Pure Words = Pure Heart?

One who loves a pure heart and who speaks with grace will have the king for a friend. Proverbs 22:11

“I hate you…”

“Stupid baby……”

Lately the last thing I have been hearing are words of kindness and love from my boys, toward one another.

Granted we have been, one after another, sick with a nasty virus. Chills, sweats, body aches and pains, nausea, runny noses….It’s been tough and everyone has been short with one another as we try to get better. I think we are at the end of it now but in the meantime….I could not help but notice the lack of love my oldest shows towards his little brother, and his baby sister too here and there.

We can all be honest right? I struggle, A LOT, with taming my tongue. I can be terrible sometimes with the things I say. Every day its my prayer that He will help guide my speech; giving me words that will be pure and full of love. Some days are better than others; this past week as we have all been sick … Yeah, I admit I have not tried as hard as I could to be kind in speech. I am tired. One child after the other; serving an caring for their needs that sometimes took away my mommy break, potty time or just that second of sitting and doing nothing. Its been tough but what mom has not been there done that?

Anyway so I hear my oldest spouting these mean spirited words at his brother. Bar of soap in the mouth? Spanking? Loss of game or television time? Upstairs time out? I have been reading (just started actually) Don’t Make Me Count to Three….It is said to be “a look at heart oriented discipline”. How fitting. And how seldom we see things as a heart issue; at least it did not occur to me until I began reading this book. She says we must draw out the matters of the heart; for all things we say and do stem from the condition of the heart within. I see ,I think.

I want my children to show a pure heart; I want them to see their momma as someone who has a pure heart as well. Perhaps I read this book as much for myself as for then. A guide not just to their hearts, but to my own as well. I forget sometimes, that my son (who seems to not hear me  a lot many days) really does hear and see every little thing we say and do. He pretends he doesn’t,  he can ignore the world around him (like his momma ~sigh~) but he is so observant and quick to “get it”. I forgot.

So what can momma do?

Momma can pray more. A lot more. With my son. I am also beginning to use the Prayer Warriors prayer calendar.  So much for us to learn as moms, raising these little warriors. Its a challenge, for us moms who are growing in Christ too. Prayer is important. My son needs to know (and see) that. He also needs to know that we all mess up. Some days more than others, some times worse than other times. But Jesus is always there; ready to forgive if we come to Him confessing our sins and seeking Him. Its that power and love, the grace and mercy He provides that our children need to see. In Him and in us.

So they understand. So they can know and show it too.  Because it is a heart issue.

Its an issue of love and they shall know us by our love.

Be Inspired

It has been a challenging couple of weeks for me. I have never felt more under attack, more invaded than I have recently. I do not write this to complain or whine about my troubles but to share the glory of God in my recent trials. I have stumbled, I have contemplated what was once comparing it to what is now. I have admitted the ease of living in the world versus the struggles that come with living for Him. I have been on my knees – I have prayed, not always daily as I should – but I have prayed – Lord strengthen my belief, my faith – Give me a word, give me strength – Direct my steps. And in all of this – as I sunk down and lashed out in anger, and mean spirited words – still He provided. I got this message from a dear friend yesterday and it truly touched my heart and showed me that these trials are from Him – and I need to rise up and trust in Him and His purpose.  Oh how great God is -Let me mean it more when I say that I will praise Him in the storm.

 

 

“Rise up, and be counted as a child of God that you are! Accept Him and His ways, and He will lead you and guide you, and make you into the person that He made you to be! Remember, that anything that you are willing to accept, you will neverchange….ANYTHING YOU ARE WILLING TO ACCEPT, YOU WILL NEVER CHANGE!!!! 

Change your way of thinking, change your way of living, change your way of speaking things, change anything that is in your life that is holding you down, and causing you to feel worthless!! That feeling does not come from God!! It is LIES OF THE DEVIL!!!!

Stand up today and begin to reach out for those things that are yours….don’t keep accepting rejection, and stop living in fear…Jesus tells us in 2 Timothy 7:3 that “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and a sound mind”. Begin to stand on that today, and BELIEVE you are somebody, and that you are going through whatever it is you are facing, and are coming out on top and that you will go over and not under and that “With God all things are possible” Matthew 19:26

Don’t be a victim of circumstances…make your circumstances work for you to bring you to victory through the Mighty Blood of Jesus Christ!

