A Fruitful Year - January, A Time to Prepare

Are you ready to begin A Fruitful Year? I have written a bit about it here and why you should join.

January is a time for preparation. At the end of January you should have prepared yourself, written your goals, found an accountability partner, and answered some of the journaling question.

Just as a gardener prepares the field before the planting so we should do that with our goals and plans for the year. I think too often we jump into the year with all kinds of thoughts and plans but we have not taken the time to prepare and to evaluate our goals. Don't be tempted to skip this part. It is part of reaching your goal for the year.

• Begin to prepare yourself spiritually. This is a spiritual journey even more so than just getting things done. 
• Prepare yourself mentally. So much of how we grow and achieve it through our mental. 
• Prepare yourself physically. This will require you to be physically ready for a task so begin getting sleep and fuel your body with good food.
• Set your goals. Make sure they are achievable. Think about why you have listed that goal. 
• Post your goals where you can reference them and keep them in front of you as you go through the year.
• Find an accountability partner to encourage you and keep you going. This will help you succeed. 

I will give some journaling questions through the month. Here are just a few to consider as you think about preparing yourself mentally.

What are some of the phrases or words that you often say to yourself?

Are these truthful words? What does God say about the words you say to yourself?

How can you speak God's truth to yourself?

What is holding you back? Are you ready to grow and deepen your relationship with the Lord?

Beth

A Fruitful Year - Outline for the Year

I have shared a bit here about A Fruitful Year. I also shared some reasons why you should join in this.
I want to give an outline of the year.

January is a time to prepare. Just like the farmer prepares the fields before sowing the crops. You need to prepare yourself so that you can have a fruitful year. You might be tempted to think that preparation is not needed but it vital.  Also in January you will prepare your goals.

February - October will focus on a different character quality from the fruit of the spirit. There will be passages to read, suggested memory verses, and journaling prompts to help you evaluate where you are and where you want to be. This is a bit like the summer season a time of hard work as the fruit if growing.

November is a time of harvest. It is a time to reap the benefits of the hard work. It is also a time to finish and complete projects and goals for the year.

December is a time of celebration and rest. Just like trees rest in the winter so we also need a time of rest. We can celebrate all that has happened and rest preparing, strengthening our roots and being ready for another year.

Along the way there will be challenges to help you focus, get things done, and just have fun.

I will be posting details for the coming month prior to the first of the month. That will help you to plan.

Are you ready to join?
Beth

A Fruitful Year - Why You Should Join

Do you feel like you are repeating your goals from one year to the next? You know what I mean -- lose 25 pounds and that has been there for the past five years. A Fruitful Year will help you to make realistic goals which losing 25 pounds probably is a realistic goal and will help you reach that goal.

Do you forget your goals by February 1? It is easy to forget and lose our focus. With monthly reminders and challenges you will be reviewing your goals and continue to focus.

Maybe you keep working on goals but you get discouraged in July and just give up. A Fruitful Year will encourage you to continue going and finishing.

While those are good reasons to join A Fruitful Year, there is an even more important reason to join, you want to grow in your relationship with God. You want to abide in Christ and bear fruit. (John 15:4-5) You want to grow roots deep that will help you weather the hard times of life. A Fruitful Year will give you a focus for the month, journaling prompts, and encouragement related to the monthly focus.

Join me here as we begin A Fruitful Year.

Beth

Fruitful Year - Story Behind The Fruitful Year

I wrote a bit earlier this week just beginning to talk about the opportunity to join me in 2018 and making it A Fruitful Year. I wish I had time to sit and chat in person and share my heart and desire with you. Maybe some day I will be brave and do a video but today I am just going to share a bit of the story behind Fruitful Year.

At the end of 2016 some online friends wanted to do some purposeful planning. I volunteered to lead the group not really sure what I was going to do except that I wanted to encourage women and challenge them. Together we enjoyed monthly challenges with various things to do.

