Tag: women

When it Rains it Pours

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Rain…. it’s so unpredictable, uncontrollable,  and unavoidable to miss if in it’s path where you are planted.

Rain…..it’s light, it’s heavy, it comes in spurts, or buckets, falls hardily fast or softly slow.

Rain….it’s life giving, renewing, quenching, refreshing, full, and running over, satisfying, yielding to an abundance of growth.

*found on pintrest
* photo found on pintrest

Leviticus 26:4 ESV

Then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

As I am swimming in my very own sea of business, the rain brought relief. RELEIF! Relief of trying to be in three different places at once, the Relief of feeding my family before 8:00pm, a goal that seems so outlandishly accomplishable these days! The Relief of being a busy mother of 5 eating, sleeping, and breathing the balancing act of my children’s sports schedules, work, time with family, time with friends, alone time with my husband, time for myself, and of course exercise (my stress relief outlet).

This past month has been with out much deliverance. I have battled sickness, laid to rest a cousin of the ripe age of 18, experienced heart ache and disappointment, unwarranted DRAMA, set backs, negativity, and plenty of ADJUSTMENTS! Moments of failure and most definitely moments of being insecure in my ability to feel like I have it all under control! It has been a season of difficult times and hard lessons learned. I don’t remember feeling this down and negative in a very long time!

BUT SUDDENLY……….RAIN and lots of it!

In a mater of seconds a night that was to be completely consumed with a volleyball game, pop warner football practice and pictures, and a JV out of town football game……………..abruptly halted to rain cancelations! Completely out of my control. If losing control feels this peaceful then tonight I look up giving thanks and gratitude. Thank you for bringing rain.. peace, rest, relaxation, more time at home with my family, renewal of my energy, my mind.

Thank you Lord for reminding me that in an instant it can all change. Did the world come to an end because everything on Thursday’s agenda did not get completed? No

I am thankful for these Flash Flood Warnings and Watches. I am thankful for every inch that has fallen from the sky and every inch that is expected to fall way into the early morning hours. I am thankful for the sleepless night (last night) due to Loud out burst of Thunder and beautiful flashes of light. Waking up from a dead sleep to sit side by side with my husband in the garage as we marvel over how amazing and magnificent the lightening really is as it brighten the dark purple nights sky. It is now a memory I will hold on to forever.

This Rain has brought me back to what’s most important. Being dependent on something bigger then me, trusting that with my life, and letting go of the control.

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* photo found at http://manofdepravity.com/2013/06/jeremiah-29-11/jeremiah-29-11/

As I struggle to keep my head above such active waters I surrender to you as I lay my burdens at your feet. I do trust you Lord and I know that even though the load seems to heavy to carry some days, or in my case not enough time in the day for it all, this is a season that I am in for a reason. A GOOD REASON and a prosperous reason!

We can plan out our whole lives down to the very last detail, but we are only wasting our precious time, efforts, and energy if we are not mindful to keep our relationship with Christ growing. I will admit, my mind has been distracted by life, and often times I felt my spiritual well drying up, like a withered flower on a scorching hot summer day, parched from lack of moisture.

Hosea 6:13 ESV

Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”

Here is to acknowledging my dry soil, taking time to nourish it with God’s love, and expecting  lots of colorful, beautiful blooms! This rain is a reminder of God’s love for me, and his desire for me to grow in his love.

I am thankful for all the blessing’s in my life which are disguised as my children who keep me running on my toes like a crazy woman. I just don’t want to loose focus on the one who gave me those blessings! ;0) He deserves my attention, my time, my devotion, my energy, my praise, my worship!

Are you in a dry season or is this a season of overflowing rain and blessings? I would love to know! Comment below if you would like to share! 🙂

XoXo

Leigh Leigh

 

 

 

 

What do we want? Sleep! When do we want it?

…………………..NOW!

It has been the topic of several conversations lately…SLEEP, or should I say lack there of!

We are now counting down the weeks until school starts which means waking up at the crack of dawn. BOO!! With that comes sleep adjustments or just anxiety and not being able to fall a sleep due to all the upcoming back to school chaos!

