What's up with GC???

For many of you wondering we will be ready to launch new groups starting in September.  Our goal is to provide a safe, intimate atmosphere where you feel comfortable relating to other women from all walks of life.  We all go through struggles and face obstacles in life and need eachother to lean on during those hard time.  Our GC groups are a place to vent, talk, discuss, ask questions and develop relationships....all while strengthening your faith.  Sometimes we wonder if we'll fit in...or be understood.  We worry that we will be criticized or judged.  We question whether we might be the only ones that won't understand what we read or be able to find certain books in the Bible.  We hope that by attending one our GC groups with our trained facilitators you will feel safe to open your heart and bring yourself one step closer to understanding the things of God on a whole new level.  Don't let your fears and worries stunt your growth!  We are passionate about seeing you restored, transformed and healed and will go the extra mile to relate with you and help you to see yourself as Jesus sees you.  Stay tuned and get ready to take a step out of your comfort zone and anticipate the incredible things you will experience as a result! 

You are His child.

“Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”” Matthew 19:14 NIV

Did you know in God's eyes we are ALL little children? We need guidance, protection, wisdom, nourishment and support. And our Father gives us that and more. The kingdom of heaven belongs to each one of us. ♥  

 

Sometimes many of us feel unworthy to be accepted to God.  We feel that we have let Him down and disappointed Him.  We worry that we have gone too far off his path of righteousness to ever be taken back.  We wonder if we can live up to His expectations.  But let's look at it from the eyes of a child.  You might not have grown up in a home filled with love, acceptance and encouragement but that is what it's like to grow up in God's house.  When you study His character He is full of grace, mercy, forgiveness and abounds in love.  He isn't harsh or demanding but waits for us to return just as the prodigal son.  He created us in love and will raise us in love, if we will allow Him to do so.  While it can be hard to understand a Father that is so different from many of our earthly fathers it's worth your time to study His character and learn who He really is.  You might be surprised.   Many of us feel betrayed by friends, loved ones and the world but no matter what we can rest assured that God is on our side, for us, not against us and always ready to scoop us up in his open arms to provide respite from our troubles.  Will you see Him as your Father?  Will you allow Him to lead your and guide you?  Will you learn to trust Him? 

The Friends of Motherhood

From Stacy T at www.keeperofthehome.org

Motherhood isn’t easy.  There are many ways to describe motherhood - joyful, challenging, unique, consuming, wonderful, exhausting, humbling, rewarding - but easy isn’t one of them.
As mothers, our greatest privileges and our greatest joys in life also happen to be some of our greatest challenges.

There are things we can do to help make the job of motherhood easier and more joyful.
Those things are like friends in that they lighten our burden and make our journey more joyful.  They are the friends of motherhood.  They can make our responsibilities easier, although not necessarily easy.  Just like our friends in real life, the friends of motherhood help us along, lift us up and encourage us to continue trying.

And on the contrary, there are also things we do that make our mothering more difficult and challenging; those things are our foes. (And we will address this in Part II another day.)

So what are the friends and foes of motherhood?

First, we'll talk about the friends.  The friends of motherhood are patience, forgiveness and confidence.

Patience

“Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself.”  - Saint Francis de Sales

No doubt about it, motherhood takes patience!  The patience to wait for your three year old to put his shoes on by himself.  The patience to clean up the floor underneath the highchair... for the fifth time that day.  That all takes patience and the more patient we can be, the easier our days will be. 

I often find that the same situation can be exhausting or amusing depending on my attitude.  Often, whatever has happened to try my patience will only be made worse by the display of impatience, and, most of the time, being patient will better the situation.  Patience really is key to the happiness and peace in our homes. 

And just as important is the the need to be patient with ourselves. It’s far too easy to beat ourselves up, criticizing and judging ourselves for our shortcomings, weaknesses and mistakes.  But if we can be patient with ourselves and continue trying, we’ll be far better in the long run, and so will our children.

Forgiveness

"Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude."  - Martin Luther King, Jr.

If you stop to think about it, a mother is constantly forgiving, forgiving her children for misbehaving or acting out.  It seems so common that we may not even recognize it as forgiveness.  But it is.  Forgiveness allows love to flow and to be felt by our children even during times of discipline.

Forgiveness builds a bond of trust between a mother and her children.  Over time, our children will learn that our love is constant and is not contingent upon their behavior.  This will help them to be honest with us and be more open to communication about potential problems or decisions they might be facing.  Forgiveness also frees us from the burden of anger and the distracting desire for a retaliative type of discipline.

