Category: kids

Stretched Beyond Our Limits: On Being Willing to Try New Things

Posted on by Mary

On Being Stretched

New things…..That is what Life is all about. If you come to a place where you think you know everything that you need to know YOU ARE DONE.  you can no longer move forward!   You Must be willing to try new things, new methods, new ideas, new ministries. This is where God has been taking me lately  its been all about the new.   And I have a feeling there is more “new” around the corner but That NEW is for another blog post once I know JUST what that NEW looks like!  But for now lets talk about the few new things I’ve been stretched in.

I have often told my husband over the last 12 years that when the time came I would love to donate my time and energy at a Pregnancy center. Well after attending a banquet this spring , that calling became a reality.  Hubby ad I both decided it was time.   And so for the last two months, pretty much every Wednesday I have been volunteering,, mentoring, building relationships, and doing some cleaning/organizing work as well.  My confidence in some  areas is very low(for this introverted girl)  There are some great moments and some not so great moments that are hard.   AND THEN THERE ARE AMZING MOMENTS that make me want to shout from the roof top BUT I can’t, because everything is confidential and in that I am learning to to rejoice back to the Lord, because he knows and is exceedingly happy!  In light of the planned Parenthood videos being released, I know that this work is not only  saving Physical lives but it is redeeming souls as we introduce the hurting to Jesus.   If you really want to see the needs of this world, be willing to go into these hard places….whether it be a pregnancy center,  homeless shelter, a safe house, a rehab center, a nursing home a home for the disabled, a hospital. or any other place you can think of. The needs are great, though things may be painful at times reaching out to others and sharing Jesus is HUGE.

Another area that I have been stretch in and learned some new things took place within the last two weeks.  Using my gifts and abilities in BIGGER ways and in doing that it is in the public eye more which means learning too to be more  tolerant to those who are more critical of my gifts and abilities.  God has given us all gifts and abilities to be used, it is our job to grow them…..to figure them out, to fine tune them  and then to actually USE them.   As a parent is is also my job to see them and to develop them in my children and give my children the opportunity to use their gifts and abilities.  For years I have used my artistic abilities in little ways…through homemade cards, scrapbooks, little jewelry projects, gifts and so on, and in recent years I have used to artistic/design abilities to help with a parade float each year. And most recently i(within the last two weeks) My husband and I have built an entire set for VBS.   I have NEVER done anything to that scale. It was physically draining BUT Amazing  all wrapped into one. And when I was done, I was amazed that I had done it.   I couldn’t believe I was capable of such a thing.   BUT God is completely responsible.  HE gifted me, He gave me the ability I had to just be willing to use those things.  I had to be willing to EMBRACE my gifts and talents.  Ive endured ridicule for years for “wasting my time” doing “arts and crafts” and by sill”doing little kid” Projects, All of these “little, kid-like” projects I could do for Jesus.   These things were hard to hear (especially from friends and family) and I felt rejected, because I liked these things.  or that I spent time doing something others didn’t uderstand or that they thought just were a plain waste of time.  But in reality God gave me those gifts and if I didn’t use them…even in the little things, it would be a complete waste of resources HE gave me. I would not have been a good steward of those talents. We tend to think of resources as  time, materials and money BUT our gifts and abilities fit in there too!

www.walking-by-faith.net

And the next area of stretching is about to happen….its just two short days away and its taking all kinds of Stregth and courage, I just didn’t think I had!  My husband encouraged me to take a one week writing  break…..a break away from HIM and THE KIDS! I have been a wife for 12 years and a  mom for 10.  I have never been away from my children more than 48 hours at a time.   I manage our crazy schedule.  I plan and prep everything, I co-teach Sunday school with my husband.   I help in pretty much every are and I am not used to not being involved!.   SOO to be so removed and to be focused on myself is  not normal and not easy.  I have to relinquish shopping for school supplies. Kitty getting fixed, prepping for sunday school class, being apart of a moms group at the VBS program the kids will be attending (not at our church) letting someone else watch our kids during aan AWNA mtg, business mtg and prayer mtg.  AND its quite possibly one of my kids MIGHT be ill–.. he had a phantom fever AND is now complaining of a sore throat.  Did I mention I haven’t been alone at nighttime in over 12 years…I either have a husband or kids…Im not sure I like this, but I am willing to trust, my husband and God!  But this is also two fold.  This time will be also to build my writing gift and ability, working towards a book.  That is going to be hard, fighting distractions…like bed.  I won’t have TV and I have set some very lofty goals for the week.  Can I meet them all. I have a feeling I can…if I am very focused and VERY diligent, but its still HUGE test !  (NOTE: I wrote that thought Two days ago…and now here I sit ALONE.  It’s weird, no kids to kids club, no hubby sitting next to me in church or standing in the pulpit preaching, No kids begging to go to the pool, playground or to ride their bikes)

www.walking-by-faith.net-2

Another amazing opportunity That has stetted me and taught me MANY new things is Working as a Part of the RAISING GENERATIONS TODAY CONFERENCE Embrace team.  I have learned oodles upon oodles of things about social media…and I know I have a whole lot more to learn.   I haven’t mastered many areas and new options are added all the time…Like the most recent…Periscope, cool idea but a whole new level.  I have learned through this how to schedule posts for FB (Yeah That was aBIG blunders on my part at the beginning))  and using the Buffer app on my iPad to schedule twitter posts…and there is the idea of writing twitter posts…and keeping within the 145 characters, all while tagging the company, adding a link AND a photo.  It takes some Mad skills…Im nowhere close to having them, but with each and every post I gain new confidence and understanding .(click on the pic below to check out RGT….This is NOT an affiliate link)

