Don't Give Up

Riddle me this batman. How can a teenage boy sleep through an alarm clock that is alarming so loudly that I can hear it all the way downstairs across the house in my room with the door shut?  Also how can my son sleep through me yelling at him to wake up and turn the alarm off but when his text message notification on his smart phone goes off he jumps up like a jack in the box?  I cannot be the only mother that is perplexed by this seemingly selective hearing that teenagers seem to have. I remember when my husband and I were dating and I would call him at work and they would say he had not come in yet and that he was late so if I heard from him would I please tell him to call them.  I would call his cell phone and he would not answer and then I would call his house phone and he still would not answer. After trying several times to reach him I would begin to worry. He only lived a few minutes from me so I would drive over to his house and there I would find him fast asl...

It is only the beginning of November and I am already overwhelmed and confused by the rudeness, lack of respect and the seemingly non-existent love for one another approaching one of the most beautiful times of year. My head is spinning with thoughts surrounding Thanksgiving, Christmas, family, red cups, snowflakes, trees, angels, stars, political debates and what I am going to fix for dinner tonight.  The red cup deal at Starbucks really has me baffled.  I am especially concerned for my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that have taken to the extreme of showing their anger in such barbaric behavior all over Social Media and in the Starbuck’s Coffee Houses.  I am embarrassed that my adopted family is blinded by the attempts of the enemy to distract us from our true purpose this time of year and all year long for that matter and that is to show the love of Jesus to everyone everywhere all the time. It is our job to rise above this type of petty nonsense and be a ligh...

I am going to take a side bar from my normal blogging style for just a minute. I made a vow to myself a long time ago that I would not put my personal or family drama out on Social Media. I made this decision for many reasons. One is for the simple fact that I used to be a drama queen and I loved it but now that I am a born again Christian, grounded in the Word of God, I detest drama. When I see it on Social Media I have very mean thoughts pop up in my head, so I refrain from responding. “Blessed are the peacekeepers” I tell myself and boy does it take Jesus to keep my peace. In case you are curious as to what little naughty things pop in my head I will indulge you this once, but pay close attention because you will not hear or see this again. Thoughts that pop in my head when I see “drama” on Social Media is as follows; 1. No one cares. 2. I don’t care. 3. Get a life. 4. Get a job. 5. Another selfie? 6. Not a good look for you. 7. I want to unfriend you. 8. Are you bipolar? 9. Stop d...

I have been in ministry for over 17 years now and a born again Christian for almost 19.  I still remember my first step into what would later become my vocation; not just my job but my life.  I had been counseling with the pastor of my grandmother’s church for several weeks. I was 18 years old and suffering from deep depression.  After several sessions he invited me to come to a Sunday morning worship service. I excitedly told my mom about the invitation and she agreed to come with me. When we arrived to church that beautiful Sunday morning I decided not to sit on the back row like many first time visitors do because I wanted the pastor to know I was there and I wanted him to see me. I found three available seats on the second row and me my mom and my sister all sat down.  The pastor  saw me sit down and he came over and hugged me. He introduced himself to my mom and my sister and I remember feeling like I was home. It was unlike any other church I had ever...

I was starting to have one of those days where nothing seemed to be going right. I woke up after over sleeping and I felt like I had not slept at all, I had a splitting headache and my oldest son overslept too causing him to miss the bus.  I woke up my husband (which I hate to do since he does nights with the kids and I do mornings) so he could drive our son to school. He did. The morning continued with getting my middle son and baby girl up and ready for school. My headache increasingly getting worse and my growing thoughts of the day’s activities were contributing to the increased blood flow to my brain causing a deeper ache in my already pounding head.  I have lists, lists and more lists of things that need to be done, things that have not gotten done from the day before and things that need to be done before the end of the week.  If these lists are not enough to consume my already full brain I decided to ride the thought train all the way to Depressed Ville.  I ...

I never thought I would be so excited about having pet chickens. My husband and I talked about it for several years, but I just figured we were only talking. Between our three children ages 14, 12, and 7 our two dogs, five cats, five fish, a guinea pig and my almost 83 year old grandmother that lives with us I assumed we had enough to feed and clean up after.  Apparently I was wrong. My husband has this unique way of getting himself out of trouble when he buys something or does something he knows I may get disgruntled about.  He says, “But we talked about it.”  I have learrned that when I am talking about something with my husband that to him this "talking" is the okay to go ahead to do something or buy something.  I have also learned over the last 15 years of marriage that when my husband and I are discussing something that may cost a lot of time or money that I have to throw in the disclaimer, “Now just because we are talking about this does not mean we are go...

As a Christian do you ever find yourself in full on pout mode when you feel like you are stuck in a rut? I know I used to be the queen of pouting...or at least my husband said I was entitled to the crown. Haha! I mean, we still believe in the Trinity, we believe in God and that He can do all things but we are stuck in state of nothing happening and therefore we start to ask a lot of questions. Mine always centered around what am I hear for and what's my purpose. This story centers around a time that I had been contemplating my purpose, what was I here for, and why hadn’t I experienced a great encounter like Moses or Abraham. I am serious when I say I would go outside and wait for a bush to catch fire and talk to me.  I would sit in my bedroom and talk out loud to God and then wait for Him to show up in the physical.  I would stubbornly tell God that I wasn’t going to move until He came to see me and then suddenly my three kids would barge into my room and I was forced t...

For the Christians I was reading Matthew 21 in God’s Word this morning and I made a connection between the treatment of Jesus and the treatment of His saints today.  This chapter starts with Jesus’ triumphal entry. He and his disciples were approaching Jerusalem and had come to a town named Bethphage; while there Jesus sent for the donkey that He would ride into Jerusalem. This fulfilled the prophecy written 500 years earlier in Zechariah 9:9. My thoughts lead me to Jesus entering the town and how the people were yelling and screaming “Hosanna!”  Palm leaves that were at least six feet long had been cut down and thrown onto the streets for Jesus to cross over. People were ripping off their garments and throwing them into the street.  I can picture them now smiling, laughing, crying, jumping up and down and being filled with hope and joy. I remember going to a New Kids on the Block concert as a child and I remember that moment when they took the stage and I burs...