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Posts Tagged ‘guest post’

Being a Mom at the End of the School Year

Posted in WONDER, tagged Being Mom, end of school year, guest post, jen hatmaker, june, limping to the end, Mom, School, Struggle on June 2, 2013| 2 Comments »

When it comes to the end of the school year, I thought I was the worst mom, and I thought that I alone held that title (and there still might be a few teachers of our kids, past or present, who would still ‘amen’ my self-declaration).

Last week I was introduced to another blogger, and through her blog post, and the conversations with others who giggled and sighed through reading it, I have discovered that I am SO not alone!

For parents with school-aged kids this time of year is truly the storm before the summer calm. Personally I am counting the days that my son has left of band classes … forever (he and I are ridiculously irresponsible when it comes to his practicing and my signing the practice records)! Bed times have stretched much later into the nights, resulting in great struggles awakening the gang in the mornings. End of school year events are viewed more as ‘have to go’ than ‘get to go’ events. Homework … well, I think Jen Hatmaker says it best.

Jen is a a gifted writer, a speaker, a wife, a mom of five kids, and a woman with a heart for God. I am looking forward to getting to know her better through her blog, now that I have subscribed to it. I certainly know that when it comes to how I feel at this point in the school year, as a mom, she is a kindred spirit … and she even gave me a chance to laugh!

“You know the Beginning of School Enthusiasm? When the pencils are fresh and the notebooks are new and the kids’ backpacks don’t look like they lined the den of a pack of filthy hyenas? Moms, remember how you packed innovative and nutritional lunches and laid clothes out the night before and labeled shelves for each child’s work and school correspondence and completed homework in a timely manner?

I am exactly still like that at the end of school, except the opposite.

We are limping, limping across the finish line, folks. I tapped out somewhere in April and at this point, it is a miracle my kids are still even going to school. I haven’t checked homework folders in three weeks, because, well, I just can’t. Cannot. Can. Not. I can’t look at the homework in the folder. Is there homework in the folder? I don’t even know. Are other moms still looking in the homework folder? I don’t even care.”

And there is more folks! Please keep reading Worst End of School Year Mom Ever, and if you too have school-aged kids you will love the camaraderie that this post provides.

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Technical Difficulties

Posted in WONDER, tagged before worship, big picture, bloom where you are planted, guest post, I'm Worn, living vicariously through the beast, stats, stay strong finish well, technical difficulties, up with the clouds on May 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I admit, I am not technical whiz … I still struggle to play a cassette!

Last week my blog was having technical difficulties. The week prior my stats were about sixty viewers per day (yes, I admit that I do keep and eye on my stats), and last week they were closer to twenty. I was beginning to wonder what horrifically offending thing I had written.

So, since it is guest post Sunday, I thought I would provide a few links to posts you might not have been notified were written.

In my post, Big-Picture-Perspective, I ask these questions,

Does today, the present circumstances of your life, ever seem like an all-consuming eternity to you?
Do you wonder how you will get through whatever you are going through?”

In the post, Living-Vicariously-Through-the-Beast, I consider the level of commitment of my beast to myself, and those who she considers to be her pack, and what we can learn from that kind of commitment.

In Bloom-Where-You-Are-Planted, I write of my expert gardening skills … not! But I do write about a plant that I am familiar with, and how it’s beauty shines through all seasons, and all conditions. It’s strength does not come from what is added to it, where it is planted, or any other external forces. It’s beauty comes from within …

Sometime when I write I do so from a place of experience in the issue I am writing about, and I share my own weaknesses, as well as what God has opened my own eyes to in my world, and experiences within it. That was the case when I was preparing Before-Worship. In the quiet of a morning, God reached down and taught me a very valuable lesson.

When I wrote, Stay-Strong-Finish-Well, I wrote it as a reminder to myself to work to make these last days of the school year ones of working harder than ever, not slacking, not sailing through, but finishing well. It amazes me how, as I look back now, that particular day that this post was published was one where I had to be very intentional to not slack off. Maybe (probably) I wrote this one as a reminder to myself than for anyone else!

