Photo by jpwbee

O Canada; land of abundance, of blessing, of beauty! The future of our great nation is not in the hands of our government but in those of a Powerful God and the prayers of His people.

If my people {emphasis mine}, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14 

Whether it is Canada Day or the Fourth of July that you celebrate, amidst the festivities, food, fireworks and celebrations, let us spend a few moments on our knees today {and every day!} in thanks and in prayer for the future of our amazing country!

Today we are heading to a big family bash. While we probably won’t stay for the fireworks (the littles will be dead on their feet!) it will be a wonderful celebration with food, games and more!

How are you celebrating?

• This post links to 5 Minutes for Moms

Photo by Lif…

Last week I asked about teaching little ones obedience without fussing. I was getting a little frustrated with my littles (1 1/2 and 3). We’re leaving soon, I’ve a lot to do and anything that they have learned about obedience seems to have flown out the window over the last few weeks. {Though to be fair, everyone was sick, routines were off and we watched a lot of TV}. Anyway, then I read this and knew that the Lord had led me to it to gently rebuke me and encourage me. With permission I share an excerpt but recommend you head over to read it in it’s entirety. It will bless you I am sure!

…God made no mistake in giving me to you. You are the perfect Mom for me. God will always help you take the best care of me. Promise to stay close to Him and ask Him to help you when I am not so easy to like. Please seek His wisdom, and trust in everything He tells you to do. He won’t lead you in the wrong direction. He loves you mom just as much as you love me, even more!

Please don’t get discouraged or give up on me when I disobey 100 times and ask you the same thing over and over again. I’m learning to understand trust, love and patience. Please don’t get discouraged when I forget what you just told me to do. It is not your fault and I really do care about you. Please don’t buy into my eye rolling or yucky faces when you ask me to do something. Simply look past them, write them off as a phase and continue seeking to push through to my heart.

Please don’t take my lack of thanking you for ungratefulness. Teach me to say thank you more. Teach me to write you love notes so that I will always do that for others when I am big just like you.

Please don’t let my testing you push your button so deep that you begin to give up on getting through to me. I need to know you are going to be there forever no matter what. I don’t mean to hurt you – so when I do, teach me to apologize quickly. I want to grow up and make you proud of me for being an honorable, and humble person. I want to bring glory to God in all I do and need you to help me learn humility when I mess up and hurt anyone with my words or actions.

…and when you mess up, simply say, “I’m sorry.” So I will learn to say, “I’m sorry” too.

Read the whole article here at Totally Tots

Oh, how I need more patience and understanding in raising my little ones. Parenting is such a daunting task when looking at the overall picture and trying to do it on your own. How blessed we are to be able to approach it one day at a time with the help of our Lord!

Photo by James Marvin

Motherhood is a Beautiful Calling; trumped only by our calling to be helpmeets. Both of these are facets of our ultimate calling and by excelling and honoring these; we bring Him honor and glory!

I would like to share with you an excerpt from an email I received several days ago; not because she speaks kindly of my site {though thank you!} but because the way she expresses womanhood, wifehood and motherhood is so eloquent.

“I’m another Jennifer and my husband and I are expecting our first.  In this day and age where true womanhood and feminine spirituality are lost, where the vocation of marriage and family not to mention the dignity of the home are so misunderstood, attacked and discarded, and parenthood, especially motherhood (and stay at home moms) are looked as subordinate, I thank you for your blog and for acknowledging and joyfully embracing your calling, not just as a woman, wife, and mother, but as a human person called to holiness by an everyday effort to fulfill His will through even the simplest tasks (or greatest challenges).  I’m looking so forward to staying at home with this baby and our future babies and sharing with them this great adventure, helping them (and they helping me) along this pilgrimage toward heaven.

