For Moms – A Plague of Play-Doh – Exodus 8 – October 15 – October 21, 2012

It holds the place mats in crooked positions on the kitchen table. Walking from the table to the sink, it crunches underfoot on the linoleum. As we make our way across the family room, crumbs of red, green and blue smush into the carpet. Play-Doh.

How many times have we laid down the rules about where the kids can play with Play-Doh? For that matter, how many hours have we spent sweeping and sponging its stubborn remains away?

A plague of Play-Doh! That’s what it feels like! Oh, certainly it’s not like the horrible plagues suffered in Egypt. But it’s a plague just the same. As if God is somehow judging us with an onslaught of Play-Doh that won’t go away no matter what we do! What sin have we left unconfessed? How have we angered the Almighty?

Hey, Mom, it’s not a plague. It’s a stage. And it comes with young children. God is not raining down judgment on moms. He loves us more than we can imagine ever being loved. And his love for us will last long past the last of the Play-Doh.

The Sweet Scent of Democracy – October 1- October 15, 2012

It’s that time of year again — time to exercise your right to vote and let your nose be heard! It’s Bring Back My Bar time! Vote for your favorite retired Scentsy fragrances and reunite with the lush florals, juicy fruits, and spicy herbs still lingering in your memory.

Which fragrance candidate deserves your vote? Do you stand behind the Root Beer Float platform? Does Garden Paradise best represent your ideals? Can Clarity bring about the change you seek? Review the candidates and their descriptions, study their fragrant qualities, and vote with confidence. Choice never smelled so good!

There will be two voting periods — a primary (Oct. 1-15) and general election (Oct. 17-31) — where you’ll have an opportunity to vote 30 times per each election.

For the primary, choose your top three fragrances from a list of over 250 retired scents. The 30 scents with the most votes will proceed to the general election for another round of voting.

In the general, elect your three favorites from the remaining fragrances and help decide the final 20 scents that will be available for the month of January 2013 only.

Now, go forth and ballot for your bars, stump for your scents, and warm the vote!

Vote Now!

View Our A-Z List of Eligible Fragrances

Visit My Online Scentsy Store

For Moms – F-I-G-H-T! – Genesis 37:12–35 – October 8 – October 14, 2012

F-I-G-H-T! That’s the battle cry of kids in so many families today. Before we reach the car door, brother and sister are close to blows over who gets to sit in the front. “He pinched me!” “She pulled my hair!” And so it goes.

Siblings have often been rivals. Even back in Bible times. Think about Cain and Abel and Joseph and his eleven brothers. As in these very serious situations, some sibling squabbles can have disastrous results.

Is there a way to mitigate the negative aspects of sibling fights? When carefully monitored by parents, can they actually foster growth? Experts list three benefits to in-house fighting:

1. Interpersonal empathy. Fights offer children the opportunity to learn sensitivity to the feelings of others.

2. Emotional processing. Fights give children a chance to express and process emotions.

3. Resolution skills. Fights give children experience in establishing nonviolent solutions like compromise and cooperation.

While God can and does bring good out of even the worst of situations, we can help our children grow well by teaching them how to “fight” well.

The Sweet Scent of Democracy – October 1- October 15, 2012

It’s that time of year again — time to exercise your right to vote and let your nose be heard! It’s Bring Back My Bar time! Vote for your favorite retired Scentsy fragrances and reunite with the lush florals, juicy fruits, and spicy herbs still lingering in your memory.

Which fragrance candidate deserves your vote? Do you stand behind the Root Beer Float platform? Does Garden Paradise best represent your ideals? Can Clarity bring about the change you seek? Review the candidates and their descriptions, study their fragrant qualities, and vote with confidence. Choice never smelled so good!

There will be two voting periods — a primary (Oct. 1-15) and general election (Oct. 17-31) — where you’ll have an opportunity to vote 30 times per each election.

For the primary, choose your top three fragrances from a list of over 250 retired scents. The 30 scents with the most votes will proceed to the general election for another round of voting.

In the general, elect your three favorites from the remaining fragrances and help decide the final 20 scents that will be available for the month of January 2013 only.

Now, go forth and ballot for your bars, stump for your scents, and warm the vote!

