Verses For a Taxing Day

It's been a taxing day.  And I'm not talking W-4's and 1099's.

My girls (3 and 5) are just fighting.  Fighting allergies.  Fighting frustrations.  Fighting each other.  And fighting the plague of impatience that seems to have settled upon our house lately.

If you have (or used to have) little ones, you get how intolerably frustrating the sounds of whining, bickering, and demanding can be.  The incessant "Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom..." echoes through my ears like a fire alarm that won't quit (and whose batteries you hope die out before you smash it to smithereens).

My sleep is constantly disturbed.  The to-do list keeps growing.  The rain won't stop long enough to reprieve our cabin fever.  The noise-level in the home is having a contest with my blood pressure to see which one sky rockets faster. You get the picture?

Needless to say, we all have our moments where we wake up and just think "This is the life I chose and love...but, I just can't quite remember why at this very moment!"

Take a deep breath with me if you can relate.  Exhale.  I don't know about you, but I need a big mid-month dose of PEACE right about now.  I need me a serious gulp of PERSEVERANCE followed by a chaser of HOPE.

Drink up the truth.  Throw it back like a crazy lady who lives in the reckless abandon of a Sovereign Savior who's got this nutty world in the palm of His hand.  Join me in throwing my arms up in the air and letting Christ have the last word on WHY I'm in this time and place and how it makes a difference.

I hope you read the verses in this post and feel soothed, energized, encouraged, and restored.  I hope you remember you are so not alone!  Taxing days come and go.  We may not always get all the sleep we need.  We may not always get the to-do list completed.  But we can always rest knowing He's got it under control.

Maybe you don't have toddlers screaming in your face.  Maybe you have far deeper struggles than you know what to do with.  We've all got taxes to pay for the life that we lead.

But, no matter if you're tackling a laundry pile or a mountain of strife, HE CARES.

I leave you today with this prayer from the book "Calm My Anxious Heart" by Linda Dillow:

God, you know my feelings are going haywire; they scream and shout that this situation is terrible and that there is no hope.  God, I hope in You.  I can't see what You are doing, but I trust that You're working this situation together for good.  Thank You that You have promised to use it to make me more liek Christ.  Thi sis what I want - it just doesn't feel good today.  Give me the strength to focus my eyes on you and not on what I can see.

Boiling Point

Did you know if you place a wooden spoon over a boiling pot, it won't boil over?

I recently had my eyes opened to this simple fact and it has been a game-changer in my kitchen.  I made hardboiled eggs the other day, and sure enough, the bubbles spurted and blurted and I watched as the steam rolled off the top of the pot while the water stayed confined to doing its job:  cooking the eggs.

I don't know how long I have been boiling water all wrong!  Needless to say, a long time.  There have been countless, unnecessary messes all over my stove simply because I didn't take advantage of the resources that were right in front of me the whole time.  Who knew?

Even little helpers need help

As I watched the water boil, I thought how often I allow my own frustrations to surface, spill, and pour out all over into a giant mess when I try to live life unassisted.  I drive myself CRAZY with expectations, obligations, and unpredictable changes that I feel helpless to control.  Then, a friend calls and offers to watch my girls, my husband hugs me and prays for me, or someone just emails me an encouraging note.  And, I'm helped.

And the tensions ease.  My soul returns to calm, my blood pressure drops to normal, and my peace is restored by the touch of an outside helper.  I'm surrounded by wooden spoons, if only I allow them to help.  I have wooden spoons at my arms-length, if only I'm humbled enough to reach out and ask.

Who is your wooden spoon?

It's vital for me to have people in my life that I can call on for the tiniest and largest of reasons.  I mentally seclude myself and the pressure rises, but when I speak openly and ask for help, I'm almost always genuinely refreshed at the willingness and generosity of others to show up in my time of need.

Asking for help also models humility to my children.  I must keep this in mind!  We all need each other.    I hear so many mom-friends offering help to others in various ways, extending themselves beyond reason and spreading themselves thinner than tissue paper.  (I am one of these!)  But, let's remember that we are in a super-amazing time of life that can work as a  beautiful exchange program - helping and asking for help - both of which our children need to be taught.

As life gets crazier (because, who are we kidding? This ship is never slowing down) let's keep reminding each other that we're not in it alone.  No one has it "all together".  None of us are actually pulling this whole parenting thing off without a hitch.  It's difficult and the world doesn't slow down around us when we just want to sit on the couch and fold laundry during nap time.

