Poem - Take Timeout

My daughter, Amanda

Lord, help me take timeout in my busy day,

Remembering my kids also want me to play.

They want a mommy, who can laugh and run,

Because all they know is how to have fun.

To them their world is not about cooking and cleaning.

For them it’s all about climbing and swinging.

Help me remember what it is to be a child once more

And set aside tasks to take them out the front door.

By Christina Morley

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Working Moms – Part 4 of 4

Interestingly, the Proverbs 31 woman was not suppressed by the male-dominated culture. In those days, it was expected of most women to care solely for their homes. They seldom had equal opportunities and most of them were uneducated. Sadly, it’s still like this today in many countries and cultures around the world.

This woman described in Proverbs 31, however, was someone with authority. She had the freedom to make her own business decisions and to earn her own money. Nowhere in the passage does it mention that her husband controlled her affairs. He doesn’t even seem to be threatened by her business savvy. Instead, he seems to have had full confidence in her decisions and even praised her for her accomplishments.

She seems to have been her own boss, which would have allowed her to choose her own hours. Perhaps, when her children were small, she didn’t have so much time on her hands to pursue being an entrepreneur. During this time, she might have acquired or developed skills that later became useful in business ventures.

Sometimes even hobbies become careers. Endeavor to put your energy into those things that give you fulfillment, and God will bless you. Never underestimate the potential that God has placed in you. Give yourself permission to be the unique you that He made you to be, and watch Him put it all together.

No matter the job, business, or career, we must never make money our priority. We cannot serve both money and God because our hearts will follow after one master or the other. That doesn’t mean that we can’t pray and ask God to give us success in our work, but if money becomes the issue, then it will have control over us. If we live for the pursuit of money, we will rob ourselves of living joy-filled lives.

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Working Moms – Part 3 of 4

Sometimes you may be doing what God has called you to do, but you continue to feel unfulfilled. When my first two were still in diapers and I was their primary caregiver, I knew that I was in the center of God’s will, but it was a constant struggle. Regularly I felt as if I was dying a hundred deaths. Those are the times when we must learn how to draw strength from God.

Perhaps you feel that your efforts are going unnoticed. Maybe you’re wondering why you even bother. Give yourself a break once in a while. Reward yourself for those “thankless” jobs. Go and have some fun… make a memory… be creative.

One thing that I want to make clear is that God never intended women to be suppressed in the home. There’s much more to moms than cooking, cleaning, changing diapers, and so forth. Those jobs in themselves can take up all of one’s day. For me, it felt as if I was one of those pet hamsters running endlessly in a suspended wheel.

The good news is that God created moms to use their different gifts and talents as much as everyone else. In the Bible, there were a number of women who had jobs and who were leaders. Some even supported Jesus and His disciples financially. Most of these women were probably mothers, but they were also involved in the world around them.

One of the best examples of an all-round woman is the famous woman of Proverbs 31. It’s possible that she wasn’t a real person, but rather a representation of an ideal woman. Whoever she might have been, I didn’t always like her. She was too perfect and seemingly able to accomplish everything with superhuman strength. I thought, “How could the rest of us women ever hope to live up to her standard?”

I figured that, of course, her husband must have adored her. Who wouldn’t want a wife that could do everything? Yet, if you look closely you will notice that she didn’t achieve everything single-handedly. At times, she actually had others working with her. Actually, we all could accomplish much more if we had people helping us like she did. Not only can we accomplish more, but we can feel energized knowing that not everything rests on our shoulders alone.

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Working Moms – Part 2 of 4

I chose to be a stay-at-home mom while my kids were small. I knew it was the best I could do for them, but I didn’t enjoy being bound to the house. Some mothers may feel fulfilled in their role as stay-at-home moms. But, what if, like me, you have also chosen to be a stay-at-home mom but feel unfulfilled? What if you desire to be doing more than just housework? In order to keep some variety in my life, I tried different things, such as working from home to bring in a little extra money.

Choosing to stay at home to raise your children is not an easy task, especially when they are small and you still have to do everything for them. From babyhood to toddlerhood they are completely dependent upon you. There’s nothing they can do that doesn’t require some help or monitoring.

