Tag: gifts

Happy Mother’s Day–Mom!

Published on by katiesencouragementforyou4 Comments

Happy Mother’s Day to my mom!!

I am thankful I still have my mother on this earth.  She has been dealing with serious health issues for the past few years, and recently received some great reports!!  All who love her, are so very grateful! During the past few years, my mom has faced her crises with grace and kindness.  She has been unfailingly thankful for every small blessing.

My mom has been a blessing to me, and the rest of her family and her many friends.  She has been a prayer warrior, praying for so, so many, including me and mine.

God has given me a wonderful Mom. I am so thankful!!

I love you Mom!!!  

The following is a tribute I wrote to my mom a few years ago for Mother’s Day:

My mom is a beautiful Irish-looking girl.  Her parents were very young when they married—17 years old.  My mother was their second child and daughter, (they eventually had 4 children, 3 girls and 1 boy.)  She was born in 1938, not long before World War II started.   Her father left to go serve in the military, and she, her sister and mother lived with her father’s parents.

My mom and her siblings

My mother says that those early years of living with her grandparents shaped the kind of person she wanted to be when she grew up.   Her grandmother was very hard working and cheerful.  She had a baking day, and a laundry day, and a cleaning day.  They lived on a large farm and had field hands that had to be fed.  Her grandmother cooked massive meals for them.

Mom and her older sister
Mom and her grandfather–Pa

My mother wanted to be just like her grandmother, cheerful, hardworking, baking and cooking for a crowd.

Dad and Mom when they were “courting”, sitting on her parent’s front porch.

She got her wish.  She married my father, and they proceeded to have 6 children.  My mother was cheerful, hardworking, and she cooked and baked like she was feeding farmhands, which is probably not far from how we ate.

Mom and Dad–Mom just gave birth to her third child and is not feeling the best, so is not wearing her usual smile.

Mom with my two oldest siblings, pregnant with her third child. She would have her first five children in four years!

In so many ways, my mother was the consummate homemaker, mother, wife, hostess and just plan—wonderful person.   She has persevered through life with a smile. She has known the loss of many loved ones, including her husband and her grandchild, (my son), her niece and nephew, two of her siblings, her parents, grandparents, many loved friends and extended family. Almost everyone in the picture below has entered into eternity, including the little boy –my Aunt Gaye’s son. My mother stood by her sister’s side, as my Aunt Gaye lost her husband, son and daughter within a six month period of time.

My mother hosted the holiday meal for her family, while being very pregnant with my youngest sibling!

My mother has shown me the wisdom of just doing the next right thing that there is to do. She has shown me what it looks like to depend on God, in times of weakness.

My Mom and Dad with all six of their children

My mother is a person of great faith.  She has an awe of the Almighty and a humbleness that displays that she knows who she is, because she knows who He is.

She is also a little dynamo!!  Her energy never seems to flag, and her smile is a constant garment she wears.

Mom and Dad with their children and grandchildren surrounding them.

What I love most about my mother, is her laugh.  It is infectious, and joy filled, and my mother laughs often.  My mom seems to take joy and sprinkle it wherever she walks and wherever she is.  Her very name means “Joy”.

She has graced her family and friends with that joy for more than 81 years.

Mom holding one of her great grandchildren–my granddaughter. 🙂

So, Mom—This Mother’s Day—I want to wish you a Joy Filled Day!!   I love you Mom!!

Success!

Published on by katiesencouragementforyou6 Comments

“Mom, am I your favorite child?” whispered my daughter softly.  My son overheard, “No, we don’t even need to discuss it, I am her favorite!”

It’s an age-old problem, isn’t it?  Comparing ourselves to others, wanting to be better, wanting to be someone’s favorite, wanting to be significant, wanting to be valuable, wanting to be loved.

There are times, I can look at others and their successes and feel envious, and wish I had experienced success in a similar way.  However, God has been showing me a different way of looking at others and others’ successes.  He also has been redefining the word, “Success”.

God has taken me to the scriptures that talk about how we are a part of His body, and we all have a different role to play in His body. (I Corinthians 12, Romans 12)  How silly it would be, if in my body, my eye was jealous of my hand, or my hand was jealous of my foot.  

