Category: Blogs

Stay The Course, Mama

Stay The Course, Mama

Posted on by Jackie Smith Bell
Being a mom is an amazing gift. But the responsibility of shepherding your child’s heart through the confusion of this world can be hard.
 
In today’s cultural environment, it’s easy for motherhood to be reduced to a label, or a natural lifestyle. But if you asked five moms to tell you one attribute about motherhood, at least three of them would say, “motherhood is hard.” For most moms, motherhood is a (daily) look at love through exhausted eyes.
 
On this episode, my friend Keli Reese and I are discussing the importance of connecting with the Word of God, and staying the course through the hard seasons of motherhood.
 

Highlights from Today’s Episode:

  • Parenting is God’s unfinished work
  •  How to forgive yourself and your children.
  • The difference between Godly sorrow and guilt.
  • Creating time and space to commune with the Word of God in parenting, and the importance of a good support system on your journey of motherhood.

Quotes:

  • “The best way to point your children to God is to follow Him, and as your children watch you, they see God.” ~ Keli Reese
  • “When your purpose meets your passion, that’s the place where God wants you to be.”~ Keli Reese
  • ” Hard seasons of parenting may seem to overtake  you, but God never stops His rescue attempts to guide you with His everlasting love.” ~ Jackie Smith-Bell
  • “Faith is unseen, but we’re saying I need to hold on to it while you move it, and God is saying, I need you to let go of it, so I can expose it to you.”~ Jackie Smith-Bell

Resources From Today’s Show:

God Has The Capacity To Show Up when you can’t

God Has The Capacity To Show Up when you can’t

Posted on by Jackie Smith Bell

How comforting it is to know that my limitations, don’t limit God. 

As a wife, mother, sister, and friend, I’d like to show up and be present in everyone’s life, but I can’t.

Stretching myself beyond my limits, brings barriers between my joy and my peace.

At 51, I realize, I am not a stranger to myself… I know when I’ve reached my end.

  • I know when my body craves rest.
  • I know when my mind is mentally worn out.
  • I know when my sanity “deliberately” presses     pause.

However, when I can’t proceed any further, I’m grateful that God has the capacity to continue.

Ephesians 3:14-16 declares that God’s  resources are unlimited: “When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in Heaven and on earth. I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit.

Friends, God shows up where we can’t. He goes where we’ve stopped. He leads us when we’ve  lost our way. He loves us without looking, and He provides for us when our resources have run out.

God’s resources are unlimited. His strength is perfectly suited– for our (repetitive) moments of weakness. 

Dear Sister, where have you bumped into your door of “I can’t go any further?” Where do you need God to continue? Do you need Him to reset your peace, or reignite your joy?

Whatever your needs are, God longs to lavish you with your desires, you just have to invite Him into the cramped space of your struggles, and allow Him to enlarge His control.

Today, if you’ve reached the point of your end, I pray that you open your heart to God’s unlimited resources, and rest in the capacity of His strength.

Grow well

When Pigs Fly

When Pigs Fly

Posted on by Jackie Smith Bell

When Pigs Fly… We’ve all heard the phrase, “When pigs fly.” It’s the response that you give when something unlikely, or impossible is said.

Yesterday, I purchased this pig with wings, and placed it on my desk. I did this, to remind myself to continue in prayer for my impossible things. Also, I wanted to remind myself that my faith doesn’t function on beliefs (alone) my faith partners with the diligence of my work.

When was the last time you worked side by side with your faith and believed God for the impossible?

Faith is our unseen possibilities and it shows up for work– even when the evidence calls in sick. 

James 2:26 says, “Faith, without the outward workings of tangible evidence, is just as dead as a body without a spirit.” 

What impossible prayers of faith are you praying and hoping that God will move on ? 

Faith does more than moves mountains… Faith moves God (Hebrews 11:6). 

Friends, when our faith connects with God’s power, impossible things are made possible.

Today, I pray that you activate your faith by working hand and hand with God and believe that He will answer your unlikely and impossible prayers.

Work while you pray.

Grow well

ALWAYS, Mother

ALWAYS, Mother

Posted on by Jackie Smith Bell

Here we are just days away from Mother’s Day, and my emotions are wrecked! This is my “first” Mother’s Day without my mom and my soul feels fragmented, heavy, and excluded, because my mother is no longer here.

On March 27, 2019, my mother transitioned to her Heavenly home. And every since that day, I’ve avoided Mother’s Day— as if it were the plague! 

For weeks, now, I’ve excluded my interaction with florist, shopping malls, and jewelry stores. At grocery stores, I detour through cereal aisles, because I want to steer clear of the dred that comes with ,being near, the greeting card section! My mother loved cards —- and the mere glance at all of those expressions of love and devotion, seems to sabotage my happy and causes my tears to race down my face!

Y’all, I so miss my sweet mother! She was the epitome of everything I could ever hope to be. One of her best character references was her ability to adapt and overcome. She protected the framework of her sanity by relying on God’s strength during her moments of weakness. So after dwelling in all of my messy emotions, I’ve decided to take back the happy part of Mother’s Day… and honor the “always” part that Mother’s Day embodies. 

Mothers are the fabric of our lives. They are a intricate source of our existence and should “always” be honored and loved; whether they reside on earth or abide in Heaven.