Mama and Her Girl

Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for GOD ’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.  (Proverbs 3:5-6 MSG)

This being a Mama thing is hard sometimes.  My little miss of a girl will test me occasionally with her "I will push all your buttons, Mama" attitude.  She especially likes to pull this attitude out in the middle of the grocery store or while in the doctor's office, or wherever it's the most inconvenient.  Picture a preschool girl melting down rather loudly and a frazzled mama trying to get her girl to just stop already.  You get it, the tear soaked face of a little girl and a mama trying to discipline in love but barely hanging on to her last nerve and shred of I should know how to do this mentality.  It's an awful feeling and an even more awful situation. You see, my first gut reaction is to do what I already know, but that doesn't always work.  What I know to do may work one time but not the next time.  My mama knowledge is sorely limited, and I quickly come to the end of myself.  To be honest, it shows in my frazzled face and my posture that says I just want to crawl in a hole with my girl because I'm so embarrassed and can't believe she is doing this to me right now.  You see, I'm not seeking God in the first moments of my girl's meltdown.  What would it look like if I did?  I think the situation would still be hard, yet God would open my eyes to His direction of how to handle my girl.  I could trust Him to lead me through the meltdown with more wisdom, grace, and truth as I firmly but lovingly discipline my daughter.  Will I get it right every time, no.  Will I still be frazzled at times, yes.  Will my girl still chose to push my buttons, yes.  Will I still try to do it all by myself at times, yes.  The beauty and truth in all this comes down to me genuinely seeking and being aware of God's love and His leading.  He didn't leave me hanging out here alone.  He is always with me just as He promises in His Word.  In my flustered Mama moments, I just need to seek Him, trust Him, hear Him, obey Him, and love Him, and He will surely take care of the rest.  I will be a better Mama because I'm grounded in my God and my girl will learn and grow because I choose to love her enough to raise her in God's precious Truths. 

 

God's Word Never Fails

God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what. (Hebrews 4:12-13 MSG)

God's Word never fails....

Let that beautiful Truth rest upon your weary heart. 

Breathe it in deeply to fill your tired body.

Let it calm your racing thoughts.

Wear it as a warm cocoon around your aching soul.

Let it saturate your bone deep fatigue.

Clothe yourself in that ultimate peace.

Not one word failed from all the good words GOD spoke to the house of Israel. Everything came out right. (Joshua 21:45 MSG)

God has you safely in His Hand, and His promises speak of hope and knowing everything will be as it should, according to His Perfect Will.

Let that sink in to every inch of your being and walk in that beautiful Truth and Confidence , His Word Never Ever Fails....

Smooth Sailing No, Faithful God Yes

I like to think of me steering my life like a ship sailing along in calm waters with the wind filling the sails and nothing but blue skies.  It really is an idyllic and comforting thought, flowing along without a care in the world.  Ahh!! How safe and simple it truly would be....

Here's the part where life cues the storm clouds, sheets of rain, hurricane winds, and tossing waves....ta-da!!  Well, my dumb idea just got lost at sea along with my security, my personal comfort, and my naïveté.  Bummer, that didn't last long.

You see, this fake sense of control I like to live in, is just that, fake.  It brings me a comfort for a moment then reality crashes down on me.  I sink into the mire of an aching soul and deep fatigue.  All the plates I had carefully spinning, perfect wife, perfect mother, perfect everything, crash to the floor splitting into a million pieces.  I try to clean up my mess, but I have nothing left and collapse in frustration.

God pulls me up and reminds me of His promises.

"Meanwhile the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. "(Romans 8:26-28 MSG)

I remember then that God has His hand on me.  His Holy Spirit abides in me and It will do for me what I can't do myself.  I then remember all the times God has been faithful to see me through when I thought I couldn't take another thing going the wrong way.

After 3 car accidents, 3 stinky jobs, and 1 difficult post partim after my daughter's birth, I'm still here in one piece thanks to His love and grace.  Believe me, I could have done without the hard things!  Still, it is during such times that I grow strongest in Him. 

So hold tight to His promises and let go of the false control.  He will see you through each and every circumstance.  You are His precious and beloved child for always.

Book Review "10 Things for Teen Girls" By Kate Conner

Let's face it, I was an awkward teen girl, you know painfully shy and unsure of herself.  Ugghh!  I cringe to think about it now, the awkwardness, the uncomfortable silences, the "no one sees me" feeling, the "my clothes are so ugly" problem, the spending Friday and Saturday nights at home with no friends, and the emotional distress of snobby girls who I let make me feel inferior.  What a horrible mess I was during this time of my life.  You see, my family didn't know Jesus, so no one knew to tell me that I was loved deeply by the Savior that He took my sin and shame upon Himself, so I could be made right forever in the eyes of God, my Father.  It wasn't until my my college years that I learned this life-changing Truth, but I struggled so long, and still struggle at times, with the lies I grew up knowing, the lies that said I could never do enough or be valued enough. This makes me wonder how many other teen girls are missing the Truth in their lives? How can we share the Truth with them in a way that they can fully understand, but is grounded whole-heartedly in God's Word?  Kate Conner's book 10 Things for Teen Girls is an excellent conversation starter and learning tool for our teen girls and their mothers and/or their mentors.