When I need to accomplish a task–like gardening–I am grateful that my entire  body “obeys’ my will and does what I want it to do.  I use my entire body to accomplish many different tasks. 

When I have done something and done it well, and others comment on it, they don’t say–”Wow, your hands really did a great job there.”  No, they say, “You did a great job.”

That is how it is with God’s body, when the hands of God’s body do a great job, that reveals who He is—and that is why His hands did what they did–to reveal Him. Glorifying God is Revealing God.

When a part of God’s body does something amazing or is something amazing, we can all take joy in that.  We are connected to each other.

God has been showing me that as I am obedient to Him, and do what He is calling me to do–I am successful, even if in the eyes of the world–I fail; even if I don’t see the results of my obedience, in my lifetime—I am successful in God’s eyes. 

God defines our success—and it is not necessarily in doing mighty feats, but it is in loving God, and in loving each other—these are God’s great commandments for all of us–no matter where we are placed in His body, and what gifts He bestows on us.

God is flipping my thinking—instead of a me vs. them mentality, instead of a competitive mindset, He is showing me a body mindset. First and foremost this means, I just need to listen to God and do what He tells me to do. That means I need to spend time with Him in His Word, and in prayer–listening and talking to Him.

God has directed me to do things I never thought I could do—to help others in crisis. And I have seen Him direct others to help me and my family when we have been in crisis. The body of Christ working and loving and serving others is one of the most beautiful and magnificent things to behold.

So—I hope you can wrap your mind around what I am saying—because— this is really, really important to God that we understand this— we are all loved and valuable, we are all significant, we all belong to each other, we are a Royal Priesthood, and the inheritance of God, Himself!!

So Let Us Be Encouraged!!

The Gift of Hind Sight

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Do you ever look back, and see the hand of God in your life, taking care of you, providing opportunities, guiding you and directing your path?   I call this the gift of hindsight.

 When I look back it is so clear to me, how God took care of us, but when I was living that moment, it wasn’t clear at all.  I think one of the reasons for this, is that I have my plan, and when that plan gets derailed, I feel frustration, disappointment and sometimes despair.

I’d like to share with you some of the ways God provided for us, to encourage you.  God is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow– (Hebrews 13:8).  He can be counted on.  We, however, are all different from one another.  The Bible calls us the Body of Christ. (Romans 12:4,5:  Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body, we are many parts of one body, and we all belong to one another.)  In other words –We have different purposes because we make up different parts of the “Body of Christ.”  So, when I share my story, please look at what God is doing and what is true about Him.  I hope you don’t compare yourself to me or judge me—as we were made differently, for different purposes.  We are both needed, we are both necessary, we are both loved, but I may be the mouth of the body, and you may be the eye.  Would you really want to live without either one?

So, here goes—When my husband and I were young parents, God was leading us to do something we thought rather drastic.  He was leading us to trust Him for our finances, and for me to stay home with our children.  We had both graduated from college.  We had careers, yet we were going to live off one income and I was going to be the one to stay home.

 My husband really wanted to start his own Construction Company, but he didn’t think he had enough experience, so, he took a job as a Resident Hall Director at a University, (which included housing and food–making it easy for me to stay at home with our child), so that he could get another degree, making him more marketable in the professional world.  Then a year into the job, the University closed two of its dorms and my husband lost his job.  At the time, we were devastated.  We had our plan– and that plan was changed.

My husband was offered a job by a local construction company.  He was offered $6 an hour, which was a little more than minimum wage at the time.  When we prayed and asked God about what we should do, it seemed clear that this was the way God wanted us to pursue my husband’s dream of having a construction company.

We didn’t know how we were going to live on the wages, my husband would be making.  Yet God was clearly asking us to trust Him and depend on Him.  He was asking us to walk by faith.   So—we did.  It felt a bit like free falling, but as we walked with God, it became clear why He was the rock– the foundation, we could stand on.  (Matthew 7:24-27)

 Our first concern was housing—where could we afford to live?  Well, the people my husband worked for had several rentals, and they were willing to rent to us.  The apartment was a bit expensive for our current salary, but for apartments in the area, it was very reasonable, I think we paid $440 dollars a month.

