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

Strong in Christ, Fit in Marriage

Hi All,

Welcome to the first guest post on relationships. 
It is so awesome hearing other people stories of how they conquered the bad times with the help of faith. 
I hope that with different point of views, everyone will benefit and learn from each other. 
Below is a post from Nastassia Lamont. A wife and mother of 2. 
But I'll leave it up to her to introduce herself. 

Hi I'm Nastassia Lamont and im 33 year old loving wife to JP Lamont for the past 5 years and devote mother of two to daughter Skyèla (8) and son Cayleb (4). I currently reside in Richards Bay, working as a Recruitment Consultant for the past 6 years and belongs to the Outlook Church in Birdswood. Apart from being a wife and mother, in my spare time I commit myself to setting a healthy lifestyle by eating clean and training 6 days a week. However I put my greatest passion and desire above everything in my life, my love for God. I just love to share my testimony with others in faithfulness that God will use my story to help others find Christ and come to know His love & grace.

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

Philippians 2:1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."

There are no self-help books, dvd's, guidance seminars or enough parental advice that can guarantee you a smooth & happy marriage free from trials and tribulations however where Christ is centered marriage is beautiful and a wonderful adventure shared between two people that God has joined together. 

In the beginning we had many downs more than we had ups and during those downs it was really really messy but when we stopped looking at our own selfish needs and allowed God to intervene we became one with each other. Sharing in the same passion and love for God thus having more love than ever before with each other. 

Through our mutual passion for fitness, God has used this sport to not only bring us closer as husband and wife, where we learn to lean and trust on each other completely. But God is also transforming minds and softening hearts of others that we have the honor of meeting. 

When you keep God first in your marriage, you are able to stand as one body, one mind and one spirit. Love covers a multitude of sins and when we treat our spouses with love we are able to overcome any situation victoriously whether it is relational, financial, emotional, physical or spiritual.

xxx

How we teach our kids about Jesus.

Hi All,

Being a mom myself I have learnt how vulnerable young kids are to the outside world. One of the sayings I saw the other day that is just so true: “If we don’t teach our kids about God, the world will teach them everything he’s not.”  That has stuck in my head for a long time now, and it made me realize that it is our duty as a parent to teach our kids about Jesus. Below there is a few ideas and tips from ladies that are awesome moms, and the tell us how they teach their kids about Jesus.

Hiya to all.

I am a mom of two, Wyllona is 11 and William 13.  I am married to a wonderful husband Martin.  We are the Paxton family!!!  J 

We are all very passionate about sport especially mountain biking together.  This is our special time to enjoy nature and appreciate God’s wonderful gifts.   We love our jobs and the town of Richards Bay.  We feel very blessed to stay in such a wonderful place where you can swim in the ocean, jog on the pier or naval or pelican island, mountain bike in the many single tracks around town and to support the many community projects in our area.

We love competing against each other in anything we do which makes us all enjoy the time together even more and the laughs even louder!!!

Thank you GOD for my wonderful family!!!  

Wilma Paxton

• What would Jesus do?

Teach your kids that if they are in daubt, they must always ask themselves this very important question: “What would Jesus do.” Teaching kids to do the right from an early age is very important, and having Jesus as guidance, we couldn’t have asked for a better gift. As Wilma said: “It has helped my kids on so many occasions, where friends might be nasty. Or even saying a simple yes or no in the right situation.

• Prayer

What better way to keep your kids on the right path than by teaching them  ‘Our father prayer’. It is so sad that this prayer has been taken out of schools where kids spend majority of their time. We as parents need to teach our kids to pray, pray without ceasing. As Wilma said:”This prayer use to be the start to every school assembly. I believe that core values and Christian principles were lost when this prayer was taken out of schools.

“Our father prayer download”

•  Reading the bible.

Wilmas kids each get a turn to read out of the bible. Which ensures that they get to know the word and teachings of Jesus. Be sure to sit with your kids while they read the bible to help them understand and allow them to interact, show their feelings and thoughts. Take it further and help them to apply what they read in their daily life.

