Devotionals for the Heart: Mothers and the meaning of "nurture"

Nurture and Share with Those Around You
A devotional by Tammy Karasek

Not every woman, young or old, is a mother. Yet, God has designed women in general to be nurturers. But before we go any further, let’s see how the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word nurture:

nurture (noun): the care and attention given to someone or something that is growing or developing

nurture (verb): to help something or someone to grow, develop, or succeed

As we see by the definition, to nurture is to give care and attention to another person. Society always says that moms are our nurturers. But I believe that we, as women, are nurturers regardless if we have children or not.

Whether or not you’ve had a great relationship with your own mother, more than likely, somewhere along the way, someone has mothered or nurtured you in your life. Maybe it was your mom, grandmother, aunt or an older sister. It could have been a neighbor, Sunday school teacher, coach or an older friend.

Whoever it was, think back to some of the things that person taught you that you’ve carried through your life thus far. It could be a great recipe, kitchen technique or tip. Has someone shown you the ropes on gardening and how to have a green thumb? (And if you have this, I admire you as my thumb can only get as green as the color of celery!) Maybe it’s your love of decorating, singing, playing an instrument—has an older woman taught you the how-to on those?

I know I’ve had many nurturers in my life that have taught me so many gems. These gems—I’ve tumbled and polished from raw to shiny with their teaching, patience, and encouragement and I’ve seen my life change in wonderful ways. 

My love of cooking, sewing, and quilting come straight through the family line from my great grandma to me. While their expertise in these may have come from necessity, my passion for those came from working elbow to elbow watching and learning beside these three women I loved so dearly. My love of words—writing and reading—comes from my mom. 

My love of scripture grew from my mentor Helga, and my teacher-friend, Beth. My heart to always choose joy no matter how hard the circumstances, that comes from my dear sweet friend and birthday twin, Cathy. (She’s older by a few hours, and I often remind her she’s older!)

Here’s a fun little exercise for you: I’m going to help you see who had been your nurturers. Take out a pen and paper and jot things down that you love to do or even things you do well. Now go back and write down beside each item you’ve listed, the person who taught it to you or helped you get better at it. There are your nurturers my friend!

A challenge for you today: Be on the lookout for someone you may nurture. Keep your mind open to someone who casually mentions they’d like to learn something that you know how to do. Also, pray for God to show you who might need someone to come alongside of her for some care and attention to grow in a specific area. As the Scripture below says we are to share what we have. I feel it’s not just our material things but also our knowledge and expertise that we are to share

"Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God." ~Hebrews 13:16 (ESV)

Share with us in the comments below who has nurtured you and how. Also—are you nurturing someone currently? What are you doing?

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Author Bio:

You’ll find Tammy seeing humor and causing laughter in every aspect of life. Tammy’s past filled with bullying and criticism is the driving force of her passion to always encourage others and share with them the Reason to smile. 

She’s been blissfully wedded to her college sweetheart, Larry, for 36 years, mom to their grown daughter, Kristen and wrapped around the paw of a little puppy named Hattie.

She’s the President of Cross N Pens Christian Writers and a member of ACFW. She will be published in the 2018 Divine Moments book – Cool-nary Moments.
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Connect with Tammy:
Blog - http://www.tammykarasek.com
Twitter - https://twitter.com/tickledpinktam
Email - tickledpinktammy@gmail.com

Book Spotlight: 21 Days of Love, short stories compiled by Kathy Ide

Welcome Kathy Ide, the famous writer and editor, to the blog today! She's here to talk about her new collection of stories, a book titled, 21 Days of Love: Stories that Celebrate Treasured Relationships.

Kathy agreed to give away not one, but two copies of her book! You can read the details about that toward the end of this blog post.

Here's the blurb for Kathy's book: 21 Days of Love is book 3 in the Fiction Lover's Devotional series--collections of short fictional stories followed by brief Life Applications, each chapter written by a different author.

