I need to make the wise choice

We say this every Sunday to our school aged children at church, "I need to make the wise choice." They don't know it yet, but we adults benefit by saying it too! I need to make the wise choice at a fast food resturant. I need to make the wise choice as I drive my SUV. We don't always know which choices are life changing and which are just everyday choices. Here's an example.

Two years ago this week I had to decide how to spend my Saturday. You know the drill; there are always multiple things to eat up a Saturday!!! My mom had been in and out of the hospital since June and was still receiving care in a medical unit attached to the Retirement Community where her apartment was. She asked me to come EVERY SATURDAY, but we were going on four months now and I had to decide whether or not to drive the 2 1/2 hours to visit her for 2 or 3 hours and then drive back home; it would take my whole day.

I made the trip alone and it was a BEAUTIFUL day! She was excited to see me and shared a special request--for a hamburger from Wendy's. Now my mom loves Wendy's (and if you saw her food tray in the medical unit you would know why it would be such a treat!) So we giggled and hatched a plan for her to leave the facility and ride to Wendy's drive through with me. One kind nurse said she would look the other way when we left on our "picnic" and I promised mom would NOT get out of the car.

Such a simple thing. We ate our burgers near the courthouse with the windows of the car rolled down to enjoy the day. She thanked me numerous times. We got back and I pushed her around in the wheelchair to visit the apartment and take care of mail, etc. It was a typical visit in so many ways. We didn't know it was our last visit together on this earth. I said goodbye like I always did and drove home.

Early Monday morning my mom had a massive stroke and never spoke again. I sat by her bed Monday and Tuesday my brother flew in from Kentucky. We were on either side of her on Friday afternoon when she left her earthly body and stepped into eternity. She was not afraid to die and ready to meet Jesus. I still struggled to let her go that day.

For the rest of my life I will be glad that I chose to give her my Saturday. That day, I made the wise choice.

Life-giving words

Who doesn't respond to a sincere affirmation? I do! Today someone said "I'm so proud of you!" Yesterday someone said, "I count you as one of my dearest friends." I feel like I can take on the world now! We all need those words. We can shrink without them--in our own eyes at least.

Here are 10 ways to Build Up A Child from Jody Capehart in her book Touching Hearts Changing Lives

The question for you is :can I challenge myself to affirm my child 5 times a day? 10 times? Do I need to start with 3 sincere times?


1. Express sincere gratitude: "Thank you for helping me!"
2. Encourage the child to share a skill: "Who else could you show how to do that?"
3. Empathize: "I bet it felt great to finish that project!"
4. Identify consequences: "You really helped Mrs. Gardner when you collected the left-over bulletins."
5. Appreciate uniqueness: "I never would have thought about it that way."
6. Applaud effort: "I can see a lot of work went into this project."
7. Emphasize growth: "You are making enormous improvements each week."
8. Encourage elaboration: "Tell me more about what happened."
9. Acknowledge good choices: "I know that was a hard decision."
10. Apply scriptural truths: "You were acting in exactly the way Jesus described when he said, 'Do to others as you want them to do to you'"

I recommit to life-giving words for people God puts in my life!

Is Blogging for ME?

I have been a journaler for many years. YES, it helps me to write out my thoughts, to sift through the first feelings and get down to where I can hear God's still small voice AFTER the storm of emotions subsides. But my journals are private. They chronicle the lessons God has taught me through the years about parenting, growing as a Christian, hard lessons about dependence and independence, grieving, the joys and struggles of marriage, big lessons about simple things.

I put myself OUT THERE for only one reason. I want to encourage parents. I want to see Christian families grow stronger and raise children who will be a generation of BOLD witnesses to the power of God. I want single parents to hang on another day and believe that God is bigger than their biggest problem. I want to encourage spouses not to give up on fractured relationships....yet. I want to shout out that our God does heal, does strengthen, and does have a plan...bigger and better than anything our small minds can imagine.

We can train our minds to think past the immediate, to look down the road, to believe that this moment will pass and our futures will open up to God's vast possibilities. With ourselves and with our children we must think and teach with the end in mind.

I will blog and together we will HOPE, beacuse God is out there....ahead.