Mopping Up The Blessings

When I was asked to write a blog for by Leaps and Bounds Network my initial gut reaction was to say Yes! Yes! Yes! Instead, I tried to bottle up my excitement and act cool and responded with a simple, I will pray about it. I came home and had to keep putting my ‘yes, I want to do this’ in the back of my mind and pray about if the Lord wanted me to do this. So, I prayed multiple times a day. “Lord, am I supposed to do this?” In return, all I heard was crickets, no response at all, for days and days. He wasn’t leading me toward a yes or a no and I was very disappointed, so I changed the way I prayed about it. I told the Lord that if He wanted me to do this, I needed to know what direction he wanted me to take it.

Boom! He started flooding my brain: homeschool, mom, Christian women. I said “Whoa, whoa, whoa that is not the blog I want to do. Everyone and their grandma are a homeschool mommy blogger and they are all the same. They present their perfect lives, and their perfect children, their perfect homes and that is definitely not me, I’m more of a perfect hot mess!” Then there was nothing but crickets again. I was not happy about the direction He wanted me to go, I wanted to write about something more exciting and relevant than wiping noses and tying shoes. He let me know that He was not happy with me, and I felt convicted about being a hypocrite, praying for guidance and then arguing with the Lord when He gives an answer. Some days I wonder why He tolerates me, I’m just glad I don’t have to sit in the belly of a fish for 3 days to figure out that I just need to listen and obey.

While this was all going on, I was sitting in my dining room when my daughter looked at me and asked me if I was ok. At that point I realized that even though the conversation with God was going on inside of my head, I forgot that my hands were involved, and I probably looked like a crazy person flailing my hands around. I told her I was ok; I was just arguing with God and I shouldn’t be. She said OK and quickly left the room before the lightning started to strike.

I took a deep breath and called my husband and explained the situation to him. He responded with the fact that maybe God wanted me to show that it’s ok not to be perfect, we are all flawed. I did a mental eye roll, was hoping he would agree with me, but as much as I hated the idea, he was right. After I got off the phone, I prayed again. This time I humbled myself and was asking for forgiveness and to show me the direction to go, again, and this time I kept my mouth shut (which is really hard for me to do) and let Him lead.

The ideas flowed again, He gave me a path to follow, and I was ready to do go down that path when I began contemplating how often I would post my blogs. I could safely do once a month, but He kept urging me to do weekly. I told the Lord that I was nervous about keeping up with that commitment. Life happens and with busy lives and juggling multiple children that it is probably too large of a commitment for me. He reminded me that He is always faithful and then asked if I was going to be faithful and trust Him. He has a way of humbling me quite often these days.

This is real life. No smoke or mirrors, no looking at things from a certain angle to show only the best side of things. The raw reality of life is that not everything is going to be perfect. But when we stop and look around, we will find God right there with us. And the theme of this blog “Mopping up the Blessings” came from the fact that as moms we are sometimes so busy with our husbands, kids, laundry, dishes, soccer practice, homework, and everything else life hands us that we forget about the blessings that are flowing down from Heaven. So, we need to remember to stop and take a moment, mop them up, and enjoy what He has blessed us with.

Look me up on facebook to join my group, Mopping up the Blessings or email me at: moppinguptheblessings@gmail.com for encouragement, prayer, and connecting with another mom to help each other navigate through this crazy blessed life He has given us.

Tammy Bassett is a speaker and the author of the Mopping Up Your Blessings blog. She was born and raised a country girl who’s roots run deep in the mountains of Appalachia. She has worked a wide variety of jobs ranging from radio to insurance agent. She is now a stay-at-home mom, who along with her husband, are raising five daughters (ages 10 to 25), seven cats and one dog. She uses her accounting and business administration degree to help run her busy household.
She loves spending time with her family and homeschooling her two youngest children. She spends a lot of her day trying to conquer the obstacles in her home. With four of her children still living at home the laundry pile (nicknamed Mt. Wash-more) is her nemesis. Some days she wins and some days she doesn’t, but she always gets up the next day and tries again.
She also loves camping with her family as long as there is a camper with air conditioning, a comfy bed, and indoor plumbing. Her downfall is her obsession with iced coffee. Thankfully the closest Starbucks is an hour from her home, or she would be broke. She also loves reading and learning new skills such as homesteading, being more self-sustainable, gardening and foraging.
She relates the most to her favorite animal, the alpaca. They are both kind of weird and look like they are two months past due on a haircut. Much like alpacas she makes a gentle humming noise when happy and if irritated she often stamps the ground with her feet. Her husband has refused to buy her an alpaca much to her disappointment.
But more than anything, she loves the Lord and is growing more in her faith each day and hopes to inspire others to do the same. She wants everyone to understand that God’s grace is truly amazing and has changed her from the inside out and he can do the same for you.