Single Mom Sabbath

Today marks something new in my writing arena: my attempt to reach single moms with a word of encouragement and inspiration. It is my desire to blog weekly about some of the joys and hardships I've faced the last decade as a single working mother of five. I would especially like to write about how I have found rest as a single mom. Meet the kids and me: 

Left to right: Mary Catherine 20, Hannah Rose 14, John Jay 16, Thomas 12, Lawren 23

This was Christmas Day and we were too lazy to figure out how to set up the camera to include my  new son in law Brandon, who took the picture for us...but stay tuned...He' a dear.  Oh let me at least go ahead and show you a picture of the two love birds:

Mr. and Mrs. Brandon Johnson

Ok, now you know the family...or at least can put a face to a name when I share about them.

After returning last week from a national mom heart conference and speaking to so many beautiful moms who were either in difficult marriages themselves, recently divorced, or trying to determine how best to minister to a hurting friend God placed in their path, I felt it a good time to begin to share from my own pain to possibly help others. 

Tonight I want to expound on the idea of "rest", which can seem like an oxymoron to a single mom. Yet, I'm not talking about necessarily a physical rest but a rest in our spirit from the turmoil of life.

In Matthew 11:28-30 we find the command to rest:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

If a command exists because we are burdened then we must believe Jesus knew we would be weary and burdened as mommas. His yoke we are instructed to take and learn from refer to His teachings. Again the command is given to "take" the yoke or teachings. If we are going to "take" something then action is required on our part.

This is why I make the necessary adjustments in my family's life to attend the annual Mom Heart conference each year. I want to take Jesus teachings I receive there because I have learned when I embrace Christ teachings I find rest for my spirit.

I met Christina, another  mom in the process of divorce after attending conferences for over a decade of feeling somewhat isolated as a divorcee. After having the opportunity to share at the conference, Christina found me and we spent the next two hours in the hallway sharing heartache and prayer to continue to rely on God for strength.

God has kept our hearts united via social media and we recently met up again in Dallas.  Meet my lovely friend Christina, former flight attendant...now primary grade teacher and single mom to two precious girls.

I am questioned every year upon returning about my trip. So imagine this: we look for friendships in life with women who value what we value and model a life of faith. In this world if we find a handful of those women as friends, we are blessed. Yet, each year, at the conference, you are in a room with 700 plus women who love God deeply and desire to edify Him through their family...whatever that looks like regardless of your education venue, number of children, denomination, or professional work choices. It is a filling like none other the entire year.

That's why we make the logistical, financial, and time sacrifices to go. Because we believe God's word to be true and take Him at His word. He tells us to rest by taking His teachings so we believe and act on our belief.

A faith walk always requires action on our part. Will you believe you are God's treasured possession today because that's what He says about you. Will you take the action necessary to rest your spirit. A conference in another state might not work right now for you. But today, especially with online bible studies, the opportunities are endless to take God at His word. Take His teachings and receive rest.

I hope you will share below How you are fleshing out these things in your faith walk...and how you are experiencing the rest of God in  your life.

I look forward to hearing from you and sharing with you again soon. Please share these words with any of your single momma friends.

Love,
Pam

Why I Keep Coming Back

I'm just off the end of an incredible weekend from the Mom Heart conference held in Dallas. With little time to process the weekend of inspiration, I hit the ground running Monday morning. Small family run businesses don't wait for attention.

However, one aspect of my time away included the return to writing. Originally I thought I would have plenty of down time at the store to write. Yet, God has seen fit to grow the business leaving me only time to satisfy customers, old and new, as they venture into our little community reststop every day.

So now I'm starting tiny...

A tiny new habit of writing to get back in the swing of sharing all that's bubbling up inside my soul.

Presently I am pressing through a Lenten devotion. I like it because it's short and powerful. Today's passage was Acts 2: 42-47:

"They were continually devoting themselves to the apostle's teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place among the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common, and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved."

This past weekend at the Dallas Mom Heart Conference this is what occurred:

We devoted ourselves to teaching
and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer
As believers we were together and had much in common in regards to the love for our Lord and our families
We were glad and sincere in heart, praising God 

 For fourteen years I have travelled to spend time with like minded moms, to celebrate the biblical design of motherhood and to grow my faith.

It will most likely take the entire year to process the weekend. But for today I want to share this from my Lenten devotion:

"By Grace, today I fast from the lie that my calling isn't great enough because God isn't calling for people great in skills, schooling, or spotlights---He's calling those simply great in community, in confession, in communion, in courage, great in Christ. Today i will do ordinary things with extraordinarily great love. We repent of wanting to be greater instead of loving greater.

I will keep coming back because it's what I need:

Community

Confession

Communion

Courage

Great in Christ...so I can love greater

Thank you Sally Clarkson, my Mom Heart mentor as well as the tireless servants who fed us so well physically, emotionally, and spiritually this weekend.  We will always keep coming back because it's Jesus that we find year after year...up close and personal. I am eternally grateful for your years of service to thousands of moms across the globe.

