It’s less than a week until Christmas, and that means it is time to slow down and take a much-needed break from all the hectic holiday hullabaloo. Plus add in some cold and rainy weather, and you have a perfect excuse for reading!
Here are a few fiction recommendations to “top” your Christmas reading list: Continue reading “5 great reads for Christmas break”
It’s that time of year again where we get to Jingle Bell Rock our way through the stores and wrap gifts through the Silent Night. Wait…shhhhh…Hark! The herald children screams as they run through the decked halls! What child is this who should be sound asleep all nestled in their beds with sugar plums dancing in their heads. Instead, Tommy is pretending to be the Drummer Boy while Cindy called me names. Mom is sitting on her bed with Christmas wrapping and closing her eyes dreaming of Christmas shoes all to herself. All she wants for Christmas are 5 goooooolden things. Continue reading “5 Golden Things”
Let me introduce myself. My name is Lindsey Montejo. I’m a wife and mom and let me not forget to tell you… I love Jesus. I also love all things cleaning and organizing. That includes cleaning the toilet…Crazy huh?
I’ve come to desire to inspire and motivate others to clean, organize and revamp spaces in their homes.
I say “I’ve come to desire” because before desiring what the Lord has placed in me to use for good, I held on to using this gift as a way to glorify myself instead of him.
I wanted everything around my home to be perfect. I wanted my house to be one of those Pinterest-inspired homes. A home that when you walked into people would go “Wow, this is so clean and organized.”
But I wanted that at a cost.
The cost was stress and anxiety as I began an obsessing over having everything perfect. Anything out of place and I was yelling at my husband and kids. “Pick that up, I just organized!” OR “Seriously I just did the laundry!” OR “Ugh! Why do I have to do everything around here?”
Wait…
Did I just say why do I… I, myself… have to do everything?
Reality check! Who told me I had to do everything? Who told me I need to have a perfect home?
Resentment crept in. It became a Me, Myself, and I party. What I enjoyed about cleaning and organizing had turned into doing what I loved for the wrong reasons.
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Philippians 2:3-4 NIV
I had selfish motivation in me to WANT those around me to recognize all that I do for them instead of doing what I love for the LORD. I was given a desire to clean and organize to help my family and those around me NOT given the desire to expect anything in return.
So here I am today, after getting over myself and realizing that my love for cleaning and organizing is to be used to help others. It is not meant to give me stress or resentful feelings.
I’ve come to find joy in using my gift to help those I love dearly and others in this world, because it is after all God who created me to be me. Not me, myself, and I.
The glory should be given not to me, but to the creator himself. God.
So here are 5 things I do to keep myself in check while cleaning and organizing for my family so I can be sure to give credit where it’s due…
Lindsey Montejo
Lindsey resides in York, PA along with her husband and three daughters. She has a heart for Jesus and a desire to share her growing relationship with others so they may know that His love is unconditional.Lindsey also happens to love everything about cleaning and organizing! You can find Lindsey at https://www.facebook.com/ATCbyLindsey/ where she hopes to use the gift the Lord has given her to bring some fun, motivation, and inspiration to tackle spaces in your home as she does spaces in hers.
You know how it is…
You walk into a meeting or gathering.
You’re afraid because you don’t want to do or say anything wrong.
You just want to sneak in and out because if anyone really knew you, they wouldn’t like you.
You think everyone knows your problems — even though they don’t.
You think, “Oh Lord! Please let me be accepted here. I know I have problems, don’t let them see what they are.” Continue reading “Are we accepting of others?”
Welcome guest writer & author: Isabella Morganthal!
I have a confession to make.
Are you ready?
I am a little bit of a perfectionist.
And my second confession?
I am not perfect. In any way. At all. Ever.
So why then do I waste so much of my time and energy on being “perfect” when it’s obviously something that I can’t attain? Why do I constantly hide behind a facade of perfectionism so that no one can ever really see the dark, totally imperfect parts of my life? Why do you carry your mask of perfectionism around with you?
Because, please, I can’t really be the only one.
I can’t really be the only one who would rather Instagram see my “spiritual” moments of coffee cup in hand and Bible on my lap than the not-so-spiritual moments when my hair is a mess and I’ve yelled at that certain family member more than once already and it’s only 9am.
Maybe all of this is because sometimes…sometimes I can believe the stereotype that Christians are supposed to be perfect.
Continue reading “Do I have to be a Perfect Christian?”
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” John 1:5
In the fall of 2015, TT Williford, Diane Haupt, Deb Cool and I planned a weekend retreat for our church. As happens in many churches, changes came that rocked our world. Many dear friends felt it was time for them to move on to find new church homes. But this retreat was already planned for May – right in the midst of some if the biggest changes.
Well, you know that ladies love to get together and regardless of whether we saw each other every Sunday morning or not, everyone still came to the retreat.
When the weekend was over, TT, Diane, Deb and I, said how wonderful it was to see everyone come together and love on each other – no matter what church they attended or even if they didn’t attend church at all.
From this moment, The Connection was born. Continue reading “Shining a light”
Let’s welcome guest writer Laura Acuna!
If you have walked with the Lord for any length of time, you know this very well: Life, both personally and in ministry, is ever changing. We must get used to it as best as we can, otherwise, we will spend precious time fighting against the movement of God in our lives.
Time really is so precious. The longer I live, the more vividly I realize how short our days are on earth. He placed us here for this generation and in our current location to advance the Good News, using our unique gifts and experiences. I feel an urgency to keep listening, keep learning and to keep myself within His will.
The first book in my stack for summer reading is Ruth Haley Barton’s, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership. I’m allowing myself only one chapter a day, to really take it in.
Where has Ruth been all my life? I feel like she is speaking my language, but in a much more eloquent way. If not careful, I’m going to highlight the whole book! I love this quote on understanding our calling: Continue reading “When Your Story Intersects With God’s Call”
I was just a mom, a daycare director, and a youth minister. If you asked me about myself, I would tell you about those things. I woke up to take care of others and went to sleep to be ready for the next day.
Yet I felt like I wasn’t enough.
I thought this is what made me worth something.
As time went on, I began to lose sense of the things I liked because serving became not only my passion. It was my identity.
I decided to quit working in the daycare I was working in because I wanted to open one myself. But, God had different plans than what I thought and that didn’t happen. His plan for me was to rest.
I struggle with being married every day. Most days I can smile my way through. Many days, I find myself filled with anxiety.
I know God loves me.
I know God isn’t mad at me.
But, what about the person who lies beside me at night?
God is for us! Not against us!
After all, we were created in His image. He created a man, then a woman, and placed them in paradise. He wanted nothing but the best for them.
Then…the original sin…the one that sent the world spinning out into the flesh…she had to eat the apple.
She? Wasn’t it THEY had to eat the apple?
That reminds me of my kids. They love to blame each other.
