Reality TV - A Christian Perspective

For years we've seen the reality tv phenomena happening. People all over are loving reality tv shows. From Dance Moms to the Duggars, people are watching. 

Why? 

Why are we so interested in reality tv? 

Could it be that we're sick and tired of fake tv? Romantic shows? Phony Sit-coms? 

The question, "Does art imitate life or does life imitate art?" has been answered. 

Neither!! 

Today shows are being used to try to influence us politically. People are walking away from Cable television. With Youtube, people have become their own stars. Hollywood isn't needed. People are choosing what they want to watch and are no longer relying solely on Hollywood to tell us what to watch. 

This has me really thinking. Why do we love reality tv? 

I was taken back to the beginning of my walk with the Lord and I can remember wanting women to mentor me. It was hard. I was a young mom, new to homeschooling, new to the Lord. 

In time some women did come into my life but I always seemed to have trouble opening up and really sharing my intimate struggles with them. I had always assumed it was my issue because I was distrusting.  As I got older and my walk with the Lord became stronger, I began to see an issue. 

It wasn't that I wasn't willing to open up, it was that my mentors weren't really opening up to me. I found myself longing for some real intimate friendships and couldn't really find any. 

Don't get me wrong, these were women who knew God's word. When I did discuss anything with them, their responses were solid and biblical...there was just phoniness to it. A lack of real intimacy in our relationship as women. While they would nod and seem to understand my struggle, they wouldn't share with me their struggle in that area. Instead, they would cite scripture and their wisdom was good but again.. nothing really of themselves were they telling me. 

" So affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives because you had become dear to us." 

1 Thessalonians 2:8

One day an older woman and I were talking and I was sharing my heartache with what I was going through with my older daughter. She shared with me, " I can't tell you what to do, but I can share with you what NOT to do. " I looked at her and said, "I'll take it.". She went on to share with me her own experiences....her mistakes and for the first time, I felt like someone was really mentoring me and sharing her life with me. Not her perfection, Not just scripture, but herself and her heart!! 

Oh what a treasure when you find someone willing to do this!! 

This began to open my eyes up to what was really lacking in the church. 

REAL WOMEN!! 

Our church is filled with real women, with real problems, but again and again, I'd see women hugging and saying, "I'll pray for you.". 

Inside my heart would die over and over every time I heard those words. I wanted to yell, "No!! She knows that you'll pray for her. What she wants to know is that she isn't alone!! That she's not the only one who feels like a BAD MOM!!" 

Stop being fake and Open up!!! 

(Thank the Lord for some self-control) 

It wasn't in our perfection that we were saved by our Savior!! No!! It was in our imperfection. After all, we are saved because we KNOW that we are less than Perfect! WE are awful sinners, saved by the Lord's amazing, Perfect, Grace. 

So why is it that once we're saved, we don't want to open up and be real?? 

I had a friend send me a link to a woman who was doing bible studies online. I thought, "Oh this is great." .. I got my coffee early that morning, sat down in front of my computer, clicked "play" and was startled by the OVERLY happy, too excited woman sitting in front of me. 

She was SOOOOOO Excited to be reading the book of Leviticus. What?? No one is EVER excited to be reading through the book of Leviticus. I immediately clicked it off and never went back. I looked up at the Lord and said, "Please send me some real women.". In head in my mind, "Well, I have you.". 

What?? No way!!! Not me. 

I realized that if I wanted "Real" women, then I'd have to become that "real" woman. A woman who was willing to be transparent about her imperfections, her life and her amazing Savior who loves her anyway!! 

That is scary! 

Just recently a woman from my church called me "transparent", which always shocks me. I looked right at her and said, "That is not something I'm good at.". 

So if you see me as being "Real" and "Transparent", that is ALL THE LORD. 

One of my imperfections is keeping track of all we have to do in a week. I love these 11 x 14 posters that I've been printing out. I put them in a frame and use a sharpie to write down what is going on that week. Including dinner!! This is a great way for everyone in the house to see what is going on that day and week. 

