What Motivates You?

Motivation - the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.  

One can have many reasons to act or behave the way one do.  It is very easy to loss track of the little blessings in live when:

• Live is busy; 
• Many minor things goes wrong in one day;
• Hopes and expectations fail to be fulfilled;
• You are overtaken by sleep deprivation;
• You experience financial challenges and stress; or 
• Physical stress, due to pregnancy, illness or just that time of the month, make it difficult to think positive.

On Tuesday afternoon I was driving home after dropping my little girl at ballet.  My Six year old was with me, and he was constantly chatting about everything he saw, with the full enthusiasm of a six year old, who believes everything in life is fine, as long as he has a strong Daddy and a loving Mommy.  

Just there and then it hit me, that I’m not currently living with enthusiasm!  Now I’m a very enthusiastic, do-it-with-all-my-might kind of person. My mother always called me her ‘bouncing ball’.  No matter how hard I hit the ground, I always bounce back.  But over the past few months I lost it.  After all I had reason to be sad, depressed, down-hearted - I lost a baby, an overwhelming, heart breaking experience.

But, I just couldn’t handle my own, depressed, sobering thoughts anymore.  

Now I must add, I’m currently part of an intensively bible study with the Maximize Your Mornings Ladies on The Fruit of The Spirit - Abiding Fruit. 

The week on “Walking in the flesh” and how we don’t understand what we do, turned me onto serious introspection.  What we don’t do, that we do.  What we long to do, that we don’t.  But there is hope! While I abide in Jesus and allow the Spirit to dwell in me, I will be dead to sin.  This week, we study 1 Cor. 13 - the well known passage on Love!

The idea of living out my life of love, was all to much to even try to accomplish, taking in account my downhearted, melancholic attitude.  It was just not possible.  Who can bear the fruit of the spirit when they are sad and depressed, overwhelmed and tired all the time?

I asked myself the very difficult question, What would it take to get back the positive, enthusiastic, bouncing ball Linnie?  The answer came quickly, I only have to make a decision - a decision to live out of a thankful heart!  I have even more reason to be a thankful person, filled with joy and peace.  I have Christ Jesus, who loves me with an everlasting love!  My life in Christ has all the hope I need.  But I need to make the decision to live out of that love and hope. Things will always go wrong, nothing is easy.  Jesus, Himself told us, “In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” He told this to us, so we might have peace!!  (John 16:33)  If I don’t make the decision to live out of love and hope, life will always press down on me. 

Out of what motivation do you live? Do you constantly measure your life against people around you. There will always be people in better situations than us, and it does have the possibility to leave us miserable. 

Or do I live out of a thankful heart. A thankful heart is such a powerful thing! The moment I start giving thanks for things, my attitude change.  

One of the most powerful verses for me in the Word of God is Phil 6:6-8

“6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.   

8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” 

It was Christo and my wedding verses!  

A thankful heart produces joy. Ps 100

So I’ve made a decision to be thankful in everything, practice the fruit of the Spirit and be a blessing to the people around me, rejoicing in a thankful heart.

Would you like to join me in a thankful test?  Oh I would love for all of you to participate.

What are you thankful for:

Spiritual

Material

Relational

Emotional

Whimsical

Here are my answers:

Spiritual - I’m so thankful for the gift of everlasting life, knowing nothing can ever separate me from the love of God.

Material - My home.  A place of sanctuary for my family and I, where I can be creative and live out my dreams.

Relational - My awesome husband.  He is my best friend, the love of my life, my protector, my priest, my other half.  I love him so much!

Emotional - Being a mother!  I love my 8 beautiful children so much, but I love motherhood even more, knowing it is the most influential career in the world!

Whimsical - My need for fun!  Whenever I feel down in the dumps, I’ll brainstorm for some fun and go for it.

Now I want to hear what you are thankful for!  

With lots of love

Linnie

"All the days of the afflicted are evil,
      But he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast."

Prov. 15:15

Linked up with Inspired to Action

Seasons and an Update on the Lues Family 2011

My 200th Blog Posting!  


Wow, Thank you to all my Blog friends for reading my ramblings and for taking the time to comment.  I really love to hear from you.

It is almost 18 months since I did an update on the Lues Family.  So much has happened since February last year.  When I have to describe it with a sentence, it would be: “I came to know a little more about the Lord’s Seasons.” talked about in Ecclesiastics 3:

Everything Has Its Time

 To everything there is a season,

      A time for every purpose under heaven: 

        A time to be born, 

And a time to die; 

      A time to plant, 

And a time to pluck what is planted; 

       A time to kill, 

And a time to heal; 

      A time to break down, 

And a time to build up; 

       A time to weep, 

And a time to laugh; 

      A time to mourn, 

And a time to dance; 

       A time to cast away stones, 

And a time to gather stones; 

      A time to embrace, 

And a time to refrain from embracing; 

       A time to gain, 

And a time to lose; 

      A time to keep, 

And a time to throw away; 

       A time to tear, 

And a time to sew; 

      A time to keep silence, 

And a time to speak; 

       A time to love, 

And a time to hate; 

      A time of war, 

And a time of peace

This is so what I’ve experienced the past 18 months.
  

