4 Ways To Help Your Child Adjust To The New “Normal”

I don’t know about you but I’ve been waiting for this day all year long, because for me, it’s like “Christmas Day”… for parents! Not because we get a day off parenting per se, but because it’s the one day the world (or at least the “woke” part of the world’s population… lol) recognises and acknowledges that we heeded the call to “fill the earth”.

Otherwise, would any industry bloom without human brains, albeit the debate for AIs rendering most careers futile?

I’m getting off track. The point is, if you’re like many parents I know, day by day, you’re trying to handle meals, figure out school, especially [now] in the midst of this pandemic, and manage your kids’ boredom [hey! I’m talking to someone?]—all while worrying about your job/career and your future. Rest assured, you’re not alone, my friend.

Parents, don’t be hard on your children. Raise them properly. Teach them and instruct them about the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4 CEV

Regardless of your children’s ages, it’s likely they have a lot of questions about everything happening right now. Almost overnight, all the daily routines that they relied on for stability changed. One of the best things we can do for them right now is to establish a new “normal.”

Here are 3 things you can try at different times throughout the day to help your kids adjust:

Silence Is Not The Same As Absence | Lockdown Lessons

After so many e-mails and inbox messages asking when’s the next blog would drop, all the while lifting me up in prayer for healing, here we go.

The past four weeks have taught me so many things, some of which I marry with lessons learned from the past. See, the key to taking a multiple-choice test is knowing what the test maker wants to accomplish — Are they checking for basic comprehension? Are they trying to see if you can pick out a subtle difference between answers. Or are they simply trying to trick you, you know, to see of you’ve been following a topic(s) during a particular period?

In college, unconscionable amounts of assigned reading and late nights with friends at a campus cafeteria or common hangout spot meant I frequently relied on this test-taking strategy. And more often than not, it worked.

Enter Jesus walkeing into the temple that Tuesday. It may have seemed to the outside observer that He was simply coming to teach rabbinic law, right? Wrong! He knew, as did His disciples and the teachers of the law, that He was walking into a test where every answer mattered.

By whose authority are you doing these things? Should we pay taxes to Caesar? Will there be marriage after the resurrection?

And every time, Jesus knew the intention of the “asker”. Duh, He was/is the Master Test-taker!

God Is Here With Us – Lessons from #Covid_19

Are you panicking because of the current worldwide pandemic, yet? I know that’s a silly question to ask in these times but hear me out…

But before I continue to make my point, this thing is real and downplaying it only puts your life and the lives of your loved ones at risk. I have had recent rendez-vous in which nobody was using hand sanitizers, gloves or masks. I get that we might want to put a brave front for our loved ones to avoid panic but let’s be real here; that’s like a parents who are in the process of a divorce but won’t tell their kid(s), in attempt to apparently shield her from (an inevitable) pain.

Make sense?

That said, let’s stay alert in prayer, be well informed and do what needs to be done to stay safe.

Allow me to elaborate…

In this era of the internet where we’re infinitely connected regardless of geographical boundaries, I strongly believe that “where two or three are gathered” is not restricted to physical meetings because I’m sure at creation, God wasn’t sitting in His heavenly places wonering; “But wait! What if they evolve, how will they stay connected to each other?” Nah-ah! He knew that we would, at some point in our existence here on earth, find ways to “gather” albeit through apps.

Social media platforms/apps have made virtual realities possible for those of us introverted extroverts with tools such as YouVersion where we can pray for and with each other as a community and the God of heaven and earth would hear us, especially now that we face a “huge army” (COVID-19) much like the Israelites under Jehoshaphat’s rule (read your Bibles, people!).

I’m sure at creation, God knew that we would one day “gather” through apps on the internet

What did the ancient Israelites do instead of panicking? They began praising and worshipping God while charging at the “huge army”, because they now had total confidence that the battle wasn’t theirs but the Lord’s, because God had spoken through one of them and said so. Did He deliver them from the “huge army”? Of course He did! But did it cost them? You’re right: action.

They, at the expense of looking and sounding totally ridiculous, obeyed God’s command to charge at the army in praise and worship. Action preceded victory.

If you break the word “predecessor” to its Latin roots, you get “pre-” which means “beforehand” and “decessor” which means “retiring officer”.

With that in mind, this meditation from Matthew 18 is therefore about the presence of God being especially near when His people “gather to meditate” on how He wants us (me and you) to live in these times as He works in and through us.

It isn’t time to cower in fear of this “huge army”. Rather let’s show this “huge army” how big our God is.

In this meditative scripture, Jesus tells us of the importance of gathering, praying, and meditating as a group in order to discern the will of God.

Here’s The Best Way To Be Peaceful No Matter What!

Have you ever found yourself having one of those days/weeks/months/seasons when you’re in a stinky funk and whatever you do, you just can’t seem to catch a break?

I mean, when your mind is totally packed with worry, your heart pounds and aches in your chest due to something someone did or didn’t do and your energy is all up in everyone’s faces in a really unflattering way, and you start believing you’re possibly starting to develop some type of personality disorder you weren’t born with?

No?

Yes?

Maybe?

Here’s what ails you: a lack of having an attitude of peace and calm, and dare I say, this is priceless! It’s an attitude that says, ‘I’m trusting God in the midst of this funk,’ and it speaks powerfully to people not only through non-verbal techniques but also in speech. However, I kid you not; it takes time, focus, and the grace of God to be consistently peaceful.