More New Beginnings

I love it in the New Year how new beginnings inspire us to do something better, learn something new, change something that's not working, etc. This past year brought new beginnings for our family that I could never imagined. Opening a small business to love and serve our community has been our family's biggest new beginning.

But today there is another: my first magazine article! You can find out more about our story in this edition of Shattered Magazine online here at http://www.shatteredmagazine.net/graves-grocery-community-rest-stop/

Thank you to each of you who have been instrumental in our new beginnings!

May you be inspired to press into your own new beginning.

Love,

Pam

Terms of Endearment

The older I get the more I recognize my need to be affirmed. This can come in many ways but I love words of affirmation.  Occasionally it comes from those around me bringing joy to my heart. Yet, once the good feeling wears off, I need something more substantial to hold onto. I am sharing about that substance in my life today at http://www.itakejoy.com/terms-of-endearment/

Becoming Bold

It started with a check that came in the mail fifteen years ago. I had given birth to my third child, my firstborn son. On a limited income, we hoped to nurse. Yet, quickly, John developed milk allergies keeping him from nursing. The formula needed doubled our weekly grocery budget.

I shared a prayer request during the weekly bible study I attended. The following week a fifty dollar check came in the mail from a bible study classmate. She knew we were struggling financially with this added expense. After receiving some birthday money, she wanted to share it with us.

It wasn't easy receiving the money at first.  I had grown up with the mindset of not sharing your personal struggles with anyone. So embracing  a new way of thinking, "that God might want to take care of me through  His people" was foreign. Yet, it was given with such love and joy.

That one act of giving began a snowball effect that continues to this day. Over the span of the last fifteen years our family has been the recipient of hundreds of gifts ranging from food and diapers to frequent flier miles to attend Mom Heart intensives.

Probably the largest reminder I have of the faithfulness of God to provide for my family is my home. About nine years ago my local church asked permission to do some home repair for me. Married at the time to an over the road truck driver made it hard to tackle repairs at home. I was a homeschooling mom of five ranging from two to twelve.

The church called it the Jerusalem Project. They sent us out of the house for two weeks to complete a "Hallelujah Chorus Task List" which my pastor had requested. What we returned to change our lives forever.

When we returned home there was a welcoming crew of at least 50 who walked us through each room which had been transformed from flooring, paint, to decor. The beauty was breathtaking. I nearly fainted when I saw the deck off the back door which overlooked the river. I had longed for a deck for six years as we could not use the back door because it dropped five feet off the house.

This is the verse the Lord gave to me during the two weeks of waiting while they worked on our home.

Psalm 13:6 "I will sing unto the Lord for He has dealt bountifully with me."

We suspected we were coming home to new flooring and possible painted walls. But we were in awe at the beauty and complete home makeover which became our new home.

We walked into this verse: "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever!" There is not a single day I live that I cannot walk into my home and be thankful for all God has done for me and my family.

This season I have realized that as we experience the tangible love of God we become bold.

As we receive and come to know the nature and character of God through the outpouring of His love for us, we are filled with the power of His spirit to walk out what He has called us to in our individual lives.

"For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. "Ephesians 2;10

Experiencing the love of God made me bold enough this summer to start a family business in our community. In June, Graves Grocery: A Community Reststop opened to serve breakfast and lunch to the people in our small community. We are completing our seventh month of business this month.

You can read more about our little place here http://www.waff.com/story/24098447/laid-back-old-country-st#.UqvUkmaw3PQ.facebook

Thus far, having the store has been the most rewarding experience in life other than being a mom. It's like something I waited forever for but did not know I was waiting.

It is an opportunity daily to show the tangible love of God through serving or a kind word. I am trusting God to use me in such a way that, as I share the love of God to my customers, they too become bold.

May you reflect this holiday season on how God has poured out His love for you in your own life. And if there is too much pain to see His love, ask Him to show you. If you belong to Him, He has never left you.

As you reflect on His outpouring of love, may you too become bold.

Have a bold and bright Christmas!

Love, Pam

The Benefits of a Meal Plan

There are nuggets of truth along my spiritual journey that stick with me. These truths I have incorporated into my life have strengthened my faith and the relationships with those I love.

One of these nuggets is the importance of planning meals for the men in my world...for today that means my two sons, ages 14 and 11. The girls are glad to eat as well. But truly it makes a world of difference for the boys.

I heard once and never forgot:

FAIL TO PLAN; PLAN TO FAIL

Today it's my turn up at Mom Heart online. You can read more about my nugget of truth I gleaned here.

Fondly,

Pam

It's My Turn but it's for His Renown

Sometimes I still battle with the someday story of great renown for myself or family.

Yet, as I had opportunity to write this month for Mom Heart Online, I was sweetly reminded that this life is really not about me or my great kids.

It's about our great God, who delights in using us...very normal people to be light bearers to the world. And why? Well, yes it's because He loves us and delights in us. Yet, there is more about the why.

Find out here online more about the why?