Monday, September 17, 2012

Parenting is tough


I found this picture online and I loved it! Are we this passoniate about our prayer life? Do we fall before God and just pray and listen? I want to be!
 

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:8-9

Being a parent is the hardest job in the world. Every day I send my children into the world praying I have taught them well and I am guiding them in the right direction. Now, my children are far from perfect and I stumble and fall as a parent daily; I think we are often on a rollercoaster ride together!

As a parent who truly cares about every detail of my kids’ lives, maybe too much, I know I can appear to be too involved or overbearing. The problem is I love them too much and unfortunately I also know reality; I’ve been there! Unlike so many people I know, I know what it feels like to have your child one day and stand at their funeral the next. I know that tomorrow is no guarantee and that scares me to death sometimes.

At any moment any one of my children could be gone. I wonder with every event of their lives if I am guiding them in the right direction. I know it sounds crazy, but I can’t tell you how often I wonder if my words to them, my help or guidance might be the last thing I say or do for them.

I’m not saying I live in fear because I don’t, I just want to do everything right, I want to give them my best with every day that God gives me with them.

I mess up and fall flat on my face too many times to count. So often I really think I am helping and just end up making a big mess out of things. My heart is in the right place and I love them so much it hurts. It hurts that I don’t have my other little girl here to fight with, love on and make her life just as fun and crazy as my other kids.

When you lose a child you world is never the same, your life is never the same, and you could never parent the same way you did before.

I question every decision, doubt myself too often, and pray that one day these chains of grief that hold my heart captive will break free.

Being a parent is always a reminder that there is one sweet little girl in Heaven I will NEVER get to parent.

At the end of the day my only saving grace is that Christ holds the key to my heart. On days when I feel like everything is falling apart, HE is there. On days when I feel like it is too hard to be a parent, I turn to the only true Father I need to guide me.

On days when I have no answers at all, I fall to my knees and He is there to listen and guide. He is my example. I want to be a parent who listens, loves and guides. Who corrects and disciplines when needed.

 I want to be a parent who never stops caring and never stops trying no matter how often I think I may fail or get it wrong.

And most of all I want to be a praying parent who never stops seeking guidance from Christ!

Today is here and my sweet little girl is a daily reminder and gift to me that life is short.  I have to live each day doing the best I can and being who God has called me to be. I will always love her and miss her, but through her death I learned that I can’t get yesterday back, but I can decide how I will react about today no matter what the outcome may be!

It doesn’t matter if we try and fail or try and succeed, as long as you live your life for GOD! Mistakes are simply an opportunity for God to work on your heart and allow you to grow!!!
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Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Play BALL!

 
Dedication or Passion???
 


The sweat, blood, and tears radiate from their little faces as they take the field. The passion to play no matter what consumes their entire existence, and nothing can get in their way.

Inning after inning they take the field fighting harder and harder with passion pushing them to the end.

Sweat saturates their entire bodies.

Tears of joy swell in their eyes as often as the occasional tears of regret and disappointment when the ball slips under their glove.

The blood comes as the player slides in to steal a base determined to get there regardless of the scrapes and bruises which always accompany the battle.  

Nothing can overpower the heart and passion of a baseball player. No amount of sweat, tears, or blood could ever tear him away from the game. It’s all about the heart of the game. The love and desire to play wins every time.

 Where is our passion? Our love?

We so often want this fairy tale with no bumps, no bruises, and no tears; we want perfection with no work! We want God to give us a perfect life, and we want to live it to the fullest, but yet we never really want to feel anything.

If a baseball player never stepped onto the field, they would never get hurt or lose a game. They would also never know the feeling of victory.

In order to live life, we have to spread our wings and fly. We have to let go of failure and just start living. Sure, we are going to fail, get hurt and stumble along the way, but we are also going to succeed. We are going to grow closer to Christ because with every fall He picks us up and teaches us how to make it to the finish line. He teaches us how to have victory in our hearts and in our life.

He also teaches us that life is not about the blood, sweat, and tears, but about how we choose to get back up again.

Don’t just sit the bench……PLAY BALL!
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Monday, September 3, 2012

Book FAIR!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to the Labor Day Book Fair!

Wayman publishing has teamed up
with many phenomenal authors
to bring you this Labor Day weekend event.

Photobucket



For three whole days
--September 2-3-4--
you can download these featured

e-books for FREE.


. . . And . . .

You can download many other books
to entertain you in the days ahead.



Discover Upcoming Books!


Author’s biography The author was born in Athens, Greece in 1955 and is a dual U.S. / Greek citizen. After obtaining his Engineering Sc. B. degree in mechanical engineering from Brown University in 1977 he went on to Harvard Business School where he earned his MBA in 1979. He is married and has two children and lives in Athens but often visits America (Boston where his daughter studies and his son works). He is currently employed by the largest Greek manufacturing Co. (10% of Greek exports) as the Senior Financial Analyst. His interests include poetry, romance fiction and actively following economic developments in the U.S. and Europe.
Coming Soon!














http://sydneyssong.net/blog/

. . . Also . . .

You can enter to win CASH or physical books
by outstanding authors such as
Valerie Bowen,
Adrienne deWolfe,
Peter Thomas Senese,
Lucy Swing,
and
Kara Tollman.





In honor of Melynda Fleury--who has bravely been fighting diabetes and almost completely lost her eyesight--Wayman Publishing and Rick Gualtieri are also donating 5-10% profit from select physical book sales to the American Diabetes Association.


We hope you enjoyed discovering new authors and their stories
at our Labor Day Blogfest and Book Fair.


If you'd like to share this post,
please free free to grab the following code:


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