Giving Thanks

In Everything Give Thanks

 

Image courtesy of Morguefile.com

 

 

Wishing you a wonderful

Thanksgiving!


Jeanne


What are you thankful for?

Unhealthy Roots or Rooted and Grounded in Love



….Rooted and grounded in love.

The truth of this verse just magnified in my understanding this past week. You see, I had some other roots vying for my attention—ones that had dug deep and held tight, crying for the sunlight and nutrients. Instead of comprehending that I am fully loved and wanted, the roots whispered the opposite message.

Need Encouragement as a MOM?

Stephanie Shott encourages moms through her ministry called, The M.O.M. Initiative. I remember being a mom of young children--the exhaustion--feelings of inadequacy--and the desire to be the best mom I could be. Stephanie shares about an event coming up next summer you won't want to miss...
Enter the drawing for a  free ticket to this upcoming conference--just leave a comment for Stephanie and your desire to attend. Also, be sure to get your free resources from The M.O.M. Initiative.

 

The M.O.M. Initiative...because we are BETTER TOGETHER

I understand how hard it is to be a teen mom and a single mom who is struggling to be all and do all - because I was one. 

Each day held its own basket full of burdens for a girl who wore too many hats and didn’t realize the significance of her role as a mother. I was a single mom without Christ, without a clue, and without a mentor. 

As the years passed, I married, and not long after that I became a Christian.  

Everything changed except that I still didn’t have a mentor and I barely had a clue. 

That was twenty-five years ago and as I reflect back on the seasons of my life, I can’t help but wonder where all the mentors were when I was raising my children. I remember looking up to several women in the church but was somehow unable to wiggle my way under their wing. 

I couldn’t help but wonder where all the mentors were. Where were those women who were willing to step into their Titus 2 shoes and pour their lives into other women? 

After becoming a ministry leader I discovered that mentoring tends to intimidate even the most courageous women. They wonder what they’ll talk about, what they’ll do. 

Many mentors lack the confidence to enter into a mentor/mentee relationship because they lack the resources and support. 

In January of last year, I started The M.O.M. Initiative to change all that.  

The M.O.M. Initiative is dedicated to help the body of Christ make mentoring missional...to not only mentor moms within the four walls of the church, but to reach out in the community and mentor moms in crisis pregnancy centers, homeless shelters, prisons, juvenile shelters, low income apartments and wherever young moms can be found. 

The ministry has snowballed and women are coming out of the woodwork to change their communities and this culture through the power of mentoring. 

I’m super excited to share with you about a conference coming to the Southeast for MOMS, MENTORS, and MINISTRY LEADERS!  

It’s BETTER TOGETHER, a conference by The M.O.M. Initiative and it’s for women of ALL ages and in ALL seasons! 

It’s a conference for you...and for those you minister to!

With powerful keynotes from moms and ministry leaders just like you, and over 40 breakout sessions that are taught by experienced leaders and include a wide range of topics such as:

  When Motherhood Should Come with a Training Manual

  You Can’t Be 1/2 a Mom (for moms in blended families)

  Social Media Wise Parents

  Bully Proof

  Balancing Life and Ministry

  Fight for Your Family

  The Making of a Mom

  Lord, Help My Marriage

  Reaching the Hard to Reach Child

And MANY MORE BREAKOUTS that will meet you right where you are! 

To register CLICK HERE Save $10 if you register before December 1st. 

Seating is limited so you will want to get your tickets now and invite your friends! 

You’ll be empowered, encouraged, refreshed and refueled...ready to fulfill your God-given calling with the confidence of knowing you don’t have to take your mom journey alone. 

Don’t miss THE Southeast’s MOM conference of the year, BETTER TOGETHER by The M.O.M. Initiative... 

Because we are ALL better together!

 

Thanks, Stephanie for sharing this wonderful ministry and upcoming conference with us. Remember readers, be sure to leave a comment, and include your desire to be entered to win a free ticket to the MOM conference.
 

