Archives for March 2013

Five Minute Friday: Broken

March 29, 2013 by Amy 9 Comments

Writing on “broken” for five minutes without editing with Lisa-Jo.

I watched the group of girls to my left, all crowded around the two tables. A few of them eating and laughing and talking. But one of them with the wiry strawberry blond hair pulled back looked away from the group. I imagined her thinking she just wanted to go home. She didn’t look mad, maybe just sad and a little broken. I wanted to hug her and tell her she should laugh. She should laugh and she should cry and she should enjoy those girls she was with.

I can’t help but think there was an enemy whispering lies to her. Telling her they didn’t like her and they must be talking about her and maybe telling her that her parents hated her and that bad grade she got this week must mean she’s stupid and she’d never amount to anything. I think the enemy is doing that a lot with these teenagers these days. I’ve listened and watched to the stories just this week and know its true. He tries to tell them their broken and to give up.

I pray they get it, really get it that maybe they are a little broken but there is hope. There is One that was broken for them and in all their mess they are valuable and loved. He has plans for them and those friends are gifts. He wants them to hear those lies and then remind the enemy of truth.

He delights in me.

He has plans for me.

No weapon formed against me shall prosper.

He wants joy for me.

Remind the enemy of that day he thought Jesus was defeated and then remind him of 3 days later when the gates of hell were busted open and he learned who really was broken and defeated.

I walked away from the strawberry blond and didn’t tell her, didn’t hug her. Didn’t even try to catch her eyes to smile at her. Maybe next time I will. And in the meantime, I’ll remind the enemy just who is broken and where he can go.

End

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What I’m Into – March 2013

March 28, 2013 by Amy 18 Comments

Loonng iPhone Cord

Shelley from TheHouseofSmiths posted about this cord from MiniInTheBox a few months ago. I finally remembered to get one this month and man, oh, man. What a difference it makes.

I plug my cord in behind my bed. With the old cord, I’d have to lay on my side at the edge of my bed to read my phone. Now, Scott can read it plugged in on the other side of our King-sized bed if he needs to. It’s pretty great. And wow, I’m entirely spoiled. The good news is these only cost $2.99.

iPad

I know, I know, I’m like 3 years late. I always said I didn’t see a need for an iPad but my faithful Kindle finally died this month. I was set to replace it with another basic Kindle but after checking Craigslist, I found a pretty sweet deal on a used iPad 2 and couldn’t resist. Apparently some parent was having a “teachable moment” with her son. Poor kid.

So far I like how the screen is lit so I can read in bed after Scott’s asleep. I’ll be interested to see how much I like it compared to my Kindle when I’m reading outside more in the Summer.

I also really like the Evernote app a lot better than my iPhone since the keyboard is so much larger.

And of course, the kids love it.

Snuggle Fabric Softener

Man, I know this is old school stuff here but I branched out (not far, clearly) to try a different fabric softener and wow, what a difference. Seriously, the entire family is going around sniffing their own clothes.

Almonds

In January, I posted about the Smokehouse Almonds I’d found that I like. Turns out I like the several of the other flavors. Last time they were on sale, I picked up Smokehouse, Bold Jalapeno Smokehouse, Bold Honey Dijon and Toasted Coconut and they’re all yummy. I eat a handful almost every morning for snack.

Hazelnut Macchiato

Starbucks is offering a new Hazelnut macchiato and I think it’s perfect when you don’t want plain coffee but white mocha is just too sweet. Which, in my case lately is just about anytime.

Candle

I tried this scented candle (Boticario de Havana) from Archipelago from the 31 Days to a Heart of Hospitality ebook from LifeinGraceBlog.com and I love it so much. It’s rich and smoky and is perfect for our bedroom. Wait for a sale to pick this up though. It’s kind of pricey for the size. This would also be a great idea for Mother’s Day coming up for yourself.

