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start the day.

1/7/2020

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You may remember at the end of 2018 when I shared about my morning routine on the blog.

Although I knew how important a morning routine was, it wasn't until I read The Power of Habit last year that I learned how beautifully automatic mornings could become.
In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg enlightens his readers about the habit loop.
  1. Cue
  2. Routine
  3. Reward

In any of our daily routines, the habit loop is present.

An example of this might be pulling into the driveway and automatically walking to the mailbox every single day after work.
Another example might be reaching for your house keys to unlock the door as you walk to the house when you get home.

​​These sequences of events are automatic. 

You don't even think about them. 

There's practically no thought necessary to get the mail from the mailbox or unlock your house.

Did you know that humans are wired to make a specific amount of decisions each day?

We each have a certain decision-making capacity and we often use a lot of our decisions on meaningless activities.

(Sidenote: This is often why people make poor food choices late at night. They've hit their decision quota for the day, so they're unable to effectively decide "no ice cream" is the correct option.)

By creating healthy habits in our morning routines (and in other areas of our lives), we create automatic sequences and cut out decisions.

Make your morning routine a habit.

Here is my morning routine:
  • Wake up
  • Make the bed
  • Put on the workout clothes that I laid out the night before
  • Workout
  • Start the coffee pot
  • Shower & get ready for the day
  • Make my coffee
  • Bible Study/Prayer Time
  • Get the kids up and ready

Now...in all honesty, over the last few months, my third and fourth steps have gone away.

I injured my hip while training for a half-marathon back in the fall and I wasn't able to workout for several months.

Now I'm healthy again and will need to re-train myself to include that working out habit in the mornings.  For now, it's a daily decision.

The beauty of the habit cue is that we have the power to change our habits.

Last summer, I started experimented with habit loops.

When my feet hit the floor every morning, I would turn around and make the bed.

Within two minutes of my alarm going off, I have already accomplished something and now every time I walk by the bedroom through the day, I will remember that accomplishment.  

As part of my bedtime routine, I've laid out my workout clothes and my clothes for the day.

Once the bed is made, I put on my workout clothes and head outside to run, to the basement to the treadmill, or to the living room to workout with a video.

It is automatic and once those clothes & tennis shoes are on, it sure is easier to get that movement taken care of first thing in the morning instead of having to decide to fit it in later in the evening.

After my workout, I start the coffee pot as I walk to the shower.

When I'm out of the shower and ready for the day, I make coffee and do my Bible study.
Cue (feet hit the floor)
Routine (make the bed)
Reward (feeling of accomplishment by 5:02 a.m.)

Cue (bed is made)
Routine (put on my workout clothes & workout)
Reward (healthy mindset for the rest of the day)

Cue (workout is finished)
Routine (start the coffee & shower)
Reward (kickstart my day with movement, Jesus, and coffee!)
It is SO AUTOMATIC.  I don't ever miss a Bible study anymore (or coffee!).

By the time the girls get up and around, I've made the bed, had 30 minutes of activity, and have done my quiet time with Jesus. 

And the beauty of it is that I didn't have to DECIDE to do any of these things.

The habit is there.


The reward from one habit loop becomes the cue for the next habit loop.

My mornings at home run like this now and I cannot even believe I lived for so long without understanding how habits work.

I hope you'll consider developing a morning routine over the next few weeks.  

Take some time to really think about the habit loops that you find yourself in the first part of your day.
View this post on Instagram

Headed out to church this morning. What a beautiful, autumn morning it was. #skagway #thesevenexperiment #adrianchristianchurch #countrysunrise

A post shared by Hannah Newkirk (@farmhouse654) on Oct 13, 2019 at 4:45pm PDT

Enjoying my mornings at the farmhouse,
Hannah
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bible journaling.

4/8/2018

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Every single Sunday, I find myself worrying that people think I'm texting or checking my Facebook during the sermon.

Granted, I do reply to a text message here and there.

But usually, I am looking up the scripture that Brother Matt is referencing or taking notes on my phone.