I must say that running into your blog was the most refreshing antidote after coming from my prenatal class where so many of the moms resent the idea of being ‘just a mom’ and have difficulty seeing the dignity of motherhood, let alone their inherent worth and beauty in just being created women (who don’t have to prove themselves out in the world and no matter what shape or size).  It makes me sad but its a cause for prayer.

Each and every pregnancy is indeed a miracle ;]  I marvel over this child each day and over how God has designed us so magnificently to partake in such a miracle.  What a blessing! “

Jennifer and I {and you too, I hope!}  share this “beautiful vision for marriage and family.” Today I hope you have a little pampering {a card, extra kisses, breakfast, lunch or whatever} but rather than making it all about us as mothers, let’s make it all about Him and his amazing design: motherhood!

Thank you Lord, for your amazing and wonderful design. Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of your work in raising our little {and big!} ones. We praise You for the joys that motherhood brings and for the grace you give us during the times of sorrow that come as well. Help us to embrace our callings more fully and joyfully; to shine in our roles for Your Glory that we may be a testimony to those who do not know you. We love you, Lord!  Amen.

I am blessed beyond measure; these precious gifts from above. They delight me to no end, and at times are a source of frustration.

They make me laugh, they make me cry. They make me lift up my heart in prayer the way I never have before.

Undeserved, the  Father entrusted me with these tiny souls for Him. They are not mine, but His. {I’m crying}. I hold on to them tightly, knowing that the day will come that I must let go, trusting.

Trusting that He loves them more infinitely, purely and unselfishly than me. Knowing that He is so much more capable of protecting them than I ever could hope to be.  Knowing that even when I think I am in control that I am not!

Whatever season of motherhood you are in is precious, valuable, worthy.

It will soon be  Mother’s Day. I celebrate my two blessings here with great joy. I also celebrate my little one awaiting me in Heaven, for through his conception and death, he taught this mommy so much! I share my story in a miscarriage series. Maybe it will be a help to you, or someone you know.

Mother’s Day can be hard for so many. Those who have lost their mothers, those who long to be mothers, those who are mothers but have no babe in their arms…the list goes on. This Mother’s Day, is there someone we can encourage with a word, a hug, a note, a visit?

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These tiny tot years are filled with fun, teamwork, play, laughter, silliness, learning, sharing {and sometimes not!}. What precious fleeting years these are!

• Linked the Motherhood post at We are THAT Family and the 30 Minute Challenge 

I’m Inadequate

Christian, wife, mother, blogger, happy, optimistic, friendly, thankful…

If asked to describe myself in one word, I might use any of those words because they are all true. But in my heart of hearts, if I needed to choose one word to describe myself it would be inadequate.

As a Christian, I’m inadequate. When I look at the cross and see what He did for me there, when I look around at the many undeserved blessings that fill my life and then I look at myself, my offerings, my feeble works and know that I am inadequate in my Christian life. I am not always faithful in my devotions, I know I fail to seize every opportunity to share the gospel and it goes without saying that sometimes it is not Christ that others see in me.

My feelings of inadequacy extend into my marriage. I am not always the helpmeet I should be to my husband. I can not say that I always put his needs before my own. At times I’m not as respectful as I should be, or as quick to forgive. A times, his priorities are not mine, when they ought to be!

I am blessed to be called mommy but completely inadequate to do the job. Sometimes I’m sharp, my tone impatient. My tongue is not always the law of kindness. Sometimes my choices are wrong and my judgments do not mirror His mercy and grace.

Gideon was inadequate

On Sunday, our Pastor’s message was from Judges 6. His direction was a little different that what I got out of it but that is the way the Holy Spirit works isn’t it? I was reminded that scripture is full of inadequate men and women. It’s not about them {or you or me!} but about God.