Our second concern was food—we had a very small budget—I think it was $30 a week for groceries, (this was 26 years ago—but that was still low at the time.)  I learned to use 1 chicken to make three different meals—roast chicken, chicken pot pie, and chicken soup.  I made everything from scratch, because it was less expensive.  I would make up a menu for the week, write down my grocery list, and estimate how much everything was going to cost.  I would go to the store, and time and time again, the things on my list were on sale that week.  Coincidence—I don’t think so—I think that was God’s graciousness to us.

 Our third concern was clothing.  We didn’t really buy new clothes at this time, we used what we had, later however, when money wasn’t quite so tight, we would shop at discount stores, second-hand stores, and garage sales.  Our family would give us gifts of clothes and family and friends would give us hand-me-downs.   We weren’t and aren’t too proud to accept hand me downs, and we gave and give away a lot of hand-me-downs too.  God has used these support systems to help meet our needs many times, and hopefully has used us to meet others’ needs as well. 

One of the biggest gifts from God at this time of our lives was a house we could afford to own ourselves.  We had been renting since we were married, and we really wanted to have our own home.  My husband had been taking side jobs outside of his regular construction job, and we saved this money to make a down payment on a house.  However, we knew it would take an act of God to bring us a house that we could afford to live in.

Then a friend of mine told me about a house that had been given to our church.  It was over a hundred years old, and it needed everything—roof, furnace, electrical and plumbing.  It had layers and layers of wallpaper on the walls.  It had great bones: beautiful hard wood floors, 11-foot ceilings, deep base boards—truly a diamond in the rough. 

This house became our first home.  We could afford this house; we bought it for $27,000!!  It was less expensive to live in this home than it was to rent.  We had enough for the down payment and enough to reroof the house!   My husband traded labor with a plumber and electrician, so we paid nothing out of pocket for our house to be replumbed and for a new electrical service.

Then we bought a furnace for $50!!  My husband was putting a new addition on a house, and the house needed a new furnace for the extra square footage, so the owner sold us their older furnace for $50.

These are just a few ways that God graciously provided for us and blessed us!!   Within three years of my husband taking the job in construction, we started our own construction company.  We have been in business for 24 years!!

 I am glad that when I look at the past, I see God leading us, and I see us following God.  Sometimes I see us following grumbling and complaining.  Sometimes I see us following, in great pain, but still following. Sometimes, I see our disobedience and rebellion—when we thought we knew better than God did and went our own way.   Many times, I see God carrying us, because we had no strength.

I am grateful for the gift of Hindsight, that allows me to see God’s will being played out in our lives.  God tells us to look back and remember His works and His acts, (1 Chronicles 6:12),  so when we are faced with faith hurdles in the present, we remember how He helped us jump those hurdles in the past and trust Him in the present as well.

 I hope that in sharing our stories, it will encourage you in your own walk of faith, to look back at how God was faithful to lead you and provide for you, so that you can continue to follow Him in your life today.

So Be Encouraged!!

The Christmas Gift

Published on by katiesencouragementforyou4 Comments

When I was a little girl, my mom handed me the big Sears catalog, and told me to circle the doll I wanted Santa to bring me for Christmas.  So, I took time looking through all the pages, and circled the doll I wanted.  Lo and behold, that exact doll was given to me on Christmas day.  It was amazing!!   I still have that doll—she is pretty old, and has lost all her hair, and one of her eyes is a bit lazy—but she has been dressed and rocked by myself, my daughters and now my granddaughters.

When my boys were much younger, they wanted the latest gaming system for video games.  They did not even dream they would receive it—so when they opened that system for Christmas—there was leaping and yelling and screams of delight.  It was delightful to behold their excitement!!

My girls had gifts that they were especially excited about—gifts that were difficult for their parents to find—gifts that we searched for—for months—like the Baby Alive doll that for some reason was the hot doll that season—and the only thing for which our little girl asked.

Gifts—they can represent so much—the knowledge that the giver of the gift thinks the receiver is loved, belongs, is valuable.

At Christmas time we celebrate God’s gift to us:  Jesus.  Jesus, the Immanuel—God is with us—came to earth, to give us the gift of a relationship with God, which according to John 17:3 is eternal life.

Jesus—the visual image of the invisible God—demonstrates God’s love to us;  demonstrates God’s sacrificial love to us—for Jesus laid down His life for us—to give us life—life eternally and life abundantly.

