The Proverbs 31 Woman

You can find all of the devotions and podcasts in this series here. From Chaos to Calm: Day Thirty The Preparation Day Scripture Memory: “And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.” Exodus 16:23 Download the .pdf version of this article. Since the beginning of time, Friday was the Preparation Day. Women would spend Friday preparing for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was to be celebrated and “called a delight.” (Isaiah 58:13) The only way to truly be able to enjoy the Sabbath day is to have our hearts and our homes prepared for a Sabbath day’s blessing. Each week, from Sabbath to Sabbath we should be preparing for God’s holy day. The Sabbath, or the day we set aside to worship our Father in heaven, should be the center of all of our activities - not because we are bound by the law, but because Jesus is the center of who we are. I love how, Yara Cerna Young explains this in her book, Oh No It’s Sabbath Again: And I’m Not Ready! (1) She states: “As Sabbath has become less of a special day, we have grown up with less guidance for how to prepare for it. Role models in this area are few. Whom can we turn to for instruction? … I’m sure the Lord doesn’t want us to miss the blessing we can have from the Sabbath. He knows how desperately we need this important time - especially in such a complicated age! In love, He has given us a weekly reminder of His sovereign power in our lives. Each week we receive one more opportunity to draw closer to Him, one more opportunity to glorify Him. The Lord intended the Sabbath to be a time of celebration, but too many of us are not having fun anymore!” So, how are we to make the best use of our time in preparation for the Day God has set aside just to be with us? The key is getting organized. That is what this challenge is all about! By taking steps to get our lives in order, we will in essence allow more time to prepare our hearts and homes for the Sabbath. In my own home, Friday is the day I do a good portion of my Sabbath preparation. The children and I ensure that all the chores are completed by Friday afternoon. I prepare a meal for the Sabbath to be eaten after church (or for potluck). This way, I do not have to slave over the stove and waste the beautiful hours of God’s holy day. We enjoy having a special dinner on Friday evening to welcome the Sabbath. I put fresh linens on the table and use my best dishes. I even have special Sabbath plates that my little ones love. I love looking at the Jewish traditions to find new ways to ensure my family finds the Sabbath a true delight. As keeper of my home, it is my responsibility to see that everything is prepared and ready for my family. The children do help. I oversee their activities so that they do have a part. The Proverbs 31 woman “looked well the ways of her household.” She was a good manager which means she knew how to delegate the jobs at hand! If your home is in order throughout the week, you will have less to do on Friday. I hate it when we welcome the Sabbath with chores undone. I find it harder to rest! This Friday, see what you can do to prepare for the coming Sabbath. Here are some ways to make the Sabbath evening even more special: Light candles on the table and around the house. Sing a beautiful song together as a family such as “Day is Dying in the West”. Have special nightgowns for your daughters and special pajama’s for your sons. Learn more about the way Jewish people celebrate the Sabbath and incorporate some of those traditionsinto your own Sabbath routine. I had the recent pleasure of learning to make traditional Jewish Challah bread. It was much simpler that I had believed possible! So I want to share the recipe here: Jewish Challah Bread

From Chaos to Calm: Day Twenty-Nine Children and Chores Scripture Memory: “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” Exodus 20:12 You can download the .pdf version of this devotion here. This is perhaps one of the hardest lessons a mother will have to learn: teaching your children to be respectful and helpful all at the same time is rarely easy! If your children are still small, include them in your daily chores now so that they will learn early on that it is very important to be a good helper. Praise your children when they do help or offer willingly to help without being asked. No matter how old your child is, he should be required to complete a number of chores daily to help keep the household running smoothly. Children today are given far too many privileges and much too much free time. Make time today or over the next few days to make a family chore chart and assign every member or every child chores. You may want to have rotating chores or you may want to simply change the chores out/ add to them as your child ages. Set Consequences. Do not despair if your child immediately cries foul and seems bent on not doing as you have asked. For a child who is not used to doing chores, there will be an adjustment period. However, it is very important that you do not waiver in your determination to make them follow through. For a child who rebels, you will need to have in place consequences for their disobedience. Do not yell. Do not beg. Do not bribe your children to obedience. The root of all disobedience is a rebellious heart. It is a heart issue! So, determine the punishment for not doing chores and make them clear ahead of time to your child so that he knows what to expect. Follow Through. Part of training your children is working along side of them. If you have assigned your twelve year old son the bathrooms, do not just say, “Go clean the bathroom.” Go with him. Show him step by step how to do it the first time. The second time, go with him and tell him what to do step by step and correct him if he is not doing it right. Continue to check his work every time until you are certain it will be done to your standards (not his) and that you can reasonably expect that he will do his chores in a timely fashion and to the standard you have set. If your children are required to put away their clothes, don’t just send them up the stairs to put away their clothing. Explain how you want it done. Do not forget to check that they did it correctly! You will end up with clean clothes back in the hamper if you aren’t diligent! Or the clothes, once neatly folded, will end up crammed into drawers and wrinkled. Even the youngest child can help put away his toys, help wash the windows, or scrub the floors. My children used to fight over who got to mop the floor. I would hand them each a sponge and they would have so much fun. Now that they are older they don’t enjoy it so much, but it was nice while it lasted! Make It Fun! You can make a chore chart on the computer. You can write it out by hand or you can even make a super cool poster with neat stickers and lots of colors. The important thing is that you put the chart in a central location of the house - the kitchen or family rooms are good choices. You may also want to make individualized charts for each child to place in their bedrooms, in the bathrooms, or in their school binders. Training your children today will reap rewards tomorrow! Ask God to show you how best to instruct your children to be hard workers with cheerful attitudes. Click to Listen Here are a couple of printables for your Household Notebook: Note: After offering The Daily Tasks printable yesterday, I decided I should have offered a blank one as well! So here are they are again, plus a list of age appropriate chores for your children. The Daily Tasks The Daily Tasks {Blank}

