Hope and Healing for Moms

Thursday, November 30, 2017 Surrendering our Rights to Be a Servant: The Discipline of Service, Part 4 (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) “A natural and understandable hesitancy accompanies any serious discussion of service. The hesitancy is prudent since it is wise to count the cost before plunging headlong into any Discipline. We experience a fear that comes out something like this: “If I do that, people will take advantage of me; they will walk all over me.” Right here we must see the difference between choosing to serve and choosing to be a servant. When we choose to serve, we are still in charge. We decide whom we will serve and when we will serve. And if we are in charge, we will worry a great deal about anyone stepping on us, that is, taking charge over us. But when we choose to be a servant, we give up the right to be in charge. There is great freedom in this. If we voluntarily choose to be taken advantage of, then we cannot be manipulated. When ...

Wednesday, November 29, 2017 Prayer: Thanksgiving: Lord, I come before You with open arms and I bless You, Father. I love You and am grateful to be Your child and Your servant. You alone are worthy of honor and glory. (Take time to list as many things as you can think of that you are grateful for. Gratitude is transforming!) Confession: I recognize my need for You and my inability to reach Your standard. I need You and I desire to be whole and cleansed before You. I lift my heart to You daily for examination. (Take time in His Presence. Mine today: I confess my dependence on You to get through being sick and caring for our family. I want to “press through” on my own strength but I need You. I give my need to You and ask that You will help me not to try to do this on my own.) Supplication: I lift my needs to You, Lord. (Mine today: I’ve been struggling with a potential ear infection for over a week, and it’s not resolving as quickly as I would like it to. Heal my ...

Monday, November 27, 2017 True Service vs. Self- Righteous Service: The Discipline of Service, Part 2 (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) “True service comes from a relationship with the divine Other deep inside. We serve out of whispered promptings, divine urgings. Energy is expended but it is not the frantic energy of the flesh. Thomas Kelly writes, “I find He never guides us into an intolerable scramble of panting feverishness.” (Foster, Richard J.. Celebration of Discipline: The Path To Spiritual Growth (p. 127-128). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.)” “True service builds community. It quietly and unpretentiously goes about caring for the needs of others. It draws, binds, heals, builds.  (pp. 129-130).” Scripture: Philippians 2:1-7 1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,  2  complete my joy by being of the same mind, ha...

Friday, November 24, 2017 Prayer: Thanksgiving: Today, I come into Your presence with thanksgiving. Lord, I thank You this day that You have met me here. You are the God of the universe, and you bend your heart and your ear to me. I bless You, Father. I thank You for rest, I thank You for my family, I thank You for Your love and Your kindness. You are multi-faceted and You amaze me, Lord. Confession: God, in Your Presence I open my heart. I thank You that I am safe to be vulnerable with You. I confess my need for You, my dependence on You, and my inability to reach Your mark of holy perfection without You. (Take time to allow the Lord to examine your heart. This has become one of the sweetest times of my day, and I wouldn’t want to go a day without it! Lord, I confess my poor eating choices over the past few days have gone beyond a healthy balance. This is a weakness for me, and I ask You to help me to move forward from it without spiraling downward again. Renew my pas...

Thanksgiving Day! Thursday, November 23, 2017 Prayer: Thanksgiving: Good morning, Lord! I come to You this day with thanksgiving and honor. Glory to You, Lord, now and forever! This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. I praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, Lord. I bow at Your throne, great King of the Earth. I magnify You and lift You up. (Take time to list as many things that you are grateful for as you can.) Confession:  I come to You will my heart and hands open, in full recognition of my need for You. I give my heart to You and ask that You will gently examine me and show me areas that need repentance and change. (Take time to confess to the Lord as He shows you. Mine today: Thank You that You have been showing me my reluctance to enter into play with my children. I ask that You will not only forgive me, Lord. I do ask Your forgiveness. I also ask that You will put in me a playful spiri...

Tuesday, November 21, 2017 Prayer: Thanksgiving: Lord, I choose to thank You today. Today and every day, this is the day that You have made. Even when my feelings and my circumstances do not line up with easy gratitude, and maybe especially then, I choose to praise You, Lord. You are worthy of praise. (Take time today to write down as many things as you can think of to be grateful for. For a heavy heart, gratitude will begin to help the heart to lift to the Lord. God, I thank You that I am a mother after so many years. I thank You that I am married to a man after Your heart. I thank You that we have a  home that is clean and functioning and shelters us. I thank You that we have enough food every day. I thank You that we have hot running water and plenty of clothing to wear. I thank You that You live in my heart and are here as my Wonderful Counselor when I am sad, lonely or afraid. I thank You for amazing medical care for my children and for therapies and interventions for...

