Boundaries, Parenting and ADHD

EXCELLENT article that I read today showing that ADHD is not an issue in the country of France like it is here in the US.  What?  ADHD is not a disorder that we are born with?  In America, we treat ADHD with medication because it is a medical issue but in France, they have a SMALL percentage of people who deal with this disorder. Maybe we need to look at other factors that are the real cause of ADHD like diet and good old fashion manners.

My mother was European and many of these principles discussed here were part of my upbringing. The challenge came when the children were introduced to an outside group where "other kids" got to do things differently.  I have seen this in my own children as well.  We raised our children with many of the same "boundaries" mentioned in the article and having so many different people in our lives over the years, we have experienced MANY people who just didn't have "boundaries" for their children.

Example, as I child, children were rarely allowed to sit on the furniture in the living room, even during a party.  IF we were sitting there, nicely and an adult came into the room, we were expected, WITHOUT QUESTION, to get up and give up our chair.  We were allowed to sit on the floor IF we were to be in the room.  NEVER did I see children running in the house, jumping on the couches, helping themselves to and walking around with food.  This was just not allowed at my house or at my aunts and uncles, or my parent's friend's houses.  It was UNHEARD of in my circles.  Boundaries were in place.

Some American parents need some classes to learn parenting skills.  I am stunned when I go to malls, theme parks, fairs, movies and see how children and youth act.  It's because they haven't had parents who did their parenting.  Sometimes children just need to learn self-control and parents are the teachers.

Junk food was also something that was RARE in my home growing up.  I remember 3 times having sodas in the home before the age of 16.  Hot dogs we had maybe once a year.  Chips were for the top of casseroles, not for snacking and as for snacking, we had fruit as a choice.  I don't ever remember my mother buying sugared cereals as we had hot cereal to choose from and possibly some corn flakes or bran cereal.  Again, parents need to parent and not just feed children whatever they want.

Bedtime was another "rule" I grew up with.  I am amazed with how many young parents today let their children stay up until they crash on the floor or where ever for that matter.  Children need to sleep but parents have to require bedtimes.  On rare occasions I get it, but every night?  Kiddos are on social media sites well after midnight on school nights.  UNHEARD of to be up messing around at that time of night in my childhood.  There were boundaries.

There are some kids who are hyper, I get it, it's called being a kid. They may need more love, an extra hug and some structure.  It is tiring to teach children 24 hours a day but the rewards are worth it as they grow up.  Invest in your children when they are young.  Take the time to parent and see what boundaries accomplish.

Angels Unaware

Take a minute and listen to this miraculous clip. It will build your faith and get you stirred up with how BIG our God really is!

God has NEED of us to DO the will of the Father. That's right...he NEEDS us to activate His Word. He searches over thousands looking for one! He is alert and active and watches over HIS Word to perform it. He wants to hear US declaring HIS verdict, His plan, His purposes. How many times do we just "watch" when we should pray, declare, intercede, command, request, petition, well, you get the idea.

Totally blessed by this testimony of what our God can do. In light of our nation and it's ills, maybe we ALL should begin to take our "place on the wall" and PRAY for heaven to meet earth and change our world.

Blessings warriors! Be encouraged and LIFT UP YOUR EYES, for our help comes from the Lord!

Billy Graham Sounding an Alarm!

A friend posted this and I wanted to share it here as well! THESE ARE THE DAYS THE PROPHETS HAVE LONGED FOR! We have been chosen to be alive in these INCREDIBLE TIMES! MARANATHA!

BILLY GRAHAM SOUNDS ALARM FOR 2ND COMING
Famed evangelist sees signs 'converging now for the 1st time'. Just as Noah did in ancient times, world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham is sounding the alarm that the Second Coming is “near” and signs of the end of the age are converging now for the first time since Jesus told of these events in Matthew 24.

Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the United Nations General Assembly “biblical prophecies are being realized.”

When you see up is down and right is wrong, when this is happening, we were told this: that these days would be as the days of Noah.

In an exclusive email interview with WND, Graham, 94, who is giving what may be his last message to the world as part of the My Hope America with Billy Graham evangelistic outreach in early November, said the world is “coming toward the end of the age.”

“There’s a great deal to say in the Bible about the signs we’re to watch for and when these signs all converge at one place we can be sure that we’re close to the end of the age,” Graham wrote. “And those signs, in my judgment, are converging now for the first time since Jesus said these things in Matthew 24.