Vote Now!

View Our A-Z List of Eligible Fragrances

Visit My Online Scentsy Store

The Sweet Scent of Democracy – October 1- October 15, 2012

It’s that time of year again — time to exercise your right to vote and let your nose be heard! It’s Bring Back My Bar time! Vote for your favorite retired Scentsy fragrances and reunite with the lush florals, juicy fruits, and spicy herbs still lingering in your memory.

Which fragrance candidate deserves your vote? Do you stand behind the Root Beer Float platform? Does Garden Paradise best represent your ideals? Can Clarity bring about the change you seek? Review the candidates and their descriptions, study their fragrant qualities, and vote with confidence. Choice never smelled so good!

There will be two voting periods — a primary (Oct. 1-15) and general election (Oct. 17-31) — where you’ll have an opportunity to vote 30 times per each election.

For the primary, choose your top three fragrances from a list of over 250 retired scents. The 30 scents with the most votes will proceed to the general election for another round of voting.

In the general, elect your three favorites from the remaining fragrances and help decide the final 20 scents that will be available for the month of January 2013 only.

Now, go forth and ballot for your bars, stump for your scents, and warm the vote!

Vote Now!

View Our A-Z List of Eligible Fragrances

Visit My Online Scentsy Store

For Couples – Conquering Regrets – Genesis 19:1–29 – October 6 – October 12, 2012

“Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” Genesis 19:17

If only we hadn’t married so soon. If only we had more money. If only I had married Jake instead of John. Regrets in marriage are damaging. They keep our eyes fixed on the rearview mirror instead of on the road ahead. While reviewing the past and assessing what we’ve learned through mistakes can be a healthy exercise, regretting the past only serves to fuel discontentment and impede growth.

When Dan and I decided to close a three-year-old business, I struggled with regret. I had used up all of our nest egg to pursue a business venture I had believed in. When the business failed, I regretted so many decisions I had made, especially not listening to Dan’s advice along the way. My failure meant that we would be struggling financially again after having enjoyed several years of monetary comfort. Even though I knew God had walked us through this difficult time and taught us invaluable lessons, it was tempting to think, “If I hadn’t tried to start that new business, we’d be financially set right now.” Instead of keeping my eyes focused on God’s plan for my life, I chose to get stuck in my tracks with if-only thinking.

Lot’s wife had a similar problem. She and her husband were running for their lives from Sodom and Gomorrah, knowing that God had judged the culture they were living in and was about to decimate everything they had ever known. While Lot was running full steam ahead, his wife kept looking over her shoulder. Eventually, the distance between them became so great that Lot literally left his wife in the dust.

Regret is like that. We keep looking over our shoulder, wondering if what we’ve left behind might have been better than what we’re moving toward. God’s angel warned Lot and his wife not to look back, and it’s a warning for us too.

If you routinely catch yourself starting a sentence with “If only,” regret may be an issue you need to deal with. While dwelling on what might have been is never healthy, regret can be an important signal to stop and examine your emotions. For instance, if you catch yourself thinking, “If only I had married Jake instead of John,” it may be time to evaluate why John isn’t measuring up. In your private time with God, pray about the emotions you’re experiencing. Perhaps you’ll discover that your disappointment is springing from unmet needs. With these needs clarified, you can then have a forward-thinking conversation with your spouse about how to improve your relationship.

When I caught myself saying, “If only I hadn’t tried to start this business,” I realized that my fear of God’s inability to meet our needs in the future was driving my regret. Once I discovered that, I could stop looking to the past and begin focusing on a vision for what God might accomplish in our future. Marian V. Liautaud

What, if any, regrets do either of us have in our lives?

What unmet need might those regrets indicate?

How might we use regrets to improve our relationship with each other? What do we need to entrust to God to move forward in our marriage?

Stewardship as a Response to Grace – October 6 – October 12, 2012

Exodus 34:1–9

Why did Moses need new stone tablets “like the first ones”? Because Moses smashed to pieces the original tablets (see Ex 32:19). Exodus 32 describes how the people of Israel grew weary of waiting for Moses to come down from Mount Sinai; he had been gone for 40 days and 40 nights, and the people thought that Moses was dead or long gone. So Aaron, Moses’ brother, led the people in idol worship, gluttony and, very likely, sexual immorality. When Moses came down from the mountain and saw what was happening, “his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces” (Ex 32:19). The words of God were destroyed.