Believe, believe, without doubting, that God is able to do it, and that will be one of the biggest steps you can make in beginning the process of overcoming all that you are going through!

May this message enrich your walk with the Lord, and bless you above and beyond all your expectations.” 

How much more of Him do I need!~ Never enough 🙂

Lord let me believe TODAY, let my mind change TODAY, let me no longer be troubled and worried and anxious about ANY THING.  In Jesus name bring me the healing within, bring me higher, closer to you. Lord help me to forgive myself and to move forward, not looking back. Jesus this is not where I belong but as long as I am here use me Lord. Mold me into your Esther, your Ruth….Thy will be done. And I shall lift my hands in praise giving glory to you alone who are worthy!

Guest Post: What I Am Not | Tricia Goyer

Welcome to Pearl Girls™ Mother of Pearl Mother’s Day blog series – a week long celebration of moms and mothering. Each day will feature a new post by some of today’s best writer’s (Tricia Goyer, Sheila Walsh, Suzanne Woods Fisher, Bonnie St. John, and more). I hope you’ll join us each day for another unique perspective on Mother’s Day.

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What I Am Not by Tricia Goyer

Becoming a mother is a complicated thing. Not only am I trying to negotiate a relationship with my child, I am trying to negotiate a relationship with myself as I attempt to determine how I mother, how I feel about mothering, how I want to mother and how I wish I was mothered.

— Andrea J. Buchanan, in Mother Shock3

Sometimes the easiest way to discover who we are is to know who we are not.

• We are not our children. We all know mothers who go overboard trying to make themselves look good by making their children look great. I saw one woman on the Oprah television show who had bought her preschool daughter more than twelve pairs of black shoes just so the girl could have different styles to go with her numerous outfits! Just as we -don’t get report cards for mothering, we also -don’t get graded on our child’s looks or accomplishments. While you want your children to do their best and succeed in life, your self-esteem -shouldn’t be wrapped up in your child.

Life as I See It:

My individuality will never end. There will be no one exactly like me, not even my child. She will be like me in some ways, but not at all in others. I -wouldn’t have it any other way.

— Desiree, Texas

• We are not our mothers. I remember the first time I heard my mother’s voice coming out of my mouth. The words “because I told you so .  .  .” escaped before I had a chance to squelch them.

It’s not until we have kids that we truly understand our mothers — all their frets, their nagging, and their worries.

It’s also then that we truly understand their love.

Since you are now a mother, it’s good to think back on how you were raised. If there were traditions or habits that now seem wise and useful, incorporate them into your parenting. You also have permission to sift out things you now know -weren’t good. Just because you’re a product of your mother, that -doesn’t mean you have to turn out just like her. Repeat after me, “I am not my mother.”

• We are not like any other mother out there. Sometimes you may feel like the world’s worst mother. After all, your friend never yells at her son — and sometimes you do. Then again, your friend may feel bad because you have a wonderful bedtime routine that includes stories and songs. In many cases, the moms you feel inferior to only look like they have it together. All moms feel they -don’t “measure up.” Instead of feeling unworthy, we should realize that everyone has strengths and weaknesses. The key is where we place our focus.

The Bible says, “Let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without .  .  . comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we -aren’t” (Romans 12:5 – 6, MESSAGE).

The problem with comparison is, we always measure our weaknesses against the strengths of others.

Instead, we need to thank God for our strengths. We can also ask God to help us overcome our weaknesses — not because we want to compare ourselves, or look good in someone else’s eyes, but because we want to be the best mom out there.

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Tricia Goyer is a CBA best-selling author and the winner of two American Christian Fiction Writers’ Book of the Year Awards (Night Song and Dawn of a Thousand Nights). She co-wrote 3:16 Teen Edition with Max Lucado and contributed to the Women of Faith Study Bible. Also a noted marriage and parenting writer, she lives with her husband and children in Arkansas. You can find her online at www.triciagoyer.com or at her weekly radio show, Living Inspired.

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