Pesty Problems

Around the back door in our home, small pests have started to intrude. At first, it began slowly, with just one or two ants here and there and maybe a random beetle. But, over time, it has worsened and today we have what looks like a small ant village on the wall inside of our home.  Yes, you read that right, inside our home. The exterminator is coming on Thursday.

Our spiritual lives can be compared to these intruding pests. Are pests eating away at your spiritual life? I know it sounds like an odd comparison, but it can truly be an eye opening one, if you give it some thought.

There are lots of different pests that can eat away at our spiritual lives and will creep ever so slowly into our hearts; the exact place where Jesus is suppose to live and to reign, but somehow the pests are coming in and trying to push Him out.

You see these pests work on your heart slowly, just like the ants that worked on my door. These pests can come in many forms. They can include: distractions, busyness, and negative thinking.

Distractions are a huge part of life.  It could be the telephone, the computer, or the kids; yes, even good things in life can be a distraction to us many times.  Therefore, we often cannot get rid of the distractions. You certainly wouldn’t be likely to get rid of your kids, but you can learn to work around them, even with them. Remember this, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You” Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV)

Busyness is another pest that can eat away at your heart and mind causing you to hurt spiritually. Sometimes even the good things that we do in life can cause us to spend too much time on “other” things and not enough time on the most important thing, our relationship with God. The Bible encourages us to “ seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33 (NIV) So even in the busyness of projects, family and work we should take time to seek Him daily.

Negative thinking is a pest that alludes so many of us. Even with Christ in our hearts, our minds are often swayed by the pests of negative thoughts. God wants us to “be joyful always, pray continually.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17 (NIV) It is important to remember both parts of that. Negative thinking often comes in the form of “worry”.  Many of us assume this is “the way we are”, but the Bible tells us plainly in Scripture that this is not so. We can be joyful always through prayer. Prayer takes away our worries, whereas worrying only invokes fear into our hearts.

Don’t let these pests eat away at your heart and clog your spiritual arteries. Don’t let them push Jesus out of his rightful place on the throne in your heart and life. Call in the exterminator, and have Him make sure those pests are driven away.

Photo Credit: prashanthk

Guest Blogger Alyssa Avant is a Christian speaker, writer and blogger.  She is the owner and trainer at FaithLeaps, a membership training site for those looking to “take the leap of faith into speaking, writing or ministry”.  http://FaithLeaps.com

Spilled Milk

One Wednesday afternoon a few weeks ago, I spilled a cup of milk.  I was bustling along quickly, putting too many items on the small kitchen table, and not thinking or paying attention.  So, a chain of events led to one of my three lidded straw cups of milk carreening to the floor.

Ah, such things do happen, don’t they?  No big deal!  But, it’s amazing how God can speak so clearly through those “little things” that sometimes just happen!

I quickly chided myself for my carelessness and then proceeded to clean up the mess.  But, as I cleaned, the thought occurred to me, “What if that had been one of the kids?  How would I have reacted?”

When I made the mess, I knew my thoughts, intentions, and actions.  I could put them all together and realize that the spill was truly an accident.  If I had just thought about moving the cups – or even been warned to move the cups – and hadn’t done it, then it wouldn’t have been an accident.  But, in this situation, it was an honest to goodness accident.

I don’t often give my children the same consideration.  Many times I lump all of their actions into one big category of intentionality.  If they make a mistake, it’s got to be because they were being disobedient, not paying attention, being overly hyper, or fighting.  So often I forget that sometimes things just happen.  Sometimes it truly is an accident!

Personally I must confess that sometimes I am so thankful to have a Father who knows my thoughts and judges me by my heart instead of my actions (although there are other times when that is a bit frightening!).  Unfortunately, I don’t quite have His skills of reading minds and seeing the intent of the hearts of my children.  Or do I?

In the New Testament God establishes Himself as our Father.  In doing that, He sets Himself up as our perfect standard for parenting.  If He is going to set the standard, then He is definitely going to equip us to do what He has led us to do as parents.

So, short of mind-reading, what tools can we use to truly discern the hearts of our children?

First of all, we can truly pay attention.  Matthew 6:8 tells us that our “Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”  Do we pay that much attention to our children?  Do we know what they need simply by watching them go through life?  Our children need to be able to rely on us to be aware of what’s going on in their little lives.

Secondly, we can be dependable. Romans 4:21 tells us that we can be “fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.” We are supposed to come to our Father like little children, knowing that He will provide our every need without fail, just as He promised the children of Israel.