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All of these things sound great but besides my own benefit it helps my children Immensely to see me struggle in areas Im not good at. It helps them to see me  accomplish something difficult and to conquer it, AND  to ask for help. So many times kids think they need to have it all together, that they need to be perfect and that they need to be good at everything. They also need to see my husband  and I are willing to stretch ourselves, to go beyond what we are comfortable with…AND to FAIL.  Yes sometimes we fall flat on our faces.  They NEED to see us get back up, dust ourselves off AND TRY AGAIN! Then we as parents need to be willing to talk about all of those things…the good, the ugly AND the Painful!. (Obviously age appropriateness  applies here) In reality the entire family can benefit from  mom and dad stepping out in faith, trusting God to grow their gifts and abilities and try new and sometimes scary things.

So what are some NEW things that you are growing in?  Are you having a willing spirit or are you dragging your feet kicking and screaming the whole way?   What would you like to learn?

Reflecting Jesus

Posted on by Mary

Today, as I sit on my couch, just after sending my three older children off to school and the youngest watches Jake and the Neverland Pirates, I scroll through my Facebook newsfeed, I see lots of neat things, but in the midst my heart really breaks for a group of moms. In understand that the Nigerian culture may not celebrate Mother’s Day they may not even know it exists here in our comfy country, but I like them have something in common…..we ARE moms. We labored many hours bringing this children into the world. We have sacrificed greatly to provide our children the basic needs, and we entrust our children to a school to be educated.

Let me say this, it’s not the schools fault.
It’s not God’s fault.
It’s not the parents fault.

My heart breaks for these 200 moms who don’t know where their daughters are. BUT GOD DOES.

My prayer is that these moms will have their stolen daughters returned. My prayer is that God will be glorified through this unthinkable act. My prayer is that these girls will trust God, that they will not waiver from their faith and that lives will be changed. My prayer is that these wicked men will see Jesus through these girls and MOST of all my prayer is that these girls will be rescued quickly!

As I brushed my 7 year old daughters hair this morning……I felt blessed to not need to fear for the faith of my child. I have no idea what the future holds for her…or for any of them for that matter! I have been reminded constantly lately that being in constant prayer for my children is so necessary!

Be present
Be kind
Be loving be a good listener
Be ready
Be available
Be focused on them

I need constant reminders, God knows this. I’m easily distracted by all the noise of this world, by everyone’s opinions of me, but they are people too! What are their perceptions of me?

If I care for everyone else’s needs but forget theirs, the rest is in vain. I’ve failed them and God for they are great treasures given for me to take care of and to polish! So they reflect, not my image but that of Jesus.

So won’t you join me in not only praying for our own children but also for those 200 girls stolen. That they too may shine with the reflection of Jesus!?!

A Heart Lesson From Lot

Posted on by Mary

 

This morning as I sat and did my devotions I was  confronted with  a verse that chiseled pieces from my heart.  It’s not something I struggle with consistently.  It stems from low points, those valley moments.  Sometimes valley moments leave me wanting to hide in a storyline…I Love a compelling story!  It’s the girl in me.  It kind of tykes me outside of my circumstances and allows me to enter a land that has happy endings.   

It’s been a rough couple of weeks with our 6 year old.  I can’t fix the issues he struggles with.  I just can’t .  It’s not like a splinter.  You remove the foreign body, put  an antibiotic ointment and a bandaid on it and in a few hours it is forgotten….for a healthy 6 year old anyway.  And this week has been even worse because they have had no school, no school = no rigid routine.  No rigid routine= mass chaos inside this little boys head!   I’m still relatively new to this so it was a great insight into the possibilities for summer!

But all of that said, sometimes we need to step outside of our reality.  That’s why people like TV, MUSIC, MOVIES AND FICTION BOOKS.  and in and of themselves, they aren’t bad things

BUT. Sometimes, sometimes we get blinded by a good storyline and get sucked in.  We get blinded to all the peripheral sin going on.  And that is dangerous territory and that is exactly what happens to Lot as well.  Though his circumstances are slightly different.   The land he goes to is “good” but the people surrounding him are not!