We had the joy of a newborn baby;

the blessing of a Mauritius vacation; 

the challenge of homeschooling; 

the excitement of another Knysna family vacation;

the overwhelming emotions of an Andre Rieu concert; 

the welcoming surprise of another life in my womb, but then the devastating moment of learning that we will only have the privilege of knowing That Life, in the Life To Come.

Since we lost our Unborn Baby in March this year, I’m on a roller coaster of emotions.  Especially since I’m already in my 40’s and I’m sensing the Lord is gently pushing me into a new season. 

I thought I would be strong enough to take the winds that announces the turn of the season.  But the past few months, with the signs of a new season dawning on to me, I came to know I’m not ready to leave the season I’m in, neither am I prepared for the new season!

For years I struggled to understand, figure out and make peace with the season the Lord put me in.  Yes, it didn’t come naturally to me.  For years I had to renew my mind constantly to align myself with God’s purpose for my life.  

Being pregnant, having babies, surrendering my womb to the Lord, partaker in Life giving together with all the exhausting, exciting, overwhelming and joyful emotions that comes with it.  And so, just when I embraced the season I’m in, its all changing again!

I’m most probably entering a new season.  But what is my purpose in the next season?  

I was so busy trying to understand the purpose of the current season of Life-Giving-Fruit-Bearing, I never thought about the next season. Life is now, 

enjoying every moment of every day, though some days are more about surviving the day. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow still has to come.  God want us to live this season, not longing for seasons gone by, or living in an unreal world of tomorrow. But now, with a new tomorrow almost here, I’m kind of lost.  Why do life have to be so complicated? What will this new season be asking from me? What will be the sacrifices of this new season? Oh, I do know there will be fruit, much more than in the previous season, and I’m so looking forward to it, but pruning comes before fruit bearing. 

And pruning is painful, challenging, dying to self, little by little.  

And though I have no idea what the new season is all about, it is kind of exciting to have a glimpse on the new season.  Children entering young adult life.

CJ turns 17 in the next few days.  

Wow, how I enjoy this young man in my home.  I not only love this Firstborn of mine to bits, I also like him so much!  He reminds me of his Dad, and that is so comforting.  Strong, steady, calm and a Leader.  But there is also something of my Dad; his love for horses, his sense of humor with a bit of mischief.  And there is something of myself, perseverance.  

Over the past year, CJ experienced many ups and downs in the horses.  He took part in the 2010 Junior SA Show Jumping Championships, but his horse got an eye infection weeks before the championships. Days before they had to leave for Port Elizabeth, the Vet declared Mary unfit to take part. A dear friend offered her horse for CJ to take to the championships. CJ and XP was privileged to have one practice (yes, only one) before they left for the championships. 

But CJ’s calm and relaxed personality, together with his gifting with horses, provided him a great time and he earned very valuable experience.  They started planning for the 2011 Junior Show Jumping SA Championships, when the owner of Mary decide to withdraw her from show jumping and CJ was without a horse.  But the Lord is never caught off guard.  CJ’s previous trainer had two horses that needed a rider and CJ currently had his hands full riding two horses.  

The reality though was, that he had to start all over again by training a new horse. I sense that this is all about training in this season of his life, training his perseverance.  

He also got the once in a lifetime opportunity to be a Stunt Jumping Rider for a movie shoot. 

He enjoyed every moment of it with the vitality of a young teenage boy!  In his studies, he is diligent and purposeful, which make my work as his educator very satisfying.

Then there is the young lady who is developing in my home - Heidi-Mari who just turned 14.  

Oh, how gracious the Lord was the day He gave me this girl, who is truly in the transforming phase of being a lady.  She is my best friend and co-worker in the home. 

She is a true friend to her siblings, but also my right hand in looking after her siblings.  So much so that she and her brother CJ looked after them for 7 days with only a little adult support, while we were blessed with our Mauritius vacation.

Heidi-Mari started her own crafting blog last year, she became a Design Team Member for two Card Making Challenges and this month she started her own Baking Challenge.  She is making small steps towards walking in her calling of being a Virtuous Woman and that is so precious to witness.  

Josua my almost 11 year old is showing signs of growing in his own identity.  

My ‘Thinking-Out-Of-The-Box-Boy’ - he does not know of the existence of a box!  

Danika is walking in the footsteps of her sister, but with a strong personality of her own.  

She also started her own crafting blog a month ago and crafting evenings are now devoted to her.

And then there are my four, full of energy, 

keep me on my toes 

and alive little boys, Andrew, David, Daniel and Michael. 

Andrew just turned 6 and is surely leaving his toddler steps behind and has started walking the path of a young boy!  

How precious to witness that stage again, a time of developing his personality. Asking many questions, reasoning and thinking in his unique way.  

Little David, four years, is walking more and more in the calling of his name! 

He is an individualist, he needs nobody’s approval to do what he believe is right - a challenge in itself for his parents (!) - but so sensitive, with his sweet spirit.  

Daniel at three (tomorrow on the 1st), is only my older baby!  

