The Homesteading Cottage: 31 Days :: Preparing Your Heart for a Harvest

Thank you for visiting The Homesteading Cottage. If you subscribe to our blog via RSS feed or email, you'll get helpful tips on simplicity, organization, all things DIY, natural cooking, entertaining, homesteading and emergency preparedness sent straight to you!

As many of your know, we're participating in the 31 Days Challenge with The Nester and we've chosen 31 Days of Preparation...the perfect topic for this season of harvest.

Preparation is good for the soul. It follows the cadence of life's rhythms for the times when things are out of our control. We've all had those experiences when life is moving along just fine and then, BAM! A great shift of change that propels us into a new realm of off-centeredness. We're no longer moving in that normal dance of our days and find ourselves in a new flow of existence resembling nothing of what we once knew.

Over the last few years we've gone through quite a few of these shifts. We all do. They can be little ones, big ones or even mid-sized bumps in the road, but I've noticed something interesting in these soul changing occurrences...they take us off balance so we can find our true center in Him. It's an opportunity for faith, growth and then harvest, but we have to prepare our hearts.

Ÿ  “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” 1 Corinthians 16:13

Ÿ  “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.” Proverbs 6:6-8

Ÿ  “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Matthew 25:13

I like the first and last verses...keep watch or prepare because we don't know when changes in life will happen. Life is hard and if we aren't prepared for times of shift, we then can be subject to the whim of the moment. Much like preparing for an emergency with food storage, savings and gear to make sure we're physically taken care of, preparing our hearts can lessen times of stress and get us to the other side faster.

Below are 5 steps that have helped us through challenging times...

5 Steps to Prepare Your Heart for Harvest

Schedule Time Alone: Set aside time each day to pray and meditate in God's word.
Plant a Seed for a Harvest: Plant a seed of faith by giving God your disappointments, setbacks, hurts and broken dreams and trust that He's taking care of your circumstances.
Look at Yourself in a Different Light: Begin to see yourself as favored, blessed, valuable and victorious no matter what you might be going through.
Talk to Your Mountains So They Move: Declare His promises each day and start speaking victory over your future..."The Lord says I am blessed. I am favored. I am prosperous. I am healthy. I am whole. I’m a victor, not a victim.” Don’t talk constantly about your situation, but use your words to change your situation! All through the day say things such as, “I have the favor of God. I can do all things through Christ. I am blessed. I’m strong. I’m healthy.” When you speak like that, you're blessing your life and speaking favor into your future.
Rest, but Stand Firm: Rest in His peace and stand strong. He'll give you the strength. Don't allow circumstances or others around you to bring defeat into your life. Press forward to whatever lies ahead and God will take you to the next level.

By using these steps to prepare our hearts ahead for any situation, it blesses us with the opportunity of peace and abundant harvest in every area of our lives.

I hope you'll join us for this 31 Days of Preparation journey. Tomorrow we'll be talking about preparing for little unexpected emergencies and steps to take to ensure your covered. Enter your email below and each post will automatically be delivered to your inbox. Don't forget to stop by the many other 31 Dayers for additional inspiration!