God isn’t looking for perfect moms with perfect methods and ideas to raise His kids. Just moms who are humble and pliable and rest-FULL enough from the inside-out to hear His voice and partner with Him.

A new year just recently rolled in! And with it, new hope, new goals, fresh expectation. As the old year rolled out, I also let go of things I didn’t need. I let them roll right out like an ocean wave. One of the things 2021 was already teaching me was my need to release and let go of pressure.

My 5-year-old has been so intrigued with seeds! For the space of several months now every time he eats a fruit or anything with a seed, he meticulously sets aside some of those seeds to plant. We’ve had conversations about seeds…and more conversations about seeds! He knows he will get what he plants when it’s harvest time and that excites him. It’s a dynamic law of nature and science that can’t be reversed. And so, he plants away in all good faith that whatever he plants will grow!

Summer is in full swing and everyone has been enjoying it to the fullest here on the farm! As a wife and mom trying to keep up with the demands, I often find myself asking the silent inner question, ‘Okay God, what character trait of Yours do You want me to lean into...

Gah. It’s good. The end of the week is almost here and I’m tired. But it’s a good kind of tired. I’ve been challenging myself to ‘stay present’ more lately and while it definitely takes more emotional energy, it’s been so rich. It’s easy to stay glibly present in good moments, but the hard ones? Those are the ones I have tended to run from.

Kintsugi has always intrigued me. When a small dish from the treasury of my Grandma’s china that had been passed down to me broke the other week, I almost tossed it right into the trash can. But mid toss I stopped and said out loud, ‘No. Verna! She knows how to do kintsugi! I want to do that with this dish.’ At that point I immediately picked up the phone and put in my request for a little help and know-how for the project which turned into a fun morning and lunch together.

In the past, and sometimes still, I can find it difficult to slow down the intake and focus on being established instead of frantically going for more. I’m learning that it’s okay to give myself permission to listen to the same message or read the same chapter over and over again; to learn and re-learn a new habit; to move in peace and let the message or lesson sink deeply into my spirit.

I haven’t always done well with living in touch with the desires inside of me. I haven’t always seen or treated them as gifts. But God is teaching me the beauty of them. The more I learn to lean into and trust the Holy Spirit, the more He’s teaching me the joy and the graceful art of embracing those desires while simultaneously releasing them and going quietly on with what is ‘today’.

I used to think the only things of worth were the big things ‘out there.’ It was difficult, actually, almost impossible for me to find fulfillment and satisfaction in doing the everyday stuff. Now you moms out there realize that so much of mom life is made up of exactly this—normal everyday ordinary stuff. And when I became a mom at 34, I wasn’t prepared for all it would show me. It showed me I hated the normal hidden everyday stuff. It showed me I’d never learned to thrive well in the everyday gears that are so important in the foundation before going out in the bigger world for all the bigger things.

This morning was rushing fast by me again. Lately it’s felt like that’s the way my entire day goes. Rushing. Fast. Swirling me along with it. Baby, homeschool, laundry, meal planning and making, answering a gazillion questions, working a small side gig as time affords and all the while keeping the atmosphere open and pleasant between the small humans. My days go by SO FAST! This morning was no exception…

So, in the middle of the last scramble that can come in these last couple days before Christmas, don’t forget to go slow. Breathe in peace and follow the Prince of Peace. Exhale peace and walk in peace. Marinade in the love of heaven come to earth. Stay in it a little longer than normal. And then go give it away to your husband or wife, to your children, and to everyone else you meet. It’s why He came. He came to bring quality of connections; peace instead of performed perfection…

The turkey has been demolished. The yummy delicious dishes that took time to make are now mostly devoured and declared to be good. Naps and sleep that were forgone in order to make the dishes in between juggling baby and real life are forgotten in the warmth of memories made around the food. Hearts are full and grateful here. It was a Thanksgiving to remember.

This morning was a mix of play and work, cloudy faces and happy faces. In the middle of folding Sunday and Monday’s laundry with the little tots I wondered, ‘what did Eve struggle with as a Mom?’ The first mom ever. No other moms before her or around her to compare herself with. No endless approaches to sort through. No moms saying you ‘should’ this or that. She was the first. Was she a crunchy perfect organic mom? Or was she okay with peanut butter and jelly sandwich days for her boys? Did she struggle to respond instead of react? Did she get tired of telling her kids for the 99th time to ‘chew with your mouth closed’? Or did she just let that one slide? Did she struggle to make the choice to stay present some days? Did she ever snap and tell Adam, ‘I need a break?’

