Author: RootedWithinHim

First day of HOMESCHOOL..

Did you just have a moment of silence for me? 😂

I’m just messing. We kicked off our 2018-2019 school year at HOME monday! This year looks different for us for many reasons.

It’s the first year I am solely rocking the stay at home Mama thing. For the last 6 years, I’ve always had a small business rocking and rolling. This year I felt called to lay it all down. I hesitated. I complained. I straight up fought God on it.

It’s not easy laying down your second income, knowing the stresses that’ll cause. It also wasn’t easy, because I loved what I did and the people I had gained along the way.

It was May 1st, and I laid it all down. After lots of prayer and surrender, God was calling me HIGHER and DEEPER all at the same time. “Let it all go”, was the word I kept getting from Him. So, I did. I felt He was asking me to devote myself to just being a wife and mama, cue the 50’s music and judgment that comes with that 😜

I also felt strongly that our homeschool needed to be set free in Him. So, after much prayer and seeking Him, and LOTS of discussion with my husband and friends, I did it. I simplified our days, schedule and outings. I said “No!” to things that I didn’t feel called to anymore and “Yes” to the things I felt were a must.

I literally wanted to cry tears of JOY from letting it all go. I let go what people would think. I let go the expectation to “be” a certain way, or “do” certain things. I followed His heart for my family and my little branches.

I’m not here to raise my kids like everyone else. I’m not here to breathe the life of man into them. I’m here for the sole purpose of giving them ROOTS that grow deep down in Him, which flourishes a tree that goes HIGH into what He has for them. I want to open up the world He created for them, and give them a LOVE for learning all about Him and what He has given us.

It took me awhile to lay it all down, and I’m still laying it down every morning. I’m not perfect, but I’m His, and I’m trusting Him to guide us as we plant the richness of Him within us!

I took the time this year to pray over our space, curriculum and daily learning. My husband and I poured our time into a dedicated space just for learning and growing! It’s colorful, organized and secluded just for them. My mama helped supply all the extras the space would need. We filled it with books and art supplies, and so much more!

And you know how much money I spent on it, NOTHING.

God provided every single thing that was needed in this space!

The kids love their space more than I do, and that’s what my heart wanted. They love spending their time out there, creating, learning and soaking up whatever they can at their desks! I’m thankful. I’m blessed. I’m over-joyed.

Tomorrow we will of completed WEEK ONE of homeschooling. It flew by, and I can honestly say that I have a new found JOY for teaching my kids and watching them grow! They have already absorbed so much LIFE this week, and that brings my heart peace.

We can do this. We are doing this.

He has made a way, where their wasn’t a way! I’m thankful I listened, and laid stuff down to give my kids ME and my attention, to watch them grow and give them time at HOME to deepen those roots! Here’s to our journey!

You can do more than you think, friends. Listen to His voice, lay it all down.

Until next time,

Becca

It’s okay to say no and just be still.

I’m naturally a person who will say “yes”, and regret it later.

Does that sound familiar? I think it’s a sense of familiarity to most people, and they don’t even realize it.

We say yes out of obligation, guilt, or due to being a people pleaser. We’ve all been there. When we all have enough on our plates already. Most of us are already ignoring something or someone that matters more, by just not saying “thank you, but no!”.

I’ve been sitting on the story of Martha and Mary with Jesus for the last 24 hours. Jesus is literally in their midst, both are acknowledging Him, but both have different attitudes towards Him. Mary’s main focus is Him, and everything else is second. Martha’s focus is everything else and Him second.

We all have obligations. We have houses that need to be cleaned. We have jobs that need to be completed. Kids that need our attention. We have school, fundraisers, events, etc. The list probably grows daily, and so does your stress and anxiety level towards those things. We are heading into a busy season of life with school back in session here. My heart has been full of it for the last month. I’ve been praying that the Lord would give me peace in this new season to just let it go! Literally, just let it go.

We are pulled in a lot of directions every day. We don’t NEED to create more. We need to wake up in His presence, go to sleep in His presence, dream in His presence. That list on the fridge, it’ll get done, but will it get done in His peace and presence, or will it get done with an anxiousness of obligation to just cross it off the list? This world feeds us distractions and busyness. He’s in the stillness, He’s in the quiet.

“But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:40-42

“Few things are needed”…

Remember, these things that have our attention, may or may not be there tomorrow. Those distractions and obligations, they’ll fade away. He isn’t fading away, and can’t be taken from you! He’s there in the midst of the chaos of life, let Him be your peace and just spend time at His feet.

“Be still and know that I am God”

Psalm 46:10

Until next time,

Xoxo

-Becca

“To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. That is why I use these parables, For they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand. This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says, ‘When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes— so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’”

Matthew 13:12-15

We all experience storms in this life, right? I mean, we all do. We all go through phases of brokenness, whether it’s sickness or failed commitments.

Whenever I’m going through a rough season of life, I am reminded of Jesus on the boat in the storm. The disciples were in hysterics over the storm, their focus was on the storm.

It wasn’t until it go SO bad that they thought they’d die, that they even went to Jesus. They waited until the boat was literally going to SINK before they got Him.

Which is mind boggling to me.

He was always right there. He was at rest. He was the perfect vision of calm and peace. He was literally asleep in the midst of chaos. He is our perfect peace. He is the prince of peace.

How many of us our going through a storm, and we aren’t even acknowledging let alone RUNNING to our savior? Why aren’t we running to the one who can calm the storm? Why aren’t we listening to His voice above the noise of the storm?

