Guest-posting with Bobi Ann Allen today on her excellent post, Betrayal: 18 Ministry Experts Weigh In. (And yes, I am as surprised as you are that I would be termed or included in a group of “ministry experts”!) Good stuff in there.
THE AWKWARD MOM
because uncomfortable conversations are the ones worth having
Tag: challenging (page 2 of 3)
Reading Time: < 1 minute
Reading Time: 4 minutes
What’s better than having the embassy in your cell phone?
Citizenship to a greater city—with an even more powerful “passport” than my remarkable little navy one (uh, and its awkward little photo).
Reading Time: 4 minutes
It was two years ago that our family received unsettling news that began an extended holding pattern for us, news which wouldn't be resolved for another eleven months. That period of gray, unsettled twilight will stand out in my life as one where I became well-acquainted--more than I would have wished, for sure--with the chisel of God that is waiting.
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Man, it was a tweeny sort of day. And I remembered: This isn’t just about control. It’s about relationship.
Reading Time: 2 minutes
I'm realizing something. Godly responses to conflict are pretty much all counter-natural--or more specifically, super-natural. They beg an overhaul of what I typically want to do.
Reading Time: 3 minutes
I’ve written about my overcommitment before, and the true cost to my family. But it’s challenging when it’s not a bunch of nonessentials munching at the white space on my calendar. It’s people. People with needs; pain; longings; hope.
And it was then that words from a friend drove themselves home, settling in my chest: The need does not always constitute the call.
Reading Time: 3 minutes
Loving people unlike ourselves--when we can patiently wait for the dissonance like a junior-high band to pass--produces the swelling, overwhelming harmonies of a full orchestra.
Reading Time: 4 minutes
At first, I thought she cheated my son.
But when, yielding to my call, she trudged back up the steep grade of our hill, my frustration softened. Her wide black eyes slid up to mine, her forehead glimmering in sweat. Her faded, two-sizes-too-large men’s T-shirt was pocked with holes. She must have been walking nearly the entirety of the morning in those foam shower slippers with the toes long gone and sizeable gaps in their soles. She was thirteen, though looked all of eleven.
Reading Time: 2 minutes
6. Own up. Paul himself notes in 1 Corinthians that though his conscience is clear, that doesn’t make him innocent. You’ve heard the 1% rule: Even if you’re only responsible for 1% of a conflict, you’re still 100% responsible for your 1%.Take time to pray through what you’re contributing to the rift. What’s the “log” in your eye? Are you forgiving your spouse, or developing even a hint of bitterness and resentment? Are you oversensitive, critical, or even apathetic? We always underestimate the impact our junk has on other people. Consider the pleading of Psalm 139:23-24: Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
Pull up a chair for practical ideas and discussions on the parenting, relationships, and spirituality we're all army-crawling through every day.
After five and a half years in Uganda, my family and I returned to the U.S., where I write and speak professionally, and we continue to work on behalf of the poor.
My first solo book, Permanent Markers: Spiritual Life Skills to Write on Your Kids' Hearts (Harvest House), released October 2021.
#instagoodness
Most popular: Shame-parenting vs. Guilt Exposure
Popular: When Your Help Makes Kids Helpless
Spiritual Life Skills for Kids
Popular: What does God think of strong women?
Popular: 11 Ideas for Emotionally Healthy Parenting
Popular: Am I Judgmental? Judgment vs. Discernment
Popular: Complaining vs. honest expression
On God and the dreams of women
20 Practical ideas for every love language!
![Now You're Speaking My [Love] Language](https://www.janelbreitenstein.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/love-languages-text-1.jpg "Now You're Speaking My [Love] Language")
Ideas and Questions to Take Your Relationships Deeper: Click here!
© 2024 THE AWKWARD MOM
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