Online Finds

Brene Brown’s TED talk on vulnerability is a fascinating 20 minutes. HT to Sarah
Start with this video on back yard roller coasters and then get lost in YouTube for the next 30 minutes looking at related videos.
Cynthia shared Top Buttons, a movement for modesty, in the comments of the modesty post this week. I’m into it.
If you went to church in the 80’s and 90’s the video in this post is REQUIRED VIEWING.
I’ve been into podcasts this month. So far I’ve added Michael Hyatt, Andy Stanley Leadership and Home Fries from The Simple Mom. Send me your recommendations, podcast listeners.

Make sure to check back mid-April when I join Modern Mrs. Darcy to talk about all the great books I’ve been into lately.

What are YOU into lately?

This post is linked up to LeighKramer.com

What I Wore Wednesday 3.27.2013

March 27, 2013 by Amy 8 Comments

It’s Wednesday! I share my outfits from the week with The Pleated Poppy’s What I Wore Wednesday.

I pair my outfits with inspirational photos. Read more about that here.

Like Tucker photo bombing? He always gets so excited when I go outside to take a picture because he thinks I want to play with him. Bless his heart. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Source: flickr.com viaAmy on Pinterest

While it looks super sunny and springy, it was FREEZING that day. I ended up wearing my winter jacket around all day.

Source: metrodorus.tumblr.com viaAmy on Pinterest

I wore this to the Lysa TerKeurst event. I sorely misjudged the weather. I wanted to look cute and springy and I walked out and it was rainy and freezing. I changed into jeans and boots as soon as I got home. On another note, does anyone want to comment on the streak of gray hair in right front?

Source: elfentau.tumblr.com viaAmy on Pinterest

OK, so not my most fashionable moment ever. I was tired of it being rainy and cold and felt like looking “mountainy.” Oddly, Scott really liked this outfit.

Source: 24.media.tumblr.com viaAmy on Pinterest

Let’s connect! Like Permission to Peruse on Facebook (where you can see some outtakes from my pictures). Follow me on Pinterest (where I post these inspirational pictures), Instagram (where you might sneak an early peek of an outfit) or Twitter.

In the Loop with Lysa TerKeurst

March 26, 2013 by Amy 3 Comments

A few months back, I joined author and Proverbs 31 Ministries founder Lysa TerKeurst’s “In the Loop Group”—basically a focus group that helps promote Lysa’s books and gives extra perks to members.

I was ecstatic to see she wanted to get a group together in Charlotte to brainstorm for her next book over lunch this past weekend. A group of about 75 ladies would have some Q&A time with Lysa, a little message and then do some brainstorming over lunch.

The Questions

My life-long love of question-asking paid off as 2 of my questions were chosen ahead of time to ask Lysa Saturday. I got to sit front row and ask them personally.

I thought I’d share my questions and her answers.

My first question:

Looking back to the preschool years of my children, one of my biggest regrets is getting so angry during potty training and at other times when I was expecting too much for their age. As I head into parenting tweens now, what one piece of advice would you give me to cherish this new season of parenting?

I was in heaven as Lysa took several minutes to address this question. First, she admitted she was not a great mom of younger children but says it turns out she is a great intentional mom of big kids. I so appreciated she was vulnerable enough to say that and it relieved some of my own guilt.

Second, she gave 3 pieces of advice about going into the tween years:

Date your kids. Lysa says don’t be in parenting mode but just listen and speak truth without lecturing. She talked a lot about connecting on issues that they care about and used the example of pop music.
Invite them to fight for something good. Lysa spoke to her texting and driving lesson I talked about yesterday where she had her kids do reports and has them really own the issues.
Issue yourself lots of grace.

And my second question:

What advice would you give to writers who are trying to grow their platform?

Lysa said write as much as you can by grabbing snippets of time just for writing. Also, ask God for your assignment today, do that and walk away. She said you could go crazy spending your time 24-7 building a platform, but it would cause you to lose focus with other areas of life.

The Message

Lysa shared her message from her latest book Unglued. She described the four types of reactors: exploders that blame, exploders who shame themselves, stuffers who builds barriers and stuffers who collect retaliation rocks and what each needed to do to make changes. Really great stuff–if you haven’t read her book, you can get Unglued on Amazon.

