Welcome to the 10th Annual Making Your Home a Haven Bible Study! 10 years ago, we began this series and never could I have imagined how much it would resonate with so many women around the world! Our souls desperately need a deeper connection with God. So many times we try to mask our struggles, pain, confusion or emptiness by keeping busy and distracted, eating food, going on vacations, seeking success or elevating certain relationships. While many of these are blessings from God, they are not good substitutes FOR God. This Bible Study is going to help you slow down. […]
Read MoreMaking Your Home a Haven: Week 4 – Fasting
Welcome back to Week 4 of the Making Your Home a Haven Series! This is our final week! And this week is not an easy one. While fasting is sweet to the soul, it does have unpleasant side effects. It requires discipline but I can guarantee you the blessings –far surpass the temporary pain. This week’s Spiritual Focus is Fasting and Solitude. Last November my heart was heavy going into the holiday season and so I chose a passage of scripture from Psalms and I began meditating on it every morning. Alongside my meditation, I decided to also fast my morning […]
Read MoreMaking Your Home a Haven: Week 3 – Prayer
Welcome back to Week 3 of the Making Your Home a Haven Challenge! This week’s Spiritual Focus is Prayer. I was recently listening to a podcast where the man said that some Christians today have more of a “Cruise Ship” mentality than a “War Ship” mentality. What he meant was that some Christians seem to want to live their life trying to entertain themselves. Parents have become the “Fun Directors” of the family. But we cannot fulfill the great commission this way! Instead – we need to remember that we are at war against the enemy of our souls. 1 Peter […]
Read MoreMaking Your Home a Haven: Week 2 – Meditation
Welcome back to Week 2 of the Making Your Home a Haven Challenge! Keep your candles burning and your thankful heart going and let’s add to it! This week’s Spiritual Focus is Meditation. Some days a scheduled quiet time just can not happen. Emergencies, sicknesses, a busy season at work, or family members who need us, just simply make it impossible. It would be wrong for us to put pressure on ourselves to always create the “Pinterest Perfect” quiet time. Life just does not work that way. So what’s the solution when an extended time alone with the Lord is not […]
Read MoreMaking Your Home a Haven: Week 1 – Gratitude
{Cue the Confetti!!!} It’s time to begin the 9th Annual Making Your Home a Haven Challenge! This week’s Spiritual Focus is Gratitude. So, pull out a journal or your Women Living Well Habit Tracker and turn to the Gratitude page and begin! If you don’t have a Habit Tracker – you can print these pages below. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. (Psalm 136:1) Every day this week, pause and write down a few things you are grateful for. It is scientifically proven that listing the things we are grateful for improves our […]
Read MoreThe Making Your Home A Haven – 9th Annual Fall Challenge – is back!!!
Welcome back to the Making Your Home a Haven — 9th Annual Fall Challenge! This is the Soul Care Edition and it will run through the entire month of November. If you’ve been around a while – you already know all about this series and might even have your candle going right now! Each week I will give you one practical tip and one spiritual discipline that you can do to create a haven in your home. Is your calendar full? Do you feel tense, rushed and even panicked at times? You need soul care! I believe we can create a physical […]
Read MoreWeekly Challenges & Resources for Rest & Release
For those who have joined me, each fall, for the Making Your Home a Haven Series– that series is being replaced this year, with a study titled: Rest and Release. This study is “Making Your Home a Haven 2.0″. It’s going to be even BETTER than past years because we are mixing the familiar challenges WITH a study of God’s Word. This is going to be SO good! Do you struggle to find rest for your soul, on the hamster wheel of life? Do you feel like your load – your portion in life – is a bit too heavy […]
Read MoreFling Open Your Doors and Let Others In!
