by Kimberly | Oct 21, 2017 | 31days, lavish hospitality, parenting
Write31 update: I was going to write this post last night after our trip to Stone Mountain. But, even though we were home at a normal time, got the tired boys in bed after a quick bath and family worship, I just didn’t have it in me. Two days of eating a lot of carbs and stress of an all day trip, with Hashimoto’s I’m learning I have to slow down when I need to.
So, you are getting two posts today. I hope you don’t mind!
I am a mom of two preschool boys. They used to be newborns, then babies, then toddlers, and now in preschool. We have made it through every stage with naps, netflix, and mostly the grace of God.
But, one way that sabotaged every minute of my parenting is comparison. Comparison for when my kids walked or talked. Comparison in whether I was breast-feeding or making my own baby food. Comparison as to whether I was using cloth diapers or Huggies. Comparison on how fast my kids are reading or playing well with others or climbing on the big slides all by themselves. Comparison on if they scored goals during their first soccer game.
And I know the comparisons just keep coming. It doesn’t stop when they reach kindergarten or middle school or college.
And comparison is anything but hospitable. It isn’t gracious to yourself as a mom (or a wife or a woman). It isn’t hospitable to your other mom friends. So, just don’t do it. Its hard. But, rely more on the fact that God has created you to be the Mom that you are to the kids that you have right now. And He will give you the grace to complete your task!
Quote from Sharon Hodde Miller’s Free of Me.
by Kimberly | Oct 19, 2017 | Books
My husband asked me the other night if I ever thought I would say I struggle with anger. Never. In a million years.
That is actually one of the ways I would describe my parenting – on my bad days (or my kids bad days).
And I love me some Ed Welch, a great counselor, very competent at getting to the heart of the problem.
This little book about Anger is hard to read because I find me one every page. It takes less than a minute to read each devotional – but pray the Lord would allow it to stick for more than a minute. I need to keep this book by my bed and read a short chapter each day.
I would encourage every single mom to pick this up. And read it. And allow the Spirit to soften your bent toward anger. Like he is doing mine. (And this isn’t a book big on application, but let the Spirit be your application writer.)
Thanks Litfuse for this book. All opinions are my own.
by Kimberly | Oct 19, 2017 | Books, mothering, parenting
As mamas, we all need help – and having resources to help us in our journey with God, especially in the little years that can be so lonely, help tremendously.
Lord Have Mercy is a devotional written by Ellen Miller for moms – and it doesn’t matter what stage your kids are in.
I love how it is saturated with Scripture. I love how they are short because you know that moms don’t have all the time in the world to do a quiet time. I love it how it is practical and calls you to action.
But, I don’t really see that it is so much better than other Mom devotionals out there – or even devotionals in general. I just didn’t strike me as a must read or must recommend. It may be perfect for another mom, and it is saturated with the Word of God, but just a personal opinion.
Thanks Tyndale House for the book. All opinions are my own.
by Kimberly | Oct 19, 2017 | 31days, lavish hospitality
Update on this blog series:
Thanks for reading. I’m learning new ways to practice hospitality – I hope you are too. I just had a good friend design a cover for the e-book that I hope will come out early 2018 (or regular book if anyone wants to publish it.). I will start pulling all these quotes from each day and writing in November!
Today’s post is about something that effects and affects every area of hospitality. Our humility. Left to ourselves we are not humble people. We are prideful and only care about ourselves. Our rights. Our ways. Our happiness. The selfie-generation didn’t just start a few years ago. It has always been.
With our God: come to Him with our weariness. He will give rest. Come to him with honor and adoration – He will show Himself to us. Come to Him with our desires – He will fill our hands.
With our spouses: Put their needs above our own. Seek to outdo one another in showing honor. My husband excels at this – all.the.time. He has told me in recent weeks that I’ve grown in humility in the time that he’s known me. That is in direct correlation to God putting him in my life almost 7 years ago now and the work of the Spirit in my heart.
With our children: We mess up as mamas. When I mess up (often), I will usually go to my kids, get right in their faces (affection), and talk to them really softly and gently. I think I do this because I want to mend the brokenness, and act in opposite fashion than I just did: loud, harsh, pushing them away.
With our community: When you open your home to people who don’t live within our houses, we speak volumes to their need – and our need. Our need for community. That alone speaks of humility because it says that we are not enough in and of ourselves. God made us for community. He made us for relationship. I stink at this sometimes, especially when going out. I was a poor representation of the gospel this past week at a new friends. It had been a bad day, it was my son’s birthday, and I don’t think I barely looked anyone in the eyes and I just barely answered their questions. I didn’t want to be there and others could tell. I can’t go back – but I can move forward out of my brokenness and let Him do a new thing.
Quote taken from Lord Have Mercy (Ellen Miller). Photo by Evergold Photography of a cupcake I made.
by Kimberly | Oct 18, 2017 | 31days, Books, lavish hospitality, mothering
As a mom of two preschoolers, two things I think about the most of anything is my children’s safety and their eternal life. One I can do something about and one I can only point them in the right direction.
Its funny, this week my 4 year old had 5 shots and 1 toe prick to draw some blood. All routine for a 4 yo check up. As I was holding his arms across his chest as they were sticking the needles in his thighs, I watched him scream over and over again. I didn’t feel like I was providing much safety for him. And after the pricks were over, he was calling for Daddy – all he wanted to do was go see Daddy. To have Daddy hold him.
Now, if something happens when Daddy is around, then he calls out for me. So the kid can’t make up his mind.
And now thinking back, I think of me, holding his arms down, covering his face to he couldn’t see the needles being put into his legs, closing my eyes in tears as he screamed, wondering if he would ever trust me again.
Isn’t that often how God is. We are safely in his arms. Being held in the palms of his hands, nothing can take us out of his grip. But, how often does his face cover our screams? How often do you think that God cries and longs for our hearts when we are hurting?
On this earth, I think we are to be “little Christs”. So, we are to be Jesus with skin on. Being hospitable to people may be holding them in their pain, letting them cry, catching their tears. My husband often does this. And I think of the safety I feel in his arms. And it makes me long for the Savior – who will never hurt me but was hurt for me. So that I may rest secure in Him.
Quote taken from a new book by Lavon Gray (thanks New Hope Publishers) Tuning Your Heart to Worship