The Brainstorming

We finished out the day brainstorming over lunch. You can read about the concept of her next book on one of her latest posts. This time was a good ‘ol white-boarding session. The floor was open to all the attendees to talk about what topics should be addressed in the book.

This part was really the most fun of the day. I loved the idea of getting a group together and coming up with ideas for a book and there were so many wise women I learned from. I don’t want to give too much away as I’m sure she’d like to communicate these messages through her book but I’ll just say I think her next book is going to be another life-changer.

Whew, all in all a great morning. While I know the actual intent was to help Lysa with her book, many of us walked away feeling connected, pampered and valued. Thanks to the team for all their hard work!

I’m not sure if there’s currently a waiting list or not but if you want to join Lysa’s In the Loop Group head on over to her site.

9 Rules My Daughters Taught Me About Modesty

March 25, 2013 by Amy 32 Comments

I got an email from my friend the other day regarding a post she’d seen on women and modesty. After some conversation, she asked me how I handled the topic of modesty with my girls.

I answered that we’ve talked about modesty as we’ve gone along.

Foundation of Modesty

When they were younger, we’d run into the Barbie Basics collection at Target. Most of the girls are dressed even more inappropriately than a normal Barbie and I’d just calmly explain that I didn’t think they were dressed appropriately and I wasn’t going to spend my money on them.

As they’ve dressed, I’ve tried to guide them as we go. Those shorts are too short, you need a tank under that shirt or those pants are too tight.

Just this weekend we were watching an awards show and one girl was showing too much cleavage and Scott piped up that her dress was inappropriate.

My girls know the phrase that’s inappropriate.

The email got me thinking though. What have I taught my girls about modesty? Sure, I’ve given them rules but have I explained why it’s important?

Learning the Why

I read this post by Lysa TerKeurst the other day about how she taught her kids about texting and driving by getting them to teach her and her husband about the perils of texting and driving.

My girls are only 8 and 10 so that might seem too young to A, get them to make a presentation or B, have them reporting on modesty. But let me say. My girls can work Powerpoint almost as well as I can. And, if this news about Victoria’s Secret new undergarment line geared towards middle schoolers is any indication, I need to be teaching my girls about modesty. Pronto.

The Immodest Modesty Plan

So I had an idea.

I wanted to sit down with verses to explain the why and then see if they could report on some rules about modesty.

I was planning to somehow carefully cut pictures from magazines or Google pictures and let them sort through them and report back, but that just felt like a loaded gun.

And then it hit me.

I was going to dress up in (somewhat) immodest outfits and they were going to A-gag, B-tell me what was wrong and C-make a rule for how to dress that fixed it.

The Modesty Why

I had them read 1 Timothy 2:9

Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.

Immediately, they were asking why it mentioned no braided hair. Honestly, I sometimes struggle with that part and I think that’s why so many of us shirk away from teaching it.

I just explained that it’s more important to be beautiful because of the good things you do versus how you look, but the point was we should dress modestly and properly. (This commentary from David Guzik is a good one on the verse).

Then I had them read 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

I explained that since we have the Holy Spirit inside of us, our bodies are temples and valuable so we needed to dress like it—modestly, as the verse before explained. I asked them would it make sense to dress immodestly if you knew Jesus was with you. Lexi says “No, Jesus doesn’t want to see that!” Ah, I love her. Just for the record, Jesus has seen it all and can, in fact, handle it. But phrasing it that way helps their minds process the Holy Spirit.

I then explained that the Bible wasn’t specific about exactly what we could wear—shorts, dresses, bikinis, etc so I was going to play dress-up and we could decide together what was modest.

Writing the Modesty Rules

I was a little scared it might backfire because my girls like to dress a little sassy when they play dress-up but oh, when I walked out with a T-shirt tied on the side up to my chest with my stomach showing all the way down to my low-cut jeans, the girls faces told me I’d done just the right thing.