• Gideon wasn’t seeking to do great things. He was hiding from the Midianites just trying to survive. (Judges 6:11)
• Gideon came from a poor family and was the least in that family (Judges 6:15)
• He did not exhibit great faith (Judges 6:13)
• But God was with him (Judges 6:16)
• Gideon and his band of 300 went into battle with trumpets, pitchers and lamps. Inadequate tools for battle to be sure! (Judges 7:20)
• They defeated the 135 000 Midianites without doing battle. They simply stood there. (Judges 7:16-25)

The Upside to Inadequacy

It’s not about me or about my capabilities {or lack thereof!}. God has given me the gifts and blessings in my life because of who He is (James 1:17). I didn’t do anything to earn my salvation; it was a gift because I was inadequate! My husband and children are gifts from the Lord, and through His strength can I be what I need to be.

I’m inadequate and that is OK. It’s better than OK; it’s great! Acknowledging my inadequacy means that I am acknowledging my need to rely on Christ and, that apart from Him, I can do nothing! (John 15:5) Depending more on Him each day is what He desires so that He can conform me to His image!

God is looking for those who are inadequate, humble and empty of themselves. He wants to fill them, exalt Himself through them and accomplish great and mighty things for His kingdom through them!

I’m thankful for the bible and for the words of encouragement and direction it contains for me. I’m thankful that I don’t need to be adequate, because HE is!

• This post is linked to Gratituesday and 30 Minute Blog Challenge

Ulterior Epicure

My dear friend, Ann, sent this to me earlier this week. I just loved the simple reminder contained in this sweet story and wanted to share it with you! Sometimes it is hard when we are in the midst of trouble to remember that He is in control; it’s hard to understand the why. All we can do, and all we are required to do is hold on to Him and trust.

Sometimes we wonder, “What did I do to deserve this?” or “Why did God have to do this to me?” Here is a wonderful explanation! A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, she’s failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away.

Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a snack, and the daughter says, “Absolutely Mom, I love your cake.”

“Here, have some cooking oil,” her Mother offers.
“Yuck” says her daughter.
“How about a couple raw eggs?” “Gross, Mom!”
“Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?”
“Mom, those are all yucky!”

To which the mother replies: “Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake! “

God works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! {Romans 8:28, Jeremiah 29:11}  We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will all make something wonderful as He knows they will!

This Post was part of the 30 Minute Challenge at Steady Mom

Photo Source 

They all walked away, with nothing to say,
They’d just lost their dearest friend.
All that He said, now He was dead,
So this was the way it would end.
The dreams they had dreamed were not what they’d seemed,
Now that He was dead and gone.
The garden, the jail, the hammer, the nail,
How could a night be so long?

Then came the morning, night turned into day;
The stone was rolled away, hope rose with the dawn.
Then came the morning, shadows vanished before the sun,
Death had lost and life had won, for morning had come.

The angel, the star, the kings from afar,
The wedding, the water, the wine.
Now it was done, they’d taken her son,
Wasted before his time.
She knew it was true, she’d watched him die too,
She’d heard them call Him just a man,
But deep in her heart, she knew from the start,
Somehow her Son would live again.

Then came the morning, night turned into day;
The stone was rolled away, hope rose with the dawn.
Then came the morning, shadows vanished before the sun,
Death had lost and life had won, for morning had come.

Then came the morning, shadows vanished before the sun,
Death had lost and life had won, for morning had come.

Morning had come.

Written by:
Gloria Gaither, William J. Gaither and Chris Christian – © 1982

Good Friday was good because it meant Hope truly could rise with the dawn. He is my Hope, is He yours?

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Good Friday is the day we remember the death of our Savior.  Whenever I read the scripture passages surrounding His death, I cry. The other night at church someone sang, “Watch the Lamb” and I cried. Whenever I think of the sacrifice of Christ, the cross and it’s price, I weep. Sometimes I’m alone reading my bible; sometimes it is during the hymn singing at church. I can’t help it. Why do I cry?

Fickleness Of Man

When He entered Jerusalem, they cried Hosanna (John 12:13), then days later, he was accused, cursed and mocked. Though Pilate would have chastised and released him, they demanded He be crucified. (John 22-23).

