Nurturing moms in their walk with God
The girls and I on the Boardwalk during our family’s Myrtle Beach getaway last weekend.
Kari gives tips for Helping Your Daughter Find Real Friends. These work for adults, too!
Jen advises Just Open the Door and Make Room for One More.
Erin shares 18 Small Connections that Make a Difference.
Jennifer says We Need a Person More Than We Need an Answer.
Here’s a really cute Easter Bunny Paper Plate Craft from Mariah.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!
Ready for some real-time authenticity and confession?
This has been a week of negative thoughts. Feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, and envy roll around in my mind. I stew on them, work up a little anger – or self-pity, depending on the moment. I know that I need to “take those thoughts captive.” I can even quote a Bible verse for each sin that’s tempting me to walk its way.
Have you ever had an hour – or maybe a day – like that? Our focus narrows to ourselves and we wallow in the pit of unhappiness.
I’ll admit, that’s not been my first response. But I see some encouragement in Deuteronomy 26. Here we find Moses instructing the children of Israel regarding giving a tithe back to God when they begin to prosper in the Promised Land. In verse 11, he describes the delights which await them.
“And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house….”
That Scripture teaches me several valuable lessons.
In other words, count our blessings. I’m still writing in my 1000 gifts journal – I’m up to over 8,500 of them! And some mornings I can list five or six gifts/blessings from the previous day without hardly thinking about it. Other days, I struggle to come up with two. It’s not that God is “better” to me one day than He is the next. It’s that some days (too often!) I don’t recognize the good things.
It is God who gives me each one of them. There’s no fate involved, no luck that brings them, nor, though I love the word, any such thing as serendipity. Remember James 1:17?
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”
God is always good, and any good thing we receive comes from Him.
God always provides. Philippians 4:19 says, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” So while I’m noticing the good things that God’s given in the past, I can trust that He’ll continue to bestow good things in the future.
And while we’re resting, let’s enjoy the good things. Yes, one day we might have more, but let’s be content with what He’s supplied today. As we live in contentment, we can also take great pleasure in the good things we have now.
Rejoice means to feel or show great delight. I know that I haven’t been doing much of that this week. I lost my joy.
Joy in my spirit, reflected on my face, is a way of witnessing to others – including my children – that my God is good. He has given me so much, beyond just meeting my needs. Like we enjoy blessing our children, I believe God likes to provide pleasures just for our enjoyment.
As I think about Moses’ command, I remember a part of the story that was still ahead of them. What else was going to happen in the Promised Land? There were going to be battles.
The Canaanites weren’t just going to lay down their weapons and surrender their land. Yet in the middle of working hard to gain victory, the Israelites were going to be surrounded by so many good things! In the same way, as I battle my thought life this week, God continues to surround me with blessings in abundance. How thankful I am for His faithfulness!
For what “good thing” are you rejoicing today?
Related posts:
When You Don’t Feel Like Giving Thanks
3 Ways to Find Joy
10 Key Lessons the Israelites Can Teach Us About the Christian LIfe
We had two exciting events happen in our family this past week!
Our younger daughter’s cheer team got first place at their state cheerleading competition last Saturday! (She’s the fourth one from the right.)
Then on Wednesday, our older daughter’s Junior class received their class rings in a school ceremony.
And here’s a few helpful resources I found this past week.
Jenilee tells us How to Cultivate Friendships.
Lara writes Dear Mom Who Just Wants to Be a Good Mother.
If you have a teenager, I’d recommend listening to episode #191 of Authentic Intimacy. It’s titled Understanding Your Teenager’s Brain.
And while we’re on the subject of teenagers…I signed up for the online Gen Z Faith Summit. (Just found out recently that “Gen Z” is what my daughters’ generation is called.) The summit is free, and the interview with Kirk Cameron (he currently has 5 teenagers!!!) was so very good.
I’ve finished reading three books so far this month.
Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul by Jennie Allen. Jennie challenges readers to fully surrender to God, and follow wherever and however He leads. This book caused me to consider whether or not I’m truly willing to do anything God calls me to do.