“I’m Tired I’m worn
My heart is heavy
From the work it takes
To keep on breathing
I’ve made mistakes
I’ve let my hope fail
My soul feels crushed
By the weight of this world”

If the words above ring familiar in your ears, check out I’m-Worn.

Finally is my post Up-With-the-Clouds, in which you will find the reminder that “you don’t have to find out you are dying to start living,”

Blessings on your day, your week.

Carole

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(in)courage (ment) for my soul

Posted in WONDER, tagged (in)courage (ment) for my soul, (in)courage.me, anxious, bonnie gray, guest post, it is well, satan, sufferings, walking the little girl in you out into the world, Wintley Phipps on April 28, 2013| Leave a Comment »

It’s been a week …

Here I was (again) feeling

low. uninspired. discouraged. uninspiring.

That anxious, overwhelming feeling descended upon my heart.

The ‘to do’ list longer than the hours in my day.

The hindrances to accomplishment seemed to come from every angle this week.

If you believe in Satan, as I do, you will understand when I say he utilized every internal and external force to get under my skin, and infect my being with thoughts of doubt, frustration and discouragement.

So, as I sat down to locate the link I wanted to share today, I was in a mood to ‘just get it done’ so that I could move on to more pressing matters (like laundry).

I went to the home page of incourage.me. This is a blog I have just started following, since being drawn in by the fact that one of it’s contributors is Canadian author Ann Voskamp (a little Canadian pride surely won’t diminish our ‘nice’ reputation). The home page featured a different, newer post … I rolled my eyes, knowing I would now have to remember what day’s post I had wanted to share (and I cannot usually remember where I put my car keys).

Then I started to read …

“I’m trying to type words onto the screen.

But, there is only blank space staring back at me.

If you’ve ever experienced anxiety — the kind that wraps around your heart with the cloak of stress — you’d understand how it can tether you back.

It keeps you silent.

Keeps you in your home.

And on the hours or days you need to be with others, you may end up retreating from being seen. Or heard.

You are working hard. You are getting things done.

But, you might feel like I do, unsure if things can really be different.

Whether you can really be known.

This is soul wearying.

Because you may have been hurt, like I’ve been — by words that wound you still — that made you regret that you shared.

Words that made you feel even smaller than how you’re already feeling.

Words that make you feel pressured to get over what you can’t get over.

Words that make you feel more alone, standing on the outside of where you want to be: belonging, loved and understood.

It’s then, at that moment, you and I chance upon a glimpse into our soul.

To the little girl inside us who is broken, feeling cast off and lonely …”

Then I started to weep …

And I remembered something, a song, from my teens, that I would sing,

over

and over

and over again

until

I meant every word I had sung.

And so I sang it,

over

and over

and over again

until

I meant every word I had sung.

If you need to remember, like I did, that

our peace,

our futures,

our very souls

do not have to be controlled by the sufferings (whether from our own hands, or from the hands of the Destroyer) of our lives …

“Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.”

Click on :

Walking The Little Girl In You Out Into The World

by Bonnie Gray, the Faith Barista, serving up shots of faith for everyday life.

“In the quiet crucible of your personal, private sufferings,
your noblest dreams
are born
and God’s greatest gifts are given
in compensation for what you have been through.”

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How Many Times?

Posted in WONDER, tagged Encouragement, god please help me, guest post, how many times?, Isaiah 40, Pain, plumb, Suffering, tiffany arbuckle lee on April 26, 2013| 1 Comment »

For the next week, I will be featuring guest posts, as I spend my regular ‘writing time’ preparing for a speaking engagement. If you feel led to pray for me in this regard, I would so appreciate it, and specifically that Pinterest does not pre-occupy my writing time 😉 … I am so weak !

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The guest post today is a video of a song I have been listening to since it’s recent release.

This song is written and performed by Plumb, the stage name of Tiffany Arbuckle Lee. Tiffany says this song came out of her high school years when she suffered terrible physical pain, brought on by anxiety, as well as a tough season she had recently been going through. Through these experiences she has always called on God, and He has always been there with her.

“Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”
Isaiah 40:28-31

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The Touch of the Master’s Hand

Posted in WONDER, tagged Death, guest post, memory, roger tharpe, Story, the touch of a master's hand on April 25, 2013| Leave a Comment »

master

The guest post today was a guest post from a blog I subscribe to and read regularly. It is a heartwarming story that had me hearing that older story/song A Touch of the Master’s Hand.

