A challenge for all of us...

Note: For some reason, when I hit publish, this font goes to all caps. Don't know why. Just warning you. I'm not trying to yell this post at you. :)

Hey friends. I really want to share this blog with you. I think it's changed my life. At least to a small degree. It's called "Asking Jane." Jane is an experienced, LDS mother of 11 children. Somehow people started emailing her and asking her questions about raising kids, motherhood, etc. I LOVE her answers. Every now and then, one of her answers doesn't work for me-- specifically her advice on bedtime. I'm strict about sleep and naps and bedtime-- but other than that, she has amazing advice. Her perspective on motherhood is priceless, and some of her suggestions I have taken to heart and they have truly made me a better mother. One of the most influential answers she gave that helped me a TON is found HERE , specifically the last paragraph. Also, if you want to read about 11 incredibly profound paragraphs on discipline, go HERE (SERIOUSLY SOOOO WORTH YOUR TIME! AGAIN-- THINGS THAT HAVE TRULY CHANGED MY APPROACH TO PARENTING/MOTHERING.)

I just wanted to share this challenge that she recently gave to all the young mothers. I am going to find a way to do this challenge, because I know in my heart that she's right, and that this will make a difference in my life. (I tend to read scriptures at night, and frankly, it usually is out of obligation. I am looking forward to it being something that will be a blessing to my day, and the way I handle the challenges of the day. It's going to be hard, because I'm a night-owl, and a very slow-moving morning person...but I'll find a way to do it.

:) I hope you enjoy her as much as I do.

Her website, which I suggest you follow regularly, is HERE

And the challenge to all, below:

A Letter From Jane: A House Of Order

from Asking Jane by Natalie

Dear Readers,

I know that when you read the title of this letter, you’ll be hoping for cleaning tips or organization methods. I do have some of those. But I want to say a word today about something more basic. And I’d like to start out by issuing you a challenge. This challenge is going to sound impossible. So you know I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important and if I didn’t know how much it would bless your life. Here it is. I want you to begin every day with 15 minutes or more of scripture study, followed by a really good prayer. I’m not sure how you’re going to do it…how you’ll need to juggle, but I want you to commit to try.

And it really matters that you do it before everything else. Here’s why.

1. It clearly tells the Lord that he comes first with you—that everything else in your life is built upon this relationship. You know that wonderful scripture in Ether (5:12) …it is upon the rock of your Redeemer that you must build your foundation… Picture that your days are like structures that you are building. When you place the Lord first, he becomes the foundation of your work. Like paying tithing first, there is power in everything else that follows and confidence that your efforts will be magnified, blessed and that the windows of heaven will be opened. When we launch into our day without that help, we are flying alone. Our Heavenly Father becomes an afterthought…even an obligation.
2. You will experience an increase of peace. I love this quote by Merrill Bateman: “As faith grows, our vision of eternity expands, which increases our capacity to meet life’s challenges.” There is no more challenging life than yours. You need wisdom. You need ideas and plans and blueprints to go on as you raise these little children. Why wouldn’t we enlist the Lord’s help and depend on his direction? There is no more satisfying experience than to receive a flash of inspiration about one of your children—knowing that it came from outside of yourself. It’s usually something so simple but when implemented it turns the tide. It’s always loving. And peace comes because you recognize that you are not alone. You remember that you are not the only parent here. You are really just an instrument. As I’ve mentioned before, these flashes of light do not usually come during the prayer or even during the scripture study, but later in the day.
3. It is the way to truly teach your children the gospel of Jesus Christ. It becomes written in the “fleshy tablets of your heart.” You teach them from your own experience. When you tell them of the reality of God, they know that you know. Otherwise, it’s only words. The accumulated days of study and prayer, produce in you, core strength. There is no substitute for that. There is no shortcut. Our world is darkening. In the past few weeks, I have watched some of my most precious friends struggle with their faith, lose their testimony and let go. We’re going to see this more and more as we move into these final days. Our children need more than visual aids. They need to know because their mothers taught them.

There are other reasons. But unless you really commit to this and create this pattern in your life, you will not experience the blessings. Give place for this expansion to happen. It will give perspective and often solutions to every single problem in your life. I know this from my own experience. I’ll end with my current favorite scripture. I read it in Gospel Doctrine class this past Sunday and I loved it. “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her tent shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” Jeremiah 17: 7-8 All my love, Jane