NEW BLOG ADDRESS!!!

I am switching this blog over to WordPress, so here is the link. All new posts will be there instead of here on Blogger.

Phone a Friend

Here is a blog post that encourages us to do something that I am pretty sure we don not do enough - seek out others for accountability and prayer in our day-to-day life situations.  Just a good reminder to me for the next time I am tempted to lose my temper and respond in impatience and exasperation towards my children. 

I am so very thankful for the wonderful Christian friends the Lord has brought into my life. He has been kind to grow friendships that are an integral part of His work to make me more like Him.

Recently, I used one of my “phone a friends” in a now humorous situation. But at the time it was a bit stressful. My youngest and her hair again…here’s what happened.

Read the entire post here.  

Yelling at My Kids

And here's a very helpful article on how real personal change takes place in our hearts and lives.  . 

An essential part of our growth and change as a child of God is coming to understand how God uses our daily struggles to bring about change in our hearts and our lives. In the midst of our struggles, we don’t naturally connect the ways we think, feel, and act with our ultimate destination of life in heaven with Christ. It takes the work of the Holy Spirit to help us bridge the gap and connect our struggles to our future in eternity.

Positive personal change takes place when our dream of change lines up with God’s purposes for change. Keeping eternity in view as we go about our daily lives gives us a broader perspective and gives us hope for change in the midst of our difficult situations and relationships.

This article gives a very practical example of how a person can look critically at her own behavior, then with the help of the Holy Spirit, change that behavior for the glory of God.

Read the rest here.  

Do You Love Your Spouse?

 Here is a blog post on a chapter from Paul David Tripp's new book on marriage, What Did You Expect? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage.  Wow!  May the Lord help me to be more like Christ! 

What is love?

Love is willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not require reciprocation or that the person being loved is deserving.

He then brings out several points of what this looks like in day-to-day life.  Very helpful!   I have been meaning to get the book and think this may spur me on to do so.

Where Do You Live?

Today, my husband and two year old son almost got hit by a car.  They were walking in the crosswalk at our local Target when a car sped right in front of them.  After pulling our son behind him, my husband was close enough to the car as it passed to slap it with his arm.  When he told me about it, my first instinct was to grab my son and hold him close and look at both of them with new eyes.  Our whole lives could have been drastically changed in an instant this morning.  It started out as such an ordinary day and could have ended so differently, but for God's grace to our family.

Here are thoughts I have had since then:

It started me thinking about God's grace to us every day.  We have taught our son the catechism question and answer:

Q. Why should you glorify God?  A. Because He made me and takes care of me.  

But how often do we take God's taking care of us for granted and not even think about it?  If my husband had not told me about their morning,  I probably wouldn't have even thought of this day as any different than any other day.  And what about all those other days, when I am not even aware of how He has, in His mercy, taken care of me?  The cars that didn't hit us, the things that didn't happen, the temptations that He steered us away from...  I pray that today will serve as a reminder to me to give thanks always and to glorify my God because he made me and takes care of me!

This incident also got me to thinking about my priorities.  Earlier this afternoon, I was praying for the Lord to help me to love my husband more, to serve him joyfully and delight in him now, willingly laying down my life for him while the Lord has given him to me.  The same with my son.  There may be times when he really frustrates me or I am just tired of having to be consistent and persevere with him, but I only have him for this time for so long.  Not that I need to live in daily fear of those I love being taken from me (that is not faith!), but it makes me ask the question, "Where am I living?"  Am I living only in this world, with the busyness of daily life and the temptation to indulge myself instead of serving others, or am I living with eyes towards eternity? 
This life is only temporary; its real purpose is to prepare us to be with the Lord for eternity.  Am I living with eyes of faith, seeing eternity in everything I do, from housework to serving my husband to disciplining or teaching my son, to playing with my children....  Am I choosing the "best" over the "good" when options present themselves?  Am I remembering that my training of my children is to fit them for heaven and not just for this world (which should lend itself to much more patience, gentleness, perseverance,...)?  Am I desiring, in all these things, to be made fit for heaven and for those around me to be made so also?  I pray that I may not be distracted by life and so miss the joy of what is real, both now and for eternity! 

Encouragement for Imperfect Parents

It is so easy to build up idealized views of parenting, wanting things to be all hunky dory like in the Anne books or others.  Then, when reality hits, like as soon as your first child is born, where do you go?  It's easy to become discouraged that things aren't working right, that this isn't the way it's supposed to be, and to worry that your children are doomed to have you as a parent.  To that end, here is a post I read this morning that reminded me of what is true and where my hope lies. 

I remember awaiting the arrival of our first child. I had plans for the type of dad I would be, the type of child he would be, and what our relationship would look like. I had faith for it…I had confidence in it. …then he was born!  Read the rest here. 

Seeking Your Child's Heart

We are realizing that we are entering a new stage of parenting with our older children, ages 6 and 7.  We are moving past  the more "simple" goal of immediate, cheerful, thorough obedience and moving further into their hearts.  Our goal is more to win their hearts now, to build relationship with them, to help them grow in character and in ability to choose the right over the wrong and the "best" over the "good."  To that end, here is an article by C. J. Mahaney on dealing with idols in your child's heart that is helpful in showing you how this can be done.

So I want to do two things. I want to try to introduce my son to a study that isn’t correction specific to an occasion. I want to study the heart, I want to study anger, I want to study idolatry, unrelated to an occasion where I am bringing discipline, so that the study hopefully can have the most effect. I want to engage in a study from Scripture. I want to choose age-appropriate material. I want to choose appropriate passages. And then my study with my son is supplemented by stories from my life, because I do the same thing. I don’t cry anymore like a child but I know how to cry in adult ways. I want my child to know that no matter what the category, I can identify. Read the entire article here.