You would have thought I’d just killed a puppy.

Mother! You need to pull your shirt down!

So, immediately they were writing down the first rule (in the ShowMe app ), Cover belly.

Next, I pulled out a shirt with a wide neck that I normally wear on my shoulders with an undershirt, but let it hang off one shoulder nearly down to my elbow until the top of my bra showed.

Oh my gosh! I can see your bra! You need to cover your shoulders!

Cover shoulders.

Make sure bra covered.

This was going better than I even expected.

Next, I put on a brightly printed bra under a thin white tank which I pulled down so you could see the very little amount of cleavage I have.

Cover boobs.

No light shirt, dark bra.

Scott walked in at this point with a very confused face. I think he really wanted to like the scenery but couldn’t process what was happening. The girls explained I was “homeschooling them about modesty.”

Next, I got some elastic gym shorts, folded the waist band down 3 times and pulled them up high. More gasping as I walked out. Your legs! Too much leg is showing!

Cover legs.

Next, I put on some tight yoga pants but kept my short tank on.

Pants not tight.

I decided to really drive home the point and pulled the sides of my underwear above the band my low rise jeans.

Mother, I can see your underwear!

Don’t show undies.

At this point, Lexi took over and said, let me show you inappropriate.

Y’all, you don’t even know how much that statement scared me.

She told me to put a tank top on, my short white shorts and my tall gold wedge heels.

She’s said that’s inappropriate.

They decided if I didn’t have the heels on, it seemed ok but when you combined all three, it was immodest.

No tank, shorts and heels.

At this point, I think they’d experience too much of inappropriate Mother and were ready to move on. I circled back and had them repeat the why and let them bounce back down the hall to their room. We had a total of 9 rules that would satisfy almost any immodest plight.

A Modesty Stake

Through this whole exercise I kept thinking about Emma and Lexi as teenagers. Maybe the sway of wanting boys to pay attention to them will overpower any sense of decency at times, but I can’t help but think this was a stake in the ground for them to point back at in those moments.

I hope they can look back in their minds and remember writing rules with their silly momma playing dress-up one afternoon and they’ll be more apt to listen when the Holy Spirit whispers, let’s do better than that, child.

Moms of daughters, how do you handle modesty? We still have a few more years to hammer this in, so I’m all ears.

P.S. Apologies to anyone offended by the descriptions of my outfits. Just be glad I didn’t include the pictures Lexi took.

To Walk or Stay

March 22, 2013 by Amy 9 Comments

What would you do if your husband cheated on you?

Could you stay? Or would you walk away?

Seriously, take a moment and consider.

It’d be hard to stay, wouldn’t it?

Lara Williams was put right in between those two questions after her husband stepped out and cheated–walk or stay?

While Scott and I traveled the road after an emotional affair, I’m honestly not sure how we would answer those questions if thrust into the same decisions. I hardly even like considering it.

But God was faithful to Lara and her husband when God asked her to travel the hard road of staying.

In her new book To Walk or Stay Lara shares just what it took spiritually to forgive and heal after such devastating circumstances.

God is our restorer and our healer and whether you’ve been through an affair, whether your marriage feels perfect right now or even if you’re single, I promise this book will teach you something.

You don’t survive, even thrive, after an affair without learning some valuable life lessons.

To Walk or Stay is a short 10 chapter book with discussion questions and a deeper dive after each chapter that is perfect for small group settings. Lara will be hosting a book club starting on April 15th. I highly recommend you grab a copy and plan to walk through the book with some accountability partners.

If you need a copy, Lara is hosting a giveaway today so go check that out.

To Walk or Stay is also available on Amazon. Don’t miss this one.

To Walk or Stay Promo Video from Lara Williams on Vimeo.

A New Thing

March 21, 2013 by Amy 12 Comments

(image credit)

Yesterday was the first day of Spring and I, for one, am ecstatic. I was definitely not made for winter. I survive winter and thrive in summer.

