Our “With LOVE from MOM” week is here, and today parenting expert and MOM Mentor shares the BEST MOM TIP EVER! TODAY’S GIVEAWAY IS… The Making of a Mom by Stephanie Shott The Making of a Mom is an all-in-one resource that is written TO moms yet FOR ministry leaders. A heart to heart mentoring resource that gives moms 12 key foundations to biblical motherhood with practical help for their everyday journey. The Making of a Mom also gives ministry leaders everything they need to enhance or begin a Titus 2 ministry in their church, ministry or community. Complete with questions …
Failure to Communicate: Turning Miscommunication into Communication With Your Kids
I asked Siri a question. I am not sure why since even my kids believe Siri hates me. She doesn’t seem to know what I am asking her and even when she says she understands me her answer doesn’t make sense. Here is an example: I wanted to chunk my phone across the room. As a mom, sometimes I feel like this when I am talking to my children. I may say, “Go clean your room.” Yet somehow they hear, “Go play with your toys.” But often our miscommunications are of the deeper sort. I want to be available …
Birthdays, Goals, and Being Mom
Tomorrow I turn 39. I begin my fortieth year and the last nine years swirl around me in fast-forward. These days I cannot recall each individual one. But, I see them marked in lines on my face, by the number of shoe sizes my children have gone through, and by the tiny bit of white appearing at my temples. Maybe I am a bit weird, but I am looking forward to being 39. I am a mom of three wonderful kids, and I can’t wait to see what they will accomplish. I love watching who they are and who they are …
Expectation: Living with Your Eyes on Christ
My eight-year-old heart thrummed excitedly inside my chest. My body practically vibrated with excitement. It was Christmas Eve. Thirty years later I pray my heart will thrum excitedly and my body vibrate with expectation on Christmas Eve as well. This time though I hope my excitement isn’t because of what lies under paper covered packages, but something far better. In fact I pray I live all my life expectant – pregnant with the promises of God. Ready to go through the painful labor the Holy Spirit will bring upon me to birth something new – a healed relationship, an adjusted …
Grace, Holiness, and Christmas
“Why do we have to read the Christmas devotional?” my kids chorused in unison. My heart squeezed tight with anger, frustration, and sadness. “Because I want us to remember what Christmas is really about,” I managed with frustration edging my tone. As I read the devotional to my children God gently reminded me – I instruct my children to know the truth, I live my faith out in front of them, but my kids must make their own choices, develop their own relationship with God. What then is it that draws our hearts closer to God’s? Romans 2:4 tells us …
Staying Sane in the Crazy World of Motherhood
The water ran again filling the tank of the toilet that hadn’t been used in at least an hour. My muscles in my neck and jaw tensed as I pondered, Do I really need to call… “MOM!” A shrill voice interrupted my musings. “MOM! The toilet is overflowing!” My eye started to twitch as I swallowed and tried to keep control of my voice, “Is there water running on the floor? Or did you just use too much toilet paper again?” “No Lexi!” A voice downstairs floated upstairs with the tone of emergency, “MOM! Lexi is muddy and I accidentally …
Encouraging First Time Obedience
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” Ephesians 6:1-3 (NKJV) First time obedience is a goal parents desire for their children. Parents desire it so children learn to respect authority, for their safety, and our sanity. However I often wonder if the goal for first time obedience removes the human element from our children. Children are not robots. They have plans, desires, dreams, and wills of their own. Therefore children will get frustrated when …
Teaching Kids to Guard Their Eyes
Sex is everywhere. It is on the covers of magazines in the check-out line, the subject of T.V. shows, uninvited In pop-up windows while surfing the web, and sometimes graphically plastered on the walls of the boys’ bathroom at a local park. I can turn the T.V. off and put a firewall on my on my internet, but I can’t put blinders on my kids every time we leave the house. I could complain about the way other women dress or the culture that idolizes sex, but I can’t control the world. Instead I must teach my kids to guard …