As a mom I’m busy. Running errands, caring for the house, children, husband; you name it I seem to be in charge of making it happen.

Not only is this a challenging and sometimes overwhelming task, it can also often crowd out many other things in life that keep a mom sane.

If you feel like God is far away, I can guarantee you it isn’t because He wants to be. Let me tell you though, I feel this way often and cry out wondering where He has gone.

Then I realize that all the while it was me that walked away.

If you feel alone right now I encourage you to take extra time and just wait and listen. You’ll feel refreshed, at peace and no longer be alone.

This weekend as my husband (aka. the Frog Prince) and sons were working on the lawn, I noticed that they weren’t mowing any grass, all there was to be mowed was weeds, the grass has practically stopped growing completely.

No, I’m not going to talk about the intricate ins and outs of lawn care, we have too much yard to keep it watered.  But in that moment I had a bit of an epiphony…

Granted, some of you will think…”Well, Duh!”, but for me, it was one of those moments that had me thinking for the rest of the weekend.  The crazy thing is that it truly is a simple concept.

When it’s dry, the good stuff can’t grow and the weeds set in.  I’m talking about our spiritual life here though.  I’m not the kind of person that is going to prescribe a certain regimen for you to follow in order be a “successful Christian”, but I have discovered that if things are dry in my walk with God, that’s when the weeds start sprouting up.

My weeds tend to resemble discontentment, frustration, depression…you get the picture (and it really isn’t pretty).

He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs; (Psalm 107:35 NIV)

I spread out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah (Psalm 143:6 NIV)

There’s a reason we hunger and thirst for Him…only He can quench our thirst and “turn parched ground into flowing springs”!  Seek Him, spend just a few moments with God each day and watch the weeds get replaced with lush green gardens!

I have a confession to make…joyfulness isn’t my strong suit.  Sure, I often look joyful, but the truth is that when push comes to shove and things get tough I honestly don’t always remember to be joyful.

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Wow! That really makes you stop and think doesn’t it?  Since Jesus knew what it was like to walk in our shoes, I can pretty much guarantee that these verses don’t just apply to everyday trivialities, but to the big stuff too…lost jobs, lost homes and life changing events.  But that fact complicates my lack of joyfulness issue even more!

In the face of few adversities (in light of what so many others go through), how can I of all people find it a challenge to be joyful?  I have been focusing on giving thanks a lot lately, but being thankful and being joyful are two entirely different things.

Yet another problem is that my lack of joyfulness is contagious.  My boys see what I do and feel the attitude, this tends to create a lack joyfulness in them as well, which leads to discontentment, arguing and bad attitudes.  Not a fun atmosphere…definitely NOT the atmosphere I long for in our home!

So, my challenge for myself this week (and you are welcome to join me of course) is to post this scripture in a few prominent locations so that I’m reminded often…and to make a conscious effort to be joyful!!!  The next time I come across that scripture I want to be living it!

Ever wonder if you’re just not good enough?  Feel like God might not really listen to you or want you near because you aren’t “together” enough?  Or even just think that you’ve asked too much?  I think we’ve all been there in one way or another regardless of our relationship with Christ.

Although God’s answers aren’t always what we think we need, He always meets us where we’re at.  He isn’t waiting for us to get better, stronger, healthier or more perfect.  Going to Him when broken and imperfect and laying at His feet is sometimes the best place for Him to meet us.

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 NLT)

The story of the life of Jesus was riddled with people who struggled with doubt and even unbelief at times. These situations always seem to be accompanied by a scene where Jesus sought out the doubter and stood with them even through their unbelief.

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” Mark 9:24

So today, I encourage you to look past your doubts and unbelief and simply go before God with your concerns and needs.  Ask Him to surround you with peace and love and ask Him to meet you where you are at today.  He will!

We have many opportunities each day to learn surprising lessons through the little things in life.  As a mom this is especially the case.

The trick is that we simply need to open our eyes to these opportunities.  Yesterday, I found one little lesson in what I consider a fairly unusual place…my own blog.  I stop by the front page occasionally to make sure that everything is showing up properly for all of you.

As I scrolled down the page, my little scripture verse feature on the right sidebar jumped out at me (not literally LOL).  The scripture for the day was 2 Thessalonians 3:13

Never tire of doing what is right.