Welcome back to our final week of the Making Your Home a Haven Series! If you are just joining us, be sure to read the posts from the other weeks to get up to speed on what we’ve been doing. { Week one Week two and Week three } Then, be sure to come back to this post for this week’s challenge! Karen Writes: Wow! Our time together has been flying by! We have come to our last challenge. I hope the past few weeks have made a real difference in your homes. In farmhouse and townhouses. Condos and cottages. Whether you live […]
Read MoreLean In and Listen for a Heart Drop
{Welcome back to Week 3 of our Making Your Home a Haven Series! If you are just joining us, be sure to read the post from week one and the post from week two to bring yourself up to speed. Then, be sure to come back to this post for this week’s challenge!} Karen Ehman Writes: Well, did you fire up your ovens last week and serve up something delicious for your family? Are you continuing to light that candle each day and pray for all your people—those souls who reside within your four walls? And now, are you ready for week […]
Read MoreServe Up Some Lovin’ From the Oven
Welcome to week two of the 7th Annual Making Your Home a Haven Challenge! Let’s welcome back our guest –> Karen Ehman. {If you are just joining us, be sure to read the post from week one to bring yourself up to speed. Then, be sure to come back to this post for this week’s challenge!} Karen Writes: How is it going? I’ll bet your homes smell amazing and your hearts are becoming centered on God and your heart-felt prayers for your family members. Don’t forget to keep the verse of the challenge before you for perspective. Even try memorizing […]
Read MoreHow To Make Your Home Feel Cozy
Welcome to week one of the 2016 Making Your Home a Haven Challenge! I’m so thankful for our guest – {New York Times Best Selling Author and Proverbs 31 Speaker} – Karen Ehman. Check out her welcome video here – she made this just for you! Karen writes: I’m delighted to be leading us through this year’s Making Your Home a Haven challenge! Thanks so much to Courtney for allowing me to connect with you all. I’m so ready to get started sharing ideas as we all encourage each other to make our homes inviting and welcoming for our families […]
Read MoreMaking Your Home a Haven 7th Annual Fall Challenge
Welcome back to the 7th Annual “Making Your Home a Haven” Fall Challenge! If you’ve been around a while – you know all about this series and might already have your candle going right now! I can’t believe we have been doing this for 7 years – it’s been such a life changer! Is your calendar full? Do you feel tense, rushed and even panicked at times? Do you feel like the rest of the family is feeling the same way? I believe we can create a physical environment, as well as a spiritual environment, that can bring peace, harmony […]
Read MoreThe Kitchen Is Not Just For Cooking But For Connecting
{Cue the Confetti!} We are to our final week of the Making Your Home a Haven Series! Next Wednesday, we’ll begin a special Thanksgiving Series to keep our candles and prayers going! This week we are focusing on the kitchen – the heart of the home. At the bottom of this post you will find this week’s challenge, some fun conversation starters for kids and Women Living Well’s Favorite Recipes! The kitchen is not just for cooking but for connecting. God created taste buds, the sense of smell, and the eye that is drawn to beautiful things – to please our senses. […]
Read MoreWho We Are At Home Is Who We Really Are
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the most fun – where do you fall on the fun-meter scale? How about on the nice scale? Would those who live with you say — you make the home a brighter, happier, more joy-filled place? Who we are at home is who we really are. The words “fun” and “nice” are not in scripture – but “joy” and “kindness” are and a joyful and kind woman in her home is a blessing. J.R. Miller says “The richest heritage that parents can give is a happy childhood, with tender memories of father […]
Read MoreThe Power of a Positive Woman in Her Home
Sometimes life throws us a curve ball. As we seek to make our homes a haven, reality strikes — headaches, hormones, financial pressures, and difficult relationships stand in the way of our dreams. Recently, I was listening to a speaker who said, “we should balance every negative interaction with 10 positive ones”. Our negativity can become like a heavy cloud in our homes when we are expressing frustrations (not just about our husband or children) but with the world in general. We can seem unhappy and make others feel like they are walking on egg shells when they are around us. […]
Read MoreThe Key To Making Your Home a Haven
What makes a home a haven? Does it have to look like it popped out of Better Homes and Gardens Magazine with unbelievable decorating? Is it a certain number of square feet, a separate bedroom for each child, or the neighborhood you live in? No. It is not the things we have or the things we do not have that make our homes a haven. It’s YOU! You are the key to making your home a haven. Which home do you live in? Home #1 In this home, the woman of the home is distant and distracted. She is pulled into her computer, […]
Read MoreMaking Your Home A Haven 6th Annual Fall Challenge
Welcome to the 6th Annual “Making Your Home a Haven” Fall Challenge! If you’ve been around a while – you know all about this series and might already have your candle going right now! I can’t believe we have been doing this for 6 years – it’s been such a life changer! I have been lighting my candle all winter, spring and summer long. It’s my daily habit to light my kitchen candle and then say a prayer for peace in our home. Oh friends, we don’t want to just read God’s word – we want to live out God’s […]
Read MoreMaking Your Home a Haven {Week 4 – A Cozy Warm Kitchen}
This week is our final week in the Making Your Home a Haven Series. I cannot believe how quickly it flew by!!! Here comes Thanksgiving and Christmas – oh my!!! But first – let’s finish off this month strong with… This week’s challenge: Focus on the kitchen, the heart of the home. Cook things with pleasant aromas like homemade bread, pies, and cookies. Don’t wait to have a reason to make something special – do it simply to show love to your family. Invite your kids and/or hubby to cook along side of you – make memories in the kitchen […]
Read MoreMaking Your Home a Haven – Week 3 {Family Fun Night}
As a little girl, every night my family ate a home cooked dinner around the dinner table. We weren’t allowed to watch television and my mom always took the phone off the hook so there were no distractions. But on a few special nights, my mom would put a table cloth on the family room floor and she served dinner there. The change of pace, the ability to watch television while we ate, and a family game afterwards — made for much excitement in the eyes of this little girl. And so the apple doesn’t fall too far from the […]
Read MoreMaking Your Home a Haven {Week 2 – Music}
Music. It has a strange effect on people. Certain songs can flood our minds with good memories. Others can touch a painful and tender place deep inside of us where we’ve been hurt and bring tears. Others make us lift our hands in worship while other songs just make us all want to boogie! lol! Edith Shaefer says “There is a charm in making music together which not only stimulates interest and creativity, but which breaks through whining and fussing and clears the atmosphere.” Music changes the atmosphere of our homes. In our home, soft piano music plays 24/7. Yes, […]
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