Kate understands how to deliver the Truth to teen girls in a way that makes them know they matter, from their opinions to their emotions.  She speaks to them with respect and love, but she does not let them off the hook either by holding them up to the standard of God's Word.  Kate is real with her audience of teen girls, sharing her own faults and struggles of daily living in God's Truth. On page 180 of 10 Things for Teen Girls, Kate writes, "I'm having to practice what I preach-desperately, religiously coming to Jesus and letting Him remind me, 'You are not perfect; I am perfecting you.  You are loved, internally and eternally.'"  Let's face it, we all struggle and we all have faults, but they do not have to define us.  We can come through the tough realities of our world and still be standing because of living in God's Truth.  To be specific to our teen girls, Kate touches on 10 of these specific realities that our teen girls face in the pages of her book, 10 Things for Teen Girls:

1.modesty

2.the beauty trap

3.gossip

4.drama

5.the heart is deceitful, listen to God's Truth

6.Emotions are not a flaw when in line with God's Truth

7."Smoking is not cool," Kate writes on page 186.

8."Your reputation matters-greatly," Kate relates on page 186.

9."Don't play coy or stupid or helpless to get attention," Kate notes on page 186.

10."You are beautiful. You are enough," Kate says on page 186.  This is God's Truth, this is what sets our teen girls free from the lies of Satan, our enemy, who uses our society to blast these lies in their faces every single day of their lives.  They need to hear this Truth, and it needs to be woven into the threads of their souls, so it cannot be undone.

Through her discussion of these realities, Kate reminds our teen girls of their value in the eyes of God.  His Truth is the only one that matters, the one that allows us to know we are loved no matter what, the one that brings peace and belonging to our souls, and the one that we can abide in eternally. Kate has such a gift from God in how she reaches our teen girls with this undeniable Truth. I take this in knowing that I will share this with my daughter everyday, until she knows this in the depths of her soul. I am praying that this Truth will comfort her, guide her, strengthen her, and fill her with love always.  What a beautiful Truth is the love of our God. Thank you Kate for the reminder of this divine Truth.

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Missed My Jesus

"Breathe Me in, rest your soul in Me, and find grace-filled love in Me,"  I heard my Jesus speaking softly to me tonight.  It's been a busy week of work, school, cleaning, and  my sweet girl catching her first back to school cold.  In the busyness, I have missed my Jesus, not because I couldn't find the time, but because I chose to let my weariness rule my quiet times.  It was easier to fall onto the couch and zone out to a good show, or to fall asleep before uttering my goodnight prayers and thanksgivings to Jesus.  I felt the weight of this time missed with my Jesus, as I plodded through another day under my own meager steam.  My shoulders tensed and my patience ran thin.  Still I kept going on in this manner, broken down and melancholy.  What a stinky thing I did to myself and those that I came into contact.  I was a tired, grumpy grouch who wanted to be left alone, not one of my finer moments I must say.  As I prepared for bed tonight, Jesus pursued me with His gentle reminder to draw near to Him.  It felt good to center my focus back to Him, a relief actually.  That is how it's suppose to be all the time. I am so thankful my Jesus pursued me and how He pursues me daily. I need my Jesus, plain and simple, Amen to that!

Discipline: Lavish of Love

A refusal to correct is a refusal to love; love your children by disciplining them. (Proverbs 13:24 MSG)

These words ring extremely true now that I am a Mama to a sweet but feisty little girl.  She is bound and determined to do life her way, which is well and fine when she is being well behaved.  However, the days she chooses to do wrong and to disobey, I'm the one frazzled and on my last nerve.  I dish out godly discipline through stern but respectful words anchored in God's truth.  Sometimes, I get through to my girl and the times she's just had it, I let her collect herself in a timeout (sometimes I need the timeout more than she does to collect myself and my wits).  As a Mama, I go through all this with her because I love her so much and want God's very best for her.  Yes, I could choose to appease my girl and let her do whatever she wanted to make her happy.  Let me say clearly and truthfully, appeasement is not real love though it masquerades as such.  It might feel like the loving thing to do to make your child happy.  Truly though, your child is not happy, just miserable because no one would want to be around him or her.  He or she might even begin to dislike who he or she is.  My Mama heart rebels against this lie because I have grounded myself in God's truth, and I have experienced His gentle but firm discipline in my life.  I know the blessing that godly discipline brings, and I utterly want that richness of blessing for my daughter.  I love her so and can't fail her by choosing appeasement. I rest in knowing that I am lavishing God's true love upon her.

The Only One That Matters

25 The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in GOD protects you from that. (Proverbs 29:25 MSG)

Yesterday, I found myself fretting over an honest mistake I had made, and how that would make someone in my life displeased with me.  I was carrying on with a constant barrage of negative thoughts about my character and my abilities.  There I was knee deep in the muck of lies and doubts.  I felt so horrible and anxious, and unable to focus on anything but what I thought the person thought about me.  This fussing went round and round my heart for awhile, until I recognized this situation as a light bulb moment from God.  How silly, wasteful, and selfish I had been for carrying on like I did.  I remembered who I was in Christ, ferociously loved and highly prized.  As such, I didn't have to fret over what I thought someone else thought of me.  Honest mistakes happen, you accept responsibility, and you do your best to make amends to that person.  I did the right thing and that was all that mattered to my Heavenly Father.  When you put it in that perspective, His is the only opinion that will ever matter.