Oh, how it must have hurt Him to hear those He loved, those He would die for, those He prayed for (John 23:34) shouting and jeering; that they turned on Him so quickly. They were given a choice between Barabbas and Christ (Matt 27:19-20)and they were persuaded to chose Barabbas, knowing that Jesus was innocent. I cry because would I have been so different? Would I have held my ground for Christ or gone with the multitude?

Fiendishness of Man

I cry for the horrors He endured. He was spit on, mocked, beaten and bruised. We read that he was beaten and gloss over it but, when I stop to think about what that truly means, I can’t help but weep. Imagine the pain that must have been; a thorn crown driven into His precious head. The blood pouring from His body, that precious blood that we sometimes take so lightly. The nails in His hands and feet, the sword in His side. And people watched this, delighted in this, enjoyed this…what have we, the created done to our Creator? What do we still do to Him each day through our actions and attitudes?

Forsaken of God

He was humiliated in the sight of men and forsaken by God. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46). That must have been the ultimate pain, that God, His Father, had looked away. Jesus, equal with God, gave up His place in heaven and came to earth in the humblest, lowliest and most vulnerable of ways. If that weren’t enough, the perfect lamb, “bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (I Peter 2:24) He became guilty in the sight of His father and bore the punishment for you and me!

Friends and Family

Mary Magdalene, Jesus’ mother, the disciple whom Jesus loved – they were all there at the cross (John 19:25-26); maybe others too. They bore witness to His shame, pain, humiliation and death. They wanted to be near Him; they loved Him. I love Him; would I have loved Him enough to be there? I cry for them; for the pain and confusion that they most likely felt. As a mother, I  now understand a mother’s love for her child. I cry for Mary and the sword that pierced her soul (Luke 2:35).

Father

Thought it may seem odd to cry for God, I do. God send His Son to die. God, who loves His Son far more abundantly than my feeble human mind can grasp, allowed His Son to die. What kind of God sends his one and only Son to his death? One who loves His Son…and the world (John 3:16). Because of my sin, I couldn’t be reconciled with God were it not for Jesus. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21). God had such an incredible love for you and me that He allowed pain and suffering for himself and his son so I could be reconciled.

Forgiveness

And most of all, I cry tears of thankfulness. {Yes, literally right now as I type.}. I am forgiven. The horrors of Golgotha were for me. Each beating He endured was for me. The blood shed was for me.

“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:20)

When I stop to meditate on the incredible price that was paid {for me!?!}, I can’t help but weep. Sure, some people look at me odd because I often cry when we sing hymns about the cross but that cross is so bittersweet and beautiful that I think more people should weep at its feet!

Find Freedom

Easter is a wonderful time to find freedom. If you’ve never accepted the free gift of Salvation, do it today! Have you wandered from the Lord? You’ve not wandered too far! Wherever you are, call on Him today. He’s there, He’s waiting and He loves you!

Do you truly enjoy the season of life you are in or are you simply enduring it? This is a tough question and I think if we answer honestly, most of us can say that at times we do both. I know exactly when I am enjoying my life with littles and when  am simply enduring it. I want to have more enjoyment how about you?

Physical You

Often as a mom (or as a woman in general), we put others before ourselves and rightly so because doesn’t the bible teach us to esteem others more highly than ourselves (Phil 2:3)? Um, kinda. I’ve flown enough to remember the stewardess’ instructions in case of an emergency. Moms, put on your own mask before putting on your little ones. One of the things {and I am still learning this!} is that you need to make sure that in the busyness of life, your physical needs are being met and the only one who is going to make sure they are is you! We all know exactly what I am talking about: proper rest, proper hydration, balanced eating and {ugh} exercise. For the sake of time {30 minutes goes quickly!} I won’t elaborate but trust me on this; taking care of yourself will go a long way to enjoying the season, your littles and you life!

