Tina Webb's Blog, page 4
October 27, 2020
Digging Deep Podcast
Our podcast is for believers or non-Christian people who are curious about topics sometimes not talked about in church. Topics like:
Spiritual Warfare and DeliveranceProsperity and PovertyHealingGenerational Sin and Social IssuesSovereigntySpiritual GiftsFaith and MiraclesCivil Government and the Spiritual RealmEmotional Maturity and Spiritual Growthand many, many Parenting topics!Anchor.fm
Also available on Spotify, Apple, and other platforms.
Episode One – Doug shared at a local young adult ministry about how God gave humankind authority and responsibility and because of this, He is not always in control, although He remains sovereign King of Kings and Lord of Lords. In this podcast, Tina asks Doug questions like:
Why would God subject Himself to His own rules?
Why would God give sinful human beings any responsibility after the Fall?
How does free will affect God’s plans?
Why would the father of the prodigal son reward him so easily after he squandered his inheritance?
Key Scriptures: Psalm 24:1, Psalm 115:16, 2 Chronicles 7:14
Next week’s episode will continue with this theme of God’s sovereignty and our responsibility in the midst of the 2020 Presidential Elections.
October 16, 2020
Books, Grey Hair, and A Trip to the Tropics
My great idea started on Blogger.com in 2012. Let other moms know what God is doing in my life and maybe they will find some encouragement! As I poured my 43-year-old #momlife thoughts out, I did get a good response to my raw confessions and unfiltered stream of consciousness. I did hope, however, that I wouldn’t scare younger moms with my childbearing testimony. How many women with four kids between 9 and 17 decide to have two more kids (and I don’t mean adopt them!) At 43, I was on the other side of this maternal adventure–attempting to kickstart my ability to conceive and birth babies with a body that had retired years before was no small feat. But God knew what He wanted and He got it! Two boys. I had them at 40 and 42. Now I am 51. While I don’t cringe at my feeble attempt to mentor peer moms on my “Unedited Mom Journal” or whatever I named it, I do laugh that God used these early posts to sow in an idea for a book. This book’s original title was Ages and Stages. Just yesterday, one of my adult kids (one of the first four) asked me when I was going to finally sit down and write this book for parents. Um…I did. Ages and Stages IS Cultivating the Souls of Parents.
Five years after my Blogger debut came the worst season of my life. 2017. I named the 14 month season from August 2017 to October 2018 my “Season of Grieving”. My dad unexpectantly died the day after August 12, 2017 (type August 12 and Charlottesville in your search engine and read about the chaotic, hate-filled day here in Central Virginia.) Two weeks later, my twenty-year stint as a home educator officially ended. Those two baby boys were going to a private school. While I knew this was a divinely ordained shift in my life and daily schedule, I had to grieve the change. No more playdough math lessons. No more midday reading time snuggles. Halfway into this Season of Grieving, my best buddy moved across the country. That crappy year ended with two of my kids moving away from home. I had known that sudden life changes could affect a person’s mental, emotional, and physical health but I HAD NO IDEA. Melatonin became my crutch. For at least five months, every time I laid my head on my pillow, pictures from my life played like an accelerating slideshow in my mind, further piercing my grieving heart. I managed to work out a few times a week to regain some vibrancy. Then I noticed that my dark brown hair was being invaded by gnarly greys around my ears and forehead. My small consolation was that when I wore my baseball cap to the grocery store, I would get carded. I tried not to comfort eat. Tried and failed. I rationalized that at least I was burning off my extra intake. I wrote a little, slept even less, and prayed a bunch.
