Disciplines of a Spirit Led Life

 This Fall, I had the privilege of teaching a small Bible study group at my church. We worked our way through the Fruit of the Spirit, using a book by Jerry Bridges , The Fruitful Life,  as a resource. I have loved getting back in the groove of teaching and all that entails. I find myself losing track of time as I read sermons and scripture on each topic and spending hours at a time reading and making notes.  I thought this would be a good opportunity to share with you what the Lord is teaching me as I prepare to teach each week.

Each week, as we examined one fruit at a time, we looked at what scripture says about each one in relation to our relationship with God, the world and ourselves.

We know as Believers, we are called to live differently than the world. The fruit of the Spirit are what others see in us as we live our lives, day in and day out. But first, we need to understand what a life lived in step with the Spirit looks like. 

There are 3 disciplines that must be practiced consistently in order for us to walk in step with the Spirit effectively. When we are saved by faith, made right with God through his justification, the Holy Spirit indwells our Spirit. This enables us to live in a way we couldn't before. We now have everything we need to live a life pleasing to the Lord & differently than the world. That's what God did for us, now we need to train ourselves in godliness (as Paul puts it). In order to know God better and live according to his ways, we must practice living godly. 

Prayer

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kind of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Ephesians 6:18

Prayer rarely comes natural even though it should. Most often we use it as a smoke signal for when we are in trouble, at our wits end and don't know where else to turn. We yell "help!" to God. Instead, we should make prayer a daily habit. It should be conversation we start with the Lord as soon as we wake in the morning. 

 Burk Parsons had this to say about prayer,

Prayer is the daily surrender of our perceived control over lives. 

Submission

Submission is yielding to the authority of another. As much as we would like to think otherwise, submission does not come natural, rebellion does. It's a part of our sin nature that we are constantly waging war with.  Submitting to God is recognizing his lordship and sovereignty in our lives. Until our hearts are truly surrendered to Christ as Lord of our lives, there will be turmoil and strife. We will strive and struggle through adversity rather than trusting God. This is not the life God intended his people to live. in Psalms we are told tole "Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)   We cannot walk in the Spirit and think we are in control of our own lives. It just doesn't work. In order for the Holy Spirit to have the ability to work in our lives, we must be surrendered to God and his will for our lives. We much have a clear understanding that God is God, we are not.

Obedience

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 1 John 5:2

And how can we practice prayer and submission and not obedience?  When our daily habits include studying & meditating on the Word, faithful prayer and submission, obedience is not a struggle, because it's our desire. Our hearts and mind are set on Christ and the Holy Spirit is working through us. Obeying his commands, doing his will creates joy and satisfaction in our soul. 

These 3 disciplines are practiced better when the habit of reading and studying your Bible is consistent. It's so important. In fact, unless we know what God's Word says about how we are to live our life, we can't submit to him or obey him well. We may try. We will want to. But his Word is alive and active. It changes us, inspires us and teaches us His ways.

A life lived in step with the Spirit is a life that reflects the character of God. In his book, The Fruitful Life, Jerry Bridges says, 

If we are not taking on the character of God, we are taking on the character of the world. 

We are always growing and changing, who are we growing to become more like?  This is why practicing these biblical disciplines are so critical. 

Peter reminds us in his 2 letter, 2 Peter 1 that God has given us everything we need to live a godly, spirit led life. It's there for us! All we have to do is grasp hold of it, practice it, live it, walk it out. This is the responsibility of ever Christian. 

Grasping the Goodness of God

 In 1999 I was in a very serious car accident. I had all six children with me and I was 10 weeks pregnant when I lost control of my suburban and rolled it, landing upside down in a wheat field. It was the most traumatic thing that I had ever endured and it wrecked me emotionally and spiritually.

I was consumed with depression, anxiety and flashbacks of the accident. I hardly left my house and I didn't drive for months. 

One evening I was at church for a gathering and a staff person asked how I was doing. I'm sure I said the typical, "I'm doing really good!" because then they responded with "God is so good!" That statement bothered me. Friends kept saying it when they heard what happened.  I remember thinking, "No way is he good! If he was, he wouldn't have let this happen to me!" 