2 Peter 2:7and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8(for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);

Pondering all the false prophets I let into my life.  They may not just be spiritual teachers, but those I am following in my day to day life.  Do those people live like God commands or do they pay lip service and live another way OR does it blatantly go against God’s word and I allow it into my life to  numb my mind and heart to what God calls sin.  Lot does this by living in a city rampant with sin, he offered his daughters to the crowd, he had a husband chosen from the horrible city to marry his daughter. COMPROMISE, doesn’t just affect us, but our families as well.  We can see the effect of compromise on Lot’s daughters.  

 In our everyday life we make compromises.  Compromises aren’t necessarily bad.  It’s when compromise hurts ours our others walk with God, that it becomes horrible.  And recognizing it quickly is key.   It’s amazing at how fast this can happen especially at your lowest points!   

So here are steps to help combat this moments

1. Be in Gods word daily!  A new thing I added recently is listening to the Bible.  Some days are just too insane to add sitting for 10 minutes.  I can hide God’s Word in my heart by listening to it while I wash dishes, fold laundry or make dinner!

2. Memorize these verses

1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
AND
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

3. Put Pure things in!  Get lost in the Chronicles of Narnia, or Anne of Geen Gables, Little house on the Prairie.   There are positive alternatives out there. You just have to make the effort.  And if you are thinking oh those things are hokey or out of date, Well I promise you this in 10 years so will  the stuff you are into now!the point isn’t graphics, animation, cool effects.  Thats changes in this world so fast these days.  What matter is purity.  TRUTH.  

4.ask yourself  If the kids can’t watch it, Why? And then  should I be watching this?   And if the kids should walk in while I am watching this what would it communicate to them?   Would it communicate a double standard?   There are something’s that young children should not see…the news for instance, some documentaries.   Adult conversations.   (We didn’t let our kids watch the Bill Nye/ken Ham debate,not because it was bad but because there were sensitive adult subjects that an 8,7,6 and 3 year old are not capable of processing yet)

5. This new one I added after reading Courtney Joseph’s book Women Living Well!   Would I invite these people into my house to have sex on the couch in front of me and my children?   Seriously think about this!  This IS what we are doing!

It all comes down to this: : it’s a perspective change. We try not to let false teachers in but every once in a while one sneaks in. It’s a good reminder that despite a “great storyline”. Sometimes we need to shut off a TV show or movie, put down that book, and change the radio station! Because it may have a great beat, or a funny or compelling storyline but if the circumstances surrounding the storyline or lines laced into that great beat go against God’s word thaen we are not guarding our heart! This is not easy and convicted my heart as I am constantly reviewing why we do what we do in our family……does this fit into 1Corinthians 10:31 and Philippians 4:8-9

1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
AND
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

If it goes against these then we are in danger! Our children are in danger, because hypocrisy jeprodizes faith in the greatest of ways.

When God Chooses Your Child To Impact His World

Posted on by Mary

This morning  was a very unusual one..  Not bad just all re-arranged!   So we put the 3 older kids on the bus at 7:45 . Hubby was putting the last car seat in the car (he took all the car seats out to find a leak on the drivers side. ). He put the key in the ignition at 8 am …and the thing would not start!   The thing is, it had worked  just an hour or so prior to all of this.  Now what? We couldn’t take the Excursion it was promised to a family in our church.  They were going to borrow it for the weekend and we had to drop off our youngest son at a sitter and run to school for a meeting about our five year old autistic son.  So we un -borrowed a truck for an hour, dropped off the Bean and headed to school….we were 15 minutes late for the meeting (we called ahead) we went into the meeting all eyes on us (i hate that!) i took a deep breath and the Special Ed chairperson took over.

It was a pretty good meeting, nothing that was said was a surprise all all.   We went over all the findings of his speech, physical and occupational therapy evaluations……big shocker he is below where he should be!  All the while we are in this meeting never once does anyone make  us feel bad that we are bad parents….everyone jst loves weasel!   All positives, out side of being delayed.

The meeting went longer than expected (of course!) but we talked with a few people from the meeting and when all of them cleared my husband was talking to one of our friends from Bible College who is the youth Pastor and teacher at the Christian school where our kids now attend.  He was sharing about how Weasel was impacting  the school.  This is the first time this school is dealing with a kid like Weasel  so they are being stretched and our friend said it was very good for the school, but outside of that, two larger things have happened.   

1. Weasel’s sub aide has reconnected with the school (her older two children attended there) and so now they will be sending their fifth grader!   She loves working with weasel and they have bonded well!

2. Weasels full time sub who is just waiting for her background check to come through, is friends with two families from that church.  Those two families have been encouraging the aide and her family to come to church there for sometime now.  Through weasel, she is becoming more involved with the church and hopefully this will open doors to her husband hearing the gospel.

Our friend was a huge encouragement to us, as sometimes you hear all the “bad” things.  It was so neat to hear this kind of of stories.  Our friend so so excited to tell us of Weasel’s impact!  We needed to hear that!

It just goes to show us that God has a reason for everything.  It might not be how we intended life to go BUT if you watch and pray AMAZING things WILL happen!