Archive for 'Family | Relationships'
The Benefits of Purging
Posted on April 24, 2012, by Kim, under Family | Relationships.
My children always have a wonderful way of making me face things that I deliberately avoid! Today, it came in the form of my daughter who approached me about a question regarding our refrigerator. As I was preparing for a warm and relaxing midday bath, I hear Abby loudly from the kitchen, “Mom, can you help me get this shelf out of the fridge?” I was not sure why she was asking me this question so I went to find out why she needed the shelf removed. Well, my very helpful daughter that was helping me put groceries away earlier decided that the fridge really needed to be overhauled. This was not news to me, as I tend to avoid the “nasty” duties of being a homemaker.
While I am leery to tell you what happened, I am going to, and hopefully, I can provide some humor! Abby said, “Oh my goodness, Mom!!!! You wouldn’t believe the sour cream that I found in here!” I said, “Oh, I am sure I would.” She continued by telling me how that sour cream was at least four different shades of green. Being a homeschooling mom, I immediately referred to this day as Science and we logged our time in our book while we discussed mold! Every moment is teachable, moms!!! Well, Abby continued to pull out one Tupperware bowl after another, after another, after another! I quickly reverted to sarcasm and said, “I think maybe I need to have a Tupperware party, as I definitely don’t have enough bowls here!” As Abby told me how she almost threw up looking at that sour cream, I with tears in my eyes, reaching for the Vick’s Vapor Rub to put under my nose to keep from smelling the death that was wafting from the garbage disposal, just smiled and nodded! It is so funny now, but it has me thinking!
How much junk and rotten things do we have in our lives? I mean, we are faced with junk every single day. It could be from a gossipy neighbor, girlfriend or co-worker, or possibly in the tv shows that we allow into our homes as entertainment, what about the books that we read or allow our children to read, the friends we keep, the activities in which we are involved. All of these things should be reviewed daily, weekly, even monthly! It has been about two years now that my husband and I cleaned our DVR of shows that we just simply couldn’t justify any longer! I will not name those shows because this isn’t a conviction post, it is just an encouragement to really just sit and re-evaluate what you’re allowing into your life (fridge), because whether we think so or not, it will always rot!
Don’t get me wrong, there are some things worth saving! I love eating left over soup, but if I don’t get to it after a week, it starts to go bad, much in the same way as a relationship problem. Sometimes, it is best to pray about a situation before discussing it with someone, it’s kind of like putting it away in a spiritual Tupperware bowl, but if you don’t address it, Satan will allow the mold and rot to set in and eventually it will spoil the friendship! Tend to it immediately, friends! It’s important to preserve relationships, as well as purge the ones that are rotting your lives!
No Comments
What I Needed, But Didn’t Always Hear
Posted on April 23, 2012, by Kim, under Family | Relationships.
Today has been a day of reflection for me. I am not sure why, but I do know that my mind has been saturated with thoughts. So, rather than beat around the bush, this is what I want to share in this blog post!
We all live life feeling like, whether or not we need it, that it would be nice to have someone tell us that we are doing a good job. We have things in our life in which we are passionate. My passion is raising my children to be fully devoted followers of Christ, to be kind, compassionate and loving, and to be a God honoring wife. I don’t think this is out of the realm of possibility with me and I strive for this daily. Sure, I don’t need to be told that I am doing a good job to do a good job, but it sure is nice to hear it. I remember being a young, stressed out, sweatpants wearing, puke and snot stained mommy of two and feeling completely under-appreciated. God gently rebuked me of this tonight. His words to me were, “Have you been telling the young moms around you how well they are doing?” The answer is, “no.” So, I hope this blog post will be able to reach all my young mommy friends out there, and even those I don’t know.
My dearest mommy friends that are just in the trenches of bringing up your children in the love of our Lord, take heart! These are very tiring times for sure! You may look in the mirror and think, “I am so tired of only wearing ponytails, or will this baby weight ever come off,” but take heart! You may be tired of waking up every. single. night. to nurse, change and burp your baby, but take heart. You may be so tired of repeating the word, “No” a hundred times a day, but take heart. I look at your babies in admiration, as they are all beautiful children with huge smiles on their face! A smile on a baby’s face says a whole lot! It means that you love them, take care of them, and nurture them. If you are doing those things, you are doing an awesome job!
