Given

Posted in Christmas Devotional by Cindy

I always look forward to the Christmas Season! It is truly the most wonderful time of the year! Each year as I read through the scriptures, the Lord never ceases to amaze me as He brings to light something new. What joy and excitement as a new understanding of Him unfolds before my eyes!

I began a study this week by Love God Greatly called, “God with Us“. Settling in under my warming blanket and the soft glow of the Christmas lights, I opened my Bible to a familiar but favorite verse, Isaiah 9:6-7. I have used this verse on many Christmas cards and spoken it many times over the years, however this time the word GIVEN took center stage.

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6Dec2016

The Perfect Gift

Posted in Christian Walk, Mom Life by Cindy

I remember how excited I felt when I found out I was going to be a mom! I took bits and pieces I loved from those who spoke into my life and configured this model of perfect mom for my children. It wasn’t a bad model but more of a testament to those who spoke into my life, it just set me up to fail before I even became mom. I don’t know about you, but sometimes as a mom I become trapped in my past experiences.

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10Nov2016

Well Done

Posted in Christian Walk by Cindy

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything. This season of life has come with much busyness to the many hats worn as mom and wife. The words and lessons come but as soon as I sit to type them, they are lost in the abyss of frazzled brain matter. That is until recently.

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13Sep2016

Mom Life: Road Signs

Posted in Mom Life by Cindy

We have entered a new area of training with our older children. Driving!! I can feel my heart beat faster just by typing the word! Teaching them to drive has been…let’s just say….there is not a GPS to guide you through the anxiety, bumps, swerves, near misses, tears and yes, even those wide turns (overly wide turns… eh hem). Sometimes I cannot believe we arrive at our destination unscathed! I’ve always known what the handles on the ceiling of my car were for….really I did. With that being said, never in my mind did actually using them surface! That was until several months ago when one of those wide turns came without the aid of braking. I’ve never grabbed something so fast with all my might as though it could save me from the impending doom ahead. Needless to say, it has become my friend over the past few months. I just hope it will remain intact until my kids carry out the necessary training with responsible driver as their destination.

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20Jun2016

Mom Life: When Life Stinks…Literally

Posted in Mom Life by Cindy

Sometimes in Mom Life we experience things with our children that are well….lets just say some days can reek to high heaven especially when in the public eye. I’ve had several instances as a mom when going to the store was like a box of chocolates. I didn’t know what behavior I was going to get; sweet, dreamy and smooth or dark and foul racing to the exit! While we experienced many good store runs its “the others” that caused people to follow us throughout the store, point fingers, and give us glares of shame and judgment. Then enters the crème de la crème that dreaded check-out line! It brings you front and center! There is no escape, you are there until the transaction is complete and your momma nerves in addition to your children come unwound like a spool of thread! What is it about the check-out line that drives kids of all ages to insanity?

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John 3:8 NIV

Mom Life: Drunk on Emotions

Moms, you know that moment when someone comes to you and says or does something that either shocks you, makes you mad, or catches you so off guard that your emotions take over. The knee-jerk reaction we give in response is anything but wholesome and the raging emotions can set the par for the rest of your day or evening. My husband constantly tells me in the heat of the moment that I am drunk on my emotions and asks to discuss the situation later after I’ve had some time to think. Sometimes even him saying that makes me even hotter under the collar and I erupt like Mount Vesuvius leaving behind a lake of boiling lava in the aftermath of my emotional tirade. After I’ve had time to soak everything in, I’m remorseful and wish I had listened to his request.

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29Sep2015

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Posted in Christian Walk by Cindy

“Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.”

-Mother Goose

There’s just something about a garden whether it be a vegetable, flower, or fields of grain. As I gaze among them with awe, I see and admire the beauty in the backdrop of creation. By far, my garden is not even comparable to the awe-inspiring gardens of those featured in magazines. Each year we set out to plant a garden with hopes of it being better than the year before. We prep the soil in order for it to be less clay like and more fertile. We fuss about whether to plant seeds or plants already started from our local stores. We buy the plant food and the things needed to keep grub worms and pests away. There is also a fence around the garden to keep out the sweet, wild bunnies that love to eat away the vegetation as well as the slithering things that hide away in the brush to prey on their next meal. In all our efforts to make a beautiful garden, we constantly fall short of the goal. Each year brings a new challenge leaving our garden not so appealing let alone tended to.

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24Sep2015

Etched in Ink Psalm 104

Posted in Christian Walk by Cindy

I remember the days when I was younger, I would write with ink on my blue jeans. Needless to say, the constant retracing of the shape or word written made them darken and stand out on my jeans and would not go away in the wash regardless of how often they were washed. The jeans became a statement of me etched there to be seen each and every time I wore them. As I read through Psalm 104 today verse 27 spoke to me of this etching of ink. It says, “They all depend on you to give them food as they need it.” As I read the study text for verse 27 in my Bible, it said, “All life depends on the gracious sustenance of the Lord of life and death.” Continue reading →

17Sep2015

Broken Beauty

Posted in Christian Walk by Cindy

My family and I love to go to the beach. We have particularly fallen in love with the beaches in Sanibel and Captiva Island in Florida. My littlest is a shelling machine and this past December, as we strolled along the beach with our buckets and shovels in hand, it looked as though the gulf literally dumped seashells by the bucket full up and down the beach as far as we could see. In some areas, we stood in shells that went over my ankles! My daughter giddy with excitement to share her love of shelling with me and me to spend some one-on-one time with her, we set our sights on finding our shells. I was in awe of the plethora of shells before us and it didn’t take long to notice that the shells we typically saw were not in the majority and the ones we had desperately sought before were there on display in large numbers and colors.

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