Drum roll please... Would you believe that today I posted my 1000th post? That's a lot of writing over the years! I want to do something to celebrate. Hmmm... How about a giveaway? Sign up for my newsletter and you'll be entered to win a $25.00 gift certificate to Amazon.com! Leave a comment below letting me know you signed up. Triple Bonus Points for following me on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest! Be sure to leave a comment and let me know you followed me! The drawing will be held on Wednesday, April 17th! Okay, so that was fun! Let's get on with finding the calm in our chaos... From Chaos to Calm: Day Twenty-Eight The Daily Order Scripture Memory: “Let all things be done decently and in order.” 1 Corinthians 14:40 Download the .pdf version of this article. Today we will be looking at the daily order, or in other words, how you go about your day. When I was younger, I had no idea how to run a household. Many of the things I have learned over the years have come by trial and error. I have found that my greatest enemy has been lack of self-discipline. I believe this to be the case for many women who feel frustrated at home. We have talked about self-discipline in the past and I want to reiterate the importance of learning self-discipline. If this is something you still struggle with, it needs to be at the top of your prayer list! Our Scripture memory for today says, “Let all things be done decently and in order.” God is not a God of chaos. He is a God of order. When you life a life full of order, you bring honor and glory to His name. Think about it. If you walk into someone’s home and there are dirty dishes stacked in the sink, clean laundry covers the sofa, stacks of magazines sit on top of a floor that obviously needs vacuuming… you would think this person does not have their life together. However, if you walk into someone’s home who has their house tidy and smelling like fresh baked bread or cookies and they have a smile on their face to greet you - you know they are doing something right. We have put together our household notebooks so that we have sheets for planning our days. On a separate sheet of paper, I want you to write down the chores you know you should be doing on a regular basis in order for the house to stay clean. There are several approaches to your chores that you can take: 1. Do one room of your house each day: This approach works best if you have a small house. You can divide it up like Monday - Kitchen, Tuesday - bathrooms, Wednesday - laundry, Thursday - bedrooms, Friday - living rooms. 2. You can have certain chores for each day: This works well for a lot of people. This method has stood the test of time. Down through the ages women have had certain tasks for certain days. Monday - laundry, Tuesday - bathrooms & floors, etc. If you have a small family (2 -3 people) it is much easier to do laundry once a week. However, if you are like me (lots of kids) you may find it much easier to simply do two loads a day. If I wait a week to do the laundry it piles up so high I would have to spend 20 hours washing it! I like to have certain chores for each day of the week. My weekly cleaning schedule looks like this: Monday: floors - mopping, vacuuming Tuesday: kitchen chores - refrigerator, stove, small appliances Wednesday: bathrooms Thursday: sheets and linens Friday: baking, dusting, Sabbath preparation. By doing my morning and evening routines religiously each day followed by my weekly chores, my entire house can stay company ready most of the time. I admit there are days when nothing goes as planned or something will come up that takes away my time. However, if I am disciplined, I will maintain an orderly house on a regular basis. So, today as you look at your schedule. Begin to fill out the daily schedule print out and organize your daily tasks. You may want to print out one for each day of the week and go to on its respective day.