Similar to patience, we also need to forgive ourselves.  Just like our children, we will often make mistakes, and we need to forgive ourselves and move forward with confidence.

Confidence

“Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.” - Peter T. McIntyre

The friendlier you can get with confidence as a mother, the better off you’ll be.  Confidence in motherhood is difficult.  It’s easy to feel less-confident then we should.

We all need to trust, however, that God gave us the children he gave us for a reason, and be confident that through prayer and effort, we can raise them as they need to be raised and mother them in the way that they need to be mothered.

Confidence does not mean that you discount all others’ thoughts and suggestions, valuing only your own.  Confidence in motherhood is the understanding that you are capable of raising your children the way they should be raised, taking ideas from all valuable sources and putting them to your use in the best ways for your children.  Confidence is the ability to give consideration to any thought or suggestion, whether yours or another’s, and be confident in your ability to evaluate the idea.

Confidence should not be shaken by mistakes.  Learning does not take place without mistakes, and a confident mother knows that, with every little stumble she is increasingly capable.

Keeping Your Faith Simple....

An excerpt from the book, "Seven Things That Steal Your Joy" by Joyce Meyer.

"In the Old Testament, the Israelites often said, "The Lord our God is one Lord [the only Lord]" (Deuteronomy 6:4).  And I always wondered why they made such a big deal out of God being One.

Then I realized that the heathens were deceived into believing there was a god for everything.  Can you imagine how complicated that must have been?  To have a baby, they talked to the god of fertility.  To grow crops, they talked to the god of the harvest.  And all these different gods required different sacrifices for healing, peace, or whatever the people lacked.

They must have been busy just running around to false gods.  That's why it was such good news when the one true God revealed Himself and said, "I've got it all.  Anything you need, you can come to Me."

The Lord our God is One.

The word simple means "one": "umixed", "free of secondary complications."  The word pure also means "one": "unmixed with any other matter". 

Whatever I need, I can go to the one pure God.  If I need peace, if I need righteousness, if I need hope, if I need joy, if I need healing, if I need finances, if I need help - whatever I need, I simply to go the one true God.  That is simple.  That delivers me from complication.  The Lord our God, He is One.  

Jesus' message that He came so we might have and enjoy our lives so abundantly they would overflow was intended for us in the twenty-first century.  God did not mean for life to be as complicated as it is today.  As Paul said, "I'm concerned for you, that you are going to lose the simplicity of Christ."  We simply need to know who we are in Christ.  We need to know that God has in individual plan for each one of us." 

And THAT my friends, will lead to simple and joyful life.  

Independance Day.

Today is a day of celebration.  Deck out the red, white and blue.  Hang up the flag.  Clean the grill and prepare for the cookout and all the goodies.  Pack the blankets and snacks in the car for the fireworks later.  Spend time relaxing and enjoying with family and friends.  We create traditions and memories with our children today and sometimes we even take the time to delve a bit into history and the day's significance.  We call ourselves "blessed" that we live in the land of the free and the brave and are filled with good old American pride.  The 4th of July is a great day and we are, in fact, VERY blessed.  

Unfortunately, it's also a day filled with an ongoing spiritual battle:

For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.  Phillippians 3:18 

The pledge of allegiance is a sign of unity and honor for our country and yet many are "offended" by it.  Parades and festivities open up in prayer and yet again, many are "offended".  People argue and stand by their belief that our country was NOT in fact founded on a Christian heritage but instead that we've been indoctrinated to believe the lie that it was.  All around the United States, today, like every other day, people are fighting for their "right" to not to have to hear the name of God in public places.  They loathe their children being exposed to "false religion" and fight to take God out of schools, our courthouses and public events.  While we celebrate today our past victories for the "land of the free", our rights are slowly being pried away and many of us are not even aware.

Today let's go ahead and celebrate this great country that we live in:  our diversity, our heritage, our culture, our FREEDOM.  But let's also take the time to intercede and pray for our leaders....for God's divine wisdom in every choice that they make and every bill that they sign.  Let's remember not to take our "freedom" for granted and continue to be proud to stand up for what and WHO we believe in.  It was in unity that our freedom was won and it will be again in unity that our freedom will continue. 

Happy 4th of July.  May you be safe, enjoy the celebrations and remember that the fight is never truly over but yet we know in the end, the victory is ours.

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Cor 15:57