Category Archives: Marriage

The Wife of His Youth

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Have you ever been in a place where you felt frustrated by what you saw in the mirror?  I think just about every mom can relate to this feeling.  I know I sure can. Most moms I know struggle with feelings of insecurity about their bodies—and having children can make it even more apparent.

Some time ago, I was preparing to speak at a women’s conference in Oregon. We were talking about self-image and how we could learn to see ourselves as God saw us instead of how the world saw us. I studied some passages and I came across Proverbs 5:18. I laughed to myself as I read the verse:

“May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.”

I looked at my husband and said, as sarcastically as I could, “of course you’re supposed to rejoice in the wife of your youth! Let’s be honest! In a few short years the wife of your youth will be a distant memory!  Let’s be honest! Pretty soon, things will be sagging. my hair will lose it’s youthful shine and  Oil of Olay will be the only thing I won’t be able to live without. I’ll be old and tired, so you better rejoice in the wife of your youth right now, because when I’m old there won’t be much to rejoice about!”

My husband was looking at me with one eyebrow raised (as he often does) and he said something like, “Wow, babe. You need to stop reading People Magazine. That’s now how I see that verse at all!  When I read that verse, I imagine an old man sitting on the porch with the wife of his youth … you know—the one God gave to him when he was young—as this man looks at this older woman, just remembering the wife of his youth makes him smile.”

Hearing my husband’s take on this verse made me wonder how other women might interpret the verse and so I read it at the retreat.  Wouldn’t you know it—almost all the women saw the verse like I did! Most of the women that I talk to are very self conscious about our bodies.  And why shouldn’t we be?  We live in a culture that is literally consumed with sex and body image. All you have to do is go through the checkout at the grocery store to see pictures of “fat” women on the covers of magazines.

We all know that according to our culture, “fat” is defined as anyone who is over a size 6 who might have *gasp* cellulite!  In the name of beauty, women undergo liposuction, breast augmentation, tummy tucks, facelifts, eyelifts and even chin implants!  Instead of being seen as a sign of wisdom, wrinkles send 40-somethings running for Botox injections.

Now, I’m not suggesting these things are sinful. What I am saying is that we have a serious problem in our culture.  We’re bought into the lie that People Magazine knows more about beauty than God does.  It’s just not true. God’s word is so counter to the culture!  The Bible tells us that God is not concerned about outward things. He is ultimately concerned with the condition of our hearts.

Look at what Samuel said in I Samuel 16:7

“The Lord does not look at the things that man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

You know, my husband is always reminding me that I am the wife of his youth.  The older I get, the more I appreciate what that really means.  Busy mom, you are the wife of your husband’s youth.  And the days are fleeting.  Nourish both your body and your spirit—and then enjoy your husband with your body every chance you get.

You are the wife of his youth. Beautiful inside and out. Enjoy the body God gave you. Don’t let the world cheat you out of enjoying the gift you’ve been given.

Rejoice—you’re the wife of your husband’s youth!
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Heidi St John Guide to Romance

Heidi St John Firmly Planted Family Devotional For All Ages

Dripping Water on a Rainy Day {A quarrelsome wife}

Oops.  I did it again.

Nagged. Corrected. Rolled my eyes. Sighed.

When will I ever learn?

I like to talk about marriage on Fridays.  But I won’t lie to you—I didn’t want to write about marriage this week. Life has been hard

Jay_busymomthese past few days.  It’s been a rough week for me and my beloved.  And when I say “beloved,” I’m serious.  This man I married, he is the other half of me.  The best half.  He’s the keel that keeps me and all my crazy ideas in orbit around planet earth. Without him, I’d be orbiting some other planet, no doubt. He soothes my anxious heart. He’s patient. He’s kind. He’s rock-solid and steady. People like him.  And, he thinks I’m hot. Goodness knows that after seven children and stretch marks that take up most of my torso, I need his affirmation.

Yes, he drives me crazy.  In all the good ways, and some of the bad.

