Finding harmony in family, finance & military life

Brent and I reflected for a minute last night on our path and purpose. We can look back on the past ten years and see clearly the path we went down blindly then. Every step along the way made us stronger and more capable. We could not do the job God has laid out for us today without first having gone down that path. We made huge mistakes! Now those mistakes are the lessons learned we can share with others to keep them from walking down that same path and paying the price we had to pay. We treasure each couple we have sat down and talked to about money. It is not just money, it is life. All laid out it is a map of the past. Every debt, every bill, every want and every need tells the story of that family. We can look in their eyes and tell if they are truly ready to make the sacrifices and the changes to make the rest of their life better. Not easy and smooth sailing but better. They want to be ready for the storm when it hits, they want to be able to breath when the sun is shining. ...

We survived what we have affectionately been calling "hell day" but you all likely just call it Friday! Fridays are the busiest day of the week for us next to Wednesdays. The time from picking up the kids from school to bedtime is always very full so finding time to work in our family time is a challenge. Wednesday and Friday are also supposed to be our liquid days on the Daniel Fast. Yesterday while it was much easier then Wednesday we also realized that we cannot go the complete day without eating, especially Brent. He goes to the gym in the morning and then has to do PT with his squadron later in the day. He needs food! Friday is also traditionally our date night. So we are altering the fast a bit. We had a small meal last night for our date night and from now on Brent will eat a lite lunch as well. We had our family time while the older three kids ate dinner after karate was over so at about 7:45pm. We read from 1 Samuel 13 where Saul does something only Samuel was supp...

My Disclaimer: I am not without sin! I will probably hurt your feelings and I will definitely make you think. This is what God laid on my heart to write and I did the best I could. I hope it touches you and I hope you share it, no matter how it makes you feel. Thank you for reading and well enjoy as always. "Everything is permissible for me"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"--but I will not be mastered by anything." 1 Corinthians 6:12 " So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31 Gluttony is a sin, the sin of gorging ones self, it is THE sin that can quite literally result in death. Yet it is also a sin that is rarely approached from the pulpit. In my 25 years as a Christian I have actually only heard it addressed once in a sermon and it was brief. Now I am not knocking Pastors after all they have a multitude of other matters to preach on. I do wonder somet...