Enjoy this lovely story.

“There was an elderly grandfather who had dementia and was in the last stages of that illness. The grandfather lived with his son’s family. One of his grandchildren was a girl of about 10 years old who loved her grandfather very much and couldn’t understand why he said things that didn’t make sense. She didn’t understand why he would yell out words in the middle of the night and wake everyone up. She didn’t understand why he didn’t know who she was. She didn’t understand why he changed and didn’t laugh and joke with her like he used to.

One day the granddaughter was exploring her grandfather’s possessions that were all stored in the attic of their home. She opened one of the trunks that she thought appeared to be a ‘pirate’s’ chest. To her surprise among other things it contained a violin case which she immediately opened. No her young eyes weren’t trained or she would have been able to recognize the caliber of musical instrument that this violin was.

From that time and for many days she would sneak up to the attic, take the pristine violin out of it’s case and hold it. One time she actually took the bow and ran it across the strings, which produced a squeaky sound. From that time on she kept practicing on the violin’ She was cautious to play softly so that no one would hear the ‘out-of-tune’ sounds she made on it and take it away from her.

The grandfather’s health was deteriorating rapidly and this was hard for the little girl who deeply loved her grandfather or “Papaw” as she called him. The girl’s name was Sierra. Sierra had been told that her grandfather was very sick and that she wasn’t to go to his room unless her mom or dad was with her. One day she decided to break those rules. Sierra decided to go into the grandfather’s room with her newly found violin and play him a song, howbeit she knew no cords but she could make noise” …

To continue this story click http://rogertharpe.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/.

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When Love Leads

Posted in WONDER, tagged affair, confession, david and marlena, Divorce, Forgiveness, guest post, healing, Marriage, restored, video, when love leads on April 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Today I am featuring a video from Vimeo called, “When Love Leads.”

“David and Marlena, on the brink of divorce, discover where true Love and satisfaction are found in this story of redemption and forgiveness,” is the description that Vimeo has of this video, of their story.

Their story is thought-provoking.

As there are many people who read my posts, from as many different individual circumstances, I want to encourage those of you who have walked the road to divorce, from a marriage where you suffered abuse, or where the choice to divorce was made for you, this is not a guilt trip. May healing and wholeness be in your future.

Great+Love+Great+Sacrifice

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How to Care for Couples Who Walk the Miscarriage Road

Posted in WONDER, tagged caring for couples, Daddy Deliberations, guest post, Miscarriage, Pregnancy Loss, Ryan Janzi on March 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »

As I was sending a note to my friend, Ryan Janzi, to let him know that I was planning to add a link to a post he had written recently, Ryan was sending me a similarly themed post.

I want to share Ryan’s post on caring for those couples in our lives who have experienced the loss that miscarriage presents.

It is a loss that only those who have experienced it can fully relate to and understand.

Being one who is part of this undesirable club, I can attest to many similar experiences that Ryan relates in his post.

Even if it is not an experience that you share, read it, as it will better prepare you to respond to someone in your life who will be walking this road.

Opening Up About Miscarriage: How to Care For Couples Who Walk this Road

“In my last post I mentioned what a shame it is that so little is said in our society regarding miscarriage. It tends to be a taboo subject experienced by so many, but publicly addressed by so few. Why should countless couples cry in silence, not knowing and being strengthened by the many similar stories of their family and friends? In my opinion we need to begin talking with others about these experiences. This silence ought to be broken.

Now, let me be clear. In the first weeks and months following a miscarriage, it makes sense that this grief should be kept relatively private. As my wife and I walked through our three miscarriages, the last thing we wanted was to be conversing with everyone we knew about this challenge we were facing. I’m sure this would have been emotionally exhausting. You simply don’t want to have to relate on such a deep of a level with anyone other than your closest family and friends. However, I also don’t think it should be kept too private. You do need those few people who will cry and pray with you and extend support in other meaningful ways. Keep it private, but not too private.”

