A little reminder of God's love...

It’s nice to know you’re loved.  It’s comforting to be told you’re loved.  It’s elating to be shown you’re loved.  Sometimes we look for all these or even just one sign of love from other people but walk away disappointed.  Maybe you’re lonely.  Maybe you’ve been hurt and are scared to love again.  Maybe you’ve never felt love like you’ve desired.  The problem we all run into is that we put all our hope in other people.  It’s not wrong.  It’s natural and God intends for us to love one another, to have fruitful loving relationships. 

Most importantly, though, is our love relationship with God.  He’s the only one who loves us unconditionally.  You’ve probably heard that before, but a little reminder certainly helps.  If we weren’t reminded of God’s love on a regular basis, it’d be like saying our vows on our wedding day and never discussing our love for each other again.  My how doubt could creep in.  God constantly reminds us of His love.  He loves us on the good days and the bad.  He loves you when you feel like a failure and when you’re on the mountaintop.  He loves you no matter what. 

Love is a two-way street if you want a true relationship.  So, it’s important that we also express our love to God.  Tell Him you love Him, and show Him, too.  Follow His Word and strive to be obedient.  Pray and spend time in His presence.  This is one relationship that will NEVER disappoint!  Ever been hesitant to give your love to someone for the fear of being hurt?  Won’t happen with God.  His love is true and pure and everlasting. 

Psalm 136:26 Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Wow!  That verse says it all.  His steadfast love endures forever.  Amen.

Have a Clean House & a Clean Heart

Clean House...if your stress level rises at the sound of these words...you are NOT alone!  Even thinking about all that needs to be done is so overwhelming sometimes.  Have you ever found yourself doing everything else in the world but cleaning the house?  Oh yeah!  If this is not you, and cleaning comes easy as pie to you, please spread your joy and alleviate stress for the rest of us.  You could come clean our houses maybe, I'm just saying.

My mom kept our house immaculate when I was growing up.  She'd put on a "sweat band" and get to work.  We called her Mombo.  She had a bin full of cleaning products and scrubbers that she carried room to room.  She said meanwhile I went room to room making mess after mess.  I'm getting my payback for that as my son does the same thing.  Anyone else?  Oh probably not...your kids are little angels, right?  I mean mine is.  Even while destroying the house I just look at him and marvel at how perfect he is.  God does the same thing with His kids, that's you and me.  We run around making mess after mess, and God watches all the while marveling at His creation.  How, you ask? We're not perfect.  We're full of sin.  Uh huh...and Jesus died on the cross to wash all our sins away.  We see our sin, but God sees us white as snow.  2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."  So though our own righteousness is as filthy rags, because of Jesus taking our sins upon Himself, we are now the righteousness of God.  

If you haven't given your life to Christ yet, go ahead.  Tell God that you want to be His daughter and He will wash away all your sins and give you a clean heart.  If you already live for Christ, you know it's a walk of daily recognizing His grace in your life.  To all the "Mombos" out there, please say a prayer for those of us mamas who feel overwhelmed by housework...that we may clean, clean, clean!...with a song in our heart all the while.

Check out www.vinegartips.com for all the cleaning uses for vinegar that we talked about at MomTime...and so many more!

Momma's need a little strength & perserverance!

We have such difficult, and rewarding, jobs as momma's....sometimes things are going well and we like our role as 'MOM'. Some days the role of laundry chief, diaper commander, clean dish diva, dinner boss and driving queen....can leave us a little depleated! All of our 'umph' is used up, and we feel done.

We need to seek God's supernatural strength (capacity to endure) and perserverance (patient endurance of hardships) to make it through all of the little, and big, trials of mommyhood.

When pottytraining isn't going well, when nights don't include much sleep, when sweet baby coo's turn into sassy talk of a 2 year old, we get tested. Our strength, perserverance and courage...get tested.
Do we give up and go hide? Do we not punish or disciple again, because we've already tried 12 times and give a sucker instead to keep them quiet? Maybe....but just because we've turned to these tactics before, doesn't mean we have to next time.

We can pray. We can persist in pursuing God in prayer, asking for the strength and courage we need.

Joshua 1:9 "...Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid, do not be discourage;

for the Lord your God will be with you wherver you go."

 

While the road may feel long, sometimes glorious & blessed, while other times frustrating and exhausting...may we be reminded of God's promises. Promises that he will listen...that we will have trails...that the same mighty power that rose Christ from the dead, is in us...and that we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.