Devoted: Great Men and Their Godly Moms

June 8, 2019 by Leave a Comment

While I was nursing my third baby I started reading a blog series by Tim Challies called Christian Men and their Godly Moms. I would be so excited when he posted in this series and would sit in my baby’s room feeding and rocking him while I would read. Sometimes I would sob while reading about these amazing mother’s and how devoted they were to the Lord.

I am so thankful for Tim taking the time to research and share about these women. His blog posts were instrumental in encouraging me to continue reading the bible myself as well as to my 4 and 2 year old at the time. I am happy to say that our family devotions have continued over the years and while they aren’t perfect they have been fruitful.

I recently discovered that this blog series was expanded upon and turned into a book, Devoted: Great Men and Their Godly Moms, and I just finished reading it. It was so good and I highly recommend it to any mother regardless of how old her children are. I still sobbed at certain portions even though I knew the story. There were great takeaways and a helpful section at the end of each chapter with reflection questions.

If you are pregnant, a mom to a newborn, or a mom of adult children this is a great book to add to your reading list! Seriously all mama’s could benefit from reading this book. And if you have daughters read this as well! So many things inside that will encourage you as you strive to raise Godly children who love the Lord.

Praying For Your Children

Here are just a few takeaways from what I read that you could begin implementing today in your prayer life.

Pray for the ability to teach his truths to your children. Ask him to store these truths in their memory and use them as a foundation for their commitment to Christ.

Pray for your children to remain faithful. Ask him to stregthen their faith when their beliefs are under attack.

Pray for your own life to be an example to your children. Ask that you be willing to surrender your children to his plan for them, no matter the cost to you—or to them.

Pray for the strength to continue to meet your obligations. Ask for for fruits of the spirit to overflow out of you so that you do not become bitter about your workload.

Name a personality trait for each of your children that is a cause for concern unless it is brought under the lordship of Christ. Pray that God will use these traits for his glory.

This book will inspire you as you read examples of women from the past and present who have succeeded in raising their children to honor and glorify the Lord.

Challies, Tim. Devoted: Great Men and Their Godly Moms

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A Father’s Day Tribute

June 12, 2017 by 1 Comment

Dear Dad,

Since you are not on social media I am not sure when you will see this. I am fairly confident Mom will fill you in about this post as soon as she reads it. And my guess would be that this will happen sometime in the next 24 hours.

The purpose of this tribute is to give you the honor you deserve and to display my appreciation to God for the Dad that he gave me. With Father’s Day coming up this weekend I wanted to share and express these thoughts publicly.

Is it crazy that you have a 33 year old daughter? Caden just turned 5 and it is crazy to me that I have a 5 year old now. So I am assuming that this is how you feel about Evan and I.

Time sure goes fast.

This is why I wanted to be sure to take a moment and let you know how much I love you. Thank you for being there for me and for supplying so many fun and meaningful memories that I cherish to this day.

Do you remember playing street hockey with Evan and I along with all the neighborhood kids on rollerblades? You were the only Dad out there playing with us and we loved it! Or what about the time you dressed up in high waisted shorts with socks and sandals as a joke to go to my high school orientation? It was funny but I am glad that you changed your outfit before leaving the house. I debated sharing that photo but decided that some memories are better kept in the family photo album instead of being displayed on the internet.

Over the summer after my fifth grade year you took me out to lunch. This was unusual because we didn’t really go out to eat unless it was as a family. We went to Wendy’s – which isn’t even a Wendy’s anymore, it is a Starbucks, and is totally fitting seeing as how much you love Starbucks – and you had a talk with me about entering middle school and how I was growing up. It was the first of many casual conversations about boys and valuing myself and knowing that you thought I was beautiful. I am not sure if that is what you were meaning to get across in that moment but that is what I took away from it.

Due to moments like this I have never doubted that you loved me and I know that is a huge reason that I didn’t pursue or seek out relationships with the opposite sex that would have caused me heartbreak later.

My love for being active and enjoying the beauty of God’s creation came from you. You gave such an active example of taking care of yourself and your love for the great outdoors is something that I really appreciated and adopted into my own life.

I have loved our father daughter trips over the years hiking and backpacking throughout California and Arizona. Half Dome and Humphrey’s Peak were pretty epic. As was the gas station at Ebbets Pass ;).

Also let me take a moment to say that cameras have come a long way since 1995.

Thank you for these memories, for the adventures, for your time, for making yourself available, for loving me enough to set limits, and for supporting my interests.

I am not sure if Josh will take Maisie to Wendy’s or to Half Dome but I know that he is planning on daddy daughter dates. He knows how much these moments with you have meant to me and he wants to establish those same types of memories with her.

I love you and I appreciate all you have done and continue to do for me and now also my own family.

Your daughter, Tam

PS…I think it might be time to #bringbackthestache.

I am linking back to Tim Challies for the great idea! Check out his series The Commandment We Forgot  that looks at the fifth commandment (“honor your father and mother”) and explores the idea of how to obey this command once we are adults. 

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A Mother’s Day Tribute

May 8, 2017 by Leave a Comment

With Mother’s Day approaching this weekend I wanted to share a public tribute to my Mom. The purpose of this tribute is to give her the honor she deserves and to display my appreciation to God for the mom he gave me. I am linking back to Tim Challies for the great idea! Check out his series The Commandment We Forgot  that looks at the fifth commandment (“honor your father and mother”) and explores the idea of how to obey this command once we are adults. #dearmom17

Dear Mom,

I know I don’t always take the time to say thank you for all the amazing ways you have shown and continue to show your love to our family so I am taking time today to rectify that.

First off, you are beautiful. You may not hear those words enough from your family, myself included. You have shown me over the course of my life that true beauty comes from within and most importantly when Christ shines out of us. Thank you for teaching me that it is the small moments in the day that develop our character for the great moments in life.

When I now look at the picture above from when I was pregnant with Caden, I understand how excited you must have been for me to become a mother. Children are a blessing from the Lord and my own little ones have made me appreciate you even more.

Thank you for all the sacrifices you have made for me. Thank you for the sleepless nights you gave up, for the meals you had to reheat for yourself, and for the huge amount of bodily fluids I must have placed on you during my lifetime. Having children now at the current ages of 4 years, 2 years, and 5 months I know that you had your share of these things with myself and Evan.

I can never imagine Caden, Maisie, or Jesse being as sick as I was several years ago.  My stomach knots together just thinking about these little ones of mine being ill. I know it was hard to see me like that. Thank you for your love and support during those two years.

Now with a daughter of my own I hope to one day have the type of relationship with her that I have with you. Do you remember the time you let me put glitter eyeshadow on you for church? <— Click the link to read about this story from my Mom’s perspective. You were so trusting and left the house without looking in the mirror. Personally, I thought it looked fabulous but had absolutely no idea what I was doing with those makeup brushes.

Out of all the memories we have made together this far, and we have made many, my favorites have been when you have seen your grandchildren enter this world.

Thank you for being in the room for the biggest moments of my life. For being present and for being available.

Thank you for being a mom who was easy to talk to even when I didn’t want to talk, for listening, for speaking the truth in love, and most importantly thank you for introducing me to Jesus.

One day, when we have to say goodbye for a little while, I will be even more grateful for having a mother who shared her faith. However many years the Lord blesses us with together I will be thankful for each one. Thank you for showing me how to mother and to share my own faith with my children.

Love, your daughter, Tamara Marie

PS…If you come over early before church I can do your makeup this weekend. I promise no glitter.

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