Jolly Belongs in Christmas

“A happy heart makes the face cheerful.” Proverbs 15:13, NIV I was reading through the Sunday newspaper, browsing more like it. I really only bought it for the coupon clipping. But good editors know how to grab you with the headlines. I’d only gotten five minutes in, and I was already depressed. I remembered why I rarely read the newspaper and barely watch the news anymore. ISIS, Ebola, racial riots, economy debates and political division all on display begging to rile me to action somehow. Ahhh, the coupons, buried beneath a huge pile of slick advertisements for holiday “savings.” It …

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Practical Planning Before the Holidays

If you’re like me, the holidays can sneak up on you, and before you know it, they are dragging you and your family around by your shirt collars. By the time New Years hits, you need rest before you can even think about resolutions. I’m not a planner, but a few years back, God led me to start being more intentional about how to keep the Lord front and center during the holidays. To rethink some of our traditions, to pray through necessities of time and money, service and giving. As a result, this handout was born. I can’t think …

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When Your Kids Have Good Ideas…

It happens in parenthood. Sometimes our kids jog us from our comfort zones, and I don’t know about you, but it always takes me by surprise. One of the things I wish I’d put into practice more as a younger mom, (and honestly, I’m still learning), is to be quicker to listen and slower to speak when they had ideas. “Hey mom, you wanna play Barbies with me?” “No, mommy’s doing dishes.” “Hey mama, let’s go to the park.” “No, I just got out of the shower.” “I have an idea! Let’s make brownies!” “Not right now, okay? I’m busy.” …

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Never-Failing Accountability

When my son became a tweenager over eight short years ago, a whole new world of temptation opened to him as he discovered (thanks to another peer) certain inappropriate behaviors online that would entice him in a way he’d never experienced before. Because he was our firstborn, a whole new world of fears opened to us too. We were thankful for many parents who had gone before us to give us wisdom and suggestions, as well as a gobload of information on the world wide web. As we talked and prayed him through it, we put boundaries in place with …

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For the Over-Taxied Mom

I’m in the heavy duty taxi driving season of mamahood. No matter how simple we try to keep our calendar as a family, it seems the engine stays running. I think that’s one of the reasons why this C.S. Lewis quote touches me so: “God made us; invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed …

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Judger Turned Judged

  When I was a new mom, I wanted to appear to everyone like I had my act together and knew what I was doing. But like any other new mom, I didn’t. One of the ways that I coped with the hypocrisy was by jumping on the bandwagons of other moms I admired. They were who I wanted to be, or at least who I wanted others to think I was. And honestly, by the grace of God, most of the bandwagons I jumped on turned out to be pretty good choices. But the state of my heart was …

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Downplaying Your Teen’s “Drama”

I’ll never forget the day my then 14-year old (now 16) daughter argued, “Well, I’m not you, Mom. I haven’t been abused like you were, but my pain still hurts. And I hate admitting that to you.” I’m not gonna lie, I learned something that day. But even now with a 19-year old son and 16- & 14-year old daughters, I’m still tempted to revert back to showing them how much better they have it than I did (or many others do). And you know what? Dismissing, downplaying, diminishing…dissing my teen’s troubles, though understandable at times, is the wrong approach …

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What Makes Mom Proud?

One of my favorite television shows is “Chopped.” It’s a live competition where 4 contestants are given baskets of mystery ingredients to put together “an unforgettable meal” as each course is critiqued by 3 judges. Each round someone is chopped from moving on to make the next plate of food. Almost every single episode, at least one of the chefs mentions (often with a break in their voice & a tear in their eye) that one of the reasons they are competing is to make their mom or dad proud. The chef’s win would somehow validate their choices and prove …

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When Mom Needs New Vision

I remember several years ago when my daughter rushed down the stairs to the beat of her fear. She simply could not sleep with the “thunder booming and lightning bolts.” Though it was almost time for her to get up and get ready for Vacation Bible School, I hadn’t finished my prayer time yet. It was interrupted by a barrage of questions from her little mind instead. “Mom, what if lighting struck our whole house? Where would we live?” “Well, Sweetie, we would go to a hotel or a friend’s house until it was fixed.” “What if it caught the …

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Mom Came In Like A Wrecking Ball

Sometimes I recall it in slow motion: Those moments when my kids are laughing, bantering back and forth about this and that, volume rising. A friendly debate ensues, and this mom sees it’s fixin’ to get nowhere fast, maybe even ugly. Then BAM, something inside me snaps, and I just want it to end. I don’t want the conflict, the arguing, the drama. There goes the wrecking ball, aka my tongue lashing, swooshing in to destroy the pettiness and pride. But whose going to destroy mine? “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of …

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