H.A.L.T Mothers!

In Colossians 3:23-24 says, “Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men, knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord.  You serve the Lord Christ.” When you are worn down, exhausted, unbalanced, working too much, and do not have a  foundation around you to share your life, you cannot do anything enthusiastically for the Lord.  I have listened to Charles Stanley for many years and he has an acronym he uses often.  H.A.L.T.  The acronym stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired. If you are Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired - stop or “halt” what you are doing and take care of the need. This is definaitely true for all people, but I want to speak to the Mothers because this week was my Moms’ birthday!  Did I do that apostrophe right?  I mean both my Moms because my Mom is an identical twin and me and my sister and “sister-cousins” were loved so much by both of them. I have several employees and friends that have school age children, babies and/or teenagers at home and they work a full time job outside of the home.   I have friends that are work at home Moms, and I have friends that are single moms.  You are pouring love into your families, friends, colleagues and even pets.  ;) First, hear this...you are doing an amazing job.  No really...you are doing an amazing job. I didn’t say “except when you”, or “all but that one time.”  You are in God’s image and God says you are good.   Back to the acronym.   H - Hungry Okay, my husband loves food and when he is hungry he truly is the definition of HANGRY.  We do need to care for our bodies and make sure we are ready for the day.  However this does not just mean food.  Your soul needs nourishment.  Sometimes when you are feeling empty and weak, like a piece of tissue paper that is so fragile it could tear at any moment, your soul is hungry for God’s word.  Jesus said in John 6:42,”I am the bread that came down from heaven.”  Your soul needs His nourishment.  Just like you can become malnourished if you are putting the wrong foods in your body, your soul will become malnourished if you are not guarding your heart and feeding it God’s word.  You are what you eat your soul becomes what you feed it also.  You will have hunger pains of fear and worry when you are not building your foundation on Christ.  In Proverbs 31 -God is speaking about a virtuous woman.  He says, “Strength and honor are her clothing, and she can laugh at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom and loving instruction is on her tongue.”  Proverbs 31; 25-26. If you are feeding your soul you will laugh at the times to come.  Your crazy 2 year old acts like she is a teenager already - you laugh.  Your teenager is acting like a 2 year old - you laugh.  Your husband had lost his mind - you laugh.  You have peace that passes understanding baby, don’t you worry about a thing! ‬ A - Angry Things are going to happen in this life.  I promise you.  The perfect image of your husband/wife, job, children, family, friends, parents will break because they involve people, and people are not perfect.  Broken marriages, wayward children, estranged parents, stressful jobs, crazy families, broken relationships of any kind can create so much anger that it turns the heart ice cold.  I have been in leadership for 15+ years and at any given time I have employees that have confided in me horrific things that are going on in their life.  I have had horrific things going on in my life, but had to keep going.  At the same time, our Facebook pages, Instagrams, Snapchats, Twitter, and LinkedIn says....#blessed.  Anger and bitterness is like a weed in the body.  It grows and spread and shows up in every part of your life.  We must deal with our anger.  That often involves forgiveness.  In Colossians 3:13 it says, “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”  I know this can feel almost impossible, but with God you can forgive anything.  Sometimes you may need the Christian counsel from others.  Regardless, take care of yourself and your heart.  Never let it turn ice cold and get scarred up from “hurts”.  Let God repair it and keep putting yourself out there.  People are worth the pain and sharing God’s love always repairs an angry heart.   L - Lonely This one is hard for me because I have honestly not felt lonely very often.  I have a big family with lots of support.  However, I do have people I love more than life itself that has felt overwhelmingly lonely.  In fact, many people with tons of friends and family struggle with feeling lonely because they hide their struggles from the people that love them most.  Addictions to alcohol, pornography, drugs, bad relationships, and mental illness is surely too bad to share. What about disappointing a loved one or admitting that you tried something and ...failed.  NOOOOO!   I have always had a reputation of being innovative and creative, but that is because of my Mom.  My Mom is a failure.  Guess what, so am I! Did I actually just type that? hahaha.  Let me clarify before I have to go pick a switch from a tree outside.  Some of you know what that means.  My Mom loved change.  It was nothing to come home and the house would be completely switched around.  She loves to do crafts, sew, cook, whatever she thought was fun, she would try it.  She really is unbelievably talented, but that is because she would try and fail a million times and just laugh at the mistakes.   The way she taught me to cook, was to buy boxed items, heat them up, put them on a nice dish and double bag the boxes.  Most importantly, take the trash to the trash bin to hide the evidence!  We did not have to be perfect.  We just had to try and learn from our mistakes.  We get mad because she posts candid pictures of us where we did not get in our best pose, on our best side, but she loves these pics because they are real and real is the best.  If you are lonely, first know you have Jesus and He is always enough.  He can fill that void.  He says, now get ready to be blessed with this one... “Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there. If I live at the eastern horizon or settle at the western limits, even there Your hand will lead me; Your right hand will hold on to me.”  ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139:7-10‬ ‭HCSB‬‬. Not only that, when Jesus rose from the dead he sent us a “helper” which is the Holy Spirit. You have the power that rose Jesus from the dead in you!!!!  If that doesn’t excite you, you need a pacemaker.  C’mon!  Second, pray God will send you a Christian friend that you can tell anything to and they won’t judge you, they will love you.  Not only that, they will love you enough to speak truth to you.  Even if you don’t take the Christian counsel, they will STILL love you and keep standing by you.  God will do that for you.  David asked for this very thing in Psalms.  He loves you, so trust Him. Last but not least...

