Some Things I Really Want

It's not.....

~ all the stylish, new clothes and jewelry I see on Pinterest that I really don't even have a need for.

~ the pretty hairstyles that might look great on someone else but I will probably never be able to achieve on my own hair.

~ a bigger, better, (cleaner?) house, newer car, or more gadgets and toys for us or the kids.

~ a perfect body that looks great in (or out?) of clothes. (which after four kids and multiple health problems is really impossible for me anyway!)

~ to seek after more carnal pursuits (like ungodly,worldly movies, music, or other entertainments) that only satisfy the flesh momentarily but leave your soul feeling empty and 'vex your righteous spirit'.

~ to be popular or accepted by those around us or have to let down certain standards in order to fit in and have more friends.

But it is.....

~To be a woman who is content with just trying to be the best Christian, wife, and mother I can be. (1 Ti. 6:6  But godliness with contentment is great gain.)

~ To focus more on who I am on the inside than what I look like outwardly. To treat others around me well and show my kids that attitudes of the heart are what's really most important. (1 Ti. 2:9-10 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shame-facedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh a woman professing godliness) with good works. Prov. 31:30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman who feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.)

~ To realize even more that being commended by the Lord for how we live is a far greater achievement and blessing than to be liked or approved of by others.....and to rest in the fact that no matter how many don't understand the decisions we make or choose to turn against us, He is the one we're trying to serve and please. (Luke 6:22-23a Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall seperate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice you in that day, and leap for joy; for great is your reward in heaven.)

~ To remember how important the battle we are in against satan is. And that no matter how tired I get some days of trying to do the right thing or be less like the world, I can't give up. Even if so many around us seem to be. Not only for my own sake, but the sake of my marriage, children, and others who don't know the Lord! (2 Ti. 2:3-4 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. 2 Thes. 3:13 But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.) 

Yes, these are the things that the Lord has been speaking to my heart about lately. And ones I've realized that I truly want more than anything, even though they might be hard. Because they are the things that really matter in the end and will count for eternity. I'm praying that He'll help me to not only want them, but work for them as well! I don't want to just be a hearer of His word, but a doer also.

(Just to be clear, some of the things I named above that I don't want may not all be bad in and of themselves, but are just things that can become too important and turn into wrong if we focus too much on them I think. And again this is stuff the Lord's been showing me personally that I felt like sharing! Not intended for any other specific purpose.)