I am telling you to take heart because as I was watching my children today accomplish tasks that involved my teaching through the very tough years, my heart was overjoyed. God allowed me to see something today that I haven’t seen in a while. He allowed me to see that all my repetitious no’s, and conversations have truly paid off. He allowed me to see that all those talks we’ve had about manners and respect have paid off. I also got to see that God is working on their hearts now. Why is that? Well, it is because I relied on God to get me through the toughest mommy moments and now I am seeing the blessings.
Take heart!!! It will happen, but until it does, just know I admire you and love you for accepting the highest calling a woman could ever have! You are the first one to teach your children to love, care, respect and succeed! From what I see in you, my dear friends, you are doing a great job!
No Comments
In This World, Not of It
Posted on September 26, 2011, by Kim, under Education | Homeschool, Family | Relationships.
It seems as though things are getting harder and harder as the days go by. I am not only talking about my own healing since my dad’s passing, but the world is just deteriorating day-by-day. I know that every generation has said the end is near, but for some reason I really believe it will be in my lifetime. Things are getting harder and harder every day. Just this week I have a friend experiencing her first round of chemotherapy after being diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcenoma breast cancer at the age of 35, a friend’s husband has been relocated to Tullahoma, Tennesse and their house hasn’t sold, so she will be staying here in Indiana with their six children, and a friend will lay to rest her baby sister that died from complications after being diagnosed in 2008 with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. She was only 34 and has left behind three small children and a husband.
My mind is filled with so many questions that leave me fully relying on a very blind faith. I have always hated the saying, “It’s not fair,” but to me there seems like there’s nothing to say, but that! In my quiet time with God a couple of weeks ago, I had a full out temper tantrum. I cried out to God, saying “God! How is this your plan? How is this even fair! How could you do this?” All the “how” questions you can think of, I asked. I told God that I just don’t understand why life has to be so hard, and the Holy Spirit fell on my spirit and calmed me and whispered ever so gently in my ear, “Kim, you are supposed to long for me, for heaven, for peace, for happiness and nothing of this Earth will ever fill your desires.” I was overcome with such peace. See, the thing I learned is, God is so much happier when we hate being here! We don’t reside on this Earth to fulfill any other purpose than to build God’s Kingdom, and I have been very challenged by this assigment.
Sure, we can enroll our children in the best schools, push them to be the best athletes or to the top of the class, but for what? If we aren’t teaching our children to build the Kingdom, are we even teaching them at all? People, we have a calling! It isn’t to live vicariously through our children, but rather raise bold young men who will be warriors for their family. Who will not fight with them, but rather for them! We are to raise young women who care for her family the way God instructs, to uplift her spouse and be his helpmate. Some young women today, don’t even know how to make toast. What is wrong with our world? We have simplified things so much, that it has dumbed down our society. We have people complaining about things not being fair for their children, thus building the mentality of entitlement. What happened to working hard to accomplish something?
I know I am on a soapbox. I know I am on a tangent, but we need to wake up! Our days are short! People are out in the world dying without a relationship with Christ and how many of us are just sitting by and watching it happen? Where is the passion that God so badly wants us all to have? I remember hearing a message by Tony Campolo, and he said something like this to a congregation of believers, “People are dying and going to hell and you don’t even give a damn! As a matter of fact, you are sitting there more concerned that I said ‘damn’, than the fact that people are dying and going to hell.” What is wrong with us?
Sure we want our children to be intelligent, and want to watch them succeed. We want them to have the best and why wouldn’t we? We are created in His image and he wants the same for us. Our problem is when we fail to let God receive all the glory for our accomplishments. I am not trying to bash us all over the head with a Jesus stick, but I just feel so burdened that we have dropped the ball! Instead of being weird, we have become just like the world. We are not called to blend in with the world, but rather to stand out and be a shining light.
There are simple solutions to these problems! We should always be seeking opportunities to shine God’s light and to start good relationships with non-believers, or those who’ve been away from God and the church for too long. It is our HIGHEST calling!
Listen, I am not trying to scare or even make predictions, but let me just put this out there. Since my dad’s been gone (5 months), our family either knows or knows of people who have lost their loved ones and it’s been in the double digits. Granted people die everyday, and our sensitivities are very heightened because we’ve lost a loved one, but I believe the people that God has called to be with him are about to serve a greater purpose. God is building his army for a great war, where he will swoop in and finally save us from this sinfilled world! Aren’t you longing for the day? I know I am! I wish I could join hands with everyone I love so deeply and just walk right into heaven, but I can’t. So, until then, I will do my very best to live in this world, but be not of it!
