Blog - Page 8 of 162 - The Mom Initiative

Raising Sweet Smelling Boys (and Praying One Another Through)

I was sniffing men’s deodorant when our eyes met. Her grocery cart was piled high with diapers and baby wipes, and the toddler in the front seat was pulling tissues from her purse and shredding them into tiny scraps of homemade confetti. But she was too busy staring at me to notice her little one’s antics. I don’t blame her for gawking. After all, it’s not every day that you spy a forty-year-old woman sniffing pit protection in aisle twelve. It’s crazy what a mom will do for her kids. I’m not sure what made me think of that awkward moment …

10 Types of Toxic People and 4 Ways to Deal with Them

Toxic relationships. I’ve had a few. Have you? It brings to mind the saying, “Hurting people, hurt people.” I try to recall this when poisonous behaviors enter my world. Grace, yes I can give that. But… how do I avoid being personally affected? To be honest–that’s a challenge. I am a people-pleaser. I don’t like conflict. I like people to like me. The Lord has placed me in God-Pleaser Bootcamp so I can recover from my people-pleaser tenancies. (I have not yet graduated. I’ve been in training quite awhile.) He’s teaching me to discern between personal correction and issues …

The Dancing Scarecrow

Autumn. I love it! It’s almost here. The warmth of the sun that energizes. The aroma of the crisp air and changing season. The cool breezes requiring a sweater or jacket. The beauty of God’s palette: crimson and cerise, yellow and honey, apricot and orange. Autumn also evokes the thought of harvests. Which made me think the other day about scarecrows. Definition of a scarecrow: an object, usually made to resemble a human figure, set up to scare away creatures from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed in fields, from growing crops, or from those crops about to be …

Making Plans to Succeed

A few years ago on a Sunday, we decided to stay home and have home church. Everyone was feeling OVERWHELMED, and I felt a strong leading to do a family assessment, individually and as a whole, and with that came a couple of pieces of insight that I believe will help YOU, too. We all have a nature that, when put in a passive mode, slips back into places that are like quick sand or even thick, muddy clay. Sometimes, we wake up and realize we are stuck or even worse, sinking! So whether it is a new school year or …

Lavish Grace Week 1: The What, When, and Why of Grace

God’s grace doesn’t make sense to me. His grace is radical. Extreme. It even contradicts human logic. For instance, if we work hard, we earn a paycheck. If we drive faster than the speed limit, we often get an expensive ticket. In this world, we usually get what we deserve. But God’s grace is different. We don’t deserve grace, yet God freely pours it out on the undeserving. He even lavishes it on those not looking for it. God’s grace is amazing, powerful, and free. His grace is not simply enough for us. It is abundantly poured out to overflowing. …

10 Things Moms Savor – Come add your own!

Things moms savor that will make your mom heart smile! 🙂 This past week we shared some fun things that make a mom’s heart smile in our Million Moms Newsletter. So we wanted to share it here for you. Be sure to add your own. And…OH… if you haven’t joined the MILLION MOMS Team, please click this link and sign up! We are looking for a million moms who want to raise their children to know Jesus! If that’s you, join the team! 1. That moment when your child realizes your real name isn’t ‘mom.’ 2. That moment when you realize …

How to Combat Sleepless Nights

I just love the 90’s romantic movie Sleepless in Seattle, the one with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. They both have sleepless nights while thinking about finding true love. Well, I don’t know about you but my sleepless nights are kind of different in hot, muggy Florida this time of the year. They aren’t romantic in the slightest, and they usually have something to do with a snoring husband or an over-active bladder. Have you ever spent most of the night awake, wishing you could just go back to sleep? Whether it’s your crying baby, the obnoxious cat, your anxious mind, or …

One Good Reason to Spoil Your Kids

“Mommy, will you tell us a story?” My younger daughter, three years old at the time, looked up at me, pleading. Her wispy hair lay fanned across a cotton pillowcase, and her eyes shone glossy in the lamplight. “A story? Sure.” It was a typical bedtime request. My girls like to hear stories from my childhood, so I spin ordinary memories into fairy tales. They think this is fabulous entertainment. “Once upon a time,” I launched into my standard opener, “there was a beautiful princess named Princess Becky. Every week, she went grocery shopping with her mom, Queen Nana. At …

A Child’s Heart and the Hidden Treasure of Talking Back

“Don’t you talk back to me,” my mother said to me. “Don’t you talk back to me,” I said to my children. “Don’t talk back,” I bet you’ve said to your kiddos too. Every mom wonders what to do about talking back. Every mom knows what talking back looks like and sounds like. We move quickly to squash it in toddlers and teens. End it. Redirect it. But in my efforts to stop it, most of the time I missed the hidden treasure. The good God intended to come from the evil. Talking back may be a mom’s best opportunity. …

What I Wish I Had When I Was a Missionary & Ministry Leader

I went to the mission field with fears that were as big as my dreams. The Gospel changes people’s lives and eternal destiny. How could I not even try to reach as many people as I could with the good news of Jesus Christ? And so we went. But it wasn’t long that I realized that I could barely speak the language. So how in the world could I reach people for Christ when I couldn’t even communicate with them? And so I studied. Well, actually…we studied. Trying to learn a new language wasn’t easy in my mid forties… even …

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