Tag: daughter

Hobbies and habits

What if I were to make my husband my hobby? I could love and pay attention to him when the hustle and bustle of life allowed me the time. Whenever I could find a hour or two I could squeeze him in to receive my undivided attention. As life’s pace picked up I’d put him on the back burner until things slow down a bit again. Oh but throughout my days I am sure I’ll be dreaming of a perfect life where my giving him my undivided attention, love and time, would pay the bills and put food on the table.

How long I wonder would I be married? How long would it take for my husband to feel like I would always be too busy for him? Even if he loved me with all his heart could he really stick around to be my favorite hobby?
What about my kids? How would they fare if I made them my hobby? Whenever time allowed I could give them my time and attention. Of course they would have to sit on that back burner when life got busy, but, just until it slowed down a bit then I could give them two or three hours a week. How long until child protective services would come to investigate?

Chances are if I were to make my husband and kids mere hobbies it wouldn’t be long before I find myself alone. Relationships that we really want to have in life, take time, effort, patience and sacrifice. They need nurtured and cared for.

There is comfort in a hobby. Some even call hobbies they’re coping mechanisms. A place we leave the outside world; outside, and we go to enjoy something we like to do. A time some find rest, relaxation, even happiness and joy. Then, when time is up, we then set it down and return to reality, to the outside world.


We may think about this hobby often. We may sneak in time for it, an hour or two when we shuffle around our busy schedule. We may even long for the time to enjoy this hobby more. Life, however, seems to become more and more busy and because our hobby, doesn’t seem to pay the bills or put food on the table, it is the thing that takes the back burner position.

We may sometimes find time for it, but for the most part, we just hold on to our dream of a life where our hobby would, in fact, pay the bills and put food on the table, so we could then really love and enjoy our lives.

Although God loves every minute we devote to Him in our lives, He doesn’t want to be our much loved hobby any more than our spouses and kids do. We shouldn’t forget, to imagine ourselves in that hobby role also, as we would not like being somebody’s favorite hobby either.

Matthew 22:37-38 NLT — Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.

God won’t just be our hobby. He seeks intimacy a real tangible relationship with us. Whatever we wouldn’t do to our spouse or our kids we shouldn’t do to Him and whatever we would do for our kids and our spouse we should do for Him.

Relationship with Father God isn’t a hobby, it’s a lifestyle. Just like when we first get married, we learn to live as a couple, and again when we have our first baby, we have to learn how to operate with each new edition into our lives. So it is when we accept Jesus as our Lord and personal Savior. We must learn how to operate in relationship with Him. Jesus isn’t a ghost who haunts the church we attend Sunday mornings. He is not left at church until our next Sunday or midweek visit.

Just like the comfort we seem to find from our hobbies, we can find comfort also in a habit. A feeling of safety, kind of like a routine, we know what to expect, no surprises, basically always the same. We really don’t have to put much effort into thinking, as our body kind of learns to go with the motion, on a subconscious like level. It’s almost memorized to the point if we try to change it we will feel; off, physically, mentally and emotionally.


As long as we keep the habit, we stay calm and un-stressed as it takes no brain work. Some habits we don’t even notice we are doing until someone points them out.

God won’t live in a habitual Box. Habitual behavior requires little to no faith as there isn’t any risk. Emotions die off to almost no feeling left at all, and there is no real change or chance of personal growth. Even if one gets the Blue Ribbon or gold medal, for being the best at maintaining good habits, spiritually there is stagnation.

When God becomes a habit we start unconsciously going through the motions, emotionlessly doing what we know we should. There is no real enthusiasm or feeling behind what we’re doing.

Has God become our beloved, favorite, hobby that we can’t wait to get back to whenever life’s not busy? Has God become our habit that we can almost do blindfolded and without really thinking?

God is not a hobby or a habit or a routine, God is a lifestyle.

Matthew 6:33 NLT — Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

Father God spoke This perspective to my spirit,
He said “ Those things you think your husband should do for you, those things you believe prove or disprove his true feelings of love for you, are the very same things I crave from you.”