Oh, he still needs me so much, though it is so easy to forget he needs me.  He’s still chubby like a baby, looks like a baby, experience life like a baby, and when he looks at me with his precious big baby face, everything in me crumble and I embrace my sweet little boy!

And then there is baby Michael. 

In only two months from now, he would not have been my baby anymore, that is if our precious unborn baby stayed in my womb.  But in the Lord’s wisdom He decided Michael will still be my baby at 18 months, unlike his three older brothers. They all had a younger sibling between the age of 16 and 20 months.  

And then the Lord gently reminds me of the second part of Ecclesiastics 3:

“The God-Given Task

What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

  I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.

      I know that whatever God does,        It shall be forever.        Nothing can be added to it,        And nothing taken from it.        God does it, that men should fear before Him.        That which is has already been,        And what is to be has already been;        And God requires an account of what is past.”

I praise the Lord for little Michael who is still my baby, maybe my last, a very precious gift....  

One whom I can still cherish and hold, care for, while I don’t know when my current season will end and when the new season will dawn.  

But one thing I do know, in the new season, even more than the current, God will, through this broken vessel do things that will be forever.  

Every season is beautiful, every season has a God Given purpose if we keep eternity in our hearts.

And therefore I will rejoice and do good, and in due time, enjoy the good of the labor of  yet another God-given season. 

With love

Linnie

"And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,

that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;

his leaf also shall not wither;

and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

Ps 1:3

Guard your Hearts and Minds

On Friday morning I was in the bank to withdraw cash for the first time in years!  I have a debit card and almost never need hard cash. As I was standing in the long line, waiting for an available cashier, I was taken aback by how debt was being advertised in the most enticing way possible on all different levels!  We don’t have any loan except for our home and vehicles and I praise the Lord that I don’t need to visit the bank often.  If I was exposed to all the ‘wonderful things’ you can do with a loan, I’m not sure if I would have been able to stay out of debt for so long.

  

As I was driving home after visiting the bank, I thought of how we are enticed on every corner in every area of our lives, physically as well as emotionally and spiritually.  And if we don’t have safety regulations in place to guard our minds, we can very easily fall into temptations that can lure us away from the calling on our life, the true life God intend for us!  

Over the past week I had to double check my safety regulations in the temptation of becoming discontent with my life as a full time mother in comparison with godly women who have resigned from their responsibility of being a full time mother. For a moment these women’s ‘freedom’ and ‘the fun they have’ was luring me away from my joyful, but sacrificial life as the home schooling mother of my many, beautiful Blessings, like God called me to be!

There are three places you can use as reference on wisdom in living life:

Society and what the World wants you to be;

The church and how fellow brothers and sisters in Christ want you to be; and

The Word of God and what God wants you to be.

When it came to motherhood and being the wife God wants me to be, I’m not at all enticed by Society or the World any more, but I sure have a struggle to guard my mind, when I look at fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and how they interpret life.  

After this past week, I’ve realized again, I can only rely on God’s word to guide me in true wisdom of living a God honouring life!  

Here are a few of my favourite verses:

1 Corinthians 15:58

“Therefore, my beloved brehtren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” 

Jer. 6:16

“Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therin, and ye shall find rest for your souls,...”

Deut 28:13

“And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and careful to observe them.”

2 Cor 10:5

“Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,”

Gen 1:28

“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion...”

Ps. 127:3 

“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.”

Mal 2:15

“But did He not make them one, 

Having a remnant of the Spirit?

And why one?

He seeks godly offspring.”

Ps. 127:4-5

“As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.  Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them.”

Ps. 113:9

“He make the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children.  Praise ye the Lord.”

Ps 128:3

“Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine

In the very heart of your house,

Your children like olive plants

All around your table.”

Titus 2:4-5

“...admonish the young women to love their husbands, to lover their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husband, that the word of God may not be blaspheme.”

1 Tim. 5:14

“I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.”

Prov. 31:27

“She looks well to the ways of her household, and eats not the bread of idleness.”

Is 40:11

“He will feed His flock like a shepherd;

He will gather the lambs with His arm,

And carry them in His bosom,

And gently lead those who are with young.”

Matthew 16:25

“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it;

and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”

Matthew 6:19-21

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves don not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 6:33

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Ps. 32:8

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will guide you with My eye.”

Pr. 14:1

“The wise woman builds her house, 

But the foolish pulls it down with her hands.”

Phil. 2:14-15

“Do all things without murmurings and disputing; that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.”

1 Thessalonians 5:18

“In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

Ps 37:3-4

“Trust in the Lord, and do good;

Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

Delight yourself also in the Lord,

And He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

In my battle to reestablish my contentment as a mother, trying to validate my choices, I was almost like the man described in James 1:5-8:

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.  

For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

he is a double-minded man, unstable in all is ways.”

After I filled myself with God’s truth, there was no doubt in my mind at all. I could testify of “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, which guard my heart and mind through Christ Jesus.”   Phil 4:7

May these verses also bring you peace and contentment in your high calling of motherhood

With love

Linnie

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good word.”

2 Tim. 3:16