Do we really understand what the goodness of God is? I know that in 1999, I didn't understand it. My thinking of God and his goodness was all wrong. 

Elisabeth Elliot said, "We can't really tell how crooked our thinking is until we line it up with the straight edge of scripture."

So, let's see what scripture says about goodness.

Exodus 33:19

And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

Psalm 23:6

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 68:10

..your flock found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.

Zechariah 9:17

For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women.

Mark 10:18

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

Titus 3:4-5

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

This is not an exhaustive list of scriptures on goodness. I encourage you to go do your own word study on this. You will be so encouraged and blessed by it. 

When we feast upon the word of God we taste his goodness and are satisfied in Him!

According to these scriptures, Gods goodness is a gift wrapped in mercy (Exodus 33:19), that will follow us all our lives (Psalm 23:6), as we dwell in it (Psalm 68:10)and enjoy the greatness of it (Zechariah 9:17). We must recognize that only God is good but that it is in that goodness that we are saved by faith, according to his mercy.

God is the source of all goodness and is the measure of what good is! 

Romans 8:28 reminds that all God does in our life is for our good as his purpose for us is accomplished.

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

This verse is often misquoted or taken out of context. But when you view this verse in light of what we just learned from the scriptures above it should be a little more clear. 

What is good according to this verse? This is where my thinking was all wrong because I associated this "good" with only blessings & favor, but there so much more to it. Mark 10:18 tells us that only God is good. The greek word used in this verse is the same as used in Romans 8:28. 

Could it be this "good" is meant to grow us in godliness? Could it be God is using "all things" to make us more like him? 

The answer is yes. 

I had to stop viewing the goodness of God only as what the world considers good and see it as it is...becoming more like him. Sometimes his goodness doesn't feel good, it's painful, miserable, unthinkable, unbelievable...but it is still his goodness and I'm learning to praise him for all of it.

That means our trials, adversity, excruciating circumstances are the goodness of God just as is the favor, prosperous, pleasant and happy times God brings to our lives.

This sheds a whole new light on my life as a godly woman and how I am to respond to circumstances in my life.  When I respond to trials as a  sharpening of my faith I find joy in the goodness of God.  His mercy is so great and I'm so thankful he doesn't leave me in my sin but by his goodness he has washed me clean so that I may worship him and give him all the glory!

I don't know if that staff member who told me how good God is realized how he upset me, but as I look back I'm thankful he said it. It showed me how wrong my thinking of God was. Over the next 18 months I fought and I struggled and then the goodness of God consumed me and I surrendered to him. I experienced his grace and mercy in ways I never had before. He broke me and then restored me and his joy is mine!

By His Spirit and through His goodness I can be a woman of mercy and wisdom, patient and forgiving who embraces her trials to grow in godliness.

Praying Psalm 16

I love praying scripture. I believe God loves hearing his words prayed back to him. 

Last week I shared on my Instagram and Facebook page prayers I was praying from Psalm 16.  I wanted to share them here, especially since it's been a while since I've posted here. Ok...more than a while. Let's go for 3 years. Lots of life has happened that I may post about one of these days. In the mean time....

For a week, I took a couple of verses everyday and wrote them out, then prayed them. I did this in a journal, but if you  have a Bible study notebook I also have this free download you can use.

Psalm 16:1-2

"Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge,  I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”

Psalm 16:3-4

"As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips."

Psalm 16:5-6

"The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance."

Psalm 16:7-8

 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

Psalm 16:9-10

Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.

Psalm 16:11

 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy;  at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

What a rich passage of scripture to help bring me into a better understanding of what kind of woman I want to be. I am so thankful for Gods Word and how it never returns void. 

Finding Gratitude

I had thought I would do a video for this post. I'm really trying to stretch myself these days, and video's are an area that really intimidates me. I'm not sure why. I used to speak in front of hundreds of people at a time.  Anyway, I decided I would write this out because I was really afraid I wouldn't get through the video without blubbering & shedding every tear in my head.