He told me, “those things like he should know your likes and dislikes, he should be able to tell when someone lies about your character and stand up for you, he should be able to finish you sentences, he should want to know your interest, what’s on your mind and in your heart. He should remember things you both talked about and make an effort to know when you need help.’
‘Oh, daughter, cant you see, who your describing, who your looking for, is…. Me. This is how I,… love.… you.”

Psalm 139:1-4 NLT — O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD.

Psalm 56:8 NLT — You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.

He then pointed out to me, that all the times I have cried and been upset, when I feel neglected by my husband, that He understands completely. He said He can empathize with how I feel when I’m feeling neglected by my husband, because of how it makes Him feel when His children are not spending time with Him.

He is asking for the kind of relationship and intimacy with us, that we give to those we care about here, in this life, He only asks, that we seek Him so we will find Him. Then we will find that He is not a distant far away God. He is right here, everyday, ready to communicate with, and love, every one of His children.

Hebrews 13:8 NLT — Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. He walks with us and talks with us just as we read He did in His Word. We need only give Him His proper place in our lives and focus on hearing His voice. We should be so determined to hear from Him that we, like Jacob, will wrestle with Him all night for Him to acknowledge us.

If we aren’t anxiously watching, waiting for Jesus return, chances are, we still don’t understand who we are in Christ and where we’re heading. Lies of the enemy cloud all around us but, truth will set us free, truth only found when in an intimate relationship with our Creator God! This friend’s, is what we were created for!

Until next time, may God bless you and keep you, as you seek Him with your whole heart.

Restoration

When we restore something, we make what already is or what once was, better. We may give it new paint, new parts, or new color to bring life back to it. We don’t go back in time to bring its original form into our present time. No, we take the old and add the new making it better. Restoration doesn’t mean the same as what once was.

When God said He would  restore my family, my mind automatically saw what used to be, so hope filled my mind and heart.

This whole time I’ve been looking, watching, waiting for restoration by remembering what it was like in my happiest past experience. I was looking, waiting, watching for my own comfort and desires based on what once was.

God said He was doing a new thing and restoring my family to me.

Isaiah 43:18-19 NLT — “But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

My past, being mine cannot be seen by my children or my husband. No amount of my telling’s of stories could ever help either as what we picture in our mind while hearing stories is usually completely different than the actual real portrait of events.

It’s not possible for my husband and children to get back to who we were in my past. Truth is, the time I envision as the best most beautiful, perfect time, one of my kids or my husband may have been suffering tremendous pain silently. When I bring up memories from that time the one who suffered won’t remember that time as happy or good.

Some of us have lost family and know there is absolutely no way we can ever be the same again. Some of us have allowed canyons that would put The Grand Canyon to shame, to divide once very close relationships. We do things to each other, horrible, mean things we can never undo. Life, so it seems, is not meant to go back as it relentlessly keeps pushing forward. And each person’s perception of what was and what is, may be similar, but is as different and unique as we are created to be individually. 

Father God says to me, “no daughter, restoration of your family will not look like anything you have ever known. True restoration doesn’t come from a time before hard life lessons have been learned and beautiful, deep inner changes have been made as my children grow and learn from their mistakes. Restoration will come from the one place the enemy cannot go, a place the enemy cannot in any way affect upon.”

The enemy is all over my past and wreaking havoc here in my present But as God is my witness the enemy cannot touch my future.

Father God said  He is restoring my family, He said He is doing a new thing, I have not seen this new thing because it’s not in my past, it is in my future and beginning to open up in my present.

Lamentations 3:21-23 NLT — Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

My faith in God’s abilities, never faltering, brings on tears of understanding and praise of his awesome goodness.

When my LORD God says He will Restore my family, I can be absolutely sure of three things;

  1. He will do what He said.
  2. It will be unimaginably better than it ever was,  even in my greatest, most  precious memory.
  3. Once restored by Him, it will never be broken again.

I’m so excited I could spit!! I wait in faith with anticipation, knowing His timing, like everything else, will be perfect.