Are you part of a mentoring relationship? I would love to hear how you are being encouraged to become all that God wants you to be.

 

                                          Jeanne

Free Resources for Moms

 

 

Is Your Heart Deceiving You?

Congratulations to Sherry Carter--you have won a copy of Partly Cloudy with Scattered Worries by our guest blogger, Kathy Collard Miller. Please contact me with your email and address...

Today, please welcome my dear friend, Andy Lee. I invited her to share with you while I am speaking at a women's retreat in New Hampshire. You will love her heart and her transparency....

Image courtesy of Morguefile.com

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

I don't like this scripture today. Somewhere inside this grown woman's body stomps a seven year old girl with her hands on her hips throwing a temper-tantrum. It's the same little girl turned 16 whose moods lure her into pity parties.

I don't know where she came from! I just woke up with her this morning. Yesterday I was a thriving, content, purposeful woman. What happened? I can think of a number of reasons why my dark-side rose up: lack of sleep, change of seasons, not spending enough time in my Bible.

My heart moped around all morning entertaining old arguments about purpose and value. I truly did not want to fight these old battles. I’m tired of them. But like a patient husband, who knows his wife needs to get her frustrations out, Jesus silently allowed me to vent this morning, then He led me to these verses.

I opened my Bible to Jeremiah 17:7,8. As I read, my eyes danced past verses seven and eight to verse nine… The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?  

I know the Holy Spirit led me to it. Sometimes He sends us one way, but He has greater purposes for our direction than we can see. God whispered, “Why are you trusting your heart today? Stay on course. Trust Me.”

Spirit leads spirit and my eyes moved back to the intended verses.

“But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit" (Jeremiah 17:7,8).

I love when God does that.

I realized that I often trust my own heart, my emotions, more than I trust God. 

I don't want to be a withered up old tree. I don't want to worry. And I always want my life to be fruitful. I want to make a difference on this planet before I go home. Those desires can only happen as I trust the Lord.

How about you? Do you find yourself trusting in your heart more than God and His promises? If you are, there is a very good chance you are being deceived.

May I pray for us?

"Oh Lord, thank you! Thank you for your Word of truth. Your Word brings clarity, revelation, freedom. I was in bondage today, chained by my own deceiving heart. Help me and your beloved reading these words to trust you more than our emotions. Make us like the trees in Jeremiah 17. We love you. Thank you Jesus. May our purpose and value be in You. Amen." 

 

Andy Lee is a blogger, writer for Wilmington FAVS, Word Weavers International mentor, and women’s retreat speaker. Her deepest desire is to encourage others in their faith and to follow their daily call from God—whether to a neighbor or a nation. Though red Oklahoma dirt runs through her blood, she now lives on the coast of North Carolina with her sweetheart of 23 years and their three almost grown kids. One baby bird is still in the nest. Find her faith inspirations at www.wordsbyandylee.com, Facebook page Andy Lee (Author) and www.christiandevotions.us.



A suggested resource: 

Worry Can’t Change Others

My guest today is Kathy Collard Miller. Her newest book, Partly Cloudy with Scattered Worries has just released. I've invited her to share a little about worry...something I can relate to. How about you? Be sure to leave a comment for Kathy and be entered for a chance to win a copy.

Worry Can't Change Others

by Kathy Collard Miller 



There’s something deep inside of us that believes worry can change others. If someone we love has a different perspective than we do, we worry. If someone we love has a different belief about God, we worry. If someone we love has a character flaw, we worry. We just know their wrong thinking will mess up their lives. 

Some of these worries may truly seem “worthy” of worry. Your mother may not know Christ as her Savior, and she has cancer. Your son may be on the street taking drugs. Your friend may demonstrate a lack of integrity at work. Another friend drives while intoxicated. You may have tried to reason, cajole, quote Scripture, even manipulate each person into changing their ideas and their behavior, but nothing has worked—not even prayer. God hasn’t changed them either. You fear something bad, really bad, is going to happen.