If you’re feeling stuck, then maybe it’s time you redefined yourself. With God there is infinite creativity. He can give you an idea that requires you to think outside of the box. Try to discover what you like to do and where God wants to use you.

If you work away from home and hate every minute of it, perhaps it’s for the wrong reason. Is it because you have placed more faith in that pay check than in God? He knows that you need clothes and food, but He asks you to seek His kingdom first, and then all these things will be given to you (Luke 12:22-31). God’s kingdom principles will never fail you or your family.

Linking up with Brooke @ Covered in Grace

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The Blood – Part 3 of 3

The blood makes us acceptable to Father God. Every time we take communion, we remember the blood of Jesus and the price He paid. The wine, or juice if you prefer, represents His blood and the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus taught that whenever the believers shared a meal together, they were to partake of this communion. For the early church, it was a regular occurrence presented in a natural way.

I’m concerned that church traditions of today have stifled this privilege by over-spiritualizing and over-restricting when and how we should partake of communion. We must be careful that our sole purpose for keeping church regulations is not to offend those who implement them. God is not so easily offended. What offends God is when we step away from worshiping Him in Spirit and in truth.

I believe that children are also meant to take part. Children born to a believing parent are under that parent’s spiritual covering. A child’s participation can be even more whole-hearted than our own. Jesus said that we should let the little children come to Him. He also said that the only way to receive the kingdom of God was like a child (Mark 10:13-15). We can learn about untainted faith from a child. In light of this, we need to be careful that our church rules don’t limit the children in expressing their faith.

Through Jesus’ blood, we become part of God’s family. Jesus is the firstborn, which makes Him our big brother. We might not look the same and we might not talk the same, but our redemption through Christ’s blood is the same. We are, therefore, all of the same stock. God has sealed us and set us apart by His Spirit.

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The Blood – Part 2 of 3

My daughter, Jessica, as a small child

Several years ago, my girls were having bad dreams. I thought it was strange since we were still praying the same way we did every night, but now those prayers no longer seemed effective. Soon after, my husband and I discovered some satanic paraphernalia just outside our property.

It was strung-out cassette tape which looked harmless, but we had learned previously that Satanists record curses on them. After they record their curses, they pull the tape out, twine it around brush or fencing, or secure it under rocks. This “weapon” is very unassuming and, therefore, easily overlooked. In our case, these strips of tape were placed on opposite sides of our neighborhood road. They were probably not specifically intended for us, but they were a problem.

I took my authority in Jesus Christ and dealt with it. I took oil in my hands and then prayed in Jesus’ name for the curses to be broken. I picked the stuff up and threw it away with the rest of our trash. I also replaced the curses with blessings while sprinkling the area with olive oil. Then I applied oil to our outside walls, windows, and doors for God’s protection. From then on the girls slept peacefully, and the oppression stopped.

We lived on a corner property, and the area where the tape had been placed was an accident-prone zone. Visibility for motorists turning left or right was poor because of low-growing tree branches obstructing the view. The same morning I removed the tape, my husband prayed that the municipality would come and cut the excess foliage away. Amazingly, they arrived that afternoon. There were no more road accidents at that spot while we lived there.

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Poem – In His Care

I cannot be everywhere all the time,

But for God there are no limitations.

So, I trust my children in His care

That He may be in all their situations.

I ask the Lord to send His angels

To minister, guard, and protect.

Daily praying for my children,

I know that He will not forget.

By Christina Morley

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Poem: Who’s Praying for the Children?

Lord, who’s praying for the children
When they’re lost and alone
And their houses are too sorry to be called a home
When they’re growing up and their parents aren’t there
And the children soon wonder if they even care


Lord, who’s praying for the teens
When they’re not at home
And they’re running around, lost on their own
When they’re pushing drugs and doing crime
And you wonder why parents never had time


Lord, who’s praying for the adults
When they start their own home
And now their children are left alone
When the parents are struggling and wondering why
Things haven’t changed, they pass on the lie


By Christina Morley

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Prayer is Powerful – Part 5 of 5

In my previous post, I asked how often do we pray for those who are following Christ? We might think that since they are already saved by God’s grace, we should place the focus of our prayers on non-believers. Let’s take a look at the Apostle Paul’s prayer life.