I for one have enjoyed my late night Netflix binges, but unfortunately, this must come to an end. 😦 Why? Because I am a WOMAN and if I don’t get a good 7-8 hours of sleep, I am a very easily aggravated cranky WOMAN! Going to sleep late and waking up early is not going to work at all for me. I needed a plan and I was going to have to find something to aide me in this process.

I have never been a very big hot tea drinker! I am a southern lady who LOVES her cold sweet ice tea! So when I heard about herbal hot teas I wasn’t too thrilled about the thought of actually having to drink hot tea! Seems unnatural for a TEXAS gal! I recently received some TAZO tea in a gift, which I do need to blog about here later. It’s amazing stuff that picks you up and gives you copious amounts of energy. I figured if they had tea to take you up, they would have to make tea that brings you down. So I off I went to search for sleepy tea in my local grocery store. There it was, neighbors with all the other teas.

I am a sucker for packaging. The cute little sleepy Momma Bear sold me!

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Okay now that I am looking at it, maybe it’s a Daddy Bear? Either way the bear is sleeping so peacefully. I was thinking to myself, “Man that is some good stuff if she couldn’t even make it out of the recliner with out passing out!” Wait recliner? Okay I must come to grips that this must in fact be a Daddy Bear!

Here is what the box says about this tea:

Nothing promotes physical and mental well being like a restful evening. So if you’re wondering how to sleep better or just looking for something to help you unwind, try a cup of Sleepytime Extra®. This relaxing and delicious herbal tea starts with the time-honored blend of chamomile, spearmint and other soothing herbs found in our beloved Sleepytime herbal tea. We then add valerian, trusted as a natural sleep aid since the days of the Greeks and Romans because of its mild sedative properties. The result is a tea with the trusted calming effect and great taste of Sleepytime, plus just a little “extra” to help you rest.

You can get Sleepytime tea, but I went ahead and purchased Sleepytime EXTRA because, well, I really wanted this to work! I Didn’t want to take any chances on it not making me sleepy!

This is also caffeine and glutton free!  You can purchase Sleepytime Extra for $3.18 for 20 Bags.

Here are the Steps on how to brew Sleepytime Extra Tea!

First you want to brew your water. I just use my Keurig, but you can boil water the old fashioned way on your stove top, or microwave.

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Then you will want to remove a tea bag from the box and place it into your boiling hot water.

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Next you will want to steep your tea for 4-6 minuets.

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Dispose of your tea bag and if you fancy add your favorite sweetener.

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Mix it up until the sweetener dissolves.

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Now here comes my favorite step! Drink up!

This has a very strong spearmint and dill pickle taste to me. This is why I flush that out with the sweetener. It will definitely take a few cups to get accustomed to.  I like to drink this in bed with my Netflix show on. About 30-40 minuets into my show, my eyes are growing heavy and I am catching myself falling a sleep before the show is even over! No more worrying about getting sucked into the next episode and staying up another hour! Nope, I am dreaming away!

Now the awesome part about this Sleepytime tea is I get a good nights rest and I don’t wake up with a fat head or a bad mood. I wake up well rested and feeling great!

I sure hope you at least give this a try if you are having problems adjusting to a new bed time routine! I believe you are really going to love it!

 

*This is strictly a review of my own opinion.

You can’t be beautiful with out a good nights sleep!

XoXo

Leigh Leigh

Follow me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/leighleighspeaks or on twitter http://www.twitter.com/ash_leighharris

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Beautiful Women keep their mouths SHUT!

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*image found on Facebook feed

“The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.” Proverbs 18:21 NLT

It’s Monday! You know what that means! We need a little piece of encouragement to move us forward on a positive note for this new week we will journey on.

I actually found this picture on my Facebook feed not too long ago. The instant it caught my eye, I thought to myself, this has to be blogged about and shared! I mean isn’t this so true!?