From Chaos to Calm: Day Twenty-Seven The Household Management Notebook Scripture Memory: “Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.” Proverbs 14:1 Download the .pdf version of this article. Ask yourself this question, “Is there anything you are currently doing or not doing to tear down your household?” Whether it is your critical spirit as we discussed a few days ago, or your procrastinating ways as we mentioned yesterday, everything we do has the ability to tear down or build up our homes. Today, we are going to begin the journey of putting our households in order. There is much work to be done, however, we will be taking it one day at a time! Creating your Household Management Book will take some time, so don’t worry if you feel overwhelmed. It will become your best friend! In your devotion this morning, ask God to help you build your home up in the ways of the Lord. It is not enough, however, to simply ask God to help you if you are not willing to work cheerfully toward your goal. Rarely in this life, is anything instantaneous. If you have a bad habit, it will take time to change it. The good news is that anything is possible with Christ by our sides! Today we are going to put together a pretty and functional Household Notebook. I want this notebook to speak to your personality. So, take a few minutes and look around the internet for pretty pictures that you can save to your computer. There are many free graphic websites and photo sites that are in the public domain. Then I want you to open a text file such as Microsoft Word and paste your photo or graphic into the document. Below that you can type in a favorite Bible verse or other saying that you like. Print it out and place inside the clear pocket of your Binder. If you do not have a clear pocket on the front of your binder, you can simply print it on card stock and punch holes in it for the front of your notebook, or place it inside a sheet protector. Or, if you scrapbook, you could make a pretty cover with your papers and embellishments. I want you to begin printing pages for your notebook. You can find pages in our Household Notebook section or try printing the Daily Planner found at: http://www.avirtuouswoman.org. Once you have printed enough for a month, you can punch holes in the pages and place them in you notebook. Your morning and night routines will be key to keeping your home in good order. In fact, the night routine may be the most important part of your day! In the evening, you need to clean up the kitchen after supper. I have found that by having an early supper, I can get the kitchen clean easier. With small children at home, it is imperative that I have time in the evening to clean up. With bath time, family worship, homework, and other activities that go on, the evening can be one of the busiest times of the day for a family. So, by preparing ahead, I can have supper on the table at an early hour and get the kitchen cleaned by 6:30. This leaves me free to do a quick clean up around the main areas of the house, enjoy family worship with my children and prepare them for bedtime. Before I go to bed, I can put away any left over dishes, wipe down my counters and sink and go to bed with a clean kitchen - at a decent hour! In the morning, since I have cleaned my kitchen, preparing breakfast is a breeze and I can easily clean up those dishes in less than 15 minutes. Your Morning Routine should look something like this: Prayer and Devotion. Get dressed. Fix breakfast. Tidy kitchen and sweep floors. Make Beds. Wipe down bathroom sinks. Wash one or two loads of laundry. Straighten house quickly. 10-minute de-clutter of one catch all space. The above routine, if done consistently, should be completed by 9:00 in the morning at the latest. In your Daily Schedule you can add your other regular chores. We will talk about cleaning the house in a few days. For now,

Dearest Friends, I am so sorry it's after 10:00 PM on Monday evening and I am just now getting this up. After I posted Day 1 of the Spring Clean Challenge, I had to go and sit with my father-in-law and my husband's uncle while my mother-in-law went to the doctor in Kingsport (two hours away) and while I was there my father-in-law passed away. He died peacefully. And he's looking forward to the coming resurrection when he can meet Jesus face to face. The last two weeks have been so hectic since he came home from the hospital, knowing that he didn't have long to live. He was a sweet man and we will miss him. I appreciate you understanding! And I hope you have been blessed today. Day Twenty-Six The Ways of Her Household Scripture Memory: “She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.” Proverbs 31:27 You can download the .pdf version of this devotion here. Today, we are going to begin the journey of putting our households in order. There is much work to be done, however, we will be taking it one day at a time! Creating your Household Management Book will take some time, so don’t worry if you feel overwhelmed. It will become your best friend! Our memory verse for today has two parts. In the first part, we are told that the Proverbs 31 woman looked well to the ways of her household. It does not tell us that this woman, a mother, did everything herself! So, if you were dreading the idea of trying to be Super Woman, have no fear. We are going to learn some simple and efficient ways to run our homes so that our home life is a happy life. The second part of the verse tells us that the Proverbs 31 woman worked hard. She was not lazy and she did not put off til tomorrow what needed to be done today. As women, we are called to the ministry of homemaking. God has given us a specific purpose. We may have many purposes and roles in this life: Wife, Mother, Washer Woman, Chef, Nurse, Chauffeur, Teacher, Coach, etc. Our days as wives and mothers are filled with countless activities, social events, and duties. But our first calling is to our homes and our families. Often, housework can become a burden because when we do not work willing with our hands and put off jobs that should be done immediately. If you leave dishes in the sink to wash and put away later, it will take you twice as long than it would have if you had done it as soon as the meal was over. Folding laundry takes only five or six minutes if you do it as soon as the clothes dryer stops. However, if you allow several loads of clean clothes pile up, it can seem to be a daunting task indeed! Cleaning the carpet as stains happen is much easier than waiting until the whole room is dirty. Procrastination is a “disease” affecting many a homemaker in this day and age. We need to put off those bad habits and arm ourselves with new ways! We want to look well to the ways of our households. We need to develop our self-discipline if we want to be keepers at home. Being a procrastinator is a form of laziness or a lack of self-discipline. Today, I want you to get a sheet of paper and look around each room of your house and write down those things you are not pleased with. Whether it be, stacks of books, clutter, dingy door jams, or peeling paint – write it down. This will be your “go to” list later in the challenge. Next, in preparation for putting together your Notebook you will need to gather these supplies: 3 ring binder with clear plastic window on cover Legal pad White cardstock 3 ring hole punch A box of sheet protectors (optional) In your prayer journal today, I want you to write about your feelings toward your home and housework. Write down what you would like to see happen in this area of your life. Ask God to give you a heart that is willing to work cheerfully. Click To Listen Here's an image you can use on your own blog or pin to Pinterest or Facebook. Of course,