I'm Moving

In the next few days I'll be moving.....

My blog, that is!

My new site is at www.joleneengle.com but it's a big fat mess over there right now!  It kinda looks like my real home. :)

Anyways, I wanted to let you know because I have yet to move over my subscribers/readers just yet and in case I lose you, (yes this has happened to me before,) you'll know where to find me!

So if you come looking for me wondering why you haven't received a recent post, it's because I couldn't figure out how to move my subscribers over.  If that's the case, you'll need to re-subscribe at my new home!

Live a poured out life for Christ,

Did you enjoy reading The Alabaster Jar?

To receive future posts you can subscribe via email and Facebook.

10 Things a Broken Husband Needs from His Wife

I'm a broken woman in so many ways.  I was broken before I came to Christ. I was broken before I got married.  God has broken me after I walked down the aisle and He has broken me while I've been walking The Narrow Path.

I'm broken.....and I'm okay with that.  However, I didn't always feel that way!

So as I write this post to you, dear friend, I write it as a broken vessel; one who is fully acquainted with:

• pain
• rejections
• persecutions
• rejections
• physical limitations
• heartaches
• rejections
• failures
• depression
• despair
• and oh, I can't forget....rejections!

I'm a walking scar and I know it.  Although my scars don't define me, they have shaped me.

But.....I'm transformed, made whole, and embraced by the One Who is Defined by His Scars.

So I get it.  I get the hurting, the fear of the unknown, the disappointments, as well as the insecurities that one faces.

So this brings me to The Broken Husband whom I'm discussing today.  If you've missed my prior posts in this series of Helping Your Husband to Lead, you can start here.

Excuse the Dust

Things are changing here again so pardon the construction zone!  I'm playing around and trying to make room for more content/series/books, etc. so others can find things around here.  Next month I'll be changing my blogging platform altogether because I'll have more options for order.  And I like order! But I'm not very technical, so....hang on for the ride!  I'll keep you updated with the changes. Hopefully I won't lose you as a subscriber when I make the move.   I'll do my best to keep you in the loop!

I know many of you are waiting for more of my Helping Your Husband to Lead series and I appreciate your grace.  Yesterday I enjoyed spoiling my eldest as we celebrated his 13th birthday!  So now I'm officially a mother of a teenager.  Wow!  I don't know how that happened.  Well....I do know how that happened. (wink). 

Also, I know my comments have been lost as well and I'm not sure if my commenting system is even working.  I don't plan to fix the past but I will do my best to make sure you can still comment on future posts.

I hope to get back to the series within the next few days.

Live a poured out life for Christ,

Did you enjoy reading The Alabaster Jar?

To receive future posts you can subscribe via email and Facebook.

4 Ways to Help Your Husband When He Doesn't Want to Lead...& a Link Up!

I didn't expect so much response and emails from wives whose husbands are not leading their families, therefore, this topic is turning into a little series!

If you're new here and you're dealing with this issue in your marriage then you'll want to start reading the following posts.

14 Reasons Why a Husband Doesn't Lead His Home

Helping Your Husband to Lead When He Doesn't Know How (Not all men had a role model or a good role model to show them how to lead their families.)

Helping Your Passive Husband to Lead (This is the man with a passive personality; someone who is not a natural-born leader.)

Becoming Content While You're Waiting for Your Life to Change (I threw this one in there because we can all learn a little bit of contentment when things are not going our way.  Right?)

Today's post I'm covering the husband who doesn't want to lead his family regardless of his personality.

Can't Find the Links to My E-book?

Can't find the links to my ebook?  Here's a screenshot of my email so you can see what I'm talking about!

The links are at the very bottom of my post in your email of feed reader.

Live a poured out life for Christ,

Did you enjoy reading The Alabaster Jar?

To receive future posts you can subscribe via email and Facebook.

