Tag Archives: EEW Magazine

Stability in an Unstable World

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What Do You Think? Wednesday

This world seems to be falling apart before our very eyes, but we’re still here and expected to thrive in spite of what we see. Psalm 11:3 says “if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Stand firm on God’s word and teach our children to do the same. Read my latest EEW post (that begins below) where I encourage parents to work to provide their children stability in this unstable world.


“Mommy, please don’t adopt us,” my nine year old said and then began to explain as he saw my brow raise and eye squint trying to figure out what he really meant. “I hope you don’t ever give us away. Please don’t,” he begged as he hugged me around my neck. He said this some months ago after hearing a presentation at my church that had just begun an adoption and orphan care ministry. That was the first time he heard about children being adopted and knew that it entailed someone giving away children and someone else taking them in. After I explained the general reasons why parents put their children up for adoption and that he and his brothers would be staying with us until somebody died, as long as I could help it, he smiled, settled down and started back playing with his brothers. Everything was once again well in his world.

I understand Joshua’s angst; it’s his desire for stability. This is a child’s nature. They like routine: the same stories; the same pajamas, the same “blankie,” the same route to school. Any change changes their world and they don’t seem to function quite so well. Such is the case with many of us. Our God is one of decency and order. He had an order for creation and sanctioned order for systems, including the family, the church, the workplace and the environment. When His ordained order goes awry, chaos ensues. Our God is a God of stability and expects us to do what we can to live in it and provide it for our offspring (Just a look at the Proverbs shows us this). But sometimes our world doesn’t go as planned. Divorce happens. Family members die. People lie.

But we as parents, in spite of life’s challenges, have been given the main role of providing stability for our children in the big and little things. Read more at EEW Magazine and tell me what you think.

Show Love

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Happy New Year! I hope you resolve to show more love this year.
Christmas was electrifying. The sparkling lights, the glistening snow (in most cases) and the holiday cheer that buzzes always has me in a glow. I love that time of the year when people seem friendlier, smile brighter, and folks are lending helping hands. I don’t know about you, but when December 26 hit, all that seemed to change. The buzz was silent. The sparkles fizzled. There was no Christmas music playing, no gracious sayings and fewer smiles. It was like someone had turned off the Christmas cheer switch and everyone had gone back to their self-focused lives. Well, for 2012 I declare that not so. I declare that we have Christmas cheer throughout the year. Let this be the beginning of a lifetime of years where throughout the year we graciously give of our time, talent and treasure to others, particularly those outside of the Christian faith. This is our mandate, always has been our mandate, but we seem to fall in line with the world’s way of helping someone only during the holidays. Let us teach our children to give charity, or love, throughout the year, right along with our regular routines. Read more at EEW Magazine.

My One Thousand Gifts List

#381-390
Getting a shower early
Cooking dinner before picking up Joshua
Getting a good progress report from Joshua’s teacher and hearing her say how his extracurricular exposure helps him with class discussions and his writings
Being able to sit here uninterrupted to write eight gifts
My husband telling me to take some alone time away from the house Saturday afternoon because I’ve been a great support to him in ministry the past two weeks
Listening to Ashmont Hill on TBN and being impressed to get their CD as a birthday gift for a friend
Getting a full night’s sleep
Feeling energized to start the day
Beginning the day with quiet time with the Lord
Preparing Joshua’s breakfast and his and Flynn’s lunch without feeling stressed

Kindness: The Key to Unity

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My 9 year old has expressed a real yearning for hearing from God. Still young in his faith (he accepted Jesus at 5), I told him that it takes time to discern the voice of God. “But how do you know when you hear him and it’s not just you talking to yourself?” “What a good question,” I said and told him that many adults ask that question and I’m glad that he is searching now so he won’t be on a lifetime journey. I gave him some typical ways to become sensitive to God’s voice, including becoming familiar with who God is by studying the Bible, recognizing that God uses people to give you a message, and understanding that God repeats messages when He wants you to pay attention to something. The repeated message way of hearing God’s voice happened Sunday morning when my pastor talked about the unity that is necessary in the Body of Christ to draw the world to Christ. This is the crux of my latest post in EEW Magazine.

