BENT BUT NOT BROKEN

Have you every stood in a dark valley knowing that there is an opening ahead that will lead you out, but fearing the walk that you have to make to get to that opening?  

You stumble, stump your toes, step on some nails, but in order to get out you must keep on going, because if you stop, you will never get out to experience the light of the day.  

Well this is exactly how I am feeling at the moment as I write this post.

A few days ago my 28 year old son when to bed, and slept off into glory. He had just left my house after watching a basketball game.  This wonderful gift from God was one of the best things that He could have blessed me with, I watched him grow up, graduate from college, buy himself a home, get a good job, fall in love and just being so very happy I forgot he was on loan to me from God and that I was just his steward. So when the unexpected happened my world collapsed around me, sending me into a dark valley.  I sat in the valley stunned, afraid to even move, just simple groping around, but then I heard that sweet small voice as it whispered these scriptures in my ears.  

Psalm 23:4- Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou [art] with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Isaiah 43: 2-When thou passest through the waters, I [will be] with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

Job 13:15.  Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.

Job 19:2.  For I know [that] my redeemer liveth, and [that] he shall stand at the latter [day] upon the earth:

I am wobbly but I believe every word of every one of these verses He keeps whispering in my ears.  Satan thought He had me.  He forgot I was not alone but had beside me a great big wonderful God. I do not pretend to understand all that is happening at the moment, but know that God is getting ready to use this for His Glory.

So if you are at this moment going through a dark valley as I am, don’t stop.  Keep going, knowing that He will be there with you as He is presently with me.

In His Service

Vilma

Our Heritage- The Nation's Future

I cannot over emphasize the importance of consistently praying for our children.  

Praying for our children is something that we can do anytime, and anywhere.  We can do so whether we are rich, poor, black, white or Hispanic.  We can do this in any language we speak – English, Spanish, French, German, Jamaican.  

Prayer is the universal key that as mothers we have available to us.  

 It is the key that we can use to unlock doors that may seem impossible to access- big doors, small doors, old fashioned doors, fashionable doors, metal or wood doors.  This is a key that you do not have to get made at a Home Depot or Lowes or any other hardwood store.  It is a key that we can carry around with us any and everywhere we go.

Praying for our children is one sure way that we can defeat the enemy.  Our children are the trailblazers for tomorrow, and the enemy will try everything that he can to make sure that this does not come to pass.  Remember his mission is to steal them from us, and after he steels them he kills them and he does not leave them there he then destroys what he has killed, trying to remove every trace of what was and what is to become.

He has been at this job for ages, He tried this with Joseph but God took him from the pit to the palace.  We see him trying to use pharaoh to destroy all the Hebrew babies- but Moses’ mother rose to the occasion and hid Moses by the river, she did not give up.  Moses had a future to deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt.  Herod tried to destroy Jesus  he told the wise men to come back to him after they had found the Christ Child so that He may also go to worship Him, of course he was lying, but God revealed this to the wise men and they did not go back to tell Herod- JESUS the Savior of the WORLD.

We must rise to the occasion, we do not know exactly what God created hem to become but we can agree with Jeremiah 29:11:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 

Who will we pass the baton to if we allow Satan to bind our children to steal their vision and dreams?  Think about it.  Can you feel my passion?  It is not just about your child, it is much bigger than that it’s about our nation’s children.  LET’S  P.U.S.H. !!!

In His service,

Vilma

Let me hear your Comments? 

Being a Mother without having had a Mother

This is something I have always thought about myself and as I pondered it God revealed some things that I will share with you.  My mother passed away when I was 34 years old already married and with at the time a 4 year old and a 1 year old.  I remembered how angry and hurt I was.  As I started to talk about my children not having their grandmother around and my not being able to call my mother for advice as I use to, it suddenly dawned on me that my husband who was comforting me lost his mother when he was only 12 years old.  Although the pain was still there I started to thank God that I had the opportunity to have her for 34 years, when as in the case of my husband some had theirs for only 12 years, some for maybe 5 years and then some who never had the opportunity of knowing their mother. 

There are those of you who may not have had their birth mother, but were blessed with a mother figure who tried to fill that gap, whether a grandmother, adopted parent, foster mother, a big sister or other relative.  Then there may be a few who as painful as it may have been literally raised themselves, with those daily struggles for survival.

Now here you are looking back at the child you raised, or the child that you are still raising, you no doubt have many questions as to the job you did, or the one you are doing. Was it right or is it right?

