Being the Best Mom

Archive for March, 2010

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:20-23

Yesterday I read Romans 3:10-26 to you and talked about the hope we have – in spite of our sinful condition – because of the big BUT God inserted into history. He sent Jesus. And through Jesus, a righteousness from God came to those who believed. So our journey began.

Today I want to continue that thought.

With a question.

Who is in control of your life?

You see, at the beginning of time – when God created the world – everything was perfect. There was no sin and mankind was in a perfect relationship with God. But then sin entered the world through disobedience, and that perfect relationship was broken. And from that point on, all of mankind was sinful by nature – unable to be in the relationship with God for which we were created.
From that point on, there was a battle for control. Would we submit to God? Or would we serve our sinful nature?

Romans 6 tells us that we were all slaves to sin at one time. And the result of that slavery is death. Eternal separation from God. Because God is holy, and cannot be in the presence of sin.
BUT everyone who has faith in Jesus has been set free from sin, and is now controlled by God. And the result of that slavery? Eternal life!

I am so thankful for the Gift of God, and for the hope I have in Jesus!

So, I’ll ask you again. Who is in control of your life? Are you still a slave to sin? Or have you become a slave to God?

We are all on a journey with Jesus, somehow. It may be that you are walking with Him, or perhaps you’ve been trying to avoid Him. My hope for today is that you will honestly consider where you are on this journey, and that you’ll come back tomorrow so we can talk some more.

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Burning head rested on my chest and warm fingers caressed mine as we opened the first page of  This Little Prayer of Mine by Anthony DeStefano.  The other children joined us before a word had been uttered.  Owen snuggled on my left and the older two squeezed in around the edges.  We let the simple words of this prayer-poem quiet our hearts.  Gentle illustations (by Mark Elliot) brought smiles as we absorbed the words and Mama held onto a few lines and whispered them over her feverish boy. 

But most of all I’m grateful

for your love that never ends.

Please love me God, forevermore.

That’s all I want.

Amen.

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May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

These words – and the hope within them – were a balm to my soul. I pray they will be for you, too.

Have a wonderful weekend. And please join me on Monday as we begin a week-long Journey with Jesus. I’m looking forward to it!

Love to you,

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Hi everyone! I hope you had a great week.

Don’t you just love this time of year? Here in California, the trees are blooming, everything’s green, and the sunshine’s out. It’s been gorgeous!

A…

Visit my website at www.mycup2yours.com for full content, links, and more…
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April Fool’s Day is next week. And those of you who have been around here long enough know what that means at my house. But some of you are new, so I feel obligated to share this fun little thing with you. *grin*
Next Thursday, we’ll be having…

Cake for dinner!

Sort of.

That cake is really two meat loaves baked in 8-in. cake pans, stacked and “frosted” with mashed potatoes. And decorated with ketchup and mustard dots.
We also have jello that looks like a drink, and “salad” for dessert.
If you’d like the details on how to make those dishes, click here for last year’s post.

Enjoy!

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It’s a question I’ve been asked about more than a few times by fellow bloggers who are looking to grow their audience.

Since one of the purposes of Talkin About Thursdays (see…

Visit my website at www.mycup2yours.com for full content, links, and more…
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Last summer I took my boys to Lake Lansing Park because they wore me out with their begging asked me to. I had gone through a rushed and hectic morning and hadn’t been able to have my quiet time with God. Figured once the boys were happily settled with their fishing rods, I could sit and enjoy the quiet with God.
Yes. It all sounded great to me!

To read the rest, click here.

Oh, and the Moms’ Night Out page has just gone ‘live’ on my website. I’d love to know what you think of it!

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To set the scene:
It was Saturday morning, and you know what that means, right?
Gotta do chores. It’s the same thing every Saturday morning around here, and at this point I really don’t think I should need to remind the kids about it. They know it’s Saturday (That’s why they didn’t get up and go to school, right?) and they know what they need to do.
But for some reason, last Saturday found me prompting and reminding and, OK, nagging more than usual.
And I was not happy.
I started to wonder what would happen if I put as much effort into serving my family as my kids did. Contemplated not doing anything (make dinner, do laundry, get groceries) until they wore themselves out with asking me. I wondered, would they learn a lesson? Would they finally “get it”?

And I began to get some pretty good ideas.

But then I sat down to have my quiet time. And I did something you probably shouldn’t do if you want to go down your own road of good selfish ideas.
I asked God to speak to me through His Word.

Oh, He is so faithful!

I read 2 Corinthians 10-13 (HIS plan, not mine!) and after encouraging me about finding my strength in Him, God totally grabbed my heart with the end of chapter 13. Clearly, there were some problems in the Corinthian camp, and Paul was addressing the issues. But his love for the people came out in verse 10.

This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority – the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.

(emphasis mine)

As I began to pray, it occurred to me that perhaps the better way to approach my children is as a model. Perhaps I should serve them without complaining. Maybe I need to show them more diligently what it means to be a willing servant. It could be that in my serving I can build them up, rather than tearing them down with nagging.
And then the arguments set in. If I do that, won’t I just be enabling them to carry on with ungrateful hearts? I surely don’t want to get into enabling. Besides, mocking them would be so fun!
And I lay on my bed.
Conflicted.

Until…

I thought about the fact that I had just asked God to speak to me. And only HE can change my heart. And my heart was certainly being changed.

At which point I moved from being conflicted to being convicted.

Know what I mean?

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