Today, take a moment to ask for help for something.  Take a moment to offer help to someone.  If nothing else, we are breeding opportunities for gratitude.  That alone, is worth a moment to thank a wooden spoon in your life.

Don't wait until you've reached your boiling point.

Share & Care Contest Winner!

Thank you so, so, so much to everyone who entered the PARDYMAMA Share & Care Contest!  I am amazed at how a fun little contest can bring together SO many people, and I'm excited at reaching out to all of you through this blog!

We have a WINNER!  The ULTIMATE PARDYMAMA CARE PACKAGE goes to:

Congrats, Rebecca!  I have notified you via Facebook message and look forward to shipping the care package off to you soon!  You will enjoy many goodies, such as lotion, coffee, chocolate, a pardymama tumbler, a couple of my favorite books, and a devotional to help encourage you when you run out of that yummy chocolate!  

BUT WAIT....there's MORE!  

This fun contest was SUCH a SUCCESS that I just had to indulge on picking up a couple more items.                                         

There are TWO SURPRISE THANK YOU PACKAGES being awarded today!!!!  

PARDYMAMA had a lot of sharing and caring over the last two weeks, but two people in particular SHARED my blog often, and I want to especially thank them for their support!

Julie and Stephanie, you will each be receiving a pardymama tumbler as well as a leather bound HOPE Journal!  I hope that you feel appreciated and inspired - thank you for your "extra care" these last couple weeks!

HOORAY!  Thanks so much to EVERYONE for helping in the success of the Sharing & Caring Contest!!!

Last Chance!

If you haven't entered the Share & Care Contest yet - today is the day!

This weekend is your final chance to enter to win the ultimate PARDYMAMA CARE PACKAGE!  I've scoured Nashville for some of my new local favorites, I've picked up a few of my most treasured books, and I even made an official pardymama tumbler just for you!

Check it out - here is the final glimpse into the care package that could be shipped to YOU!

There are three easy ways to enter:

1. LIKE my FACEBOOK PAGE if you haven't already. 

(Those of you that have liked it already are automatically entered ONCE! Yay!)

2. SHARE my Facebook page or a link to my blog posts on Facebook.  

(You can do this simply by clicking "SHARE" at the bottom of a post listed on Facebook! New OR old posts!)

3. RETWEET my blog on Twitter.  

(Follow me @pardymama if you aren't already, and just click the RT symbol whenever I tweet out a link to a new post!)

Remember, you have until midnight on Sunday, September 1st to enter.  

Be sure and check back here

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2nd 

to find out who wins!!!!

And, you never know...if enough people enter, I might just have to give away more prizes. Hmmmm.

Share & Care Contest

As you know, here on PARDYMAMA, I'm all about sharing and caring.  I try to live and write transparently, sharing because I care about life and stories and allowing God to take the reigns and utilize the story of my life to show others truth or grace or humor, or who knows what else.

So, now I'm asking you to help me SHARE this writing venture of mine.  HOW?

There are three ways to enter the contest:
From August 15th through September 1st 2013

1. LIKE my FACEBOOK PAGE if you haven't already. 

(Those of you that have liked it already are automatically entered ONCE! Yay!)

2. SHARE my Facebook page or a link to my blog posts on Facebook.  

(You can do this simply by clicking "SHARE" at the bottom of a post listed on Facebook! New OR old posts!)

3. RETWEET my blog on Twitter.  

(Follow me @pardymama if you aren't already, and just click the RT symbol whenever I tweet out a link to a new post!)

AND, you can enter up to THREE TIMES EVERY DAY!!!! This means you could retweet three times, or share on Facebook three times, or mix it up and do a little of both.  However you wanna enter, I'll put your name in the hat up to THREE times each day.  Woohoo!

Each time you enter, you'll get your name placed in a drawing for the 

ULTIMATE PARDYMAMA CARE PACKAGE!

(Aha!  So this is where the "caring" comes in!)

This care package will be bursting with goodies!  Since moving to Nashville, I've stumbled upon some AMAZING local indulgences.  There are some local coffee roasters, a chocolate company, and even a line of lotion that I've fallen in love with.  I'll also be throwing in a few of my favorite books for you to enjoy.  But, I say all this just to tease you a bit, because... 

In the next couple weeks, I'll occasionally be listing an item at the bottom of a new blog post that will be included in the care package!  SO - be on the look out for goodies that might soon be YOURS!

Official WINNER will be announced on 

MONDAY, September 2nd

Time to SHARE and CARE!  Let's do this!