Justice Delayed and Justice Buried by Patricia Bradley were my fiction reads. The stories are set in Memphis, and revolve around a team solving cold cases. Both of these books kept my interest, and I’m hoping a third one will come out soon!
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!
Were you a fan of spelling bees in elementary school? I was. We’d line up in two rows on opposite sides of the classroom. The teacher would call out a word to the first person in line. If you got it right, you went to the back of the line. If you missed, you went back to your desk and sat down. I didn’t always win, but I usually made it through the first few rounds!
My younger daughter follows in those footsteps, and enjoys competing in spelling bees at the state fine arts competition. Helping her study the extensive lists makes me realize how many words there are out there that I’ve never heard of. I have a hard enough time pronouncing them, and certainly couldn’t spell them correctly, especially under pressure!
While listening to Jamie Ivey’s podcast The Happy Hour last week, I learned another new word. I think I could have spelled it, but had no clue what it meant.
The word was “liminal”, and it was used in the phrase “liminal space.” Jamie’s guest explained what it meant, but I wanted to dig into it a little more. Here’s what I found at inaliminalspace.org
“A liminal space is the time between the ‘what was’ and the ‘next.’ It is a place of transition, waiting, and not knowing.”
Ah, that I can understand. Alan Seale also explains the term well.
“The liminal space is a waiting space. You could land here for any number of reasons. Perhaps a particular event or circumstance has interrupted the life you were living and now everything is up in the air. Or maybe something is unfolding around you that will have a significant impact on your next steps, yet you have no control over that circumstance and its timing. Or perhaps you are clear about your next steps, yet somehow you sense that now is not the time to take those steps. And you don’t know when the right time will come.”
So I’ve been in a liminal space before and didn’t know that’s what it was called! I realized that there are a few ways this relates to the Bible truth of waiting on the Lord.
Oftentimes, in our minds, waiting means there’s not much going on. It’s just downtime, with no action taking place. Yet just as we talked about last week, even when we don’t see outward progress, God is at work. So even in a season of waiting, much can be accomplished in our lives.
As I looked up Bible verses about waiting, I noticed how many of them are in Psalms. After all, David knew about waiting. Samuel crowned him king while he was just a shepherd boy. Even after he grew older, he was forced to wait again while a jealous Saul chased him down and tried to kill him.
He could advise us with confidence, “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14)
Are you facing a transition in the near future? It could be a first child starting school, a last child starting school, an empty nest. Maybe it’s a move or a job change or just an adjustment to your daily schedule.
There can be a little bit of fear in transitions. Transitions typically mean change, and that can make us uncomfortable! Yet it’s often in the transition times that we grow. If everything always stayed the same, we’d be stagnant. We wouldn’t develop new skills, or expand in different areas of our life.
So when we’re in those transition times, let’s rely on God to help us through the changes. As the verse below says, let’s find our hope in His Word.
“I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope.” (Psalm 130:5)
Impatience can grow in the in-between We’re pretty much finished with one thing, but aren’t quite ready to move on to the next thing. We just want to hurry through the in-between.
This is a good time to remember Psalm 37:7. “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him…”
God has so much to teach us in the waiting spaces, the transitions, and the in-between times. It may feel like nothing’s happening. Yet God’s timing is always perfect.
“He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also He hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
God is faithful to reveal the next step when He has prepared us for it. Until then, we wait, we listen, and we trust, expecting our good God to guide us each step of the way.
“My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.” (Psalm 62:5)
Related posts:
Trusting His Grace When I Can’t See His Face
What Ruth Teaches Me About Trusting God
3 Tips for Embracing Your Current Season of Life
I tried to capture how beautiful the sky was on our drive home one night this week, but this picture doesn’t do it justice. I can’t even tell you how excited I am that it’s gradually staying lighter later into the evening!!
Jennifer reminds us that He Will Meet You.
Anastasia shares tips on Creating a Family Culture of Love.