I started taking notes on Google Docs in January of 2017 and it has been amazing.
I have a "Sermon Notes" folder for each year and monthly folders for each month.

I can access my sermon notes from any device or any computer.

Housing my sermon notes on my phone has given me the ability to review the content from wherever I am.

It's also allowed to have a good reference when I take some time to do my Bible Journaling at home.
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Brother Matt is in the middle of a sermon series entitled "Second Chances" right now.  

He preached his first message on Easter.

It was amazing.  You can check it out here.

Today was week 2.

The message was from Acts, Chapter 2.

Acts Chapter 2 was after...
​
Palm Sunday,
the betrayal in the garden,
Christ's crucifixion,
His resurrections,
and 40 days of traveling and teaching.


In Acts 2:38, we read these words that Peter had said when the people asked him what they needed to do to make Jesus Lord.

"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

I grew up in the Church.

I can't even tell you how many times I have read that passage or heard that passage read aloud during a sermon or Bible study.

And yet today...I got a fresh perspective on it.

Repent means I'm turning AWAY from my sin.
Baptism is when I'm turning TO God.

When we choose to leave behind those behaviors that are not pleasing to Him, we choose to leave behind those feelings of guilt and remorse.

The feelings of not being good enough.

The feeling that we are "broken by our own mistakes" (good words, Brother Matt!).

We choose to turn towards Jesus and the feeling of hope that He brings.

So we stop repeating our bad behaviors, turn towards Jesus, and He sends us the Holy Spirit to help us to keep ourselves out of the situations we have been in for so long.

It's like a lightbulb popped on for me.  

So I took notes and journaled about it this afternoon.
I did a very SIMPLE page, with white gesso, a sticker, and a marker writing the phrase that I don't want to forget. 

I highlighted the verse in colored pencil and wrote the reference on the bottom of the page.

​That's it.
Sometimes, my pages are a lot more detailed.

But today, this was fine.

Turn away from sin.
Turn to God.
The stain will be removed and a Helper will be sent to you.

True story.


If you enjoy art and would like a creative way to connect with God's Word, I would recommend the art of Bible journaling.  
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Happy Sunday from the Farmhouse, friends.

Stay warm.

​❤️🏡❤️
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the bible app.

1/20/2018

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I have been using the YouVersion Bible app (by Life.Church) for quite some time now.  

For six years, in fact.

However, it was just over the last few months that I have begun making it one of the social media platforms I use to share my Bible study experience with friends and family.

And just in the last three weeks have I become friends with two of the most wonderful little girls you will ever meet...my oldest two daughters.
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Harlee got an iPod for her 11th birthday and one of the first apps she downloaded was the Bible app.

She's is more tech-savvy than I am and had invited me to do a devotional with her within a few hours.

"How to Strengthen Your Faith" was a 9-day study for pre-teens and teens that included a devotion, a few scriptures, and a "talk it over" prompt each day.
To be honest, I thought this would be a fun little activity that we could do to spend some time with Jesus and have good conversation about the Bible.

I wasn't prepared for the deep thoughts the girls would share on our shared Bible studies.
This is Harlee's very first entry, after reading a passage that included these words:

"Having faith in God is being confident that He loves you, that He cares about your life, that He's in control of your future.  It's believing that God is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do."​
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After reading her devotional, along with a few scriptures from Hebrews and Romans, my sweet Harlee replied profoundly that faith and trust in God is what makes life worth living.

Wow...what a thought for my barely 11-year-old.

And a wake-up call for her mama.

Since that day, I have taken my Bible study time with her (and her sister) very seriously. 

God has used these words to speak to all of us...

To open up conversations on our Bible apps and in person...

To be able to have these teachable conversations through our day-to-day living.

If you are struggling with how to talk to your children, preteens, and teenagers about God's Word and Kingdom Work, I'd strongly recommend meeting your kiddos where they are.

Let's embrace the technology that is so prevalent today and connect with our kids on the matters of God.

Happy Weekend from the farmhouse, friends.

​❤️🏡❤️
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