But a few chapters later, we find God commanding Moses to make new tablets on which God would write the words that were on the first tablets. Can you imagine a greater act of mercy, love, forgiveness and grace? After all that had happened, God still desired to communicate with the Israelites.

Moses’ response to the Lord’s gracious action was worship (see Ex 34:8). Today our response to God’s salvation should echo that of Moses. Yet when authors John and Sylvia Ronsvalle conducted a three-year study of money dynamics in the American church, they determined a surprising lack of correlation between grace and giving.

This area of theology, attempting to move from the law into a sense of the grace that ought to define financial giving patterns, has apparently been difficult for the church in the United States throughout its history. Robert Wood Lynn commented from his historical studies, “I don’t think American Protestants have come close to a scriptural view of God’s grace in stewardship. We are a law-ridden people, and the law is becoming more and more important as a means to move us. Why haven’t we given more for 140 years? I don’t think the American churches have been able to understand the full meaning of the gospel for this area of stewardship. We’ve been denying this for an awfully long time. It raises the whole fundamental meaning of the gospel. It is not only duties and obligations; it is also grace that can set us free. Then discipline can follow.”

Lynn suggested that it is enormously difficult to talk about grace and the subject of financial stewardship, partly because it is so seldom talked about. “Grace is the central reality out of which we can begin to understand what we are to do with these resources. We have to get a conversation started on faith and money. We must not let this be interpreted as another spiritual assault where people are reminded they are selfish and greedy. We already know that. We need a setting in which we can talk about the meaning of money in our lives and discover how much it dominates our lives. We can use this as an occasion to understand again the whole meaning of the gospel. We cannot use grace in order to raise money. But rather we are going to the topic of grace to use this as an occasion to rethink what is the meaning of the gospel for this time.”

How has God shown grace to you?

How do you respond to God’s grace?

What does God’s grace have to do with your giving?

Lord, open my eyes to see your mercy and grace in my life. Then show me my appropriate response.

The Sweet Scent of Democracy – October 1- October 15, 2012

It’s that time of year again — time to exercise your right to vote and let your nose be heard! It’s Bring Back My Bar time! Vote for your favorite retired Scentsy fragrances and reunite with the lush florals, juicy fruits, and spicy herbs still lingering in your memory.

Which fragrance candidate deserves your vote? Do you stand behind the Root Beer Float platform? Does Garden Paradise best represent your ideals? Can Clarity bring about the change you seek? Review the candidates and their descriptions, study their fragrant qualities, and vote with confidence. Choice never smelled so good!

There will be two voting periods — a primary (Oct. 1-15) and general election (Oct. 17-31) — where you’ll have an opportunity to vote 30 times per each election.

For the primary, choose your top three fragrances from a list of over 250 retired scents. The 30 scents with the most votes will proceed to the general election for another round of voting.

In the general, elect your three favorites from the remaining fragrances and help decide the final 20 scents that will be available for the month of January 2013 only.

Now, go forth and ballot for your bars, stump for your scents, and warm the vote!

Vote Now!

View Our A-Z List of Eligible Fragrances

Visit My Online Scentsy Store

For Couples – Conquering Regrets – Genesis 19:1–29 – October 6 – October 12, 2012

“Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” Genesis 19:17

If only we hadn’t married so soon. If only we had more money. If only I had married Jake instead of John. Regrets in marriage are damaging. They keep our eyes fixed on the rearview mirror instead of on the road ahead. While reviewing the past and assessing what we’ve learned through mistakes can be a healthy exercise, regretting the past only serves to fuel discontentment and impede growth.

When Dan and I decided to close a three-year-old business, I struggled with regret. I had used up all of our nest egg to pursue a business venture I had believed in. When the business failed, I regretted so many decisions I had made, especially not listening to Dan’s advice along the way. My failure meant that we would be struggling financially again after having enjoyed several years of monetary comfort. Even though I knew God had walked us through this difficult time and taught us invaluable lessons, it was tempting to think, “If I hadn’t tried to start that new business, we’d be financially set right now.” Instead of keeping my eyes focused on God’s plan for my life, I chose to get stuck in my tracks with if-only thinking.