The storm may be loud. It may be intimidating to our human minds. It may make us feel defeated and like our boat will surely sink. It may be all we see and hear in the that moment:

But I encourage you, take some time to just listen to His voice above the noise of the storms. Listen to Him. His voice will command that storm to be still. His voice is enough. You need to hear from Him so you can see and understand the divine purpose of your King.

“They cannot turn to me and let me heal them”

That’s a direct result of them just not acknowledging and LISTENING to their Saviour. Take time today just to be still in His presence. To soak up what He is speaking over your life.

Don’t be so busy or so bombarded, that you don’t take the time to see, hear and understand what goodness He has for you, even in the midst of that storm!

Until next time,

Xoxo

-Becca

I’ve been doing a lot of studying on faith and listening lately in the Bible.

It seems to be a reoccurring theme with where I end up in the word. Not on purpose, I am an open the Bible and pick a book type of person. I read where I read, and usually can’t explain what brought me there.

Ps. It’s the Holy Spirit 😜

About a month or so ago, I was reading John 10, where it talks about the good shepherd and his flock. I’ve read that passage multiple times growing up and as an adult. It never hit me like it did this time around.

Right off the bat in verses 2-5, it mentions that no one enters unless the gatekeeper approves them, and that the sheep won’t listen to anyone other than the shepherd. THEY PHYSICALLY WILL NOT LISTEN to anyone else! It says because “they don’t know his voice”.

The sheep instinctively KNOW that it they listen to the voice of a stranger, that it’ll surely lead them astray or to death. They KNOW the shepherds voice over every other VOICE, that they have trained themselves to not respond unless it’s the shepherd.

Mind blown. Jesus is clearly the good shepherd and gatekeeper in this chapter.

The thief referred to in verse 10, is obviously the enemy.

Jesus goes on to say that a good shepherd sacrifices His life for the sake of his flock. That’s His purpose in life. To protect HIS flock from robbers, thieves, wolves.

Jesus goes on to say that any fill in to Him isn’t good enough. That they don’t have pure intentions and they’ll surely let the flock be put in harms way.

You see, their is no alternative to knowing Jesus and knowing His voice! But, do we know His voice above all the noise and fray of this life? It says in verse 14 that HE KNOWS HIS SHEEP and that they KNOW HIM.

He goes on to say that their is some not in the flock but He knows them, and that He MUST bring them in. He says “they’ll listen to my voice”.

As a parent, I’m constantly telling my kids to listen. It’s something that I have really obsessed about with my daughter too. I’m her parent and she should know my voice, and she should listen and RESPOND when she hears me.

How true it is for our heavenly father. He’s our parent. He knows us. He loves us. He’s speaking to us.

But, are we listening? Did we put our toys down, walk away from our book, stop making our own noise enough to clearly HEAR HIM? Are we listening?

Listening requires hearing and responding. It isn’t good enough to just listen and not really hear who’s speaking to you. We need to be able to identify the voice of the shepherd and the voice of the wolf.

I don’t tell my kids that they have to listen to adults or anyone bigger than them. I tell them this. You need to listen to Jesus, Mama, Papa, and your Grandparents . That’s it. It’s a short list.

Why? Because these are their trusty worthy voices. These are the voices I want them to listen and respond to above the noise. I don’t want them to listen to a stranger or someone I may or may not trust fully.

You need to give the enemy an eviction notice on speaking into your life, and give the gatekeeper permanent access to the gate of your life.

It’s His job to save you, and He always will. It’s the enemies job to rob from you, and he will kill you for it.

My prayer has been simple lately.

“Father, let me hear your VOICE so clearly above the noise of this life, that I can’t mistake it for anyone or anything else! Make it life to me. In Jesus name!”

Praying friends, that you learn to know His voice!

Until next time!

Xoxo

-Becca

We have an ANNOUNCEMENT!

We’re pregnant with our THIRD little one!!!!!

While this may seem like just a normal thing, people announce pregnancies all the time, right? This announcement needs a little back story. We want to acknowledge God in all His goodness, love and grace over our lives and this precious life.

We’ve spent about a year and half trying to get pregnant with our third kid. Both of our previous pregnancies came easy, right off the bat and we were pregnant.

Around the same time we started trying, we lost one very early on. It was hard to process, and my heart still aches over it. Right after that, my body started acting weird and I decided doctor visits were in order.

Shortly after that, I was diagnosed with a slew of autoimmune disorders and a number of things that made GETTING pregnant harder. It was HARD, heartbreaking and just flat out the worse thing I have had to walk through in my short life. I saw friend after friend get pregnant, announce their new arrivals and get to snuggle new babies. My heart just flat out HURT. I remember in tears just praying that God would either take the desire or give me mine.

We’re so happy to announce that after a long process ordained by GOD, finding a great doctor, changing my diet and working on stress/hormones, I am in such a better place! We’re pregnant! We are expecting our bundle of GRACE in January!

We can’t praise our Heavenly Father enough. We can’t acknowledge His hand enough.

This is purely His grace. This is purely Him giving us the desires of our hearts. We are just over-joyed.

At the same time, we know we have friends hurting over the same issue! We want to PRAY that you receive your GOOD news too! We know that whatever you ask in His name can be done! Please reach out to us, and allow us to join you in pray for whatever it is! You don’t have to walk the pain out alone, let someone carry you to Jesus!

Until next time, xoxo

Becca

Here is the Bible verses that carried me.

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life”

Proverbs 13:12

“Yet I am CONFIDENT I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living”

Psalm 27:13

“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.”

Psalms 37:4