My Tattoo... An Explanation

 " My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in your weakness. Therefore I will gladly boast about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

     I read something recently by one of my heroes, Joni Erickson Tada, where she said her wheelchair is her pulpit. She is not her wheelchair but she uses her suffering and her circumstances to preach the gospel and tell others about Jesus. MS is my pulpit. It does not define me and it is not who I am however it is a circumstance that my family has been given and I want to use it as my pulpit. 

    So I got a tattoo as one of my birthday presents. I've wanted one for quite a while but was unsure what to get, and well it's kind of permanent:). I decided on the word  grace. Grace is defined as the free and the unmerited favor of God manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings. Grace also means to honor or give credit to someone or something by one's presence. 

   There are three reasons I chose  the word grace. In Ephesians 2:8-9 the Bible says, "for by grace you have been saved through faith, not of yourself. It is a gift from God not by works so that no one should boast." When I see the word grace on my wrist I am reminded of what Jesus did for me and for you. I am reminded that salvation is not going to be taken away from me. It is a gift not anything I need to do but accept it.

    When I look at my wrist and the word grace I am also reminded to give grace to others. There is so much I need help with and it is hard not to become bitter and take it out on others. I know that my family and friends are trying to help me and trust me I am grateful. However it is hard to accept so much help sometimes with a gracious heart. I want to fill out the paperwork for my children at school. I want to teach them to tie their shoes and run and play soccer instead of watch them. This is when I need to be reminded of the grace that has been given to me and show grace to others. Each person is the Imago dei, made in the image of Christ. Well there are many times I would gladly give this disease back, it is my pulpit and I am grateful.

   It is also hard to have grace for myself at that moment. I feel inadequate as their mother because I want to help them and I cannot. It is hard to have grace for myself and accept my limitations when I get in a downward spiral of discouragement. That is when I look at my wrist and remember the grace that is greater than all my sin and I am grateful. 

THIS GLORIOUS GRACE

Pointing them to Jesus

"In the same way let your light shine before others so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16

    

Trust me, when it comes to parenting I have no clue what I'm doing most of the time. There are a few ideas, though, that I've either read about or created on my own that we have added into our family routine and I’d like to share them with you… 

I heard someone ask the question recently, “How can I be a light in someone else's life today?” Our family verse is Matthew 5:16 (see above) and almost every morning I try to ask that question to my children. We pray about it and before they go to school, we gather in the driveway, put our hands on top of one another, and I tell them: “Your mission today is to let your light shine for Jesus at your elementary school, on the bus, and where ever else you might go today.” We yell “Team Dumpe!” and then we walk (or ride 😉) down to the bus stop. 

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To put both the kids and I in a better mindset for the day, I like to quietly play music such as Bethel Kids Worship or my own worship playlist as my kids get ready for school and while they are helping with breakfast. 

Some of the songs from my worship playlist that my kids love:

Ready or Not (Britt Nicole)

Lights Shine Bright (Tobymac)

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When my kids were younger (and sometimes even now), we put on the armor of God and pretend to shake the fruit of the Spirit over us. Now, as they are older, I pray for the armor of God and the fruit of the Spirit to cover us as we go to school or wherever we go throughout the day. At dinner they usually tell us, especially my daughter, how they let their light shine that day: We hear how they were kind to someone who was not kind to them or my daughter will decide to make cards for people and plan to pass them out to EVERYONE! We love hearing about the fruit of the Spirit being lived out in our kids’ lives.

     

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One of the ministries I love is Compassion International. If you have not heard of them I encourage you to check out their website for more information. Their mission is to “release children from poverty in Jesus' name.” Each of our children has a child that we sponsor. Our children are encouraged to write letters and to pray for their specific sponsored child and family. When the child writes letters to us or information is sent from Compassion, we have jars for each sponsored child where we can keep the information. 

   

Sponsor a Child with Compassion International, Inc.

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I really want our children to remember many of the memories they have made as they grow up. One night my family watched the movie "Inside Out" and while watching the movie, I came up with this idea. Each child was given a bag full of marbles and a Mason jar. When they do something special or something is done for them and they want to remember it, they put a marble in the jar. Hopefully, as they grow up and fill the jar with marbles, they will have many memories to take with them. 

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These are just some ideas to get our focus and our eyes fixed on Jesus daily and not on ourselves. I want my kids to see that we need Jesus every day. I want them to see a real relationship with Jesus in their mama and my desire to share His love with others. My husband and I pray that they will become independent faithful followers of Jesus.

~ Haley

Calling Her Blessed

"Her children arise and call her blessed" Proverbs 31:28
 

We just celebrated Mother's Day. It was an absolute joy to spend it with my mom. I haven't been able to spend this holiday with her in 10 years,  because of my husband's job circumstances. I was listening to a podcast with Christy Knockels and she said called her mom a fierce warrior of prayer. I realized as she was talking about her mom that she was also my mom. I am blessed because both my mom and my mother-in-law are fierce warriors of prayer for their family. 