I, for one, used to spend time with God once in awhile or when my life was in big trouble. Eventually I learnt that if I ever wanted to stop living from one emergency to the next, I needed to seek God every day as if I were in desperate need of Him.

Too often, our stress level is tied up in our circumstances. Right? You could be stressed because you’re always busy or you’re struggling financially or because you’re not getting along with someone you love... you name it.

To conquer the stress in our lives, we need to learn to practice the peace that’s been provided for us by the overcoming power of God.

One way to develop consistent peace is to learn to live ‘in the now.’ We can spend a lot of time thinking about the past or wondering what the future holds, but we can’t accomplish anything unless our mind is focused on today.

The Bible tells us that God gives us grace for each day that we live. I believe God’s grace is the power that enables and energizes us to do what we need to do – and He gives it generously, as we need it.

Every day we need to say, ‘God has given me today. I will rejoice and be glad in it.’
If you can learn to trust God ‘in the now,’ receiving His grace as you need it, you can become a truly peaceful person – and that’s powerful.

Positive Thoughts Aren’t Overrated, Trus Me!

Scars Are Evidence of Wounds – Lessons from Cupid

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you must have heard, taken your time to listen to and probably even enjoyed and found Ciara’s song Beauty Marks the most relatable song ever.

I’m talking to the over-the-edgers out there. But if you’re up tight and probably even overly religious for whatever reason, maybe Linda Barricks’ book, Beauty Marks would better to you.

Religious or not; over-the-edge or just a plain Jane or Joe, we all have scars.

I, for one, have a scar. It runs from my left outer nasolabilic area outward, just under my eye. It’s like my own permanent road map marking the shortest distance between one cheekbone and the other.

My scar is evidence that I was wounded in the accident that changed my life forever. I should probably have plastic surgery to get it fixed once and for all. But when you’ve lived in the hospital on and off most of tour childhood, battled chronic daddy issues most of your life (wait, is that a thing? I should hope… otherwise, bear with my weirdness), had a few surgeries, been sexually abused as a child, grown up with the constant fear that nobody will ever really love you, and be battling a chronic illness, the last thing on your priority list is elective cosmetic surgery. So my scar remains.

Scars are evidence of wounds.

Although the scar on my face is unmissable, the scars no one has ever seen are on my heart and in my soul.

If you’re like me – and many women (and men) I’ve met over the past few years are – you may be living with internal scars as well.

What Happens When Your Belief-System Meets Your Why?

You know that thoughts and beliefs drive every aspect of our lives, right?

This is not an opinion; this is a fact that is proven every single weekday morning at
8.00 am. Every morning, all over the world, no matter the time difference, people wake up so early that it’s still dark outside. They get in their generic modes of public transportation or drive themselves through traffic that makes them want to gouge their eyes out. They sit down at neutral-colored desks and get told what to do for 8 to 10 hours a day.

They make just enough money to pay their bills and loans, but never enough to get everything they want.

Then, they go back through the horrible traffic to get home, go through their evening routines before watching mindless TV until they fall asleep, and then do it all over again the next day . . . unless it’s the weekend, in which they finally have some time to do what they love to do.

People sacrifice five days a week so they can enjoy two.

People lose time with their families while doing something they would prefer not to do or even despise. They stress over money and time, wishing they had endless amounts of each. Even worse, they accept that they will never be able to change their lives or live out their dreams given their current situations . . . that that’s just the way life goes.

Why on earth would anybody do this?

What force could be so strong to cause millions of people to live life this way?

The answer is that millions of people share a common belief that this typical eight-to-five life is the best possible option, or even their only option.

Simply put,

5 Reasons You Need To Know Your Purpose As You Begin The New Decade

And just like that, the end of a decade has come and gone and the beginning of a new decade; a new era; the start of a new year, new beginnings, is here. This, I call Chapter 1 of 366.

Would you say you’re ready for this new season of your life? Are you ready to open a new chapter of your life? Would you say the recently past decade was everything you had hoped for it to be? What are the lessons you learned during 2019 alone? What could you do better in 2020? What could make the new decade better than the last, for you?

I did a live video (as I do every Sunday about this and the feedback caught me by surprise so I decided to write more about it here.)

Take Off Your Shoes; You’re In My House!

Boundaries define us. They define what is me and what is not me. A boundary shows me where I end and someone else begins, leading me to a sense of ownership.

Knowing what I am to own and take responsibility for gives me freedom. If I know where my yard begins and ends, I am free to do with it what I like. Right? Taking responsibility for my life opens up many different options. However, if I do not “own” my life, my choices and options become very limited.

Think how confusing it would be if someone told you to “guard this property diligently, because I will hold you responsible for what happens here,” and then did not tell you the boundaries of the property. Or they did not give you the means with which to protect the property. This would be not only confusing but also potentially dangerous.Right?

This is exactly what happens to us emotionally and spiritually, however. God designed a world where we all live “within” ourselves; that is, we inhabit our own souls, and we are responsible for the things that make up “us.” “Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy” (Prov. 14:10). We have to deal with what is in our soul, and boundaries help us to define what that is. If we are not shown the parameters, or are taught wrong parameters, we are totally screwed (sorry for the French!).

In addition to showing us what we are responsible for, boundaries help us define what is not on our property and what we are not responsible for. We are not, for example, responsible for other people.