Top 25 Faith Blogs By Moms: 8 of 8

Why I Started Blogging

I first started blogging to document my weight loss. After teaching myself the ins and outs of blogging I stumbled onto some Godly women that really inspired me in parenting, marriage, and homemaking through their blogging. I felt the Lord nudging me to document my daily walk and struggles. After about two months of praying I came up with a name and started writing about my daily walk with God  and struggles through marriage, parenting and homemaking.

How Faith Inspires How I Raise My Children

My faith inspires everything in raising my (3) boys. We follow the teachings of Jesus Christ through the Bible. We believe in steeling a God center relationship with our children helps them to have a good foundation to fight the battles that exist in our world today. We stay in the bible to see what God says about how we live so we in steel seeking God first in helping them with decision making. This is our life verse to our boys in helping them seek God first and not the world. Romans 12:2 "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

 Three Favorite Posts

1. Entrusting Our Husbands to Christ
2. Detour the Goal of Lust
3. Leaving an Imprint of God's Love

Why I Started Blogging

I initially started blogging the year our daughter Selah died. She died from the disease Pompe back in April of 2008 and on December 12, which would've been her birthday, I just felt a need to write. I wanted a place to share my emotions and feelings and memories of her.  So in all honesty, the blogging started from a place of deep sorrow...but over time, since then, the blog has also been a place to share much joy.  I didn't post regularly until this past February when I decided to put myself in a "Facebook timeout" and to spend more time writing. Now — I enjoy blogging;because I'm thankful for a place to share about the many topics that are close to my heart — faith, marriage, parenting, family, Heaven, adoption, friendship, grief, education, nature, organization, traditions, books and pretty much whatever God is currently trying to teach me.

How Faith Inspires How I Raise My Children

We have five children, four here and one in Heaven, and our faith has a huge impact on how we want to raise them.  Our greatest desire is that our children will see their need for God's forgiveness and love.  We want each child to know God deeply, in a real way.  We want them to find their joy and satisfaction in Him and to live everyday life in a way that brings Him glory.  Being a parent is hard work! We go to the Bible for wisdom and strength and encouragement and accountability.  Parenting makes me feel vulnerable and inadequate.  When it comes to raising our children, I'm quick to see how how much I need God's help.  It's really important to us that our children see God in every part of our lives.  We want to be authentic and real with them.  I can't tell you the number of times, I've had to ask for their forgiveness because of my parenting failures.  But — over time — I hope that will help them see that we all need God's mercy and forgiveness.  We all must come to God...and live in relationship with one another...grounded in the grace and redemption that was accomplished through Jesus' work on the the Cross.  The faith that my husband and I share gives us hope in parenting...and that's a huge thing.

 Three Favorite Posts

1. I Don't Want Our Kids To Feel At Home Here
2. Reasons Why I Love My Guy
3. I Like Being in 4th Grade or (4th Grade and Dyslexia)

Why I Started Blogging

I was having a very difficult time with seasonal depression while we lived in Michigan. I tried everything I had used before but nothing worked. SO a friend suggested I write my life story down. I did this, but kept in a word doc and never published it for anyone to see. I found  BlogSpot through my gmail account and began just posting some of my favorite poems and humorous stories. I'd add a personal entry here and there but didn't keep up with it on a regular basis. A couple years ago, a friend in the Pagan Book club I attended "challenged" me to write at least 500 words a day, from that challenge my Blog was born. I don't write as often as I want, but post an entry when I can get the time to sit down and put the things running around in my head into words.

How Faith Inspires How I Raise My Children

I began following my path after my children were grown. I have 2 daughters and a son. My oldest daughter found her Pagan path when she was about 11 years old. This was a HUGE challenge for the rest of the family, because we were all at that time going to a Christian church and I had been raised in a Christian home. Depending on how you look at things, it was either fortunate or unfortunate (I prefer to think I was very fortunate), that I had never felt I belonged in the Christian church. I had too many questions and no one seemed to be able to give me any answers other than it's in the Bible...OK, but WHY is it in the Bible and who determined that this was the way we were supposed to live.

As adults, my daughters both follow a Pagan path and my son is a Christian. I firmly believe that one's faith is a personal matter and no one has the right to decide what is the perfect faith for someone other than the person doing the choosing. I have tried to instill into all my children the same concepts that most parents use...the difference between right and wrong, but I also stress that not everything in this world is black and white...that there are MANY shades of gray and it is up to each person to decide what is the right path for them to live by.

I am fortunate enough to be an active participant in the lives of my granddaughters, of the 7 of them, I know one is Pagan and I believe one will follow this path as well. Ravyn, our new little Witchling is 3 weeks old. My daughter, her mother will give her the same love and acceptance I have shown to her. Thus giving little Ravyn the ability to make well informed choices that will hopefully be free of bigotry and intolerance.

Three Favorite Posts

1. Celebrate the Human Spirit
2. Close-minded People
3. It's Been One of Those Days

Why I Started Blogging

I've been a visible and active advocate for my spiritual community for many years and have a strong relationship with local media, especially our Gannett daily, The Asheville Citizen-Times.  One of their editors contacted me in 2007 and asked me to do a community blog on their website.  A place where people could learn more about Earth religions and events in the area. I've been The Village Witch there ever since. Four years now. Hm.

How Faith Inspires How I Raise My Children

My daughter and I came home from the hospital to a Full Moon and we went out in the night together and felt that cool, healing light embrace us.  I've been Wiccan since the mid-1970s and it seemed natural that she'd follow that path until she was ready to choose her own. She was raised to have respect for the earth and all its folks, to be proud of who she is, to celebrate the cycle of seasons and of human life.  My daughter was raised with the reality of the Divine as female and that also colors who she is and how I raised her. She went through a period in school where lots of kids thought it was cool to wear a pentacle because it riled-up their parents and gave them some street cred.  She stopped wearing one then because she didn't want to be confused with the "wannabees."  I am pleased to say that her dorm desk always has an altar to her matron goddess on it.

Three Favorite Posts

1. Untitled
2. My Annual Earth Day Rant
3. On Wearing Brown for St. Patrick's Day