This time of year is hard for me. There, I said it. I feel guilty for it being hard because I know that part of it is my own attitude towards our living situation right now. We still live with my husbands parents and sometimes I just don't understand why the Lord would continue to keep us here. Then there are days when I know why he has. But that doesn't make it easier. 

So, gratitude can sometimes be hard for me. 

Then today happened. 

Last night, me along with 6 other dear friends threw a Christmas party for our Young Living team members. It was so much fun to love on our team members and bless them. 

We asked each guest to bring a non-perishable food item to be donated to our local food pantry. They gave so generously and today the kids and I had the pleasure of delivering the items to the food pantry.  We pulled up to the little building and were surprised to find people already in line for food. 

The kids helped me to unload the car and as I stood there waiting to speak to the coordinator I looked at those in line. How humbling it must be to stand in line for food because you have no money to buy it. I thought to myself, "That could be us". 

You see, that was us at one time, except we never stood in line for food. We had no money for food. We tried to stretch our dollars as far as we could but it would never go far enough. I know what it is like to open my refrigerator and not see anything there to prepare for dinner. I know what it is like to go to bed at night and not know how we will eat the next day. It's a horrible way to wake up.

We had to rely on the government for a time to purchase our food. We were issued a card to use at the grocery store. It was humbling and humiliating. I felt as though all eyes were on me as I swiped that card to pay for our food. 

I can still remember the day when I left that card at home because we were finally able to buy food with our own money again. There was freedom and empowerment in that. 

While I'm thankful I never had to stand in line to get food for my family, I recognize that sometimes God uses ways to provide for us that we may not like. I was thankful we could have plenty of food, but I never liked how the Lord provided that food for us. I'm just being honest here. I thought I was being thankful. I thought because I would say with my mouth, "Lord, thank you for providing us food" that I had a heart of gratitude. But, really...I didn't. 

Gratitude is one of those attributes that leads to other attributes. When we practice gratitude we experience joy, freedom and happiness. 

We are told to be thankful! We aren't asked. I find that very important in scripture. I never find the Lord saying, "Can you be thankful?"  "Can you have gratitude?" 

No. He says, "Be thankful". It is His will! 

I think that is because he wants so much for us, he created us to live an abundant life. He came so that we may live and live life more abundantly! Yet, our attitudes so often hinder us. We are unable to experience His joy because we can't find gratitude hidden in the life he has given us. 

I am a work in progress. I'm not going to tell you I'm all there because I'm not. Obviously, because the Lord keeps bringing this up I still have a lot of work to do. But that is the wonderful part about living this life for Him. He never gives up. He's always there, waiting for us to "get it". His love never ends and his mercies are new every morning! 

I challenge you to write down things in your life right now that you would like to change. I'm talking circumstances, things happening around you. Read them out loud. Now, rewrite them and turn them into a prayer of thanksgiving. Pray them daily for 30 days. Come back here and comment on this post and let me know how you are doing. 

Did you find your gratitude?

If you are on Facebook, follow my page, Joy Moms. Come say hello!

The Day I Quit

You know you have said it too. "I quit".
I've been quitting for years actually.
I've quit motherhood.
I've quit marriage.
There was even a time in my life when I just wanted to quit living. But I didn't quit...obviously.

Life is hard. Right? We all agree? That is not a new revelation. I am not sharing profound, mind blowing information with you. Life is hard. It is messy. It is daily.

God never promised us that life would be easy.

A few days ago I had let so many things overwhelm me. (It didn't help that my quiet time was severely lacking.) I went to bed that night totally and completely done. I was quitting my business. I told the Lord I was done. I gave him all kinds of lame excuses too. I had to use a lot of oils to get to sleep that night. My mind was so unsettled.

The next morning I read Psalm 25.

How faithful our God is to be patient with us when we lose sight of the vision He has given us. His words draw us back in, remind us of His confidence in us and the love that we can't live a day with out.

I didn't quit my business. In fact I have a renewed love for it! The Lord continues to put lovely people in my path and I am so thankful for each of them!


Psalm 25:4,5
Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.

Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

The Danger of the "What-if" Thought

Before I knew it, my heart was racing, hands were sweating and I was unable to move. All because I had a thought.
A "what if.." thought.
I wasn't facing an actual situation yet. I was thinking it into existence though and my whole body was reacting.

