Godly Parenting
Parenting as an extension of my redemption in Christ, of who I am as a Godly woman, who I am as a saved sinner and how that truth impacts my life and parenting.
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Summer’s Over
For the past couple of weeks, the ads have started popping up on television. Back to school fliers seem to be everywhere, and school supplies began taking over the shelves at Target and Wal-Mart. As a high school teacher for 17 years those were rarely welcome signs; I enjoyed my quiet summer vacations, reading by the pool or lake. Of course, once I became a parent, quiet summers became ancient history, but there is something special to love in the noisy chaos of kids. Then this morning, I was greeted on Facebook by this image. But this isn’t how I feel about the end of summer. In fact, this isn’t…
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Our Jar: Sanctification of our lives
Sanctification is a beautiful process of how God cleans up the mess we’ve made of our lives, if we let him change what we pour into our lives. Watch this wonderful illustration about how prayer changes darkness in our lives when we open the gates wide and pray. What a moving illustration about how God is pouring His light into us as we pray, changing our perspective in even the darkest circumstances. Lately, I’ve had one issue weighing on my heart, sanctification: being transformed into holy beings. The challenge of sin and accountability in the modern body of believers is difficult because we have to balance love with obedience to…
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Winning the Mommy Wars
The term Mommy Wars refers to the contentious relationships between mothers over real or imagined slights, insults and thinly veiled criticisms over individual parenting choices. It is the high school mean girl, cafeteria sagas for “adults.” Moms criticize or judge based on their ideas of a perfect mother (which usually looks a lot like them, ahem). What would a “perfect” mom look like? We certainly get bombarded with all sorts of messages, don’t we? Based on today’s parent media standards, she might look a little like the list below. She would always be patient, kind, fun, and funny, never yelling or letting stress get to her. She would not work,…
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Why Should You Stop Throwing Temper Tantrums
Why should I stop throwing temper tantrums? As parents, those generally aren’t the tantrums we think about. But over the past few years, I have grown increasingly convicted about my anger, especially towards my daughter. And one verse today just wrecked me. And I want to come to you from that place right now: not a place of having conquered, but still conquering, sometimes still failing. But I see God’s work in my heart as I grow more and more. My temper tantrums were damaging my family. Yours are too. God has called us to control our temper tantrums now. I’ve been trying to rewrite this post for days, but…
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The Magic in the Faith of a Child and how to handle a young, seeking heart
The faith of a child is magical. In my own child, I’ve seen clarity of understanding and richness of devotion that was simply beyond human explanation. Her faith is so incredibly rich, it has encouraged mine in return. While we cannot take credit, if we point them in His direction, God does truly work in them in ways we cannot understand. If only we all had such faith. I know it isn’t magic, but it is supernatural. I realized the incredible beauty in the sweet faith of a child as I watched my daughter developing her own faith as a very young child. But the magical part is how God…