T - Tired  What Mother is not tired.  I love my sweet precious Danielle, but when she was little she did NOT SLEEP EVER.  She had to be held at all times and was spoiled rotten.  We used to pat her on the back until she fell asleep and the instant I would remove my hand she would wake up.  We actually put a tissue box, a rubber glove hand filled with flour,  a stuffed animal, whatever we could think of on her back so she would think we had not removed our hand from her back so she would sleep.  I was in nursing school and worked full time and Jeff was in college also and worked a full time and part time job.  You guys, we were so flipping tired.  Like zombie tired.  Moms, trust me, I know that you are thinking, but you just don’t know.  YES I DO.   Danielle NEVER threw up in the toilet from the time she was 0-10!  NEVER and I swore we must have had an exorcism when she had the stomach flu.  One time I spilled gasoline all over the basement and my house smelled so bad of gas I was afraid it was going to kill the whole family.  Katie was 3 months old and Cassidy was 2.  I hit one of those gas containers in the garage when I parked.  I called the fire department and they felt it was an emergency and came to the house in FULL FIRE TRUCK GARB.  When they got there, my basset hound who had an abscess on his back, I adopted him that way because you know...I am a nurse, suddenly started whelping because the abscess busted open and started bleeding!  By the way, all this time the groceries I had just bought were still in the car.  The firemen wrapped up the dog and put it in the car, changed my babies diaper and put her in the car while I took Cassidy to the potty for the 47th time because she was potty training.  I then put her in the car and we went to the vet.  By the way, they also stayed and cleaned up the gasoline!  On that very day, I found Diana Zimmerman, my very own Mary Poppins at the vet.  I swear that is true!  God sent me her and I will always be thankful. I don’t know how people Mom without God!  Where do you get your strength!! These two verses stayed on my heart: “but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭40:31‬ “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:28-30‬ You guys, lets soar like Eagles!  Let’s take the supernatural power from the Holy Spirit and not grow weary!  I am going to end with this.  Moms it is okay to say no.  Your children, your husband, and whatever is your passion is too important to dilute your life with things that will not lead to an abundant life.  Please don’t misunderstand, I do think God calls us to volunteer our life in our churches and in our schools, but ladies, just because you are good at so many things, doesn’t mean that everyone has to use you.  You do not have to do what the PTO lead, head coach, principal, teacher, boss, whomever asks you to do!  Everything in your life is about sacrifices.  Every minute is important.  When you are saying yes to everyone, you are saying no to your family and passion inadvertently!  Every choice has consequences.  One of my daughters coaches constantly demanded mandatory volunteering and yes guys we should help, but don’t ever lose your balance because you are not in control of your time and someone else is driving your life.  You can love that coach and still say no, and even if they don’t like you, the fruit you will continue to bear in other places of your life will be worth it. FOCUS! When I say fruit, I mean the results/outcomes of your life work and purpose. Trees bear fruit, what does the fruit on your tree look like?  YOU choose where you spend your time so you can live a life of purpose!   I love you guys!   Have a great week!! Crystal