I never wanted kids. I wanted a career, I wanted to climb the corporate ladder. I wanted to keep going back to school for higher degrees. We were married six months when we found out we were expecting our first child. At the time I was working in a doctor’s office and I asked my co-worker to administer a pregnancy test. She smiled and gave me a big hug and said ‘congratulations, it’s positive.’ I felt like my whole world crumbled. I held back my tears in front of my co-worker, as I did not want her to think I was a terrible person for not being excited about this news. But I definitely was not excited. In fact, I would even say that I was in denial. I was a little numb…

There’s always been something so scary to me about being intimately known by my Daddy God. Thinking of Him being ridiculously fond of me seems…bizarre. Why would He? But lately, one tiny step at a time, my tiny little son is opening my heart up to being okay with Papa God’s crazy love for me. His unexplainable wild delight in me, His girl, even with all my quirks and frights. His creation.

You aren’t big enough to wreck it in one single day—especially not when you hand all the pieces over to the One who is bigger than the messy minutes of the day. He blends the pieces you give Him together beautifully and adds a silver lining. I. WILL. TRUST. HIM. For myself and for my kiddos. That’s a choice I get to make at the end of every day. And I still choose being a mom.

This morning as I walked in the rain, I kept thinking about what a kind Daddy God I have and His thoughts over me. So kind in fact that He COMMANDS His loving kindness towards me. (Psalms 42:8) In the last part of that same verse it says that His songs will be with me in the night…

I’ve been a sucker this week for letting “future dance” worries steal the current dance moves and twirls. It has been a bit chaotic in my head and heart. I forgot gratitude and everything else I thought I had. I fumbled and fell. But I am rising again! I find Him in the chaos and muddled thoughts. He comes faithfully and I allow myself to feel His presence as He wraps His arms around me when I come to my senses and just call and acknowledge His nearness; acknowledge that He is never far, He is always here, even when I don’t feel it.

Was there anyone else out there that was super excited to see the new Mary Poppins movie? Well, if you were like me, you were counting down the days to get to go see this movie. It was supposed to be a “mommy outing”—just some time for me to go out and get some alone time. But…I thought it would be fun to take my oldest son, Judah. There was a fun part in the movie when Mary Poppins was preparing the children for bath time and as the children entered the tub, they “went down the drain” and ended up in a cartoon illustrated ocean with lots of colorful fish and coral. I turned to look at my son to catch his reaction and he was WIDE-EYED with his mouth hanging open in total AWE.

Just about every morning after my oldest wakes up, we say our good mornings and give hugs and kisses and he will ask, “Where’s Daddy?” And every morning I respond that Daddy is at work. Over the last week, each morning as we have gone through this repetitive dialogue, I felt the nudging of the Holy Spirit each time he would ask where his father was. I asked God what it was that He was wanting me to see in this. I felt like God was saying that in parenting, we face so many challenges, tests, and trials that leave us saying, “God, where are you??? Where’s Daddy?” We spend so much time praying for our children and ourselves as parents and doing our very best to instruct them in the ways of the Lord…

I had quite the funny experience with my three-year-old yesterday and I thought surely there is a blog for this moment. This morning when I woke up, I asked Holy Spirit what the title of the article should be, and I immediately heard, “what goes in must come out!” I burst into laughter thinking “very funny Jesus,” as the experience that I am about to share with you has to do with potty training. With 18-month-old twins and a baby on the way, I have been quite determined to make sure our oldest, Judah—who just turned 3—is fully potty trained before our little princess gets here…

On August 1st, 2017 my husband and I miscarried and experienced the most unexplainable and painful hurt of losing a child. Going to the doctor for our confirmation appointment and never getting to see and hear a heartbeat was incomprehensible, especially after two healthy pregnancies.