Love can be found in many treasured relationships: boyfriend-girlfriend, husband-wife, parent-child ... with a special friend, teacher, or pet ... in the kindness of a stranger. We even have a national holiday to celebrate love.

The greatest love ever known is God's abundant love for us, His children. And He often demonstrates that perfect love through imperfect people.

This book offers engaging, inspirational short fiction stories written by new, intermediate, and well-know nauthors including Cindy Woodsmall, Susan May Warren, Sherry Kyle, Renae Brumbaugh, and more.

These stories represent all kinds of love. Woven through each story is the sustaining hand of our loving heavenly Father. On Valentine's Day and every day--whether your life is chocolates and flowers or loneliness and pain--let these stories fill your heart with hope, peace, and most important, love.

Enjoy reading this devotional that Kathy's written about her book! 

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Don’t Give Up On Your Dreams

Devotional book promo for 21 Days of Love written by Kathy Ide

Have you ever had a dream that just wouldn’t let you go…but it didn’t go anywhere, either?

Sixteen years ago, I had the idea of doing a devotional for people who love fiction. I’ve always loved Christian fiction, and I’ve seen its power to touch hearts and change lives, both firsthand and hearing about the experiences of others. When I read a novel, I relate to the characters and their situations, even when the details are vastly different from anything I’ve experienced. And reading how those characters responded to their trials and conflicts helps me see how I can do things better in my own life.

But you know, in my quiet times with the Lord, reading a chapter from a novel just doesn’t seem appropriate. A devotional with short fiction stories seemed like a great solution.

So I decided to create one. Since I’ve been a professional freelance editor for several years, I could edit the submissions I chose to use, polishing them without losing the authors’ unique voices. And since I’ve been teaching and speaking at writers’ conferences across the country for years, I’ve connected with several authors at all levels, including well-known best sellers. So there were a lot of people I could personally ask about submitting to the books in this series. And I’d developed a strong social media presence, so I could get the word out to other writers as well.

I started pitching the idea to the publishers I met at writers’ conferences. Some of the editors were really excited about the idea, but the proposals never developed into a contract. In spite of numerous rejections, I just knew God had a plan for this concept, so I kept pitching it—working on other books (and my editing business) in the meantime.

Finally, BroadStreet Publishing caught the vision I had. They created these devotionals as beautiful hardcover gift books, with full-color interior pages, even ribbon page markers. They’re so gorgeous, I’m actually glad the other publishers turned me down!

21 Days of Grace: Stories that Celebrate God’s Unconditional Love, the first book in the Fiction Lover’s Devotional series, was launched in June of 2015. 21 Days of Christmas: Stories that Celebrate God’s Greatest Gift, followed that. The third book, 21 Days of Love: Stories that Celebrate Treasured Relationships, released on September 1, 2016, followed by 21 Days of Joy: Stories that Celebrate Mom. Each book contains twenty-one short fiction stories, followed by brief life applications, each written by a different author: some best sellers, some mid-range authors, and some new writers.

The short chapters in these books are perfect to read over breakfast, at lunch break, before bed, or curled up in your favorite chair with a cup of coffee or tea. And you can take these purse-sized devotionals wherever you go, to read when you have a few minutes of down time. It’s a great way to get “inspiration on the go.” And they make fantastic gifts for friends and loved ones. If you love Christian fiction, you’ll recognize some of the authors. And as you read these books, you’ll probably discover a few authors who may become new favorites.

This series would also work great in a women’s group, Bible study, book club, life group, or even just a bunch of friends who want to get together once a week and share how the Holy Spirit spoke to them through these stories. Study guides are available for all of these devotionals as free PDF downloads from www.FictionDevo.com or as 99-cent e-books from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

I’m glad I didn’t give up on this dream. I know God made sure these books got published in just the right way and at just the right time … according to His plan. He will make sure they get into the hands of the people He had in mind when He called me to do this in the first place.