I’m a “shoot and ask questions later” kind of woman.  Jay waits.  I say what I’m thinking. Jay’s quiet until he knows what he wants to say. (I could learn from that.)  Something that the Lord has been teaching me this week is that I am prone to correcting my husband when I should be quiet.  There. I said it.  Sorry if you think less of me. (The line is forming to the left.)

Lately, I’ve heard that “still small voice” a little bit louder. God is reminding me to affirm my husband. To love him. To let him lead. (Tough for a woman like me.) This morning, I had to chuckle as I was reading my Bible.  It was so funny in fact, that I snapped a picture of it.

Dripping Faucet

 

Okay, okay. I get it.  But what really stood out to me was that last part: “To restrain her is to restrain the wind or to grasp oil in ones’ right hand.”

Boy, that’s the truth.  Husbands are not to “control” their wives. Wives are to be self-controled. To be guided by the Holy Spirit. To love and respect their husbands.  Nagging is the opposite of respect, isn’t it?  Nagging says, “I don’t like the way you do this. Do it my way instead.” Nagging breeds resentment. I’ve been around nagging women.  Lord, help me to be more like you and less … like me.

Let’s face it. We need more of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Wonderful things happen when we allow Him to have His way. Self-control is a fruit of the spirit. It’s evidence that God is at work in my heart and that I’m listening.

If you’re struggling with self-control in this area, you’re not alone, believe me.  Let’s give it to the Lord and be the encouragers we were meant to be. The obvious beneficiary of a wife who does not nag is her husband, but I receive a blessing too.  The blessing that comes from learning when to speak and when to be quiet.  Our sons and daughters will be blessed by our example, too.

Be a blessing,
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Heidi St John Guide to Romance

Intentional Intimacy

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Good morning, busy moms! It’s HOME FIRES FRIDAY here at the Busy Mom! Woot!

I heard a funny thing yesterday from a mom who read a part (clearly she didn’t read the whole thing) of my book “The Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Romance.” Somehow, she thought I was saying that loving your man physically was just “one more thing for wives to feel responsible for and feel guilty about.” Just one more “thing to do.”

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Hmmm.

While that is definitely NOT the message of my book, it raises an interesting point. Marriage is not all fun-and-games, is it?  Let’s be honest. It’s work.  After a long, demanding day, even my husband’s desire for intimacy can feel like just one more thing I need to do.  I’d love to tell you that I always have a good attitude towards him in this area.  I don’t.  I think most busy moms can relate to the scenarios I wrote about in the book.  You certainly don’t have to be a homeschool mom to be a tired mom!

It’s easy for the demands of life to come between a husband and wife, isn’t it? My husband and I have had our moments, believe me.  With all the pressures we face, the first thing that can go when we’re tired and stressed is sex.

Here’s the thing though: a healthy marriage is key to a healthy, happy family. And nurturing intimacy in your marriage should be at the top of our priority list. Not because it’s a “duty” (although, the Bible tells husbands and wives that our bodies belong to one another) but because it’s good for us!  Our Creator knows what’s good for His creation!

It turns out that a healthy sex life is good for a lot of reasons, busy moms! Continue reading

Home Fires Friday—Leave a Comment and Win!

It’s Home Fires Friday!

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You know how crazy we are about our husbands here at The Busy Mom—and on Home Fires Friday, we encourage you to keep the home fires burning!

Several years ago, I started encouraging moms to be “That Girl” for their husbands.  It might be as simple as watching football with your man—or it might be making a consistent effort to bring sexual intimacy back into your marriage.

Whatever it is, let’s encourage each other to love our husbands!  It’s always great to see what other moms are doing to nurture their marriages.

Leave a comment telling us what you do to keep the home fires burning and we will choose two winners to receive an eBook version of “The Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Romance!”  You can also leave a prayer request.  I read every comment here—and we have a team of busy moms who pray for your requests.

For a chance to win a bundle of my books, save the image above and share it at your blog or on Facebook.  Be sure to link back in comments so that we see it.

One little reminder: keep your comments clean 🙂 There are children looking over the shoulders of their moms right now.

