Light in a Dark World

As I sit in the Food Court of a major mall typing, I am reminded again of the stark contrast between a dying world and those who are being saved. Clothes, hairstyles, makeup, and behavior all show me a glimpse of hearts within.

Over the past year or so, the Lord has really caused it to dawn on me that His people should not only act different, but appear different outwardly. Why should one who belongs to the kingdom of God look like one who is of the kingdom of this world?

Some specific areas I have changed include dressing more modestly and more femininely. I now wear skirts and dresses whenever I go out and sometimes when I stay in. This is feminine and modest at the same time. I never thought of pants as immodest, but it is a sure thing that skirts and dresses are more flowing and less clingy around the legs and hips. This helps me not be as self-conscious of those areas as well as helps men to not even notice those areas on me. My husband, I know, is thankful. There is also the verse that commands women not to wear men's clothes and men should not even put on a woman's garment. This is an abomination to the Lord.

I also wear higher necked shirts now as well as more toned down colors. A discreet and chaste woman is one who is more unnoticeable- she doesn't want to draw attention to herself.

Finally, a major way I have changed is by wearing a head covering most times when I go out. This helps because then I don't have to always fuss with a head covering when I want to pray ( I believe I Corinthians 11 speaks to women to cover their hair when praying or prophesying as a command). Every man I have asked about this also agrees it is more modest than not covering the hair. After all, a woman's hair is her glory!

However, I am not strict about it. At home, I usually only cover when I pray.

Well, that's all for now. Blessings!

Infant Potty Training- Part 2

Infant Potty Training with Zuzu is going quite well. She has a few accidents every couple days, but mainly she goes number 1 and 2 on her little potty. We keep it next to the bed and our bed is a king-size pad on the floor. We keep it next to the bed for convenience' sake. She usually will go after nursing and in the middle of the night and when she wakes in the morning. If she hasn't gone potty in a while, I just put her on there and she plays with toys in a basket nearby. Sometimes she goes, sometimes she doesn't.

We keep the bed as a pad on the floor because of the rolling. She began rolling around 4 or 5 months and it was dangerous. Since I nurse her to sleep many times, she would fall asleep on the bed and I could not move her to the crib without waking her. So, I would let her lie there, but I feared to leave the room in case she rolled and fell off onto the hard wood floor 2.5 feet below. The pad we have is only 3 or 4 inches off the ground and very soft so it gives at the edges. I feel much better about leaving her in the room while I go to the bathroom or kitchen while she naps.

After she goes potty, we wash her bottom with our filtered water because we don't want the chlorine getting on her private parts multiple times per day. Then, we gently dab the area dry with a towel, which is freshly changed every day.

At night, I am often dizzy if I get up since I am pregnant and carrying my baby while that is happening is a hazard, so I have opted for using Earth Baby chlorine-free wipes. I only need one since they are so moisturized. This is my favorite brand of wipes.

I love Infant Potty Training! Nine months after her birth, I am so glad we did it!

And I had a dream last night that I was doing IPT with a little baby boy... so maybe that's coming in future days... So long for now.

Make Me a Gentle Woman, Lord!

I took the following from A Wise Woman Builds Her House- see my blog list. May the Lord help us Christian women to be gentle!!





Then her gentleness is another part of her qualification for duty. She should have, must have, really has, influence and power of impulsion, if not compulsion. Were she utterly powerless , she could do nothing. Her influence, however, is a kind of passive power; it is the power that draws rather than drives, and commands by obeying.

Her gentleness makes her strong.

How winning are her smiles, how melting her tears, how insinuating her words. Woman loses her power when she parts from her gentleness. It is this very yielding, like the bulrush lifting its head after the rush of water which it has bowed,that gives her a power to rise superior to the force of circumstances which, if resistance were offered, would break all before them.

She vanquishes by submission.

How necessary gentleness is to the fulfillment of her mission in handling the young and tender spirits of her children, in training the first delicate shoots of their infant dispositions, and for directing the feelings of that one heart on which she depends for her happiness.

There are many varieties of disposition in women,which may make them sensitive, petulant, irritable, jealous, quick to feel and to resent; but not withstanding all this, and under all this, there is a gentleness of disposition which indicates this vocation as destined to influence and constrain by love.

-John Angell James, Female Piety