January 1 is almost here...time to renew the gym pass, throw out the chips in the pantry, begin again to build the savings fund.....and the list goes on. I love new beginnings, and yes, every year I try to view January 1 as a clean slate, but while everyone around us is pulling out their jogging gear to seek “the new year new you,” what if we looked past our physical goals, and considered a heart goal? 

Last year, I began 2014 with the word “holiness.” I just felt like the Spirit put that word on my heart repeatedly in the weeks leading up to the new year. I decided that 2014 was going to be the year where I sought after, prayed for, and learned more about what it meant to be holy. The Bible commands us to “be holy as I am holy,” yet it wasn’t a concept I was overly familiar with outside of knowing it was an attribute of God. It’s been an amazing journey!

After such an encouraging journey this year, I’ve been praying for the last week or so that God would give me a word to pursue in 2015. As a quick backstory, I have been struggling lately with our future. Tim is in seminary and desires to be a pastor, so that really throws our future up in the air. If you have known me for 5 minutes, you know that I love control and hate the unknown, so this has been a challenge for me. We are trying to plan our finances, future family, home, jobs, etc. around an unknown future. I have been silently expressing my displeasure to God about the unknowns. I mean, doesn’t He know I like to plan?! Can’t we just get there already so I don’t have to wonder and worry anymore?! I know that I need to be content, and I do love our current situation. I love Tim so very much; I love our home, our friends, our church, but in the back of my mind is this tiny piece of discontentment/worry about “the next life stage.” 

As I walked through a store this past week, a little canvas wall art jumped out at me. It simply said, “Today you are exactly where you are supposed to be. What happens tomorrow is up to you.” I felt like God might as well have highlighted, italicized, and underlined in huge font that first sentence right across the wall of Marshalls. He sees me, today. I don’t have control, but I can know that God is in control, and today is exactly where He wants me. My pastor growing up used to often say, “Any situation that is out of my control is God’s will.” How relieving is that?! We don’t have to be afraid when we “lose control” because, frankly, we never had it. As His children, we are in the palm of His hand. Who better to have control of your life than your Creator God?

Vickibeth writes at O My Soul. 
You can find her on facebook HERE.

Okay! Here it is! The 2015 Challenge I am posing to the Deliberate Women Team and all of you, our DW readers!

It's a Prayer Challenge!

I {Mandy} am not so great at praying. I don't get up early, I have a hard time knowing WHAT to pray, and I get distracted easily.

But here it is...for 2015, select a length of time:

1 month or 1 week.

Now, pray for God to reveal to you who to pray for.

Whoever you feel led to pray for, pray for them every single day for the entire length of time you've chosen.

Pray specifically for them: for their salvation, for their heart to be softened to hear God speak, for their health, for their marriage (if applicable) for their children (if applicable), for their ministry, for healing, for their finances, etc. Ask God to reveal opportunities for you to minister to them. Be specific. Ask God what to pray for as well.

Pray that God would open your eyes to see this person the way God sees them.

Are you in a conflict with someone? Is there someone you don't get along with? Choose them to pray about! It's amazing how much bitterness and stress about someone can be erased when we start bringing that person before God in prayer.

Go so far as to get down on your knees if you feel led. Give this some time...5 solid minutes or more. Praying out loud is also an amazing way to communicate with God. It allows all of the Heavenlies to hear you.

Don't tell anyone! Keep it a secret from everyone, including who you are praying for. Let what you are doing be done in secret (along the lines of Matthew 6:3).

As an added bonus: send them a card in the mail, even include scripture you may be praying for them. Keep it anonymous if you can.

Imagine...at the end of the year, you could (in theory) have interceded on behalf of 12-52 people. You could have lifted them up before the Lord.

How amazing to think that someone could be praying for us on our behalf, and we wouldn't even know it!

Let's throw ourselves before the Throne on someone else's behalf! How could we, our relationships, and our communities be changed by having planned, deliberate, consistent conversation with the Lord every single day? Let's find out!