I was overcome with fear over something that had not even happened.

What is wrong with me? God, what are you doing?

"This isn't me." He whispered to my spirit. "I don't create fearful thoughts and worry."

And then he reminded me of what Paul said in 2 Timothy. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, and timidity, but of power, love and self discipline."

Then I opened my bible and it fell open to Isaiah 43.

Do not fear, I have redeemed you.
You are precious and honored in my sight.
Do not be afraid, I am with you.

Dear Lord, the enemy wants so badly to see me walk in fear rather than joy. He knows I am less useful to you when fear rules in my mind. Thank you for giving me the power to take every thought captive and make them obedient to you. That is my heart desire!

Greater Joy : Sunday Solitude

What a wonderful reminder this verse is as we start a new week.

Psalm 4:6-8 speaks volumes to me.

Many people say, “Who will show us better times?”
    Let your face smile on us, Lord.
⁷ You have given me greater joy
    than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine.
⁸ In peace I will lie down and sleep,
    for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.

The joy we experience from the Lord is truly better than any material possession that we could have. Some days are harder than others, but at the end of the day we can lie down and sleep knowing God is in complete control of whatever we are experiencing.

That is peace my friend!

Peace the world does not understand.

If you are on Facebook, visit my page; Joy Moms. It's my place to encourage moms, share life and hopefully add a little humor to your day on occasion. Motherhood is hard. Motherhood without Jesus is impossible!

Be Transformed: Keeping our Mind on Jesus

This past week, Romans 12:2 was my verse that I was to pray everyday. And I want to be honest, I didn't do it everyday like I wanted to. I allowed my mornings to be hijacked by other things I lost my quiet mornings. But as soon as I could, I was drawing away for prayer and meditation on this verse.

 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

There are several key words that continued to stand out to me, but the phrase, "be transformed by the renewal of your mind" played over and over in my mind all week.

I had to evaluate what I spent my time thinking about, what did I fill my mind with (images, words, etc.) and what did I spend my time worrying about. It all boiled down to my mind and what it is in it.

There are several scriptures where God is telling us what to do with our mind.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Matthew 22:37, And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

There are so many more, I'll let you look them up. 

So, what is the big deal with our mind? Why does our mind need to be renewed in order for us to be transformed? I'm so glad you asked!

The  mind is the core of our being. What our mind is filled with, determines what we do, what we say, how we feel, how we respond. Nothing in us can change until our mind is changed.

I love when I find a science connection to Scripture. I did a simple search on YouTube on the science of the mind and found a short, but fascinating video that explains how our brain works. 

Now I understand why I must fill my mind with the truths of scripture.  Now I see why scripture tells us to love the Lord with all of our mind. It matters so much! This is how I can know and discern the Lord's way for me. There is so much of the world blasting untruth that if I do not prepare my mind, I may begin to believe it.

So, what happens when we are transformed by the renewing of our mind.

We can know the will of God.

We know what is right and acceptable in his eyes.

We know God!

We are transformed!

Oh Lord, I know that on this side of Heaven I will never get it right. But help me to fill my mind with the truth that you are faithful, trustworthy and worth of all praise and honor. May I experience the mind of Christ through your promises and be transformed.

Praying with Anticipation in 2017

Several weeks ago I began asking the Lord to show me a direction for 2017.  I was surprised at what he showed me.

I would not say that 2016 was a great year. Sure, there were plenty of blessings and great things that happened. There were many times I could see the Lord at work.  But when I think back on the year as a whole, it was a struggle. Not because we had so many trials, but because I struggled.

I struggled with God.

I struggled with our current living situation.

I struggled with my business.

I struggled all of 2016 and I shouldn't have.

It was not a year of submission or surrender. It was a year of struggle.

So, when I asked the Lord for a word for 2017 and he said, "Pray with Anticipation", I was a bit surprised.

Pray? That is what you want me to do? Don't get me wrong, I know how important praying is. It just wasn't what I was expecting. I realized that most of my struggle last year was mostly because of my lack of true prayer.