Even if it’s not a matter of something really bad occurring, we can easily take responsibility for someone else’s happiness and then respond in an unhealthy way. I recognized that possibility as we walked through the grief process with my mother-in-law, Audrey.  

My husband's parents, Don and Audrey, were married for sixty-two years and in all that time, Audrey was only alone overnight for fewer than twenty nights—total. Even when Don was away during two different wars, Audrey’s mother lived with her. Four or five months before Don passed away, Audrey remarked to me, “If something happens to Don, I don’t know if I can live alone.” Then about a month later she commented, “I’ve been thinking about living alone and I think I can do it.”

I was so proud of her. 

The first night of Don’s hospitalization, Audrey stayed in our home. The next day she surprised us with her spunk, saying she wanted to return to her own home. I volunteered to spend the night at her home, but she said, “No, I have to get used to it.” And she did, even after Don died a week later.

But that doesn’t mean I didn't worry about her loneliness. During the first two weeks we made sure she had something to do with us every day. But realizing we couldn’t keep that up for long, I wondered how she would cope.

In my prayer time I prayed verses for Audrey dealing with the topic of loneliness. I began praying Psalm 146:9 for her: “The LORD protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow; But He thwarts the way of the wicked” (NASB). Unexpectedly, I thought, I shouldn’t try to fill the place the Lord wants in her life.

Wow—that hit me hard. In my worry about her loneliness, I had begun to feel responsible to make sure she wasn’t lonely. I wrote in my journal: “I can try to be there too much. She could depend upon me and/or Larry instead of looking to You, Lord. Help me, Father, to resist the compulsion to ‘be there’ for her too much.”

When I told Larry about what the Lord had revealed to me, I jokingly (but with some seriousness) quipped, “God doesn’t want me to be your mom’s grief savior.” If I had continued to worry about her, I could have easily become that. And I’d be good at it because I so easily take responsibility for the happiness of others.

When I talked to Audrey later that day, she enthusiastically said, “Guess what Chuck Swindoll talked about on his radio program today?”

“What, Mom Audrey?”

“Loneliness. It really ministered to me.”

I laughed. God had come through. I didn’t need to be in charge of making sure she wasn’t lonely. Of course, she’s going to be lonely—she’s alone for the first time in her life. We certainly are going to help her, but she should primarily look to God, not us. Otherwise, she’ll draw too close to us and not closer to God.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this....How has God met you or someone you know in the midst of your worry?
                                                                     
                                                      ~  Kathy

Want to be entered for the drawing for Kathy's book? Share a time when worry had an impact on your life. How have you discovered more of God's care even when worry threatened to overwhelm you? We will announce the winner on November 11, 2013.

BOOK SUMMARY AND BIOGRAPHY:

It is possible to worry less through trusting God more. Regardless of the storms of trials, temptations, worry, uncertainty, confusion, or regrets that you're facing, you can trust God more. Partly Cloudy with Scattered Worries offers a conversational style, personal testimonies, practical illustrations, and solid biblical teaching for breaking anxiety and the devastating effects of worry. Each chapter includes Discussion Questions for individuals or groups, along with a “Letter from God.” In addition, a profile of a woman in the Bible who struggled with or experienced victory over worry is featured in each chapter to inspire every reader to see God's hand in her life. 

Kathy Collard Miller is a speaker and author. Her passion is to inspire women to trust God more. She has spoken in 30 states and 7 foreign countries. Kathy has 49 published books including Women of the Bible: Smart Guide to the Bible (Thomas Nelson) and she blogs at www.KathyCollardMiller.blogspot.com. Kathy lives in Southern California with her husband of 43 years, Larry, and is the proud grandma of Raphael. Kathy and Larry often speak together at marriage events and retreats.

Order a copy of Kathy's book in paperback or Ebook here: