have at least one disagreement while playing. If you’re anything like me, you forgot to check the weather before heading to the park, and the rain may find you. So get a dog to clean up after the 2-yr-old 😉, help your children learn how to work through disagreements so you don’t have to play referee, and teach your kids to dance in the rain (or check the weather).
Friday night I wanted a date with my husband. I had been at home all week with not only our children but two more as well. The prior weekend we had 30 people in our home. I just wanted time with the guy I married and decided to do this parenting thing with.

He felt like he needed to work. I needed to pick some things up at a store. One of my kids wanted to go shopping with money that’s burning a hole in his pocket, so I asked him if he wanted to go on a date with me. I just wanted a quiet evening! But 3 other kids caught wind of this outing and decided they needed to go too. Dad decided the work could wait and went with us.

So we called it family date night. It wasn’t at all what I was wanting, but once I let go of that and embraced this time with 4 of my kids and my husband it was a fun evening!

Our Anniversary date with 5 kids.

Love on the gifts

A couple of months ago I had someone text me a list of things about me that were lovely. I have to admit I have pulled it back up more than a few times. There is also an idea floating around internet land about putting a sticky note on your kids’ door every day in February with something new you love about them.

You are probably better than me at loving those you love. I find the idea of telling people what I love and appreciate about them daunting. It’s a skill I need to develop. Maybe the person you love doesn’t need words of affirmation.

According to Dr. Gary Chapman, there are 5 love languages. He has a quiz you can take to find out what yours is, a quiz for teens, and a quiz you can take for your child. Use this quiz to guide you in loving your kiddos so they understand what you’re saying.

Loved children are happier children. Just like when we feel loved we are happier people. Happier children are easier to get along with and easier to see as blessings 🙂 it’s a win-win.

How do you keep hanging on when you’re only hanging on by fingernails? Have you gone from surviving to thriving? What helped you?

I am one blessed momma!

Meet Melinda!

Melinda is a Christian, a wife, and a mom of 6. She has a blended family. She's a recovering perfectionist who is far from perfect, but it makes her that much more grateful for God's grace and mercy in her life.

Learn more about Melinda and her family

Ready, Reset, Go!

Ready, Reset, Go!

by | Jan 17, 2022 | Julia, One Blessed Momma

It’s January, the beginning of the year and is usually the time when people make changes to old habits and create new positive ones.

I know for me I have been looking at making intentional choices with my faith, food, family, and finances. A lot of these changes are super simple but for a while have been a challenge to me. I hope you find encouragement while reading this to keep growing by making simple intentional changes in your life as well. Ready? Reset- GO!

Faith

My sister in law invited myself, my mother and my other sister in law to read through the New Testament together. I have been using an app to help read through to keep track of what to read next and bonus, it correlates with their podcast that gives background insight to what you’re reading. What I love about it, is it also has the ability to be audio so you can listen to it all if need be. I love listening to it while in the kitchen washing dishes or cooking dinner.

Thus far, I believe this addition has added to my ability to be productive and has shifted my mindset from being overwhelmed and anxious- to clear and calm. I would see messes all over the house and it would make me anxious thinking of all the things I need to clean up. Or hearing my children argue sometimes would make me overwhelmed and struggle to help them solve in a calm way.

Since making this mind shift, I can now clean and pick items off the floor easily and when hearing my children argue I am able to help them process their emotions in a calm and present way.

Food

My first simple goal for the past few months has been to try and drink water first thing. I know, that sounds so silly like it’d be the easiest thing. But for me, it has been a challenge. We had a pretty exhausting life when my second child was born and I’ve struggled to come out of the habits I created to survive. They definitely served me in the moment, but are not beneficial to me in the long run.

I have finally made that a habit and I can definitely feel the difference. I sometimes don’t even feel the need to drink my coffee, which is a major plus for me. I also try and keep my water bottle with me throughout the day to stay hydrated.

Another goal we are trying to hit is to cook at home all month, eat healthier and save money. Think ahead, pack snacks, bring water or pack a lunch when out.

Finances

Budget life. Oof. We have done the Dave Ramsey program and loved it but we have slacked lately. With inflation and all of the other unexpected expenses coming up we wanted to get better at our spending habits.

I have been trying to find all the extra ways to save money, like using the FETCH and IBOTTA app that turns receipts into gift cards. This month, I really wanted to get a certain gift for my nephew on amazon but it was more than we allotted for so I used $10 from my FETCH app to use toward the amazon purchase. It took the gift amount down to what we could afford this month.

