I desire to connect with other Christian women.

I desire to minister in some way even if  it is a small one.

I desire to take care of my family.

I desire to raise my children in a Christ-filled home.

I desire to be a woman after God’s own heart.

I desire to make my husband proud to be my husband.

I desire to leave a legacy.

I desire to love my neighbor as myself, even when that’s difficult.

These are just a few of the things that I desire today.  What about you my friend, what about you?

Yesterday I posted asking for your book recommendations for my reading pleasure, so today I thought I’d recommend some to you, from my shelf that I have read and love.  Many of these I have read more than one time, so you know they are really good.

A Woman After God’s Own Heart

If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat

The Dream Giver

Cure for the Common Life: Living in Your Sweet Spot

Visioneering: God’s Blueprint for Developing and Maintaining Vision

Speak Up with Confidence: A Step-by-Step Guide for Speakers and Leaders

Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind

You can see from this list the kinds of books I like to read.  These have all been on my shelf for quite some time and most of them I have read more than one time, some of brought me through difficult times or decisions, others have helped me to grow closer to God. The good thing about all of these is that they are all written by Christians who write from a Biblical perspective. I believe all of them quote Scripture and I read them with my Bible in my other hand.  This is my favorite type of read.  What about you?  What are some of your favorites?

This is the second in a series of posts on books I’ve read or want to read. See the first post here and make your recommendations.

**The links in this post are Amazon Associate links I will be paid a small commission if you place an order on Amazon via these links.

Image Credit: kokokiwi

My kids and I have been battling a stomach bug for several days now, therefore I am not going to be having a Live show of Faith Inspires tonight, but I am ready for next week with an awesome topic, “What Does It Mean to Be a Christian?” We’ll be talking salvation, convictions, and beliefs, next Thursday, 9 pm CST / 10 pm EST on Mom TV Live.

I hope that you’ll join us.

This was my second week of Faith Inspires TV, hosted at MomTV.com.  We are live at 9 pm CST / 10 pm EST on Thursday’s. I honestly cannot believe I’m doing this.  I was a nervous wreck last week and then when Greg got called out at 8 pm to go look for an escapee my nerves were truly shot.  Last week’s show was truly difficult with the kids not yet in bed due to our interrupted schedule.  I thought this week HAD to be better for the show, however MOMTV was having technical issues so I started really late, then I forgot to hit record.  But since I was already there I recorded a super short segment just to have something there.  I hope either way it will be a blessing to you and anyone who sees it.

This journey I”m on is one of faith, in the big things and in the small things.  Won’t you share your story of faith with me?

I have to admit, I”m a little nervous, and that isn’t normal for me.  I don’t usually get nervous about speaking.  I get nervous about driving, about going new places, that sort of thing, but speaking, not so much.  However, I think the nerves center around getting this internet TV show thing just right.  The new webcam, the Stickam account, all that jazz.  But, I hope once that is settled and I”m gabbing away at ya’ll I’ll be just fine.

So, come join me and share with me this thing called “Faith”.  Do you have it?  Do you need it?  I’ll share with you this first week  how FAITH is my WHY!  It is sure to be interesting.  Now, for future week’s what about faith would you like to hear about?

Faith Inspires Live TV show will air tomorrow, June 25th, 2009 at 9 pm CST / 10 pm EST on MomTV.

So, I rocked back and forth on this decision, not sure if it was truly what I should do or not.  But it kept coming back to me so I felt that was a sign that I should go for it.  Therefore, I am beginning a live show on MomTV.com starting next Thursday, June 25 at 10 pm EST / 9 pm CST.

It is called Faith Inspires and will strive to “encourage women to rely on their faith” .  If you know me, you know I rely on my faith for everything, after all this blog is all about “juggling my life, by relying on my faith.” It truly is the core of my life and how I handle so many things.

This first show I plan to share with you my WHY, truly my faith is why I do what I do.  After that I plan to share more each week about how I rely on my faith.  But, I want to hear from you too and want to answer your faith questions.  What are you struggle with?  Is it something I could do a show on and address your concern?  Leave me a comment below.

I hope you’ll tune in to Faith Inspires next Thursday, but if you aren’t available there’s good news.  The live shows will be available for replay on MomTV or I will also have the shows available via audio podcast.  Either way you can’t miss out!

Watch my announcement here.

This morning, oddly I woke up before anyone in the house. Yes I know Proverbs 31 says that “she rises before her household”, but in reality around here that doesn’t happen much. I was awake and couldn’t sleep so I slipped into the living room to have my quiet time, in actual “quiet”.

