everything else | Designing 31

teaching respect

by tascha

to respect carries the idea of “showing regard to, paying attention to”

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Psalm 119:6

Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.

[If I pay attention to and regard God’s Word, I will have no reason to be ashamed.]

Colossians 3:23-25

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

[when we disregard God’s commands we will receive proper judgment just the same as the next person. No one is exempt from the consequences of his actions.]

Psalm 138:6

Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.

[God will take notice of those who show humility.]

Some things we are commanded by God that show our respect for Him.

Ephesians 6:5-9

Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.

Hebrews 13:7

Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: [and the end of their conversation is this] for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

Just because I am “all-grown-up”
does not mean I do not have any authority over my life.
And as usual,
the best way to teach our children is through example.

 I will teach my children to have respect for each other and their classmates by showing respect for them and other children we come into contact with and also by how I interact with my own peers.

Part of being respectful is trying to anticipate needs and being responsive when needs are made known.

If I see that someone is walking towards a closed door with her arms full and I have nothing, and I do nothing to help, that is being disrespectful to her as a person. But if I speed my steps just enough to get there and open the door for her, I have shown respect. And it is of no consequence if I even know her.

I will teach my children how to have respect for their teachers and other authority {boss, police, laws/government, etc} by how I show my respect for those individuals.

If I take matters into my own hands even after clear instruction from an authority, then I am teaching my children that they, also, can pick and choose which instructions they wish to obey. But when I do all within my power to do what is expected {whether clearly stated or not} and do not make excuses when I cannot accomplish it, I teach my own children responsibility as well as respect.

And as a stay-at-home-wife/mother, my closest human authority is my husband. That is not to say he “bosses” me, { 🙂 } but he IS, Biblically, an authority in my life. And how I respond to his requests, how I convey my attitude after turning from him-body language, facial expressions… that says more than any words.

And when my children see me disrespect their daddy, they WILL show disrespect to others.

And they will not understand when someone tries to correct them. Confusion will ensue.

Since my children leave me for the day to attend school, the next most important authority relationship is with their teachers.

I wrote a little about how I must be willing to allow others to correct my children here.

And that lines up with teaching them respect, which in turn contributes to teaching responsibility!

So each day, my life is about more than “my life.”

Much of my life is about teaching my children to respect others and how to show that respect through kindness of actions and words.

My life is about striving to BE the person God created me to be… so they can learn to be the person God wants them to be!

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Let’s connect on FACEBOOK!

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I’m also on Instagram!
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and I’m on Twitter!

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what the Lord helped me accomplish!

by tascha

I did this post on my family’s blog also, but thought I would share it here as these are what consumed much of my time the few weeks before school began!

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Here are the girls’ dresses the Lord allowed me to put together in the weeks just before school began. There are a few that did not get photographed yet because they were either dirty or being worn… I’ll see about getting pix of them another day. Please excuse the need for pressing.

Kyria

close up of the braid we did on the collar

we found the idea here

Kyria

Anya {the green spots are turtles}

Anya

Kyria {one of my favs!}

Mikalah

Kyria {the one that has a Molly match}

close up of the ruffle

Here is a wonderful tutorial if anyone out there wonders how I did this. I measured from their shoulder down to their waist to know where I wanted to trim the shirt. I used the excess from the shirt bottoms to create the ruffles. As long as your shirt is not tight and has some give, and the skirt is at least as wide as the shirt stretched out a bit, you do not actually have to measure how wide, etc. like in the tutorial. But if you are starting from scratch with a T and some fabric, the fabric should be at least 1.25 times as wide as the bottom of the shirt. {if that makes any sense :)}

Every single one of these came from a thrifted skirt-so I did not have to hem anything! Praise the Lord. 🙂 And most of the t-shirts were thrifted also. The skirts for Kyria were actually ladies’! I can hardly believe how tall she is getting. I also do not usually talk about how much things cost, but ALL of these dresses plus the few that did not make it into the pictures cost less than $40 total {that’s 14 [+?] dresses!!} plus 4-5 days of “mommy moments” {15 minutes here… 30 minutes there…} to put them together. and THAT is exciting to me! YEAH!! God is good.
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so there you go. 🙂 School is now in full swing, and the girlies are enjoying their new dresses!

doing right verses having rights

by tascha | 2 comments

Sometimes, the difference between having rights and doing right is a wavy, blurry line.

this is not about gun control! {but aren’t they cute?}

I have many privileges as an American.

I have vast amounts of opportunities when I am willing to work and sacrifice.

And I have all the ability I need to DO right, because Jesus is [or should be] my strength.

But this “my rights’ attitude” [me time, anyone?] that I have, on occasion, been sucked into is not Biblical.

For one thing, it is putting the focus on ME. I’ved studied through a little of that before. [This is not to say we do not ever need rest or an occasional break. But there is a “me mentality” that comes from thinking only of me and what *I* need/want. And that is what I am talking about being caught up in.]

And if, as a wife and mother, I am overwhelmed by certain tasks or expectations, then that is my cue to step back and take a few evaluations of myself and my motives.

I must evaluate my motive for doing this overwhelming task and determine who exactly set the expectation.

The only true, pure Biblical motive is to do all to the glory of God [I Corinthians 10:31].

let her rest while she will…

The Lord sets expectations of what He requires from us; but He also ALWAYS gives us the strength to meet them. {-because God gets glory when His strength is magnified through our weakness: 2 Corinthians 12:6-10-}

Evaluating my motive is often a soul-searching, prayerful endeavor.

