So how do we return to desiring God? How do we reset our focus back to our first love?

There are many answers to that question, but I noticed one while reading Mark 5.

In this chapter, there is a man who is so possessed by demons that he cannot even be chained up (or he will rip through the chains). So the people just cast him out to some desolate land where he can live like only a crazy man can.

Until Jesus. The God Man gets out of a boat on His way to more healing and preaching.

And it says this demon possessed man “when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him” (v. 6).

Watch what he said:

 ”What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me!”

He:

1. Recognized Jesus’ deity.
2. Pled for mercy.
3. Asked what he was called to do.

Now, there are three big lessons right there!!!

But on the story goes – the demons are released from the man, and he goes to town where everyone is in awe of the change in his life.

As Jesus is leaving the town, the man begs to go with him. But Jesus has plans for Him to go tell his story instead (Mark 5:18-20).

The way Jesus wanted this man to serve was by sharing the testimony – his encounter with Christ! That’s the zing we’ve lost, ol’ believer.

Relive that moment. Relive it yourself and praise the Lord. Relive it with your friends and family members. Remember it like you would a joyous wedding or birth. Because it is a new birth.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV)

Hallelujah!

Click this link to download your FREE Family Goals printable! See? Subscribing to The Candid Pastor's Wife has its perks! Getting the Zing Back in Your Relationship with Christ is a post from: The Candid Pastor's Wife: Faith. Marriage. Beauty. Women. Culture.

So here’s a copycat recipe of the Starbucks Green Tea Frappuccino. The best part? It’s only 200 calories (with no whip). Starbucks won’t list this nutritional info online, but I’ve read it’s about 400 calories.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup ice
• 1 cup milk (I think this would be delicious with Coconut Dream for a non-dairy option)
• 2 Tbsp instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 tsp green matcha tea powder (I got mine at Whole Foods)

Directions:

Blend. Top with whipped cream if you’re like me and feeling sassy.

Click this link to download your FREE Family Goals printable! See? Subscribing to The Candid Pastor's Wife has its perks! Starbucks Green Tea Frappuccino Copycat Recipe is a post from: The Candid Pastor's Wife: Faith. Marriage. Beauty. Women. Culture.

PS. I hope to post another time this week! Stay tuned!!

Click this link to download your FREE Family Goals printable! See? Subscribing to The Candid Pastor's Wife has its perks! Don’t miss the giveaway! is a post from: The Candid Pastor's Wife: Faith. Marriage. Beauty. Women. Culture.

When I walked into the Microsoft store, I met Malcolm. He stuck with me and answered all of my questions. I didn’t buy anything while I was there, and I was never pressured to.

My buddy Malcolm

Here is what Sam had to say before we went:

Honestly, I hadn’t been in the new Microsoft store at the Domain yet because…well… I thought it would be just like the Apple store. To be fair, the exterior is big, plain, and white – just like the Apple store. But, in my opinion, the Microsoft store is different.

Their aim is to be a family-friendly and community-oriented store. So we took the family to check it out!

Yes!

My first visit was on a Thursday at 4pm. There were not many patrons, but there were plenty of customer service reps. I had a bunch of questions answered, looked around at the products, and Samuel played xbox and fresh paint. My takeaway from the first visit was that the store had some awesome stuff to offer (a lot of it free), it was a great store to visit just for fun, and everyone there was willing to get you going on a machine if you were stuck (which I was ).

When Malcolm told me you could bring in any Windows product (even if you didn’t buy it there) for help, I texted my mom. She’s an avid Windows user, but her Windows 8 machine was a whole new thing, and she was having trouble figuring it out.

She just so happened to come into town and brought her new laptop! So we visited on a Sunday; I was so glad to be able to also get a feel for the store on the weekend. Even though there were a lot of customers, the store did not feel packed at all. There was plenty of space for the whole family to get through. I even nursed Emma on a bench in the theater room.

Here’s a rundown of the service my mom got: the first lady that greeted her was very friendly and welcoming, but she didn’t have the right information about class times and the “free help” we had heard about. She urged my mom to set up an appointment for later (which honestly is probably ideal if you need a solid tutorial, but anyway). However, another rep came along and interjected to get my mom on the right path. They said a class was just about the start.