Praying You

You can’t do it on your own. You can’t do it on your own. You can’t do it on your own. What have you learned so far? Hopefully the answer is, “you can’t do it on your own.” I’ve tried and tried and at times I’m sure you have to. We can’t and why do we try to? Why do we want to? Why do we want to burden ourselves and carry it alone when Jesus invites us to cast our cares upon him (1 Peter 5:7)? As the creator of all things (us and our littles included!), he knows us intimately and knows just what we need. Taking our burdens, struggles, cares, concerns and heartaches to Him in prayer eases our load and is a huge leap towards living a life we enjoy; one in sweet communion with Him!

Priorities

Do you know what yours are? Write them down. I know what mine are but often I forget and I need a tangible reminder written down in a prominent place. At times I get distracted by the looming laundry pile or the never-ending dishes. This calls for my attention, and that does too. Next thing you know, I’ve spend the day pursing things that won’t matter in the long run but have accomplished nothing that further my ultimate goals.

In this season, my goals are simple: be the wife DH needs, be the mother my littles need, enjoy my family and teach my littles to love and obey God and to obey authority. If that is all that I am accomplishing right now, it is more than enough for I know what my priorities are. It is easier to enjoy life and be joyful, knowing that I am accomplishing things that directly further the priorities and goals DH and I have for this season.

Politics

What kind of political set up is in your home? Who’s in charge? Is your home child-led? Parent-led? God-led?

Our home functions in accordance with the bible which means mommy and daddy are in charge. While tots may thing they want to dictate and control, they don’t and that is why God gave them parents! Now that is not to say that their thoughts, feelings and wishes don’t get taken into careful consideration when decisions are made but simply that mom and dad are the final authority in our home under God.

Our children are easy to enjoy when they understand who the authority is. When they get confused (and sometimes forget) about who is in charge, then parenting them is something akin to enduring (and looking forward to their bedtime!)

Policy  and Persistence

What are the house rules? How are they enforced? Are they enforced all the time, some of the time, none of the time?

I’ve only been a parent for 3 years. I’m new to this, I don’t have all the answers. I call tell you that I enjoy my little ones when they obey. There are two main keys to having this happen:

1. They understand the policies and rules
2. They understand that they are enforced

When I am consistent and persistent in laying down the {reasonable!}expectations for behavior, then following through with an appropriate discipline when there is failure to comply, a couple of things happen:

• Repentance – understanding wrong behavior and the desire to change it leads to
• Restoration – to right relationships with parents, friends, siblings etc.
• Remembrance – they are little and often forget but being consistent in correction and discipline helps them to learn, understand and remember not to repeat.

So What am I Saying?

I am saying that when I take care of myself, spend time in prayer, accomplish  daily activities reflect my priorities, ensure that I am lovingly consistent in correction and discipline with my children {resulting in obedience}, I find my life enjoyable. Yes, with littles there will always be phases that do register on the “endurance” scale but enjoyment reigns!

• This post took 40 minutes to write but I did stop to snuggle John who woke up from his nap and needed a little bit of “mommy cuddling”. I’m still entering it in the 30 Minute Challenge at Steady Mom.

I bought this spatula (2/$1) at the dollar store years ago when I got my own apartment. I’m now married and it is still kicking around. It’s a great spatula but I am even more enamored with it now.

You see that little missing piece? I was baking in the kitchen one day with baby John at my feet. I handed him a spatula to keep him occupied. When John gave it back, I discovered that he had his first little tooth through. (I had known it was coming, just hadn’t realized that it was through and functional LOL)

Yes, I still use this spatula and it makes me smile every time I pull it out. It reminds me of days gone by and helps me remember to embrace these times for they are my future memories.

Lord, thank you for all the special stages that we’ve been blessed to go through with our littles. Though some are more difficult than others, each leaves us with priceless memories; a gift from You!

• This post links to Gratituesday and the 30 Minute Challenge