Some great budget people I follow are:

The Budget Mom

Dave Ramsey

https://funcheaporfree.com/

Family

I want easy living. I don’t want to NOT play with my children because I feel like I have to clean. I want quick clean ups, quick meals, one on one time with my children, intentional conversations and quality time. In this area of growth I am still working on finding out what systems work for our family.

Toys- Some systems that have worked thus far are going through toys. Taking out toys they don’t play with, organizing by genre, then rotating toys and only putting out as much as I want to pick up.

Clean- Just do it right then. I am queen of letting things sit because “I’ll do it later”. Yet, have you also heard the saying, “stuff attracts stuff”. So things just start accumulating and growing, becoming more and more overwhelming.

When I’m giving my girls a bath I start cleaning the toilet, sink and floor. If I have to be stuck in there I might as well clean it.

Rest- Allowing myself to rest. Actually lay down in my bed, not on the couch watching TV or surfing my phone but quiet rest.

Help me out, I want to hear about the systems you have in place to keep things running at your house. Please share in the comments below!

Don’t forget to check out the freebie! This has helped me create a visual for budgeting the whole year out of all the unexpected expenses that pop up! Hope they help you too!

Download your free printable

Monthly Bill Tracker

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Meet Julia!

Julia is a wife to her high-school sweetheart, a mother to two beautiful girls and a follower of Christ.   She loves crafting, teaching and is forever grateful for a God who is in control of all unknowns and thankful we can have a peace that surpasses all understanding.

New Beginnings

New Beginnings

by | Jan 10, 2022 | Mollie, One Blessed Momma

Welcome to 2022!

I know this year will be FABULOUS! My family has some very exciting events coming up this year.

One of them is a new niece due to arrive this March! I cannot wait to meet my sweet girl! Her amazing momma will be One Blessed Momma’s February guest blogger, so keep your eyes open for her post!

Another thing I am looking forward to is a girl’s trip that my sister, Ellyn, and I have planned along with my oldest daughter, Rebekah. Charleston, here we come!

This summer also marks the end of my school board term and the first county fair my kids will be participating in with 4H.

This spring, my oldest turns 10 (Welcome to the double digits, Buddy!) and my youngest turns 3 this July.

My fourth child starts Kindergarten and my husband and I will celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary.  

 

What a year!

With all of these fun and exciting events on the horizon of this new year, I want to make sure I pause to reset my New Year’s Focus.

Any of you AMAZING readers that have been around OBM for awhile have probably read my post on how I do not do new year’s resolutions. Instead I do a new year’s focus. It’s the lens through which I filter most of my decisions for the year.

My focus is something I think on and pray about for a good while before the new year. For more information on how and why I do a “focus” every year, check out my blog post from last January here. 

Family Meals

During 2021 our family’s focus was “Family Meals”. Here is a quick recap of how that went for us. 

I did some meal planning, though not as much as I had intended to. 

I tried to spend a chunk of time on Mondays prepping and planning for the week. Mondays are my favorite day of the week. I try very hard to not go anywhere on Mondays and to make sure we have meals, laundry and a clean house (on a good week I even clean the car!) for the rest of the week. 

 Let’s just say, the success of my week weighs heavily on how productive my Monday is. 

Beyond meal planning, I also reorganized my kitchen to better accommodate lots of cooking and it really made a difference! Clearing up some counter space and getting a new stove (with a double oven!) have been absolute game-changers!

Overall, prioritizing meals together has made a substantial and positive impact on our family life. 

 

 

Read More; Watch less

Our new year’s focus for 2022 is: Read more; watch less. 

We started a bad habit of watching T.V. and movies way more than I would like us to. It has really been placed opon my heart lately to take our eyes from the screen and stick our noses in a book. 

Some of the books we look forward to reading in the next year include the folowing.

Reading List

The Bible 

This is our top priority read! We plan to include even more of God’s word into our daily routine. My 3 oldest kids enjoy taking turns reading out loud and all of my kids love listening to Ezekiel Harden read through the New Testament in a year over on the Daily Audio Bible for kids app.

The American Girl Series

If you have not heard of these books you should look them up! Each series follows a girl from a different time period in American history and tells her story while teaching American history. We started reading the “Felicity” series this past fall and my kids LOVE them! Even my boys enjoy these books.

Big Red

This book is one that has been handed down for several generations. It’s about a boy and a hunting dog. It follows  their adventures and eventual triumph of a great foe. We started this book already and, let me tell you, we are all enjoying it!