As parents can our children rely on us in the same way?  If we say we’re going to do something, can they trust us to remember and follow through, or are they required to take it upon themselves to remind us continually as we get distracted by other aspects of life?  We are obviously not perfect and we will falter, but our children need to be able to rely on us to keep our commitments to them.

Finally, we can teach.  Matthew 5:2 introduces the famous Sermon on the Mount by saying that Jesus “opened His mouth and began to teach them.”  We cannot expect our children to have right motives if we don’t teach them.  We can’t expect them to follow God’s principles if we don’t encourage them to be written on their young hearts.  We have to be the teachers.  The best way to teach is to know it ourselves!

Just the other day, my girls and I were exceedingly convicted as we all three sat down to our memory verse of the week.  This verse, chosen years ago by a curriculum writer to be placed in this particular week of home school curriculum fit perfectly and challengingly into our day.  God’s Word is alive and active, and is the only perfect parenting tool available.  We must use it actively!

Needless to say, I’ve been trying to go a little deeper since my spilled mild incident and not simply discipline my children based on their actions .  Will you join me in knowing the hearts and “reading the minds” of our little blessings?

How Have You Painted Your Self-Portrait?

It’s not a mistake that we only see ourselves as a reflection in a mirror. Who we truly are comes from within and not from the outside. If you are feeling in need of a change, maybe today is the day to paint a new self-portrait.

How do most of us gauge our image? We look through the lenses of others. What they see shapes who we are. There is something wrong with that picture for sure.

Remember that we were created in the deepest places; everything we need is already there just waiting to be unleashed. It is the way that God designed us. Let’s think about this for a moment. Everything that we are originates inside of us.

Our brain stores memories from our past. It also stores our learned behaviors like riding a bike or walking. An emotional tag is attached to each of these events. There is no possible way that another human being could have access to those brain imprints.

With that being the case, how can they look at us from the outside and tell us what we should be all about? It’s impossible. What we project comes from who we perceive ourselves to be inside.  If someone doesn’t like that then they are rejecting us.

Rejection is painful, but it is not our pain to bear. The pain belongs to the other person. If they have a problem with what they see in us, there is a problem with their lens. We tend to criticize in others the very traits that we wish we had ourselves or the very thing that we issues with as well. That’s how the green-eyed monster works.

It is true that sometimes we can have character traits that rub people the wrong way. If you are too blunt or too indecisive, people may tend to shy away from you. Someone pointing this out  in a proactive way will do so from a place of love not criticism. They want the best for you so they take the time to help. That is in sharp contrast to someone whose words cut deep when they are supposed to be “doing it for your own good.”

As humans, we were created to grow and evolve. Part of growth is realizing characteristics that we don’t need anymore and getting rid of them. It is okay to reinvent yourself as long as you are doing it for the benefit of you and not someone else.

In life we meet very few authentically genuine people. We are usually suspicious of them because of the masks that we often hide behind ourselves. It is refreshing to know people who are not afraid to be accepting of themselves, flaws and all. They could teach us a thing or two about painting our own self-portrait.

How I Learned to Celebrate My Child’s Individuality and Still Teach Him Limits

Even before my second child began to utter his first words he showed signs of his candid sincerity. I can remember when he was just a wee toddler. He couldn’t even speak but a few words. Still, he was always letting everyone around him know exactly what he thought by imitating them.

When he began to talk, everywhere he went he entertained people because he was so sincere – people loved to hear what was the next thing that would come out of his mouth. On the other hand while it was “funny” at times this “tell it like it is” attitude began to get out of hand.

An Embarrassing Elevator Ride

Needless to say- when he began talking he would say the most embarrassing things to total strangers. One day we were all in the elevator with one of our neighbors (we live in an 18 story building). This neighbor was completely drunk and acting strange. My little 3 year old looked up at him then looked at me with his indignant look on his face and asked: “Do crazy people live in our building? I didn’t know we had crazy neighbors”

Trying to avoid an argument with my drunk neighbor I frantically began talking about some other totally different thing while hoping he hadn’t understood what my 3 year old had just said.

Episodes like these have been a daily occurrence in our lives.  No matter how many times I explained things to him he would blurt out what was on his mind. I tried everything possible for him to understand that he needed to think before talking but he just couldn’t comprehend.

Was this Characteristic Truly Negative or Could I see this as Something Positive?

While talking things out with a friend of mine, the Lord used her to ask me. “Eren – have you ever thought that maybe this aspect of his personality is what makes him unique?”
She also told me that she knew where he got his sincerity from. When I asked her- where he got it from, she said- “He got it from you!”.