If you’ve gotten behind on housework, Marci tells us Where to Begin When You’re Overwhelmed.
I’ve mentioned before that I struggle with meal planning, so I was happy to find Leslie’s 15 Awesome Themed Dinner Nights to Add to Your Meal Plan.
I made these Smashed Baby Red Potatoes last Saturday night and they were delicious! I added a tablespoon of Parmesan cheese in step 3, so I could have left out the 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
My older daughter and I are headed up to Columbia, SC, this morning to watch my younger daughter’s cheer competition. They’ve put so much preparation into this event, and I’m really hoping they do well!
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!
Are you watching the winter Olympics? Our daughters check the television each night to see which events are on, so we usually get caught up in the competition for a little while.
I happened across this funny tweet from @HarlanCoben (whom I know nothing about beyond this tweet) a few nights ago.
Me: I’ve never watched luge. I know nothing about it.
Me 20 minutes later: Turns 9 through 12 are really the key to victory. He’s taking them too high. Why doesn’t he listen to me??
Sporting events often bring out the “armchair quarterback” in all of us! We’ll talk to the television, and “helpfully” instruct these highly trained athletes who’ve worked for years to get to this level. I mean, it’s like we know how they should go into that jump so that their triple salchow isn’t underrotated!
These Olympians have put incredible amounts of practice time and effort into preparing for the Olympic games. It’s been their “work” for many years. And while most of us won’t ever perform on that stage, there is something more important that we are called to do.
It won’t put us on a gold medal platform, or land us any lucrative endorsements. But God has a work for each one of us. And it will take a lifetime for that work in and through us to be refined.
Let’s look at Hebrews 13:20-21.
“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus…Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
The best part about the work God has for us to do is that He will do it in us. According to the Geneva Study Bible, the word “perfect” in this verse actually means fit or suitable. In other words, God is the one who makes us suitable for His work. He equips us with what we need for the job ahead of us.
I like what Barnes said in his commentary about the above verse. “Paul prayed that God would fully endow them with whatever grace was necessary to do his will and to keep his commandments…” Whether it’s my marriage, my parenting, my career, or my ministry, I can’t make myself fit for it. Only through Jesus and His Holy Spirit continually working in us can we live “wellpleasing in His sight.”
The work of the Holy Spirit is gradual and progressive. Maybe you think, “God’s not doing much with me now. I do the same thing every day (whether that’s go to work or do laundry or drive carpool).” Yet even when we don’t feel like His Spirit is working, when we’re not seeing how He’s growing us, we can know He’s faithful to be dong it. He’s equipping us for what’s to come.
It reminds me of Philippians 1:6. “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”
Because God does the work, I can’t take credit for it. All glory goes to Him. When I’m a more patient wife or mom…when I’m bold enough to talk to my neighbor about my faith…when I find that last little bit of endurance I need in a difficult situation… it’s God who deserves the glory and praise.
God is the ultimate orchestrator of all that has to do with us. He will give us everything we need to live for Him, and will energize us to do the work to which He calls us.
Related posts:
God Will Prepare the Way
God Has a Purpose for You Today
4 Ways You Can Live as Philippians 2 Christian Woman Today
My Valentine and I at the Grand Canyon last summer!
It’s Valentine’s Day Eve. ‘Tis the season to take a little time to appreciate our sweethearts, and let them know how much we love them!
And while there are many things we can do to bless our husbands, one of the best ones ties in to what I’m emphasizing in my own life in 2018 – praying for them on a regular basis.
I’ve read through Stormie Omartian’s book The Power of a Praying Wife several times. It always reminds me of how effective prayer can be in my husband’s life – and convicts me about spending more time praying for him!
I still use my monthly family prayer list to write out specific needs I want to cover for all my family members each month. However, I also consider these five key areas as I pray for my husband.