Graham said he now has a burden for “sounding the alarm for humanity to repent and turn from their sin … just as Noah did in ancient days.”

“God keeps his promises, and this is why we can be sure that the return of Christ is near,” Graham said. “Scripture tells us that there will be signs pointing toward the return of the Lord. I believe all these signs are evident today.”

The evangelistic outreach and book come as a number of major evangelists – Graham, his son Franklin Graham, Reinhard Bonnke, Greg Laurie, Luis Palau, Banning Liebscher and others – are turning their attention toward America in the hope of helping ignite what Graham calls an end-times “great spiritual awakening.”

In what the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association describes as the largest outreach in its six-decade history, Graham will give a dynamic and poignant pre-recorded message the week of Nov. 7, his 95th birthday. The My Hope programs will be available for viewing online and on YouTube. The Cross, the primary program in the My Hope series, will be broadcast on the Fox News channel, TBN, Christian networks and local television stations in a number of cities.

The event follows an open letter Graham released in the summer of 2012 titled “My Heart Aches for America.”

In the letter, Graham wondered what his late wife, Ruth, would think of a nation in which “self-centered indulgence, pride and a lack of shame over sin are now emblems of the American lifestyle.”

Graham compared America to the ancient city of Nineveh, the lone superpower of its time. When the prophet Jonah finally traveled to Nineveh and proclaimed God’s warning, the people repented and escaped judgment, Graham wrote, adding he believes the same thing could happen today.

The end-times warnings by Graham, and others come amid a series of events in recent years that have prompted many to ask whether the countdown to Armageddon has begun.

The events include the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the global recession and more recently what some view as an increase in purported end-times signs, including super-earthquakes, mega-tsunamis and gargantuan storms and tornadoes.

“We’re looking at things like the possibility of another global economic meltdown,” said McGuire, an author of 22 prophecy books, including “The Day the Dollar Died” and the upcoming “A Prophecy of the Future of America.”

“Consider the earthquake warnings, the potential volcanic eruption of Yellowstone, the Japanese tsunamis and the radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster traveling across the ocean and contaminating the food supply here on the West Coast, along with massive tornadoes the size of which we’ve never seen in human history,” he said.

McGuire said government and scientific experts are also expressing concerns about the potential of a massive West Coast tsunami, increased solar flare activity and severe climate change.

“The dramatic and unprecedented planetary climate change is something on the level of the apocalyptic predictions of the Bible,” McGuire said. “We’re on the verge right now, because of climate change, of massive food and water shortages, which could affect tens of millions of people worldwide because of the droughts that have occurred. The intense heat and water shortages have dried up the crops, and we are going to see that play out in the near future because of all the freak weather.

Against this apocalyptic backdrop, prominent faith leaders such as Graham, Greg Laurie, Cahn and John Hagee say they are witnessing an unparalleled acceleration in last-days signs that suggest the Second Coming is fast approaching.

Hagee, pastor of Cornerstone Church and author of the newly-released book “Four Blood Moons,” told his 22,000-member congregation recently that the appearance of four blood moons on Jewish holy days between April 2014 and October 2015 points to a “world-shaking event” that could signify the beginning of events leading up to the seven-year Great Tribulation.

God is using the heavens to announce things to come, says Pastor John Hagee.

“I believe that the heavens are God’s billboard – that he has been sending signals to planet Earth and we just haven’t been picking them up,” Hagee told his San Antonio, Texas, congregation. “Today, with the help of God’s word and some very astute scientists, I’m going to walk you through 500 years (of four blood moons on Jewish feast days) and show you how God is literally screaming at the world: ‘I am coming soon.’”

The phenomenon, a rare combination of lunar and solar eclipses, has only occurred a few times in the last 500 years – 1492, 1948 and 1967. It will happen again in 2014-15.

The previous dates correspond with the Jews’ expulsion from Spain and Christopher Columbus’ discovery of America (a sanctuary for the Jewish people), the creation of Israel, the Six-Day War and what Hagee and other Bible prophecy scholars
believe could be the Middle East “War of Gog and Magog” predicted by the prophet Ezekiel 2,700 years ago. This war, according to Bible prophecy scholars, involves an attack on Israel by a coalition of nations led by Russia and Iran.