I have to admit that I’ve always been the type to tell it like it is. But most of the time I have discernment to know how to “word” what I want to say without offending anyone. (I try to do it nicely.) My son on the other hand would just blurt things out without filtering anything.

A Change in Perspective on How I Saw My Child

But still, I began to see that I needed to acknowledge this aspect of my child’s personality as something the Lord put in him.  That’s what makes him unique and different. The Lord knit every little aspect of my son. Every part of him was projected by our awesome God as we find in Psalm 139:13-14:

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (NIV)

For the first time I began to see this whole situation in another light. This change of perspective helped me to change the way I saw parenting my son. I thank the Lord for my unique son. Just like a snowflake each kid has something special, just their own.

Instead of being annoyed by it I began to see this as him being sincere. Of course I try to teach him to tone it down and use good judgment so it doesn’t sound rude. He will need the social skill of knowing how to express himself to as an adult.

Are There Traits in Your Children that You Find Irritating?

If there are think of them for a moment. Write a list of them down and take it to the Lord in prayer. Ask Him how you can see this in a different light and help your child grow and change what needs to be changed.

Talk it over

After you’ve have done this, the best thing to do is to talk to them about their best attributes and how they can make them better. Not only do I “put the foot down” by establishing limits but I also explain why those limits are there. My son has improved a lot because of the talks that I’ve had with him and mostly because of my change of perspective.

When we hear other people acknowledge who we are it gives us a higher sense of self awareness and self esteem.  By talking things out it with our kids it gives them a chance to ponder who they are and establish their true identity. They usually need help with respecting limits and realizing that there are consequences in real life for not honoring them. Help them understand that they can be themselves while respecting limits at the same time.

Eren Mckay loves to help others with spiritual growth and achieving Christian contentment. She’s a WAHM to 3 boys and encourages and provides resources for families at her website Embracing Home.

Walk Your Path

Not too long ago, I was living someone else’s life.

In 2006 I had an epiphany and started the process of embracing my unique and rare ways. I started to see the path that I was supposed to walk down. However, I could not see how to climb out of the pit I was thrown in and chose to stay in most of my life. That is when I went to God. You see I still did not believe in myself enough to know that God had given me all I need to succeed in my destiny. I still did not see my worth in Christ.

What I did, though, was take my mustard sized faith, throw my hands up and tell God to mold me and make me because I had no idea how to do it. I was in the midst of a battle with myself and the enemy was my main cheerleader; telling me to just give it up. I was a mess. I contemplated and tried suicide, gave up ministry, and even had a nervous breakdown. This was all because I did not understand my worth. I did not see my uniqueness or believe that there was a creature as rare as me.

Throwing my hands up was all I had left to do.  Only God could help me. And He did.

During my two year transition period, I watched God perform miracle after miracle in my life. Even through my not so happy marriage; through my depressed state of being; through even my anger at Him, God still worked the miracles because I had thrown my hands ups in expectation that He would do something.

As each miracle occurred, I climbed closer and closer to the top of the ladder. The difference those times was that when I began to slip, because I exercised my faith, God’s grip would not let me fall back into the pit I was thrown into and chose to stay in for 34 years. I witnessed myself change before my very eyes and one day I looked in the mirror at a unique and rare creature made by God’s hands.

That day I cried because I knew I was finally changed. I had accepted my path, embraced my destiny! And all I did was throw my hands up.

If you are a woman who knows your path, then this may have just been confirmation for you or encouragement to keep walking it.

However, this message was specific to the woman who is seeking. The woman who still thinks that she is not worth much to God. The one who just cannot believe in herself. To that woman let me say….

You are a unique and rare creation with a powerful life to live. Who knew that you were born for such a time as this!

Walk your path, my sister!

Intentional Parenting

As a pastor’s family, we have to be a little creative on Wednesdays. Having dinner together and being able to spend a few minutes as a family each evening are both very important to us. Wednesdays just don’t lend themselves naturally to either one. So, we put a little effort into it. When I meal-plan, I schedule a one-dish meal for Wednesdays – usually something I can make on Saturday, freeze, and then allow to cook for a couple of hours Wednesday afternoon while we finish school. Then we put the dish in a casserole carrier, head to church, and eat as a family sitting around Doug’s desk. He doesn’t have to try to get away from church early enough to eat at home and then get back for his evening duties, and we don’t have to miss our family meal – or time with him!