After each meal as I take the twins down from their high chairs I find lots of food that missed their mouths and is hidden down in their seats or thrown on the floor. To clean up, I brush out all the food onto the floor and grab the broom to sweep it up. It NEVERS FAILS; the twins rush in to eat the food out of the dirt pile… For a while there, each time I’d get frustrated and say to them “DON’T EAT FROM THE DIRT PILE…

In a perfect world, my day would start with me rising before my husband to prepare for him a hot breakfast to have before work, us sitting down for a morning devotion, kissing him goodbye and then enjoying quiet time with the Father before the children wake up. NEWSFLASH!!! My mornings are more like this…

In our children’s ministry, it’s not uncommon to find ourselves praying for a sports injury or a brother or sister who’s home sick with a tummy ache. We teach our kids that God heals and they believe it because they’ve seen or experienced healing in their own lives and families.

Have you ever watched your kids in amazement at their desire to find joy in any situation? It doesn’t matter if it’s a visit to the doctor’s office, a trip to the furniture store, waiting in an extremely long line, or sitting through a lesson on adjectives—our kids can find a way to find joy in the moment.

What do you do when you see someone you love, or even your child, go through something that seems to affect their very vision of themselves, and life? What do you say? What if it continues and there seems to be no end in sight?

Every parent understands the kids’ bedtime extravaganza. Night after night, what you think has the potential to be a brief bedtime routine, quickly turns into… an extravaganza. Somehow the energy levels, excitement, questions, special bed-time requests, water needs, trips to the bathroom, and conversations all come to a peak at bedtime.

Easter is quickly approaching this week, where we prepare our hearts for remembering Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins, as well as His resurrection that assures our hope in Him. As we rejoice in that hope, we also rejoice that we get to be a part of the celebration, and remember that His Good News is for all that would receive Him.

Do you feel powerful or powerless as a parent? What about any other role where God has called you to serve? It doesn’t take long visiting social media websites, or talking with other parents at our kids’ schools and sporting events, to notice that in a lot of ways, parents today can feel easily overwhelmed—or powerless.

If you’re a “Type-A personality” like myself, with an oldest child mentality to boot, you understand the dilemma I often face in my mind. Whether in the workplace, in friendships, counseling others, family matters, or raising your kids, the question arises of, “What motivates others?”

I’ve come to realize that most situations are not the crises that they initially present themselves to be, and that pressure or urgency to react is in most cases not from God’s Spirit.

How do we in the midst of undesirable circumstances maintain our trust in God? Maybe we’ve learned to persevere in challenging circumstances in our own lives, but what about challenging circumstances that involve our kids?

When you get the privilege to become a parent, you get the awesome experience to realize that not everyone is like you, not even your child! I can laugh at this, because from the very first months of having our son, we realized that we were going to need to RELY on the Holy Spirit to lead us in leading him.

One day my 7-year-old son and I had a conversation about giving. I began by reminding him of how much stuff he has been accumulating over the years, and particularly since his last birthday and Christmas. I asked him if he ever thought about giving one of his toys to someone who might be without, or even just to a friend, since his currency at the moment is toys.

Have you ever felt the pressure to be a “good” Mom? Have you ever struggled with feelings of guilt for mistakes you’ve made, things you should have done, time you should have spent?

In the midst of our emotions, when we can’t hear His loving voice, we remember what God has said in His Word and we speak it over ourselves like a Father to His child. We speak it every time a thought or emotion challenges the Words that God has spoken.

Living by this simple principle as parents has completely changed our parenting experience!

My husband and I thoroughly enjoy that we have a little boy who, more times than not, thinks outside of any box we could imagine. He quickly turns a game of “Rock, Paper, Scissors” into “Crab Claw, Underwater Sea Goggles, and Lava,” without blinking an eye.

My 6-year-old son and I sat down together as we regularly do to practice his reading abilities. Just like times in the past, he tried to dodge having to take the time to read and do his homework… He tried to read that same book that he always reads and has all the words memorized…

As a parent, have you ever taken the time to sit and observe the interactions of your child with other children? We often spend time in their early years observing their play to make sure they don’t bite anyone or scale a bookcase, and also to help them learn how to “give Johnny a turn” and say “please” for that toy train they just grabbed.

One parenting style that has become increasingly popular in our culture, is that of praise. In fact, the concern over a child’s self-esteem has become so great, that praise is quickly becoming the child development focus and primary discipline method.

