We Can't Save Them

I recently read on article titled Homeschool Will  Not Save Them. In this article, a woman shares her story of how she had made some assumptions when deciding to homeschool her children. She did all the things she thought a Christian parent was supposed to do and assumed God would save her children because of them, but in the end, her daughter turned away from the Truth. It's a heart-breaking, but eye-opening read. My post is not about homeschooling, or schooling at all. Because there are plenty of other things we do with the misunderstanding of "If I just do this, my child will grow up to be a Christian." Ultimately, we think we are our children's savior.

In our family, we go to church pretty much every Sunday unless someone is crazy sick. We read our Bible stories before we go to bed. We pray before we eat. And still I think, I could be doing more. And I probably could, but that's not the point. I know my salvation is not based on my works, why would I think my children's would be? There is absolutely nothing I can do to save my children. No church activity, at-home devotional, schooling choice or gospel presentation can force my girls into an understanding of their need for a risen Savior.

This doesn't mean I don't have a responsibility of course. I am to "train up [my] child in the way [s]he should go," (Proverbs 22:6) but ultimately it is God who will guide her steps. We are not to "provoke [our] children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."(Ephesians 6:4) But in the end, it is the Holy Spirit's job to work in their hearts and give them a deeper understanding of God. I am to fulfill my responsibility to teach, train, correct, discipline, etc because God has given me the gift of these children, and I want to "steward" that gift well. But I am not a savior to my children, Jesus is.

This is GOOD news! Or at least, it should be. I am not perfect and if it were left up to my own works none of my children would be saved. No one would be saved. But how hard is it to leave the futures of our children in someone else's hands? It wouldn't be, if we always remembered how powerful and loving our God is. He is the only one who CAN save them, and he wants what's best for us and our children.

Does this mean that all of our children will be saved? Unfortunately, no. God, in his sovereignty, chooses those whom he will save and we are called to respond. So, what does that mean for us as parents? We are called to be faithful and obedient. Obedient in our walks as believers, and by extension, our roles as parents. Faithful in our roles as prayer warriors for our children and for others. Faithful, and obedient.

I don't think this just applies to our children, either. This applies to anyone we desire to come to know the Lord. Spouses, parents, siblings, friends. We are called to live our lives in accordance with his will and to share the Truth of his great salvation plan with the people around us. We are to feel the burden of the lost in our lives, but we are to trust the burden of their salvation to the Savior. Trust in the One who saves.

Do you have kids who don't yet know Jesus? Or are there others in your life you are trying to lead to salvation? Don't give up! Share that burden with others. What a blessing it is to know there are other people out there who are praying for your loved ones. Who are showing the truth of the gospel to them. Let's be the church!

Living Well Planner Review

Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links. That means I may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post. Please read my full disclosure here.

Does anyone out there use a physical planner to keep track of your day? I used one throughout college to keep track of my assignments but since then I've always used a digital planner (Google Calendar). And once I got Lee on board with Google Calendar it made things a whole lot easier because we could keep track of each other's activities as well. This is especially helpful since we both have had times where we forget to tell the other person about an important event. Oops.

This year, I wanted to try something a little different. I've seen people post about their cute physical planners and I've gotten a little jealous. I like the convenience of a digital calendar, but I felt like writing things down helps keep me on track a bit better. The problem then became, which of the many planners should I choose from? No planner is going to have everything I want (and nothing I don't). I know a lot of people are using a bullet journal to make their own planner, but I know myself well enough to know that would add more stress and not less. Eventually I landed on the Living Well Planner. I've been using it for about 2.5 months now so here's my review.

What is it?
Living Well Spending Less is a blog which according to their site has a mission "to eliminate overwhelm in the lives of women everywhere by simplifying the necessary in order to make room for the essential." This planner contains the necessary planning aspects of a calendar, but also really focuses on setting and meeting goals. Here's what the planner does according to the website.

• Identify your biggest long-term goals and priorities, then provide a comprehensive framework for breaking them down into manageable bites.
• Gain an overview of your year at a glance, so that you can plan out the big picture & avoid the tyranny of the urgent.
• Set monthly and weekly goals in order to move you closer to your long term plans.
• Establish a monthly cash flow budget so that you can tell your money where to go.
• Plan your meals and your shopping list, right on the same page as your weekly schedule so that you can see your whole week at a glance.
• Keep track of expenses, birthday, important phone numbers, and even prayer requests all in one place.
• Become more purposeful with your time by eliminating overwhelm, getting all those details out of your head and into one place.