In Paul’s letters to the churches, we see that he prayed night and day for his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Likewise, he asked them to pray for him. He knew that they were together in a spiritual battle and that prayer would help them stand firm in the faith.

There are lots of believers that we can pray for. Usually, it helps to pray for those we know personally. We should especially remember to pray for married couples and their children. Satan targets the family unit, making married life and parenting even harder than it already is. He knows that if he can get at the families, he can reach the societies and destroy the nations. The nations, however, are our inheritance in Christ. So, when we pray for our nation or other nations, we should remember that any healthy nation is built on healthy families.

We should also be praying for pastors, missionaries, evangelists, and teachers even if we don’t know them personally. We can also pray for Christians in government, courts of law, politics, the arts, and sportsmen and women.

We are also instructed in the Word of God to pray for our leaders, the godly and the ungodly alike (1Tim. 2:1&2). God is the one who puts people in authority. Even if we don’t like our leaders, we should still pray for them and show them honor. Even when freedom of speech is regarded as one of our basic rights, that doesn’t mean that God gives us the freedom to say whatever we like. We need to check our attitudes and keep our hearts and minds pure from wanting to see the demise of those with whom we disagree.

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Prayer is Powerful – Part 3 of 5

My husband and I have made it a habit of praying every morning with the kids, either before leaving the house or once we’re all in the car together. We also pray every night for each child, sometimes while they’re still awake or when they’re already sleeping. Part of our prayers includes asking God to give them good dreams.

When I was a small child, I remember many times waking up from nightmares. As I grew older, those nightmares became less frequent. As an adult, I almost forgot they ever existed, but one day they suddenly came back.

I began to notice that there was a pattern for when I had a good night or a bad night. It seemed that the night before I had to lead a youth group or Sunday school class, a nightmare would strike. The dreams would be so graphic and gruesome that I realized they couldn’t be from my own imagination.

I tried praying scripture promises from David’s psalms concerning peaceful sleep. I also anointed every room with oil, but nothing I did seemed to work. Finally, I tried another tactic. It was so simple that I was surprised to find that it worked. All I did was pray that God would put His angels around our home to protect our sleep. I continued to pray that prayer every night, and from then on the nightmares stopped.

Now, every morning and evening we ask God to place His angels around our family. It might sound tiresome to follow such a routine. I know that after a while I had to make peace with it. We never question the need to brush our teeth every day to keep cavities away. The experts say that twice a day is better than once. It’s the same with prayer. My husband and I have seen such an improvement as a result of praying preventative prayers that we’ve chosen to make it a lifestyle.

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Thankful in Times of Opposition – Part 4 of 4

God wants to use us to influence society if we’re willing to stand up and join the ranks. Our great purpose in life is not only to care for our families. We were not placed here on earth only to preserve our own little kingdoms. He wants to use us to see His kingdom come on earth in every area of life, as it is in heaven.

It’s easy for us to recognize that there is a lot of work to be done. The vast global needs can feel overwhelming. The opportunities and possibilities are endless. Do what God has called you to do, and He will work through others to do the rest. Much can be achieved by one faithful servant of Christ, but even more can be accomplished through unity. We need each other’s gifts, talents, and personalities working together and complementing one another. Where there is unity in the body of believers, God has said He will command a blessing.

The best place to begin is by making a difference in our own families. Imagine what our nations would be like if we raised spiritually mature children who loved obeying God. Raising a spiritually healthy next generation is the first step and probably the most crucial step in bringing valuable change. We need more Christians with high morals in areas like government, politics, television, education, the arts, and missions.

We were chosen for such a time as this. We can be thankful that God has a master plan for our lives and that it’s not meant to be boring. We can be thankful for the life experiences we’ve had that prepare us for our specific callings. This is not the time to hide who we are. Instead, this is the time to let our potential shine. Remember, if God is for us, who can be against us?

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Thankful in Times of Drudgery – Part 5 of 5

After everything the Israelites had gone through with God, they still missed out. They were stuck with old mindsets and refused to be reprogrammed. That entire first generation never made it into the Promised Land, except for the two scouts that had come back with a good report. God rewarded the two faithful scouts for having the right attitude. Those that were complaining, however, only got more misery.