While many Christians choose to send their children to a Christian school so that they can be protected from temptations and be among people that do not contest their own beliefs, we have learned that even this is not realistic or always edifying.

What is it that you enjoy most about the season of Christmas? Is it all the beautiful decorations, the generosity, the relaxation time, gathering with the ones you love and breaking bread together, or the cheerful music bringing joy to your spirit?

Sometimes training only seems applicable in one of two situations: you have a situation coming that you need to prepare for, or you have a current situation that you need to get through or overcome. Many of us can look at our children and know that we need to prepare them for their future of one day being a responsible, mature adult that is submitted to the Lordship of Christ.

We are beginning to realize and appreciate that our kids are different than ourselves, and have their own unique destinies using all the wonderful treasures God has put inside of them. We are watching in awe and wonder as we see them blossom and grow into their unique personalities, and begin to dream with God about what their futures and destinies for the Kingdom of God hold.

Sometimes I start to think that my peace depends on stillness—the absence of noise, distractions, and interruptions to my plans—and everything going the way I think it should go. When this picture of peace isn’t met, I can quickly set myself to the task of putting the pieces back in my order, as the future may be threatened—at least in my vision—if I don’t act quickly.

What if we started from the very beginning, from the very first powerful words spoken to and over a child, training their body, soul, and spirit which way to go and believe? What if we simply started today to purpose loving our kids—and all those around us—with the truth of who they were created to be?

As a parent, my hope and my prayer for our son is probably no different than any other Christian parent. It is that he continues to grow in knowing and loving God; that he knows it is his God that protects and strengthens him; and that he understands God’s ways and His Word and that he clings to them for the rest of his life.

I have seen the resulting fruit and have been convicted about God’s instruction regarding forgiveness in my own life. He loves us so much and wants us healed and whole. As a result, my husband and I have sought to not only teach our child how to forgive others, but we’ve also sought to demonstrate how to apologize to our child.

Have you tried every trick in the books upon books that are available to parents today? Have you exhausted all the advice of parental experts, well-meaning friends and relatives, and school staff? What am I talking about? BEHAVIOR.

I began practicing with my just turned 3-year-old how to hear Jesus—by sharing our hearts with Him, asking what He thought in return, and asking Him to spend time with us in whatever way He liked. I love the memory of those days as my son, Jesus, and I played games like pretending to be jellyfish, or popping imaginary bubbles, or even going through fields in our hearts picking flowers and things from the garden. Jesus would share some very intimate and heart felt things with us, even while we pretended to roast marshmallows with Him on the moon.

Taking out of the Heart vs. Putting in the Heart: this is the question I often come to at my wit’s end with my little one’s attitude, and quite honestly, my own attitude. When I’ve coped with an attitude long enough, and it is looking at me square in the face—I just want to Do Something about it! So what do I do?

My son said to me this morning, “Mom, adults don’t need God’s help as much as kids do, because they already know what to do.” After thinking about that for a moment—that common, natural misperception of what it means to be grown up, I replied, “Hmm. Actually, the more responsibility I have as I grow up, the more I need God to help me and shape me.” As it turns out, those led by the most knowledge don’t always win.

I love praise and worship! Whether in the midst of community or in the privacy of my own car, there’s nothing like pouring your heart out to God and reminding yourself of His goodness, why you love Him, and how much He loves you. However, I have had those moments when I’m worshipping from the depths of my heart and I hear inside myself, “Do you really mean that? Do you really understand the words you are singing, and do you really believe them?”

I’ve been guilty of losing faith in the effectiveness of God’s Word. I didn’t realize it—I had been looking for solutions in many good ways and people, and focused more on problem solving and acting, rather than trusting God to act as I agreed with His Word. When I sought Him one day for our son, as I had many times before, and said, “I know You have the solution for this, and I know that you’ve already made it available, just help me to see it,”

Whether or not a child is old enough to fully understand the truths being spoken over them and to them—even in the womb, these truths being laid as a foundation from the beginning not only affect their understanding, leading to their life choices, but also their very genetics.

What kid doesn’t love music?!? Here you’ll find four albums from various children’s ministries packed with Bible-based music for every occasion.