They also send you a series of emails when you order the planner to show you how to use it.

The good

Like I mentioned before, I really like the focus on goal planning and not just activity planning. I made quite a few goals this year, and I really wanted something to help me accomplish them. The planner has a place for long-term goals, monthly goals, steps for accomplishing goals, and planning specific projects. These have all been very helpful for me to keep track of what I want to accomplish and how I'll go about it. There are also separate sticky pads for weekly and daily to-dos towards each goal. To make things even more fun and organized, I use these multi-color pens to write everything out.

There's the normal monthly calendar and a weekly calendar as well, with each day broken down into 1 hour blocks. The "Must Do" section is also really helpful because it provides a quick look at the essential tasks for each day. I also really like that there's a place to write out your meal plan and grocery list for each week. I have found meal planning to be essential to our family's sanity and budget.

Another plus for this planner is that it's undated. It takes a bit of time, but you fill in the months and dates for the calendars. This means you can start the planner at any time and it doesn't have to be used within a certain year!

The bad

The biggest critique I have of this planner is the size. It's huge. The pages are 7.5x9.5 inches. I'm not sure how much it weighs, but I wouldn't exactly call it super portable. Because of this I don't always carry it around with me. Since I still have my Google calendar this isn't a huge deal, but it sure would be nice to be able to fit it into a reasonably sized purse.

Another drawback are there are several pages I don't use or don't know how to use. I don't use the Monthly Budget  or Monthly Expenses pages because I do all of my budgeting through a spreadsheet and Mint. Another page that I haven't used but probably should is the Thoughts & Thanks page. I like the idea of keeping track of the things and people I'm thankful for I just haven't done it yet. I also got some sticker sheets which I think are fun, but I haven't gotten in the habit of using yet.

One thing I wish the planner had is some way of habit tracking. Keeping track of books I've read, days I've worked out, money saved, etc, all in one place would be a good visual reminder of my progress on some of my goals. One final problem is pretty minor. The weeks start on Monday. It's not a huge deal, but I sometimes forget and I write things down on the wrong day.

My conclusions

I really do like this planner. And I've seen a definite difference in the days/weeks I use it like I should and when I don't. It's a little piece of accountability which is helping me reach my goals. If there was a way to make it smaller and customize it to fit exactly what I need then I think this would be the perfect way to organize my life. I will hopefully continue to use it throughout the year and I'll be able to really see how well it helped my meet my goals.

What do you use to plan out your life and keep track of your goals? Have you found a planner or some other method(s) which fit all your needs?

Some of the links in the post above are Amazon referral links. I may receive money or products from them, but it's at no cost to you.

Jesus Loves the Church, Do You?

Let me preface this post by saying it will probably step on some toes. I stepped on my own toes in a few places. I didn't write this post to make people feel bad about themselves but to challenge all believers in their attitudes towards the church. Know that, as always, I pray my words are taken with the love and grace I hope to have towards others. Don't feel judged, but feel encouraged that we have a big God who wants us to continually seek hard after him. This post sat in my drafts for months out of fear for hurting someone's feelings. Out of fear for not having the right words. At this point I can only pray that my tone of compassion is appropriately conveyed and if anyone struggles with what I've written that they'll search for the will of the Father.

You hear it a lot. I don't go to church, but I worship God better on the lake anyway. Or, my faith is such a personal thing, I don't really need others. How about, I just don't like what the modern church has become, we should go back to the New Testament church. I'm probably going to be stepping on a lot of toes here, but these are all just excuses to well, not go to church. I fully understand that some people have been hurt by the church. And let me say, I'm deeply sorry. It is a sad thing indeed when the church is a hindrance to a person's relationship with God. But let me be clear, not being a part of the local church is a hindrance to your relationship with God. So I wanted to talk about why it's important to be a part of the local church.

What is the church?

I'll just give you a brief rundown of John Piper’s explanation of the church¹. The Bible uses the word "church" in three different ways. The first is the global church as found in Ephesians 1:22-23; 4:4, etc. The second is a group of believers in a particular city or area like Jerusalem (Acts 1:22), Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:2), Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 1:1), etc. The last group is the small groups of people that would meet in individual houses. There could be one per city or area or multiple in larger cities (like Jerusalem). When giving his definition of the local church, Piper says, "a local church is a group of baptized believers who meet regularly to worship God through Jesus Christ, to be exhorted from the Word of God, and to celebrate the Lord's Supper under the guidance of duly appointed leaders."