Let us rethink this- first start to thank God that he chose your womb in spite of everything else to place the gift of life.  If He did be assured that you are capable of being that mother that God desires.  Remember that God is the only one that gives life- God does not make any mistakes.  He did not create this life within you and then said oops, I made a mistake, she can’t manage.  There is no oops in God!!  Next thank God for the people who helped you and tried to be a mother to you.  Then forgive your mother who may have abandoned you and ask God’s forgiveness for whatever anger and bitterness that you may have if you lost your mother at a critical period in your life.  You may not even realize how angry you have been.  This certainly is a hindrance to your relationship with God and subsequently a hindrance to being the mother He has called you to be.

 Not having a mother or a good mother figure around is difficult, but remember that the manual for child rearing is the word of God and that word stands forever.  You can seek advice or counsel, get parenting classes, but always make sure that the advice you are given is in agreement with what the word of God is saying.

 Some of you reading this blog may have had mothers around all your life, but you never see them pray or read the word of God and in turn they never taught you how to pray and read the word of God.  So you find it hard to read the word and pray as I have been encouraging you to do.

The fact that you are reading this means that it is not too late to start doing what is right.  Break this generational pattern and start to earnestly pray and seek God’s guidance. Tell yourself the BUCK stops with you.  The moment you make an effort God steps in.  God did not part the red sea until the Israelites stepped in.

In His Service,

Vilma

What are you Believing God For Concerning Your Children?

What are you believing God for concerning your Children?  As you look at them, think about them, speak with them, what is that burning desire that keeps clutching at your heart?  Is it for their salvation, their obedience, their health, the choices, they make?  Is it about their finances, their lifestyle or even the way they raise their own children?  As you zero in on it, get yourself a note book and write it down.  Next go to the scriptures and search for every promise concerning “that thing”.  Start to speak these promises every day until you are able to say it from memory.  Remember words are powerful and when mixed with faith they are even more powerful.

Speaking God's Word is powerful!  It is more powerful than a two-edged sword!  One edge of the sword is God’s word, and it becomes double-edged when we speak the word of God- that’s the other edge.  We must synchronize; we cannot go in opposite directions and expect to get good results.  We must be on one accord.  So as God speaks I agree.  When we agree with someone or something we support it- right.  How do we support what God is saying?  By believing it and acting like it is so.

 Having said this I also would like to say that along with claiming the promises of God we need to remember that there are certain conditions surrounding these promises and we have to acknowledge these “ifs” and but’s and operate accordingly so that our “thens” can materialize.

In His Service,

Vilma

Praying for a Revelation Knowledge of God

For this post I would like for us to look at Ephesians 1:17-19:

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what [is] the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power (KJV).

In his prayer for the Ephesians Paul was asking that God would give to the Ephesians the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.  Most times we want revelation from God about people, about things or about certain situations, but it is rarely that we pray asking for revelation knowledge of God Himself.  But that was Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians.  It is important for us to have an accurate knowledge and understanding of who we are.  Yet it is far more important (and beneficial) for us to know and understand who God is.  

Paul continued to ask that the eyes of their understanding be opened up (enlightened) to know the hope to which God has called them, the riches of Gods glorious inheritance.  It would take supernatural intervention for us to fully understand what God has given to us in Jesus Christ.  The hope of his calling could be seen as the purpose for which God has called us.  This can also be seen as hope for the future. 
David Guzik in his commentary on Ephesians 1 sums up very well “the hope of His calling” from a futuristic point of view.  According to Guzik the believer has a glorious future of resurrection, eternal life, and freedom from sin, perfected justification, and glorious elevation above the angels themselves (Dvvid Guzik-http://www.blueletterbible.org/commentaries).

 “According to the working of his mighty power” This mighty power is the same power that raised Christ from the dead.
Although Paul prayed this prayer for the Ephesians it is relevant for us today as well as for our children.