“For by grace, you have been saved by grace, and it is not of yourselves, it is a gift of God…..”  Ephesians 2:8

….the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.  Romans 6:23

Eternal life is this….Knowing God and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent.  Jn 17:3

This is what it is all about—Jesus came to give us a relationship with God.   It is a GIFT—that means we just need to accept the gift.  That’s it—we just need to accept the gift.

When I was a little girl, I opened my present of the doll, and received it joyfully.

My sons received the gift of the gaming system—with great jubilation. 

Our daughters received their gifts with the assurance that their parents loved them.

God has given us the gift of a relationship with Him.   Each person has been given this gift—“for God so loved the World, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever receives Him, will have everlasting life.” John 3:16   Each person, is apart of this world—therefore, God has given the gift of His Son to each person.

“And the witness is this, God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son, has the life….”  1 John 5:11-12

If you have received the gift of Jesus, you have also received the gift of eternal life.

How can you receive this gift?   This gift is received by faith—faith is trusting God.  Prayer is a way to express one’s faith.  Here is a suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus, I need you.  Thank you for coming to this earth.  Thank you for dying for my sins and giving me a relationship with You.  Please come into my life, be my Savior and my Lord.  Amen.

If you expressed your faith and asked Jesus to come into your life—Jesus did come in!!  He never lies.  You don’t need to keep asking Him in, as He tells us in Hebrews 13:5 that He will never leave us or desert us. You received eternal life—a relationship with God that has no end.

Rejoice—this gift never grows old—never breaks down—and bestows upon you all the privileges of being a child of the Living and Holy God!!   If you want to learn more about growing in this relationship with God, you can click on this link.    Merry Christmas Everyone—this is what it is all about—That God loved us so much that He sent His Son!!  This is worth celebrating!!!!

So Be Encouraged!!

The Gift of Babies

Published on by katiesencouragementforyou4 Comments

Babies: adorable, sweet, cuddly, who can resist them?  Well, I thought I could.  Before I got married, I had a conversation with a friend, stating that if for some reason, I couldn’t have a child, I would not try to change that ability through medical means.   If I wasn’t a mom, oh well, I had no great longing and desire to be a mother.

Then I had my first child, and a switch was turned on inside me.  All my latent maternal instincts sprang into being.  This child had to be the most fabulous baby on the face of the earth.  My heart was flooded with love, tenderness and emotion.  I had never felt such devotion before in my life.  I would look with pity on mothers who had older children, as they did not have a baby any longer.

I wondered when I was pregnant with my second child, how I would ever love my second child as much as my first.  Yet, when I held our second child, once again, overwhelming love came over me.  I think I was experiencing what God does with His children—limitless love.  Sometimes, I think some of the greatest lessons I’ve learned about how much God loves me, is when I see how much I love my children.

I think God uses babies to remind me of His love. Have you ever noticed how a happy, smiling baby can effect others? They seem to bring joy and laughter into each social occasion they are in, be it a funeral, a wedding, or a family gathering. Babies comfort.

My granddaughter was born 11 months after my son died.  She brought and still brings immense comfort to me and my family.   From the beginning, she would snuggle into me when I would rock her.  As she grew older, she would pat my back, as I patted hers.  I sensed God’s presence when I was holding her, as if she could hear Him whisper in her ear, “Be kind to your Nana, she needs special love right now.”

Babies remind me that there is a God, and He creates and designs life.  Each baby is a miracle, an absolute miracle.  There is a verse in the Bible that says, “…You have knitted me in my mother’s womb….  I am fearfully and wonderfully made….”   Psalm 139: 13, 14.  I love the visual image this presents of God, crafting each child, putting into each child the things He wants them to have—not just their physical attributes, but their special talents and gifts. 

Babies also bring—ok, I’m going to go there—guilt.  This could be the reason I did not initially want to be a mom. I knew instinctively that I would fail and feel guilty.  I wanted to avoid those feelings.  I wanted to avoid these thoughts and questions:  Am I doing enough?  Should I go back to work?  Should I stay at home?  Should I nurse, or bottle-feed?  Should we homeschool or send our children to private school or public school? How should we discipline?  Etc., etc., etc.

 The decisions are countless, and unending. The practical decisions frame the moral decisions of choosing to pay attention to each child, being consistent , choosing to follow through on an assignment or a consequence, remaining patient and kind, acting out love in all the ways that are significant to that child.

