Welcome to the first Ringing the Bells GIVEAWAY!
I am taking this idea from my friend, Kara. Great idea, Kara :) Love your blog.
So here is the prize:
A custom, hand-painted 11x14" canvas.
I have recently begun selling these in a local children's boutique on the Oxford square called Belles and Beaus. Super cute store, and the owner is so sweet to let me sell my canvases in there. Thanks, Cathy!
So I thought this might jump-start my little, tiny business.
If you like these canvases, and you don't win this competition, then go to Belles and Beaus and order one for yourself. (For the low price of $25!) Don't you love my marketing skills?
Here are some samples of what I paint, but I can pretty much paint anything you request unless it's just super complicated.
So here's what you have to do to win:
Leave a comment on this post telling me the lessons the Lord has taught you through becoming a parent. I know lots of you could write for hours, but just tell me the most important lessons you have learned since your babies were born. If you don't have children, then tell me what God has taught you over the past year. If you aren't a believer then share with me how you typically perceive the Christians in your community.
I will draw the winner and announce it next Thursday, August 18th. Good luck! Can't wait to paint a custom canvas for one of you!!! But really I can't wait to read how the Lord is working in all your lives! I know it wil be a huge encouragement to me.
What has God taught me in the past year? PATIENCE and to learn this on His time NOT mine!!!
ReplyDeleteIn my last semester of school at MSU, I applied to two physical therapy schools: Ole Miss and Arkansas State.
I waited and waited and waited to find out if I would be accepted anywhere. I received a letter in March saying I had an interview at Ole Miss. I was super excited! Couldn't wait! Went one rainy Friday to Jackson and sat thru interview after interview. Went home for 3 weeks and heard that I had not been accepted. Crushed was an under statement of the way I felt. However, I still had hope I would hear something from ASU.
May came and I had a letter come in the mail from ASU saying I had an interview. Here we go again, I thought! I was super excited and couldnt wait!
A few weeks went by after the interview and I found out that I had been placed on the alternate list. I was still very down, but not as much as before. I knew there was still hope. I prayed and prayed everyday for a miracle to happen so I could live out my dream of being a physical therapist. I believe the whole Lynchard family and Hernando, MS was praying!!! EVERYDAY! It was then I knew God was testing my patience!
May, June, July and the first of August went by with still no word! I was beginning to give up hope because school was starting in just one week. One Monday, I received a call from ASU. I HAD BEEN ACCEPTED!!! Someone had canceled on the last minute and I was next in line!!! The faculty was very concerned I wouldn't have enough time to get a new place in a new state and all ready in one week......but my God is bigger than all our worries!!! God provided a house, books, school, etc. all in one week!
This is just a little about me and how God has taught me patience and patience that comes on His time and not Lindsay's. I am thankful to be leaving today and heading back to Arkansas to start my 2nd year of PT school.
So cute Jill! We'll I'm not a parent (except if you count Pepe and Scout), but I would say they've taught me a lot about patience and how to clean up throw-up, poop, and all the lovely things in between. And also that the Lord sometimes send our greatest blessings when we expect them the least! Kara (for some reason it won't let me sign in?)
ReplyDeleteOhhhh the things I've learned and am still learning and need to relearn!! I guess what has hit me the most recently, is that my children aren't really MY children, but the Lord's. Oh how this comforts me on some days and puts fear in me on others. I know that He is their Shepherd, but my will still longs to be in control as if I can take care of my children better than the Lord. Not so, not so. I know this, but I pray daily, that my greatest desire is His will for them!!!
ReplyDeleteAlmost exactly a year ago, I was blessed with a Cooper (just like yours!). He was a little early and it quickly became apparent that he was not developing like a normal baby. He has had LOTS of issues in the past year: developmental delay, a chromosonal abnormality, infantile spasms, several hospitalizations, two surgeries, etc. But we have taken everything one thing at a time and now, for the first time, he really seems to be thriving. I had to put my faith in God that I would not have been given Cooper if I could not handle him. I have found so much strength that I never knew I had. Here is my blog if you want to know more:
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P.S. I'm an old friend of Kara's (and Julia's) and found your blog through her!
You and I talk about this all of the time but I just had to leave my comment! God has taught me so much through parenting. He has showed me so much about how little I am in control (not to mention can control) and so much about my need for Him and to trust in Him. So much about my own selfishness and my need for the fruits of the spirit and what true love looks like (Love is patient, love is kind...). So much about His wondrous creation and love through seeing His hand in the beautiful children He knits together in our wombs. In my striving to teach my children, He has taught me so much. God shapes us so much through parenting...we think we teach our children so much-and we do-but they teach US so much and God teaches us so much through them! Parenting has been the biggest tool of sanctification in my life as well as the most wonderful blessing. He is continually showing me how my life is not my own and 'it's not about me' and teaching me what it truly means to serve others. I am amazed at the never-ending-would-do-anything-for-them love He gives us for our little ones, and the amazing love He gives to our children for us, their parents. It's beautiful, amazing, humbling, a gift, and a blessing.
ReplyDeleteLove your work, Jill and I am so glad I happened upon your blog today! God has certainly used my children to teach me so much more than I could have ever imagined. Lately I am learning what it truly means to give thanks in ALL things, to be able to stand in His strength, filled with His joy and praise Him, no matter what else surrounds me. It's taken four years, but little by little, God is taking over the part of me that needs things in control, safe, peaceful and according to my plans. And only then can I see the deep beauty in His!
ReplyDeleteHoping we make it to Memphis this winter to see your sweet family!
What?!?!? I had no idea you painted! These are adorable! I don't mind if you enter me or not but would just like to share what God has taught me through parenting! I don't know if you have noticed, but 3 yr olds are hard! There are days I want to kill Whit because he is doing something for the millionth time that I have told him not to do. I get so angry, so frustrated, and then when I step back (typically after I've yelled and not acted in grace) I realized that is ME and what God deals with me all the time. Every day! Every minute! I am constantly disobeying and doing things I know are wrong, but I don't repent and I keep on doing them. But, he has unending love, grace and mercy and I can just pray I get an inkling of that as I deal with my precious children! I'm amazed God can still love me because I know I'm more infuriating than Whit can be! So there you have it... that's what I've learned... I'm a big fat SINNER! Hope you guys are doing well!
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that comes to mind is patience. I was the most impatient person before I became a Mommy. Having 2 little boys has begun to teach me patience.
ReplyDeleteI also have learned that I am inadequate to be a Mom without the Lord fully guiding me every second of every day!
Where do I begin? You know all too well that being a momma to a little boy is challenging but yet so rewarding. When Hayes was born two months early, I learned very quickly that I was not in control anymore. God had been trying to teach me this several times before this, but as I was laying in the hospital the night before he was born, I felt His presence more than ever before in my life. From that moment on, I knew all I had to do was lay it before Him, no matter how small, and we were in his arms. I tend to want to control every little detail of my life, but it's so much easier when I let God take the wheel! Excited about your contest!
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