I believe God is speaking in this hour that Christians need to pay attention to His command to be united. This is the way we win souls. United with God the Father, this is the way Christ won souls (John 10:24-30). Check out the post that begins below to see how you can foster brotherly kindness in your family to effect change in the Body of Christ and in the world:



We have heard these, maybe even said them ourselves, when our children don’t get along and are at each others’ throat: “These kids just can’t get along;” “It’s just sibling rivalry.” Maybe their behavior is sibling rivalry, but are we resigned that they won’t get along because they just can’t or do we just wait it out, expecting the conflict to go as the children grow? Parenting expert Abbey Waterman, a mother of eight and home educator for more than 20 years, says parents have to foster brotherly kindness in their children and not just expect it to happen.

“I didn’t let my children ‘have friends’ outside of the family until they could get along with each other,” said Waterman, whose children range in age from 23 to 6. “We would go to church and I would have them head straight to the car after service. They didn’t get the privilege of socializing with their friends at church.” She once made a bickering son and daughter share a room, forcing them to deal with each other and work out their issues. Today, the children are close.

Waterman’s tactics may seem extreme, but God expects us to go through radical means to get radical results. Read the rest here.

My One Thousand Gifts List

#361-370
Not having to cook dinner
My author copies of Daily Guideposts: Your First Year of Motherhood arriving in the mail
Strength to cook dinner after a long day
Keeping me safe without access to a phone
Getting my blog posted before going to get Joshua from school and after a morning at Dan’s funeral
My family enjoying my fried chicken
My family rejoicing over the devotional book arriving
Taking a nap
Flynn cleaning the kitchen and allowing me to take a nap
Good “cornbread” made with non-corn meal and spelt flour

Control Yourself

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Chaos is all around us: scandals in the pulpit and throughout the pews, political unrest around the world stews, educational systems failing and folks bailing from the faith. But we don’t have to look to systems to see this; chaos meets us on our own streets with gang-banging activity (even in the suburbs), rampant drug use, bucked rolling eyes and children who otherwise despise and disrespect their parents. Yes, these unruly children may even belong to us. We can help our children abandon the chaos and prevent others from creating it when we emphasize their need for self control.

I’m not advocating hollering “Boy, you better control yo’self” while jerking the child to you or slapping an older child who you find too big to physically rule. I’m talking about systematically instituting external measures that will help shift their internal system for change that lasts well beyond the days of correcting a single offense. Getting a real handle on the self can revolutionize lives. Read the rest at EEW Magazine.

My One Thousand Gifts List

#301-310
For toothpaste to clean my teeth
No having to pay to park
A Blue Nile gift certificate that we used for dinner
Indigestion relief
Joshua telling me I’m the best mom in the world
Flynn remembering that I needed and buying me beets
Flynn getting carryout
A nice article on Nichole’s t-shirts
Loving children who love to show affection
Janice showing me what it means to be a loving mom

The Word vs. The World

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Last summer at a children’s birthday party my three-year-old son pretended to be a pirate along with the five-year-old honoree and a gang of other children. The birthday boy and my son really like each other and play well together when they get the chance, but this was not our usual crowd. Earlier this year I had helped the mother with one of her community projects and had babysat her son a few times. I was drawn to helping this single woman any way that I could, including praying daily for her salvation. I didn’t want to miss the party, so I dressed Nathaniel in a pirate’s outfit and suited myself with the armor of God, not knowing what conversations I would encounter.

Two very warm women—a Muslim and a follower of what she calls “oneness”—found their way to me and we talked about marriage. The Muslim was divorced and the other woman a predetermined…Read the rest at EEW Magazine along with other great columns from my sister writers and a host of other articles that I thank God for.

My One Thousand Gifts List

#281-290
Nate and Justus laying on, hugging and kissing me when I was sad about not being able to attend the retreat
God bringing me swiftly out of my funk by reminding me that I will get what I’m supposed to get
Packing for five and only forgetting a few items
The Christian Education staff for our gift of an overnight stay at the Doubletree Suites Hotel
Alone time with Flynn
Jazz at Cliff Bell’s
Being shuttled to Cliff Bell’s and not having to drive
A comfy hotel
Pleasant front desk staff
Laughter with Flynn