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Dealing with Heartbreak
Heartbreak happens to all of us. It happens when our child is bullied, or loses their position. It happens when they don’t make the school play, club, or team. It happens when they don't get accepted to the college all their friends are going too. It happens when their parents divorce, or one of their parent’s dies prematurely. Our children face grown up issues everyday. Just getting up and going to school can produce anxiety, as they worry about and drill for an active shooter. We think as parents, that if we can just get our children to grow up as healthy individuals that we can breathe a sigh of…
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Teaching our children thankfulness
A couple weeks ago, after a difficult week, I wanted and needed to be around my family. I decided to spend the weekend at my parents. After dinner and watching a movie, I got a couple sheets and a blanket from my mom and went to make up a place to sleep on the couch. I climbed under the covers, snuggling my little dog and started to pray. Being home, I felt a sense of calm and peace. The familiarity of family, from the smell of my mom’s hand soap, to the routine of the evening—there was something warm and comforting about home. As I was about to drift off…
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What did Logan Paul Post? Do I know what my child is watching?
His YouTube channel has 15.6 million subscribers mostly made up of young teens and preteens. While filming in Japan, Logan Paul, 22 year-old, internet personality, posted a video showing the body of an apparent suicide victim in the Aokigahara forest, known as the suicide forest – a popular site for people to take their own lives. The video is graphic in nature and by the time YouTube removed it, millions had already seen it. (It is still visible to anyone who chooses to google it.) In the video, Paul says, “I think this definitely marks a moment in YouTube history because I’m pretty sure this has never happened to anyone…
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Using God to Control your Child?
Have you ever found yourself tempted to use your beliefs about God to control your child? If so, you are not alone. However, using guilt and shame to get our children to obey probably isn’t God’s best for them, or for us as parents. Here’s why. First, we want our children to trust God. We want them to know Him for who He is. Because when they know Him, they will desire a relationship with Him. Jesus tells children to come unto Him. Ask yourself if you would want to go to Jesus, if you thought He was sitting up there ready to “Zap” you all the time. It is…
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Divorce, Children and Splitting the Holidays
Every holiday, I have this idea in my head of how everything should look and be. Do you ever do that? The problem is, as a single and divorced mom of grown children, the holidays will always be hard and probably never look like what’s in my head. However, it does not mean special days cannot be good. But, let’s be honest for a moment, they are hard. No matter what the reason is for divorce, it shatters the family. It causes fragmentation. Children are left running between mom and dad. Even when parents behave badly, children still want to see both of them. They rarely stop wanting…
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Does God Speak to Us?
A month ago today, I had major surgery to repair an issue in my cervical spine. It didn’t come without risks. As a matter of fact, the risks were great, possible paralysis, loss of voice and ability to swallow and the list goes on. When I first heard the news, I was scared and I cried because it wasn’t something I wanted to hear, much less something I wanted to go through. You know the deer in the headlights analogy? That was my reaction. I sat staring at the doctor like he had turnips growing out of his ears. I was expecting minmimally invasive surgery. He was telling me major…
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How do you overcome fear?
It’s the call in the middle of the night, or a child’s cry from a bad dream. It is the unexplained noise in the next room or the tornado siren in middle of the day. It’s the screeching brakes of the car behind you and the growling dog in front of you. It is the uncertainty of a detrimental diagnosis or the certainty of the impending layoff. It can be a spider on the wall or the words, “I don’t love you anymore and we are out of time.” It is a part of betrayal, injustice, potential pain and letting go of a loved one. It’s the unknown, imagined, known…
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Stop Doubting and Trust God –Wondering why you still Wander away?
I grew up in Texas. The summers are swelteringly hot. Even just a short time out in the August heat and your face flushes and you begin to sweat. Too long out in the heat without shade or water and you can get to feeling over-heated. So imagine walking around in the desert for days, and then months and then years on end. How would you feel? Would you be tired, hot, disappointed or frustrated? I bet one thing is for sure. You would have the need for water on your mind constantly. Would you worry or complain? Would you be thankful, or would you become irritated, upset and…
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Children and Listening to the Holy Spirit
It was noon on Sunday. Church had just let out. We were hungry and ready to go home, but as we loaded the kids in the car and into their car seats, we both looked at each other and had the same thought. “Let’s go see the kid’s great grandparents (my maternal grandparents) and take lunch … KFC.” My grandpa loved Kentucky Fried Chicken. So, we went through the drive-through, ordered and headed to their house. When we arrived and knocked on their door, their eyes lit up and my grandpa started laughing, “I’m so glad you came by!” He had a way of laughing and shaking his head, at…
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Love and Discipline
What do you say to your children, that conveys love to them? Is it a specific saying or prayer? I don’t really know when it began, but when my children were very young, I started telling them that I loved them more than they could imagine. I would say, “I love you.” They would say, it back. Then for emphasis, I would say, “How much do I love you?” They would say, “More than you can imagine.” It is and was our way of saying to one another that no matter what I loved them. Not only did I love them, but the love I have for them is more…