Cornel Warren

In Deuteronomy, God instructs us to surround ourselves with His words. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 it says "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." 

What better way to bring God's word into your home than with beautifully designed pieces? 

Live with Heart & Soul wants to equip our readers to bring God's word into their homes with this beautifully designed watercolor printable poster of Psalm 15! Click below to download it now, completely free!
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Download instructions:
1. For full size, print on Legal size paper
2. Click the image to download 
3. Right click on the full-size image that opens
4. Select "Save As"
5. Choose where to store the file (i.e. My Documents or Desktop)

We hope these words will be a blessing and an encouragement! 
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Cornel Warren

Cornel Warren

Main Point of the book

1. It’s all about following parenting styles that are laid out in the Bible.
2. You’ve all heard the saying spare the rod, spoil the child. That is actually in the bible in Proverbs 13:24, it’s more than just common sense or a cliché.
3. Well the way it is laid out in the Bible, according to Hubbard, is that the rod and reproof are supposed to go hand in hand. In fact, the rod, which she uses as the term for spanking, should never be used without reproof.

Why it matters

1. Proper parenting allows you to have 18 happy years rather than 18 years of frustration with your children
   1. The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to his own devices disgraces his mother.
2. Well-parented children become well adjusted members of society.
3. Disobedient children become law-breaking adults.
   1. People have to learn to respect authority or they enter into a negative cycle of self-denigration

The Goal
Teaching your children to exhibit traits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, and wisdom. This list is just a summary, but it hits the high points.
Teach the positive, don’t just chastise the negative. When we chastise our children for wrong behavior without explaining to them what the right behavior is to do instead, it exasperates them because they are not creative or mature enough to know what perfect behavior looks like. They cannot escape because they genuinely don’t know what a better way to act would be.
When we are faced with disobedience or any other form of misbehavior, we must instruct our kids to exhibit the positive trait, not just stop doing the negative.
In training your children, you have to require them to identify the behavior that was incorrect, ask for forgiveness and then they have to practice doing the correct behavior. It takes a little extra time to recreate the scenario, but it is worth it to give your child the chance to succeed in proper behavior.

What not to do

1. Don’t ever bribe your child: this teaches kids to be selfish. "I will only honor others when I get something out of it."
2. Don’t threaten your children, especially if your threat is so grandiose that you would never follow through with it. That teaches them you do not keep your word. Let your yes be yes, and your no be no. If you give in after you’ve said no, that teaches them that there is a chance you’ll cave in the future. You are teaching them to be persistent in disobedience or back talk until they get their way.
3. Avoid appealing to emotions: How many times have you heard “I was in labor for 30 hours, and this is how you repay me?” Hubbard says that this teaches kids to obey for the wrong reasons, trying to repay a debt rather than honoring their parent for the right reasons. In my opinion it can also be exasperating to a child when they feel like they can’t ever get away from their past. It also puts a very negative spin on the child coming into your family, which can make them feel unloved.
4. Don’t reason with your child, especially not small children. They are not yet ready to handle the responsibility of decision-making, and it places them on the same level as you, rather than establishing you as the authority.
5. Don’t administer discipline out of anger. That will teach your child that lack of self-control is ok for mommy or daddy, so it must be ok for the kids too. Your actions set the example for what your kids may or may not do.

What should obedience look like? 

1. All the way
2. Right away
3. With a joyful heart

When is it appropriate to discipline your child?

1. Don’t discipline for natural immaturity. Patiently instruct until you see your child can achieve the desired behavior. Once they are able to do it, they can be required to do it consistently.
   1. Kids want to have fun. Just because you’ve had a long day, doesn’t mean they need to act like a little robot. They have lots of energy and excitement to see you. Don’t squelch it for your own selfish convenience.
2. Don’t discipline children for accidents, unless the accident was the direct result of disobedience.
3. Get the facts about what really happened. It shows your child you respect them if you take the time to give them an opportunity to explain the situation to you.
4. Give yourself a timeout if you need it. Don’t go into the rod/reproof time with your temper raging. That will never lead to righteousness. Take your time to cool down before talking through the right behavior with your child. That will make it much easier to leave the incident on a positive note.

Cornel Warren

TV. Radio. Movies. Magazines. They send constant messages to us and to our families. They aim to define for us how we should look, what we should wear, who we should worship, how we should live almost every aspect of our lives. Whether we like it or not, we are bombarded from all angles with messages that don't honor God or people. How can we censor ourselves? 