Book Update

Christmas is coming and the promotional for my FREE e-book is ending on November 10th!  
If you don't know much about this book, here's the low-down....
Bring the heart of your child back to the foundation of Christmas which is centered on the King of Kings. This book gives you interactive, Christ-centered activities and traditions to strengthen your child's Christian faith. Turn your child's eyes towards what truly matters at Christmas; Jesus Christ. Filled with Christian values and traditions that will teach your child a God-centered worldview during the glorious Christmas season. Fun things to do for the whole family.

Becoming Content While You're Waiting for Your Life to Change

Can you remember the time before you got married?  The time when you longingly waited with great anticipation to meet your future husband?  When you couldn't wait to fall in love and be a bride?  

I remember those days and I also remember thinking that the waiting was HARD!  And it's hard for this dear reader that wrote in too!  (For those of you that are already married, the principle I'm going to cover at the end of this post will help you greatly as you wait for whatever situation you may find yourself in today, especially if your man is not leading the home.  So I encourage you to keep reading!)

This young woman writes:

Dear Jolene,

I am so fully convinced that marriage is a gift from God, and I am excited to be a wife and a mother someday. What an amazing privilege those two callings are!  So, with this all said, I am no where near marriage or motherhood. But my heart aches and longs for it. It's what I desire, more than anything that this world has to offer. How should I deal with this, and how can I deal with knowing that this will definitely not come to pass for many years? I know discontentment is not from God, but I feel unhappy that I am unable to have either of these blessings (marriage or motherhood) for many many years.  But I can't have it yet. What should I do?

~an eager wife and mom

Dear Eager Wife and Mom,

What a beautiful heart you have for marriage and motherhood!  You are wise to realize that discontentment is not from God.  However, one thing that is from God is His timing in your life, yet God's timing is usually much slower than our own!

Helping Your Passive Husband to Lead

I'm a mom of two boys, ages 11 and 12.  Both of them came straight from my womb.  They have the same father, the same upbringing, same teacher their entire life (I home school them), and they even share the same bedroom.  Yet, they are complete polar opposites!

My eldest is a dominant personality.  He's aggressive and assertive and a natural born leader.  When he was about 5 yrs. old he asked me who it was that was in charge of the Indians.  I told him it's the chief.  He then proceeded to tell me that he wants to be the chief!  

My youngest is gentle, sweet, and sensitive.  At a very young age he expressed that he was content to be a follower!  If this boy were to ever lead a family, then I knew as parent I had some work to do.

One boy naturally steps forward and the other naturally steps back.

As their character continues to grow, I watch.....

I watch for the weeds in my eldest.  Weeds of domination and insensitivity towards others. Tendencies to ruler rather than to servant-lead like Jesus.

I watch for the weeds in my youngest.  Weeds of passivity; tendencies to be so laid back that things go undone.  

They each have their own strengthens and weaknesses and both are fearfully and wonderfully made. God has etched out a purpose for both their personalities to be used for His glory.

Just like God has for your man!

Helping Your Husband to Lead When He Doesn't Know How...& a Link Up!

Last week I covered the 14 Reasons Why a Husband Doesn't Lead His Home.  If you missed that post, you can read it here because you'll want to know why he's not leading so you can help him.

For the next several days I'm going to list out various ways you can help your man step up into his God-ordained leadership position of your family.  Today I'm addressing when he doesn't know how to lead.

Using Social Media for the Glory of God?

My sweet friend, Laura over at Beholding Glory, along with her friend Angie Pratt recently wrote a short ebook called, Reach, How to Use Your Social Media Influence for the Glory of God, and Laura asked me if I'd review it for her.

First, I want to say I'm so thankful I did read this book because it really spoke to this non-technical person's heart!  I'm not good at Social Media, at all.  Perhaps if I were 20 years younger, then I think the whole social media thing wouldn't be so difficult to learn and get involved with.  But being that I'm in my 40's, it's been quite challenging for me to embrace and learn this new concept.  Please don't ask me how to use Twitter because I'm challenged by that platform!

Anyways, I entered into the Social Media world when I accepted a friend request for Facebook many years ago.  As I read the email I thought,

"Well, I know that person but what in the world is Facebook?"