Love that husband of yours, busy mom! You’re “That Girl!”
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Jennifer and Christine are our winners (chosen by random.org), and have been notified via e-mail! Thanks for all your fun comments. Sounds like you ladies do a great job keeping those fires burning!

Heidi St John Guide to Romance

For Better or Worse … but Never For Granted

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Good morning, busy mom!

We are now in Ludington, MI.  When we rolled into Indianapolis the day before, it was midnight. And we were crabby! It wasn’t pretty — but this is the “busy season” for our family, and God seems to give us just enough grace for each other every day.  Just enough. Unless we push too hard, or go too long without rest. Then, things can get ugly.

It reminded me a season of life we were in several years ago, where the Lord spoke to me about the importance of keeping my heart in tune to the heartbeat of our marriage.  See if you can relate:

It had been a busy day.

Nevermind.

It had been a busy month. Meetings, schoolwork, deadlines, family needs, doctor appointments–unplanned emergencies–unwanted drama, un-invited stress.

Unintended consequences.

If the world could spin any faster, I’m sure I would have been flung right off.

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My Type A, scheduling self was not enjoying this.  I was repeating the phrase “bend, don’t break” as I went from the car to the kitchen to the laundry room.  I spied a bag of clothing that I had forgotten to take to Goodwill.  “Shoot! That’s the third time I’ve left the house for something and forgotten that bag!”

I muttered to myself  as I walked into the office to sort paperwork. “Stop the ride! I want to get off!” My husband looked up at me from his desk.  I saw the same weariness in his eyes that I felt. It was as if his eyes were reflecting mine.

Tired. Worn-out. Weary.

It had been several weeks since we had really enjoyed any quality time together. According to the calendar, there were no quiet evenings coming up in our future, either.  Worse yet, we could not even manage a quiet evening in!  The toddlers were up early, the teens were up late… and somewhere between toddlers and teenagers, our marriage was taking a hit.

It was clear that things were ot as they should be, and our relationship was beginning to show signs of the strain we were under.  We were short with each other. Our conversations lacked grace. The end of the day found us falling into bed exhausted. (Insert tired expression here that says “I love you … but not tonight.”)

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Trouble was, there was no “white space” in our lives. We had made our regular commitments, and life had filled in the rest of the “white space” on my calendar-without asking permission!

If you’ve heard me speak before, you know how I feel about having at least two days of nothing on my calendar each week.  I call it “white space”, and  I try to protect those free days because no white space on our calendar = no margin in our lives.

And no margin = trouble.

Does this sound familiar? It’s easy to let it happen.  Sometimes, we can prevent it, and sometimes, we can’t. When life gets a little nutty, we take it for granted that eventually things will slow down.  But the older my kids get, the more I’m realizing that if I am not intentional about taking time out of my busy life to nurture my marriage, my husband and I run the risk of living parallel lives.

You see, the fact that we have a good marriage now doesn’t protect us from ending up with a bad marriage down the road.  I know — because I’ve seen it happen, over and over again.

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Most marriages end because of neglect. We just take it for granted that our spouse will always be there, that we’ll have time “next week.”  But more dangerous than unintentional neglect is the kind we do on purpose: we say things like “after the kids are grown” we’ll have time to invest in our marriage.

It’s one of the biggest traps we can fall into, this “for granted” trap. We take it for granted that

  • Our marriage will always be strong
  • Pornography will never be a problem
  • Our husbands always “understand” how tired we are (so we don’t have the conversation)
  • Adultery will not be part of our lives
  • “Next week” things will get easier or slow down

Marriage matters. It’s important.  And we can’t just put this precious relationship on auto-pilot for extended periods of time and expect things to be okay.

But we do.  We forget that our marriages, like tender plants, need tending.

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Yes, there are seasons where we need extra amounts of patience and grace.  (I’m in one right now, as we travel in our van from convention to convention with our kids.)

Yes, life is always changing–and we need to flex and change with it.