Well, the class didn’t have enough people to be put on, and the teacher offered to take my mom aside anyway – awesome! So she spent 20 minutes or so getting hands-on help diving into Windows 8. Not enough to make her a Windows 8 wizard (we did have lunch plans), but enough to get her started.

What I loved about the Microsoft store:

FREE services. This is one of my favorite things about the Microsoft store (besides the fact that no one inside [except me of course] was dressed like a hipster). What’s free?

- Classes. Each day, a number of free classes are offered. The classes range from toddlers in technology to Microsoft Office help to virtual golf. To see a list of classes offered at your store, go here, type in your zip code, click to go to your store’s page, then scroll down to see a list of events.

- Xbox game trials. Have you ever wanted to try out a video game before you buy it? Of course you have! Well, the store offers tons of games that you can sample before purchasing. They can’t have every game offered because the Microsoft store is aiming to be family friendly (thanks for that!) while all of their games are- not.

Playing video games - that background is a panoramic screen that goes across the entire store

- Meeting room. Before I went, this was described to me as a “theater” space. Not quite. It’s not enclosed, simply offset from the rest of the store. But it does have a large projector, and you can book the meeting room for free.

the theater room

- Windows assistance. Obviously, the Microsoft store sells windows products: laptops, phones, Surface (their tablet), etc. Not only will they spend as much time as you want getting everything on your new product just they way you want it, but you can even bring in ANY Windows product that you need help with, and they will take the time you need. This could be, “Uh… Show me how to use Windows 8.” Or, “Something’s going wonky with my phone. Can you help?” Yes, they can. And Malcolm even told me they’re offering tune ups and help tracking down viruses for a limited time. The best news to me? They don’t charge you AND you don’t HAVE to set up an appointment. That being said, I would set up an appointment if you need to go in at a busy time, like Saturday. The appointments are equally free. You can schedule appointments right on your store’s page.

My mom getting her Windows 8 lesson

- Summer camps. If you have a grade school child, there are free summer camps available – how cool is that!? No summer camp is free! Unfortunately, they are already booked up for this year.

- Discounts and custom encounters. If you have a group that wants to do something at the Microsoft store, like maybe a homeschooling group getting a demo or a church group trying out a new piece of software, they are willing to work with you to make a custom event! Each store has a community manager that can make a custom class. I love that! And if you have a homeschooling group or co-op, I believe a certain amount of purchases qualifies the group for a discount!

- (Not free.) Birthday parties. Pay a cleanup fee to host a child’s birthday part at the Microsoft store. They can set you up with Dance Central or other video games (for free), and they’ll provide free swag. Yes!

Watch out for this:

- Saturdays and Sundays. On my first visit, when I asked Malcolm what the place was like on Saturday, he said, “Busy.” People are trying out all of the devices and having tons of fun playing video games. I really thought Sunday was going to be impossible, but I was pleasantly surprised! A video game station was even open.

Sunday crowd

- Free means not always available. From what I could tell, they had plenty of customer service reps on the floor. I had all of my questions answered (mostly by Malcolm – thanks dude!). I don’t think it will be a problem accessing most of their free services, but the summer camp situation was disappointing. I was so excited to share those with you, and it was a bummer to find out they were already all shut down. The pro here is you can pre-register for anything. From talking with Malcolm, it seemed that none of their free classes were ever too large, but if you pre-register, you’re guaranteed a spot.

- Not every rep seems to be fully trained. I’m not sure what was going on with the mis-information my mom got, but from what I could tell (from both visits), if you were looking for some help, you could get it. Maybe their greeters are not the same level as their trainers or answer desk staff. So if you know what you want help on, I’d go straight to the Answer Desk.

In my dream world:

- Text and email alerts. Because the Microsoft store has so many cool things going on, it would be nice to have a text or email alert occasionally to check out the new calendar. Something like “This week’s free events include a Dance Central party and Entrepreneur training. Check it out here.” would be awesome. And brainless for me – which is what I need.