I loved watching them achieve goals even things that at the beginning of the year they had no idea they would be able to do. I enjoyed creating challenges that would stretch and grow us. I spent time praying for each of them.

As the year was coming to an end, I was thinking about 2018. I wanted to go deeper. I wanted to begin to work on getting to heart issues. I was thinking of how could the Fruit of the Spirit be part of this.

In November I was at a conference and the theme was The Fruitful Life. As I sat and listened,  the outline came together. I was excited. I was nervous talked it over with some friends. I share with Stuart what I was thinking and got excited for what was coming together.

I want to get things done but more than getting things done I want to develop character and that character will help me get things done.

You can choose to merely get things done or you can think beyond the t0-do list to develop character--that character will be with you for longer than just this year.

I scribbled that in my notebook and came back later and saw that someone, Miss K, had written next to it, "this is good." So this has the endorsement of Miss K.

I am looking forward to 2018 and what God is going to do in my own life and how I can help and encourage others.

I will share a bit more details next week.

Are you ready to grow in your relationship with the Lord?

Beth

A Fruitful Year - Making 2018 a Year of Growth

What if 2018 would be the year that you would get things done? What if even more than getting things done in 2018, you would grow in your relationship with the Lord and develop the Fruit of the Spirit in your life deeper?  What if you had a guide to help you grow? What if you had encouragement along the way? What if you had someone challenging you?

A Fruitful Year is designed to help you plan and get things done but more importantly it is designed to help you grow and develop Godly character. The focus will be on the Fruit of the Spirit.

There will be challenges, encouragement, and journaling prompts to help you make 2018 truly A Fruitful Year.

I am doing this because I need it. I want to grow and I need accountability and a group to join me as together we grow.
 

Join me next year as we together work to have A Fruitful Year. Over the next few weeks I will be posting more information about A Fruitful Year.

What is one thing you want to do in the coming year?

Beth

Cockroaches, slugs, and other bugs - A Missionary Life

"Don't eat the cockroach!" That is not a normal "mom phrase". I think that is one of those phrases that a missionary mom says once or maybe twice. Miss K was not quite two years old. She is was in the kitchen in our flat in Asia. I had my hands in a bowl mixing something for dinner. I look down and she is playing with a cockroach and so I say, "don't eat the cockroach." That was all I could do until I washed my hands and moved her and got rid of the cockroach.

I have decided that somewhere there is a list of things that missionaries have to experience. It not normally given as part of the orientation to the organisation or the orientation to the field but it is there. You begin to do things or experience things and other missionaries nod, they know what you are talking about. It is a bit like the bucket list for missionaries. Things like how many bugs in your house or not understanding the person in the market and ending up with 10 pounds of bananas. When you experience those things you know it is just one of the things you experience.

On the top of the list is dealing with bugs. Asia has cockroaches, termites, and mosquitos. Africa has mosquitos and other bugs. I don't know about South America. I am sure they have bugs as well. Somehow I thought moving to England I would be able to skip the bug experience. What bugs do they have in England? And then I moved here. I learned what they have in England.

They have slugs. Miss K one day asked me how many slugs are in England. I think my answer might have been, "too many."

It would be fine if the slugs just stayed in the garden. Wait a second, no even there they cause problems eating various plants. I think they are responsible for the death of my marigolds. I planted nice marigolds with leaves and flowers and within a few weeks nothing was left.

The slugs do not stay in the garden. They wander into the kitchen. They are smart in the sense that they come in after 10:30 at night and leave before I get up in the morning. So if it weren't for the slime trail that they would leave on the kitchen floor or the times that someone goes into the kitchen at night during slug visiting hours, we might not know they came in. There was one that did not leave before daylight but that might have been that he crawled up the tile wall.

I have tried salt. I have tried slug pellets. I tried cedar wood essential oil in the water when I wash the floor. I told Miss K that I put cedar wood oil in the water because I had heard that slugs didn't like that. She told me, "slugs can't talk." And if they could talk, we would have a long discussion about where they are allowed. Now I am just trying to coexist. If they are out of the kitchen before down in the morning, I will pretend that I don't have slugs in the kitchen.

