Dear Weary Momma

Dear Weary Momma,

I am writing this to you, beautiful momma, to let you know that God loves you. He loves you so much that He trusted you with one of his little angels. He loves you so much that He gave you strength to carry that little angel inside of you for nine months. He loves you so much He designed you to feed your newborn out of your body.  

NOW THAT'S LOVE 

NOBODY SAID IT'S GOING TO BE EASY
God has never promised us an easy life, or life without troubles. But He did promise that He will always be by our side. Step by step, guiding us and molding us to be Mighty Moms.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this worl you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

So dear momma, don't be too hard on yourself. YOU ARE ENOUGH

Those days when you feel overwhelmed by motherhood, life and marriage/ Just remind yourself of has created you.

"I will give thanks to you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well." Psalm 139:14

There will be days when you feel like you are not good enough, or you're not a good mom. I've been there, I felt the sadness in my heart that I'm not good enough.

BUT DEAR MOMMA

Faith has saved my heart. YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH

Find your peace in Him by placing all your worries and troubles in his hands. Enjoy the strength that come from a peaceful heart.

IT'S OKAY

Dear momma, it's okay to shed a tear.

" for the lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Revelation 7:17

Tears are messages to God telling Him that we need Him. We need Him in our lives to strengthen us and give us peace. To direct us in the right path. This road motherhood my friend, it ain't easy. But with God it's possible. 

Dear momma, it's okay to fall down on our knees.

"Don't panic. I'm with you. There is no need to fear for I'm your God. I'll give you strength. I'll help you. I'm your God, I have a firm grip on you and I;m not letting go." Isaiah 41:10-13

"The Lord sustains all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down." Psalm 145:14

"though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds the righteous." Psalm 37:24

Dear weary momma, why I know you'l be okay? Because I'm a weary mom too. 

I too have days when I feel I'm not enough 

I too have days when I feel like giving up

I too have days when I feel overwhelmed 

I too have days when I want to run and hide

I too have days when I hit rock bottom

But this too shall pass, how I know this? Because I went on my knees and I begged, and I prayed to God to lift me up. I cannot do this on my own. 

And He did what He always promised. He lifted me up, forgave me and showed me His love. So dear momma, give your heart to the Lord and he shall bring you through it and make you stronger than you have ever been before. 

Allow God to use you, so that through you your children will learn about God. Let your kids see God through your words and actions. No matter what circumstance you are facing there is always HOPE. It's a gift God gave us. 

If you ever feel like no one sees all the mundane, boring work you do. You are very wrong momma, God sees everything you do. Every time you stay up at night for your kids when they are sick, every time you wipe away snotty noses...He sees it all. 

We need to stop pretending that we got it all together. No one has it all together. The beauty is that we don't have to have it all together, because Jesus holds us together.

If you want to be everything, everywhere for everyone...

STOP dear mom STOP

Remember the main job that God has asked you to do. TO BE A MOM. 

A God loving and fearing mom. You have been given this responsibility to raise a child, that will love and at the same time rejoice in the name of the Lord. 

Dear momma,

I am going to end this letter by saying you are loved, your are enough. And you are not alone. We all go through the hardships of mother hood. Love your child like you love God. 

I have so much to learn still. But that's okay, cause God isn't finished with me yet. He is working on me to become the most mom I can be. One thing I can also tell you, do not ever compare yourself to other mom's. God has made you unique and He gave you this little angel cause He knows the kind of personality and character you are. Be yourself, be happy and content with yourself. 

Thank you so much for reading this post. Be sure to come back and read some more from my journey of me finding myself and learning to be a better mom. 

Never forget....you are loved Mighty Mom.....

Being a mom

Hi All,

So I’m reading this newsletter from a great blog The Better Mom title: “The mother that keeps giving.” And it is mails like these that makes me feel a little better. Why? Cause it shows me that it is okay to have mommy blues or that being a mom is journey. There are so many other emails that I receive that are inspiring and comforting at the same time.

