THE AWKWARD MOM

because uncomfortable conversations are the ones worth having

Tag: Holy Spirit

Printable Infographic: 9 Ways to Pray for Kids in School!

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Want to pray for teachers and administrators, too? Grab that printable here.

I’ve probably written before about my dad sending my sisters and I off to the bus on so many mornings, in that flurry most of us with school-bound children know well. Lunches! Instrument! Mom, you didn’t put that in my lunch, did you? Permission slip! Did you finish that homework? Who’s picking me up from practice? Yes, you have to wear a coat; this is not optional.  He’d surround us in his big farmer-arms or put those sausage-like fingers on our shoulders. “Go MAD!” He’d say. My dad finds little shame in the corny, so that was Dad-code for “Go make a difference.”

Now I’m the one pecking heads while they run out the door, my fingers reaching (when not scrambling for the lunch and permission slips) for those shoulders that grow just a little more every year. I’m sending them on a mission, really.

I Feel a Sin Comin’ On: Real Thoughts about Real Temptation

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Is there such a thing as a monthly sin?

Because I think I have one of those. read more

Guest Post: For When You’re Tired of Driving All the Good Stuff

Reading Time: 2 minutes

driving all the good stuff pushDo you ever get tired of being the driver in your home? Y’know–driving the homework. The dishes from their hands to the dishwasher. The manners and respect. The time with God. The self-control in conflicts. The propriety in dating.

I need to admit: I get tired of the lack of my kids’ ownership in the values my husband and I care about–whether it’s peace, or order, or worship, or personal responsibility. And as my kids get older, in some ways, my control diminishes.

Guest Post: Taming the Chaos in Your Home

Reading Time: 2 minutes

There are moments in my home that can only be tidily described as chaos.

Last night, as my two youngest were building a fort in the bedroom, I heard some concerning-sounding thuds: “That was the bathroom mirror, Mom! ” (Oh. I think that’s supposed to make me feel better?) There was also the repetitive, distinctive bleat of a kazoo, which I could have sworn I’d already thrown away. At least there was a lot of giggling, wrestling, and role-playing complete with foreign accents. (This time, at least, it was a good chaos.)

I thought of this today as I was thinking of the first time we actually hear of the Holy Spirit in Scripture: The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. read more

Guest Post: Helping Kids Learn to Walk with the Holy Spirit

Reading Time: < 1 minute
Helping Kids Learn to Walk in the Holy Spirit

Take good care of my baby. (Yep, the kid actually managed to get five front teeth in this photo.)

It’s happening.

After eight years of homeschooling, this year, all four of my children strap on their backpacks and head down to our local public school. read more

Guest post: Where’s the Holy Spirit When My Marriage is Hard?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

It was late, and she was crying now. Her marriage had been hard–hard for a long time.

I think it was there that I really saw Him, though He’d been there the whole time. Sometimes the Holy Spirit is a little like an I Spy book to me. Knowing what He looks like, I’m learning to spot Him among the clutter of circumstances, ones He’s meticulously arranged.

I want to tell you what He looked like, there in that dimly-lit room, where she was just so tired of waiting for God to change things. Even there, in her road-weary face that longed for a break in being “tough” and “strong”–I saw Him making beautiful things out of dust, as the song goes. read more

Spiritual Disciplines for Real Families—10 Practical Ways to Teach Prayer (FREE PRINTABLES!)

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Last week, I heard from my sister in Thailand some of the heartbreaking moments they’ve been struggling through in their community of refugees. An 11-year-old girl sent to possibly “work” in Bangkok with her mother. A stabbing. A man depriving his family of enough money to buy food. And I thought, my kids and I should pray.

Then I thought of our prayers the last several weeks: Mostly stuff about…us.

Of course it’s good to teach our children to seek God for all their needs. But at that moment I thought, I want to up the ante on teaching my kids to cry out to God for other people. read more

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