Bottom line, the Microsoft store was so much more than what I expected! Samuel was very disappointed that we didn’t take a computer home, but he loved that he got to play on everything in the store, and they were glad he was “touching all the buttons”.

playing Fresh Paint

This is a sponsored post. I was paid to attend a webinar, review the store, and cohost a Twitter party. Check it out Tuesday May 14 at 12pm CST to get your questions answered and win prizes!

Learn more at:

@MicrosoftStore

Microsoft Store on Facebook

Microsoft Store on Pinterest

Click this link to download your FREE Family Goals printable! See? Subscribing to The Candid Pastor's Wife has its perks! The Microsoft Store of Austin – More than I expected. #GoMicrosoft $100 Giveaway!! is a post from: The Candid Pastor's Wife: Faith. Marriage. Beauty. Women. Culture.

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham,calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. (1 Peter 3:3-6, ESV, emphasis mine)

Submitting to our husbands (and thus submitting to God) is Biblical beauty. A gentle and quiet spirit – there’s that teachable heart again!

But God did choose to make people physically attractive! And I also love finding the beauty in people’s appearance. No, no, not what the stupid TV and magazines portray as beautiful: airbrushing, eating disorders, cosmetic enhancements, thousand-dollar hair treatments – honestly, those looks oftentimes disgust me. Instead, I love the beauty that God placed on each woman and man. And when I look at another, I think. Wow, God made you so special!

Then God said, “Let us make man  in our image, after our likeness.” … And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. (Genesis 1:26,31, ESV)

So please cherish yourself today – as you are! See God’s image on you and give glory to Him for it!

I love Dove’s new campaigns about true beauty. If you haven’t seen this yet – watch it. Thank you, Dove, for making a statement.

(P.S. Dove has no idea who I am. )

Click this link to download your FREE Family Goals printable! See? Subscribing to The Candid Pastor's Wife has its perks! True Beauty – Inside and Out is a post from: The Candid Pastor's Wife: Faith. Marriage. Beauty. Women. Culture.

I think of myself as a teachable person, but for some reason, when things are troubling me, my teachability goes out the window. I know the truth, but I don’t want to hear it from anyone. I just want to soak in my misery.

I can hear God reminding me to have a teachable heart. Mark 4 reminds me of this. Jesus is teaching in parables, and he keeps ending with, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. (Mark 4:33-34, ESV)

“as they were able to hear it” … I wonder if I am ABLE to hear God’s word, of if I am purposefully stuffing my ears shut.

[To the disciples] … “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’” (Mark 4:11-12, ESV)

A teachable heart opens ourselves up to God, even at the point of salvation. Which really makes sense, doesn’t it? At salvation, we’re finally saying, “OK God, Whomever You are. YOU are in charge, and I’m not. I get it. I want to submit my life to You!”

So as a believer, we start with a teachable heart, but how quickly do we close that teachability up? Maybe we’re following God for a season, and then when we don’t feel that ZING that salvation brought, we’re not excited about following anymore.

One of the parables Jesus teaches here is the parable of the sower, a man who cast seed in different types of soil and yielded corresponding types of fruit.

Which type of soil would you categorize your teachability in today (Mark 4:1-20)?

• The path – the birds (Satan) quickly devoured the seed (I.e., you have not yet chosen Christ to rule your heart and life)
• Rocky ground – the roots were shallow and immature, so the plant sprang up with joy and quickly died out
• Thorns – the seedlings were choked out by the desires of the world
• Good soil – the word was accepted and the crop yield was plentiful

I yearn to be the good soil, but lately I feel like the rocky ground. I pray, I read the Bible, I serve and talk with others about my faith. But they are quick jolts of joy. I’m hoping for gigantic fruit when I’m only watering once a week.

To be fair, I truly think anything we offer to God is pleasing to Him. But at the same time, I can’t ignore the calling of the Holy Spirit to nurture and protect and shore up the soil that His word is coming into.

Where are you with this today?

Click this link to download your FREE Family Goals printable! See? Subscribing to The Candid Pastor's Wife has its perks! A Teachable Heart is a post from: The Candid Pastor's Wife: Faith. Marriage. Beauty. Women. Culture.

Can you answer that? Now, I know YOU are definitely the funnest person in his life.(right? You should be best friends!)