This means, strictly speaking, Bible studies, non-profits, para-church organizations, watching a televangelist, etc are not the local church. It doesn't say don't do those things. They’re just not a church. Mark Dever says², “The relationship between our membership in the universal church and our membership in the local church is a lot like the relationship between the righteousness God gives us through faith and the actual practice of righteousness in our daily lives.” We practice our love for the body of Christ by serving the local church.

Why the Local Church?
Jesus loved and died for the church. Now you could be saying, “that's the global church.” That's true. Ephesians 5:25 commands husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church, even to death. This verse is talking about the global body of believers. But do you know who Paul was writing this letter to? The CHURCH at Ephesus. Now, we all benefit from it, but he was addressing a local body of believers. It was natural for them to gather together to read/hear God's Word and spend time worshiping him. Jesus loved the church so much, the global church AND the local church, that he died a horrific death on the cross.

The church is called the bride of Christ. If you really want to worship God, how about you love what he loves. Thom Rainer goes so far as to say³, “I am to fall deeply in love with my church. Christ is the bridegroom, and the church is the bride. My commitment is to love that bride with an unwavering and unconditional love.” How can you love something/someone you have no connection with?

A community of believers provides us with the fellowship needed to grow in Christ. God created us to have fellowship. Our desire to be with others (even us introverted types) points us to our need for a relationship with God as well as the perfect relationship among the members of the Holy Trinity. We weren't made to be alone. We weren't made to worship alone. Proverbs 27:17 and Hebrews 10:24 both talk about how being a part of a community helps us to be better Christians. We are not only called to live in fellowship with Jesus but also with his family. 

I love listening to podcasts. I've listened to several lately that have said some really insightful things which have caused me to think and desire to change. But if I don't have real people that I really come into contact with who are encouraging me, challenging me, helping me then I'm not as likely to actually change. While this community can be found outside of the church, there is no better place to find it than within the local church.

But we don’t just gain from being a member of a local church. We also give by being a member of a local church. And in reality, we should always seek to give more than we take. We are given the opportunity to work out our spiritual gifts in service to our local church. Jesus Christ came to earth to serve others through his life, death, and resurrection. If we want to be like Christ, we also need to seek to love, serve, encourage, and hold accountable those who are a part of a local body of believers. And as an added blessing on this, when we love our church well, we spread the gospel to those outside the church. Mark Dever again says “The church gives a visual presentation of the gospel when we forgive one another as Christ has forgiven us, when we commit to one another as Christ has committed to us, and when we lay down our lives for one another as Christ laid down his life for us.” Do you want to truly help others? Do it in the context of the local church. Do it outside of the church as well, but don’t forsake the local body for something that Christ didn’t die for.

God calls church leaders to shepherd and minister to believers. There are several passages in scripture that talk about the roles of leaders in the church. Why is this a reason to be active in a local church? Because those people have the heavy responsibility of teaching, encouraging, correcting, and guiding the members of their congregations. If you are outside of a local church then who is your spiritual authority? God ultimately, of course, but God has ordained certain people to take leadership within the church.

Where are you getting your Biblical teaching and guidance? From someone you don't know on a tv or computer screen? From someone you don't know in a book? As believers we have the Bible to give us God's Word and the Holy Spirit to help us interpret and apply it, but if you are outside of a local church then you are dismissing a God-given method of maturation and sanctification. Ideally you are part of a church where you have direct access to those leaders so that you can form a relationship with them which will allow them to speak directly into your life. I'm not talking about just sitting in a pew once a week. Form a real relationship with someone who has authority over you.

Why aren't you at church?

There are many legitimate reasons that a person may not be actively involved in and attending a local church. Perhaps poor health doesn't allow them to physically attend church. In this case, they should be involved in a healthy church that will come visit them frequently. A church service on tv or online can be beneficial here, but it's not a substitute for the community found within a congregation.

Perhaps you've recently moved and are still looking for a church. My suggestion would be to not take too long. There are most likely many good churches near you, and there's no such thing as the perfect church. Actively seek God's direction on where he wants you to be a member, but don't get into the habit of "church hopping." If you are one of the rare people that doesn't have nearby healthy Bible-teaching churches (like if you're abroad), then ask God to see if you should start your own. Look for a solution instead of just giving up.