 Lord, please my children the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, and the knowledge of You.  Help that their eyes will be opened that they will know the hope to which you have called them, the riches of Your glorious inheritance in the saints and His Incomparably great power for us who believe.  In Jesus’s name Amen

In His service,

Vilma

Stop Crying and Start Rejoicing

As I write this post I am thinking of mothers who may have trained their children according to proverbs 22:6, but at this point in time they are filled with disappointment because of the path that their children have chosen.  I am thinking of mothers whose child or children may have found themselves into situations that are unimaginable, of mothers whose children are incarcerated, homeless or maybe, you do not even know where they are or and have not spoken to them in years.  I am thinking
of mothers who feel abandoned by their children, who have worked tirelessly to send their children to college and they graduate and are ashamed of recognizing you as mother.  As hard as this may be, I would like you to stop a minute and listen to what God is saying to you in the book of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 31:16-17 - This is what the LORD says: "Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded," declares the LORD.  "They will return from the land of the enemy.  So there is hope for your future," declares the LORD.  "Your children will return to their own land.  (NIV)

The Lord is saying stop crying, because the hard work that you put into raising your children, into training them, will be rewarded. Stop crying, because they – (meaning your children) will return from the land of the enemy.  That is where they are in the enemy’s territory, yes they have been lured away, but they will return.  He did not say they may return, but they will return.  There is hope for your future, in other words there is something to look forward to.  Your children will return to their own land- they will return to a place of peace and safety and wellbeing.  So as difficult as this period in your life is, stop looking at the present situation and start to focus on the future, start rejoicing knowing that they will come home.

Father I thank you that (insert name) is not going to settle for where the enemy has lured him/her to.  I thank you that their eyes are opened and that they are moving back to a place of safety.  Father I release this heart of heaviness in exchange for one of rejoicing as I take comfort in your word, thanking you for your promise.  In Jesus’s name Amen.

In His Service,

Vilma

DISCIPLINE- OOPS- YES WE SHOULD

DISCIPLINE- (Instruct, train, correct)
So many times we hear words like “that child has no discipline” or I have never seen such an undisciplined group of individuals” or things like “she has no home training” All these phrases convey the same idea, a need for more structure and training in our society.  I do remember however, that things were not always like this, children seem to have been more respectful of their elders, teachers spent less time with trying to discipline individual students that they seem to be doing now, less teenagers were in trouble with the law or being incarcerated.  What happened?  Who dropped the ball, and why?
As Christian parents and Christian mothers in particular we were given a mandate regarding our children.  It is our responsibility to train our children, (these wonderful gifts) in the way or path they should go, and not to leave them to make uninformed decisions by themselves.

Proverbs 22:6- Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.  Most times parents seem hesitant to discipline or train their children.  However, if we do not train them in the way of the Lord, then the world will train them in the ways of the world.  That sweet baby in your arms now, if left to run wild and without training will someday become something else in the arms of the law.

Training needs to start early in life, but if you did not you can start now, it may be more difficult but it is doable.
Think about you wanting to enter a race, run a marathon or lose weight you train for it- you do not expect to do well or win the race if you do not train.  You cannot expect to be an overcomer if you don’t train your mind and spirit in doing and having faith in the word of God. We cannot expect our children to be well equipped if they are sent out to battle without the correct gear or armor.
When you train for a race: you start with small steps; you may work out for ½ hour then build up to 2 or 3 hours.  You do not just go to the Gym one day a week but may go for 4-5 days a week.  Consistency is key to achieve the results we need.  Not only do you exercise, but you also try to eat healthy, and get adequate rest.  You do not give up until you achieve your goal.  You put all the energy and enthusiasm you can into it.  You believe that if you do what it takes that you will be successful in achieving your goal.  You have faith in yourself.
You do the same thing when you want to Lose weight to fit into your bathing suit, or that new dress etc. or if you are getting married and need to fit into that wedding dress.
God is expecting the same thing when it comes to our children/ his children.  He expects us to train, and to discipline with the same fervor you would if you were trying to accomplish a personal goal.  Let us look at the word Train as an acronym.  Training should involve
Teaching   Relationship- Admonish   Inspire and Nurture

If we turn to Deuteronomy 6:7-9 http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Deu&c=6&t=KJV > we see the intensity with which God intends for us to do this training.  We need to do this at every opportunity we have.  Training should also be by example; we should always demonstrate the things that we teach.  We cannot leave the training or teaching of our children to their teachers, daycare centers, neighbors or friends.  The responsibility is ours. As we teach, build relationships admonish, Inspire and nurture we are building confidence in our children to take their place in the world. We need to take our time to build a good foundation- secure and strong– so incase the walls crumble the foundation will remain strong.

Proverbs 14:1 -Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.  
Training your children is one aspect of building your house, not taking the time to train them is one way to destroy that house.

In His Service,

Vilma