But let’s not take our marriages for granted. Let’s keep them strong and healthy – on purpose! Here are three ways we can keep your marriage strong through the seasons of quiet and busy that inevitably come:

  • Be intentional about carving out time for each other – make time on purpose.
  • Keep your finger on the pulse of your marriage (If the pulse is weak, pay attention!)
  • Learn to speak each other’s love language.  (My husband responds best to me when I speak love in the language he understands best, and love it when he speaks to me in my love language!)

Marriage is a precious relationship – and we’re in it, for better or worse.

But never, never for granted.

Blessings on your marriage, busy mom!
heidi

 

Heidi St John Guide to Romance

Twenty Things I Wish I’d Known When I was Twenty

Good morning, busy moms!  Ready for another day?

Our family hits the road again this morning, driving from Kansas City, MO to just outside of Knoxville, TN.  We’re heading to Spartanburg, SC for the Teach Them Diligently Convention. I can’t wait to get there!  I’m sitting here blogging … avoiding getting the kids up from their snuggly beds.  We’ve had a good rest here in Kansas City. Good friends. Good conversation-a real time of refreshing.

I shall try to remember that as we spend the next

Twelve.Hours.In.The.Van.  {cue the violins}

Today, I’m choosing to remember some things I jotted down in my journal–’cause I’ll probably need to refer to the list at least once today. 🙂

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Blessed perspective. One of the things I’ve gained in 22 years of parenting is the gift of perspective.

And it hasn’t come easy. I’ve decided I learn most things the hard way.

Skinned knees and all.

I scribbled a list of things I wish I had known when I started homeschooling all those years ago… but it applies to every mom–because every mom is a teacher.

1. Relationships are the key to successful parenting. My investment in training and teaching our kids when they’re young is key to enjoying them when they’re adults.

2. Education is discipleship. And because of that …
3. “School” should never become the “main” thing. I’ll be my kids’ mom long after the math book is finished.
4. Character training always comes before curriculum.

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5. When I’m frustrated and on the verge of burnout, it’s time to take a step back and reevaluate what we’re doing. I might be missing something.
{insert vague memories of times when I’ve discovered this before burnout, rather than after.}

6. His yoke is easy… which means …

7. Homeschooling done right will NOT run me over and leave me on the side of the road for dead.
{insert memory of burdensome curriculum and times when I forget about what really matters.}

8.  Marriage needs to consistently come … before mothering.

9.  I’m homeschooling, not trying to do “school at home”. There really is a difference.

10.  Sometimes, baking cookies is better than math. And it will often accomplish the same thing with better results. 🙂

 

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11.  Homeschooling through high school is not as scary as “they” say… and worth far more than I imagined.

12.  Teenagers need their parents more than they let on.

13.  It really does go by as fast as “they” say so now is a good time to think about what I want the homeschool years to accomplish.
In other words, what kind of children do I want to raise?

14.  Sow good things into the lives of the kids now … reap good things later.

15.  Sow wind … reap a storm.

16.  It takes time for flowers to bloom. They do it in due season.

Come to think of it … twenty years is about right.

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When I remember this, I also remember that my kids aren’t really listening to me most of the time.  BUT…  They.Are.Watching.

17.  My actions will speak for me.

18. Apologize.

19.  It’s okay to ask for help. Asking for help with homeschooling is good, not a sign of weakness.  {repeat often}

20. Being real is better than pretending to have it all together.  No one really has it all together anyway.
Except God. He’s good like that.

Okay, and one more.

Never leave Sharpie markers unattended.

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Heidi St John Guide to Romance

Heidi St John Guide to Daylight

“Grab hold of that higher calling!”

In this blogging world there are so many great writers who have so much wisdom to share! I decided it’s time to invite some of them to share with my readers, so without further adieu  my first “Friday’s Friend,” Rebecca from Mom’s Mustard Seeds.

“If you would teach your kids better, they wouldn’t do that.”

Those words hurt as they were flung across asphalt. This Mama heart was in the midst of our third year homeschooling and the day the words were spoken, was the third anniversary of my Mom’s death.

I was devastated.

And those words ‘of not doing enough’ began to take root.

