Category: Encouragement

This summer our family took a vacation to territory new to us. One of the states we drove through was North Dakota. It was a typical state where farming is the primary industry. Mile after mile of fields were dotted occasionally with a house or very small village. There was one thing about almost all of those farms that just amazed me though. On almost every acre there sat a huge pile of rocks. Not tiny rocks mind you, but rocks that would take one or more very large, strong men to struggle to move. It became very obvious this rich farm land had once been incredibly rocky. The early settlers must have performed backbreaking labor for days just to ready the fields for plowing and planting. They must have had to work quickly and as a team as the growing season that far north is very short. (In the winter the cold is bitter and the fields covered in snow.)

I am sure many settlers buckled under the work, gave up and moved to easier places to farm. I imagine all of them were tempted to give up more than once. It appears though that the work of those who toughed it out and remained was worth it. Even today, generations later, the fields yield beautiful and abundant crops.

Continue reading Lessons From Rocks

A few years ago, I decided to walk the Avon 3-day for breast cancer. The 3-day part involves walking sixty miles over a three day period. If you are familiar with the Atlanta area, we started at Lake Lanier and ended up in Piedmont Park! The organization gives you a very useful training schedule. That ten month training period was the most intense exercise period of my life. Motivated primarily by fear, I walked from when my daughter left for school until she returned home almost every day.

I would love to say that every year, I get up almost every morning and do my strength training and an hour of cardio. The truth is that a lot of the time life gets in the way. I am gradually learning that it is okay to drop the ball once in awhile. The trick is to remember to pick it up again as soon as you can.

Continue reading Life Really is a Marathon

When I gave birth to my daughter, I kept thinking about the Bible story of Hannah. Like Hannah, I was having my first child later than many women. I meditated on the verses in I Samuel chapter one. I marveled at the grace of Hannah as she not only dedicated her young son to the Lord, but later left him to be raised by Eli.

I longed to have the attitude of Hannah. While I have no desire to send my child to be raised by someone else, my husband and I wanted to dedicate her to the Lord. I prayed to the Lord that He would give us the wisdom to train her heart and mind to long to follow His path for her.

Over the years, I have studied scripture to glean wisdom on training children. I have quizzed women who have adult children who love the Lord. I have used what I learned while studying for my degree in education to write Biblical lessons for my daughter that were fun, exciting, real and practical.

I hope to use this blog to encourage parents who embark on the journey of raising children they have dedicated to the Lord. I don’t claim to have all of the answers as I am still on the journey. I only know what has worked for us (so far) and what I have learned from more experienced mothers whose children are still actively faithful to the Lord.

I pray you will join me on this journey. May God bless each of us as we attempt to raise our children to be enthusiastic servants of the Lord.