Hi,

My name is Annecke and I am a mom of two children. Anke 19 and JJ 5. I have no real experience in how to teach children about God but found living by example is definetly my main teaching point. We are a sport driven family and love to cycle.

•  Leading by example.

Annecke believes that leading by example is definetly her main teaching point. She said “As a new believer I wanted to pray and read my bible which brought me closer and closer into relationship with God and children.” Children are born like little sponges absorbing everything around them. Starting scripture from an early age is very important. She also says “ I have heard a verse come out of their mouths numerous times in everyday sentences…speaking life…and God is life!”

• Teaching on applying scripture in everyday life.

Anneckes said “ When praying I will teach them to pray what we have just read. It made them more aware of what we were reading. I will ask them to pray about a scripture that touched their hearts. That is how God is then speaking to them. Sometimes something silly would come out but the more I do it, the more they get comfortable. And they experienced God’s provision and protection.”

•  Simply talking about God.

 “ I talk about God everyday and all day and would show them how God is in the centre of everything. That nothing ot no one is just by accident. In this the most common question is to understand the Trinity. God our creator, Jesus our saviuor and the Holy Spirit our comforter.

Top 5 Fun activities for father and son using no technology.

Hi All,

I have been very excited to do this post and hopefully encourage parents, dads and moms to do activities with their kids using no technology. As important as it is for them to learn technology and gadgets, we still need to teach them about the basics. Being an outdoor family it makes it so much easier for us to do outside activities. However some families are not. I’m really hoping that this will motivate families to take their kids outdoors. But what if it’s raining? No worries, we will cover that as well.

Being a tomboy when I was small, I thought it will help me do boyish activities with my son. Oh boy, but I was wrong, as one day I saw my husband making a bow and arrow for my son out of sticks in our backyard. That’s when I realized I better ask my hubby to give few pointers of fun activities for father and son and also to help single moms score brownie points with their sons.

    1. Salty kisses and sandy toes.

Living on the coast has allowed us to go to the beach almost the whole year round. I just love to take a quick trip to the beach after work and just relax. Being a crafty person, you see crafts in everything. Washed up wood, shells, everything. Yes I’m so bad I used my sons t-shirt to carry shells. Aiden being the real boy he is, didn’t find it very exciting. Then one day my hubby started teaching Aiden about the blue bottles, looking for treasures in little holes and so much more. From an early age he started showing Aiden how to fish. Some days I just love sitting there and watching them like two little kids finding amusement in sticks. By having fun my husband teaches our son about the ocean, how to be safe and simple things that create a bond no one can replace.

Don’t be afraid to be silly with your son and just have fun in the sun. Teach your son about ocean safety and the beauty of it.

    2. Building blocks.

Bad weather? No excuse to have fun with your son indoors. Legos, we all grew up with those. They are fun and build your imagination. I think every kid should have some of them. From an early age my husband played with Aiden creating anything you can think of. I could sit for hours and watch them creating stuff and telling stories around it.

Bring out your inner child by building blocks with your son and at the same time it will build up his imagination and motor skills.

        

    3. God’s given nature.

Aiden is as boyish as you can get. From playing with bugs to catching frogs. With having fun outside he teaches Aiden about how to be safe around spiders etc.

Get your son and go outside, enjoy what God has given us to enjoy totally for free. Catch bugs, build fortress or even make a bow and arrow out of sticks.

      

         4. Camping

Probably the best way to get your kids away from technology. First time we took Aiden camping was when he was just 8 months old. And, he loved it. Freedom to get dirty and stay up late around a camp fire.

Use this time as bonding for just you and your son or as a family.  Teach him through camping to be happy and content and with simple things. And don’t leave camping just for holidays. Why not try your backyard. Put up a tent, make a fire and do some star gazing. Enjoying the Gods given beauty.

     5. Fishing.

I think every boy should know how to fish or at least done it once. My hubby just loves showing Aiden all the different lures and how to cast and everything that goes with that. Allow your child to have memories that he will be proud to share it with his kids.

Thank you so much for reading this post, I really hope it will inspire you to teach and at the same time have fun with the simple gifts God has given us. Be sure to check out our other inspiring posts.

Cheers