I can tick the bugs off my list of experiences. Just another thing that you face living and working overseas, bugs you didn't have at home. (I guess we had slugs when I lived in Seattle.)

Beth,
who loves living life where God has called her and her family and but has not learned to share the kitchen. This was written to be a fun light bit about living and working overseas.

PS - I think all these photos were taken one morning as Miss K and I delivered newspapers. Yes, that is how many slugs we see on a rainy morning.

A Heart for God

The other month one of my favourite online Christian book shops had a sale and I bought a stack of books. That along with the Matt Challies 2017 Reading Challenge prompted me to purchase the book A Heart for God by Sinclair B. Ferguson. I was intrigued and wanted to read the book.  It is a short book 11 chapters and just 128 pages but packed with so many truths.

Here are some of my highlights from the book:

Chapter 5 is titled The Ever Present One, he talks about two questions that Moses asked, "Lord, who am I?" and "Lord, who are you?"These two questions define so much of what we should be asking, looking at ourselves and then looking and knowing who God is.

Chapter 9 is titled The Faithful Provider, one of the ways that we can look at the providence of God is through tracing it biographically and the example that is given is Joseph. "What his brothers did was genuinely significant--and hurt Joseph deeply. But Joseph had eyes to see that God was also at work, and that his purposes had been fulfilled not just in spite of his brothers, but even through their actions!" That is knowing God is at work through the actions of others.

Another example in this chapter was Naomi. I have to say that I have studied Ruth numerous times and heard various sermons but reading this chapter gave me some new insights. I also felt that the quote below was a good summary of lessons learned in Naomi's life.

"Naomi discovered this refuge under God's wants through some very dark experiences, and in situations which are difficult to understand. But when we place them in a large context, four lessons become clear. First, God's providences at times are painful and severe; second, through these experiences he may touch the lives of others; third, he brings us to an appreciation of his ways with us that we would otherwise lack; and fourth, he fulfils his purposes through us in way that far exceed our expectations."

Being reminded that at times God's providences are painful is good. I can easily come up with a list of painful times of life but through those need to remember that is working. He is the faithful provider.

The second to last chapter is the book is Let Us Worship God! A portion of the chapter looks at Psalm 92 and is broken down the tone basis, the blessings, the character and the fruit of true spiritual worship.

The last chapter is titled, Remember the Lord. We do so quickly forget and so we need to be reminded.

I found the book easy to read but one that I wanted to read slowly and ponder. It is short and one that I will plan to read again to be reminded of who God is and what he has done.

Beth

This is my own review based on the book I purchased.

Teaching Special Needs Children to Work

Miss K has a long list of professions she wants to do when she grows up. She wants to be a doctor and work at Children's Hospital. I think that is because she loves the Children's Hospital except the time when she had to go there to get her tonsils out. She also wants to work at Costa. I like that as she can make coffee for me. She wants to be a bus driver. She wants to work at McDonald's. She wants to be a ringmaster at the circus. We just went to the circus last night and so she decided that was what she wants to do.

The list of places where she wants to work is long and varied. I know that most of these are not possible but some with modifications might be possible.

One of the things that I have found in my special needs parenting is that Miss K tends to stay at a level while a normal child for various reasons moves on. It requires that we push a bit to move her on to age appropriate things.

We decided that this summer we would spend some time focusing on teaching Miss K to work. We gave her a goal for her work, hoping that would be some motivation -- earn money for tap shoes and uniform. She wants to take tap lessons so we decided she can earn some of the money.

The perfect opportunity came -- fill in for a friend's newspaper route.

Some of my goals in teaching her to work are the following:

1. Willingness to work - the fun jobs are easy to fill but the not so fun, every day jobs are just not as easy. I am focusing on the attitude when I say it is time to go. Miss K would rather listen to music or read a book. My goal is when I say it is time to go that she is willing and ready to go. This also applies to jobs around the house.