I can’t wait to plant my garden next month and peel back the cover on the pool—even if it is only halfway full because of an apparent hole in the liner. I can’t wait until the grass looks like something other than hay. I want to sweat in the car and complain 32 times a day to someone, “It is SO HOT. I can’t even breathe outside.” Seriously. Can’t wait.

I don’t know if you’ve felt it where you live but I can feel summer coming on. We’ve had some warm days over 70 and plants are starting to bloom. It’s coming.

This morning I was reading in my Valley of Vision book. Please don’t take me for more spiritually disciplined than I am. I’ve only been consistent for two days now. But I’m trying, as part of a new growth plan thing I want to tell you about soon, to read it every morning.

Today’s prayer was about the goodness of God and it struck me so hard that I stopped reading and did one of those Selah things from Psalms. You know where “Selah” is written out to the side and you’re supposed to stop and meditate on what you just read? Yeah, it was one of those moments.

It is an amazing thing to see Deity in a creature, speaking, acting, filling, shining through it;

That nothing is good but thee,

That I am near good when I am near thee,

That to be like thee is a glorious thing:

This is my magnet, my attraction.

I don’t often assign the word “Deity” to God. When I think of deities I think of the Roman and Greek gods we studied in school.

I started thinking about how our true God really did come in a creature, speaking and acting. And isn’t it amazing what kind of God he is? Some gods were too full of themselves to look away from their reflection, some were consumed with war and others, art. I’m not suggesting they were real. In fact, these are the very gods that those in the New Testament were trying to say were not real.

I just imagined if we had studied about Jesus in the same way and what we’d say about our God. He’s so loving and cares about the least of these and patient and slow to anger and just so darn good.

As I’ve been praying that God shows me how much he loves me, one day he just whispered to me, “I died for you, Amy, how else can I show you?”

Selah.

Isn’t that overwhelming? That our God, the one true God, when he came in a creature he loved us so much he died for us. Who, especially a deity, does that?

And so, that last line, “This is my magnet, my attraction,” communicates so much about how I’ve been feeling lately.

Just as spring is coming on, I feel like God is doing something new in me. I have this renewed sense of urgency to know him better. It’s just as it says, like a magnet. I’m drawn to him. It’s unexplainable and without logic but I am. I want to be so engulfed in him that it’s like summer and I say I can’t breathe! I want to be fully in his presence and overwhelmed with his love.

So I probably sound like that Jesus Freak T-shirt I wear and that’s ok with me. I think I’m done trying to pretend I’m not.

This is my magnet, my attraction.

What I Wore Wednesday – 3.20.2013

March 20, 2013 by Amy 4 Comments

It’s Wednesday! I share my outfits from the week with The Pleated Poppy’s What I Wore Wednesday.

I pair my outfits with inspirational photos. Read more about that here.

Source: fineartamerica.com viaAmy on Pinterest

Source: benignobjects.blogspot.com viaAmy on Pinterest

Source: photography.nationalgeographic.com viaAmy on Pinterest

Source: sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net viaAmy on Pinterest

I had a little epiphany about how I dressed after Allume last year when I started posting all these outfit and inspirational pictures.

I work from home most days and before then, it didn’t seem worth it to dress up on days I’d be home alone. In fact, for all of these outfits except one you see here, only a handful of people actually saw me. More people will see these outfits online than they will in person.

Even though I’m no fashionista, I love putting outfits together and I always have. I’ll never forget trying to find the EXACT purple slouch socks to wear in middle school. It matters to me. But somewhere along the line I convinced myself I was dressing just for others and I wasn’t worth putting in the effort.

I wish I could remember who said and in what context but they said dressing up even when you’re home alone is worth it because YOU are worth it.

Let me say it out loud I’M worth it. YOU are worth it. If you like clothes and dressing yourself up then by golly, do it and do it for YOU. God made all these beautiful colors and patterns for us to enjoy so let’s do it and without any guilt! When you understand WHY you’re enjoying it and it’s pointing us back to the Creator, it makes all the difference!