God has a calling on each of our lives. He placed us on earth to fulfill that calling, wants us to flourish in that calling, so He equips us not just to fulfill but to flourish in whatever arena He places us. Sometimes we doubt, I know I do, if we have what it takes to parent appropriately, to minister accurately, to speak the truth compassionately. God has given us everything we need for life and godliness—for how to live and to do so in a manner pleasing to Him. Our key is to obey Him. Obedience opens every door that God has ordained for us to walk in. Obedience to God, and not our strong black women ways, will take us to and keep us in the place God has for us. We just have to believe that obedience is all we need. Read more about this in my latest EEW Magazine column, which begins below:
God so amazes me. When Dianna invited me last year to be the EEW parenting columnist I knew this was something God had for me. I had been a long-time reader of EEW and desired to contribute to its voice, but I never felt like there was a place for me. Every column had a columnist, and I was never inspired to contribute in the magazine’s other areas. When I understood that Dianna wasn’t just inviting me to write a column but to be the columnist I was excited and a little afraid. How will I connect with the readers? Will I be able to come up with enough topics? Will they read my column when my oldest son is only 8, hardly the age to make me a parenting “expert”?
These doubts kept me where I should be, at Jesus’ feet, asking, begging Him to cause me to succeed. He is the inexhaustible God of wisdom and from Him I have received an abundance of topics and biblical and practical direction to share with you. He has given me so much that in January I had enough column topics to cover publishing dates through September, and God has since extended my storehouse through December. This week I had planned to talk about how we can help our children respond to the culture war against Christians who believe in the biblical definition of marriage being between one man and one woman. I thought this was particularly fitting in light of the recent backlash from Chick-fil-A owner Dan Cathy’s expression of his belief in traditional marriage. But a word God gave me last week is what I have to share with you this time. Read the rest here.
My One Thousand Gifts List
#701-710
A successful video shoot
Vince Yarbrough for filming and producing the video
Justus hugging me at the knees
Justus and Nate waking up on their own early
Getting children and me ready for church without many complications
Jesus dying for my sins and being raised up so I would have life
Joshua for initiating reading the Bible stories (in the children’s Bible) about Jesus’ death and resurrection
Going to bed early
Waking up with Jesus on my mind
Gardening in the morning without interruption