Wow, this scripture found in Proverbs 18 could not paint a more vivid picture of the one I found on Facebook. We see a fish who has the opportunity to swim past the hook dodging danger by keeping his mouth closed, or the fish could come running towards the bait with mouth wide open ready to seize what he thinks is going to make him feel satisfied and full, happy, and joyful, only to have his whole world turned upside down with destruction or death concluded. How many times have you been in a conversation with another friend and someone who you may have bitter feelings about pops up? Just the sound of that name could become the bait dangling from Satan in front of our little fishes faces. In that moment we want to so desperately begin to open our mouth and let all the ugliness about this person come spewing out in hopes that we convince our friend to take our side, like us more, gain alliance to us, dislike them too, as we spew our insecurities out like a volcano erupting. I use volcano as an analogy because the lava is extremely hot, and damaging, life terminating, to everything it touches. We have now pushed our opinions, hate, bitterness, onto this other person we care about, causing strong influence on their opinion of this other person as well. We cause GREAT DANGER and DEATH when we take the bait of gossiping and devaluing others!

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*image found http://amazinggeologist.blogspot.com/

 

 

“The gossip of bad people gets them in trouble; the conversation of good people keeps them out of it. Well-spoken words bring satisfaction; well done work has its own reward.” Proverbs 12:13 MSG

The best thing to do, would be to just avoid these “bad/negative” people in our lives during conversation with others. It’s simple, just don’t go there. If they are brought up, simply dodge the topic or skip to another topic of choice. If you can’t change the subject, then just simply don’t respond. The other person will eventually get the hint and move on to another subject.  Love covers a multitude of sin, so in saying this, cover their wrong doing to you. You don’t have to tell everyone how nasty they were by going behind your back last week or lying about you. Our friends nor any ones else for that matter really needs to know all this. Why? Because God is all seeing and all knowing. Our enemies can not escape him!! He will take care of them some way or another. So smile, relax, don’t worry, and by all means talk about something good!

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*image found on pintrest

“The words of a fool start fights; do him a favor and gag him. Fools are undone by their big mouths; their souls are crushed by their words. Listening to gossip is like eating cheap candy; do you really want junk like that in your belly?” Proverbs 18:6-8 MSG

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I love, love this mental picture! Have you ever ate cheap candy? Cheap chocolate comes to mind. You know the kind that has lost it’s shelf life and is all dried out. Sugarless!  Oh my gosh, it’s disgusting isn’t it!? Not only does it taste bad, it lingers with bad after taste in your mouth! Are you seeing the similarities here? Although this scripture is talking about listening to gossip, I think it goes for sharing gossip as well.  Just like bad lingering candy, so do our words and gossip we hear. After they flow out of our mouth and heart they make it into someone else’s heart and then later their mouths.

“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the moth speaks what the heart is full of.” Luke 6:45 NIV

So next time Satan lures you in with a big piece of Gossiping bait, don’t be a fool like a fish is! Keep your mouth tight, resist the bait, and swim to SAFTEY! )

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*image found at http://opendoor.tv/tongue-power/

We are human and we all are guilty of speaking ill of another person and listening to a friend bash on another. I don’t want this post to bring condemnation to you, but conviction. We all need to be reminded of how damaging words really our to others and ourselves.

This picture on my news feed was a great reminder to me, so I hope it can be a good reminder for you that will bring blessings to your life!

Being a Woman who can keep her mouth shut when it is absolutely the hardest thing you can stand is a BEAUTIFUL thing!

Don’t forget how beautiful you are!

XOXO

-Leigh Leigh

*Follow my blog, Follow Leigh Leigh Speaks on Twitter @ash_leighharris, or Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/leighleighspeaks

Summer leaves my Skin Thirsty

My Favorite part of summer is soaking up warm vibrant rays of SUNSHINE!

After soaking up the suns rays, my skin gets really thirsty for a cool drink! I am Super Happy I found this to quench my skin’s thirst!

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Hawaiian Tropics Silk Hydration After Sun is the first and only after sun product that combines ribbons of gel and lotion to leave your skin feeling luxurious and refreshed.

Features & Benefits:

24 hours of luxurious moisturization and refreshing hydrating ribbons

Lightweight feel

Coconut papaya fragrance

Refreshes sun-tired skin with soothing aloe gel

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HT2

 

 

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You can add Hawaiian Tropics Silk Hydration After Sun into your Beach Bag for only $8.99/8oz or $2.99/2oz.

This can be purchased at your local Wal-Mart, Target, and other stores.

