Easter weekend has come and gone once again and hopefully you had some time to reflect on what Jesus Christ has accomplished and what that means in your life. But, now what? The temptation is to go back to our regularly scheduled program of life, with little thought of the sobering reality of what Christ’s death, burial & resurrection means. Practically speaking, how can we live in light of the cross and keep its message at the forefront of our minds?

1. Pray
Ask God to continually bring to your mind often that you are a sinner, unworthy of His gift of mercy and kindness and that left to yourself without the covering of the blood of Jesus Christ, you would be doomed to an eternity in hell. Ask Him to remind you of Christ’s sacrifice when you are faced with temptation and to help you get through those times of temptation.

2. Read / Meditate
Life is busy and sometimes it’s hard to find time to read the Bible. However, when I have disciplined myself to read God’s Word no matter how busy I am, I have never regretted it. Make God your first priority in the day. Get up 10 minutes early and study (not skim) a few verses. Time with God is about quality, not quantity. Better to read just a verse or two and really understand the meaning and think about how to apply it practically than to read 10 chapters and take nothing away from it. Commit to memorizing one verse per week by writing it down on an index card and posting it somewhere that you will see it frequently (such as your bathroom mirror or kitchen cabinet). At the rate of one verse per week, you will have 52 verses memorized in just a year!

3. Sing
As you go throughout your day, sing and make music to the Lord! Songs that have words taken straight out of Scripture are especially pleasing to God since they are His own words. God doesn’t require you to have a CD contract worthy voice to praise Him. He gave you the voice He wanted you to have, so use it to give Him glory.

4. Listen to podcasts / audio books
For busy women, podcasts and audio books can be great resources for getting in God’s Word and principles. One of my favorite podcasts is Revive Our Hearts by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. This podcast is free off of her website (there are years worth of daily podcasts archived, up until today). Listen while you do your housework.

5. Surround yourself with fellow believers
Many of you may work in environments where there are not a lot of other believers, or any other adults at all if you are SAHM/WAHMs. Make sure you are interacting with fellow believers frequently by keeping in touch with women at church, going to a Bible study,  and/or e-mail/social media. God created us as relational creatures & we need each other for support and encouragement. My church created a facebook page specifically for the women of the church to post prayer requests, swap ideas and recipes, post event invitations, and keep in touch. It has been such a blessing!

What are ways that you keep the cross as the center of your day?

“May I never lose the wonder, the wonder of the Cross!
May I see it like the first time standing as a sinner, lost.
Undone by mercy and left speechless, staring wide-eyed at the cost;
May I never lose the wonder, the wonder of the Cross!”

This last month I had the opportunity to review the new book (mine was in audio format) by Crystal Paine called “The Money Saving Mom’s Budget.” Here are my thoughts:

Crystal has a gentle and encouraging spirit that makes this book pleasant and easy to listen to, while also being very straight forward and informative. She shares many ideas regarding budgeting, goal setting, and recommends practical ways of achieving financial goals. While I did enjoy listening to this audio book, I cannot honestly say that I learned a lot of new information; however, I believe that it is a great book for someone who is new to budgeting, living within their means, getting out of debt, and goal setting. I did learn something new about practical ways to cut cell phone bills, and intend to follow that advice to reduce our current phone bill by $15-30/month. I appreciate Crystal’s honesty, sincerity, and heart for the Lord. She is a great example of a servant heart!

I am grateful that I had the opportunity to review this audio book. It was well worth the time and gave me something productive to do one day while I did housework. I would recommend The Money Saving Mom’s Budget.