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Author bio: 

Kathy Ide is the author of Proofreading Secrets of Best-Selling Authors and editor/compiler of the Fiction Lover’s Devotional series. 

She’s also a full-time freelance editor and director of the SoCal Christian Writers’ Conference and Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. She’s co-owner of Christian Editor Network LLC. 

Visit Kathy at www.KathyIde.com. 

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Buy Kathy's book, of 21 Days of Love:
Amazon
 ~ Barnes and Noble
 ~ Christianbook
 ~ Cokesbury ~ MoreToLife
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Connect with Kathy:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/kathy.ide
Facebook Fan Page - Kathy Ide Author/Editor https://www.facebook.com/KathyIde.AuthorEditor/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/kathyide/

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*The author (Kathy Ide) wants to restrict this book giveaway contest to residents of the United States of America (U.S.A.) because it's too expensive to ship a book overseas.  

So only if you live in the United States of America (U.S.A.), are you eligible to enter this book giveaway contest. 

If you are a U.S. resident, fill out the entry form on the Rafflecopter widget below for your chance to WIN a copy of Kathy's book! 

TWO winners will be selected and each will receive one copy of her book. Here's the widget:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

31 Days of Prayer: When God calls you to be somebody's angel

Around this time last year, I was in the Midwest, preparing to return to the East Coast. Yes, the song, "I'll Be Home for Christmas" holds new meaning for me since then! But a few weeks prior to my departure, God taught me a lesson on agape love through an experience of a neighbor who we will refer to as "J".

Making a long story short: J was a helpful and kind person. So helpful and kind that when she saw a woman in distress one day, she went over to help. The woman (we'll call her R) had been ill and was trying to get to the hospital. But she never made it to her car-- she died with J by her side. Despite J's best efforts to help R to her car and get her to the hospital, it was too late, R who had been struggling a little while before J saw her struggling, died. J was traumatized to the point where she could no longer sleep through the night. When J shared her story with me, I told her I'd pray for God to give her peace and a good night's sleep. A few days after praying for her, I saw J around town and asked her if she slept well and she said she finally did. I praised God for answering prayer.

Now here's where the lesson begins: I never like ever win prizes from radio station give-a-ways but about a week or two prior to R's death, I'd been listening to K-LOVE and the DJs said they were giving away Mandisa's Christmas album which at the time I did not already own so of course I participated in this prize drawing and to my surprise, I won! I received the CD in the mail a few days after R's death and I remember thinking as I held the CD in my hands, "Now I know why I won." I wrapped the CD in Christmas holiday paper and gave it to J as her Christmas present. I also included a Christmas card and wrote a note to J encouraging her to listen to the song, "Somebody's Angel" because I believe God used her (J) to be like an angel to R as she breathed her last breath.

Here's the point: Sometimes as people say, you need "God with skin on" meaning that while you do love God and you do trust Him and pray to Him and faith that can move mountains, sometimes you need Him to send one of His people into your life to encourage you along your journey in person. Sometimes you need someone you can reach out and literally hug, someone who can have a physical presence in your life/someone you can see. Nobody can see God and live (Exodus 33:20). So I believe that God sends His angels in human form to us to help us when we are in need. I also believe sometimes, God will send one of us mere mortals to stand alongside another mere mortal when they are in need of support...Essentially we become like somebody's angel. No, we don't win wings or special powers because remember, we are mortals with finite minds! But I seriously think God uses us just like He uses His celestial angels to be a tangible representation of His love for humanity.

So this Christmas, I want to say a special prayer for you. I will not write it all out here, but I will let you know that I'm praying for you when I'm not using my computer. I'm praying for God to send people into your life who will be like an angel when you are in need. I am asking God to use those people to be like His angels to encourage you, help you, support you and keep you company as you journey through life. I'm praying for God's presence to comfort you. I'm praying for God's protection to surround you. And I'm praying for God's celestial angels to keep watch over you and that when given the opportunity from God to be like somebody's angel on Earth, you will take it.