*I received this product complimentary for testing purposes from Influenster. #SurfsUpVoxBox

You can check out the unboxing of my #SurfUpVoxBox from Influenster on youtube….

xOxO

-Leigh Leigh

LIKE Leigh Leigh speaks on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/leighleighspeaks, follow me here, or on Twitter @ash_leighharris 🙂

 

As a married woman, I am not a fan of feminism

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It’s all over the news, let’s face it, it really isn’t anything new. Women wanting to be as superior and respected as much as Men. Equal rights they call them. I am not here to criticize the women who have strong beliefs in Girl POWER, I am however going to speak out in Freedom for women who are married. I don’t like this movement because it gives married women a sense of false security that standing up to their husbands is EMPOWERING and makes them STRONG and COURAGES. Marriage was not designed for the Woman to rule over the man in the relationship.

Naturally, submission is hard for every human on this planet, much less women who have had harsh fathers growing up, or a harsh husband now. Let’s take a look at what the bible teaches us on the topic.

Ephesians 5:22-33 teaches us instructions for the Christian household.

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22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing[b] her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[c] 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

1 Peter 3:1-6  (NIV)

In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands. Then, even if some refuse to obey the Good News, your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over by observing your pure and reverent lives.

Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.

What I learn from these scriptures is that I am to trust God with my husbands authority. This “authority” God has given him as your husband is not to be used for selfish gain or dominance over you as a woman in a negative manner. This “authority” should be expressed through love! He can tell you what to do out of love for you and your best interest.

Every decision he makes for you and your family should be made out of love. So don’t be afraid of this, trust this! Believe in your husband and express this belief in him to him. Share with him how excited and thankful you are for his authority in your lives because it brings peace and security to you and your children.

I do have to add that if his authority that he wants you to submit to is bringing harm or danger to you or your children, then this is not the same “Authority” Ephesian’s 5 is describing. Marriage is a “partnership” and it has it’s roles and duties for each member of this partnership to follow.

**Spousal abuse is nothing to take lightly. If you or someone you know is currently being victimized by spousal abuse please seek help asap!

 

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Men need respect, trust, security, love, support, and peace from their Wife! The world teaches us to not have respect for the male species because they are all liars, and pigs.

I just recently saw how ugly this war is between men and women on another blog post. Now, men are speaking out on the feminist and how they will not waste their time holding doors open for another rude woman. How all women are just nags, untrustworthy, bossy, etc.

Satan is working hard to turn us against each other with all these equal rights fights. It makes sense especially since we learn in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 that two are better then one, because they have a good return for their work. Marriages are strong because they have the unity of two people who come together and fight as one flesh against the enemy with help from the power of the Holy Spirit. Women were designed to need loyalty, trust, and security from their husbands to feel loved. Men were designed to be respected, reverenced, and obeyed by their wives to feel loved.

Don’t let feminism make you believe you are not a strong woman because you submit to your husband. TRUST ME, it takes more COURAGE and STRENGTH to die to your prideful self, bite your tongue, and submit to your man, then it is to be rebellious as our sinful natures are! Submission to your husband is a strong act of obedience to Christ who calls us to submit to our husbands authority.

In Proverbs 31 we can see that a woman who reverently and worshipfully fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Who is he who can find her? She is far more precious then jewels and her value is far above rubies or pearls. 

I have to mention also the importance of our obedience to our husband’s submission for our daughters we are raising. She is watching your every move. She adores you, she wants to be just like you some day. Are your actions in your marriage teaching your daughter how to be a feminist or are your actions teaching her how to be a submissive Godly wife to her future husband?

I haven’t reached perfection in completely submitting to my husband’s authority just yet, but I do continue to die to my prideful sinful nature daily and pray that the Lord gives me the love, grace, mercy, discipline, and strength to be a more submissive wife to my Husband’s authority. I know in the end my obedience to my husband will be a blessing to him and pleasing to the Lord, and I most definitely want both!

She is far more precious then jewels and her value is far above rubies or pearls. (That my friends is a description of a beautiful Woman!)

X0Xo

-Leigh Leigh

Follow me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/leighleighspeaks