True prayer is not..."God! Why? Why? Why?" which is what most of my prayers were.

True prayer is pausing, praising and then petitioning.

So, then I asked, "What do I pray?" and he gave me 12 verses to pray.

I have decided that I am praying these verses, one verse a week three times a day. At the end of the 12 weeks either I will just start all over with the same set of verses or He will give me a new set of verses.

Can I just tell you that I already see a huge difference in my spirit. I am not struggling. I am resting. I am full of His peace & joy. I am excited about this new year. I don't know why, except that God has placed within me an anticipation and it is energizing.

Will you join me? Will you pray with me these scriptures? Or maybe the Lord has different scriptures He wants you to pray.  I know that when we pray his words back to him, He is free to do remarkable things through us!

He is ready to do something new! Are you ready?

Because She Believed

I'm journaling my way through the scriptures leading up to Jesus birth this month. I started doing it last year but never finished and this year I got off to a late start. So goes my life.

It has been very refreshing and deepened my understanding of all that God did to prepare his people for His son. I love when the Lord gives me a refreshed and new view of characters in the Bible that I have heard about my whole life. The Lord brings them alive in new ways every time! I am ready to keep it going with a new book of the Bible after Christmas. 

And then there was Mary.

The Bible doesn't give us a lot of details about Mary. We have to make a lot of assumptions about her based on the culture of the time and the events that surrounded her. The character of God also gives us some very definite hints about her character because he chose her to play such an important role; being the mother of Jesus.

But this morning as I read my scripture passage I read it as a mother, expecting my first child.

I couldn't help but let my mind wonder into the mind of Mary on that night when Jesus was born.

Wait! I can't go into labor here! I want my mother with me! I need the midwives! I want to be at home! We are in an animal barn in another town with complete strangers! The Son of God cannot be born in an animal barn! It smells horrible in here! It is dirty! God, this isn't how it is supposed to be! My baby needs to be born in a quiet, clean place where I can protect him and keep him warm, not in a barn!

I don't really know if this is what Mary was thinking, but I bet a barn was not where she expected to give birth. I'm sure she had a plan for Jesus birth. I'm sure she had idea's of where the birth would happen. Her expectations were possibly all being tossed out with the straw in that barn as her contractions grew harder as the animals looked on. And to make things worse, as far as we know, Joseph had to help deliver the baby. That was not appropriate according to culture. 

Mary was a real person with real feelings and even though she had great faith, I have a feeling she also had a lot of spunk about her. Serious spunk! Her whole life she had to deal with people who didn't understand who Jesus really was.

She could have recalled scriptures read to her by her father.

"For I know the plans that I have for you, ' declares the Lord,' plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

"Many plans are in a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand." Proverbs 19:21

How many times have I let my expectations of something or someone cause me to miss out on truly experiencing God's blessings. Many times!

How many times have I let my own plans get in the way?  Many times!

How many times have I become so caught up in the chaos around me that I can't see what God is trying to do? Too many times to count.

And because she believed...

But Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. Luke 2:19

I don't think anything happened like she had thought. Actually, her life had been turned upside down for the past 10 months so I'm sure his birth didn't surprise her much at all.

Maybe that is why she was able to cherish it all in her heart. She knew who was orchestrating this world changing event. She knew God would do what he said he would do. That is why God chose her to be the mother of His only begotten Son!

Lord, give me the faith of Mary. A faith that is so solid that any plan I have is simply laid aside for your will that is always so much more exciting than anything I could ever dream.

Time to Stop, Rest and be Thankful.

It's Thanksgiving Eve.

Chocolate Meringue Pies are in the fridge along with the Orange Cranberry sauce. Pecan pies are on the buffet where more desserts will be added tomorrow.

Turkey is about to go into the roaster and my list of side dishes is posted on the fridge so that I don't forget any.

Thanksgiving Day is our family's favorite holiday. We love it because there are no expectations for gifts. Just come and eat with us and let's have a great day together as we remember how faithful the Lord has been this year to us.

So, you want the honest truth? This has been a really hard year! I am not going to dress this up. It's been really hard. And it is often difficult to remember the good things that happened.

