Guest Lisa Guidry

My guest blogger today is Lisa Douglas Guidry, a friend from ETBU days.

Lisa, tell us about yourself. I know you are a Mom, but you are going to school as well. What's that like?

Going to school full time while being a full time mom…hmmmm, it’s hard, but since God opened this door, He had faith in me to be able to walk this journey. Although there are times that I wonder about that wisdom…but I really have loved being in school. I have learned so much – not just about the coursework, but about myself. Best counseling program ever – expensive, but serves a dual purpose…LOL! The course of study I chose is Criminal Justice. Growing up I loved mysteries and crime shows. I loved pretending to be a PI (private investigator), but back then it was not a reality, so I chose another major in college. Years later I found myself a single mom again, and was thinking about going back to school – but what would I do? God opened the door through some friends from my former college days. So I thought, online college would work, and the school I loved was now offering online classes. And guess what the ONLY degree plan they offered that was online? Criminal Justice! WOW!!! A first love. I would get my degree, help be a voice for women who were in or just coming out abusive situations. I was so excited.

It has been difficult, but no more so than any other time in my life. I homeschool and do classes online, so I am busy. When I was married I homeschooled all my children (they are ages 10-31 this year), ran a household of 10 people, and helped to run my husband’s business, plus I volunteered at my church and helped with the state homeschool organization for the yearly conference. Just regular mom stuff. 

How has God surprised you lately?

Hmmmm, part of me thinks that I should not be surprised at all the wonderful things that my heavenly Father has done for me over a lifetime, most especially during the last 2 plus years. He saved my life by exposing evil against me in my own home and got me out under the protection of angels in Blue. He has provided an amazing attorney who loves my family (his wife used to babysit me when I was a baby) and is a Godly man. He has surrounded me with friends and family who love me and pray for me daily. They send me encouragement. They have blessed us with food, clothes, and shelter when needed. God has opened doors and granted great favor in many areas of our lives. I have scholarships and grants to attend school. I have Godly professors who encourage me and pray for me weekly. My class mates pray for me.

God surprises me in all the little ways that He touches my heart with love for me – the singing of birds outside my window each morning, the sunrises that wake me each morning, the sounds of my children laughing, the hugs and encouraging words of friends. His promises to me that He continually keeps beyond anything I could ever have imagined. I used to pray that my husband would love me the way God wanted a husband to love a wife… well God is showing me daily what that love looks like and I am very spoiled by that Love.

What's your best advice for moms?

 My best advice for moms? Remember that your children are a gift from God. Their hearts are like moldable clay – and a mother’s words and actions are what do the molding. Parents get really wrapped up in achievements and test scores, but those should be secondary. As mom’s we should be reflecting the heart of the Father towards our children. How does show His love to us? We should be parenting our children the way God parents us. With love, grace and mercy as we learn who we are and who we were created to be. Celebrate your child and the place he or she has in the family as a whole. As we (moms …and dads) work on our relationship with God (vertical), we should be working on the relationship with our children in the same ways (horizontal). Spend time with them talking, walking, sharing, encouraging, correcting in love, building up, and so on. Our children are only under our care for a short time of their whole life…if there is no relationship built during that time, it will be very difficult to build that relationship when they are no longer living under the same roof. God will fill in the gaps of our parenting when our children become adults, so academics should not be our primary focus. He is the greatest teacher of all. But the relationship that you build and cultivate with that child – it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to set that foundation.

 There is a great poem that I love from the 1940s that sums up most of what I have said. 

 Song for a Fifth Child
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

Take a look at Lisa's Blog:  From the Rocking Chair