Love Like Jesus

 

“Don’t should on me.” 

I heard this said by a young mother once. She had her first child and she had all kinds of unknown people approach her with what she called “shoulds.” You probably know this as well. When people whom we don’t have relationships with try and tell us what we “should” be doing or how to do it. Life is hard and God doesn’t want a list follower but a relationship with a Christ follower. He said love is the greatest commandment. 

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Matthew 22:37-39

What if we loved people instead of putting 

our “shoulds” on them? 

You know that first reaction to someone who we think isn’t doing life the way we think they should be doing life and especially the fellow believer in our church. 

I am guilty of the side eye too but did Jesus do that to the woman at the well? Or the adulterous woman the people wanted to stone? No. He first of all knew who they were and loved them in-spite of their sin. He told the woman at the well to go and sin no more. He also states that the one who is without sin is the one who should cast the first stone at the adulterous woman. Jesus loves us first. It’s when we know this love from Jesus and see it from our fellow believers we can be drawn back to him. No amount of “shoulds” will ever draw someone to us or to Jesus Christ. 

Sometimes I need to step back from my own self righteousness and remember that God wants me to first get to know people and love them as he does. God loves us. It is then that his love will draw them back to a life of holiness. Our attitude as a professing Christian is the very thing that will either draw people towards Christ or push them away.  

God didn’t push people away but he drew them in. That is the “should” that I need placed on myself today. 

I should want to get to know people before I think anything else about them. 

I should love like Jesus everyday. 

Choosing Home Colors

Magnolia Colors

PPG Interior Paint 

I have a love hate relationship with color. I love it but when it comes to my personal style and my home I default to neutrals. Always. 

I guess because it’s safe. So after much debate with my husband and inside of my head, I finally settled on paint colors for our fixer upper home. 

The Kitchen 

I am definitely stepping out of my comfort zone with a green kitchen. I have only had a white kitchen for the past 7 years and I wanted to change things up. I love antiques and old world style. The blue green I chose will be a change to the white washed modern kitchens of today. I am going with a cream white wall to make the color pop. My color inspo was from here on Pinterest

I chose Farrow & Ball Smoke Green for my kitchen cabinets and the walls will be One Horn White by Magnolia Colors home line. 

Interior Walls Minus Bathrooms 

All the walls in all other rooms will be Greyhound by PPG Interior Paint  .

Greyhound is a soft neutral but not the typical gray maybe more griege. I really like soothing walls. 

The trim and doors will the True White by Magnolia Colors . I am so excited to see everything in the house get a fresh coat of paint. It will look like a totally different place the next time we walk through it. 

My floors are hardwood except for 2 rooms. The choices of stain are as numerous as paint so choosing the color has been a tough choice as well. I think we will go with a dark shade but I will update floors later. 

Looking forward to change 

There is so much change happening in the house but good change. We have removed all the popcorn ceilings and even an old communicator board system through the home. Lots of dry wall patching and new floors coming. A new life is being breathed into this old fixer upper and I know it will be home soon. 

Removed 8 speakers from an old communication system in the house today. Out with the old and in with cell phones. LOL

These things must of been all the rage back in the 70’s? Did you have them? 

Answered Prayers and New Beginnings

Goodness where do I even begin? 

So much has transpired for my family and some days have been a blur. As I sit on the couch typing this post on my phone we are living with my daughter. Pretty much everything I own including my computer and ipad are packed and stored away.  Let me just start with why I am living out of bags right now. 

At the end of last year my husband and I felt God leading us to sell our Diamond Grove home. It wasn’t a decision we made lightly because we knew it would put us in a position of debt free living. It was a desire and prayer for my husband and I. We had some debt that had been lingering over us still and we have tried to follow Dave Ramsey over the years with some success but still had not cleared every debt from our budget except our home. This would required some sacrifice and like most people giving up things we really enjoy or love it is hard. I had grown to love the homestead we had built at Diamond Grove. Seven years of hard work in marriage, ministry, parenting and many hours of sweat equity put into building a homestead. I grieved many days yet I surrendered to God’s plan and we left Diamond Grove behind. 

I know that God moves us from one season to another all the time and I needed to move forward. I needed to see where God would take us. So we did for the interim. We moved to town in a beautiful suburban home where I immediately built a garden with 2 huge raised beds and containers with all the things. My heart was full of grief for a few months but also bursting to plant a garden. I prayed, painted and journaled everyday for God to guide me through those months of grief. I need to add that during this time we began fostering my 2 beautiful grand girls. A sacrifice for the family but we know God is answering prayers and guiding even still. So through any heartaches of grief for a farm again I have so much to be thankful for. 

I know it may sound insignificant for me to grieve such loss when there are much more significant things in life to grieve but this was my grief at the time. I was heart sick but grateful for being debt free except for our home and we actually put down a nice down payment. 

God answered my prayer and has blessed our family through much sacrifice. 

After 6 months, I had surrendered to this season of busyness with young children again and living in town amongst the hustle and bustle. Until this property was sent to us (by text not literally) and we knew it was from God. A fixer upper home and 4 acres of land. Our friend thought we might like to look at it. Prior to this happening we had resolved to stay put for a few years and just wait but God had another plan. My husband saw the property and said, “Tracy I know this property is suppose to be ours.” I was shocked that in 6 months we could be moving again. We weren’t settled to stay forever in town anyway so we immediately looked at the property. We knew God could do anything. We were just waiting. I was so excited. I knew this fixer upper on 4 acres was my answered prayer. We made the offer and out bid 2 other offers. Crazy stuff. As of this post the housing market is crazy and selling fast! God is good my friends. He was taking me back to a good land. A place where my heart was longing for. 

So the story is yet to be told of this fixer upper homestead we hope and pray God uses to bless as much as the last. There is endless possibilities with God and I know He hears the desires of our hearts because if He puts them there He will follow through.

Thank you guys for following along and stay tuned for more updates on my fixer upper and farm soon! 

Here are a few pictures of the kitchen. Are you ready for the avocado appliances? More to share soon!