Not every family is a pastor’s family. Not every pastor’s family has this freedom. The key, though, is not the activity we have chosen – the key is the intentionality of being a family.

Our society today pulls us in so many different directions. In our household we share one vehicle and homeschool, so we are limited in the “tugs” we can respond to. But, even so, there are many tugs that could keep us from holding fast to what we consider to be important to us as a family. Even at church, we are pulled into so many directions that we rarely do church as a family – and that’s not just because Doug is the pastor. We look around and see many other families who are in the same situation.

Scripture reminds us over and over again to be diligent to teach our children and raise them up in the ways of the Lord. It’s really tough when we don’t regularly come together as a family, intentionally worshipping and learning together. So, what’s the answer? Create a time when you regularly come together as a family to grow together in the Lord. Oh, and keep in mind that growing together in the Lord is not a religious or church-related activity. It should be a part of your everyday life!

Here are some suggestions to accomplish this (feel free to mix, match, and add your own!)…

· Choose one church service and make sure the whole family worships and sits together. Find a time to come back together after that service and talk about what you experienced or learned. If you have younger children who are in the nursery or children’s church, include them by teaching them something from the service.

· Have a daily meal together. Even if it means sitting down in the morning for breakfast together instead of everyone grabbing a Pop Tart as they’re running around!

· Have a weekly family night. Games, eating out, fondue, projects, puzzles – there’s no end to the options! My one recommendation would be to keep movies a limited treat. The point of this is to encourage interaction, and movies distract from that if used too frequently.

· This one will seem counterproductive because it’s exclusive, but have weekly “mom and dad” time. Even if that means missing your family meal for that day. Let the kids know that Mom and Dad’s relationship comes first, and let them see that it’s a priority for you. Even if young kids are sent to bed a little early one night a week and don’t see you having your “mom and dad” time, make sure they know that you’re going to have it. Verbalize it, and teach them how important it is.

· Learn something together. My oldest daughter is curious this week about what the inside of a television looks like and how it works. So, we’re going to explore that as a family.

· Minister together. There are so many ways you can do this! I know of families who spend Thanksgiving Day in homeless shelters preparing a good meal. There are missions programs to support in prayer and giving as a family. There’s a neighbor’s yard to clean, a young woman’s kids to keep one day, a church activity to do together.

The key is, do things together regularly. Be a family. Fight back against the tugs of this world. If you have little ones, start now so that is natural to them. If you have older kids, pray hard that they will respond because it won’t be an easy transition. But do it. And see your family growing together in the Lord!

Nice to Meet You!

Nearly eight years ago my husband and I welcomed our first child into the world.  I knew it was going to be life-changing.  I knew it was going to be a learning adventure.  What I didn’t realize was just how much God would teach me about Himself, myself, and growing in Him through the very act of parenting!  I am no expert on parenting – in fact, I’m far from it!  But, I cannot hold in what He teaches me.  He has given me a passion to share those lessons, so here I am!

Just to let you know a little about myself…I am a homeschooling pastor’s wife mom of three.  I dabble in other things like selling Mary Kay, creating digital crafts, sewing, and reading in my  “spare time,” but most of that “spare time” tends to be devoted to my most recent passion – blogging.  I blog about my family, general thoughts, and daily challenges that the Lord lays on my heart.  I am so excited to add Parenting By Grace to the list, and I hope and pray that God uses what I’m able to share to encourage you – and that He uses your comments to continue to challenge, grow, and encourage me.

As you dive into this journey with  me, you’re going to “hear” a lot about four very special people.  I’d like to start this column by introducing those four to you.  Hopefully this little glimpse into their personalities will help you get to know them a little bit, even as you and I are getting to know each other.

First I must introduce you to Doug, my amazing husband of ten years.  We have a bit of a crazy story which often leads us to say that we had an arranged marriage.  We had barely acknowledged our “dating” relationship before we realized that God had told each of us that we were to marry the other.  We matter of factly looked at each other and said, “Well, if this is what God’s telling us to do, then let’s do it!”  We definitely loved each other, but our decision to marry was based on following in obedience, not on that love we shared.  That attitude has been carried on through our marriage.  When we are following Christ in obedience, our marriage is the strongest.  Have we always done it?  No.  But, we’re learning, and we truly love learning together!

Doug is a truly amazing man.  He loves and puts up with me, which is quite the accomplishment.  He is passionate about missions and about lighting spiritual fires under other people.  Although he is quite the introvert, he has greatly learned over the years of our marriage how much he needs other people.  That has been beautiful to watch.  And to top it all of, he’s an incredible cook!  Now, what could be better than that?