An Added Challenge: Keep a prayer journal! Keep track of who you pray for each week/month and write follow-ups to your prayers. Have a prayer answered? Write it down! What a great way to see how God is working!


If you are choosing to join us in this Challenge, feel free to comment below or on our Facebook page! 


Want to focus on your marriage with prayer? Check out Darlene Schacht (Time-Warp Wife) at her new blog Today's Marriage Prayer. 

When I {Mia} stop and think about the fact that God humbled himself to live inside a women’s womb, starting out as a microscopic baby, growing inside Mary for nine months and then making that miraculous (and messy) journey from the womb to the world where He needed to have His umbilical cord cut, taking his first breath of air and crying out in that little baby voice “I’m here, I’m here, have no fear” (well, if we could have translated his cries, I think that’s what He might have been saying)….When I think about it all, I am overwhelmed.

My God, so humble… My God, who so loved the world… My God, who listened to the angels sing that night… My God, so BIG and wrapped up so small… What a God.. What a Savior... What a Christmas!

And now, here we are two days after the Christmas celebration and the presents are opened and maybe even exchanged at the store, the wrapping paper has been thrown away, maybe the tree that you put up is already on the street, I don’t know. But, what I do know is this…..Christ was born so that we could be born again and that celebration doesn't end the day after Christmas.

May Christmas be a reminder for us all (I am preaching to myself) that our time on this side of heaven does not need to be lived in fear. God loves us, His son was born, died and rose for us. Death has no sting. The victory has been one. Trust Him. Trust Him. Trust Him!
Party on, friends!

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” 

John 3:16

Giveaway Time!

The finale of our week of posts and Giveaways ends today! In celebration of our 2 year anniversary here at Deliberate Women, we are giving away 1 NIV Real-Life Devotional Bible for Women, Compact: Insights for Everyday Life by Lysa TerKeurst of Proverbs 31 Ministries.

This beautiful Bible could be yours! Enter below for your chance to win!  Ring on the new year with a new Bible to stay in touch with God's Word. What better way to become a more Deliberate Woman than studying scripture? You can read more about the Bible by clicking HERE. 

Don't forget to SHARE this post! 

*All you have to do to enter to win is comment below with your FAVORITE CHRISTMAS DAY TRADITION. We will select a winner after midnight tonight and email the winner. You MUST provide a valid email in order to win. Must be 18 years old or older. For residents in the US and Canada only. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Winner will be selected using Random.org. Winner has 24 hours to respond or another winner will be seleceted.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Just a year ago as my {Lindsey} due date December 28th quickly approached the struggle was difficult to keep the holiday season joyful and light hearted. In fact the day we turned the calendar to the month of December things got real. The month that had once been covered with excitement and expectation was now filled with a sense of loss and a desire to hold something or rather someone who was missing from our lives. It is hard to believe that had my sweet baby had an earthly birthdate that we would be quickly approaching his/her 1st birthday. 

However, even during this time God’s grace was sufficient. His loving arms wrapped around my family and myself. We shared some truly joyous times and some times of sorrow. We had our times of laughing and our times of crying. The world went on and the healing continued slowly but surely.
Now here we are almost a full year later. My due date for our baby in heaven is getting closer by the day. There are times when I think of the things I had hoped for, the things it feels like I missed. The last little kicks in my tummy, the pain of labor, the joy delivery brings, the late night feedings, the sweet soft cuddles of a new born. First teeth, first words, first steps, lots of firsts and there are times when yes I mourn that loss. God, however, gave me at lease a glimpse of his big picture plan. 
Last spring about one month before the anniversary of finding out I was pregnant in 2013, I learned that once again there was a little one growing inside my womb.  I desired and dreaded this all at once. It seemed too close to the same experience I had the year before. I longed for and desired another baby, the baby I had dreamt about, the little boy whose life would be committed to the Lord and who would go onto do great things to further the kingdom. On the other hand I had come to terms with the fact that 2 miscarriages later, Avynne, might truly be our last. I had worked hard to remember as many lasts of hers as I could and to cherish the lasts and the firsts that were still to come with each of my children. Now here I was once again vulnerable to a loss that I wasn’t sure I was ready for. 

