Browsing Category: Faith

How to Have the BEST SUMMER YET!

How to Have the BEST SUMMER YET! (and what does that even mean) @JessicaMWhite.com

It’s official: Summer is here!

School finished last week, swim lessons are soon, and the temperatures are rising: There are just some things that just ooze summer. Particularly when it comes to magazine articles and ads all toting the same message: “MAKE THIS THE BEST SUMMER YET!” That somehow by using this product or buying that gadget, our burning desire to experience the ABSOLUTE BEST SUMMER YET will be fulfilled.

Here are some easy tips, that I’ve tried, that certainly help me to enjoy the best Summer has to offer:

How to have the Best Summer Yet
{in 3 easy steps}

How to Have the BEST SUMMER YET! (and what does that even mean) @JessicaMWhite.com

Stop

Stop racing around, feeling like there are a thousand things to accomplish, because summer is only so long. If you’re racing all over the place, you’re not enjoying what you’re actually doing. Look at the schedule, make some changes. Maybe it means not having the kids in so many activities, canceling a few engagements, or reprioritizing what’s on the agenda.

Drop

Once in a while drop what you’re doing and take 10 seconds, 10 SECONDS; close your eyes, breath and feel what’s around you, really taste that berry, or relive a favorite memory. Don’t even think about telling me you don’t have 10 spare seconds in your day, because ain’t nobody that busy. Those 10 seconds will give you enough time to process what your thinking about, and give you a momentary respite from the chaos.

Roll

Roll with it. If you have a crazy whim to forego dinner and get the kids an ice cream…it’s seriously not going to kill anyone, but I can guarantee you the kids will remember that ONE TIME {or more} that mom let them have ice cream for dinner. If someone calls you about a spontaneous get together, do it {even if it means going to the grocery store and bringing a deli salad}. Or invite them over. Don’t think about what your house looks like, think about spending time with your family, a friend, a neighbor.

If you can do those 3 three things, I can pretty much guarantee that your summer is going to be the best yet, because you actually took the time to remember it, to experience it to the fullest.

Those advertising people are sneaky. Somehow they convince us that we need their things in order to be happy; to have a Summer that is actually worth bragging-rights come the Fall. Psst….we don’t. All we need to have the best of any thing, any experience, is to actively pursue God’s desires for us in this life, which is to enjoy the world He has created for us and the people he has blessed us with.

“But seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Matthew 6:33

Now, this doesn’t mean since we were kind enough to include God in the things that we think are the “best” for us, that it will be given to us. We must pursue what God deems best, what He would have us find fulfillment in, which is Him; activities and things which will draw us closer to Him. That is always what is Best.

As long as we are seeking our own enjoyment, we will be left disappointed. Having missed out on what truly is the best of anything. As long as our heart is motivated for ourselves, not God, we won’t find fulfillment in what the world deems the best-ever-of-all-time anything.

Summer is here, a time of year we all rejoice in. Seek not the best of the world, but the best of God in the world. The beauty He has created for us to enjoy, drawing our hearts and minds to Him, and all the best He’s created just for us.

“The heavens declare the Glory of God; the sky proclaims the work of His hands.”
Psalm 19:1

Every summer already is the “Best summer yet”, because every day is new, every day is a fresh start, a new day for us to seek God and His will for our lives, to go deeper in His word and draw closer to Him. Why settle for less, when God will ALWAYS give you the best?

How do you plan on truly enjoying your Summer?

 

This post originally appeared on my other blog, on 6.30.14.

Comment Faith, Intentional Living

Have a Little Compassion

There’s a new member of our family that I am so excited to introduce to you: Dorothy! No, you didn’t miss anything. In November, as part of Avelyn’s turning 6 she chose a little girl in Africa to sponsor through Compassion International. I often think that most people have heard of Compassion until I start talking about it and they look at me like I have 6 heads.

sponsor-a-child

I’ve been familiar with Compassion for the past 5 or so years, and have really wanted to sponsor a child, but it just wasn’t feasible. We had wanted to do it at a point when our children can be involved in correspondence and can understand what it is and why we do it. This year Matthew decided it was the year. I can’t tell you how much my heart soared when he said those words!

Compassion Child

Dorothy’s birthday is in the middle of February, and as I was talking to Avie about drawing a picture that we could send to her, she had mentioned something about dresses. I said that more than likely Dorothy only had 1 maybe 2 dresses to wear. Avelyn got a devastated look in her eyes and I asked what was wrong, “Mommy, could I send her some of my dresses?” I explained that we can’t mail her things like a dress, but we can pray and ask that God would provide for her through our sponsorship. {I love Avelyn’s heart for others!}

So what IS Compassion International?

The Everett Swanson Evangelistic Association was founded in 1952 by The Reverend Everett Swanson to help children orphaned by war in South Korea. He traveled there to preach the gospel to the troops of the army but during his visit he saw children orphaned by the war. In 1953, he began to raise funds and the next year he developed sponsorship programs to help support orphans for a few dollars a month.[4] The name of the association changed to Compassion in 1963, inspired by Jesus‘ words “I have compassion on the multitude. I will not send them away hungry” (Matthew 15.32).
-from Wikipedia

The whole premise of Compassion is to not just provide for the physical needs of a child, but also their spiritual needs. While they are given the opportunity to attend school, the blessing of safety and being provided for, they are also learning the most important truth…Jesus. They are being cared for not just temporally but eternally.

The thing I love about Compassion, besides all the wonderful things they do, is that this isn’t just about having your credit card auto-charged every month and forgetting about it, forgetting about a child. The wonderful thing is how Compassion encourages their sponsors to write to their child, to visit them {if possible}, to actually build a RELATIONSHIP with them. We try and email at least 2 letters a month to Dorothy. It’s so easy: They have a form you can fill out on the website and upload pictures to you and away it goes!  That’s it!

At different conferences and events over the years I’ve had several opportunities to talk to the people manning the Compassion tables and they are always such a joy to spend time with. Just recently I was speaking to a grandmother who sponsored a child for each of her grandchildren, then takes the time with each of them to write their sponsored child. Her goal is to take each of her grandchildren to meet the child they sponsor. She’s already been to the jungles of South America with two of her grandchildren.img029

April 24th is Compassion Sunday, but you can sponsor a child any day, anywhere in the world through Compassion’s website at Compassion.com. They give you wonderful search options of countries, age, gender, and most importantly for children who have been waiting the longest {as Dorothy was}.

I know we all remember the over emotional commercials to sponsor a child through different organizations; that for just over a $1 a day you can give a child hope, but it’s true. For $1.25 a day you can give a child hope, you can give them a future, you can give them the food and things they need now, and you can share with them the love and Salvation that only Jesus can give.

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