These are just a few of the books we intend to enjoy together this year.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, the start of a new year brings with it so much promise and hope. It’s a fresh canvas waiting for our adventures to be beautifully sketched across its pure surface.

Unfortunately, not all of the adventures will be positive ones. But, because of our Heavenly Father, ALL things will work together for good if you love Him! Romans 8:28

I pray that you grow closer to our Heavenly Father every day of this bright new year.

Download Free Printables

Laura Bush’s Reading List for Families

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Meet Mollie

 

Mollie is a lover of Jesus above all. She loves her husband and family and enjoys gardening, teaching, piano, riding, and farming. She lives in SW Colorado with her husband and five kids.

Learn more about Mollie and her family

Whatever is lovely

Whatever is lovely

by | Jan 3, 2022 | Melinda, One Blessed Momma

Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Philippians 4:8

What is “lovely”?

I have been pondering “lovely” since last month in preparation for this blog. When I think of lovely I typically think of flowers and beautiful women. The Bible also references these two things, but not just those two things. (Read Song of Solomon for more about lovely women.) But over the last month I have been able to see beauty even in the winter landscape, which typically I only see when there is fresh snow on the gound. 

lovely: exquisitely beautiful, pretty, appealing, gorgeous, pleasing, splendid, magnificent, very pleasant or enjoyable, delightful, wonderful, marvelous, superb, heavenly, divine, amazing, glorious

As I sit down to write this today, after a month of pondering lovely things, I am reminded how important it is to think on whatever is honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, worthy of praise. Our thoughts are so powerful!

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

2 Corinthians 10:4-6

If we don’t take our thoughts captive they can run away with us. I sat here trying to start this blog, ecouraging you all to think on lovely things and I got irritated. We have two puppies who are crated at night. They were let out this morning, one pooped in my living room, and I got frustrated, irritated as no one else was around and I had to take care of these puppies that other people wanted in my house. So I got up and let them outside and then stared them down out the window to make sure they didn’t run off. I wasn’t going outside in the windy cold morning. I stood there and stewed.

I didn’t ask for these dogs.
I didn’t let them out of the crate.
Why didn’t things get taken care of over the weekend, now they pooped on those things.
I have “important” things to do!
I don’t have time for this.
Now, my house smells like dog poo. YUCK!

So I let the dogs back in after they pooed outside, then I stomped around cleaning up the poo in the living room and went to the bathroom to wash my hands. That’s when I got hit with how ridiculous I was being. I wasn’t focused on anything positive, nothing lovely. I made myself stop, and not only wash my hands but wash the yucky thoughts out of my mind too.

How can we focus on what is lovely?

Just as I am sure we all preach to our children, what goes in comes out. We must watch what we put into our minds! What are you watching on social media? What are you watching on TV?

Something I heard a few years ago that really resonated with me:

If someone bumps into you while you are carrying a hot cup of tea, what spills out?

If you are walking along with a cup of coffee and someone bumps into you, what spills out?

When life bumps you, what spills out? Whatever you are filling your cup with, spills out when life bumps you.   

Fill your cup

A great way to fill your cup is to follow the instructions we receive in Philippians 4:8, think on these things. We can listen to these things through online sermons. Listen to or read the Bible.

I have once again pulled a verse a day for the month of January. You can view or print the calendar below.

How do you keep your mind on lovely things? What are your favorite lovely things to think on?

Teach the Children

1. Journal & Discuss

2. Take pictures of “lovely” things

1. Journal and discuss

My kids and I will be journaling and discussing these verses, at least Monday-Friday. I like for them to practice their reading and writing with scriptures. Alternatively, you could pick one verse per week and help your kids memorize that one scripture.

2. Lovely through the eyes of your child

Challenge your children to find lovely things to take pictures of. Sometimes viewing the world through the lens of a child can be eye-opening. If you have older children they may have phones already. I have found inexpensive digital cameras on facebook marketplace ($5-$10 each). You may choose to turn around and sell them when you are done making them free 🙂

Then make a collage of their lovely things. Depending on their age, you could also challenge them to pair their lovely things with scripture. 

Come back in February for “whatever is commendable”.

September - True

October - Honorable

November - Just

December - Pure

January - Lovely

February - Commendable

March - Excellence

April - Worthy of Praise

Download your free printable

Whatever is lovely Philippians 4:8-9 scripture list

.

Meet Melinda!

Melinda is a Christian, a wife, and a mom of 6. She has a blended family. She's a recovering perfectionist who is far from perfect, but it makes her that much more grateful for God's grace and mercy in her life.

Learn more about Melinda and her family