I remember listening to the song All of Me by Matt Hammitt several weeks into my pregnancy and determining that my belief that this sweet little baby growing inside of me was living from conception and that God had a purpose for him even if it ended up being a purpose I did not understand meant that I had to give him all of me.  My favorite line and the true sentiment of what that tear filled time of praise and worship in the car entailed is “Heaven brought me to this moment, it’s too wonderful to speak. You’re worth all of me, all of me. So let me recklessly love you even if I bleed. You’re worth all of me, all of me.” It truly was a peace and understanding that could only be heaven sent.  I resolved from that day forward to give my baby all of me despite my fears and the possibilities of disappointment. 

As the weeks pressed on this resolve was challenged often. The first sonogram, the second, the third, any time it took a minute to find my babies heart beat in the office emotions from the previous year would come flooding back and once again I would have to remind myself of my resolve and refocus my sight on my big picture God. Looking back on this time I believe that God gave me some beautiful insight into the days that Jesus body lay in the tomb.  The turmoil, the lack of understanding, the doubt, and the fear that Jesus disciples, his family and his friends must have been having. I thought about Mary who had been given the savior of the world to love and care for who she had now watched die in the most excruciating of ways.  She had been promised a savior, but instead was dealing with death and loss and just a small piece of a very big puzzle.  As my arms remained empty for a year and a half I began to understand the turmoil Mary must have been experiencing during those days. I had truly understood my dream of my precious baby boy to be a sign and a promise of what was to come from God, and yet I was in the midst of loss. Why hadn’t He fulfilled His promise?  In much the same way I’m sure Mary was trying to figure out how her son who was now dead would be able to save anyone.

Even if Mary had any understanding or expectations regarding Old Testament prophecy, here she was still having to wait those agonizing 3 days to see if what she hoped for would truly come.  During my waiting period I clung to the verses Philippians 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” I meditated on these words and lived by them for as I well knew my requests were not always in God’s plan, but according to this promise if I made them know to God through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving than I could surely be confident that the peace of God through Jesus would guard my heart and mind and prepare me for whatever was to come.

I am sure that no matter what the outcome of this pregnancy that this very peace would have held me together and taken me to where I was meant to be, but I am oh so grateful that on November 15, 2014 in a beautiful, unique, and treasured experience I was given the opportunity to take note of those last few kicks I could feel my baby make from within my womb. I spent moments and hours and days prior to my sweet little man’s arrival treasuring our lasts and awaiting our firsts. At 3:31 am on the 15th my little love Piersen was born.  My husband was able to deliver our son into this world, my mom, and oldest daughter were able to be a part of this beautiful miracle that is new life as well as my new midwife friend who is confident in the power that the name Yahweh holds. In this moment the joy that those who walked away from the empty tomb must have felt was absolutely evident in the room. Our little Piers, our little man who will be a rock, a foundation for God, our fulfillment of promise was alive, he was well. Just as we had praised Him in the storms of our previous year we now got to praise him in the realization of promises fulfilled. 

Through our new precious baby boy I have had the opportunity to understand the joy Mary experienced that very first night she held her sweet Baby Boy, the turmoil she felt at His loss and the Joy that she and the whole world for the rest of eternity get to experience ever since that 3rd morning. So this and every Christmas as we celebrate the birth of the Savior I will forever be grateful for the Grace filled lesson that Life after Death has given me in regards to the love my big picture God has for me. Love enough to intentionally give His son so that He can have you and me.


***CONGRATS TO BETHANY G! She is the wonner of yesterday's giveaway of Love & Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggrichs! Bethany has been contacted via email. Thank you all for commenting!***