Devoting your heart

Something I have learnt is that being a good mom is not just about prepping a meal, cleaning, buying gifts etc. But it is about devoting your heart to your child. I feel if you do that, your child in return will let you into their hearts. So what does devoting your heart means? For me, it is sacrifice, listening with your hart and being there for your child not only as a mom but a friend. Sometimes listen without lecturing.

Although the sleepless nights and tantrums I would never trade being a mom for anything else. I feel like God gave us kids because he wants us to see life through their eyes. Enjoy and cherish the simple things in life. Although we are here to teach our kids everything, sometimes there is a lot we can learn from them.

Turn to God’s word.

There are days when I feel like I’m a bad mom, but than I remind myself that like everything in life. Motherhood is a journey, and every journey has its ups and downs. If you feel lost and overwhelmed with motherhood, simply turn to Gods word. It’s all there, written in black and white. Like Angus Buchan once said: “Bible is God manual for life.” Fill your heart and life with Gods love and than in return it will overflow to your child. We all make mistakes, but were humans, it’s okay.  Ask God to forgive you and help you which way to go.

They want so little.

I never knew what motherhood means until I became a mom. It is the most amazing feeling in the world. To love someone so much, that you would do anything for them. You will protect them with your life. So often my day gets busy, I rush all over like a headless chicken. 

Than I pause…think to myself…wait a minute.

All this little person in front of me wants, is my time and devotion. We need to make it a habit to spend more quality time with our kids. We will never get today back again and tomorrow is never promised to anyone. Don’t wait till tomorrow to spend some time with your child. What if tomorrow never comes. The best gift you can give your child is your time.

Thank you so much for reading my post. I really hope this will inspire you to be a mom God wants you to be. I also make mistakes and I often cry because it feels like I’m failing as a mom. But than I stand up, shake off and ask God to give me the strength to be a better mom. Remember,  it is a journey and you are never alone. 

Once again thanks for reading. 

Be sure to leave a comment about your journey as mom.

Cheers.

Pray hardest when it is hardest to pray

Hi All,

Well, this is my first post for this year. My apologies for not writing for so long. The holidays has surely kept me busy. Plus it was awesome to spend so much time with my two men at the beach. Okay enough of the holiday talk.

I have decided to start my first post for the year with this topic so that we can prepare ourselves for whatever lies ahead in this year.

Life is never a smooth ride, whether you are rich or poor. It will always have its bumps and curves. God has never promised a smooth ride, just that it will be worth it.

The past two years have been a real roller coaster for me and my family. This post would be way to long if I had to mention everything. But all I can say is that I would not have been able to make it through all these tough times if it wasn't for praying and faith in God. He hasn't provided me with a pot of gold, but he has given me peace at heart. Every time I felt overwhelmed or helpless, I prayed to God for peace and to give me strength to get through everything. 

“Don’t worry about anything, instead pray about everything” Phillipians 4:6

Here are few Bible verses for when you feel down or feel like there is no hope.

    1.       “ He had made everything beautiful in its time”  Ecclesiastes 3:11

This is a beautiful promise from God. Have faith in Him and his promise and good things will come in due time.

    2.       “ Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” Joshua 1:9

Whenever you feel lonely or scared. STOP. And remember that you are NEVER alone. God is always by your side guiding you.

    3.       “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you” Psalm 55:22A

God is telling us to give him our cares and worries. That doesn’t mean to lift up your hands and hope for the best. It means to free yourself from worrying over the things you don’t have control of. By handing your worries over to God you allow your heart to be free and then you can follow the path he has set out for you.

     4.       “ With God all things are possible” Matthew 19:26

This is one of my favorite verses. If you keep God by your side, anything is possible. Let him into your life and watch how he will strengthen you each day.

