Christian parenting

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Fresh Lemonade?


When you are squeezed, what comes out?

There is More to Lemonade Than Just Lemons

Pressure … comes from all sides.  Home, work, friends, family … pressure.  Good things happen and bad things happen.  Sometimes the bad outweighs the good.   Why do some people have it easy  while others seem to never catch a break? Every time you pick up a paper, turn on your computer or answer the phone you seem to hear nothing but heartache.  After a while you could really get depressed.

The bumper sticker reads, “Life, it happens”.  Someone you love is going to suffer an unjust circumstance.  Something is going to happen that is just not fair.  It happens to your children, your husband … a friend.   That someone could be you.  It may be something small, but like a splinter in the finger it hurts.  It could be something huge that threatens to take you under.  Pressure, it comes from all sides.  Why?  

The pressure of the world is sin.  People get angry over the consequences of sin, especially when they suffer because someone else sinned.  Who is to blame?   People sin because they are sinners, they are not sinners because of sin. People choose to sin.  Bad choices have consequences … SIN has consequences.  We all make bad choices, we all choose to sin.  We are all sinners.

               Romans 3:10 (NLT) “As the Scriptures say,    “No one is righteous — not even one. “

Squeeze a sinner = SIN  ?  

So what do you do? 

  • Cry
  • Hide
  • Throw in the towel
  • Run away
  • Give up
  • All of the above

Yes it is a cliché, “Life hands you lemons, make lemonade” or, “squeeze some carbon, get a diamond.”  Tired of hearing that right?  Today you, or someone you know, will be pressured by life.  The first impulse (because you are a sinner and sinners sin) is ????   You are on the spot and must make a decision not to sin and/or help someone else not to sin.  Worry is a sin.  Blaming God is a sin.  He did not create sin or sin’s consequences, but for the time being He is allowing the devil to run the world (because man CHOSE sin).    Christ died for those sins and that sinful nature.  Claim that victory and do not believe the devil’s lies.  Just remember,  God is in control, He is still on the throne, He loves you and He cares for you.  TRUST Him.  Turn it over to Him.

  • PRAY first
  • Read His word
  • Act on His leading
  • Fellowship/talk with other Christians
  • ENCOURAGE other Christians

Ask God for wisdom today and TRUST Him for the rest.  Trust = FAITH.  A living faith accomplishes in our life what God wants us to have.   A living faith walks on water.  Matthew 14: 22-32



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Spittin’ Image


As I show my grandchildren and children’s pictures, different ones comment on whom they “see” in a child’s image.  One of my granddaughter’s bears strong resemblance of my father.  Another granddaughter looks just like her dad.  My two girls look like their dad (or me depending on who you ask).   No matter what they do to themselves, they still bear the image of their ancestry.  That is their physical inheritance. It is in their genes.

spittin' Image

Image is everything in the world’s eyes.  Clothes, hairstyles, types of cars, houses … “make the man”.  But, when you take all that away you are left with just a human being.  What they are really made of is all that matters then.

A young man I know is contemplating a tattoo, putting a name of God on his arm.  I asked Him why and he said, “to remind me of who God is to me.  It won’t show.  But, I’ll know it’s there and when I see it I will remember what He has done for me.”  I thought about that for a while.  The young man is not even the ‘tattoo’ type.  But, we are in a culture where that is the way things are expressed.  But, if it is not seen, then what is the point?  Image.  Take away all the “decorations”, what is left.  The person …. then what do you see?

2 Corinthians 5:17 (HCSB)                                                                                                                                                                                                                   “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.”

Galatians 2:20 (HCSB)
“and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

When a child is born, their image is defined by their genes.  You can tattoo yourself, dye your  hair, sunburn (tan) the skin, use contacts to change the eye color  … but, the image remains the same if you remove all the “world”.

Genesis 1:27 (NASB)                                                                                                                                                                                                              “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.“

When a baby is born into this world the parents (or whomever takes them to raise) has an intended plan for them, a hope, a purpose.  Sometimes though, the child takes control and goes their own way.  Expressing their personality and style is acceptable in today’s world and explains some of the outrageous “looks” we witness daily.  But, when you remove it all you see what they were intended to be.

God created you in His image … it was His intended plan, for a hope and a purpose.  We do not need to tattoo our body, wear an emblem, sticker our car to remind us of Him, especially if that is all we do.  He created all creation as a reminder of who He is … we only have to look.  We are part of that creation.  People look at us daily.  Is there anything about us that screams “His creation … in the image of God”?

1 Thessalonians 2:12 (ESV)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  “we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.”