Lot’s wife had a similar problem. She and her husband were running for their lives from Sodom and Gomorrah, knowing that God had judged the culture they were living in and was about to decimate everything they had ever known. While Lot was running full steam ahead, his wife kept looking over her shoulder. Eventually, the distance between them became so great that Lot literally left his wife in the dust.

Regret is like that. We keep looking over our shoulder, wondering if what we’ve left behind might have been better than what we’re moving toward. God’s angel warned Lot and his wife not to look back, and it’s a warning for us too.

If you routinely catch yourself starting a sentence with “If only,” regret may be an issue you need to deal with. While dwelling on what might have been is never healthy, regret can be an important signal to stop and examine your emotions. For instance, if you catch yourself thinking, “If only I had married Jake instead of John,” it may be time to evaluate why John isn’t measuring up. In your private time with God, pray about the emotions you’re experiencing. Perhaps you’ll discover that your disappointment is springing from unmet needs. With these needs clarified, you can then have a forward-thinking conversation with your spouse about how to improve your relationship.

When I caught myself saying, “If only I hadn’t tried to start this business,” I realized that my fear of God’s inability to meet our needs in the future was driving my regret. Once I discovered that, I could stop looking to the past and begin focusing on a vision for what God might accomplish in our future. Marian V. Liautaud

What, if any, regrets do either of us have in our lives?

What unmet need might those regrets indicate?

How might we use regrets to improve our relationship with each other? What do we need to entrust to God to move forward in our marriage?

Stewardship as a Response to Grace – October 6 – October 12, 2012

Exodus 34:1–9

Why did Moses need new stone tablets “like the first ones”? Because Moses smashed to pieces the original tablets (see Ex 32:19). Exodus 32 describes how the people of Israel grew weary of waiting for Moses to come down from Mount Sinai; he had been gone for 40 days and 40 nights, and the people thought that Moses was dead or long gone. So Aaron, Moses’ brother, led the people in idol worship, gluttony and, very likely, sexual immorality. When Moses came down from the mountain and saw what was happening, “his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces” (Ex 32:19). The words of God were destroyed.

But a few chapters later, we find God commanding Moses to make new tablets on which God would write the words that were on the first tablets. Can you imagine a greater act of mercy, love, forgiveness and grace? After all that had happened, God still desired to communicate with the Israelites.

Moses’ response to the Lord’s gracious action was worship (see Ex 34:8). Today our response to God’s salvation should echo that of Moses. Yet when authors John and Sylvia Ronsvalle conducted a three-year study of money dynamics in the American church, they determined a surprising lack of correlation between grace and giving.

This area of theology, attempting to move from the law into a sense of the grace that ought to define financial giving patterns, has apparently been difficult for the church in the United States throughout its history. Robert Wood Lynn commented from his historical studies, “I don’t think American Protestants have come close to a scriptural view of God’s grace in stewardship. We are a law-ridden people, and the law is becoming more and more important as a means to move us. Why haven’t we given more for 140 years? I don’t think the American churches have been able to understand the full meaning of the gospel for this area of stewardship. We’ve been denying this for an awfully long time. It raises the whole fundamental meaning of the gospel. It is not only duties and obligations; it is also grace that can set us free. Then discipline can follow.”

Lynn suggested that it is enormously difficult to talk about grace and the subject of financial stewardship, partly because it is so seldom talked about. “Grace is the central reality out of which we can begin to understand what we are to do with these resources. We have to get a conversation started on faith and money. We must not let this be interpreted as another spiritual assault where people are reminded they are selfish and greedy. We already know that. We need a setting in which we can talk about the meaning of money in our lives and discover how much it dominates our lives. We can use this as an occasion to understand again the whole meaning of the gospel. We cannot use grace in order to raise money. But rather we are going to the topic of grace to use this as an occasion to rethink what is the meaning of the gospel for this time.”

How has God shown grace to you?

How do you respond to God’s grace?

What does God’s grace have to do with your giving?

Lord, open my eyes to see your mercy and grace in my life. Then show me my appropriate response.