Sadly, that generation had toiled their whole lives long, but had nothing to show for all their hard work. The end of their lives was as sad as the beginning. Sure, God had given them a few victories along the way, but they died without enjoying their inheritance. The Israelites never completely entered into His rest because they misunderstood what it was about. They thought it was just another one of God’s rules so they missed connecting with His heart.

Fortunately, it’s never too late to have a change of mind. The fact that they didn’t believe they could make the total transition into Kingdom thinking doesn’t mean that you can’t. So, even though we are no longer living under the Law, the Sabbath day is still a valuable part of our faith. We need a day off in the week to refuel and to stay connected with Him. However, if you have little children, they don’t miraculously become self-sufficient one day of the week so that you can just rest. They remain a full-time job. But we can choose to slow down and let go of all the other tasks clamoring for our attention.

His desire is to see us living out of His rest every day. We can achieve this by living from a place of peace rather than from a frantic frenzy. We do this when we give our cares over to Him and trust Him in every situation of our lives. We don’t have to strive in our own strength any longer.

God’s plan was that entering His rest would be a lifestyle. As you nurture a vibrant relationship in Christ, and live out of His rest, you’ll have all you need to thrive.

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Thankful in Times of Drudgery – Part 3 of 5

Besides being on the same diet for forty years, the Israelites also had to follow the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. God required that at any time, day or night, if the pillar moved they had to move. Imagine how much work it took to pack up and move a nation of people with their tents and animals at a moment’s notice. What fun that must have been!

God had a reason for this. He was teaching them obedience and dependence. He wanted His children to keep their eyes on Him. Otherwise, they would have forgotten about Him long before and gone their own way.

Aren’t we the same? When things are going well, we forget to pray, but when troubles strike, we pray. Then when we do pray, we try to force His hand to fix things our way. That’s because human nature doesn’t really like submitting to God’s way. His way often seems to be the harder way. At least He cares more about us becoming like Christ than we do, so He doesn’t give in to our little tantrums.

The Israelites had a forty-year sentence. God mercifully numbered the lifespan of the first generation so that the next generation could enter the Promised Land. Sadly, the second generation didn’t learn from their parents’ mistakes. The time spent in the desert was meant to prepare them for a supernaturally blessed future, but they were slow learners.

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Thankful in Times of Drudgery – Part 1 of 5

Mother's Day 2008

Do you often feel weighed down, even overwhelmed, by the nitty-gritty of daily life? Does it sometimes seem as if there is nothing you can do to make the job of motherhood any better? Maybe you’re even ready to throw in the towel?

For those of you who are new to this blog, I’ve been following the lives of the Israelites in the time of Moses, mainly their time in the desert as they journeyed to the Promised Land. Life out in the desert wasn’t much fun. There were no shopping malls, no TVs, and no books or magazines to read. Life went on, and there were daily chores to be done. Of course, a few miracles and a few curses broke the monotony every now and again.

Forty years was a long time to be wandering. It was, of course, meant to be a punishment for the unbelief of the parents. Their children, however, had to go with them through this experience. There must have been hundreds of days that felt like drudgery to them. My few years spent stuck at home caring for a family felt something like that to me. Minutes dragged into hours and hours into days.

I spent most of my time trying to make the kids happy, preparing the meals, and cleaning the house. The down-side was that it was never-ending. It was a constant cycle of kids, meals, house, kids, meals, house, kids, meals, house, and on it went. There was little variety and a lot of work.

On my poetry blog Consider the Lilies, I have posted a poem for Mother's Day called "Gifted, Talented Woman." Here is one stanza from the poem: Without women there would be no children to see - There would be no you and also no me - No different cultures, no different faces, - No different colors and no different races...

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Thankful in Times of Sacrifice – Part 3 of 5


One thing that my husband and I gave up soon after we were married was the TV. We realized that it was a big temptation for us simply to watch whatever was on even if there was nothing worth watching. We realized that we weren’t allowing God to talk to us concerning our free time, so we decided to get rid of the TV.

