Lisa Jacobson's Blog, page 16

How to Make Hope Your Middle Name {Real Life with Lisa}

Remember how I invited you to come over and “sit with me” in my home last week? 

Well, here I am.

And here you are and I’m so glad you are!

Only I feel a little badly because it seems like I’m doing all the talking.

But I hope you know you CAN respond in the comments below if you want!

I’m calling this time we have together Real Life with Lisa because it’s about being real – and about living the life God has called us to.

It’s about your life and mine.

And the challenges and struggles and joys that we encounter most every day of our lives. Real stuff. 

And we’re starting today with hope because it’s been so much on my mind lately.  Our need for hope.  Our reason for hope. And how we can bring hope into our hearts and homes!

I’m also sharing a part of my life today that I don’t talk about all that often.

5 Great Ways to Give Your Child A Love for Reading

I feel rather sheepish to admit it.

But I used to despair that our oldest son would ever learn to read.

It seemed as if all the kids his age were reading. Everyone that is, except him.

Or, to be more precise, all his girl cousins were reading. But not him.

And I was baffled as to why.

He had a fine mind, and both my husband and I enjoy reading. He was raised in a “reading household.”

So why not him?

He simply wasn’t a reader, and I couldn’t figure out “where we’d gone wrong.” (Is that a mom-thought or what?)

But then when I’d almost given up all hope, I found the young boy curled up with a book. READING. I could hardly believe it!

And he quickly went from zero interest to an avid reader in one year’s time.

All that worrying had been for nothing.

So now that I’ve confessed my first-born agonies, I might as well tell you the rest.

Continue reading 5 Great Ways to Give Your Child A Love for Reading at Club31Women.com

8 Ingredients to Help You Grow in Your Marriage

In a few weeks, John and I will celebrate 47 years of marriage. It seems to have gone by way too fast, but with five married kids and 21 grandchildren, we haven’t had much time to notice the pace. We are simply thankful.

Today we are most grateful for our sweet companionship. No, our marriage isn’t perfect. We still fight and we still have to forgive—frequently. But the years of pressing together through challenges and blessings have produced a stronger blend of oneness.

Recently I jotted down eight ingredients that have helped me as a wife to grow in my marriage.

8 Ingredients for a Lasting Marriage

1. Recognize that no man can love you as much as you want to be loved. Only God can. Run to Him first. Spend time in His word and in prayer. It will relieve the pressure on your marriage.

2. Have a few close girlfriends with whom you can share your heart. These should be women who are for your marriage, always pushing you to Christ and toward your husband.

3. Refuse the temptation to “emotionally withdraw.” And you will be tempted—many times.

Continue reading 8 Ingredients to Help You Grow in Your Marriage at Club31Women.com

Something New Coming Your Way {An Exciting Announcement}

I hope you know by now how much I enjoy being with you at Club31Women!

I can’t even begin to tell you how blessed I am by the community around here. I’m so thankful for the encouragement, the kindness, and, yes, the occasional challenge that comes from this one place.

My only “complaint” – and I’m not even sure it qualifies as a complaint – is that we can’t sit and simply talk together. How many times I’ve leaned over to my husband and said, “I just wish I could invite them all over and we could have tea together (chocolate would be nice too)!”

Practical man that he is, he callously informed me that the “logistics” would never work.  Really? 

But then we came up with this fabulous “Plan B.” Do you want to hear it? 

Well, as you might already know, earlier this summer I filmed a course on marriage for My Homemaking Mentor. And rather than using some sterile studio space, I asked the crew if it would be alright if we filmed in one my favorite places instead—my little “home office” which happens to be tucked in the far corner of our bedroom.

Continue reading Something New Coming Your Way {An Exciting Announcement} at Club31Women.com

7 Ways to Practice Loving Your Husband Everyday

Sometimes loving your husband doesn’t happen naturally or with ease. Sure, it’s easy to love when everything is going well and all our needs are being met. But when the going gets tough, we need to learn to dig a little deeper in order to love more intentionally.

Growing in marriage means going beyond the surface of emotional love to the depths of deliberate love. This digging deep kind of love is what helps you weather storms because your roots grow as you practice loving when it’s hardest to love.

This list is taken straight from 1 Corinthians 13.

7 Ways to Love Your Husband Daily

1. Be patient with him.

No matter what it is that’s driving you crazy about him, or what struggles he’s facing, be patient with him. Take a breath, and pray for your own heart to develop this patience. Love is patient and by showing patience, you are showing love.

2. Be kind to him.

I don’t know why, but I have noticed many wives speak down to their husbands and are generally just unkind to them.

Continue reading 7 Ways to Practice Loving Your Husband Everyday at Club31Women.com

Do You Ever Wish Your Home Were More Peaceful?