Olivia is our firstborn.  I must say, she was the perfect baby!  I was so spoiled by her, thinking I had this parenting thing all figured out.  Don’t worry – the Lord straightened me out!  As Olivia grew I realized something – she was not like me.  That realization was a hard one, and I have been struggling and praying through it for years.  First of all, our sweet child has been a social butterfly since day one.  Doug and I are both introverts.  We love our friends, but we do struggle with large social gatherings.  Olivia is never happier than when she’s surrounded by people.  Olivia is also very artistic and creative.  I’m logical and tend to be a bit of a “boxed-in” thinker.  Olivia is a tactile person – she  must touch everything.  I am visual.  If I see it, I’m fine.  Needless to say, raising Olivia has been an eye-opener for me, and I have learned so much about acknowledging that my way is not the way.

Angela is our five-and-a-half year-old middle child.  Angela was as difficult of a baby as Olivia was easy.  Doug and I wondered if we would truly ever survive her childhood!  Fortunately, by the time she was 10-12 months old, she finally decided that sleep was a good thing and that eating was not a continual thing.  As her personality has developed, we have discovered that she’s very intelligent and quite witty.  She frequently has us rolling in laughter, but she also makes me a little nervous.  As a homeschooling mom, I pray regularly that God will grant me the ability to keep up with her academically.  We call her our little priss-pot because she is so very girly and prissy.  It’s almost torture for her to wear anything other than a dress or skirt!  One of the most interesting things about her is her magnetic personality.  Despite the fact that she, unlike Olivia, tends to be socially challenged, people have been irrestistably drawn to her.  Total strangers can hardly resist commenting on her radiating personality!

Steven is our baby.  Yes, at two and a half he is the spoiled only boy in the family.  Steven’s personality was a shock to me.  I never dreamed boys could be so different from the moment of birth!  He is quite the mama’s boy, but is definitely all boy (even with the fact that he loves Hello Kitty and princesses right alongside his big sisters!).  Although many aspects of his personality are still unexplored at this age, we can already see his tendency to lead and be strong.  He has no qualms about letting people know what he wants and then jumping right in to make sure he gets it!

So, welcome to our life.  I look forward to getting to know you, too!

Organizing the Hallway Closet

Well hello! So this is my very first post here on Women by Grace – can I just say I love this website?! What a great place for all women to go and find encouragement to be all that God created them to be. I am so excited to be a regular contributor here and to be apart of the Women by Grace website.

First I would like to introduce myself, my name is Heather and I am a Christian Stay at Home Homeschooling Mom of three beautiful children, and I am also married to the love of my life, Shaun. I love blogging and doing web design in my spare time. As a mother of three I have learned that an organized house is an efficient house. Just ask my husband, I am all about being efficient.

Efficient: Acting or producing effectively with a minimum of waste, expense, or unnecessary effort.

As a wife, mom, teacher, and online business owner I need to be able to accomplish my household tasks in the least amount of time possible so I can have time for what really matters – spending time and developing meaningful relationships with those around me. Being organized helps me achieve this goal by keeping things in order and in it’s place.

One of my greatest pet peeves is searching for something that is not in the right place. I’m not a fan of clutter – although after you see the pictures I am going to share with you in the coming weeks you may begin to question this – even if I don’t like clutter it sure seems to have it’s way of creeping into my house.

I believe that my role as a Christian Stay at Home Mom is to keep my house in order and make it enjoyable to live in for my family. I truly believe an efficient home is a happy home.

So this week we are going to tackle the Hallway Closet – or the coat closet.

Now I will admit it’s taking a lot of courage for me to show you the before pictures. I just can’t believe how cluttered and messy the hallway closet was, and it had been like that for years. When we moved into our house about 6 years ago we just never got around to organizing the hallway closet, and it really just got worse from there. All of the sudden it turned into the catch all closet of miscellaneous things we never EVER use!

Here are the before and after pictures:

Before (ack!):

After (ahh!):

I don’t know, is it just me or do pictures make messy hallway closets look worse than they do in real life? After I took the before picture I was SHOCKED at how bad the closet actually looked. I honestly didn’t think it looked THAT bad.

So now my new thing before I start organizing a room I take a picture of the room so I can really see where the clutter is building up. Sometimes when we look at something on a daily basis it doesn’t look so bad, but when we take a picture of it we get a new perspective of the room.

