Things Mama Told Me

As best I can tell I either just missed the millennial generation or I just missed raising one. Most sociologists and social scientists tend to group millennials as anyone born between 1980 and 2000. I was born in 1975, my first son was born in 2005. I missed them both by 5 years or less. I suppose I am a pre-millennial raising a post millennial. I am on the cusp between two generations and I have an interesting vantage point. Millennials, I baby sat for you all through middle school and high school. I grew up in a house with two younger sisters, who according to their birth years, are millennials. I have many friends in my community and my church who are considered part of this generation. However there's this social phenomenon in our culture and especially in the modern day church that we need to do more to engage the millennials and make them feel accepted and loved. While I don't dispute this fact for one second within the church, I need you all to hear this. Our ch

I think a woman’s deepest need is to feel loved and if we are honest with ourselves, our own insecurities sometimes make us do things that we never wanted to do or take us places that we never intended to be taken. Your presence is always felt and when you are gone, it is felt even more. Not because you are the hired help, but because you have huge influence in the lives of other. The greatest influence begins at home. With your husband and your children. You don’t believe it, but you can stake your life on this one. Proverbs 14:1 tells us that a wise woman builds her house but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands. What does that look like for us today? Our attitudes in marriage How we talk about other people How we deal with conflict How we deal with disappointment Our expectations in our family How we give love We must learn to set our minds on the things above and not on the things of this world. We must have an eternal perspective in marri

  #Happy Friendsgiving Good friends are simply the family that we choose!  If you stopped by because you read my devotion today over at  Encouragement Cafe ,  WELCOME!   So glad you are here!  Let's thank God today for the gift of friendship and ask Him to give us the wisdom to choose friends who love us, sharpen us, encourage us, and remind us that a good friend truly is a blessing from above!  Help carry one another's burdens, and in this way you will obey the law of Christ. You think you are something when you really are nothing, you are only deceiving yourself. You should each judge your own conduct. If it is good, then you can be proud of what you yourself have done, without having to compare it with what someone else has done. For each of you have to carry your own load. -  Galatians 6:2-5 (GNT)  Getting married, moving to a city where you knew no one, buying a home, and starting a new job was an adventure. Except, all of my former friends were in

If you stopped by because you read my devotion today over at Encouragement Cafe , WELCOME!   So glad you are here!  In a season that requires us to focus our attention on giving thanks and giving to others today's devo is a reminder that sometimes it's the smallest actions that can make the biggest impact in someone else's life.  Be on the lookout this holiday season for ways to be thankful, share blessings with others, and above all else, leave enough margin in your schedule to simply be available. God can place the most unintentional situation into your life for the most intentional reasons, to simply pray with someone, share hope with someone, and above all LOVE someone like Christ.  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12 (NIV)  The text message came to me a few days before Christmas. Desperate, my sweet friend, a newly divorced mother of six, was in a panic. Her ex-husband was threatening to not deposit the monthly chil

If you stopped by because you read my devotion today over at  Encouragement Cafe , WELCOME!   So glad you are here!  Today's devotional is a reminder of what happens when we try to be self-righteous before a perfect and righteous God. We exhaust ourselves and we absolutely fall short of God's glory every time. I spent years trying to do and say the right thing, then I got so exhausted and disenchanted by it all that I swung to the opposite side of the pendulum and rebelled. I was in the big leagues of being a backslider.  Neither place is good. Both places leave you feeling empty. I pray that we can learn to bask in the fullness of God's grace as we let go of our perfectionism and let God perfect us through Christ Jesus.   Remember, Lord, Your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.  Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to Your Love remember me, for You, Lord, are good.  Psalms 25:6-7 (NIV) As a little girl, sitting

How do you know if you suffer from Post-Traumatic Summer Disorder. These signs can help you recognize the symptoms of a person who lives for the summertime and grieves when seasons change. 1) You break into a cold sweat when you see school supplies on the store shelves on July 5th. Why does mainstream American marketing start shoving #2 pencils and notebook paper down our throats the day after Independence Day? We still have 8 weeks of summer to go people!! 2) When you are pulling pool floats out of the garage and you see snow boots and sleds, it makes you hyperventilate. "Please, no snow days this year." 3) When someone tells you that it is just too hot and they need cooler weather you try your best to restrain yourself. This is summertime in the South. If you don't like hot weather then move to Maine. You also know that these are the same people that will be complaining in January that they want "just one good snow" and by February for the snow to e