Monthly Archives: April 2016

Posted on

For the Mommas Who Are Making Room

{Mom Unity} Episode 4: Foster Moms

by

It has been a couple of weeks, but this series isn’t done yet!  Today, I have the privilege of sharing the heart of a momma who loves deeply and represents many mommas who are making room in their homes, their families, and their hearts for children in need of foster care.

Remember, in this series, I have asked all of the moms these three questions:

1. What is your greatest need?

2. What do you want my kids to know about yours?

3. What do you desire most from other moms?

If you haven’t had a chance, pop on over and read about some other incredible women, Episode 1: Adoptive Moms,  Episode 2: Moms of Children with Special Needs, and Episode 3: Let’s Hear it for the Single Mommas; you will be both informed & compelled to love well.

But, this post will help us learn how to be Jesus’ hands and feet to mommas who are on the front lines, loving with radical, inconvenient, heart-wrenching love.

What is her greatest need? 

Focused, intentional prayer–prayer for biological parents to become healthy/make healthy choices, prayer for children to regain strength and adapt to new surroundings that they didn’t choose.  Prayer that Jesus is evident to all involved through the many meetings, hearings, and appointments.

Am I the only one surprised at this being the greatest need?  I anticipated: help! or babysitting! Women of God, there is no excuse not to meet this need for foster mommas. Let’s be intentional about prayer for these mommas and the precious babies they care for.

2. What does she want my kids to know about hers?

She wants our children to know that her foster kiddos did not choose to come into foster care, and that might mean they act out as they’re adjusting.  But, they’re still just kids (hmm….sounds familiar from other episodes, doesn’t it?)

She suggests telling your kids that the foster children are simply new brothers/sisters to her kiddos, but in Jesus we are all siblings anyway, so it really isn’t too big of a deal.  A great perspective, right?

3. What does she desire most from other moms?

Support, coffee, and adult time, are all still needed (just like all of us mommas need), but she begs for our patience and flexibility as we work to set a date to get together.  She has now added to her schedule: weekly visits, doctors appointments, and a million pieces of paperwork (let alone the home she cares for and her biological babies).

She shares too that though she has grown to handle them just fine, it can be hard on a foster momma’s heart when questions are asked such as: How long will they be with you? Why are they in your care? Will you adopt them? And, she urges us to guard ourselves from judging the biological parent’s choices and lifestyles.  She told me, “if you can’t say anything nice, think of something!”

Foster mommas are being Jesus to children who desperately need to feel Jesus hands and know His heart; let us, the women of God, rise up and support, love, and intentionally cover in prayer these mommas!

 

Posted on

The Steadiness He Desires for You

by

“I am training you in steadiness.”

Sitting in my backyard sweating, my jeans rolled up so my pasty legs could feel the sunshine, it felt as if those words carried a swoosh of cool air.  The kind of air that comes pouring full force out of my mini-van’s vents when the AC is finally ready to do its job–it is both refreshing and shocking.

“Too many things interrupt your awareness of Me…Awareness of Me can continue in all circumstances, no matter what happens.  This is the steadiness I desire for you.” (Jesus Calling, Sarah Young)

On my best days I am organized, kind, compassionate, sometimes even pretty flexible, but I am not sure I would call myself steady. I mean sure, I can keep a cool exterior when baby boy has thrown himself on the ground in front of the pantry because I won’t give him a 13th serving of raisins, and middle baby has trailed pee all the way through the hallway while dashing for the bathroom. But even if I maintain calm on the outside, my inside doesn’t feel steady.

Mommas, He is training us in steadiness.  Am I the only one who craves a steadiness of spirit? Am I the only one who can walk in peace when the big storms roll in, but it’s the mundane, the everyday–gashed foreheads, a whiny preschooler, and a bottle of cumin powder dumped on the kitchen floor, my oldest’s inability to pick a pair of leggings–that interrupts my awareness of him?

I also know based on playdate conversations that my kids aren’t the only ones who would like to snack all day, but the Lord spoke to my heart, what if you snacked on me all day long? What if we worked out our steadiness training with steady snacks that kept us aware of Him?

Some snack ideas:

  • Scripture cards (notecards on which you’ve written, printables from Pinterest, etc.
  • Reminders on your phone (set a reminder or event to pop-up with a scripture, or just a reminder that He is present)
  • Set your home screen/lock screen to something that will remind you of His presence and His character
  • Sing (alone or with your kids) songs or praise & worship
  • Leave your Bible open on the counter (because we all know that we spend a lot of time in the kitchen)
  • Listen to YouVersion’s audio Bible while cleaning, folding, chopping
  • Send a scripture or encouragement to a friend
  • Look out your window (I mean really look out your window) and notice Your Creator’s work.

“We can get so caught up in the world of physical locations, pleasures, and experiences that we lose sight of the fact that the most essential thing in life is living in daily communion with a God whom we cannot hear, see, or touch.” (Forever: Why You Can’t Live Without It, Paul David Tripp)

Happy Monday, ladies. Steady on!

Posted on

Why I’m Not Panicking

by

Trust His love. This has been my mantra over the last few months, since my sister (in-law) was diagnosed with an acute & aggressive leukemia (Read my post, When the Ones You Love Suffer)

Jesus-followers like to encourage each other, especially in wilderness seasons, to trust Him. But, I am more captivated & comforted when I tell my soul not just to trust Him, but to trust His love for me.

His love that made a plan to redeem me before I was conceived. His love that did not spare His only son–mommas, His son–from being brutally crucified, let alone misunderstood, disrespected, and blasphemed while he walked this earth.  His love that never fails, never gives up, never changes though I change, wander, and am, at times, faithless. This is a love that is worth trusting.

This is a love  onto which I can hurl my sorrow, anger, confusion, fear, and angst.

When my sweet man went to bed earlier this week with a high fever the night before the grand opening of his business, and despite my intercession, woke up feeling crummy, I wanted to fix it.  I wanted to carry it for him somehow, but after sending him off with prayer, vitamins, and hugs, I had to trust His love for Mark is deeper than my love for him.

Every single day when I kiss my big girl’s cheek and watch her walk into her school building, I have to trust His love for her is more powerful and sustaining than my love. Because, let’s be real, mommas, if I didn’t trust His love I would be at her school all day everday! (Read about learning to Trust Him with Them, here)

 

When the leukemia in my sister is stubborn and refuses to play nicely after three rounds of in-patient chemotherapy, when she is already weary and is kicked in the gut of the soul with delays and frightening numbers and percentages, I have a choice.

I can panic, or I can trust His love for her is capable, available, and at work.

My flesh wants to panic, it wants to run around finding solutions and alternatives, but my soul knows better.

Friends, the Word tells us that in this world we will have many troubles, so I know that many of you reading this morning are walking through your own fires & floods. Let me encourage you today, do not put your trust in doctors, security systems, supplements, researched plans; do not panic, either.  Trust His “never-stopping, never-giving-up, always and forever love.”