Judges 2:1-4 The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land I had promised to your ancestors. I also said: I will never break my covenant with you. 2 You are not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You are to tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed me. What have you done? 3 Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you. They will be thorns[a] in your sides, and their gods will be a trap for you.” 4 When th ..read more

May integrity and what is right watch over me, for I wait for you. Psalms 25:1 I remember when the big kids were little. How much I wanted them to not just enjoy coming to visit their father, but that they have a good, strong relationship with him and each other. My actions and my interactions were all done with that in mind. I remember telling my husband recently, that there are plenty of times where I wanted to call out the kids moms on different things. Not in front of the big kids but just call them out on errors on their part but I didn’t see how that would benefit the kids. I didn’t trus ..read more

I’ve only ever hailed a cab once in my life. I was on vacation with my cousin and we took taxi’s to get around. She was a pro so I followed her lead. I’ve never hailed one by myself. However, at one point in time, I was an Uber professional and chose to Uber before driving anywhere into the city. But even Uber didn’t make me feel safe when I was heading home from something I was no longer comfortable being in. The relief of safety from escape didn’t come until I was back on streets I recognized. In case something popped off with the Uber, I could see my way from where I was because I knew wher ..read more

My husband said something. He said that I give Tanya too much power when I separate myself from him during events for the big kids. I never viewed it from that perspective before. I previously asked the lord to change my presets. Like the buttons on the car radio, I want the Lord to change my separation preset to togetherness. I am always with my husband at any other event for any other person. I thought that being away from him for big kid events was a good sacrifice for me to make for them. Honestly, I can see now, that that didn’t help them. It protected me. It prevented me from intera ..read more

I am currently in an urgent care facility waiting to be seen for a cough that I’ve had since August 2020. What took me so long was time and fear. Finding the time in life to schedule and appointment and get someone to watch my children. We’ve moved and I haven’t looked for a primary care physician for myself in the area so time to drive to my doctor’s office and the time to sit and wait while there. Fear of what they might find. Fear of contracting COVID-19 while waiting to be seen for a current infection. Fear that they might not want to see or treat me because my reason for coming in is a co ..read more

Leave it to God to give you insight on your enemy while you are having quiet time with him. I was reading a devotional yesterday and the writer mentioned the subtleties bias. She gave examples of how, in her own life, bias can infiltrate her statements. Just stating the facts is extremely difficult to do because our human nature, our sinful nature, is innate to look out for itself. It is only the spirit of God who dwells in believers in Christ Jesus that can keep us from acting in that manner when we yield to him. The writer said that we can respond based on our own insecurities and emotional ..read more

I was speaking to my oldest son Anthony yesterday. I was telling him not to judge the productiveness of a stay-at-home mom on the appearance of her house. I was telling him this so that when/if he gets married and he walks into his home and the house looks a mess, he doesn’t think his wife just laid around doing nothing. Most of the “nothing“ that we see means a lot of nurturing happened that day. That does not lend time to upkeep the home. My youngest son, CakePop is teething. That does not leave a lot of time to do what would be considered normal for this house. For example washing the dishe ..read more

I just got off the phone with a woman who is in a blended family. Her husband’s daughter is a new college graduate. Amidst all of the excitement over her major accomplishment, thoughts of a graduation party being hosted at this woman’s home was suggested. The suggestion came from the new college graduate and her mother. It seemed like something they thought of beforehand and made their suggestion to him at right after graduation. This woman was very upset. She, like I, have always said that the mothers of our (step)daughters are not allowed in our home. This has been the prevailing rule for ye ..read more

We joined a business in a box over a decade ago. I learned many things the most memorable being the work you must put in to achieve personal growth. The work you do is on your mind. I learned about affirmations. I was taught to say what you wanted. For me, I could not find better words than what my Lord and Savior wrote. I began by saying these affirmations as wish lists; treating God as if He were a genie. I recited my chosen affirmations as if they were magic words and that, just by repeating them, would give me my hearts desire. My heart was not in the right place to use God’s words. Once G ..read more

The hair on the pinky toe is viewed in one of two ways: disregarded or unsightly. It is either regarded as unimportant enough to garner our attention or waxed/plucked off. However, it is still a part of the body. I tried to look up what the biological or physiological purpose of hair on the toes. I didn’t get a definitive answer, however, from what I gathered, the hair or lack of hair, on you toes can be indicative of your health. If your toes are especially hairy, it can mean a problem with your adrenals or indicate and ovarian disorder. If you don’t have hair on your toes, it could mean your ..read more