Because our hearts are deceitful [Jeremiah 17:9].

We will lie to ourselves when not careful to ask the Lord to shed His light on our motives, because sometimes we try to do things {even GOOD things} for the wrong reason.

And sometimes we let others put expectations on us that are not from Him.

So, if my motive is pure and the expectations set are from the Lord, why may I feel as though there is not sufficient strength?

This is where I often get convicted, because there are so very many times that I KNOW I am doing what I ought. But the strength is not there.

When there is not enough strength to get through the day or the project or whatever, I realize that I really am doing this “good thing” all by myself. I have once again taken the reins into my own hands... plucked them from my Father, who expertly handles them while I falter and stumble through.

So, while I have many “rights” as an American and I even have much freedom as a Christian, when I get into the mindset of “having a right” for something or to do something, I forfeit the strength that comes from following the path God has set for my day, because God will not give me His strength to follow my own path.

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Let’s connect on FACEBOOK!

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I’m also on Instagram!
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and I’m on Twitter!

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thoughts on singleness

by tascha

thoughts on singleness

I had a conversation recently with an unmarried lady friend. She has a growing ministry with small children and visions for that ministry to thrive! I appreciate her zeal, and her love for God is evident.

Yet, she told me that she receives comments regularly from people about her unmarried status. I assume these are well-meaning people, as they seem to think the singleness she finds herself in somehow prohibits her from having a full, vibrant life and ministry.

Let me tell you, my unmarried friend, your life can be as full as you let it be – whether you are married or not! [I have knowledge of more than my share of people who are married yet have neither a full life nor a vibrant ministry for God!]

Singleness lends itself to a bit of freedom that those married, especially with children, do not have. I married right out of college. I do not have experience of the trials or temptations that come with serving the Lord as an adult while still single, but I have witnessed those who do it well as well as those who do it poorly.

In light of that, all ministries are simply an opportunity to serve God. And when we allow Him, He puts us in place to have certain ministries. No where does He tell us that ministry is only for married people. Actually, Paul was given liberty to tell us that if you are content to be single, then that can actually give you opportunities that would otherwise be a closed door [I Corinthians 7:1-9].

Serving God is a command to all Christians: single, married, divorced, child or adult. [Matthew 20:26-28; 28:19-21; Mark 16:15-16; I Timothy 4 {especially verse 6 and 10-12} and many more]. Telling someone their ministry cannot be full for whatever reason {unless pointing out an error in love: Ephesians 5:6-11} is not helpful or Christ-honoring.

As married ladies and mothers, we should pray for those in singleness-that they would be content in Christ. Pray that the Lord would protect them from temptations or “evil” appearances. We should befriend them, on a personal level, so they realize and understand our genuine concern for them as people! When we see evidence of genuine service to God and growth in His word, we should even point them out {but NOT elevate} to our children as an adult to trust and point out areas of their life that they should emulate {such as a humble, teachable spirit or a willing, helpful attitude} and show our children that life is not all about growing up and having a family. Life is all about learning how to SERVE JESUS!

And to my single friends, remember that you are part of the body that is the bride of Christ! You have his love to comfort and protect. You have His peace to be your companion and guide. You have His wisdom to direct your steps and His tender mercies to correct you when needed. [There are MANY Psalms as well as other passages that speak of God’s comfort and protection and peace and guidance and tender mercies! These for for ALL Christians, not just married people.] Never let anyone’s personal opinions on your marital status allow you to believe that anything you are doing for God is somehow less valuable than what us married folks are doing!

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{While I am a married lady and my main reason for starting this blog was to encourage other married ladies and mothers, I would not say that this blog is only for married ladies. While many of my posts have examples from married life or from being a mother, the premise for designing31 is not just for married ladies!! We were all created and designed to work together towards reaching others for Christ. While my personal goal is to become the wife and mother God wants me to be, I also want to learn to be the lady and friend God desires me to be too!}

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teaching respect

to respect carries the idea of “showing regard to, paying attention to”

[If I pay attention to and regard God’s Word, I will have no reason to be ashamed.]

[when we disregard God’s commands we will receive proper judgment just the same as the next person. No one is exempt from the consequences of his actions.]

[God will take notice of those who show humility.]

Just because I am “all-grown-up” does not mean I do not have any authority over my life. And as usual, the best way to teach our children is through example.

I will teach my children to have respect for each other and their classmates by showing respect for them and other children we come into contact with and also by how I interact with my own peers.

I will teach my children how to have respect for their teachers and other authority {boss, police, laws/government, etc} by how I show my respect for those individuals.

And when my children see me disrespect their daddy, they WILL show disrespect to others.

So each day, my life is about more than “my life.”

My life is about striving to BE the person God created me to be… so they can learn to be the person God wants them to be!

what the Lord helped me accomplish!

doing right verses having rights

I must evaluate my motive for doing this overwhelming task and determine who exactly set the expectation.

Evaluating my motive is often a soul-searching, prayerful endeavor.

a new blog!

thoughts on singleness

Just because I am “all-grown-up”
does not mean I do not have any authority over my life.
And as usual,
the best way to teach our children is through example.

 I will teach my children to have respect for each other and their classmates by showing respect for them and other children we come into contact with and also by how I interact with my own peers.