So what is Soul Integrity???

Fall of 2012, I did my first OBS...So what is OBS? Online Bible Study. We studied the book "Unglued" by Lysa Terkeurst which I would recommend anyone of any walk of life to pick up your copy today you would not regret. I first heard of Lysa on K-Love. I was in a state of searching and hungry for more of God. Not only that, I knew in my heart I needed to change but I am not talking about a little change. I knew I was in need of a complete transformation with a new and balance relationship with God. Like many people, I would say "yea I serve Jesus" "I go to church sometimes" "I am an alright mom" "I am good wife" the list of convincing myself of the things that I was so called doing came down to one question that I had for myself, "was I really doing what was pleasing to God in action and words?" So, my OBS taught me to be honest with myself. Which lets be real, that is hard to do sometimes. I had to open my heart, my mind, and be real. Which had brought me to this place. Along the way, I learned that I am very much an unglued momma. I am not just an unglued momma but I am mainly "exploder" with some "stuffing" at times. I know that is hard to believe for those that really know me. I was born in a roller coaster of emotions with no idea how to control them. I felt like bull rider being swung from one end of the bull to other but the thing is I didn't even know how to hang on for the ride. I was thrown from one end of the spectrum to the other end. Now, if I was God I would of gave up on me a long time ago. But nope, He wasn't done with me as a teenager and He is not done with me now. So here we are.... Soul Integrity is my deepest heart desire to find, live, breath, and have it's way in me....According to Lysa's book Unglued this is what soul integrity is.

Soul Integrity is honesty that's godly. It brings the passion of the exploder and the peacemaking of the stuffer under the authority of Jesus where honesty and godliness embrace and balance each other.

Something has changed in me in the last couple of months...I am not saying I haven't had my moments where I felt like I could blow up like a shook up pop bottle, because I have. I am a working progress wife, mother, daughter, and woman. I know their are times where I know God has taken my words away just like God did with Zachariah. I recently heard a message by Joel Osteen that has set my heart on fire...If you have nothing positive to say then ZIP IT! I am a Working Progress in my relationships with family members, husband, my parents, and children. I found myself looking in the mirror and asking myself do I really want my daughter and son to ride the same roller coaster that I have always been on? NO WAY! So if I didn't want that to happen then I needed to do something about it...Getting a Grip literally!

Throughout this working progress, I have to admit I have asked God many questions. Why in the heck couldn't I be like so and so because they are so calm, quiet, passive, relax life would be so much easier...God gently reminded me to carry my own load.

Galatians 6:4-5 New International Version (NIV) 4 Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5 for each one should carry their own load.

Something else about Soul Integrity that I found is important is how and what you are saying to yourself. What kind of labels are you speaking because I know the labels I have been speaking out of my mouth since I was a child and it is not good. Learning to stop speaking untrue words that is against what God says we are...The bible talks a lot about the our tongue and what we are saying.

James 3:9-12 The Message (MSG) 7-10 This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!

10-12 My friends, this can’t go on. A spring doesn’t gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don’t bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don’t bear apples, do they? You’re not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?

That hurts...I remember one time that I was sitting and meeting with my Pastor wife as a teenager and she gave me an assignment that was getting a poster board and writing out all the scriptures I could find on the tongue and words we speak. I found a lot but I am sure I could of found more if I put more into it...We speak words daily, some people talk more than others but just because we think it doesn't mean we have to speak it. I challenge each of us this week, get a notebook and write out scriptures on words you will be amazed on what God really says. I am also going to be doing this. So go on this journey with and strive toward SOUL INTEGRITY...Are you with me?

Jesus has made me a kind-hearted person, full of encouragementand eager to inspire any person who gets within ten feet of me. Jesus has made me smart enough to know that I need Him-desperately and fully. And Jesus has assigned all of us the important job of representing Him to this world, which means we re-represent Him everywhere we go.

Lysa Terkeurst "Unglued"

Check out Lysa's book: http://www.ungluedbook.com/

2013 is going to be full of New Adventures.....

First off, Happy New Year! 2013 is going to be the Best Year You have Ever Seen!

Have you ever travelled in an area that you have never been too or not familiar with?  I am there now  unsure on my next move but putting one foot in front of the other and following God's lead all the way.

I have started and embarked on a new adventure that is Spirit led on my path of being a Homemaker aka "stay at home mom" that includes home management and organizing our lives to run more efficient, Meal Planning and living by a budget, home schooling my toddlers, and but most importantly striving toward being a Proverbs 31 Woman which my marriage and children are my #1 ministry.

2012 was my year of preparation for what I am embarking on for 2013. In a few short weeks I will start homeschooling my tot and then by fall I will be full speed ahead with my wings spread wide heading into 3 day a week preschool. I never thought I would even do anything like this. I remember growing up in my church and hearing some people speak of homeschooling but never thought that would be something for me to do someday. So here I am, obeying the still small voice "this is my purpose for such a time as this"...

The other thing that God has laid on my heart is relearning how to become a better me, wife, and mother. I have always loved to organize but didn't really know how to organize my family & home... So my other goal is that in one year from this week that my house would be organized. Learning to manage my home and family is vital. When you get married and have children we always tell ourselves "I was never given a manual to raise my children or how to be a wife" but that is not true...God's word is our manual from being a woman of faith, what is expected in a marriage for men and woman, how to raise your children, to love, to forgive, and the list can go on. I have always had the manual but I don't think I really took the time to study the manual to figure out how everything works together to glorify God! So here I am on my journey as I crack open the manual, learn how to manage through making my own stuff, to cooking, reading books, motherhood, and being a good wife that loves the Lord with all her heart. Not just saying it but actually walking & speaking it...I hope you join me on my travels and I am always open to new ideas....

God Bless

Liz