Here are some tips to organizing your hallway closet in about 30 minutes or less!:

• Grab two bags – 1 for trash and one for Goodwill.
• Put all the coats, clothes, and any other items you don’t use or that don’t fit anymore into the Goodwill bag.
• Throw away all the empty boxes, and trash that you can’t donate to Goodwill and that you don’t use anymore. I can’t even tell you how many shoe boxes were just hanging around the top of my closet. If you plan to use the shoe boxes to store items around the house then implement them RIGHT AWAY, if you can’t – throw them away.
• My Little Green Bin – If you look at the after picture you will notice my cute little green bin. I bought this at Target for $7.99 and I now use it to store items like gloves, scarves, etc.. It really is a handy little bin and it is reasonably priced.
• Hangers – Take all the empty hangers out of the hallway closet and hang them up in the laundry room.

It’s amazing how little time, effort, and money it took to organize the hallway closet, not to mention I did find a few things I plan to sell on craigslist!

Organizing your house can truly be a blessing, sometimes we just need to stop procrastinating and just get it done. Committing to 30 minutes a week to organizing a specific room or corner of the house can truly pay off.

Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for your provision in this world and giving me a home to take care of and live in. Lord help me to stop procrastinating and do the tasks required by me as a homemaker with love and joy. Help me to have the heart of a servant in everything I do. Help me to keep my priorities and heart straight, it can be tough at times to juggle them all in the correct order. Thank you for your love, guidance, and your grace. I pray this all in your might son Jesus’ name – Amen!

I hope you will check back with us next Tuesday for more tips on organizing your home.

Audience of One

Women have a rough time trying not to please.  Many work hard at not doing it, but somehow they fall into the trap of pleasing the masses.

When we focus on pleasing others we miss out on so much in life. Many of us give up our dreams and some even stop hoping. We are on shaky ground when we walk out our lives pleasing the masses. Why do we try to please the masses? Because we are seeking acceptance, we are seeking love, we are seeking to be liked, we are seeking to be seen or heard. So many reasons but still we are seeking.

You can’t seek first the Kingdom of man. The Word clearly states in Matthew 6:33 that you must seek first the Kingdom of God and then, only then, will all other things be added unto you.

There is no one who can tell you what to do other than G-O-D! He is your authority on all things and he has the final word.

It makes no difference if it is you man, your child, your momma or your boss, if you live to please man and not God, your foundation is just not right. When you please man you may risk disconnecting yourself from what God says when he says that He is the alpha and the omega the beginning and the end.

My sister you only need to play to an audience of one. In the end you only answer to Him. Even those you live to please will be on their knees.

Do you play to and audience of one or many?
What keeps you from playing to God and God alone?
Do you think you cna remedy this?

What do you expect?

What do you expect your government to do for you?

I have never expected them to see to it that I have a job…or health care benefits…or to loan me money when I need it.

I’ll admit there was a financially tough time in my life when I used the “WIC” program. While I appreciated it for a short time, never once did I EXPECT  government to take care of me.  When we qualified for a FHA mortgage and took advantage of it, we never EXPECTED government to have such a program. Whenever I needed a job, I got out there and found one! If my husband lost his job today, we would not EXPECT government to reimburse him, or to “find” him another job!

Let’s blow the cobwebs off our brains for a minute: Way back in American History class, didn’t we learn what our government’s job is? Didn’t we learn that what we should expect from our elected officials in Washington is to keep our borders and our liberties safe,  and to empower each state to exercise it’s own right to govern it’s own people? That’s what it is.

So where did this new ideology come from? You know, the one that some Americans are demanding today: That government “better do something” to fix the unemployment rate; or that they want government to provide our health care benefits? Our Constitution never said that was their job!

Pursuing the “American Dream” is what’s brought millions of immigrants to America since the days of Columbus. We want to work the job of our choice. We want to make as much money as we can;  And we want to spend and invest it as we see fit.  We want to invent things. We want to run our own businesses. We want to choose the education best for our own children.  These are the liberties we expect our government to protect, and not to interfere with!

How do we combat that mentality? Can we admit that government acting like a big “sugar daddy to the rescue” is not best for our country in the long run? 

Sure. Take a look at how they’ve handled our Social Security money (they’ve squandered it all away) Or, consider how good they’re  managing our public schools  (add up the amount of money they dump into each one, and compare it to the graduation rates and levels of illeratacy in America.) How then, could you trust them to find you a job? Or provide your health care?

Do you really want government involved so intimately in your life? I sure don’t!

~Sandra

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