To continue reading, click on Opening Up About Miscarriage-How to Care For Couples Who Walk this Road. It will be well worth the read.

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Teenage Girl

Posted in Guest Post, tagged creations, Creator, girl, gritty, guest post, lost childhood, social justice, Struggle, teenage girls, ybevoice on March 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Hum, this is a little awkward, but this guest post might be a little too … gritty for some of you.

This guest post is by a writer whose blog I have just recently subscribed to. She writes poignantly about whatever she chooses, often dealing with some of the daily plights that females might face.

The post I am providing a link to, today, is called Girl.

Girl reads something like a diary entry, written by a teenage girl. It is specific enough in it’s detail to let the reader understand the heart of this girl, yet leaves enough ‘holes’ where there is an absence of details to make you wonder.

As I read it I thought of the teenage girls I pass in the halls of the high school I work, every. day.

I thought of individual girls … girls who fake confidence … girls who ‘look’ tough … girls whose eyes … don’t … look.

Girls who struggle to fit. anywhere. with anyone.

Girls who were once …

cradled in their mother’s arms

cheered as they took their first steps

wondered at the bean seed they planted

smiled proudly as they were applauded at Christmas concerts

giggled with their girlfriends while swinging higher on the playground

What happened?

What is happening?

To our girls.

I say this as a mom who delights in the whimsical, beautiful, confusing, frustrating, magical, wonder-filled packages of hormone-filled females that my daughters are.

I say this as woman who works in a high school, and I see girls who are losing … have lost, all that they were created for.

I say this as a Christian woman, who knows that my breaking, broken heart for this beautiful creatures is breaking and broken like their Creator.

They were created for

SO MUCH MORE!

So, some of you might not want to click on the link I have provided today.

It might be too gritty.

It might be too upsetting.

But, I believe, it is the social justice issue that never gets mentioned, has always existed, and is within the power of all of us living in the First World to improve, impact, and maybe even … change.

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The Sex Trade

Posted in Guest Post, WONDER, tagged 100 huntley street, Brian McConaghy, Cambodia, chapel, guest post, horror, Light, Ratanak International, Redemption, sex trade on March 5, 2013| Leave a Comment »

6954433df19278e31fa16459d806097e Well, I got your attention, didn’t I?

Due to the title of this blog, my stats will be through the roof.

You would not believe the sort of searches that I awaken to each and every morning. It is, at times (too many times) offensive, frightening and causes me to wonder what causes these men to seek images and words of child sexual assault. I also smile when I realize how ironic that these, presumably male, seekers who are looking for something so dark, have come to my blog, which I pray is saturated with the light of Christ.

I heard about Ratanak International at my workplace in a high school, when the founder (and former RCMP Investigator), Brian McConaghy spoke to our high school students and staff. Over five hundred individuals sat there, in utter silence, while this rather plain-looking, middle aged man told simply the facts of the lives of too many young girls (as young as five).

No one walked away unchanged.

Today I bring to you a video produced by 100 Huntley Street. Please watch it, not because it is ‘good’, but because the more people who know what happens to little girls all over the world, the more light that is shed on this dark, dark hell on Earth …

the easier for redemption to come to those who need it’s re-birthing breath of fresh air …

and light.

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Revolutionary Change

Posted in Guest Post, WONDER, tagged aholyexperience, Ann Voskamp, Girls, gratitude, guest post, how women can get really radical for their sisters, revolution, thanks, Women on March 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Last week I wrote about how just doing ‘good’ is not enough, in my post If I … but don’t have Love.

The day after I wrote it, I received a post from one of the people whose blogs I follow, and I thought how timely it was, for where my head was on the issue of love, and social justice.

I love the heart of this woman!

Ann Voskamp, book writer (One Thousand Gifts), blog writer ( http://www.aholyexperience.com ), mother to six, wife to the Farmer, child of God.

This post had me silently ‘amen-ing’ her thoughts at 6am, smiling and eyes filling with the fluid of the heart.

images-3 Ann deals inwardly, and then with words, with the plight of too many young women around the world. She deals with the need for revolutionary change, and where that change can be birthed. She deals with the message of the world (one of good intentions … but … without … love) and with the message of the power of gratitude, of love … in making the change.