Monday, November 20, 2017 Prayer: Thanksgiving: Thank You, God for this beautiful day. I thank You for the changing of the seasons. This week of Thanksgiving in America is a gift to us, Lord. We flow with gratitude for You, for Your beautiful creation, Your love and mercy, and Your hand in our lives. Thank You for the privilege of access to Your throne, Lord. Your wisdom far supersedes ours and we bow before You in gratitude that we do not have to know everything, understand everything, or control everything. We thank You that You control and uphold everything by the Word of Your power. You are amazing, God. Confession: I daily open my heart to You for examination. I confess my heart and wrong attitudes. (Mine today: I confess that I am still struggling with bitterness and resentment toward my husband when things do not go my way. I do not want this in our home or in our relationship. Forgive me, Lord, and continue to correct me before I sin in my actions. Remove the bitte...

Good morning! Thank you for joining me today. God bless you as we pray together for our children! Wednesday, November 15, 2017 The Way of the Cross in Submitting to Authority: The Discipline of Submission, Part 12 of 12 (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) Scripture: Romans 13:1-7 Submission to the Authorities 13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.5 Therefo...

Tuesday, November 14, 2017 Prayer: Thanksgiving: Lord, I thank You that Your mercies are new today. Today is a day that You have made. Today is fresh, and we get to be fresh with that new day! I thank You for Your heart for us, Lord. Your great love is amazing. I rest in Your love and in Your mercy and receive it. I thank You, Lord. You are worthy of praise. Blessed be the name of the Lord! Confession: I come to You and confess. I bow my heart and ask for a pure heart before You God. I want to be open to You and confess my need each day. (Take time to confess anything God brings to your attention. Mine today: I simply confess my deep need and dependence on You, Lord. I desire to honor You in all I do. I am very tired, and need Your help to be kind to those around me) Supplication: Take time to lift personal needs. Mine today: I am exhausted from a difficult night of interrupted sleep, and have a busy day of work today. I need Your touch and would love to have a b...

Monday, November 13, 2017 The Acts of Submission Part 7 – Submission to Our World (the Environment, the Global Community): The Discipline of Submission, Part 11 of 12 (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) Scripture: Numbers 35:33-34 You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the Lord dwell in the midst of the people of Israel. Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it. Prov...

Friday, November 10, 2017 The Acts of Submission Part 6 – Submission to The Broken and Despised: The Discipline of Submission, Part 10 of 11 (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) Scripture: James 1:27 27  Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble,  and  to keep oneself unspotted from the world. 1 John 3:17-19 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him… Matthew 25:34-40 34  “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  35  For I was hungry, and you gave Me  something to eat; ...

Thursday, November 9, 2017 The Acts of Submission Part 5 – Submission to The Believing Community: The Discipline of Submission, Part 9 (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) Scripture: Hebrews 6:10 “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.”   Hebrews 13:16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Psalm 37:3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Matthew 25:40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ 1 John 3:14-18 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever do...

Tuesday, November 7, 2017 The Acts of Submission Part 4 – Submission to Our Neighbors: The Discipline of Submission, Part 8 (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster)  Scripture: Mark 12:30-31 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these.” Leviticus 19:9-18 Love Your Neighbor as Yourself 9  “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest.  10  And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God. 11  “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another.  1...

Monday, November 6, 2017 The Acts of Submission Part 3 – Submission to Our Family: The Discipline of Submission, Part 7 (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) Scripture: Philippians 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Ephesians 6:1-4 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Proverbs 31:15-17 15 She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants.  16 She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.  17 She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. Colossians 3:13 13...

Friday, November 3, 2017 Good morning! I have a simple prayer to share with you today. Prayer: Thanksgiving: God, I lift You up today and thank You for Your kindness, mercy and love. This day belongs to You. You have made it, and I rejoice in it. I worship and praise You, God. Confession: I come before You with my heart and hands wide open, choosing not to hold on to anything that might hold me back from You. You are King of my heart. (Spend time letting the Lord search your heart and confess sin, struggles, or challenges to Him. Mine today: I am feeling worried about the schedule today. My son came home sick yesterday and I felt frustrated at the inconvenience, but I don’t want to have that response to the change in my schedule. Remove my reactivity to my circumstances and help me to give my challenges to You.) Thank You for Your mercy and forgiveness. Supplication: (Spend time lifting needs. Mine: Father, I need You to order my steps today. I’m not feeling ...