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Parenting Adult Children- Uncharted Waters

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Yesterday I read a post where many Moms were honestly confessing their struggle with parenting adult children. I'm one of them. They're adults. They are your children. You are their parent. You can't 'undo' any of those roles, but the way you operate in those roles changes significantly as your children become adults. How do you go from teaching, nurturing and guiding them, wiping noses  u have to listen to me because I'm your mother' way. You still soothe hurts, but kissing the boo-boo doesn't do the trick anymore. As I thought about it, the Lord began to form an idea. Praying for our children is so, so important. But praying for our adult children is going to look a bit different. The Psalms is a great place to start. I'm going to begin praying the Psalms for my daughters and son...and in the process, I believe I'm going to begin to understand better how God wants me to relate to, encourage, and share wisdom with them. This week I...
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The Damage of Dysfunction and the Hope of Healing

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This one’s been on my heart and mind for many years.   I speak from first-hand experience.  Starting in childhood, this set the course for much of my life and my view of myself, my worth and even of God.   Maybe it’s familiar to you as well.   Healing can come, but it takes time.   The Enemy knows the triggers and will do his best to keep you in bondage.   That said, here we go… I'm fascinated by old houses.  Their character and charm intrigue me and all of the unique details, many hand-wrought, are something rarely found in today's construction.  I used to poke my husband and say "wouldn't it be amazing to get an old house and restore it?!"  He, in turn, would cringe and start to twitch...to me it was a work of art, to him, just a lot of work.  What I failed to see was so often the houses would have hidden issues, damage to the foundation, rotting wood from years of neglect and lack of proper care.  The damage wasn...
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Hezekiah's Prayer

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Hezekiah’s prayer in Isaiah 37:14-20 is a powerful moment in history.   The backstory is the King of Assyria was threatening to destroy Jerusalem.  He was a king to be feared- Assyria had already wiped out other nations and people, Scripture uses the terms ‘laid waste’.  It’s not hard to envision what that means. The Assyrians already visited Jerusalem, threw out some threats, and to add insult to injury, they did it speaking Hebrew, so all the people around could hear and understand the threat.  It was a dire situation. Then, Hezekiah received a letter from the Assyrians outlining what they planned to do and how they would do it.  It wasn’t enough that they came in person to taunt and threaten, but then they put it in writing. Hezekiah knew things looked bleak.  Every other nation that faced Assyria was now a part of Assyria, their people dead or enslaved, their resources commandeered, their land absorbed ...
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For the grieving

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       Grief is hard.  Really hard.  Words can't fully describe the pain and any attempt to always falls short.  Recently, several friends of mine have lost loved ones, husbands, fathers, and even a child.  The deep grief and pain is almost crippling and watching them walk through this valley is so hard.  My heart hurts for them.  As believers in Christ, we know God understands, but sometimes that can feel distant and sound trite. I’ve been thinking about John 11:35 “Jesus wept.”  It’s the shortest verse in the Bible, yet holds a depth of meaning and significance that we often don’t take time to ponder.    On the surface, it confirms a bit of Jesus’ humanity, yet there is so much more to these two words.  What do they say to us? The context of the story is that Lazarus, the good friend of Jesus and brother to Mary and Martha was sick.  Friends told Jesus th...
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But, do they deserve it?

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Here's the thing...we at times judge others on their 'deserved-ness' ....do they really 'deserve' help....what have they done to 'deserve' aid and assistance...they don't 'deserve' it, they've done nothing to earn it. But, if God judged any of us on whether we deserved His grace, His mercy and His redemption, Heaven would be empty and Hell would be overflowing. Think about it. God doesn't stretch out his merciful hand to us to redeem us because we've done anything to deser ve it. Quite the contrary. We are undeserving. Yet He redeems us anyway. If we are supposed to treat others as God does, ..... (think about that).... we are not to determine whether someone is worthy, we are just supposed to offer help, grace, a meal, forgiveness. It is God's to judge. It is God's to avenge. It is ours to obey, follow, and show love. Scripture says they will know we are believers by our love (John 13:35). As Americans, I th...
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Homesick...

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I can remember as a kid, I would get desperately homesick.   I found it difficult to even go to a slumber party.   While other kids were enjoying camp, I stayed close to home.   It wasn’t until I was in my later high school years that I actually managed a week away.   It wasn’t that I was scared, or maybe I was.   But all kinds of feelings of anxiousness would well up inside me and I’d feel alone, out of place, worried for those I loved who weren’t with me.   It wasn’t the house or place that I missed, but my family, my ‘people’, those with whom I had strong and deep relationships.   It was really hard.   Harder still was to not let on that while I was smiling, there was a battle going on in my heart and mind.   I just wanted to be home, safe, with those who loved me and in the place where I knew I belonged.   My mother used to comfort me and reassure me that it would all be well, giving me messages of hope and reassurance, but u...
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The image in the mirror

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Self-Image.   If we’re honest, a lot of us struggle in this area.  I don’t know about you, but I’m not really one to look in the mirror and think “Wow, I look good!”  Most days it’s more like “Well, this is as good as it’s going to get.”  The mirror shows me the flaws.  The ‘less than’ reaches out and catches my eye, demands my attention, and reinforces to me that I’m far from beautiful.  But today, I read something that caught my attention in a different way. Psalm 84:1 “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty.”   And I stopped…and began to think about what that really means.   If I have Christ in my heart and life, and if the Holy Spirit indwells me, then I am God’s dwelling place.   And if I am God’s dwelling place….that makes me lovely.   Lovely.   Beloved.   Worthy.   1 Corinthians 3:16-17 says “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your ...
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