Gateways to Joy

I think about today's topic over at Ann's.   "Living a resurrected life."   "Is there even such a thing," I ask? I think and I think.  Think on this subject for weeks ... participating very little 'cause I just didn't get it.   Not much anyway.  Then this morning, while talking to my husband about where I am ...  I tell him, "I'm going to live again.  I am not going to let your ways or any other persons ways point me in the direction away from God.  "I'm going to live freely in His realm.  This is it isn't it?  This is how you live a resurrected life.  You live totally surrendered to Him. I'm going to share something with you.  It's my reality.  I don't share this for any other reason, but to help you see how God is working on me .  I don't know your situation.  W hat I do know is that regardless of how dim a situation seems to be ... when we give...

W e had left Galveston in the middle of the night.  My husband drove the 26 foot U-Haul  which held all of our material possessions, and the kids and my mother rode with me in my new car as he led us to the fifth largest Metropolitan city.  "Houston here we come."  I remember saying.  Big dreams.  Big things.  New beginnings awaited.   God was finally smiling on us .  This is what I had always suspected a child of God would experience—heaven on earth, the anticipation of good things to come.  I was excited!  I had my two babies finally, a boy 15 months, and a girl four months.  And The Art Institute Of Houston awaited. I was enrolled as an Interior Designer major.  My heart was set on designing air crafts & luxury hotels.  My long term goals ... travel and move to the Big Apple.  My husband and I had already talked about putting the kids in the best private schools.  We were s...

H ow did I get here?  Here is so different from where I thought I would be as a mother.  I mistakenly thought that "with time parenting got easier."   In many ways things are much easier for me now as a mother, now that my children have gotten older.  But when I ask, "How did I get here?" I mean in a place where it doesn't seem like much of what I'm teaching is being grasped by my younger children anymore. It seems as if they are going backwards right before my very eyes, and this causes me a lot of mental anguish—seeing the default of their character. Even though I've taught them at home all of their lives, even after teaching them line upon line—precept upon precept God's Word, right from wrong.  Even after instilling values in them.  I see attitude.  Ungrateful hearts.  Sin abounding.  There's just no way of eluding that sin nature. Little ones bicker, and I hea...

Notes to self as I parent today, 3 lines that have radically changed my parenting– what I call Poetic Parenting : 1. Heart Connect… only then Direct. Instruction can only thrive in the soil of authentic relationship. Before offering instruction, consider how to touch the child gently. Think on how to frame all instructions in the context of a loving, affirming relationship. If instruction bears tensions then check out the soil: perhaps the relationship needs fertilizing. If the relationship has been well cultivated and nourished, and instruction still yields resistance, perhaps offering more opportunities to practice receiving and implementing instruction may nourish the young shoot towards a joyful attitude. Questions to self : Am I making eye contact? Am I touching? Have I nourished this relationship? Am I connecting before directing? 2. Love, what did I say?…And will you obey? Asking the child what was said allows the child to offer feedback to ensure they did indeed hear ...

I get lots of emails from hurting souls.  Pain caused from a spectrum of situations.  Some of you are at a place of anger—feeling that the pain is unjust.  Some of you feel that it's God's will and you are going to go through it, and some of you believe that due to the consequences of your sins, you are reaping what you've sowed.  Whatever your reason: pain is pain, and it hurts.   I know pain too.  I've given it and I've received it.  Some of it was just and some was unjust {from my perspective}.  Regardless of how we view our situations the Lord is the one allowing it .  He allows it for various reasons.  Some reasons He allows us to find out on this side of heaven, and some He does not.    What I'm finding out through my own experience and hearing from some of you is that  we are willing to go through pain when we feel it is just.  What is difficult for many is accepting t...

P ain.  Many of us despise it—find it despicable and do our best to avoid it.  Have you ever stopped to think, to conclude  that pain is not your enemy, and very well could be your gift? I know it sounds crazy, but what does pain do, what is it for?  It alerts us to problems or potential problems.  It tells us to check out a situation, to dig deeper and go further.  If there is no pain, how would we know to seek out the care of a medical professional?  If there is no pain, what would make us draw nearer to God? My hope this morning is to encourage those of you who are experiencing pain now, and for those who will come to experience it in the future to remember, " There is always purpose beyond our pain."  I f you take nothing else away from this blog today please carry that with you close to your heart.  And even more so remember that this is particularly true of pain when you are a child of the Alm...

D o you ever wish that your Christian walk were better?  I often do.  I have many friends who have shared with me for years their daily Bible reading.  I have tried to be consistent in my Bible reading, but truth be told I am not.  I can go for weeks and months being consistent in my daily reading, then something always seems to capture my attention causing my reading to go by the way-side.  Sometimes its the kids getting into activities which pulls me in various directions, or I get in the mode of "tiredness" which at times causes me to stop reading for days. I do pray daily.  I like it better when I bend the knee and pray {which I tried to do throughout my day}.  I especially love the days when I have those lingering talks with my Father.  On some days depending on how well I have planned my schedule, or better yet, how well I adhere to the schedule I have to whisper heart-felt talks on the run. Happily—today is one of those days I am a...