2. The attitude at work - I have so say for the most part while on the newspaper route she has had a good attitude. One lady told her "thank you" which inspired her to make a card for that lady. She was sad that #18 didn't get a paper for a few days. I have talked about how this is a good job and we are helping people.

Saturday's papers are thick so we use a cart.

3. Excellence in work - Doing a good job, being neat, those are some of the things about having excellence in work. This is more something that we work on with jobs at home. We clean the dishes with excellence.

4. Finish the job - Sticking with the job until it is done is a skill that is needed. Keep going until the end. It could be just finishing that day's job or finishing the time that we have committed to.

I know in many of these ways these are the same skills you teach any child but at least for me I have found that as Miss K learns slower and needs more teaching it requires that I think through these things and have a bit of a plan. While she is old enough for a newspaper route, she is not capable of doing it on her own so I go with her.

I measure based on progress. Are we making progress? In some ways we are, today she delivered all the papers even the ones with cars. For some reason she did not like to deliver the paper to a house with cars in the driveway. That is progress.

I can't say that she is willing to go. That is something that we are still working on.

She does enjoy having a bit of money to spend.

She is showing me the money she earned not giving it to me.

I will say it can be hard work to teach a child to work. It requires patience. It requires a plan. It is worth it.

Beth

I did it!

I completed Race to the Stones which is 100km or 60 miles. I walked it over two days so if you do the math that is 50km each day.

I shared a bit about the race here.

Our starting time was 8:45. We got to the start early to drop off our register, drop off our luggage, get a cup of coffee and be ready to go.

This are my feet ready to do serious steps. I had a small rucksack with me that had a bunch of things half of which I didn't use.

The path was clearly marked with arrows and signs saying, "not this way".

This is called the "field of dreams". At this point it is single file. It was raining a bit and we had to be a bit careful that we didn't slip in the mud.

There were pit stops approximately every 10km with food and drinks. The base camp was just over 50km. I made it there in 11:00 hours. Dinner was delicious and the shower refreshing. Then we had small tent to sleep in. The next morning we were up and on our way.

The trail was varied with woods and tree roots, to paths along fields to along the road. We walked along the Thames.

This was Sunday as we were walking. I loved the contrast. The clouds look like it might rain but thankfully on Sunday it didn't rain.

We did our training here and it is full of hills. Somehow I had it in my mind that it would not be as hilly when we did the Race but there were hills. The weather really was perfect for the event, not too hot.

On Saturday at the last pit stop I was tired and just wanted to get to the base camp. I walked through the pit stop, got a drink and kept walking. My friend was going to run and catch up but ended up enjoying a cup of tea. I was afraid that if I sat down I would not get up.

There were times that I was just putting one foot in front of the other. Doing that I had over 75,000 steps each day. One foot in front of the other is progress.

At one km before the pit stop there was a sign "Pit stop 1 km". I decided that km was the longest km ever.

The Race to the Stones did pass by the stones and we got a photo there but the race didn't end there. We had 1.5km to go to get our medal and a hot meal.

I did it. I walked 100 km over two days. I took a challenge, trained and prepared and completed it. I learned "more is in you".

On Saturday morning someone asked me why I was doing the race. I think one of the reasons was -- I wanted to take a challenge that might be a bit different from the normal things I do.

On Sunday the question was, "would you do it again?" I am not sure that I would. It took quite a bit of time to train and prepare. Most Saturday mornings we were out for 4-5 hours walking. It also took quite a bit physically and emotionally.

I decided that I can go the distance. Now I need to work on the cardio to be able to run so my next goal is a 10K run. I can walk 10K in about 1 hour 40 minutes.

Over the next few weeks I am going to share some of the lessons that I learned as I reflect on the walk.

Beth

Hygge

Have you heard of the word hygge? It is a Danish word that is one of those words that cannot really be translated into a single word. It means cosy, comfort, soothing things, creating intimacy and warmth.

I know summer seems like the wrong time of year to write about hygge. The days are long with the sun rising at 5:00 and setting after 9:00. The sun is shining and the sky is blue. The reason that this is on my mind is I just finished reading, The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking. My reserved copy finally came in for me at the library. I think I must have reserved it months ago.

I think I heard the term about a year ago. About the same time I read an article online about Norwegian winter and the attitude that helps to fight winter blues. My summary of this is it is the attitude and instead of dreading winter, embrace what you can do at that time of the year and enjoy it.

I was interested in hygge as our winter is grey with short days. I wanted to read about this and see if I could get some ideas to help during the short days of winter. The book was easy to read with lots of pictures. A bit of a picture book for big people. The photos were warm and cozy, candles, fire in the fire place, hot drinks.

So what did I take away from the book. Hygge in Denmark is about comfort and creating it together. Some of this can take time but it is about the atmosphere.

What can I do to help during our short days?

Enjoy candles -- tea lights -- when is Ikea opening? I have a nice tea light holder that was a wedding gift and it is nice to light that in the evening. Twinkle lights are also nice touches. Those can be battery operated so it doesn't depend on finding a main.

Hot drinks. In my book coffee is to be hot. Iced coffee is not coffee. Coffee might not always be the best choice for the evening but hot Ribena or herbal tea would be fine.

Warm blankets and throws - I have a nice fuzzy blanket that is my hygge blanket. It had a soft warm feel. I might need to find a few others.

I am almost looking forward to winter but first I would enjoy a few more summer days. Today is in the 60's so I am sitting with my hygge blanket.

Have you heard of the term higgle? How do you enjoy winter?

Beth

13 Years

Miss K's birthdays always seem to take me back to all those memories. This year was thirteen. Thirteen years ago in Asia a baby was born. It was soon after her birth that she was moved to the NICU because of her breathing and while there the doctors began running tests. There it was determined that she needed stomach surgery and then later she needed heart surgery. I wish we could go back and meet the doctors that were taking care of her. I wish the heart surgeon who was willing to take the risk in performing the surgery after the complications with the heart catheterization could see her now and all that she has done and become. 

Traditional Birthday Pancakes

Birthdays are important and the biggest celebration of the year. She looks forward to her birthday for 364 days. 

The chocolate cake has become the family birthday cake. She helped me pick the candles for the cake. It worked this year that happy birthday is 13 candles.

Blowing out the candles. It took a few blows but she got them all out.

One of the challenges is figuring out gifts are somewhat age appropriate and yet things that she will enjoy. She had been using a 3 wheel scooter and we decided that it was time to go with a 2 wheel one. I found a cute Cath Kidson cross body purse that was the right size for her. She loves the story of Heidi and so we got an audio book of that. She was excited about her gifts.

She is a teenager. A few months ago she was talking about when she turns 13 she was going to get Facebook. So far she has not asked for that (don't remind her). She has been asking to sit in the front seat.

This morning she asked me if she could have a mobile phone. I asked why and she said, so she could call and text. I asked her who she wanted to call and text and she said me. Life with a teenager.

She keeps us laughing and on our toes. Thank you for 13 years.

Beth

Discipline

I shared last week just a bit from my study of 1 Corinthians. I am continuing that study and have made my way to chapter 9. I am now at less than seven days until the race/walk. That has been on my mind so as I read these last few verses in chapter 9 I did some thinking.

"Do you no know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? 

So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. 

They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run 

aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep 

it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified."

II Corinthians 9:24-27

I am now writing to myself as one who needs this discipline. At times I think I have a long way to go in applying this.

As I read these verses, the first thing that I see is that we are running to receive a prize. We need a goal. As I have trained for the walk, I had a goal of doing the walk. I think the same is true in discipline. We need a goal.

"So run that you may obtain it." Get out there and do it. There were may weeks that the weather was not perfect for walking, but we went out and did it. It felt good when it was done.

