Hope For Today

Dear Friends, Next month my son, Josh, turns nineteen and a few months after that my daughter, Jess, turns sixteen. Where does the time go?  Being a Mum can be one of the most rewarding things in life, but it's also one of the hardest too. So I'd like today to offer you mums some encouragement. The kind of encouragement I know I'm also in need of. God has called you to be a mother to the child/children he has placed in your care. He knew exactly who they would need and he chose you. We are told in Psalm 127:3 that " Children are a gift from the  Lord ;" (NLT). Remember that God never calls us to something without equipping us for it. The writer to the Hebrews says " may he [God] equip you with all you need  for doing his will.  May he produce in you,  through the power of Jesus Christ,  every good thing that is pleasing to him.  All glory to him forever and ever! Amen." Hebrews 13:21 (NLT). When I ask God for his help in raisi...

Dear Friends, Have you ever been on a guilt trip?  I have and usually it relates to my role as a Mum.  There are more than likely some Mums reading this who can relate to what I'm saying.   I've bought the ticket more than once for the guilt trip and got the souvenirs (or rather the scars) from the trips I've taken.  As an overcoming perfectionist I can look back and see how I expected myself to be the perfect Mum, to get it right 100% of the time, which of course wasn't possible.  I put tremendous pressure on myself, which resulted in a lot of guilt when I didn't live up to my own expectations, when I failed, and when I made mistakes. A guilt trip can take you down some really dark places and lead you to feelings of hopelessness, despair and unworthiness.  It has taken me to places where I remember how I  wasn't able to bond for some time with my baby boy because of my ill health and depression.  T...

Dear Friends, I have a close relationship with my Mum.  She lives just a 15 minute walk from my home making it easy to pop in and see her, we often share lunch and a chat together once a week, and if we don't see each other then we speak  regularly on the phone or send each other text messages. Being the summer season, over the last few weeks either my parents have been away on holiday or I've been away with my family.  During those weeks I found I really missed her as we weren't able to connect in the same way.  We did manage to send a text or two during that time, but this didn't make up for the lack of real, meaningful conversations.  It was so good to come back from our holiday and meet up a day or two later to have a proper sharing time over a cup of tea. I also found that while I was on holiday I faced a similar situation in my relationship with God. I know it's not the same for everyone, but I find I tend to thrive and live life best when I h...

Dear Friends, I've been a perfectionist for as long as I can remember.  I used to think it was a good characteristic to have until God showed me differently.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Although I wasn't really aware at the time, I had made life all about being perfect in everything I did and this put a tremendous pressure on me.  I hasten to add at this point that this pressure wasn't from anyone else but myself.  So I was constantly pushing myself hard at school to achieve, then again when I was at university studying to be a teacher, and being very hard on myself when I didn't do as well as I thought I should at teaching practices.  As a wife and later a mother I again strove for perfection and was so critical and judgemental of myself.  I had a strict routine which I "had" to follow, so for example, Mondays were the days I had to clean my home from top to bottom, and I had set days for washing dark clothes and light clothes....