I mentioned those who have been hurt by the church previously. I encourage you to pray through your past hurts and seek wise counsel in healing. As I mentioned at the beginning, it’s a terrible thing when church is the reason a person’s relationship with God suffers. But please know that there are good churches out there, and I pray you find one.

Aside from these situations (and possibly a few others I can't think of), the reason you aren't in church is because you don't want to be. You don’t love the church. It's not important to you. You could be doing something else which may be good, but is not the best. Stop right now and pray for wisdom as to the real motivation behind your lack of church membership.

Working with college students, we see pretty much every reason under the sun as to why people don't go to church. One of the most disturbing that has popped up within the last decade or so is the excuse that the modern church just "isn't meeting my needs." Now, it may be disguised as something else. The church isn't doing enough about social injustice. They fail to adapt to current culture. People don't fit in because the church is too cliquey or it has the "Holy Huddle" problem. The church has strayed so far from the New Testament church that it's barely recognizable. The list goes on.

You want to know the funny thing? I agree with all of these. And yet I still try to be a faithful member of a local church. Why? Because church isn't about me! We tell students that when looking for a church there are 3 criteria. 1. Does it teach the Bible faithfully? 2. Is there a place for you to serve within the church? 3. Is there a place for the church to serve you? The last one is last for a reason. To me, this is implicit with a healthy church and means the church leadership and members are loving each other as they should. It doesn’t mean it has the exact program you want, or the type of music you prefer. As believers we are often called to give up our rights and preferences in order to better serve someone else.

Finally, when it comes to the issue of sin in the church, my question is this: Where else should sinners be? Unfortunately, because the church is a people and not a place, there will be individuals who aren’t perfect. In fact, all of the members of a church aren’t perfect, from the pastor to the parishioner. This is where God calls us to forgive others because he forgave us. To love others because he first loved us. There are times when an unhealthy church wounds us, and in that case, if you can’t do anything to change the church culture, then maybe it’s time to find a new church. But before you do that remember this, “A healthy church is not a church that’s perfect and without sin. It has not figured everything out. Rather it’s a church that continually strives to take God’s side in the battle against ungodly desires and deceits of the world, our flesh, and the devil. It’s a church that continually seeks to conform itself to God’s Word.”²

Resources mentioned:

1: The Local Church: Minimum Vs. Maximum (John Piper)

2: What Is a Healthy Church? (IX Marks) (9 Marks of a Healthy Church) (Mark Dever)

3: I Am a Church Member: Discovering the Attitude that Makes the Difference (Thom Rainer)

Some of the links in the post above are Amazon referral links. I may receive money or products from them, but it's at no cost to you.

February Recap

Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links. That means I may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post. Please read my full disclosure here.

As a point of accountability I want to update you on my progress on my February goals. (Side note: Does anyone use say "Feb - ru - ary" in their head every time they write it? Just me? Ok, moving on.)

Starting a podcast

My motivation for my February goals here was to do some brainstorming and research to set up my podcast as well as continue posting more regularly on this blog.

• Write 4 blog entries ✅
• This is my 4th post. I didn't quite keep the schedule I wanted because of some personal stuff that happened, but I did get the posts in.
• Create a "focus group" and survey ✅
• If anyone is interested, I have a survey I can send with some questions to help me make some decisions on my podcast. 
• Go through podcast guide ✅
• I have a guide that works me through setting up a podcast with quite a bit of detail. I'll still have to use it as I continue the process, but it was helpful in thinking through some of the early details.

Personal Growth

I focused on my non-fiction reading goal. I finished three which I'm pretty happy with. That means I've read 5/15 towards my goal! I also got a fiction book in as well. Below are links to some of the books and also to some of my Goodreads reviews.

• Non-fiction
• Rhythms of Rest: Finding the Spirit of Sabbath in a Busy World (review)
• If You Only Knew: My Unlikely, Unavoidable Story of Becoming Free (review)
• What Is a Healthy Church? (review)

• Fiction
• Keturah (The Sugar Baron's Daughters) (review)

• Kids books
• Flat Stanley: His Original Adventure! (I read a few of these with Callie. We've been slowly going through chapter books before she goes to bed.)
• Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House, No. 1) (These are also chapter books I've read with Callie. She really likes them and we've read 3 so far.)