But what about when he’s not with you?

If you’ve been married for awhile, it’s likely your husband’s interests have changed. Have you kept up? Do you even know what he’s into?

If not, get on board with the program! Start asking questions about the things he mentions. Say YES when he invites you to something he likes. Truly enjoy seeing him take pleasure in his down time.

And maybe most importantly, let him go do those things with the guys, too!

How often does your husband get to go hang out with the guys?

To be honest, no matter what answer I give for that, my flesh wants to say he has enough. But that’s not true. I will always try to squeeze more of his time for me. It takes a conscious effort to not only “approve” of his plans but also encourage him and sometimes kick him out the door!

Please understand that there is a balance, and I know that some men choose to abdicate their family responsibilities for guy time – all the time. Those guys need to grow up. (Yeah I said it.)

I’m talking to you wives whose husbands are doing a decent job. They’re not perfect, but they’re trying. Show them that you respect them by releasing them into the wild (or to go play board games – whatever they’re into! To each his own!)

At the very lease, it communicates to him:

• you are not his mama.
• you trust what he does when you’re not with him
• you are a big part of his fun
• you enjoy sacrificing a little to let him get filled up
• you approve of his masculinity – better yet, you think it’s hot!

And I bet that the more you give in this area, the more he will, too. So if you feel like you need some girl time, send him out for guy time, too! You both need it.

Click this link to download your FREE Family Goals printable! See? Subscribing to The Candid Pastor's Wife has its perks! Give Your Husband Some Freedom is a post from: The Candid Pastor's Wife: Faith. Marriage. Beauty. Women. Culture.

To celebrate, we held a fundraiser birthday party. We throw a huge shindig with great food and lots of fun, and in the invite, we simply ask people to consider bringing a donation instead of a gift. We choose to raise money for Children’s Relief International, which helps provide housing, schooling, and Christian education to orphans in Africa and India.

We only ask people to bring $5. Usually a gift costs more than that, right!? And many people bring more to donate! This year, we raised around $100! Do you know how far that goes in India? A lot farther than another basket full of toys!

Have you ever considered doing this? I’d love to hear how it went if you’ve held one!

And without further adieu, pictures of our Team Umi Zoomi party!

The Birthday Boy in his Team Umi Zoomi shirt and Geo shape belt!

My mom made the awesome cake of course!

Samuel was more than happy to eat it.

Buzz Lightyear made an appearance – we had SO much fun in this thing!

Emma slept almost the entire party. She always takes good naps when we have company – people must wear her out!

Some friends brought a dune buggy for us to ride in! Wow this was tons of fun.

Me and my favorite little man.

Click this link to download your FREE Family Goals printable! See? Subscribing to The Candid Pastor's Wife has its perks! Team Umi Zoomi Fundraiser Birthday Party is a post from: The Candid Pastor's Wife: Faith. Marriage. Beauty. Women. Culture.

I blame this for why I have such trouble with good, consistent prayer time. I feel like I wear so many hats that to be doing well at one thing, I have to put something else on the back burner. And so it is with my prayer life. I ebb and flow and have good weeks and bad weeks.

And the less I pray, the less I am connected to the Father and His will for my life. The more I pray – the more I want to see His work done. The more I want to love others. The more I crave the fruits of the Spirit.

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think,yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” (Luke 18:1-5, NIV, emphasis mine)

God gives us permission to BOTHER Him! You know that song (which I love because I remember singing it as a young believer), “You are God in Heaven and here am I on earth, so I’ll let my words be few…”

We don’t need to let our words be few! They also don’t necessarily have to be many. All I’m saying is prayer is important; prayer is vital; God wants to hear your prayers!

God already knows we are dependent on Him, but in prayer, we are opening our hearts to the reality that we need Him.

And I want to encourage you to find time to pray with your spouse.

For Brad and I, we had to get a little creative. Praying before bed wasn’t really working anymore because of baby feedings and sheer exhaustion. Early morning definitely doesn’t work for me (I’m usually taking my third nap of the night – otherwise known as sleep!).

I’ll tell you how we found the time. We fasted.