I have them printed at Walmart. 11x14 on matte paper. I put them in an 11 x 14 frame. I use a sharpie to write all our weekly events happening. 

Here is a picture of our January Poster in use. 

If you'd like to download January's Poster. Just click ---> Here

I

This is in a frame. I used Sharpie to add in the dates and events that we need to remember.
I also added our dinners.

Click Here to download

Here is to a happy and blessed New Year!! 

Laura,

Imperfect wife, mother, and follower of Christ 

My Blog is Awful! Free January Weekly Poster

I was trying to edit my blog and decorate it for the holidays. Please put on some sunglasses and continue reading. I will be fixing it, but this month has gotten away from me. 💁

Where did this month go? Seriously? It seems like just yesterday I was making a huge turkey? 

This month has been a whirlwind of parties, homeschooling,  shopping and of course, the start of Sarah's new season of competitions. We've tossed in David's Taekwondo too!! 

For January, I think of winter. I actually had a hard time coming up with something for this month's calendar. I'm not sure why? I guess I had a creative block. 

This month's background is again, from Janelle at Chantahlia's Design. This is a recent addition to her many backgrounds available on her website. If you click her name, the link will take you there. 

I love these. This is a weekly planner that is really working out for us. I print this out at our local Walmart. You can get this done in one day!!! It's about $6.00 for the 11x14. 

This is December's calendar.  I use a permanent marker and simply wipe off with alcohol. 

Everyone in the family can see what we are doing this week. Even my neighbor's son will look the calendar to see if my son will be available to play. Smart kid!! At the bottom, I have a place to put our dinners for the week. Breakfast and lunch is easy, but by dinner time, I'm done. So having a meal plan for dinner is what helps me. Here is December's poster link. 

This 11x14 Poster is free! I love creating documents!! I don't always use everything I create. Sharing is a great way for me to be creative! Please do NOT share these files directly with anyone. If they want, send them here. This month I have both a JPG and PNG file. You can adjust the size as long as you keep the ratio the same without affecting the design. If you do change the size, please post a picture, I'd love to see how you're using it! 

For notifications of the new poster, please subscribe to my blog here, OR you can follow me on Pinterest, Mother4Jesus and on Instagram. Mother4Jesus!! 

I've recently gotten into digital planning and am loving it. I really like it for school planning. 

please excuse my blog colors. I'm proficient in creating documents. web design?? Not so much. I was playing around with some colors and well, It's very bright. 

If you've been able to stand the bright, holiday spectacle that is my blog this long, then you more than deserve a free poster!! 

Click the link below for a direct download from my Google drive. 

** A few people have shown interest in these as an 8-1/2 x 11 landscape. If you think I should offer these in other sizes, please drop me a note here on the blog, or on Instagram. Mother4Jesus

Click here to download. 

Merry Christmas, 

Laura

Imperfect wife, mother, and follower of Jesus

Planner Perfection & Free Weekly Poster

I think my title is a bit dramatic, but that's how I feel. 

For years, Nay...Decades, I've used paper planners. I couldn't find the perfect planner, so I started to create my own planner pages. Times change and my children's needs change, thus changing my own needs. My needs for the type of planner changed. They continue to change, sometimes from day-to-day. 

I didn't want lists all over the house, or apps all over my Ipad. I decided to try digital planning. I have Onenote and thought it would be a good idea. The only problem is setting up a planner, one that I liked, was worse than organizing underwear!! It took too much time and with children and all I had to  do, it wasn't something that I could stay focused on. I do have trouble focusing on things to begin with. 

Simplicity is one thing that helps my ADD. If it's simple, I can continue to follow through. This includes how I decorate and organize my home and also my planner. 

When you're searching for the perfect planner or digital planner, you'll notice that all your advertising is about planners. That's because of all the advertising algorithms that many main websites use. I knew that I'd get a plethora of ads about planners and digital planners because of my search. I sat back and waited. I was right. I love it when I'm right. 😉 It doesn't happen too often. 