Heath & Fitness

I've been working on getting back into the routine of working out as well as continuing to incorporate healthy meals into our weekly rotation. I even got to work out outside one day which was amazing! And the addition of Graze snacks have helped me during the afternoon slump at work. I still need some work in these areas, but I'm definitely seeing improvement.

Connection

Each of the girls got some one-on-one time this month. Letty went with me to Starbucks and then to Target to go shoe shopping. Callie went with my mom and I to Savoy to eat lunch and have tea. Sophia stayed with me one morning while Lee took the older girls out. She got to play with all the toys and dance to all the songs. I've also been working on connecting more with Lee. Here is my post on our first time to do Datebox and other things we try to do at home. Finally we've been blessed to be able to start a community group in our home. I'm really enjoying getting to spend time with other people at church while diving into the Word.

Other

God has blessed us in being able to save some financially towards a few of our goals. And it's getting closer to time to plant our garden. I know it's silly, but I'm a bit nervous about it for some reason. Thankfully my mom has volunteered to help after tax season is over!

How about you? How are you progressing towards your 2018 goals?

Some of the links in the post above are Amazon referral links. I may receive money or products from them, but it's at no cost to you.

Datebox Review (And Other Ways to Date Your Spouse at Home)

Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links. That means I may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post. Please read my full disclosure here.

So, I write this post not because I have it all figured out, but because I need help. (It took us an entire week to finally have our Valentine's Day date). We all know that it's important to "date your spouse." I think we also all know that there are some seasons where this is harder than others. Like when you have three small kids at home. Nevertheless, my word for this year is "intentional," and one of the ways I want to be more intentional is by building up my relationship with Lee. One of my goals is to take a short trip with just Lee and I, and I think we'll be able to pull that off. But in the meantime, what are ways we can strengthen our relationship now? Below are some of the things we do to go on "dates" at home and some of the things we'd like to do.

Datebox:
I've been wanting to try the Datebox subscription service for a few months now because I like the idea of doing creative stuff together at home. Normally when we're at home we end up watching a movie or tv show. While this is okay on occasion, I don't think it does much to really bring us closer together. I was hoping this would be a way to change things up a bit.
What was in the box - In our box we got items to make puppy chow, a You+Me book and writing utensils to fill it out (pens, colored pencils and invisible ink pen), as well as a link to a Spotify playlist.

Our thoughts - Lee thought he didn't like puppy chow. It turns out he was thinking of white trash. He still didn't eat a lot of it, but he did help me make it. I honestly think I would have liked something a bit more complex to make. Something we could have worked together more on. As for the book, we enjoyed it a lot more than we thought we would. Some of the pages were funny and fun to talk about like inside jokes we share, what our team name and mascot would be, etc. Some were more serious such as what our ideal life would look like, and when we felt closest to each other. And there were some we couldn't come up with good answers to and decided we'd "come back to them later." I will admit to you that I had to let go of some of my perfectionism because Lee's handwriting is, well, like most guys' and his drawing skills are slightly better than Callie's. But we both got to be involved and most importantly, it got us really talking. 
The verdict - I enjoyed this box, but the problem I have is deciding whether or not it was worth the price. The puppy chow doesn't require crazy ingredients so I could have bought them in normal sizes and saved money. I already have pens and colored pencils. The book was unique, and it's not something I probably would have spent money on otherwise so that (and the invisible ink pen of course) were the most worthwhile investments. I plan on getting another box next month to see if this is something we'd like to continue. If nothing else, it at least got us to be intentional about how we spent our time...and we didn't have to pay for a babysitter. There are other date kit boxes out there as well so that's something we may try out in the future. (P.S. If you want to try out Datebox for yourself, click here and you can get $10 off your first box!)

Dating Divas:
The Dating Divas site has a ton of great resources that they've compiled from around the interwebs. A lot of them are totally free! Some are good for dating, engaged or married couples, and others I would definitely recommend for married couples only. I made Lee play the Newlywed Game with me the other night, and even though he claims he won, I think we're both winners when we get to spend quality time together and learn new things about each other even after eight years!

"Couch Time":
I heard this idea from a God Centered Mom podcast. She and her husband are intentional to sit on the couch together after the kids are in bed for at least 10 minutes every night with no distractions and just talk. Lee and I tried to do this, but we're not as consistent as we should be. The neat part about it is that often times, 10 minutes turns into 30 or 60 which is way better than watching tv or just looking at our phones at opposite ends of the couch.