And I thought that was my line!  Seriously, I had no idea that was a scripture.  You see, my motto for my boys is “do the right thing” or sometimes I just say “do what’s right”.

I know that’s a simple concept, but for a young man who is learning to follow Christ and listen to his conscience, it can be challenging.

Wait though…is it really only a challenge for them?  Am I so sure that I don’t struggle with this concept myself, just on a different level?  WOW!  Now there’s something to think about and my response…ouch!

Yes, the scripture wasn’t speaking to my sons, it was speaking to me!  Directly to my heart and spirit!  NEVER tire of doing what is right.   Goodness, you think God knew what we struggle with as humans?  Definitely!

More often than not, if our hearts, eyes and ears are open, He’ll show us amazing truth and life lessons through everyday “stuff”.

The best way to hear is to begin our day simply asking Him to show us.   It also helps to spend a few minutes in the Bible.  What we discover there can change every aspect of our day and absolutely meet us EXACTLY where we are at…every single time!

I pray that you are blessed and encouraged today as we begin a fresh new week!

“Life is full of ups and downs” … this is an expression I have heard often through my life.  I’ve learned since then that some people’s lives experience far more ups or downs than the person next to them.  Likewise, there are days that are great and days that simply nothing goes right.

That’s life … right?

Please join me at Faith Lifts today as I share a bit on this thought.

This Giveaway has ended and the winner has been contacted, thank you!  Be sure to check out the latest contests!

I was very excited to discover recently that Tyndale has such a great line of children’s one year Bibles and devotionals!   It’s almost an annual tradition for me, although I don’t make true resolutions, to decide that we haven’t been on the right track teaching the boys about the Bible.

So the timing couldn’t be better for me to review these books and tell you about them so that you can enter to win them for your own family!

Here’s what we received:

The One Year Devotions for Boys – for boys ages 8-12 years.  This book features a different devotional for each day of the year each one based on a scripture verse from the Bible.  Older children do great just letting them study it for themselves, and if you have more than one in the same age group they enjoy doing this study together as a “team” or even with mom or dad!

The One Year Devotions for Preschoolers – This devotional book is perfect for  preschoolers ages 3-6.   Again, offering a different devotional for each day of the year, but setup in such a way that it is very appealing to the younger crowd.  Simple stories that they can understand with colorful pictures, a scripture verse for them to try and learn and a little prayer.  My 2 year olds enjoy this book, but it is also fun for my 5 year old to listen to!  The little ones cannot seem to get enough, so I always have to read each day’s devotional at least two times in a row to keep everyone happy (they are very quick reads though).

The One Year Children’s Bible – recommended for ages 6-10.  This Children’s Bible isn’t a true bible, but follows stories through the Bible, getting you through the entire Bible in one year.  My boys definitely enjoy this Bible and you will often find my 5, 9 and 10 year olds gathered around before school to listen to that day’s story (even the 2 year old twins join in).  I can also see this Bible being a great one to use if you are a family that has younger children and you want to begin doing after dinner devotionals as a family!!

The One Year Devotional for Girls – for ages 8-12.  Take all the same features offered in the One Year Devotions for Boys book (daily reading, scripture verse, etc) but give it a decidedly feminine twist and you have a great book for girls.  Just the book’s cover is ultra appealing!  Again, focusing on subjects that children can relate to and learn from, this is a great book to help your child “dig deeper” into Scripture and their faith!

Right now, Tyndale Kids is offering a great contest and giving away devotionals on their site here!

I also have some devotionals to give away!  In order to enter you must check out these devotionals at Tyndale.com, then come back here to leave a comment and tell me which one(s) your family could use and why!

You are welcome to leave an extra comment (for an extra entry) two more ways ….

• Tweet this contest – be sure to include a link to this giveaway and @afroginmysoup in your tweet (leave a comment here with your twitter name please).
• Blog it!  Just blog about the giveaway with a link to this post and leave a comment with the link to your post!

This giveaway is only available to US addresses and will close on Saturday January 17th.

There has been a lot of snow around here lately.  The last week of school before Winter break was scheduled to begin, it started snowing halfay through.  So, there were two 2-hour-late starts and then lo and behold, school ended up being closed for Thursday and Friday giving the boys an extra two days of Christmas break!

Here we are on the eve before the boys are scheduled to return to school and guess what …. it’s snowing again!  I actually don’t know that the boys are super excited about this lovely little turn of events.  I think they were kind of looking forward to having school to break up all the snow monotony they’ve been dealing with for the last two and a half weeks.

