Tag Archives: chronic illness

How To Successfully Transition Into Becoming A Stay At Home Mom

Posted on by
4

Hey Girl Hey! So you made it here because you are experiencing some mega life changes am I right? And you feel kinda overwhelmed, apprehensive, curious if you made the right choice, or possibly even angry and upset that life circumstances made you change your plan for you.(we can chat about that later) I totally get what you are experiencing and I am here to tell you hang tight friend because I promise you once the beginning of the transition period is over, you will find the peace your desperately searching for. I happen to be a NEWBIE too! I left the work world in June of 2021 and here I am…slaying this Stay at Mom thing.

First of all CONGRATULATIONS on becoming a Stay at Home Mom! You just got a secret invite to one of the greatest experiences/job/opportunities/ministries known to Womanhood! So let’s celebrate that you have been blessed with the privilege and the honor to serve in that capacity.

I am a curious by nature girl so let me save you the time on trying to weed out which blog post was specifically designed for you for transitioning to a stay at home mom. If you are reading this I am about to launch you into FREEDOM of the Chaos of the Unknown and the insecurities and pressures that you might be facing. Are you ready to be free? Great!

So here it is, are you ready? There is only ONE Requirement to qualify you to become the World’s Greatest Stay At Home mom! ONE!

LOVE for Your People!

Love will be the Master Key to unlock success.

Let me explain! There are tons of blog post out there, How To’s to transition, but if I am being honest you were not designed to fit into a cookie cutter “How to Mold”! You have a family that is so beautiful, and so unique that only you can really Captain your Home Ship so to speak effectively. You are the heart beat of the home. You are the care taker, the joy, the giver of hugs and kisses, the peace, the helper, there server, the guide, and the teacher. Your role as Stay at home Mom is vital to the happiness of your home. You are the atmosphere shifter and the prayer intercessor. You got a lot on your plate Momma, so be patient with yourself.

For the sake of the Visual bullet seekers, I will make some bullet point tips, but there is a one rule! You have to keep your plan of action as unique and special as you and your family are. Only You know the real NEEDS of each family member, and your home.

  • Study Your people
  • Set Priorities
  • Become a Creative Home Maker
  • Set a Routine- Planners are our Friends
  • Be patient with yourself and the time of the transitioning
  • Devote time to spend with Jesus
  • Find a Support Community or a circle of Friends You visit with consistently
  • Enjoy this Season! They are only in your care for a short amount of time!

Study your People

I first asked my husband what are some things he expects of the house. Some people are more comfortable in a dust free home. sigh.. we are not immaculate people..we live in our home, but keep It clean! I took a few seconds to ask each one of my children and Husband which room they enjoyed spending the most time in. My children replied their bedrooms, and my husband replied his garage. Perfect, now I know which areas they need a soft landing to unwind and relax when they get home from School and Work. I use this as an opportunity to bless them in these rooms. I have a set day of the week where I go into their rooms, wash their bedding, tidy their room, and my favorite thing to do is Decorate for Holiday’s and Special Occasions! I will explain further more in another blog post!

Set Priorities

Determine which areas need the most attention Daily. Establish a daily run through chore list: make beds, tidy entry way, feed dog, feed cats, scoop the litter box, prep dinner, run the dishwasher, complete a load of Laundry.

Become a Creative Home Maker

Check out Youtube videos on what a creative home maker is. You can get creative and intertwine those creative parts of you into your home life. I love to craft so this is where making banners for my kids to hang in their room with their basketball jersey, etc comes into play.

Set a Routine

This will be special and not a cookie cutter plan because only you know how to best run your house hold cleaning, grocery shopping, meal prepping, errand running, appt setting, etc..etc..I personally have the daily chores I complete just to make the day run smooth, and then I have set days I perform different cleaning duties. Example: Master bedroom/bedroom -Monday, Toilets-Tuesday, Kitchen-Wednesday, HBH-Thursday…etc, and so on! You also need to make sure you are including devotion time with the Lord, and wellness. Momma needs to take good care of herself so she can take care of her treasures! Don’t forget lunch dates/play dates with friends! Oh, and don’t leave out husband…date night!

Be Patient with Yourself

Take a deep breath…… the only one putting pressure on you, is you. Take your time with establishing what works best for you and your family. You may realize two months in, you need to make some adjustments, and of course life will happen that will bring in the chaos to irritate your mission. Stay the course… you are going to do amazing!