"Exercise self-control" - This is an area that I need to work on and improve. Self-control is from within. I need to be working toward that goal.

All that we are doing should be done for the glory of God. This is not so that we can be proud and boast of what we have accomplished.

This has given me some things to ponder.

Beth

Endured the Cross

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin, which clings to closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." 

Hebrews 12:1-2

Beth

Crossing Paths

Today was a beautiful day with the sun shining and a blue sky. It was a perfect day for a walk. This weekend is the last big training walk before the big walk. Walking 12 miles does give some time for talking but also time for enjoying the beauty and thinking.

I was walking and looked up at the sky and saw the trails from two planes. I thought about how as missionaries our lives and paths cross with others. Some of those are the people that we meet overseas and some are the people that we meet that are friends of friends. I think this is one of the blessings of living overseas.

I have a good friend that was introduced to me from another friend because my friend was moving to Hong Kong.

We had a coworker in Taiwan that we have kept in touch with and now she is in Europe so we have gotten together at various times.

The wife of a mentor of my husband's was living in Hong Kong when we were there and she became a good friend. The fun part was we connected with her when we were in Taiwan. She had come to town for some meetings and visited the church we were attending. Of course my husband knew who she was and we chatted.

About 13 years ago there were some returning students from England that we met. They began to come to a Bible study in our home. Now 13 years later we are in that city in England and we have met the people that had a Bible study with that group of students.

I remember a friend connected me with a friend of hers when we were in Ukraine and that friend connected us with a lady in her church who was kind and spent a few days with us touring Kiev.

One of the blessings of living overseas is the people you meet both the people in the host country and the other people that are living there. My life has been deepened because of these relationships. My life has broadened because of these relationships.

Embrace and enjoy the relationships you develop overseas.

Beth

Sometimes it is not what you want

Yesterday, I wrote a few thoughts on the question, What will you be remembered for? We were in Haworth which is known for the Brontes. We wandered the village, ate lunch at a cafe and poked our head in a few shops.

One of the shops we went in was the sweet shop. There is something fun about looking at the variety of sweets and the variety of colour. Some of the sweets were local things and then there was a whole display of American food which really is American junk food. There was a row of Pringles and then a  shelf with some Pop-Tarts. There was candy and chocolate. (Funny side note when I was referring to the British made I called them sweets and when I was referring to the American I called them candy. I just made that change without much thinking.)

This is about the same as the American section of food at the supermarket. In addition to all the candy there is macaroni and cheese, Twinkies, and a few other snack foods.

Is that really what we want to be thought of as American food? I don't think I want everyone thinking of these things and thinking that is all we eat. It is not what we want but it is what we are known for.

So be careful what you do and say as that is what might be remembered.

A word of caution and a tour of the American section of the supermarket all in one blog post. In case you are wondering I don't think I have bought anything from the American section of the supermarket. I didn't buy anything yesterday at the sweet shop.

Beth

What will you be remembered for?

I am a bit excited. I have something to write about today. After last night's "I have no idea what to write about". I have something today.

I went adventuring today. That involved driving on the Motorway which I have done but not often. I am more confident after driving on the autobahn. So our adventure today took us to a small village. We wandered through a museum and then to the church next door.

I admit that the church was just like some of the other churches I have wandered in but we took a few minutes and walked about. There on the wall was a memorial for William Weightman who died in 1842. He is remembered for his orthodox principles, active zeal, moral habits, learning, mildness, and affability. It is an interesting list. In some ways these are related. The orthodox principles are the foundation for the zeal and the habits.

I pondered for a few minutes the list of things that he was remembered for. William was only 26 years old. I read this and knew that he was loved and left an impact.

That did make me pause and thing about what would be written on my memorial. What would be remembered about my character? I have thought about that at times. Do I want my children to remember me for nagging them to wash their dishes? Do I want my children to remember me as someone who does fun things with them? How will my friends remember me?

Now I have something to ponder what would I write on my monument? 

Beth