It wasn’t always easy living without a TV. We had to retrain ourselves on how to get along without it, but the sacrifice paid off as it ceased to be a driving force in our lives. Once we felt we had learned our lesson, we gradually reintroduced TV viewing into our home. Now we carefully choose what we watch and when to watch. My husband even learned that the remote control doesn’t belong to him, and that he could give up watching sports if it was stealing his time with the family.

I’m a firm believer in monitoring what my children spend their time watching, because all shows and movies teach a message. I believe it’s the devil’s ploy to degrade the human race, and he targets our young people because whatever they think about themselves now will often follow them into adulthood. You see, God says we are created in His image (Gen. 1:26). Of course, the devil hates the image of God, and so he’s trying to destroy it in any way he can.

I want my kids raised on the good stuff and not the bad because it influences their values and their attitudes. Just because a cartoon is aimed at children doesn’t mean that its content is good for children. In some cartoons which depict distorted and disfigured human characters there’s a disregard for the sanctity of human life. Values are distorted, and then we wonder why our kids are so negative and struggle with low self-esteem.

We need to be sensitive to what our kids are watching and have discussions about what they are learning. Sometimes my kids are not allowed to watch programs and movies that their friends are watching, but I try to avoid making them feel worse off for it. In some cases the restrictions were lifted once they were older. Whenever I’ve had to put my foot down, I’ve always explained to them why.

It’s important to have alternatives for our children. Over the years we’ve accumulated an extensive collection of children’s videos and DVDs. I want my kids to embrace our values so they can make good choices for themselves when I’m not there to monitor them. I know it’s working because once in a while they eagerly share how they make right choices when I’m not there. If they do break my rules when I’m not around, then it’s on their conscience instead of mine.

You can read my blog post When to Say "Yes" or "No" to TV Programs for more on this topic.

In the above photo, Amanda (at age 1) is watching a Disney Baby Einstein DVD.

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Discovering Your Potential - Part 2 of 5

Too many women wish they had different hair, or eyes of a different color, or different gifts and talents. Wishing we were something or someone else only cripples our potential and our joy. Some even think that they’re not a bit talented or gifted. Actually, we’re all talented and gifted, but in different ways and to different degrees. We bring God glory when we embrace the unique way that He made each of us.

We are like life coaches, but we can’t coach our kids about discovering their identities if we don’t know our own. Therefore, we need to be thankful and honest about ourselves and not pretend to be someone we’re not. By modeling this we will help our children confidently get to know who they are. Peer pressure doesn’t have to get the better of them if we create an atmosphere that strengthens their self-esteem.

The best part is that whatever we’re born with doesn’t just end there. There’s more for us because there’s much more in Christ. It’s good to note our weaknesses, but if we spend time trying only to improve our weaknesses then we may forget about our strengths. This can have a bad effect on our self-esteem, to the point where we finally just give up on ourselves. We need to keep our focus on God and His potential not on our own abilities or seeming lack thereof. Even our strengths can be our greatest weaknesses when they are not properly harnessed. We just need to stay available and teachable, and God will do the rest.

I recommend that you read my post about my son and youngest daughter in "Eye Color Conversation."

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Finding Balance - Part 2 of 3

When God designed us, He had a vision and purpose for our lives beyond that of caregiver. God made us unique individuals for a reason. He didn’t label us “Childbearing Females,” throw us all into one great big category marked “Homemaker” and leave us there. Yet, we easily get stuck and lost in the complexities of raising a family.

It’s easy to get sucked up into the whirlwind of working and raising kids only to get spat out at the other end as living zombies. We can go through the motions so that people think we’re still alive, but nothing is left of us inside. No one will ask us to stop slaving either. The fact is that most husbands and children don’t naturally want to help around the house. They like their comfort zones, and we too easily take up the slack, wanting to please everyone.

Actually, this cheats our families of having well-rounded mothers who teach their children how to live in the real world. If we do everything for them, they will not be empowered to live a healthy life. They will also miss the opportunity of getting to know their moms, not for what they do, but for who they are.

(I took this photo in 2010 of my daughter, Jessica, helping in the kitchen.)

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