“The Bible speaks of signs in the heavens that have been discovered and recorded by NASA that you yourself can find on Google on the Internet,” Hagee told his church. “The coming four blood moons point to a world-shaking event that will happen between April 2014 and October 2015. What does it mean? What is the prophetic significance? Is this the end of the age?

Today, Franklin Graham, the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said there is an urgency and sense “that the Lord Jesus could be returning soon.”

“The Bible gives us warning signs,” he said. “Jesus told his disciples the things people should be looking for, and I believe all the prophecies that have to take place for Jesus to return have been fulfilled.”

One of the big prophecies was the rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948.

It’s a time, Billy Graham wrote in “The Reason for My Hope: Salvation,” to take the news of the day in one hand and the Bible in the other and watch the unfolding of the great drama of the ages come together.

“This is an exciting and thrilling time to be alive,” wrote Graham, a man who has preached to more people – 2.2 billion – than any Protestant in history and who has appeared on Gallup’s list of the most admired men in the world 56 times since 1955, more than any other individual in the world.

“I would not want to live in any other period,” he said.

“The Apocalypse (the unveiling of the end times) speaks powerfully of trouble ahead with storm warnings that carrying a booming jolt of truth. The warning is clear: prepare to meet thy God – followed by the voice of the gentle Shepherd – ‘Come.’”

A new world is coming, Graham wrote. The paradise that humanity lost in the Garden of Eden will be regained. Christ is coming to conquer evil and establish his perfect rule over all creation

“But until then God wants to give everyone an opportunity to know Christ through repentance and faith,” Graham wrote. “Regardless of what society says, we can’t go on much longer in the sea of immorality without judgment coming. We are at a crossroads, and there are profound moral issues at stake. It is time to return to biblical truth.”

the Exchange

Dripping with Honey!

I have walked with the Lord since I was 7...that adds up to over 40 years now and I have never backed away from my relationship with the King.  I was changed, forever changed, in my bedroom with my sister when she introduced me to Jesus as MY personal savior and I will never be the same again.  He also became my Lord that day as well.  Forever changing the course of my life.

With the ebbs-and-flow of life, people come-and-go, relationships change, feelings get hurt, relationships fail, new relationship start and we all experience the cycle-of-life as we walk out our days here on this planet.  Life is full of change.  Some good, some not-so-good.  Change none-the-less.

About 3 years ago my life was about to take on a change, a "shift" as James Goll calls it.  I was SO ready for it yet again, with all change, there are things we are prepared for and things we are not prepared to deal with.  Being the adventurer that I am, I usually LOVE change, especially when I am the one controlling it!

At this time in my life, I found myself seeing that God was calling me to a new church.  This can be a very difficult thing and yet a very wonderful thing all at the same time.  It reminds me of having a baby (which I have done a few times).  There is a new life bringing hope, joy, excitement and then there is also the needs that come with this life; more wash, meals, details and things to do.  Adding to the new dimension, the new bundle brings to the family dynamics change, the lack of sleep, the discomfort of healing from birth and you have a very interesting scenario.  This was where I was at. Full of excitement, hope, direction and yet tired, weary, maybe even a bit beaten-up.

Kerri was one of the first people at the new church that God introduced me to.  He brought her across my path in the very first weeks of us being there, for me personally, I am totally convinced. She was ministering to me by the bucketfuls even though I don't even think she was aware of the saturation that was happening in my soul just being near her.  See, the Glory of the Lord just dripped off her, like honey from a honeycomb. She just oozed with the love and compassion and the TRUTH of Jesus as she loved me in my brokenness.  I was like a "sticker" grabbing onto her "sock" in a farmer's field; a field of harvest. A beautiful field full of abundance, unknowns, and yes, even thistles and weeds.

Kerri shares a beautiful testimony of deliverance here in this clip called an exchange.  Don't just watch this video but deal with the "hurts" or "issues" that will surface in you as you watch it.  God is wanting to show you the truth regarding some things that happened in your life too, IF you will take a minute to ask Him the questions that she will ask.

BTW - she is a pastor's kid so it is interesting to me that even a child who grew up in a "ministry" home (free of worldly garbage), where parents were really trying to get it right, the devil would find a way to get in to plant seeds to try to destroy her.  All of us deal with seeds in our heart.  All of us.

I can so relate to her testimony as the failed parent.  How many times did I, in my fear, cause a wound or open a door to my children for corrupt seeds to be planted?  Father forgive me and may my children forgive me as well please! In Jesus' Name I ask,  Amen.

Enjoy the clip!