Every day our men are bombarded with words, pictures, and scenes that can tempt them to have wrong thoughts. I’m obviously not a man, so I’m sure I can’t even begin to understand how their mind works in relation to these struggles. But I know that Satan would love to destroy a man who is seeking to live for God. I like to pray the words from the Lord’s prayer, “lead [him] not into temptation, but deliver [him] from evil.” (Matthew 6:13)
If you’re married to an unsaved man, you’d begin by praying for his salvation. If our husbands know Christ as their Savior, we can pray that they will grow in their faith, and that their hearts will be tender to the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Many men have a boss, co-workers, friends, and, of course, their children that they come into contact with every day! We can ask God to bless these relationships, to give our husbands friends who are honorable Christian men who will encourage him in his walk with God. Pray for him as a father, that he will develop strong, sweet relationships with his children.
Most of our husbands probably make many decisions every day. Yes, we need to pray for those big ones like job changes or major purchases! But let’s also remember the small ones. Every choice, every decision leads somewhere.
Many of our men have big dreams. Pray that they will seek God’s guidance in their careers and their ministries. We can ask God to lead our husbands in the way He would have them to go, and to make His path clear to them.
As wives, we can truly bless our husbands as we pray for them!
Thank you, dear God, for the husband you’ve given me. He’s a man of character who works hard to support his family. I pray that you would keep his mind and his thoughts pure today. Guard his eyes and his ears; build a hedge about him, and keep him from temptation.
Thank you that he desires to walk with you. Encourage him in his faith today. Open doors of opportunity, and grant him boldness to share his faith with those around him. Give him strong friendships with men who will inspire him. Help him continue to be a great dad to our girls.
Bless him with wisdom for every decision he faces today. Help him to see the long-term consequences, and give him peace about the correct decision to make. As he looks toward the future, let him have hopes and dreams to work toward. Show him Your will each and every day, and give him the strength to follow wherever You may lead.
Related posts:
7 Ways to Let Your Husband Know You Love Him
What Does It Mean to Serve My Husband?
5 Bible Verses to Encourage You in Your Prayer Life
Lori talks about How to Pray the Right Way.
Lisa explains How to Nourish Your Soul as a Busy Woman.
Joy shares 20 Things I’ve Learned in 20 Years of Marriage.
Jen tells us how to Throw a Valentine’s Party for Your Kids – 5 Easy, No-Stress Ideas.
For my friends who homeschool, Shawna lists 14 Ways to Reset a Tough Homeschool Day.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Back in the day, I was a first grade teacher. I enjoyed introducing six-year-olds to basic concepts in the classroom. Teaching them to read was my favorite job. Even if students had already started reading in kindergarten, they usually blossomed that next year.
These days I still get to interact with that age group on Wednesday nights at church. A couple of weeks ago, I was helping two little boys memorize the following verse.
“Do all things without murmurings and disputings.” ~Philippians 2:14
“Murmurings” and “disputings” are some big words when you’re six, so I tried to explain the verse. I told them it basically meant they should do everything without complaining and arguing. Then we talked about some examples of what that would look like for them.
Did they always obey dad and mom without arguing? Did they ever complain about what they were given to eat for supper? We had fun talking through some possible situations they might be in that would present opportunities for them to choose whether or not to argue or complain!
Talk about a basic concept – and a simple, direct command! It’s not only to first graders, it’s also for me!!
This is one of those verses that doesn’t leave any wiggle room for our current mood or situation. “All things” means all things. It doesn’t mean we get a pass for complaining if we’re tired or our child just made a big mess or the driver in front of us won’t go any faster.
Complaining doesn’t seem like a serious sin. Yet this quote from Joan Chittister helps us realize what an effect it can have in our lives and in the lives of those around us.
“Complaining is the acid that shrivels our souls and the soul of the community around us as well.”
What a word picture! I don’t think any of us want acid pouring over our souls, causing them to wrinkle and shrink. And most of the time, complaining doesn’t just affect us individually, but also whoever’s around us. After all, we’re usually complaining to another person, not just talking to ourselves!
