He does all things well...even when we don't

Being a mother has a lot of different job descriptions. Not only am I the caretaker for my children but I am also a wife, a housekeeper, referee, launderer, dishwasher, decorator, teacher, mess cleaner, cook, organizer, and comforter to my family.

Lately I have really been trying to stay on top of everything and do my job well. I want my husband, my children and God to be pleased with me. I really want to be faithful with all God has given me and if I am brutally honest part of me wants my husband, my children and the world to see that I can do all these things... and do them well.

I get so deflated when I try so hard to do everything and please everyone, and I still fall so short and fail miserably some days. One day I can feel like I am on top of the world as I homeschool my children, meal plan, cook,  keep the house somewhat clean and the laundry under control all with a great attitude. The next day the laundry is overflowing, I have lost my temper with my pupils, and the house looks like it has been through a tornado. I feel like I am in good company and know that you probably go through these roller coaster days also.

On the days when things aren't going as I planned, and not only are my children having attitude problems but I am the biggest baby of them all; I have been asking God to help me to turn my attitude around and not let the rest of the day go in the wrong direction.

Even if I am super organized, have all my meals planned and cooked, keep the house clean, stay on top of lesson planning and homeschooling, pursue my passions and outlets; there are still going to be days when I am just not going to be able to do it all. There are going to be days when my children's and I's sin natures are throwing a protest making it hard to find joy and peace. These are the days when I have to surrender and admit that I am not in control, I am not perfect, I am weak...and He is strong.

When we admit our weakness and our need for Jesus' grace and strength every moment of the day; we will find it, and all the pressures we put on ourselves to perform will be released.

Mama, if you are like me and no matter how hard you try some days, still find yourself messing up; know that it's okay. We are not made to be robots. We are imperfect beings with a perfect Savior. Even if we don't realize our shortcomings and failings, Jesus sees into our hearts and our motives. He is able redeem us and make us more like him every day.

When you have lost your temper, have cleaned up one too many cheerios, have felt the excruciating pain of stepping on a mine field of legos and have been worn out arguing with your strong willed child; call out to the one who made you in his image and is able to use your weakness' for his glory.

When you are scratching your head wondering how your day has turned upside down when you have tried so hard to do everything right; remember that there is grace for you. God wants us to give us and our families our best, but that doesn't mean that everything will always go perfectly. God is not looking down on us only seeing our shortcomings, he sees that we are trying our best and knows that we truly can do nothing without him.

I have been really trying to point out my children's strong points instead of their failings lately. I know that as our Father, God is not focusing on everything we do wrong but wants to encourage us in what we are doing right.

As we go about our day with all our many tasks and plans, I pray that we will allow God to work in us and through us despite our weakness' and help us to see that every failure is an opportunity to cry out to God and admit our great need for him... because he is the only one who does all things well.


                                          "He does all things well." Mark 7:37

The 5 Year Plan That Wasn't

I don't know if it was because I was so Type A or a dreamer, maybe a mixture of both, but when I turned 20 I set a 5 year plan. It looked something like this:

By age 21- Graduate college with my BSW

By age 22- Be well into my new career

By age 23- Marry the love of my life

By age 24- Have a house and be settled

By age 25- Have baby #1

That's the gist of it. Things started out pretty well. I graduated and was on cloud 9. My boyfriend had proposed that Spring and we were preparing for a wedding the following March.

The day following graduation, he called to say that we needed to call off the wedding. There were a lot of peronal battles he was fighting and he just didn't know if things were going to work. Of course, I refused to call it off, but I agreed to postpone. He was the love of my life. I KNEW God had chosen him for me despite his circumstances. 

We worked everything out after I made an immediate move from Georgia to Virginia. A couple weeks after moving I began working as a Child Protective Services Worker. New career, check. We were married in October 2008. I was married at 23. Check.

We bought a house the same fall that we married. Check. My 5 year plan was going swimmingly...until I turned 25. According to my plan, it was time for a baby, but honestly,  neither one of us felt ready. A year later it was go time. Ironically,  we faced infertility issues and our baby plans took MUCH longer than expected. Our infertility journey tested us emotionally, physically and mentally. 

No one had prepared us for that. We saved ourselves for marriage, we were stable, we had good jobs, a house and the desire to become parents...and we couldn't. 

I was mad. I was hurt. I was tired. God had allowed everything else to fall into place. Why not this?

Jesus replied, "You don't understand now what I am doing, but someday you will."
John 13:7

God used that time to draw us closer to Him and eventually we were blessed with a beautiful little girl. They say hindsight is 20/20 and I get it. After G was born I was in a much better place to sift through all that we had been through. It was during that time that God opened my eyes to something that I had neglected to remember: His ways are not my ways and His ways are perfect. His timing is perfect. Everything that He allows in my life is to serve a greater purpose and that His blessings will always be better than I could imagine.

"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine."
Is. 55:8

Have you lost sight of this too? Have you been so busy planning out your life and the lives of your children that you too have neglected to focus on what His plan for your life might be?

Take some time to reflect on where you are, how you got there, and where you hope to go. Did you include God in your plans? Try this: seek God in all things. Invite Him into the big and small decisions that you have to make. He will direct you. He has a plan for your life and He wants to offer you the best.

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Thankful for Dirty Dishes

I truly believe Thanksgiving should be a way of life. Anyone of us could look around at any moment and find someone with less or facing even more difficult situations than ourselves. Some of those same people could really teach us how to live with a grateful heart, for each day they are thankful and rejoicing despite their circumstances.

I want to live like that.

I'm learning to be thankful for dirty dishes. They mean my family has not gone hungry. I'm thankful for the mounds of laundry because my family has been clothed. I'm thankful for the scattered toys, dirty faces and tiny fingerprints on everything because they prove my children are making memories. I'm thankful for the bills I pay because they provide my family with light and heat.

When you stop focusing on the mundane of these things it's much easier to be thankful. I want others, including my children, to notice a grateful heart when they hear my words and see my actions. Afterall,  wouldn't life be that much better if we did some "thanks-living"?