Saying Sorry

By Heather Allen –

Today was a rough day.  My response was irritation.  I answered my children’s arguments in sharp staccatos.  I expected them to be grateful and quiet.  That did not happen, so I escaped to the backyard with my blanket and Bible.  I mentally numbered their transgressions.  When I searched for the right verse, to put things in perspective, I was deeply disappointed to find Proverbs 12:16. Read more

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream

By Teresa G. Lusk –

“Shut the door! Give her back her toy! I told you to stop playing and to sit down!” These are all common screams our children often receive from their parents. Yes, even Christian parents. Read more

Goodbye Bunny Sweater

By Jane Thornton –

Easter Sunday – the day I finally get to stop wearing brown and dark green and bring out the pastels. I know I age myself by following that custom; my daughter has been wearing flip-flops for weeks. This year, though, I rummaged through the closet with a more undefined goal than usual.

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The Melting Pot – Preparing to live as a blended family

By Teresa Lusk –

Before adding your loved ones into the melting pot of a blended family, consider the following suggestions: Boundaries and expectations of how your blended family will work should be established. Even biological families struggle to get along, so don’t expect a new step-parent/child relationship to be successful immediately.

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Reflections

By Rachael Sales –

As the mother of eight children, six of which I naturally birthed, I am always interested in hearing the testimonies of the birthing room experience. As an avid supporter and participant of supernatural child birthing, it never ceases to amaze me how God births life in and through the very creation that He birthed and that He paid the price on Calvary for it to be painless.  There is nothing more beautiful (after experiencing new birth in Christ) than watching a child take its first breath on this side of it all. For this reason, I count it a privilege and a joy to gather the stories of wives and mothers, and provide a platform for them to be heard. Amidst the piles of laundry, the late night feedings and the little bumps and bruises, their voices cry out declaring that God is both able and willing to keep. Consider the following snippet of the labor room experience from wife and mother Stephanie Givhan:

The day that I gave birth, I remember calling Trish on the way to the hospital. She kept asking if it hurt yet. I’d be saying, No, it doesn’t. Her response was, “Okay we’ll see after those pains start hitting you.”  What an encouragement from the one that had birthed me.  Throughout the labor process I never experienced the pain that she’d spoken of. It was simply a matter of remaining calm and commanding my body through the Word of God.. I was going through the contractions painlessly and battling in my own mind why it wasn’t hurting. Throughout the process, it was second nature to me to just trust my husband, to hear his words and receive his coaching. In my mind I just couldn’t conceive of Reagan speaking as the head of my home at such a critical time and my response being, I don’t wanna hear that!  No his directions were exactly what I needed to hear in that moment. Why would it be any other way or how could it be any other way? I don’t understand women who shut their husbands’ voices out at such a critical time as birthing. My husband would be saying to me, “Body, you line up with the Word of God. Stephanie, subdue your body. Body you line up. Subdue it. Subdue it. Stephanie Relax. That is a command. Hear my voice.” And I did exactly what he said, with no resistance to it. What I learned about birthing is that whatever is in you is what comes out. All those stories that I hear of women cursing folks out in the labor room is just a result of this. It was already in them to do that. I knew that respect and admiration of my husband was in me, so when the pressure of labor was on, that’s what poured out of me.
Miss Jireh Ayana Givhan was birthed in a loving household at just the right time and in the right way.

This article was an excerpt from my forthcoming book, Birthing Nations. It was printed with the permission of Mrs. Stephanie Givhan, a loving mother of three and business owner.

Submitted by Rachael Sales,
Wife, Mother, Educator and Author
www.healingwatersonline.org

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