My Favorite Getaway

My nightly bath is something I look forward to all day long. After the house is quiet I start filling up that tub with hot water and bubbles and end my day by relaxing and energizing my spirit. This is also the time I get a chance to savor my favorite magazines in total silence. I especially look forward to this time if one of my favorite magazines is waiting for me, Eternal Encouragement.

Eternal Encouragement??? What is that? Some new gem I've discovered? Nope. Something I have long loved and treasured, but now has a new name. Eternal Encouragement is the new name for TEACH Magazine! I have loved TEACH for a long time and I never would have thought it could be improved, but WOW! It definitely went through Extreme Makeover: TEACH Edition! And the results are amazing!!

Not only has the name changed to Eternal Encouragement (with a slogan of "Inspiring Women to Become More Like Jesus Every Day"), but the format has totally changed. The magazine is smaller now (the size is perfect!) and it's in COLOR! The many articles are organized into three "Departments": "Godly Women", "Godly Homemakers", and "Godly Mothers". This season's issue was a total of 63 pages--63 pages of nothing but meat! Rich, inspiring, challenging, encouraging article after article that make my heart soar with passion for my calling in life!

What hasn't changed about the quarterly magazine is the theme for each issue. This issue's theme was "Time Flies". I cannot begin to tell you how, well, timely this was for me. Using my time wisely, not wasting it, living in the moment, treasuring TODAY. And somehow tying in with all this there are articles on child training, recipes, controlling clutter, marriage, free homeschool resources, product reviews, healthy eating, and SO much more. One of my favorite articles was "10 Ways to Make Today Your Best Day Ever" by Lorrie Flem. It's my new to-do list.

Eternal Encouragement magazine is the absolute best magazine for all aspects of our lives as wives, mothers, homemakers, homeschoolers, and most of all, women of God. It is an investment I have never regretted making. You can subscribe to it at www.eternalencouragement.com.

I already subscribe to this magazine, but I also received this product for honest review from Eternal
Encouragement Magazine as a part of The Gabby Moms blogging program. All
opinions expressed are solely my own.

How a joyful mother answers the people at Walmart

The other day as I was getting my six children and myself ready for our weekly grocery shopping trip, I was mentally preparing myself for the usual onslaught of questions, comments, and stares. "How shall I answer today?" I contemplated. "Nice, polite, and sweet? Sarcastic? Jokingly? Referring to God?" I take many approaches and it gets interesting. But then it struck me. I have never asked God how I should respond. So I did. "Lord, what should I say to all these people? Some are nice, some are shocked, some are downright rude and disgusting. How would You have me answer in a way that glorifies You?"

Nothing came to me that day so I just went on with business as usual. I told people I was lucky, that God had blessed me, that I loved my life, etc. Then yesterday it came to me. "Praise the Lord." I praise the Lord for my children every day, so why not praise the Lord for them then too? Yes, that could answer almost everything:

Are they all yours? Yes, praise the Lord!

You have your hands full! Yes, I do--praise the Lord!

How do you do it? Praise the Lord--I couldn't do it without Him!

Even.... Don't you know what causes that? Why yes I do--praise the Lord!

I realized that praising the Lord is the perfect answer. It gives God the glory for my precious children and it lets people know that I believe they are blessings from Him.

Last night as I was going to bed and smiling about my new answer, a line from a song suddenly popped into my head. "He makes the barren woman become a joyful mother, and the home she lives in is filled with laughter, so praise ye the Lord." Then I remembered Psalm 113:9.

He makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD!

WOW! Not only is that the perfect answer, but it is how God WANTS us to respond to this blessing of abiding in our homes as joyful mothers! As we fix our eyes on Him and His Word, our natural response to this calling should be PRAISE THE LORD!

After God brought that verse to my mind, I knew this was His answer to me. How should I respond? With praise to the Lord!


JOYFUL MOTHER
By Pearl Barrett and Serene Allison

Hannah knelt before the Lord
Her lips moved with the anguish of her soul
Grant me my desire Lord
Give to me a son that I can hold
She never stopped asking for her miracle
God was faithful, He remembered her

Chorus:
He makes the barren woman
Become a joyful mother
And the home she lives in
Is filled with laughter so praise ye the Lord

It seemed to be impossible
Sarah wondered how this could be true
God had promised she would be
A mother, but her years had passed too soon
But there’s a perfect timing to God’s plan
The King of Kings would come through her Son
(Chorus)
Bridge:
Who is like the Lord our God who dwells on high
Who humbles Himself to behold
The things on Heaven and on earth.