Nevertheless, God is there in the quiet or in the hustle and bustle of my children. One of my favorite sayings is “It’s a God thing.” I like to look for these “God things” in my life. Yesterday, God’s providing $$ for groceries for my family was a God thing. I have had some clients to not renew or pay lately which has us scrapping for cash.

Today, I was reminded that it has been 10 years since my high school graduation. The many things that I have accomplished in these 10 years are a series of “God things”. Marriage, graduating from college, ministry, birthing babies, hills and valleys, all a part of God’s great plan.

I know God has more in store for me and I hope that I’ll continue to see “God things” show up in my daily life. Are you looking for Him to show up in your life today? Trust me, he’s already there!

Photo Credit: demibrooke

For over two years now I have authored a weekly ezine called “Mom-Daughter Connection” as a part of my ministry, Beauty by Design Ministries. Over that time I have shared articles, tips and advice with moms of girls of all ages. Many times I found that other moms would subscribe to the ezine even if they were not the mother of a daughter.

I had many of those moms, either moms of boys, moms of grown children, or just women in general to tell me that they enjoyed my ezine, even though they were not a mother of a girl. So, with this new direction I am taking I am going to be changing the name of my ezine to “Faith Notes from Alyssa” and it will now be available on all of my websites to anyone who chooses to sign up, NOT just moms of girls.

Yes, it will still include articles and encouragement, tips and advice, but I”m hoping it can apply to any mom. As I share my journey of faith with you I hope that you can be encouraged, inspired and that your heart will be “turned towards God”, after all that is my mission.

I was reminded by an online friend today that “faith is a gift” and she honored me by saying, “and you’ve got it.” As a Christian, I know that since I do indeed have that “Faith”, that I should share it with others. That is what I hope to do by offering you a subscription to “Faith Notes from Alyssa” sign up in the sidebar to your right.

While you’re here.  I’m asking that my reader’s take a survey, as I am attempting to “get to know you better”.  If you would please do the quick survey here.  I promise it is painless.

Over the weekend my husband reminded me that I used to call myself Super Woman.  I looked at him strange and he said, “Well you did.” I told him that I must have been joking and that I surely do not feel like super woman now.  After having three children, taking on a writing business, establishing a ministry and returning to seminary to finish my Master’s I feel like anyone BUT Super Woman. 

Today, after three weeks of feeling like I was in a major rut and totally realizing I am experiencing what many of you have probably experienced before, “Burnout” I’ve decided to seriously end the “super woman” phase of my life and to take off my super woman cape.

I cannot continue down the path that I have started down.  I am experiencing major burnout and I am slowly as a result loosing my passion and my creativity.  I’m no longer enjoying what I do, so therefore something HAD to give.

Today, I did what I encourage others to do as the trainer over at FaithLeaps.com I took a leap of faith.  I am officially outsourcing all writing to my team of writers over at A Writer for Hire.  While I will still be overseeing all the articles and working with my clients via all correspondence, I will no longer be heading up the writing itself.  I am going to be putting all my creative juices and writing skills back into my passion, my ministry and FaithLeaps itself.  More than anything I love to help others.  So my focus will now be those things I love to do:

1. Helping others to take a leap of faith into speaking, writing and ministry.
2. Helping moms and daughters grow their relationship with each other and their relationship with God.
3. Helping girls be what God made them to be not what the world wants them to be.

Stay tuned this means projects for me, and you know projects make me happy.  So be looking for some happier posts in the days ahead.

Sometimes it is in the little things that we can truly share our faith.  For me sharing my faith is done much more easily if I am able to share a story or testimony from my own life.  This is mostly how I choose to “witness” to others.  I was so proud of my husband when he came home with a story recently of how he’d done this too.

My husband works with a woman and they were discussing “finances” one day.  She was complaining as many of us do lately about “never getting ahead”.  He asked her if he could ask her something and warned her that it might be too personal and that she could tell him it was none of his business.  She said, “okay”, and he proceeded with the question, one I”ve asked people before myself, it was “Do you tithe?”  You see my husband and I have learned to tithe and tithe faithfully.  We’ve learned to be cheerful givers.

And, we’ve seen God’s blessings when we did and we’ve seen God take care of us.  We as a result are quick to tithe, even when it seems there is no way we can “afford” it.  He challenged his co-worker to “try it”.  After the weekend she returned to work to share with him that she had written a check to the church over the weekend.  When questioned by her husband as to what she was doing she said, “tithing”.  Of course he told her, “Don’t be complaining when we don’t have any money.” She simply answered, “we’ll see”.  I am certain they will see, but it will not be what they may be expecting.  I fully expect them to see GOD’s Hand of provision in their lives.  My husband and I have so many times before.  That’s how we share our faith. What about you?