Now, “momma” says, go polish that image, the world sees the outside before they see the inside (exercise,  brush your teeth, comb your hair) …. 😀

Strip yourself down to His image, glorify Him today in your talk, your walk … if necessary your dress.  Do people see a rebellious image?  Do you express an image that you do not care for His creation by the way you care for yourself?  Are you taking the best care of  His image?  Are you giving the appearance of slothfulness or a fashion snob? What does your image scream?   Is His image presented in modesty?  Can the world get pass your image to see His?

There is so much to consider when you remember that you are in HIS image.  Need a fashion change?

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Depending ….


February 1 …. everyone should have their W2’s from the previous year.  It is time to look at taxes.  Did you claim enough dependents? Was there enough withholding?  Do you owe?

Dependent.  I looked the word up and it is one of those words with so many meanings, “depending” on what you want to say.  This time of year we are looking at how we claimed dependents.  Dependents are those that lean on us for their needs, so we claim them to reduce our taxes.

Just the 2 of Us

Our children are grown and married so my husband and I only have each other to claim for tax purposes.  “Depending” on how you claimed your “dependents” in the previous year, you now look to this year’s W4 to decide on withholding based on dependents.  Confused?  That is just one way to look at dependency.

Co-dependency, chemical dependency, alcohol dependency, (Starbucks dependency :-D) ; the lists go on and on.  As Christians we can claim one kind of dependency that takes care of all our needs.   This is the dependency we need to pass on to our children.   Christ.   We need Him every hour, every breath.  So many days we hit the ground running without recognizing our need for Him in our life and then at the end of the day when we have made a huge mess of things, it hits us.  We ran around in our own power.  That is like running around on a skate board when you have a fine tuned race car in the garage.  What are you waiting for?  Pull it out and start the engine.

2 Peter 1:3  (HCSB)  “3 His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.”

Christ is all you need.  He is all the power you need.  You need Him every hour and He is there.  You can lean on Him.  You can trust Him.

I see people daily running to books and pastor’s, church groups and help groups bypassing the power of going to Him.  It would be amazing to see what would happen if the first stop on everyone’s day was in His word and in prayer talking with Him.  There is nothing wrong with Bible studies, reading books and seeking pastoral advise.  I write my blog to help others.   We learn from others and it is Biblical.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (ESV) “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.“

But, for Christians to continually seek help outside of Him is the wrong kind of dependency.   Our problems occur when we only recognize our need for Him because we are in trouble.   The truth is we need Him every hour, not just in hard times.   IF we only run to Him when we are in  trouble, then we have not realized our true need.  Recognizing our need for Him, leaning on Him daily in His word and in prayer, carries us through the trials of life.   Yes, God will use the pastor and church as well as it’s members, to help in time of need.  But, just as we should not expect the schools to help raise our kids, we should not expect the church to meet our needs.  God meets our needs … sometimes using the church.  Unfortunately, some people will never step pass their needs to recognize all they need is Him.

Today we need the Lord.  Where is your dependency?  What or whom are you leaning on?  What gets you through your day?  Your kids, your family, your friends, co-workers …. they need to see your dependency on Him.

So when they meet you today, will they meet Him because you are leaning on Him?

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Cookie cutter Christians


Everything in life molds us.  Our trials, our day-to-day life … our ups and downs.  As Christians what we learn as we go through life, and what we do with what we learn, is important.  Sometimes though, we take life and “cookie cut”, or stamp out the result instead of allowing God to work His truths out in our life.  We repeat “ism” statements without ever really thinking through what we are saying and fully understanding the application.

I know people who can quote whole sections of the Bible, but their lives are not evidence of the truths they quote.    Hitler was raised with the Bible and had portions memorized.  Even satan* knows the scriptures.  I also know people who can tell you that “Spurgeon says, Chambers says, Piper says, Warren says, Graham says …”.  But it should be all about what the Bible says to US and how we live according to His word.   There is nothing wrong with reading all the commentaries and books out there but when the bottom line is drawn are you somebody’s cookie cutter version of Christ, or are you a hand molded version He has made.

In the past five years my husband lost his job and was unemployed for over four years; my mother fell and broke her hip, had surgery and ultimately went home to be with her Lord; our daughter was buried in a building during an E4 tornado; I have injured my spine with two bulging discs; our home is in foreclosure and the bank is refusing to work with us (still); we had one wedding and two grandchildren born.  I am currently in a wrist/thumb brace from a fall last September.   It has been one  roller-coaster year after another.  Even my precious cat died.  Sometimes it seems like it never ends.  I can look further back in my life to when both my parents had open heart surgery four weeks apart, dad had a stroke on the operating table and was in the hospital  seven months prior to his death.  And to  when my oldest brother was in the car wreck that put him in the hospital for five months.  It is still affecting his life 2o+ years later.  His son died of a brain tumor a few years after his car wreck.   Why so much strife and tragedy?   Why did my middle brother have to be killed in a plane crash?  Why did we lose three children?  Why this, or that?  Why Lord?  Is all life to be bad?  No.  But, satan* would believe it’s because we are out of God’s care, that  He does not care.  The truth is, we have had so many blessings along the way as well.  Unfortunately, we get caught up in the bad and what it is suppose to mean in our lives.  (Odd how we never ask what a blessing is suppose to mean … like we were due one.)

