M1/D14 Stress

Here we are. About half way through our first month: prayer/stress, on Project 8.

 

How have things gone, you ask?

(Thanks for asking by the way. I like some interaction...)

 

Things are going well. Could be better. Seriously.. I have a great memory,

and I still need a reminder to say my 4 prayers. And they are fairly normal times.

Breakfast hour, Lunch hour, Dinner hour, and Bedtime. Normal, right?

 

Well, Bryan and I have been trying to pray most of them together,

but that is hard when we are in two different places.

 

No matter how many prayers I have or haven't prayed, I have noticed one thing.

My stress level has been lowered. Honestly.

This week, we had a ton of school work due, again.

Here I am. Day of the deadline and I'm calm as can be.

Even took a nap today.

When two or three weeks ago, before starting this project,

I was a mess. So was Bryan.

 

God is doing things in our lives and it is exciting to see the changes.

 

As we head in to the last half of month one...

I pray we can pray more. Is that sentence legit?

I want the routine to become so routine that reminders aren't needed.

 

One thing I will tell you... involve your children.

Raychel has been doing this with us.

Although, this week she has been in Missouri.

Said she has remembered a few times.

 

But let me tell you...

I have always thought there is NOTHING sweeter than hearing your child pray.

But in added bonus?

It is OUT OF THIS WORLD to hear your child pray to serve others.

To reach others for Christ.

To lift up others burdens.

To pray for the people of darkness.

 

When I hear her pray, I believe God must hear the same song in His ears...

'It is well with my soul'.

 

There is still time to take the Project 8 journey with us.

Are you in?

 

 



M1/D4 Stress

Four days in to month one. So far... so great!

We have had a great weekend of stress free family fun. Wish it could last longer, but as the Good Book says, 'If a man doesn't work, he doesn't eat.' :) And we like to eat.

So what have we learned in four days?

1. Designated pauses every day for prayer, are a great way to involve the family. Raychel loves praying 4 times a day. A couple times Bryan has said 'what are we praying about this time?' and Raychel will tell the theme. Then she grins because she is quite proud that she remembered.

2. It has been fun to involve others in our times of prayer. Explaining the reason for our prayer times/themes has been quite interesting. We get a variety of responses. But to raise awareness for excess and prayer... we are ok with the variety of responses.

3. Being thankful only? HARD. Our prayer time at dinner is to be thankful. For everything. Anything. WITHOUT asking for anything. Without needing anything. Without seeming like Bob Wiley on 'What About Bob'. You can see the clip here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fztNCJy-GXI)

So as we put the wraps on day 4, let me ask you. Can you or have you designated a time of prayer to be thankful and not ask for one thing? Nothing. Nada. It's harder than we thought it would be.

Still time to join us.
With love,

M1/D1 Stress

Month One/Day 1 Stress/Prayer Month

 

So the Smith family is taking on the challenge that Jen Hatmaker sent out in her book '7: Experimental Mutiny Against Excess'. We have explained this book and the theme of it with several people. We seem to either get the 'deer in the headlights' look or the 'I'm in. Where do I sign up?' look. Neither are wrong. In fact, we would love for others to journey with us through our Project 8.

 

What is Project 8? We are glad you asked.

 

Hatmaker discusses in her book that as a society, we live in excess. Excess clothing, food, money, possessions, electronics, stress. She came up with 7 areas in her life (food, clothing, possessions, media, waste, spending, stress) that needed an overhaul. Areas that God brought to her attention as being in excess. So she took an idea that her friend, Susanna, had called 'Pick Five Project'. Susanna was only going to eat 5 specific foods for that month. Hatmaker took the idea of only 5, to make it 7 since she had 7 areas. For example, for the month of food, they picked 7 foods and only ate those foods. For Media, they picked 7 things to do without (tv, facebook, texting, etc.) For Spending, they found that they were spending money at over 66 places PER MONTH and narrowed it down to only spending at 7 places for the month.

 

Sure, this project is a bit extreme in part. However, when we see how many 'things' we have in our homes that are extra, things not even being used, things just taking up space, we have a lot of excess. Come look at my garage and you will see we have a LOT of excess. :)

 

Hatmaker's theme in her book also includes doing more for others. They have taken the verse 'treat your neighbor as yourself' to the max. They believe that if we are truly going to treat our neighbor as ourself, we shouldn't buy ourselves top of the line stuff, but only give those in need our garbage. It's ok to have nice things, but her point is that there are so many people around us in need, we need to be doing more. She refers to the homeless a lot, because she is in Dallas, Texas area and they are everywhere. Closer to home, we can help out the single mothers, families with deployed parents, homeless, families that are just barely making it. Everyone has a need. We don't have to have a ton of money to meet that need. Maybe they just need a hug or someone to listen.

 

Lord, give us your eyes and ears to listen for those hurting and in need of help.

 

So Project 8.

 

We have decided we are going to add a month. We will go through the same 7 areas Hatmaker did, with some variations to the order of the months, what we do each month, etc. But we are adding a month of Random Acts of Kindness.

 

Today starts Month 1, Day 1. This month is Stress/Prayer.

 

Why stress and prayer?

-finding more time for Christ

-refreshing our relationship with Him

-Our lives are hectic and we need those purposed times to press pause

-He wants to renew our strength

 

We, as a family, will have 4 times of prayer. Dedicated times. For specific things.

 

Our focus will be:

Breakfast time- Philippians 4:4-6, with an emphasis on verse 8. A time to renew our thoughts, pray the 'whatsoevers',

 

Lunch time- a time to thank Him for His service to us and turning it into ways we can serve others.

 

Dinner time- thankfulness for everything. Filling our 'gratitude rooms' to overflowing for His many blessings, gifts, and beyond. No 'gimme gimme gimme, I need, I need' like from 'What About Bob'. No asking for things during this time- just being thankful.

 

Bed time- praying for the lonely, abused, abandoned, hurting, our prayer wall requests, and those in darkness.

 

We will be blogging through the Project. If you would like to follow us, send me your email and you can get the updates.

 

Below, I have some additional verses that we read today, as a family. Verses that are helping us to get the right mindset, have the right heart, and to learn about resting in His presence.

 

Are you up for the challenge? Have questions? PLEASE ASK.

 

Project 8 starts now.

 

With love,

Bryan, Stacia and Raychel

Thoughts:
Philippians 4:8

Meditate:
Psalm 1:2, Psalm 119:117, Psalm 19:14, Joshua 1:8, Psalm 27:4

 

Stress

Psalm 139:23, Phil 4:6