Back in January, I went to a Beth Moore Conference with some of my favorite girls….
The girls in my family all participated in Beth Moore’s Siesta Sisters Memory Team. We memorized two verses every month all during the year. And…in January, Beth (yes, we’re on a first name basis…wait until you see the next pic) invites us all to go to Houston for a day of digging in the word! We had a BLAST. It was such a fun girl’s weekend! Do you guys remember this?? We were all so excited to take our picture with Beth and…
Yes, I couldn’t believe it! The lady taking the picture cropped me RIGHT OUT!! hahahahaha!! I’m 1/4 showing on the left side, middle row. I still laugh out loud every time I see this picture!
(As I’m typing this post, Ebby Lee stopped playing to look. I showed her the above picture and she asked, “Why did T-Nonnie not scoot over for you?”. hahahaha!!)
Anyway, so during the conference I really felt like God was teaching me something. When we got in the car, every single one of us said something they really learned or got from the weekend. I love that! No matter what the speaker says…each person is hearing exactly what God is trying to teach them.
So when Shay and I got back from dotMom I told myself that I HAD to blog about what I’d learned. Hopefully, someone reading can get some encouragement from something I learned during the conference. Today for my “Tuesday’s Top Three” I’m sharing the Top Three things I learned at dotMom!
This statement probably stuck with me more than anything else the entire weekend. I have a tendency to think or worry about not doing enough. “Is what I’m doing REALLY impacting the kingdom?”…I can’t even tell you how much I’ve wondered if I’m doing enough. I don’t really know what in my head would be considered “enough” but it was SO encouraging to be reminded that our ministry starts at home. My main focus should be on teaching the love of Jesus to my own children. I should have a great attitude about serving others OR folding our laundry. My kiddos should witness me living out Colossians 3:23, “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.”. I’m NOT saying we only need to be focused on ourselves or our own homes. Please don’t think I’m saying that, but it all starts at home. It was really refreshing to be reminded that it all begins inside my house.
This isn’t a crazy profound statement, but again…it’s just great to be reminded about things. When we parent out of love, our kiddos get the best of us. You guys! Parenting is tough. There are days when you’re tired, you’re running late, the older kiddos are fighting, and your younger one has a blow-out RIGHT as you’re walking out the door. UGH!! It’s just a good reminder that in the middle of the moments, we should be parenting out of LOVE rather than any other raw emotion.
Matthew 11:28-29 says, “Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
I’m not sure exactly which speaker said this, but I couldn’t forget it. I don’t think she meant that no matter what he calls us to do, we will love and not be uncomfortable. ha! I think she (I’m 99% sure a girl said it) meant that when God calls us to do something we might be SUPER uncomfortable (odds are that we will) when we first begin the journey. But if we continue to listen and obey God, we’ll find the most amazing amount of peace (because we listened and obeyed) and we’ll love the fact that we’re following His will. Does that make sense?
I wrote four pages of notes, so it was hard to choose three things that really stuck out to me. I tried to choose three things that might apply to the majority of us. I went to a breakout session all about boys! It was fantastic!! The speaker, David Thomas, wrote the book, “Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys”. That book is on my must-read list! If you have boys, I highly recommend checking that out.
We also heard a husband and wife speak about marriage. They said some amazing things! They talked about unspoken expectations, unmet expectations, and unrealistic expectations. A quick story about unrealistic expectations….Tab is NOT super big on gifts and that just happens to be my love language. (Let me say that it’s taken me 9 years of marriage to get to this point! ha!) But I used to expect Tab to get me great gifts…nothing crazy expensive just something that showed he really thought about me. I’ve finally realized that in order for him to meet any gift expectations, I pretty much need to send him a link. It was just an unrealistic expectation and now that I’ve realized that I do things differently. We’re both happy!
A couple other books I added to my list…Jennie Allen’s “Restless”, Rebekah Lysons, “Freefall to Fly”, and Angie Smith’s “Chasing God”.
Happy Tuesday, Girls!!
I absolutely LOVED reading this post Erika! All great truths that most ladies need to be reminded of often! Love you friend!
Thanks girl!!
What great things to remember! I wrote them down and put them next to my computer. 🙂 love you, friend!
Hope they come in handy! 🙂
I loved reason. This Erika!!!!!
Thanks Kimm!!
I know what you're saying about the gift expectations! Now I skip the part about sending the link and I just order it myself and wait for the ups man to bring it to me. Lol.
Exactly!!! Now everyone's happy right?
Love these quotes. Thank you so much for sharing. I agree, each person hears what God wants them to hear. I needed these today.
Isn't that amazing? How everyone hears exactly what they need to?! Thanks so much!
I love this, Erika! Such good tips!
Thanks Audra!!
I heard David Thomas at dot mom last year and immediately ordered his book. Such great insight into the hearts and minds of boys! Really has helped me as I parent my boys through each phase of their childhood.
Great post, Erika! Enjoyed it and agree wholeheartedly:)