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Kate Battistelli

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How to Live a Life That Tells

How to Live a Life that TellsI honestly don’t know what people think about me which is okay, I’d rather not know. My goal is to live the word the best I can, haltingly and imperfectly but honestly. But I do want my life to tell. Paul said his life was an epistle written and read by men. The epistle of Paul’s life tells the world he was humble, grace-filled, intrepid, and living with integrity. He lived a life of love because he’d seen the Lord and after that, all ambition ceased save this:

…to know Christ and Him crucified…1 Corinthians 2:2

“What you think of me is none of my business.” I heard this years ago and it’s stuck with me. It’s worked so far because the only opinion I really care about is His. I want to live a life to please Him.

What does my life tell? I hope and pray it tells that He is my all in all. I hope it tells humility and a heart hungry to serve. I pray it tells peace and a prayer-filled life and I hope above all, it tells love. If we spend an afternoon together I hope it tells generosity and friendship, compassion and wisdom and homemade muffins. I just want to live up to His standards because His are eternal, His bear fruit that remains and His leave self and all that drags us down, in the dust.

How can we live a life that tells?

  1. Know God. Above all else get to know Him. Talk to Him, read his word, study it to ‘show thyself approved.’ Pray.
  2. Live out what you learn. The beatitudes are so simple and simply beautiful and they go against every single human impulse and desire. They are revolutionary words spoken by the one who knew without the Holy Spirit’s help, we are 100% helpless to do even one of them. But with His help we can.
  3. Humble yourself, always. Every. Single. Time. We have so many opportunities to boast, online, in person, in our writings. Don’t do it. “Let another man praise you.” Take the lowest place. Serve others, serve your children and spouse, serve the undeserving and ungrateful. Remember, “…Jesus took a towel…”
  4. Under promise and over deliver. Go the second mile. Do more than is expected of you. Approach each task with excellence as the goal.
  5. Leave a pleasant fragrance behind. Leave places and things better than you found them.
  6. Use your words carefully and well. Build up don’t tear down. Speak life and purpose, destiny and future.
  7. Help others achieve their dreams. Even when it means setting yours aside for a season.
  8. Live clean and with integrity. If you died today and they came to sort through your belongings, what would they find under your bed, in your video cabinet, on your computer or bookshelf? What about your checkbook, tax returns and credit card receipts?
  9. Forgive early and often. Forgive and in your forgiving, release the offense too. We are good at forgiving but we are also much too good at holding on to the offense. Offense sends bitter roots deep into our hearts long after we’ve forgiven. Forgive and release. Repent of holding offense against anyone.
  10. Kiss the stones that bloodied your feet, that is, love the ones who don’t deserve it. Love those who hate you. Pray for the ones who’ve despitefully used you and caused you real harm. See what I mean about the beatitudes? Without Him we don’t have a prayer of doing this.

We can live this way even though we will stumble and fall. Jesus flat-out told us the way to life is narrow and few are those who find it.

My prayer is this: That you and I will be one of the few.

One of the ones who are living a life that tells. Tells of a better way, a loving way bringing healing and change, hope and deliverance to a world desperate for answers. Our lives will have become epistles when others read them and want to follow us as we follow Him. Because then the fragrance of our lives will be the fragrance of Christ. Above all friend, let’s rest in His grace, His undeserved and unmerited favor. It’s not our doing, He’s done it all. There’s nothing we can do save follow in His footsteps, love others and rest in His finished work.

And that, my friend, will tell.

Category: Beauty in the Broken, Devotional, Faith, PonderingsTag: 1 Corinthians 2:2, how to be one of the few, Live a life that tells, Paul the Apostle, the beatitudes, to know Christ and him crucified, what you think of me is none of my business

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New post up at @momtomompodcast!. So much about Go New post up at @momtomompodcast!. So much about God and His Word is still a mystery, even to the greatest theological minds down through the ages. Faith–simple, childlike #faith is what holds the whole thing up. But, do we just stop there?
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In 2 Timothy 2:15, we’re charged to rightly handle the Word of Truth and to study to show ourselves approved unto God. And in 1 Peter 3, we’re told to always be ready to give an account of the hope that we have in Christ.
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Should part of that readiness be Biblical literacy–not just being able to quote Scripture, but being able to use those Scriptures to better know God–His character and attributes–and to better know the doctrines of our faith and how those are to be lived out in our everyday lives? .

Today, we’re joined by @phyliciamasonheimer who is going to help answer that question and hopefully give us some tips for living in the tension of both a simple faith and practical theology.