    My mom has been a pastor's wife for 46 years and a mom for almost 37. There is a lot of pressure that comes with being a pastor's wife and a lot of joy too! She has handled her role with grace. She taught school during the day and after a long day made dinner and ironed our clothes  (which I'm sorry mom, only my brother still does:)). She would always make sure that our house or car was locked and she always made sure that everything was in its place when we left . She always made sure we had snacks and had gone to the bathroom before we left the house :). However more importantly I saw her on her knees. She has a prayer journal and I saw it open almost every day.  She prays every day for her family and many, many, many other situations. Many of the different things that I do with my children are because I saw the importance of teaching them with intentionality. 

   Both my mother-in-law and my mom have taken on roles for my family that I never wanted for them. I want them just to be able to be Gran and Grammy and they do a wonderful job of loving and spoiling their grandchildren.

But they have done SO MUCH more for my family.

My husband is finishing up his medical training and this has been a very busy year!  They've taken turns being here to help me throughout this year. They have sacrificed time with their husbands and their friends! They have done countless loads of laundry and dishes. They have helped me sort and organize my children's clothes and toys endlessly! They have packed children's lunches and made us dinner. They have taken care of me. When I was too weak to sit up or walk a little they have helped me. There are too many things to list that have done for our family!We are grateful. We are blessed. Thank you for teaching us what it means to love your family unconditionally. We love you!

Determination

"Truly I tell you if you have faith even as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there and it would move. Nothing would be impossible." Matthew 17:20

"I want to be able to do it myself!!!"

I realize that I sound kind of like a two-year-old who doesn't get their way, but I'm so tired of needing so much help. God always provides, and I know He does, but I want to be able to do it myself. It feels like I need help with everything!!

I woke up very early this morning and turned on my kitchen lights to find little tiny ants all over the floor of my kitchen. I feel like there was about 1 million although I'm sure that's exaggerating a little bit:). I rode around in my wheelchair with spray and a paper towel in my lap. Soon, it was time to wake up the kids. By Thursday, morning they are tired of getting up early so they were fighting and grumpy. I wanted to teach them about the word determination since we did that at church last night for the kids. 

Determination = deciding it is worth it to finish what you started. 

I told them that as kindergartners and a third grader it was time to finish the year with determination. It was time to finish their year with the best although they were tired and did not feel like doing much of anything. I thought I was teaching them, but I realized after they got on the bus, that I was teaching determination to myself as much as I was teaching it to them. 

As I've written many times before: this life is hard. I don't know about you, but many times I want to give up and definitely not finish with my best. Ephesians 6:10-18 describes the armor of God. Every morning, when school first started, the kids and I put on the armor of God. We put on the helmet of Salvation, the belt of Truth, the shield of Faith, the breastplate of Righteousness, the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, and the gospel-ready boots or shoes of Peace. My kids like to put on their gospel-ready sandals or gospel-ready tennis shoes:). I'll be honest and tell you that many times now we are rushing out the door to get to the bus, and I don't say anything about the armor of God. My kids may be putting it on, but their mama is not teaching them or reminding them to. I want my kids to finish this year and to finish this life with determination. 

I want to finish this life with determination. 

That means that I need to trust that God gives us what we need to keep going and make sure that we are putting on the armor of God and "standing firm against the devil's schemes."  My prayer for you is that you will decide it's worth it to finish what you start with determination and the armor of God. 

Walk By Faith - YouTube

Exchanging My Focus for His

"We are unfaithful; He remains faithful for He cannot deny who He is." 2 Timothy 2:13

I struggle with doubt and worry. I get caught up in envy and jealousy. I begin to compare my life to my friends, and on the outside, their lives seem better than mine. I was listening to a podcast this week and one of the speakers said that we focus so much on the hard that it's hard to find things that are beautiful. I don't know about you, but I start to focus on all the things that I can't do or don't have instead of what I can do and what I do have.

I cannot play in the backyard with my children.

I desperately want to kick the soccer ball around.

I want to set up the slip and slide on a warm day.

I feel guilty for not helping my husband as much around the house. He has a very busy job, and I wish I could do more physically to help our family.

One of my sweet friends sent me a devotional a few months ago and it was such a great reminder of what I can do for my family: 

I CAN encourage my kiddos and my husband. They need it on a daily basis. 

I CAN remind them how much I love them and how much God loves them. 

I CAN teach my kiddos every morning before they get on the bus and remind them who they are and Whose they are. 

I CAN pray over my family. It might be really hard to get on my knees… and I might not get up😉 …but I can lift them up daily to the God who made them. 

I am always playing a game with my children to remind them to count their blessings but not reminding myself! So I started making a grateful list; I name at least three things or three people every day. I keep a running list on my phone and start to read over it when I feel really down. I am broken, but God says in Ephesians 2:10 that "we are His masterpiece" and that makes us beautiful! My prayer for you is that you know you are God's masterpiece created and loved by Him. Life might not look like you want but trust the Maker and know you are beautiful.

"The Broken Beautiful" by Ellie Holcumb

The Broken Beautiful