When it comes to arguing, I’m usually one to avoid personal confrontation. But do I ever argue with God? If I feel Him convicting me of sin, do I immediately confess, or do I debate with Him (or within myself) over whether or not it’s really that bad? If I’m going to follow the command in the verse above, I need to do whatever’s in front of me without arguing or complaining.
One of the best antidotes for complaining is revealed in this quote from E. M. Bounds.
“Gratitude and murmuring never abide in the same heart at the same time.”
We can’t be simultaneously thankful and complaining. It reminds me of another one of those direct command verses.
“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” ~1 Thessalonians 5:18
There it is again. Just like we’re to do “all things” without complaining and arguing, so we’re to give thanks “in every thing.”
We get to make the choice every. single. day. Will we complain or will we give thanks?
I know that way too often, I choose the complaining, often without even thinking about it. Wouldn’t it be neat if our default setting could be gratitude? I think it can be, with the Holy Spirit’s help. And I’m thinking I need to post 1 Thessalonians 5:18 in a prominent place to remind me daily that God’s will is for me to choose giving thanks.
Related posts:
Living Grateful: Making a Daily Choice to Give Thanks
10 Key Lessons the Israelites Can Teach Us About the Christian Life
When You Don’t Feel Like Giving Thanks
As I realized which fruit of the spirit we’re going to look at in February, I was a little underwhelmed. I mean gentleness just doesn’t sound very exciting.
I can get behind love, joy, and peace! Those sound like big fruits that I can experience in my life in a lot of helpful ways. Even longsuffering seems so far beyond my reach at times that I can get excited about seeing how the Holy Spirit is going to produce it in my life.
But gentleness? That would be an easy one to overlook. It also seems like something I should be able to muster up on my own without the Holy Spirit’s help.
So what exactly is gentleness? The dictionary defines it as “the quality of being kind, tender, or mild-mannered.”
I love the use of the word “tender” there. When I think about God’s gentleness with us, His children, I recognize how blessed we are that He is tender toward us. His concern, sympathy, and compassion are always present.
And as I think about that definition a little more, I have to ask myself if gentleness is actually part of my life. Do my words and actions reflect kindness? Am I mild-mannered? In other words, not given to extreme emotions. I’ll just say that I live with two teenage girls, so I know what extreme emotions looks like!
Yet 2 Timothy 2:24 commands us to be gentle.
“And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient…”
As always, whether or not we’re producing a certain fruit of the spirit is often displayed first at home. Odd as it is, it often seems that we’re more considerate of strangers than our own family members. And because I usually have ample examples of how I failed to demonstrate a fruit of the Spirit, here’s one for gentleness.
A couple of weeks ago, I needed to address a situation with one of our daughters. It was only a minor issue, but I was a bit worked up. (Can you say extreme emotions???) I walked into her room ready for a confrontation. My tone and my words were harsher than they should have been. And after it was over (sadly, instead of before), I realized that I could have accomplished the same thing – actually probably a better outcome – if I’d had a kind tone and gentle words.
In fact, don’t we all respond better when we’re spoken to with gentle words? Even when confrontation needs to happen, we can still approach it in a gentle manner.
Note Jesus’ gentleness found in one of my favorite New Testament stories shared in John 8:1-11. The Pharisees bring before Him a woman caught in the act of adultery. After her accusers leave the scene, convicted about their own sin, Jesus says to her, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” He addresses her sin problem, yet offers compassion and forgiveness.
I want the gentleness of Christ to shine through when I interact with others. I found this quote at Focus on the Family. “It [gentleness] is a tender, compassionate approach toward others’ weaknesses and limitations.” So this fruit of the spirit will allow our hearts to be tender to the hurts and burdens of others. We will speak the truth kindly and with love.
So, upon further examination, I think we’d agree that gentleness is a powerful fruit. May we allow God’s Holy Spirit to let it show forth in our lives as we deal with our husbands, children, and all of those around us today. Let’s pray that our lives will be marked by the same tenderness and compassion that Jesus showed.
Related posts:
4 Ways We Can Love Like Jesus
What Makes a Woman Beautiful?
Duty and Delight