#christianmom #momtomompodcast #stopcallingmebeautiful #phyliciamasonheimer
#biblicalliteracy #theology #theologymatters #wordoftruth
See that smile on my face? That smile is because G See that smile on my face? That smile is because God sent me a sweet holy reminder this week in the form of my first royalty check for The God Dare.
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In this day and age it’s a rare thing for most authors to pay back their advance to their publisher, especially within the first 6 months of a books release. So I’m standing here in awe of His goodness and the faithfulness of all of you who’ve read and shared my book. I’m honored and deeply humbled as He used this moment to remind me how good He’s been to me in this writing journey.
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The God Dare has been a labor of love that took 8 years to go from simple blog post to published book and I stand here amazed today that it’s already in its second printing and, I earned my first royalty check.
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My first book came out in 2012 and I’ve yet to pay back that advance. It can take time and for most of us it does, especially in the Christian book world. But if you’re a writer who’s got a book coming out soon or you’re thinking of writing some day, follow that dream. Dreams do come true...I promise 💖.
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Keep writing, keep trusting, keep praying, keep believing. He has a plan and it’s good. Bless you and thank you all so very much for all you love & support 😘. #hopewriters #calledcreatives #authorsofig #writersofinstagram #christianwriters #publishedauthor #hopewriter #thegoddare #christianpublishing #amwriting @hopewriters @calledcreatives
If you’re a mom, you’re human and you’re goi If you’re a mom, you’re human and you’re going to make mistakes. ⠀
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Your kids WILL frustrate you. You’ll get angry, crabby and irritated. It goes with the territory so stop beating yourself up over it. We’ve all done it, we’ll do it again. Living in a fallen world with fallen natures takes everything in us to conquer the sin deep within. But, your children will survive your crabby days, I promise! And, there's hope for change.⠀
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I’m further along in my parenting journey, my daughter is grown with children of her own so I’ll share my perspective. I struggled with anger, I still do to be honest. Mostly because I have a way in my head I think everything should be. When it doesn’t look the way I want it to, I snap. I answer harshly. I’m impatient. I want to control life and I want life a certain way—my way—which is rarely THE way.⠀
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I’m selfish, thinking I have rights but the truth is, when we follow Christ we give up our right to ourselves. We tell the Lord with all sincerity, “I surrender all” until we don’t and the inner ugly rears its head. I must surrender my ways, my wants, my ego, my future, my time, my control, my everything to the only One who can change me from the inside out. ⠀
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The way you love is the way you’ll live. If you sincerely love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, then His love will flow out of you naturally. Not perfectly but naturally. Because, mama, you’ll never be perfect.... .
To read the rest, head to @joyfullifemagazine and look for the same picture as this post. 
#hopewriter #calledcreatives #writersofinstagram #writersofinsta #authorsofinstagram #honestlymothering #mothering #joyfullife
I remember my mom praying "now I lay me down to sl I remember my mom praying "now I lay me down to sleep" each night when I was little, along with some other prayers that weren't very Biblical but brought comfort to a scared little girl. Our family didn't place much emphasis on God or prayer and I didn't come to know the Lord until after I turned 29. When I had my daughter a year later, I knew prayer would be an integral part of our lives. I'm convinced time on our knees is the best investment we can make in our children's lives.⁠⠀
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Before your children were a glimmer in your eye, God knew them and set a plan for his or her life firmly in place. God ordered their steps and set the course of their lives with every twist and turn already mapped out. He dreamed a big dream and gave you the task, with His help, of finding out what that big dream is. He wants to guide you every step of the way and help you dig down deep and mine every ounce of greatness in your child. Because the dreams and desires we hold for our children and ourselves are important to God—more important than we can imagine. ⁠⠀
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I was never afraid to believe God had a huge plan for my daughter. I was just naive enough to take God at His word and believe in the power of destiny. I've seen my belief bear tremendous fruit over the years. I'm pleading with you here: Don't be afraid to dream BIG for your child....
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To read the rest of the post, please head on over to @joyfullifemagazine .
Blessings!!. #hopewriter #authorsofig #mothering #joyfullife #motherwell #dreambigger #mothersofinstagram ⁠⠀
I’m absolutely loving this beautiful book from t I’m absolutely loving this beautiful book from the amazing @thekatieorr! It’s the perfect book to dive into right now with all the upheaval going on in the world and the temptation to sink into sadness & depression.
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There truly is a path to happiness, real, enduring happiness. In fact, Katie shares 6 ways to nurture the happy soul already within us.
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Let her words help you find the happy, fulfilled life you’ve always dreamed about!.
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The happy soul is a holy soul.
The holy soul is a happy soul.
These are unprecedented times. So many parents are These are unprecedented times. So many parents are being thrown into schooling-from-home with little to no direction. We’ve shared before in episode 30 some general ideas and suggestions for homeschooling, so we’re not going to unpack all of that today. But we would like to dive deeper into one part of homeschooling that we believe is the foundation for what all the rest of our child’s education and really their very lives is built upon.
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Today, we’re talking about Morning Time. Some folks prefer to call it Morning Basket, Morning Meeting, others who maybe choose to slot it at other times in the day instead of the morning have been known to call it Symposium or Power Hour. No matter what you call it, if you’ve been homeschooling for any length of time, you definitely know that it’s a current buzzword in homeschooling circles. It seems that everyone has caught the fever.
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Check out our site to find all of our Morning Basket recommendations!.
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#morningtime #morningbasket #morningmeeting #symposium #powerhour #homeschoolingideas #homeschoolingmom #homeschoolingfamily #schoolathome #homeschoollife #homeschoolmom
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