I truly hope this has inspired you and your family to pray more. Through prayer you will let God into your life and your home. Never cease to pray, in good or bad times. Don’t feel bound to only pray in your bedroom, pray whenever you feel the need to.  Pray anywhere and anytime, God listens 24/7. Treat it as a conversation with God.

I would like to end of this post with a prayer:

“Lord,

                Thank you for giving me the opportunity to spread your Word to others.  Please give strength and guidance to those who are lost and helpless. May they find peace through You. I pray that more and more people will pray and that they will cast their worries in your hands. Thank you Lord, for your abundant blessings.

                                                                              Amen”

Thank you for reading my post, keep on having faith in the Lord.

Have faith in your darkest hour.

Hi All,                                                                  

I am not going to do to much of an intro on this post as Barbara covered it so well. She is an amazing fighter and her story is something we should all learn from, that each day is not guaranteed to anyone. Cherish each day with your loved ones. Here is Barbara's story:

I have been in two minds about writing this article for this lovely blog. I have decided to do this though, for if I can make a difference to one person suffering from a terminal illness, it would be worth the while sharing something so personal.

In October 2013 I was diagnosed with a T Cell Lymphoma/Leukaemia  a rare type of blood cancer. I had visited the doctor the week before and the patient before me left his room in tears and it is with sadness I learned he was diagnosed with an advanced cancer.  I remember  it so well, the sadness I felt for this man I did not know.  I could not even comprehend the emotions he felt at the time. I sent a quick prayer for him and thanked God for my health and all the other blessings in my life.

You can imagine my shock and disbelief to hear the same only but a week later. It’s true, nothing can prepare you for this news. It destroys your very foundation.

What amazed me the most was the fear not for myself, but for my husband and two beautiful sons. How do you tell them it’s going to be okay when you are not sure yourself. Will God spare me long enough to see my little one grow up or share their special moments yet to come.  Will I be there to see my sons wed or have children? Who will be there for them once I am gone?  Will my husband be able to deal with his grief and still be able to give my children the support they need? These are only but a few of the questions that race through your mind a thousand times a day.   You always read these motivational messages of encouragement and all of a sudden they seem like empty words, meant for someone else.

Waiting for additional results to determine staging and treatment really took its toll on my sanity and my faith. You question whether there is God and if there is, why would he do this to you and your loved ones? You wonder how long do I have to live, will I suffer, if so, when and how long?  You are faced with questions for whom there are no clear answers.  You put on a brave face every day for you cannot allow the:  “What if?” get you or loved ones down.   You need to alleviate their fears and at the same time deal with your own.  You know that as long as you show its okay, they will be okay and it gives you the precious time to learn to deal and come to terms of what you need to do.

My sister-in-law gave this tiny book called:  “What Cancer cannot take from you”.  I read it that night and came to the realization that I could not continue on this road of doubt and fear.  It added no value. The support from my husband, kids and family really helped me through this very dark and uncertain time, but I realized If I wanted to stand a chance to win this fight, I had to get my mind right. The only person that could do this for me was me…  

I had to put aside my fears of changes that treatment would bring, the fear of hearing your treatment did work. The disappointment of hearing there is a possible cure, but it’s too expensive and we will have to look at alternative treatments.  Deal with side effects of radiation and months of pain and discomfort.   You have to daily deal with the uncertainty of what the future hold and dare you plan.

I have lost a friend this past two weeks who bravely fought her own cancer and gave it a run right to the end, although she dealt with her own demons, she always had a word or two of encouragement or a joke to cheer you up when you needed it most. On her death bed, her thoughts was not for herself, but for her friends suffering from this dreadful disease and her young son who already lost a farther and now his mother.  I have seen friends lost loved ones unexpectedly and had a few who escaped death by the breath of a hair and realized that no one’s tomorrow is guaranteed.

As long as you wake up and you have another day to make a difference we should be grateful.  How you spend that day is all that matters. Give some of yourself to others and make a difference whilst you can.   We all fall and make mistakes, but we need stand up, dust off and give it another go.