Tips:
All of these tips are centered around spending time together. Dates. But we know dating involves more than that. Holding hands, writing love notes (or texts), serving each other, etc. All of these are important too. If you're struggling to find time, even at home, to date your spouse, then here are some tips. I'm making notes of these myself.

• Put date night on the calendar, even if it's at home. 
• Turn off your phones!
• Take turns planning.
• On occasion, take the time to get ready. Since some women, ahem, take more time to get ready this may mean husbands need to make sure they have that time by cleaning up the house, taking care of the kids, etc.
• If you want to go out and finding a babysitter can get expensive, offer taking turns babysitting with another family.

So, what do you do to continue dating your spouse? Have you tried Datebox or another subscription service? Use another resource? Let me know, seriously, because we can use all the help we can get!

More resources on the importance of dating your spouse:

• Date Your Wife: Six Suggestions for Leading with Love (desiringGod)
• Dating Your Spouse (Focus on the Family)
• How a Strong Marriage Empowers You to be Strong Parents (ERLC podcast)

Keturah by Lisa Tawn Bergren - fiction review

Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links. That means I may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post. Please read my full disclosure here.


Keturah's father has passed away and in order to provide for herself and her sisters they have decided to travel to the island of Nevis to try and save their father's struggling sugar plantation. The man Keturah loved as a child is also going to make his mark as a plantation owner but because of Keturah's previous abusive relationship with her deceased husband she declares she'll never rely on a man again. The sisters experience many trials as female plantation owners, and they have to really find their own strength in order to succeed against all odds.

The good: The description of life at the time seemed pretty accurate and I liked the evolution of the characters from stuck up society people to real-life humans trying to survive and figure out who they are. The writing was well done and I often felt like I was really there at times.

The bad: I felt like I was there at times. While slavery is not something that can be avoided in this story (the author discusses this in the historical notes at the end), I would almost rather not read the story than read about characters that participate in the moral atrocity that is slavery. The Banning sisters were kind to their slaves, but that doesn't detract from the fact that they in fact thought it was okay to own people. Keturah survived a horribly abusive marriage but in the end, her own comfort and the success of her plantation was more important to her than the lives of people she saw as beneath her. I don't need or want my characters to be perfect. And maybe the future books will see the hearts of these characters changed, but I couldn't get past this detail in order to connect with the main characters. The other issue I had was that the representation of Christianity was weak. It was so unimportant and uninspiring that I would have rather it had been left out completely. I don't need preaching in my fiction but I want there to be genuineness to their faith.

All in all I was disappointed with this book. Which makes me sad because I LOVE some of Bergren's other books (like her River of Time Series). I might read the next book just to see what she does with the slavery issue, but we'll see.

I received this book for free from Bethany House for my honest review.

Some of the links in the post above are Amazon referral links. I may receive money or products from them, but it's at no cost to you.

How do I find time (and money) to read?

Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links. That means I may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post. Please read my full disclosure here.

Reading has always been a large part of my life. There were times (like in college) when I couldn't always read as much, but usually it's a big priority for me. I think this is for two reasons. The first is that reading fiction is one of the main ways I unwind. Self-care is kind of a hip thing now, and for me, reading is one way I take care of myself. The other reason I make reading a priority is because I love learning. One of the most obvious ways to learn is by reading. I know not everyone likes to read, and as strange as those people may be, hopefully they've found other ways to take care of themselves and to learn. For those who do enjoy reading, I thought I'd give you a little insight into how I make time to read, and how I afford my reading habit.

Finding Time to Read
Ebooks:
Some would maybe say I'm not a true book lover because, for the most part, I'm not particularly attached to physical books. I LOVE reading ebooks. There are some books that I like to have the actual copy of, but it's not like I'm over there sniffing them or anything. I usually read using apps on my phone (like the FREE Kindle Reading App), but eReaders (Kindle, Nook, etc) and tablets are great as well. How this helps me read more is that it's so much more portable. I can read in the doctor's waiting room, during my lunch break, and it was great for when I was up nursing a baby in the middle of the night. It's a great way to find tiny pockets of time to get some reading done instead of mindlessly scrolling through social media (which let's be honest, I also do).

Audio books:
Along with ebooks, audio books are a great way to get more "reading" in. I mostly listen to podcasts in my car but sometimes I'll listen to an audio book instead. It's also nice when I'm doing things around the house like laundry or the dishes. Bluetooth headphones make that a lot easier, and it makes the chore go by faster. This isn't necessarily my favorite way of reading because if I'm not paying attention I'll sometimes miss important parts of the book, but it's nice to mix things up every now and then.

