Faithful Mommy

"In all your ways, submit to Him and He will make your paths straight." --Proverbs 3:6 At the beginning of June, my husband (Brian) and I went on a vacation. Just the two of us. It was the first time since our honeymoon that we'd been on the beach without our kids. I love family vacations, but there is something about being able to just be still and not have to focus on much of anything. Last year was such a tough year in watching my dad's battle with stomach cancer and then ultimately losing him last July. This vacation was the first time I've truly been able to face my own grief without having someone else to care for. Grief had gotten my attention. Fortunately, God was also able to get my attention. Not that I hadn't been focusing on God much, but I had realized that up until the point of our vacation, I'd struggled to truly hear God. My mind had been so focused on the million other things also going on in my life and in the lives of those

 “Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.” -Matthew 19:13-15 Friends, the single most important thing we can do for our children is take them to Jesus. And how do we do that? We take them to church. We take them to Vacation Bible School. We take them with us to serve people and share God’s love. We talk to them about Jesus’ gift of salvation and encourage them to seek a personal relationship with Jesus.  Sometimes as adults we make the decision to skip church here and there (or several weeks in a row...guilty over here 🙋🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️) because we are tired or we feel the kids didn’t get enough rest or we have a busy day ahead of us. Or maybe we are the family who has kids involved in so many s

For the last several days I have been absolutely exhausted, anxious, and just completely on edge. I’ve been snappy and just downright moody. My husband and my kids have taken the brunt of my crazy emotions and my grieving heart. My six year old has an attitude that rivals my own at that age...argumentative, a little back-talky, and often times intentionally pressing buttons. So, she’s naturally been dishing it all right back to me this week.  I’ve spent so much time this week correcting her for the same things I was doing. It’s definitely like dealing with a miniature version of myself, which if I’m honest, kind of makes me chuckle sometimes. As I am correcting her for grumbling, whining, and complaining, I hear God saying to me “and you’re not?!”  My daughter has been wanting to plan a day where our family can get together with her best friend’s family and go do something fun. I’ve been saying “we will see” mostly because of her behavior. Eventually, as discipline, I took awa