Do you wish your home were more peaceful?

I sure did when all six of my kids were at home. Even when only two were left, it still wasn’t peaceful the way I wanted it to be.

You see I wanted everyone to get along and like each other. What I really wanted, truth be told, was for my children to be more like adults even when they were little, which is foolish because not even adults get along well, right?

Too much idealism clung to me for too many years.

Homes are messy because people are broken and sinful and full of flaws, which equals less than peaceful relationships and homes.

Ours was not a peaceful home, at least not the way I imagined or wanted it to be, but it was a stable and mostly healthy home because we kept the main things the main things.

Those main things are:

never doubting God’s good and kind sovereign control, even when it makes no sense
always keeping forgiveness a real practice, even if you have to do it a hundred times a day
remaining teachable, even when you don’t want to learn another thing

I’m convinced the fine print none of us read when we get married and have kids is that marriage and parenting are God’s favorite school for adult education. 

Continue reading Do You Ever Wish Your Home Were More Peaceful? at Club31Women.com

Why We Need to Pray Without Ceasing

Pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17) has been a verse that has come to life to me over the last couple of weeks. Moving will do that to you.

Lately, my days has been filled with packing, cleaning, unpacking, too much fast food, unexpected visits from electricians, plumbers, and tree removal guys.

We have children who are too excited to sleep, a child who misses her old home, in-laws who need help packing and unpacking (because they live with us), a great grandmother who keeps forgetting where she is  (because she lives with us too).

To say that life has been exhausting is an understatement and it is especially during these times that I should be praying about everything… and I have failed.

I have let my stress, my feelings of being overwhelmed, my exhausted self, try and muscle through the last couple weeks on my own and the result has been less than impressive.

I told myself that once we are unpacked, once we are a bit more settled, once I find my Bible again then I will get back to having regular times with the Lord.

Continue reading Why We Need to Pray Without Ceasing at Club31Women.com

9 Books for Your Tween Son to Grow On

In my parents’ home, we have a closet under our staircase where all manner of decor, future gifts, and boxes of dress-up are stored, but the wood-paneled door serves a special purpose. Though the outside of the door faces the living room, the inside is etched with years of measurements.

Nine children, one decade and many pencil marks, labeled with a name and date. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past decade, watching my little siblings grow, it’s that no one can hold back time.

No matter what curriculum you use, no matter what parenting philosophy you subscribe to, no matter how many ups and downs they may face, time passes and children grow up.

My dad always told me he was going to put some heavy books on my head to keep me down. Today I’m going to talk about books to stand on.

In May I shared my list of 7 Books for Your Tween Girl’s Journey to Womanhood. Now I have my brothers in mind. All three of them are voracious readers, but I decided to only choose books I have personally read and enjoyed, so these come to you brother-and-sister approved!

Continue reading 9 Books for Your Tween Son to Grow On at Club31Women.com

4 Ways to Have a Fun Anniversary

We were just babies really, young and in love. He was 18 and I was 19 and all we wanted was to be together, be married, be each other’s one and only…till death do us part. Some (most?) thought us too young and not mature enough to handle the responsibilities of a wedded union. After all, we were young, immature, and pretty much broke.

We didn’t care – we loved each other and we wanted the world to know it.

We ditched the typical five-year plan, threw caution to the wind with peace in our hearts, and got married on a hot, summer day. Around 300 friends and family came to witness us two youngsters confess our love for each other.

Up until that moment, I had never felt more privileged than I did when I was finally able to call him my husband and to be able to call myself his wife…and, by God’s grace, that is a title I’m still all too happy to own.

Like many Christian married couples, our years of matrimony have been filled with constant pruning, watering, and feeding by the Lord (that pruning hurt the worst!).

Continue reading 4 Ways to Have a Fun Anniversary at Club31Women.com

Why You Need Friends When You Can’t Pray for Yourself

My boys were watching a movie and I decided to go in my room for a little quiet and prayer time. It had been a hard week and I desperately needed some time to cast all my cares.  There was just one little problem that day: I couldn’t pray.

I sat on the floor and tried to pour my heart out to God but the words wouldn’t come. I was exhausted. I tried to read my Bible but I found myself dozing off instead. I tried walking around and praying but that didn’t work either. I was in a hard place.

Have you been there before? When you are so burdened by your circumstances that you cannot pray.

This why we need community.

A church family and friends who can lift us up when we get weary.  That day I was struggling, a sweet friend sent a simple text: You were on my heart today. I’m praying for you.

She had no idea what I was going through but she loved me enough to pray for me.

The Power of Friends Praying for You

The following Sunday I couldn’t get to church fast enough.

Continue reading Why You Need Friends When You Can’t Pray for Yourself at Club31Women.com