We are Her Steppingstones

Praying that we are strong spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically to support all your dreams and goals Zakiah!

Reach for the Heavens and you will find all your strength you need and more in God! Without Him, we can't do anything!

If You Need to Find Wisdom...

....read Proverbs.

The whole book.

Over and over again.

It will bless your life.

For the past 23 days, I have been reading a chapter out of Proverbs before going to sleep. I have 8 more chapters to read and can't wait to get to the last chapter, which describes the virtuous woman.

I have read through Proverbs before but was not very focused and dedicated to my reading. I just read through the book just to say I have read it, but I didn't retain anything from it. This time, as I am reading, I am truly seeking to learn God's Word and retain it so I can let go of so many of my foolish ways that are hindering me from really prospering in God's Will for me.

In Proverbs, the message is pretty much clear cut: wisdom leads to life, prosperity, and honour while foolishness leads to shame, destruction, and death. Wisdom desires to help us and counsel us out of our simpleness and folly. She is actually calling out to us to LISTEN to what she has to tell us. Unfortunately being caught up in this wacky world can cause us to turn a deaf ear to Wisdom.

This has happened to me so many times. And every time I ignored Wisdom's calling, I fell on my face. Ow!

And she was laughing "I was trying to tell you so!"

Double Ow!

This is why the fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. When you reverend Him and respect Him, you are more attuned to what He tells you through His Word. When you don't fear Him, you can't possibly gain spiritual guidance because you regard worldly matters over Him.

This is why distractions are ultimately dangerous to your soul.

You can't see God's vision for your life so you become foolishly lost in a world that doesn't care for you anyway. You can't hear God's Word to experience a life promoting transformation so you are constantly destroying your life by committing your same foolish mistakes. You can't taste of God's sweet bread and victory He already has for you because your mouth is frequently being stuffed with toxic junk the world freely serves you on a silver platter. You can't feel God's spirit working through your weaknesses to make you stronger because you are busy feeling the short lived instant gratification the world offers you causing you to ALWAYS end up unsatisfied and disappointed at your insecurities. You can't smell the sweet grace and mercy God bestows on you every morning because the stench of pride has you hooked like a bad drug habit that can't do anything but kill you.

As you can see, God wants us to engage all our senses into Him. He wants us to seek Him for the source of everything. He wants us to be filled with Him. Input determines output. Input Godliness and you will look and act more like Him. Input worldliness and you will look more like a simple fool.

What are you putting into your spirit?

If you are putting in undesirable things, then turn to Proverbs! As a mother, I have realized that I have to be careful what my output is because I have two little eyes watching me like clockwork. Clearly there are foolish habits I don't ever want Zakiah to pick up such as being quick tempered and slothful. These are destructive behaviors and you don't want your child on that type of start. Now don't get it twisted, I am not a 24/7 hot head and lazy bum! This is by no means the case. I am a pretty calm and collected person who does get things done, but I do have those moments where a disagreement of frustration can wear down my patience where I allow myself to get a little tempered a little too quick. As for as the slothfulness, it is more in regard to getting more productive and challenging work done and not just completing simple everyday tasks.

That is why I must input God's Word in me so I can change my output and perspective so that she can model Godliness after my actions.

Granted transformation takes time and dedication to study God's Word. But I can say that I trust God's Word and that in three weeks, I am retaining so much of His word than ever before. I am understanding more and realizing that I have been doing quite a bit of things displeasing in His eyes for a long time now. I believe He can help me overcome my shortcomings and pray that I will allow Him to work out my many kinks because that is my desire. And when our will lines up with His Will, we know our desires will be met.

I pray that if it is your desire to become a better and wiser individual that you seek God first and turn to His Word.

It will change your life surely!

God is so Good! Don't you know that He blesses us with each day knowing we will sin and wrong against Him? If that isn't grace and mercy, then I don't know what is. I pondered this fact two nights ago and it blew my mind! He is amazing!

And all He wants in return is for us to love Him and give Him glory and praise.

Thank You Father! I love You!

Enjoy your weekend!

Thanks Kacie for the Blog Award!

I had to get my dose of Gemma at And Baby Makes Two (see my blog list to the side and stop by Kacie's beautiful blog about her ever so beautiful baby girl Gemma). I read one of her recent posts and she mentioned she received a blog award! I was so excited for her because she is one of my favorite bloggers. I enjoy reading her posts and am so proud of how far she has come in her mommy journey!

Anyway (I am killing this word in almost all my recent posts), I read her post to the end and noticed she has passed the award to me and a few other bloggers. I was so honored (as cheesy as it may seem to some of you) because it shows that there are some people out there who are actually reading my blog and appreciating my content enough to acknowledge me for an award!

So thank you Kacie! This post is for you!

I think I need to list out 10 things I am a master of in order to accept the award. So here goes my list:

I am a master of...

* Carrying a heavy baby and two full bags of groceries up three flights of stairs before wanting to pass out as soon as I get inside my apartment door.
* Breastfeeding for 8 months!
*Saving over 50% on my grocery bills by using coupons
* Keeping track of Zakiah's life via my blackberry. Over 2000 pics and 500 video clips and counting.
* Washing loads of laundry but not actually putting them away until a week or two later!
* Packing dishes in the dishwasher. I have a specific method of what dishes go where to ensure I can get everything in there.
* Typing long grammatically incorrect posts on this blog with just my thumb (from my blackberry)
* Organizing things when I get the chance. I like to organize to the very specific detail even if it takes me hours to sort through everything to get the job done. I particularly like organizing my pictures.
* Not keeping in touch with other people. I'm still learning how to balance my life right now
* Sleeping on my couch. I stay in a one bedroom apartment so you can guess who took over my room. There is no way I can sleep in the same room with her. She makes noises and moves around a lot while sleeping. All of that would work my nerve. Plus I don't want her to think that mommy is supposed to sleep in the same room as her. I am not even trying to feel that battle in the future when she gets her own room.

Ok, I have posted enough for today: 8 or 9 posts so far just to catch up from my slackness. I have some more I want to post about but I am supposed to bake two lasagnas tonight so I need a little nap before I get started.

Happy Friday!

Oh, my apologies for any grammatical errors you may find. I'm a Christian...not perfect. He he