Like I said above, I am new to all of this too, and then to add because I had to be a stay at home mom due to a chronic illness diagnosis equals a hazy/hard transition. I am still technically transitioning, so we can transition together.

Comment below if you enjoyed this post and let me know what your experiencing through the stay at home mom transition. 🙂

xoxo -Ash

Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis

Posted on by
2

I have started this post about a million times. I have thought about the words I would use to describe every detail of the harsh reality of those words spoken to me on December 10, 2020, but my heart isn’t there anymore to share just that. Maybe another day. Today I wanted to talk about the supernatural grace God has given me to live with this disease. I want to flip the script for just a second. I don’t want to come at this as unsympathetic, trust me I lived those initial days, and if I am being honest have to be careful not to slip back into the thoughts of fear that came during that season in my life. The Devil is always knocking, trying to get to me through those familiar thoughts and feelings. I tell him to get out of here with that mess.

The Devil is a liar.

This much I know to be true. The Bible even gives us forewarning. His only mission is to kill, steal, and destroy, but Jesus came so we would have life abundantly. I had this crazy notion to hide my MS at first. The enemy came at me hard. You see I am in an intercessory ministry and praying for people to get healed is what we do. When I couldn’t feel my feet and could hardly stand for long periods of time (MS ATTACk) during one of these special ministry moments I felt so defeated and pathetic. What faith could I help bring to the table for God for these people. I am just a wounded bird who can’t even fly right now. The enemy wanted me silenced and definitely not helping advance God’s Kingdom here on Earth!

Let me explain where I stand in this matter. I believe that God will Heal me. I believe that. I believe that he does not want me sick. I believe that this was not from him. This was not a lesson to teach me, or nor was this done because I had done something wrong. LIES! And if you are reading this, and you have been believing these horrible things I urge you to stop and listen. God loves you! He would never punish us because of something we did wrong in the past. 1 John 1:9-He says that if we accept his son Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and we confess we our sinners; he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, erased forever, as if we never sinned at all. The devil wants you in a self pity, self defeated stage. He wants you isolated, and he wants you powerless, because he knows that if you ever got wind of a renewed mind and a promise from the Lord, his schemes and weapons would be dismantled over your life. Yes even with a chronic illness.

So as much as I hate to say this; yes I have ms, yes it is a chronic illness, and yes I am fighting a monster that hasn’t left me yet. It is hard for me to admit that because deep down inside my spirit I know it’s only temporary. I know that I am bound by this here in the flesh UNTIL Jesus heals me, but my spirit is not! Praise God, it is not my FOREVER eternal condition, and it is not your FOREVER/ eternity as well! Oh, and it sURE as HECK is NOT MY IDENTITY! I am always ready and available if he wants to heal me today! 🙂

With the Right mindset and the Right measure faith and grace to believe, we can live very Happy, Joyful, Exciting, Adventurous, looooooong lives with a chronic illness. Why do I say that? Because it is what I believe! It is almost like a ha ha slap in the face because the enemy tried to put something else on us, that has no power over us because we are children of God. Hallelujah!!

So we must activate our faith! How do you do that? The Bible tells us that Jesus is the author and the perfecter of our faith. Hebrews 12:2 Pray and ask him for more faith to believe that we can still live free in him, no matter what medical labels are thrown on us, or terroist that try and high jack our immune system!

That sounds great, I know you are probably thinking, but I am not sure God has ever given me a promise. ?? That sounds new to me. If this is you I would encourage you to pray and ask the Lord for a Promise from him for this season.

In the mean time you can use the one he has given to me. He is a good Dad who shares with his children, and what he will do for me, he will do for you as well.

The morning before I went in for my very first MRI in October of 2020 I heard so clearly upon waking up to full consciousness. “My grace is sufficient for thee..”

I immediately got out my bible to find the scripture and read it allowed, tears flowing. I knew then I was about to hear the news I didn’t want to, as I had asked him to take this burden from me, and hope it wasn’t ms. I also knew he was with me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” There fore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Each and every day I wake up and I remind him of this Promise he made to me, and I also remind myself that he has my back, no matter what comes that day.

MS is not the mountain I wanted or even asked for, but with Faith to move mountains I will see the victory in the end, because I am more then a conqueror in Christ Jesus.

If you need some advice or someone to talk to please leave a comment. MS WARRIORS -You are not alone in your fight!