The LifeGiving Home

“The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands.” Proverbs 14:1

How many times have I torn down the people I love most, who live right in my own home? How many times have I torn down with my words, my actions, my attitudes?

I so long to have a home that is full of LIFE and TRUTH. I want us to speak words of life, a life-giving home is what I desire for my family.

My self gets in the way daily, though. I don’t know about you, but my flesh and sin nature creep into my desires for a life-giving home every single day. I want to do what I want to do with my time, I don’t want to be interrupted, I want my home to be clean and I want it clean now.

Ouch.

In their newest book, The Lifegiving Home, Sally Clarkson along with her daughter Sarah, ask questions at the very beginning of this book to get us thinking about how we can create a life-giving home inside the walls of our own homes!

“In what ways can I make room for those needing a place to be creative?”

“How can I group chairs, couches and tables in our home in a way that encourages people to spend time together?”

“How can I use my own kitchen and the rest of my house to meet both the physical and emotional needs of my family and those who might not have as much? What events can I dream up that help us celebrate life and make memories through meals and learning how to cook for groups with simplicity?”

These are questions I want to ask of my own home. I want to encourage the building of relationships, not what might tear down. I want to have the mindset that what I do in the kitchen is not WORK but SERVING my family. Who am I serving today? How can I serve them with this meal? Can preparing good, healthful foods help me to serve my family better? How can folding this laundry bless someone? How can repeating this math problem for the 10th time be an act of service and not a drudgery? I fail at this daily, but I must keep preaching the gospel to myself. I must remind myself that Jesus isn’t finished with me yet. Praise God!

Every time I read a book by Sally Clarkson my heart is drawn toward home. And I will be honest, I *need* that especially in this season. A home with 3 teen/tweens has proven to be much harder for me than 3 babies in 3 years. I’m not only physically exhausted, I’m mentally drained.

But, my heart needs the reminder that what I’m doing here is showing the love of God to my children. I must constantly remind my heart of the truth that Jesus humbled Himself and became a servant to His disciples. More of Jesus, less of me.

“Family was God’s original scheme for society, and home was the laboratory where human beings could learn to glorify God through the work, relationships, and purposes of their lives. Home would be the place where love for God and commitment to His purposes would be passed down from one generation to another.”

{Read this post with more books by Sally Clarkson: The Author Who Has Most Influenced My Motherhood}

Battling the Enemy

The enemy seeks to destroy our marriages and our homes. God has been teaching me so much about the Armor of God, fervent prayer and doing battle with the enemy.

I firmly believe that a lot of the battles I have lost in my home are a direct result of me believing the lies that the enemy tells me.

You’ll never be a good mom. Your kids will be failures as a result of your bad mothering. You’ll never get it right. Why is it so hard for you to just love your children? Why did you get mad yet again about that same thing? 

Sweet friends, we MUST learn to discern God’s Truth from the lies. And we MUST silence the enemy. How do we do that? By picking up the ARMOR we’ve been given, by memorizing and reciting God’s Word, by preaching the gospel to ourselves, by praying His Word, turning up the praise music to silence the voice of the enemy, praying fervently for our families. DO BATTLE.

Prayer for Our Homes

Father God, we lift up our homes to You. You created family. You created home. We so long to have homes where Jesus is proclaimed, where Jesus is priority, where love abounds. But, Father, we confess to You our sinful nature gets in the way of this kind of love. It is so hard. But Christ in us is the HOPE of our glory. We love because You first loved us. Help us to love like You. May we teach the next generation in our own homes by the way we love.

Verses to Pray for Our Families

• 31 Scriptural prayers for our homes!
• 31 Verses to Pray for Our Families
• 28 Verses to Pray for Our Husbands
• 10 Scripture Prayers for the Desperate Mama

In the Comments…

I would LOVE to hear from you! What encourages your heart toward love for your family and home? What helps you to preach the gospel to yourself? What helps you in your battle against the enemy? Let’s BUILD one another UP and encourage one another daily!

Be sure to check Sally’s blog for a book club on The Lifegiving Home!

If you enjoy podcasts, Sally has one as well! I have LOVED the few I’ve heard so far!

My Heart’s Desires For My Home