THE AWKWARD MOM

because uncomfortable conversations are the ones worth having

Tag: forgiveness

Where’s God Working in My Kids in 2022? 10 Questions

Reading Time: 4 minutes

kids in 2022

Okay, yes, I am this big Enneagram 2, and I am frequently caught “two-ing” in my family—overfunctioning like a crazy person, sublimating any needs of my own, etc.

But I also have this monstrous, flapping-larger-than-my-triceps 3-wing. Which means, for all of you unfamiliar with enneagram-speak, that I am an achiever.  Goal-setting can fill my sails (…to the point of what we’ll call “Christian workaholism”). read more

Another Reason to Look Your Regrets in the Face

Reading Time: 4 minutes

It’s been almost twenty years, but I thought about it again this morning. I was unloading the dishwasher.

You need to know that if I tell you this, you may not like or respect me as much. So I guess I’m okay with that. (I’m trying to take this dead bishop’s advice about embracing my weaknesses, faults, and imperfections.)

What I should also tell you: In college, I was a bit of a manipulator. And I had absolutely no idea.

Spiritual Life Skills for Kids: 11 Ideas to Encourage Confession

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Missed the earlier posts in this series? Get ’em here.

One of my favorite moments from Christmas break found my daughter and I in my little sunroom, paintbrushes in hand. She was trying out her new easel, and I was leaning against the loveseat, watercoloring. A happy surprise was how much she shared about what was going on at school. read more

6 Lifelines for the Season When It Feels Like God’s Against You

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Recently I sat with a friend who’s undergone such remarkable suffering over short years. I should tell you: She’ll be the first one to respond with hope. But I can also tell that what she has is faith, not answers. I can see question marks curling around, pointing her year after year to the God who will, someday (and even now) reward those who earnestly seek Him. Her sinewy, muscled joy is built on what she can’t see; on decisions of trust she makes over and over again.

Since I’ve been army-crawling through my own questions lately—today I’m yanking together some of the best advice I’ve received for seasons when God seems…away.

What’s Hidden inside Your Love Story?

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Let us hope that we are all preceded in this world by a love story.

–Sweet Land (PG, 2005)

I tease my husband (the poor introvert!). Because whenever I write about him—he, who washes his hands of anything to do with internet attention—readers eat. It. Up.What's Hidden in Your Love Story read more

12 “Angry” Steps

Reading Time: 4 minutes

12 angry steps

I’ve written before about my anger problem. You know. The one I didn’t think I had until I had children.

But as conflict reveals my heart for what it really is, I’m compiling a working list of practical steps and thoughts as God patiently carves away the death in my heart and slowly makes me a conqueror. read more

All hot and bothered: On shielding our kids from disappointment

Reading Time: 3 minutes

disappointmentIt’s a startling post from The Atlantic; a dismaying one. The authors write on the increasing hypersensitivity of college students, or “The Coddling of the American Mind”: “In the name of emotional well-being, college students are increasingly demanding protection from words and ideas they don’t like.”

Two of the most important words you’ll ever say

Reading Time: 3 minutes

I yelled at my kids tonight.

It started before the mouthwash spilled all over the floor, my jeans, and my new shirt. Which was before my son attempted to use the now-cracked mouthwash cap and promptly dripped the red liquid all over the just-reassembled shelf and all its little contents.

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