You see, the snow NEVER went away!  We just continued to get more and more as we headed to Christmas. It stopped snowing long enough for us to dig our way out on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, but we actully experienced the first White Christmas in about 20 years or so in our area … thus the first white Christmas ever for ANY of our sons.

It’s funny how life works out though.  As a kid, you want nothing more than a snow day once in a while and a White Christmas is a dream come true.  Let’s face it, even as an adult, it’s easy to get caught up in the nostalgia of having a White Christmas!

What happens though when the one thing you’ve dreamed of and hoped for comes true, but lots of things that you didn’t expect happen in the process?  Sure, the things that I’ve mentioned are great, but my children learned first hand that sometimes there is a little difference between the dream and the reality.

For instance, having a snow day right before Christmas break was scheduled to begin was super exciting, but now that they are ready to go back, they aren’t nearly as happy to see the snow start falling again.  The roads had finally been cleared and they were beginning to get excited for a bit of a change (mostly my 3rd and 4th grade boys).

Also, because of our wonderful white Christmas, many packages that were scheduled to arrive the Friday through Monday before Christmas didn’t arrive in time.  Since we live in an area that doesn’t routinely see a lot of snow, especially not the quantity we had (or still have), the delivery companies in this area simply didn’t have a clue what to do.  In fact, though USPS did make deliveries most days especially up to Christmas, it took UPS ’till THIS past Friday (Jan. 2nd) to deliver everything to us (including my parents’ gift) and we still haven’t seen Fed Ex who has our oldest sons’ one gift (was scheduled to arrive the Saturday before Christmas).

Again, it amazes me how often we find that the things we dreamed about and hoped for aren’t exactly what we expected in the end.  I don’t think that this is a lesson easily learned either, after all we definitely still do this as adults.   We hope and dream for things that seem out of reach, then when we find a way to get to them there may be consequences that we didn’t think about or expect at all!

The great thing is that, as simplistic as all this may sound to some, as a mom these little events can completely alter the attitude or course of an entire day in our family.  I’m not the perfect mom ….. not by a VERY long shot …. so I need a lot of help in the patience and gentleness department.  I do not like beginning any day on the wrong foot with a bad attitude, but it happens.

Thankfully, even in these “little” things, I can go to Christ and once again lay them at His feet asking for help!  Boy do I need that!

Are you facing some unexpected results in life this week?  Maybe your family has a lot of things on the schedule (I know mine does), maybe you or one of your children are struggling with a negative attitude right now.

Can I encourage you to simply take it to God?  Spend a few extra minutes each day and read one chapter from the Bible.  Before you do though, spend a moment in prayer and ask God to speak to your heart through what you read in His word.  Maybe even write it down afterward so that you can refer to it through the day or a few months later to see how far you’ve come.

This little act that probably takes less than 15 minutes out of your day can change your life!  Now THERE’S a Resolution – one you know will absolutely, beyond any doubt change your life for the better!

I wish you all great blessings this week!

Sometimes it’s difficult for me to notice the brand new life in things around me. I forget look at my life with fresh eyes each day.  These are ongoing challenges of mine … looking for the fresh, new and positive in daily life as well as the people and things around me.

Today I’m over at Faith Lifts filling in for one of our AMAZING contributors who has just moved and is settling in!  I pulled out an oldie and dusted it off with a few extra edits and voila …. some great thoughts to share with all of you .  I truly hope you will join me there today and I encourage you to subscribe to Faith Lifts for daily encouragement!

Yesterday was one of those days … you know, the kind where things just start going downhill and try as you might, you can’t seem to turn them around. Yup that kind. Looking back the day may not have been as terrible as it seemed at the time, but while living in the moment I was overwhelmed!

A day that felt like everything I tried to accomplish was doomed from the start!

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

So many scriptures remind us to remain in Him and to walk closely with Him. Incidentally, yesterday I didn’t have a chance to read the Bible and my prayer time was brief prayers sent up through the day. Granted, it isn’t that EVERY time I forget to spend time in the word that I have a horrible day … but all too often they do seem to go hand in hand.

If you’re having a bad day, I encourage you to go to the scriptures and just read a bit.  Finding a little quiet time before the Lord can be just the answer to turn your day around .

Blessings friends!