  Until next time, may God bless you and keep you, as you seek Him with your whole heart.

 

 

10 reasons I thank God for the blessing of mom

Proverbs 31:10-31 NLT — Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. Her husband can trust her,

And she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good, not harm, All the days of her life. She finds wool and flax And busily spins it. She is like a merchant’s ship, Bringing her food from afar. She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household And plan the day’s work for her servant girls. She goes to inspect a field and buys it; With her earnings she plants a vineyard. She is energetic and strong, A hard worker. She makes sure her dealings are profitable;

Her lamp burns late into the night. Her hands are busy spinning thread,

Her fingers twisting fiber. She extends a helping hand to the poor And opens her arms to the needy. She has no fear of winter for her household, For everyone has warm clothes. She makes her own bedspreads. She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns. Her husband is well known at the city gates,

Where he sits with the other civic leaders. She makes belted linen garments And sashes to sell to the merchants. She is clothed with strength and dignity, And she laughs without fear of the future. When she speaks, her words are wise, And she gives instructions with kindness. She carefully watches everything in her household And suffers nothing from laziness. Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, But you surpass them all!” Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; But a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.

 

Today, is the one day a year we as a society, set aside to honor our mother’s. Although in my opinion, mom’s should be celebrated and honored every day of the year, it still gives me hope and a grateful heart, that we give one whole day every year, to remember our moms and what they mean to us.

 

I thank God regularly for so richly blessing my life with my mom. Today, on mother’s day, I am especially grateful because my mom is a most extraordinary woman. My entire life, I have yet to meet another mom that can compare with mine.

 

For the sake of space within this blog post, I have narrowed down all the reasons I praise God for my mom down to my top ten.

 

10. Number ten is probably the most obvious and would be rather silly to even mention, except that it is absolutely true and therefore worth listing. I thank God for Mama because she gave me life. She birthed me and took on the responsibility of raising me.

 

9. I praise Father God for my mama because through good times and bad times, she stayed and work things out with daddy. She loved him so much it was awe inspiring. She, by her example, taught me it’s not only possible to be self-controlled, patient, and selfless, but it’s a requirement for a lasting marriage.

 

8. I praise God for my mama because, she worked so hard, both in the home and outside the home.  She not only taught me how to clean and care for a home, but she also taught me the value in working hard.

 

7. I thank God for mama because, she hosted our family holiday gatherings, that always seemed more like family reunions, with how many people would show up. It was hard work and she never got to visit with everyone because by the time the meal was prepared, shared, and then cleaned up, everyone started heading home. Still she did this year after year.

 

6. I thank Father God for my mama because, she has such a big heart. She is very attentive, thoughtful and she is always helping family, friends, and sometimes even strangers that are in need.

 

5. I praise God for my mama because, she raised me to walk with dignity and taught me how to be a woman deserving of respect. She taught by being an example.

 

4. I thank God for my mama because, she was never afraid to discipline me when I messed up. Even as an adult, she’s not afraid to let me know when I am wrong. She gently tells me with guidance from the Holy Spirit.

 

3. I praise God for my mama because, she has never been disloyal to me and she has always had my back.

 

2. I thank Father God for my mama because, she taught me how to listen and hear Holy Spirit  God. She also taught me, to always read at least one verse in the Bible, before reacting in anger to a fight.  She taught me, if I do this, I won’t react the same way I would if I lashed out in my own emotional understanding. I’m less likely to cause permanent damage to a relationship if I read a verse or two before reacting.

 

1. I praise father God for my mama because,  she introduced me to Jesus. Nothing will ever compare to this in all my life. She gave me life and took part in saving my life, by introducing me to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

My list could go on for pages, telling of all the reasons mama has been Father God’s first blessing upon my life. Today, as we honor our moms for the blessings they  are,  maybe we can stop for a moment and with all our heart, say a little prayer of gratitude to Father God for so greatly blessing us.

 

Until next time may God bless you and keep you as you seek him with your whole heart.