I had many ads pop up and I clicked on every link. More out of curiosity. 

Most of them looked great, but I could tell wouldn't be a good fit. 

Then came Artful Agenda.

Montly Screen shot

Weekly Screen shot

Daily Screen shot

I decided to give it a try. I got a free 2-week trial. I expected to try it and then delete it. I really didn't think that this would work. I also wasn't too sure about how easy it would be. 

I WAS WRONG!! 

I started, I synced it with my Icalendar, Picked out a cute cover, a type of font and I was off. I was pleasantly surprised. When I realized that I could access this from any of my devices, I started to like it. When I saw that I had a monthly, weekly AND daily view,  I was hooked. The daily tab also has a water tracker. Seriously?? How awesome this was. It took about 24 hours for me to realize that I was going to pay for the full version. I still had my paper planner, but after the first week, I realized I wasn't using it.

I can organize my plans, my lists and jot down things to remember. I can put in my monthly, weekly and daily goals. I can even create a journal for myself. Add in the cute stickers and I've got one place for everything. Because it syncs up with my phone and iPad, I always have the information with me. I created my shopping list and went to the store with my list on my phone. No more forgetting my shopping list.

Normally, I never post affiliate links. I'm also very careful about what I review and recommend. After all, I spend my money on an item, even if I like the item, they want me to then spend my time recommending them? That's free advertising for any item you do that for. For this reason, I'm very careful about what I review and recommend. 

When you join Artful Agenda, they automatically give you a referral link. I ignored this because I never thought I would share it. Because I really do love this planner, I decided to share my referral link. This was after I went back to search for what this link gets me.

Ok, if you use my referral code ( RL24865),  you get a designer cover and stickers for free and I get 10%.
Considering that this planner isn't expensive, that's not a large income.
I did not receive anything for my opinion, review or advertising of this planner. If you do decide to use my code,  I appreciate that. If this isn't something that will work for you, continue your search.
Finding the right planner is a personal thing and what works for one, won't work for another.

💁

I still had one problem. My husband and children needed to see what we were doing daily and weekly. I decided that I would just leave my planner open on my desktop for them to look at. This wasn't my brightest idea, they would never look there. Wasn't going to happen no matter what I said. 

I solved that problem I created a weekly page, that I could write in what was going on that week as a display.  Since I love color, seasons and themes, I decided to create one that could be reused each week. I created one for October. I wanted something larger than a regular sheet of paper, 8.5 x 11. I wanted to frame it and just write on our weekly plans, wipe off when needed. 

I created one for October and I also have one for November. I decided that 11 x 14 would be a good size. One reason is that I was able to get a frame from Walmart that was affordable in this size. It was only about $4.00 in the store. I also decided to have the 11 x 14 printed as a photo from Walmart. This was only about $5.00. It also makes the colors more vibrant. I came home, popped it in a frame and left for my girls' weekend. My husband loved the idea and THAT alone makes this a wonderful plan.  On the bottom of each day, I added a few lines to write in your dinner plans. 

This is my October Weekly in an 11x14 frame

I have my free November weekly poster that you can download. ALL of my downloads are free. I NEVER charge for them. If you would like to receive an email when a new blog comes out, please follow my blog. If not, please feel free to download the poster.
This months weekly poster is available with a Sunday AND a Monday start. I prefer mine to start on Monday. I know that some prefer a Sunday start. I also have the files as a PNG OR a JPG file. You can resize it as you would like.  All the files are in one folder. You can download the whole folder or the individual poster that you would like.

Click Here to download. 

Please DO NOT send the files directly to anyone. Do NOT claim it as your own. I don't put any watermark of my blog name on it because I don't like to take away from the beauty of the printable. I'm counting on the honor code for these.


**PS: Look for my December Weekly Poster. 

Have a great week!
Laura
Imperfect wife, mother and follower of Christ.