Brad had a great idea to fast from one thing each month of the year for 2013. For February, it was TV. In the evenings, it’s so easy to just plop on the couch and turn on the tube. Fasting from TV re-oriented our evenings in so many ways, but the best benefit we got was by finding a pocket of time for prayer.

Once both of the kids are asleep, we usually have uninterrupted time! We could choose to do dishes, turn on the TV, talk, take a bath (ahhhh), read a book, and on and on with our precious couple of hours. For us, the very beginning of that time pocket is the best for prayer. We’re not ready to crawl in bed, we haven’t turned our brains off yet, and it’s quiet in the house.

So if you have fallen off the marital prayer wagon, look at the natural rhythm of your day and see if you can find a pocket. If you can’t , consider fasting from something and using that time to seek God together.

Click this link to download your FREE Family Goals printable! See? Subscribing to The Candid Pastor's Wife has its perks! Finding the Time to Pray Together is a post from: The Candid Pastor's Wife: Faith. Marriage. Beauty. Women. Culture.

The first one is how to make a (cheap) flannel board!

I didn’t grow up in Sunday School, so I had never seen a flannel board until I started teaching preschoolers. My mind was blown, y’all!

I love it as much as the kids, and I finally got around to making one for my preschooler Samuel.

I will mostly be using ours for imagination play rather than educational use, so I wanted one that could be made cheaply. However, my Sammy is very destructive, so I did make sure it was durable!

What You Need

• large cardboard (I used a large box that I cut down to size)
• flannel (I bought 1 yard and actually had enough to make 2 flannel boards, so you could get away with a half-yard)
• felt pieces
• stapler
• glue (This probably makes me not cool, but I used Elmer’s. Hot glue is probably a little better, but mine is holding fine!)

My cardboard was free, and the flannel I bought was $5.99/yard. The felt pieces are about 25 cents a piece, and I bought a bunch of colors. So I have two flannel boards and tons of felt pieces for about $10. I know JoAnn puts their flannel on sale for $2.50, so you could easily do this for only $5 if you wait for the sale!

How to Build a Flannel Board

1. Cut out a piece of cardboard to the size flannel board you want. Mine turned out to be close to 16×20, but I just eye-balled it. (Note: If you need a sturdier flannel board, I would purchase a canvas and simply staple-gun your flannel on. It’s not the cheapest option, but much more professional.)

2. Lay your cardboard on top of the flannel and cut the flannel so that it has around a 2″+ border. Again, I didn’t measure this.

3. Fold one of the long edges of fabric over the board. Now, make a cut in the flannel at the edge of the cardboard so that you have a “hinge” in the fabric (see pic).

4. Repeat step 3 with the opposite side of the fabric and board. Then, on the width of the board, fold the flannel as though you are wrapping a present.

5. At each gift wrap seam, put a couple of staples.

6. Now, repeat on the other side. The trick to this side is keeping the flannel taut on the cardboard. I placed an intermediate staple on this side to help hold it in place.

7. Glue! Now, many people would have probably pulled out the hot glue from the beginning and not used any staples or Elmer’s. Well, I’m kind of the elementary school crafter that hasn’t graduated yet! So, take your Elmer’s and you will lift each pocket of fabric on the back and set out glue on as much surface area as you can. Once it dries, you might have this:

Notice I didn’t iron the flannel beforehand. Yeah, I don’t care that much. Also, a thought I had later – if you want it really super taught and pretty – is to use Elmers Spray Adhesive on the cardboard before laying it on the flannel and folding all the seams over. If you don’t own any, this will up your cost by about $4.

Play!

What can you do with a flannel board? Really a lot! We decided to play weather one day, so we just cut out a bunch of weather shapes from the felt. Felt sticks right to the board! It’s so great!

I am also using my second one to post our daily schedules, which I hope to share with you in a future post!

Is this dorky? Now that I shared this, I feel a little self-conscious about my ghetto crafting! What would you put on your flannel board?

Click this link to download your FREE Family Goals printable! See? Subscribing to The Candid Pastor's Wife has its perks! How to Make a Cheap Flannel Board is a post from: The Candid Pastor's Wife: Faith. Marriage. Beauty. Women. Culture.