Multiple books at once:
I usually have one fiction book and one non-fiction book going at the same time. This is because sometimes I'm in the mood for fiction and it's easy for me to read through that quickly. And other times I want to read something a little deeper and I can pick up my non-fiction to fill that need. I try not to have too much more than that going on other than maybe an audio book otherwise I'm not as likely to actually finish the book.

Set goals and find accountability:
If you have something or someone pushing you to read because you've made it a priority then hopefully you'll find yourself more motivated to accomplish what you're striving for. To add on to this, give yourself some kind of reward when you've reached a milestone. Maybe you spend a bit more money than you normally would on that book you've been wanting because you read half your yearly goal. Or you allow yourself to watch the movie after you've read the book. As important as intrinsic motivation is to being a mature human, an external reward is helpful sometimes too. I've set a goal of reading 15 non-fiction books this year and I'm posting about each one on Instagram as accountability with a bit of a pat on the back built in.


Finding Money to Read
As much as I love books, I don't really love spending money on books. If it's something I really want, I will sometimes allow myself to buy a book. But that's actually pretty rare. Here are some of the ways I get books for cheap or free.

The library:
This one is fairly obvious. I don't actually make it to the local library much anymore, but I do take advantage of their ebook and audio book collections. I've even started letting Callie pick out some ebooks to read on the tablet after the younger girls are in bed. 

Kindle Unlimited:
Kindle Unlimited isn't free, but I pay a monthly fee and can read a lot of books for that one price. The selection is limited, but I can usually find some decent books on here, and if I'm lucky, an entire series will be on there so I don't have to hope my library has all of them or pay a ton of money to read them. Also, some books will have free narration so I can go from reading it on my phone to listening to it in my car!

My Reader Rewards:
I'm sure there are rewards clubs for other publishers, but My Reader Rewards is for Tyndale House Publishers. I just occasionally go on and fill out surveys and review some of their books, and I can get points to use towards free books. There's not a huge collection, but I've found several books on there for me and the kids. (And if you click here to sign up you can start off with 25 points.)

Review Programs:
Sometimes you can sign up and receive free books in exchange for honest reviews on a blog and/or a retailer website. I've been a part of the Bethany House Review Program for a while now and have received some really good books to review.

Free eBooks:
There are a ton of free eBooks on Amazon, B&N, etc. The problem with this is that most of these books aren't great quality, but every now and then you can find a good one. Usually this book is the first in a series and they're trying to hook you into reading the rest or they'll have a special promotion before a new book comes out. If you don't want to comb through a million books to find what you want you can get daily emails from sites like BookGorilla, BookBub and others which will show you a list of free/cheap books based on your preferences.

Swagbucks:
There are a lot of ways to earn Amazon giftcards these days, but one I've been using for a while is Swagbucks. Sometimes I'm all in and I fill out surveys and do searches and stuff to get me closer to that giftcard. Sometimes I'm feeling lazy and the only way I earn is by printing off and using grocery coupons from their site. How quickly you work towards earning a reward is up to you.

Google Opinion Rewards and Play Books:
I just recently had the idea that I could use the money I earn filling out short surveys in the Google Opinion Rewards app to buy books in the Play Store. I use the Play Books app to read the books on my phone or tablet. Technically you can use your rewards from the Rewards app to buy all kinds of things like apps, movies, etc, but since reading is a goal of mine I'm planning on buying ebooks and audio books. I believe you can use the Rewards app on iOS devices as well and the money gets sent to your paypal account. There are probably other options similar to this out there.

Others:
There's a whole host of ways to get free or discounted books to read. If audio books is your thing, you could always sign up for an Audible subscription. I did this for a while and really liked it, but I don't listen to as many audio books now. There's also a whole host of apps which will reward you with Amazon gift cards. Grocery apps like Ibotta and Fetch Rewards (use referral code YU9MU to get 1500 points when you sign up and scan your first receipt) will get you Amazon giftcards. I always send my money to my Paypal account and back into my bank account to use on groceries, but to each his own.

Do you want to read more books? Do you already read a lot of books? How do you motivate yourself to read more and how do you get your books?






Some of the links in the post above are referral links. I may receive money or products from them, but it's at no cost to you.