It has not been an easy journey and its far is from over, keeping the faith in your darkest hour is not easy, but if you allow it, God will walk this journey with you and give you the strength you need as hard as it is to believe. Have faith in the future He has planned for you.  It might not be what you planned, but what matters at the end of the day is the legacy you leave behind, whether it is a day, a week or ten years from now. Try to live a good life and do what matters and hope that it inspires others.

Thank you for reading my post,

Love Barbara

Faith = Praying = Believing

Hi All,

This is the second post in the you section. And Christine will share with us an awesome testimony of having faith in almighty God.

Hi, My name is Christine Smit and I live in Richards Bay. I lost my Husband in a Car accident almost 2 years ago, but although he is no longer with us, he left me with two amazing little princesses Melishia "5" and Kayleigh "2" they keep this Mommy on the go... They are my entire Life, and I just want to live to make them the Happiest little Humans on this Planet. (Rule NR1 for us is:  Be Happy and Have Fun - Life is just toooo short) 

FAITH = PRAYING = BELIEVING 

Having faith means to fully let go of your OWN will. 

To have faith means Trusting In God and the Amazing Plan he has for you. 

Jeremiah 29:11 

"For I know the plans I have for you DECLARES the Lord, Plans to Prosper you and not to Harm you, Plans to give you Hope and a Future..." 

This verse is such a Huge confirmation!!! 

I've learnt that if you are in a situation and have NO outcome, God will provide the answer, If not immediately, you will later realise that His Time was the PERFECT Time. 

This is my True Life experience - Let me tell you about my father and just something to prove how "IN"control God really is: 

# HUGE Faith shaking experience# 

My father had such a stressful job as a salesman for a Huge Corporate company in Pretoria, he was working 24/7 Stressing and Stressing and Stressing to make his Targets and to meet his deadlines... What a horrible way to live... He bought a flat in Sunnyside "Pretoria" back in the day when "Sunnyside was still Sunny" Over the years Sunnyside turned into a Hell hole of Drugs, Crime and vuvuzelas blowing every second! And he was stuck in the middle of it! But he carried on, Adjusted to his Life and slept with ear plugs and stayed positive. He Prayed for his Job, and he prayed for Sunnyside....... 

My dad had such a love for God and was never shy to spread the Gospel where ever he went. (He had an obsession with God) and he would spend all his extra time teaching people about God, he would go to the Homeless people in Sunnyside and take them food and go and sit with them on the street to read them the Bible. He even took extra Zulu classes to learn to speak Zulu just to be able to spread the word... Boy O Boy He was Fishing for JESUS!!! But he was only able to give so much due to him still working and stressing 24/7.... 

He woke up on his 65 Birthday and could not move, he was shaking so badly that he could not even lift himself out of bed, he could not dress himself, he lied in his flat for 3 days before someone realised that he was missing. He could not even TALK. They took him to hospital and confirmed that he had full on Parkinson's! The Doctors also said that he would never be able to do anything for himself ever again! 

We had to sell ALL his earthly possessions including his flat and moved him to a facility in Parys in the Freestate (This was the only place we could find that was able to take care of him). We moved him from his comfort Zone to a unknown Room in a Hospital in the Freestate.... 

My Father was so angry with God, I still remembered trying to convince him of how Amazing God and the Word is... I would sit next to him in hospital and read out of the Bible and he would turn his back to me.... Can one person with so much Passion, be soooo angry with God! I'm Sure its pretty Human and understandable seeing that he literally lost everything due to this sudden illness; he lost his car, his house, his job, his furniture, his medical aid, his love for Sports, everything he worked for 40 years he lost! (HOW COULD GOD DO THIS TO HIM) He was so angry with God... Isn't God suppose to keep you healthy and happy??? 

Eventually he went to Parys with a broken SAD hart and a body that could not function, he went from being a Fit, Active, Positive, Go-getter, Loving Happy Man, to someone Bitter and Angry! 