It's been a hard year for my business.  It's been a hard year for my husband who worked 2 jobs most of the year. It's been a hard year for my Father in law as he battled cancer. It's been a hard year for my father as his health is not good and doctors can't seem to find any relief for him. It's been a hard year for my daughter who struggled with anxiety and depression. It's been a hard year for 2 of my sons with their jobs. It's just been a really hard year!

In History, Sam, Gracie and I have been studying Early American History. Last month we were reading about the Pilgrims who spent 3 months on the Mayflower in pursuit of a life of freedom from England.  Once they landed they were not ready for what was about to happen. On the ship, only one person died on the trip. That was remarkable. But when they began trying to make a new life for themselves, they realized just how difficult things would be.

I'm sure you know the story. Thanks to the help of Samoset & Squanto, the Pilgrims learned how to farm, and hunt. The Pilgrims were so thankful for the help of these Native Americans and for the new life they had made for themselves, they devoted a day away from work to spend time together giving thanks to God for his provision and protection. But wait... It was a hard year!  This is why they set aside one day to rest and be thankful!

What happens when we are thankful?

We are more hopeful of the future. I know my God is faithful. I know that the trials we experienced this year were not in vain. I know that whatever he allows next year may also be hard, but He will still be there just like he was this year.

We are energized and empowered. There is just something about choosing to say, "I'm thankful for this". It is choosing an attitude of joy. That gives us strength.

We are healthier.  Grateful people experience fewer aches and pains and they report feeling healthier than other people, according to a 2012 study published in Personality and Individual Differences.  We also sleep better and are less stressed.

Of course the Pilgrims didn't have scientific studies showing them why they needed to stop for a day and rest. But, we know the benefits of it.

I'm so glad we have a day like Thanksgiving that forces us to stop and spend time with our family and friends. Time to focus on what the Lord has done for us and how we are blessed.

So, yes...this past year has been hard. But a quick scroll through my Facebook pictures reminded me of the many blessings we experienced as well.

Sarah came home from the Philippines early. That was an awesome blessing!

Sam went to Children's camp for the first time and loved every minute of it!

We kept Brody, my grandson, everyday for several months until his parents found another daycare for him. I love that!

My kids all have good jobs right now!

My husband is only having to work one job & even though it is extremely hard on his body, the Lord is using it to provide for us.

My Father in law found out this week that he is cancer free!

So yes, it has been a hard year, but God is good and we are thankful for the many ways he has blessed us.

Ok, so I'm off to get my Turkey in the roaster!

I pray you have a very Happy Thanksgiving with your family!!

Are You Listening?

I found this quote and it stuck with me.

As a mom, my day is full of background chatter among my kids. I usually zone it out so I can get my work done. But then there is that moment when one of them says, "Mom, did you hear what I said?"

And usually, I didn't hear them. I didn't realize they were talking to me. I was so focused on something else.

I want my kids to come to me when they need to talk. But if they are always fighting for my attention eventually they will stop coming. I work from home, and my day is full of a lot of multi-tasking.  Making sure I am available can really be a struggle at times. Creating a schedule has helped. Teaching them to respect my schedule is often a battle.

One day I observed some friends in a discussion. One friend was explaining a struggle she was having with one of her children. We were all listening to her explain a specific situation. I looked around the circle of friends as she spoke.
One was checking her phone, but nodding as if she were listening.
Another was deeply engrossed in the story, you could tell by her face.
And the last mom continued to interrupt with her own story that was made to sound much worse than the story being told.

Which mom was truly listening? The second one of course.

I have to admit, while my friend was pouring her heart out to us, I was thinking of ways to respond to her. But, when one of the moms continued to interrupt I realized that I wasn't listening to my friend anymore than she was.  I text my friend later and said, "I'm so sorry you are struggling. I am praying for you."

I never want to be like that last mom who interrupts with my own stories or ideas. I can't learn how to encourage or serve others if I don't listen to them.  I won't know how to pray for them if I don't listen to them.

But the truth is that I have been her on many occasions.

Lord, help me listen with my eyes, ears and heart so I can help comfort & encourage those you put in my path.

Are you listening?