God has been showing me that He has more for me than what I have been living He has been doing a total heart overhaul on me. 

Sometimes I embrace this heart change as new, great, exciting!  (Growth:  Ok, God.)Sometimes it is terrifying.  (Different:  AGH!!!)

And sometimes I do in fact throw a tantrum.  (Change:  Why should I?  NO!!!)

God has been turning my heart toward serving my family...in the home.  I told my husband last week after a long work day and then cooking dinner, playing with our 2-year old, and folding laundry, "I am so done with working full-time [outside of the home]," and his reply was, "I never thought I'd hear you say that."

You see, I grew up in a dual-income family.  Out of necessity (not for dance lessons, or family vacations) my mother went back to work when I was 6.  So a dual-income household was modeled for me and is the example that I followed.  When André and I decided to have a baby the natural question for me was, "How are we going to afford daycare and where will the baby go?"   The home daycare was chosen, and somehow the weekly daycare expense turned out to be affordable.

And then God started showing me that the roles of wife and mother are a gift from Him; that there is something special to be cherished in these gifts.  God is showing me that there is more to being a wife and mother than just "adding it to a resume of duties performed."  God is revealing to me the value, worth, fulfillment and eternal rewards in the roles of wife and mother.  God is showing me how pleased He is when a woman embraces her God-given role as a wife and mother, instead of enduring it.  God has, in effect, turned my heart toward my home.

I have fumbled my way, railroaded my way, and auto-piloted my way along the paths of marriage and motherhood.  And now, I am finding my way by God's grace and gentle leading hand upon my heart. 

I don't know how or when I will transition from my full-time job outside of the home to serving joyfully in my home full-time.  But I do know that it is in His hands, He is wise, and trusting Him is a choice.  I am excited to let Him be in control and give up the reins.  I am looking forward to being able to put all of my energy (not my left over energy) into serving my family and managing my home.

Some of the tools God has given me to grow include:

• Blogs from women father ahead in the journey (http://www.womenlivingwell.com/, momheart.org)

• A Proverbs 31 Woman online Bible Study  (http://www.goodmorninggirls.org/)

• His Word

• Attending the women's group at my church

• Praying

• Listening

• Obeying

In what ways is God working on your heart?

Where can you see His hand moving in your life?

What Bible verse can you cling to today?

Loving God With Your All Means Trusting Him

Matthew 22:37-38 “And He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.”

Glad That's Over!

The weatherman got it right.  We actually did have a nor'easter come through.  They named it Storm Alfred.  "He" arrived Saturday, knocked out the power around 4pm and now (Thursday) there are still hundreds of thousands of people in CT without power. There are still power lines down in many places.  People are pulling their pickup trucks on the side of the highway and taking chainsaws and cutting down the fallen trees for firewood.  Andre, Sasha, and I slept in our house Saturday night, but Sunday and Monday we stayed at my brother Paul's house.  He has a generator and a woodstove so we had heat, refrigerator, and TV.  It was very hard to be out of my own home.  I am grateful for the help from my brother and from friends who let us shower at their house, and mom let us do laundry at her house.  I extended an invitation on facebook to all of my friends if they need a place to stay, a shower, a hot meal, to do laundry...they are welcome to my house.  It was a very good lesson in hospitality, patience, and gratitude.  We are fortunate that our power came back on Tuesday at 8 pm.  Many people still do not have power yet.  It is easy to be grateful now that I am back in my home with heat again.  I am supposed to be studying all of the muscles in the human body, but I need to take study breaks and this is one of them.  I am so full of gratitude today!  Praise be to God.

Chasing Dreams

Good morning!  I am so very tired.   I have been up til 11pm-1:30am all week studying and I'm exhausted.  But I have a dream in my heart that is bigger than my exhaustion.  I may be a little crabby at work this morning, but my attitude turns around whenever I think about WHY I am so tired, WHY I am staying up studying so hard.  My dream goes a little something like "saving the world, one starving child at a time."  My dream, my WHY, is because there are people who need to know that God loves them and I want to tell them.  So, if this body is tired, I will give it coffee or rhodiola rosea.  If I get a little cranky, I will remind myself to be nice to others.  Maybe someday I will get more than a few hours of sleep, but if I don't it will all be worth it.  Life is meant to be shared!

What is your dream?  What is stopping you from reaching for it?

My Very First Blog Ever

I still don't get the huge popularity of blogging.  It's like a phenomenom.  But I'm jumping on board anyway.  I've recently been reading blogs, two friends and worldvision recently sent some bloggers to Peru to see pre- and post- sponsorship villages so they could blog about it.  So, I'm starting to see the impact a blog can have.

So, I am Jamie Lynn Wilson.

I am a beautiful, unique creation, handcrafted by God.  Molded by God exactly as God saw I should be.  This is true of every single person.  That includes you!  Today, take a look at yourself through God's eyes.