Steal Your Joy

I began to believe them. As I read words from others, I saw how so many Moms live in what seems like a ‘ground hog day of motherhood’. Same failures, different days. Day after day – wake up, cry, feel pity, feel guilty, seek others, go to bed, cry- repeat. I enjoyed not being ‘alone’.

I began to realize little by little that I was not moving forward. I was not living each day for the one who created me. It hit me that I was living to overcome the words that were spoken. I was living in a ‘do’ mentality.

Don't Miss the Small Moments

I was allowing the judgement and misunderstanding of one who does not know me drive me into a pit and eat away at my peace like a vulture.

Have you ever lived in that ‘do’ mentality? You know, the one where if you just ‘do’ this or you ‘do’ that, then your children will ‘do’ what they are supposed to ‘do’ and others will see that you are ‘doing’ the right thing and you’ll be loved and accepted.

But, that mentality of doing – is not where we are supposed to live.

We, as mothers, have a higher calling.

I found that calling late one night, as I curled up in a chair,wrapped in a blanket and tears poured down my cheeks.

The words I read provided my true worth and helped me to find my joy again. It was there, that I began to hear my Father, His words and His calling. He showed me the truth that while I have my own part to play, He is the one who works in me and I have to submit to His word and will:

“For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Phil 2:13 ESV

Keep Your eye on the prize

Which then took me down a path of identifying what that looks like in my life, as his child – being the wife and mother he created me to be. Not the person, mom or wife others think I should be. Their thoughts and misunderstandings only lead me down the right path when they are founded on his word. But, it’s up to me, truly to find it and bury it in my heart.

First, I am a wife. I want to be a wife of noble character. I desire to be an excellent wife. These things are not something I can truly be or do. But, I can set my eyes on the words of God – I can bury them in my heart and meditate on them. The more I do that, the more I will become the wife I was created to be – the wife I long to be…..

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Download this printable here

And then, I am a mother. In the world, motherhood has become less than a blessing. It is no longer lifted up as a position to be admired, but of one who is almost less than the lowest. I can’t keep my eyes on that. I refuse to be stuck in the monotony of a life that is less than ordinary. And I definitely do not want to to grab hold of the ground hog day mentality.

Oh, it’s easy to do – in the days of diapers and toys. The days of hormonal changes and car dashes here and there. But, our perception of truth can only be attained in the words of the Father. So, I pulled open the book and again, I sought words to guide and encourage me….

Mother

Download this printable here

To be a wife and a Mom in today’s world takes courage and perseverance. This is not an ordinary life and our love begins in our homes. But, we, Moms need to join together and grow friendships that are so beautiful that others see us and see the beauty of grace and mercy that only shines from the light of Christ. We need to learn how to disagree but get along, and embrace our differences – because we are all created by the one who created the world.

Don't Miss the Small Things

While we grab on to this life, we need to embrace the small moments with our family.

Being a wife and a Mom – it’s hard, but beautiful. Grab on and don’t miss out on the little things that matter most! There will be hard days and days that run so beautifully, we will forget the bad.

Will you join me? Let’s reach out, share the truth about the good and the bad. Let’s form a bond so close that even in the midst of the muck and mire the beauty of the Savior shines so bright it opens the eyes of those walking around with their heads down. It’s time….

Rebecca remarried the love of her life and witnesses the beauty of God’s Grace and Mercy every day of her life. Her goal is to immerse her children in God’s Love, Word, Grace and Mercy so that He is the One they seek to glorify in all of their works and deeds. She is a Project Manager by trade, climbed the corporate ladder, made that big pay check. Yet, God brought her home and she has found more joy and riches in the hugs and kisses, and yes, the tears and sweat, of being home and discipling her children than she ever found in the corporate world. The days can be long, but sitting at the foot of the cross with her children is beautiful, and she prays she will help raise up a new generation of leaders, shining the Lord’s light in our dark world. She cannot wait to encourage you in your Homeschool Journey. Find Rebecca on Facebook and Twitter and on her blog, Mom’s Mustard

Rebecca Brandt

Heidi St John Guide to Romance