Here’s the thing– I have failed many times as a mother.   I have failed in what I have done, and what I haven’t done, in what I have said and what I haven’t said, in what I have thought and what I haven’t thought. 

 Here’s the good news–Jesus has died for all the ways I have failed.   Jesus has died for all the ways you have failed.  He gives us Forgiveness. He gives us the courage to begin again.

 Jesus has given us His Word to guide us in raising our children.  The Bible is full of wisdom, (All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 2 Timothy 3:16).   

God loves our babies more than we do.  He loves us, more than anyone else does.  Maybe that’s why we love babies so much, because babies remind us of who God is:  The Creator, the Designer, the Giver of every good gift, the Giver of Forgiveness, the Giver of Love, and the Giver of the Gift of Babies!!

So be Encouraged!!

The Gift of Babies

Published on by katiesencouragementforyou2 Comments

The Gift of Babies

Babies: adorable, sweet, cuddly, who can resist them?  Well, I thought I could.  Before I got married, I had a conversation with a friend, stating that if for some reason, I couldn’t have a child, I would not try to change that ability through medical means.   If I wasn’t a mom, oh well, I had no great longing and desire to be a mother.

Then I had my first child, and a switch was turned on inside me.  All my latent maternal instincts sprang into being.  This child had to be the most fabulous baby on the face of the earth.  My heart was flooded with love, tenderness and emotion.  I had never felt such devotion before in my life.  I would look with pity on mothers who had older children, as they did not have a baby any longer.

I wondered when I was pregnant with my second child, how I would ever love my second child as much as my first.  Yet, when I held our second child, once again, overwhelming love came over me.  I think I was experiencing what God does with His children—limitless love.  Sometimes, I think some of the greatest lessons I’ve learned about how much God loves me, is when I see how much I love my children.

I think God uses babies to remind me of His love. Have you ever noticed how a happy, smiling baby can effect others? They seem to bring joy and laughter into each social occasion they are in, be it a funeral, a wedding, or a family gathering. Babies comfort.

My granddaughter was born 11 months after my son died.  She brought and still brings immense comfort to me and my family.   From the beginning, she would snuggle into me when I would rock her.  As she grew older, she would pat my back, as I patted hers.  I sensed God’s presence when I was holding her, as if she could hear Him whisper in her ear, “Be kind to your Nana, she needs special love right now.”

Babies remind me that there is a God, and He creates and designs life.  Each baby is a miracle, an absolute miracle.  There is a verse in the Bible that says, “…You have knitted me in my mother’s womb….  I am fearfully and wonderfully made….”   Psalm 139: 13, 14.  I love the visual image this presents of God, crafting each child, putting into each child the things He wants them to have—not just their physical attributes, but their special talents and gifts. 

Babies also bring—ok, I’m going to go there—guilt.  This could be the reason I did not initially want to be a mom. I knew instinctively that I would fail and feel guilty.  I wanted to avoid those feelings.  I wanted to avoid these thoughts and questions:  Am I doing enough?  Should I go back to work?  Should I stay at home?  Should I nurse, or bottle-feed?  Should we homeschool or send our children to private school or public school? How should we discipline?  Etc., etc., etc.

 The decisions are countless, and unending. The practical decisions frame the moral decisions of choosing to pay attention to each child, being consistent , choosing to follow through on an assignment or a consequence, remaining patient and kind, acting out love in all the ways that are significant to that child.

Here’s the thing– I have failed many times as a mother.   I have failed in what I have done, and what I haven’t done, in what I have said and what I haven’t said, in what I have thought and what I haven’t thought. 

 Here’s the good news–Jesus has died for all the ways I have failed.   Jesus has died for all the ways you have failed.  He gives us Forgiveness. He gives us the courage to begin again.

 Jesus has given us His Word to guide us in raising our children.  The Bible is full of wisdom, (All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 2 Timothy 3:16).   

God loves our babies more than we do.  He loves us, more than anyone else does.  Maybe that’s why we love babies so much, because babies remind us of who God is:  The Creator, the Designer, the Giver of every good gift, the Giver of Forgiveness, the Giver of Love, and the Giver of the Gift of Babies!!

So be Encouraged!!