It is easy to get off track.  People ask, “what have you learned?”   Or say things like, “maybe the Lord’s trying to teach you ….”.  So when we reflect it is easy to get our mind all muddled up in these questions.  If you look around at all your friends and what they are going through in their lives, you realize that, although many of your trials may be similar (economic, emotional, spiritual battles), each of us have very specific details to our lives.  Some have smooth sailing, but most of us have ups and downs.  Some have more downs and I wonder if some of that is because it is a harder lesson to be learned (or is it just that life is hard).  Whatever the case, we need to always seek His face and His peace over our life.  Life happens.  We live in a world governed by sin and evil man.  What they do creates a rippling effect that affects our lives, mostly for the bad.  God’s not sending us punishment every time something bad happens.  He allows life to happen, pure and simple and helps us get through it and grow.  Bad things are going to happen.

So as your life of dough is spread over the coming days are you going to let it get you down?  Are you going to let others tell you how to handle life?  Or  will you be hand rolled and shaped by Him instead of a cookie cutter shaped Christian with all the “right” answers?

Jeremiah 18:6 (HCSB)

6 “House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?”—this is the LORD’s declaration. “Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel.

God allows everything that comes into your life and if you allow Him, He will use everything you face (good and bad) to shape you into the woman/man of God He wants you to be. That way He can use you in others’  lives.

James 1:2-4 (HCSB)

” 2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 But endurance must do its complete work,  so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”

2 Corinthians 1:4 (HCSB)

“He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

*satan – I know people capitalize the “S” but, I don’t.  I refuse to give him any status of importance.  He’s a snake, so satan, devil, etc. are lower case, as he is one.
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“Clouds got in my way …”


In 1967, Joni Mitchell wrote the song “Both Sides Now”, a haunting song of many verses:

Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I’ve looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way
I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It’s cloud illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all

The song has several other verses.  She wrote it after reading a book where the author was talking about flying over Africa and how due to modern technology we can fly above the clouds and see them from both sides (verse 1) and then in day-to-day life (verse 2) what clouds mean.   She told in an interview that it occurred to her that we should see both sides to everything and not be afraid to die, it is just another side of where we are now.  What clouds are in your life now? Which one is the one to follow?  Do you ponder the clouds?

Over the past couple of weeks I have had clouds come up in several things I have read.  I found over 147 times in the Bible where God refers to or uses cloud(s). God used a cloud to guide Moses and the children of Israel through the desert. The cloud stopped, they stopped … it moved, they moved.  In a book I just finished reading the girl prays for God to guide her in choices by helping her follow His “cloud”.  I heard Joni Mitchell’s song on the radio this week and started thinking about the “cloud” God is using in my life now.  Then yesterday I was walking through Annapolis with my good friend Karen and looking at a clear blustering sky with varying sizes of clouds. I told her of God using “clouds” to guide me.

Figuratively, clouds are everywhere.  There is a “cloud” on my blog that helps people find this post based on the key words they put in their browser.  When I stare at the clouds in the sky I imagine I see shapes.  Phil and I sometimes look up and show each other those shapes.  We laugh and share stories based on what is brought to mind.

I can look to the sky and there are all types of clouds depending on the day and I decide if I need to dress for cold, rain or heat.  The weatherman tells us what clouds are coming and what to expect.  “Clouds” help us to decide many things if we consider them and look at them from both sides.  In life these “clouds” take many shapes. God places “clouds” and more specifically A CLOUD in our life to guide us.    Looking at the cloud from both sides  (His and ours) and taking the time to think about it in prayer with Him, helps us to make decisions.  God still guides us today through our “cloud”. You know what it is and you choose to follow the “cloud” or make a conscious decision to ignore the way you need to go.  When you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit will guide you in your daily and life’s decisions.  Remember, as parents, how you make your decisions  is how you teach your children to make decisions.   What do they see you do when faced with a choice?

The Bible says,

James 1:5 HCSB
“Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him.”

Unlike the song,

“It’s cloud illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all”,

we can look towards Him with full confidence; with no disillusionment and know our “cloud” will guide if we will only follow Him.