He was in Parys for 3 months when his Doctors realised he was wrongly diagnosed back in Pretoria, he was on blood pressure medication that caused him to look like a Parkinson's patient! In fact there was nothing wrong with him....:) 

He started preaching full time, and held huge conferences for the sick people, he started praying for people in the facility and they would be 100 percent healed, he went out to Black communities in and around Parys and preach for them. The people would queued up outside his room 24/7 so that he could pray for them. He eventually got a beautiful flat on the premises and he was soooo soooo HAPPY! No more work stress, no more crime, no more vuvuzelas right through, Just peace and quite freedom no stress, and to do what he loved most! Preaching!!! He was in such a HAPPY PLACE!! 

HOW.... WOW IS THIS STORY!!! THAT GOD WILL DE-RAIL YOU COMPLETELY, TO MOVED YOU! This story screams WOW!!!..... GOD ALWAYS HAVE A PLAN, EVEN IF IT DOESN'T FEEL OR LOOK LIKE IT!  HE KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING!!! 

Jeremiah 29:11 

"For I know the plans I have for you DECLARES the Lord, Plans to Prosper you and not to Harm you, Plans to give you Hope and a Future..." 

Thank you for reading my post,

Love Christine

Our words shape our worlds

Hi All,
This the first post in the you section of my blog. And I am so happy to start it off with this specific post. My husbands cousin put these words as her status: "Our words shape our worlds". I thought to myself, WOW. How powerful and true is that. I think sometimes people don't realize how powerful words are. One word can change so much. Adele's post is just so awesome and powerful. May it change how we speak and teach our kids to say the right words at the right time. 

Hi, I'm Adele Hattingh and live in Johannesburg, South Africa. I work in the field of Child Psychology and Social Work. I am also a happy mother to two young boys and have a passion for bringing Christ to a lost and broken world.

Here is what I would like to share with you all:

We live in a world where words come to us at an increasingly rapid rate. From television, radio, social media platforms, billboards and magazines to the words that flow from the mouths of friends, relatives and your 5year old who just will not stop talking; we are bombarded by words on a daily basis. But do we realize what an impact these words have on our personal life? Do we stop to consider how the words that we are fed manifests itself in the words we ourselves speak? There is an old saying that ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me’ but we ultimately have come to know that this is in fact just not true.  Our words can start a fight, they can heal, they can encourage, they can destroy and they can definitely hurt. Consider the power in the following:

“You have cancer” “I love you” “I’m pregnant” “Guilty” “You’re fired” Its three words at most, but when it is said in context, it can change your life forever. This is not a new concept or idea – there are more than 50 scriptures in the Bible that relates to the power of words. In the same way philosophers like Rumi and writers like Orwell has written loads on the subject. Some of my favourites include;

“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”
George Orwell, 1984

Proverbs 18:21 - Death and life [are] in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof

Matthew 15:18 - But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.

It is however only recently when I started realizing the power of ‘self-talk’ and the effect my words have on my own personal living space, mood and even my emotional strength to deal with situations. I realized that a lot of my sentences start with “I can’t cope with this”, “I’m so upset by this”, “I hate…”, “I can’t…” 

How much negative energy was I bringing into my own life by doing this! Even my words to others have become so negative. This was not a conscious thing but I decided to consciously change it and with the help of the Holy Spirit I was starting to pay attention to my words. I didn't want to live in a negative world. I didn't want to doubt myself, hurt myself and walk around in a dark space all the time. When I was challenged, I used self-affirming words that gave my self-esteem a boost. When I was overwhelmed by negativity I started using positive words that inspires hope. I started small and I am hoping to slowly infiltrate other area of my life. I am hoping to use positive words to build myself and those around me. 

We know that our words start as thoughts and ultimately I want the following to manifest in my life:

Phill.4v8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. “

Thank you for reading my post. 

Love, Adele