My 4 year old, tells me he wants to grow up and be a baseball player, in fact a catcher (just like his big brother)  Being 4, I find it easy to encourage him.

My 8 year old boys, one tells me he’s going to be an artist, the other a ball player, however their list changes depending on the day.  I still find it easy to encourage them.

My 17 year old daughter, tells me she wants to be a cosmologist and want’s to go to cosmetology school, instead of heading straight to college.  Right now she doesn’t know what she wants to be when she ‘grows’ up.  I find it hard to encourage her?  The reason why, is because when she was little, she was very sick, diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 3.  She has a few side effects from the chemo, one of them being that her hands shake a bit. So I feel that being a cosmologist may be hard on her.

Am I looking out for her best interest?  Probably, but what I really think is happening here is that I’m letting my own beliefs and fears get in the way.  As parent’s we often let our mistakes, opinions and our inabilities decide the lives of our children.

I can recall, telling my father that I wanted to grow up to be a nurse.  He discouraged me by telling me that I shouldn’t be a nurse, I should be a doctor. I didn’t want to be a doctor, therefore never thought more about nursing, because I wouldn’t be living up to the expectations of my father.  Who knows, I could have been an excellent nurse!

I can recall, having a song recorded at one of those recording studios at a theme park.  Proud of how that song turned out, I played it to my mother, she commented that my gasp of air should be quieter. Really?  Lots of singers gasp, but that one saying gave me doubt on my capabilities of singing.  Who knows, I could have been a grammy award winning singer!

Can you imagine if Tiger Woods parents told him he stunk at Golf or if Tom Brady’s parents told him he couldn’t throw the football well?

Sometimes we can let people of influence get in the way of our paths, we can often get off track because we doubt our own capabilities and have compared ourselves to others.  I truly believe that God has given us each a gift and has a plan for our lives and when I came across this passage at Church it just hit me right square in the eye!

“Have i not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go”  Joshua 1:9 NIV

As a Christian Mother, I need to make sure that when I encourage my children I take “me” out of it and focus on them! I know as long as I’m encouraging my children to following this passage, that’s all that matters.  With his spirit within them, whatever mistakes they make or directions they take in their lives could be leading them to the knowledge they need to know in order to define who they are and will become.

Do you sometimes let your fears get in the way of encouraging your children?

Why is it easier to look back and have faith than to continue our daily lives with the faith we so often doubt. Trusting God is one of the hardest things to do. Several years ago I felt God tugging at my heart to quit my job to stay at home with my children. I didn’t want to do this because we were losing half of our income. How can God provide for us? 2+2=4 right? There was no changing that. Would we mysteriously receive a check in the mail? I knew God would provide but I still doubted.  However I proceeded and took this leap of faith and quit my job. We still had a ton of bills to pay and the paycheck my husband brought home every two weeks didn’t even cover our Mortgage payment and HOA which was 55% of our income. We were house poor and living on one income with a family of 6 to pay the rest of our debt, food, gas, tithe, etc. seemed impossible to do. When we added everything up we were always in the red.  God did provide!  Everything got paid and we still had money left over.  I never did receive a check in the mail and 2+2 still amounted to 4.  It didn’t make sense and It still doesn’t make sense to me.

The only way I can make light of it is by: Matthew 14:13-21

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.  As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”

Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”  “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.  “Bring them here to me,” he said.  And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

I love this story. Visually you see 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, if I were there today I would still doubt. There are things on Earth we will never understand. I am thankful that God has provided for me and my family even though I doubted.

Do you have a story where God has provided even though you’ve doubted?  I would love to hear them!