At risk of sounding like a Debbie-Downer, I will transition quickly to the silver lining, the glimmer of hope. Here are some excellent resources to help you guard your family.

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​1. Plugged In is a great place to start. Brought to you by the cultural experts at Focus on the Family, Plugged In offers reviews that evaluate books, movies, tv shows, music and even video games from a Biblical perspective. As conscientious moms, we evaluate the media we and our kids consume using the basic standards like MPAA ratings, opting for G, PG or PG 13 only, but even then the standards have become intolerably loose.
Plugged In's reviews take a structures approach starting with positive elements, spiritual content and sexual content. After briefly summarizing a movie's stance/content that speak to those three areas, reviews move on to discuss violent content, language, drug/alcohol content and conclude with a summary of other negative elements. 
Plugged In also summarizes the level of caution with an easy-to-read guide broken down for Kids, Teens & Adults. 

Plugged In is a phenomenal resource to get an honest, in depth preview of movies, music and other media before committing to watching/listening to it.  They also do a great job of keeping up with current releases, including movies that are still in theaters. 

Check Plugged In before your next visit to the theatre:

www.pluggedin.com
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​2. VidAngel is the answer for women who wish "they would just leave out the bad stuff!" Using VidAngel, you can literally choose exactly which questionable elements you want to watch and which elements you want to have removed from your movies. Many companies have tried (and failed) to wriggle movies out of the tight grip of the major productions companies so they could edit out the offensive content, but VidAngel has managed. 
These companies are so powerful that they have actually succeeded in making it illegal to edit movies before selling them, and even before displaying them. That's why VidAngel is so clever! They sell you the movie before it gets edited, and they technically allow you to do the editing yourself. After you finished watching it, you can sell it back for 90% of the purchase price, so it works out the same as if you rented it.  
Whether you want to edit out slightly scary elements before allowing your little ones to watch a rated G movie, or you want to avoid being bombarded with offensive language during PG-13 or R-rated movies, you can finally take control with VidAngel. 

www.VidAngel.com

A new season has arrived and, for many, that comes with a sense of revitalization and renewed purpose, direction and drive. By making it a  goal this year to spend a little time each morning in reflection, meditation and prayer, you can stay grounded amid the chaos moms call everyday life. Good moms need to have their wits about them when they are raising raising children, and with how busy things are during the day, it's easy to lose track of your true priorities.

Recipe for a great morning
The easiest way to get a little extra time to yourself is to wake up 10-20 minutes before everyone else so you have peace and quiet and your attention isn't owed to anyone else. Open in prayer so that you can eliminate distractions in your mind. Meditate on one thing that you have learned in the last day or week. Or maybe you haven't learned the lesson yet, and you are continually running up against an insurmountable problem. Consider this: if the same thing continues to go wrong over and over, there might be something you are doing unwittingly, or perhaps you haven't learned how to handle a particular situation correctly. Meditation is a great way to get clarity on these types of issues. After meditation, write down and read through the things that you are doing well. This is a time for affirmations. You are doing so many things well! Why not encourage yourself with those things daily? Finally, take some time to write notes.
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Whether you are a blogger or you keep a journal, take just a few minutes to jot down some thoughts and ideas that you've come up with.  Taking notes helps you keep your mind from wandering to things you may not want to take your meditation time to dwell on. Additionally, studies support the idea that note-takers will make stronger connections between related pieces of information. (Foos, Mora, & Tkacz, 1994) It doesn't have to be long, but you will find that getting the words out will make you feel ready for the day.

As I arrived at the Gwynne building downtown in Cincinnati, I was feeling excited. I had been a fan of SkinnyMom.com for years. The lock screen on my phone even contains a screen shot of a quick 'n easy workout routine from the SkinnyMom pinterest account. Since I, too, have a heart for serving women with inspirational reading material & other content, I have kept a pulse on Brooke's career for several years. She has become well known in the Greater Cincinnati entrepreneurial circles since she won a sizable investment from CincyTech in 2013. 

After a little difficulty catching the elevator (blonde moment...), I headed to the fourth floor where the SkinnyMom headquarters were undergoing quite a remodel. The office space was modern and perfectly outfitted for creating all the delicious recipes and other content that can be found on SkinnyMom.com.

I had a lovely conversation with Brooke about life, being a mom, running a business and her vision for the future. You'll have to read the full interview in the next issue of Live with Heart & Soul magazine.  It was such a refreshing experience to see someone truly embodying the Proverbs 31 woman, meticulously managing her time so she could do her best at her Godly callings. 

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