Then one day, the sun came out again. I had another life shift. November 2018. Grieving was done. Just like that. I felt better. My soul was empty and cleansed of turmoil. Jesus restored peace and vision and it was time to dive into my new normal with enthusiasm. Although I had never allowed “mother” or “home educator” to become my identity, I had certainly put aside childhood dreams. At a Writer’s Workshop, I realized that my dabbling, Blogger days were over. Now was the time. My book, Culture Changers, took shape during a writing exercise on the Saturday of the workshop. Dr. Jennifer Miskov, the author of Ignite Azusa, Walking on Water, and co-author of Defining Moments, challenged the class to put aside any previous writing ideas. (For me, that was Ages and Stages.) We had to sit quietly and let God download something in His heart that He was calling us to begin. The truth is, the idea for a book tying the topic of generational cycles of sin to current social issues and spiritual warfare had come to mind during a coffee date a few months before. But the thought of writing such a book–the research, the permission requests, the thought of using the word “demon” in the same book as words like “chauvinism”, “racism”, and emotional healing made my mind swirl. But God wanted me to write a book that summarized over twenty years of reading, ministry, and research. So on February 1, 2019, I began writing Culture Changers: Understand the Roots of Brokenness and Help Heal Your Family and Community.
Culture Changers: Understand the Roots of Brokenness and Help Heal Your Family and Community
Fast forward to hell, I mean 2020. My word going into this year was “Joy”. I was looking forward to releasing Cultivating the Souls of Parents in the spring and finishing Culture Changers. In February, I sensed a real push to get my parenting book done and just self-publish. Little did I know that I would begin a version of homeschooling weeks later when the pandemic hit. A month later, black men once again were shown dying at the hands (or under the knee) of law enforcement. The world was chaotic, angry, and afraid. That June, I started writing down various thoughts about justice, the Bible, the Church and those who are not believers. Seven white friends had contacted me to ask my thoughts on the peaceful protests, violent riots, and racism. I met with each of them, reminding them that I cannot speak for the black community. I only speak for Tina. One day, my son and I ended up having a discussion and the idea to co-write a quick read about God’s perspective of handling injustice came about. Book #3. We knew it needed to be finished and released asap. So a few weeks ago, in September, my #authorlife joy was made full when my two next books were released.
Although I have many other manuscripts to finish, I am taking a year off from writing. Maybe another dream will come true: two weeks on an island in the Tropics with nothing to do but sleep, drink Pina Coladas, and read a bunch of books that someone else has written!
(Culture Changers publication date is Jan 5, 2021 and will be shipped to stores then, but the e-versions are currently available, Nook, Kobo, Kindle, and paperbacks can be purchased on this website or pre-ordered through Amazon and Walmart.)
September 23, 2020
Search for Heaven
We’re all looking for heaven. The Walden of the afterlife. Narnia after the long winter. Although the viral pandemic displaced the serenity of Spring, stress is an epidemic that has been around for a long while. Bills, jobs, bullying, social unrest, politics, car repairs, college loans. Demands and struggle have spread us thin and worn us out. No matter where we live or how old we are, our spirits hear the original Eden whisper its rhapsodic song and urge us to long for its return.
Come, Lord Jesus.
Like Thoreau, whose lifestyle embraced the tranquility of Emerson’s woods, our souls have cried out for rest–a respite from the stresses of our world. Even today, as the pace of life is revving up again, we cry out. Pre-election tension, distant learning dynamics, unnatural social distancing, and an uncertain future keep our stress levels high. Too high.
I need rest for my soul.
In March, quarantine life forced us to withdraw from frenetic lifestyles. Some people dusted books off their shelves. Many made the most of summer vacation despite limited travel. But the stress didn’t necessarily decrease. The desire to escape the woes of the world greeted us every morning.
“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
The cares of this life do not end. Our flesh wants to escape by feeding itself. Feed this addiction, turn on the TV, see if anyone liked your social media post! But our spirits are whispering, “Return to your divine default. Rest in God.” The Spirit of the Lord echoes this saying, Be still and know that I am God.
When we consider that Jesus came to give us life and that more abundantly, we face the harsh reality that much of this “abundance” may be reserved for Heaven. Surely, Jesus appealed to us to keep our focus on things above despite the chaos of “the evil day” all around us. The current signs of sin, deteriorated school buildings, overpopulated prisons, the evidence of spiritual hosts of wickedness through mass shootings, and governmental corruption make it appropriate to want to find a Walden to escape to. But we must rest in our “now”. In fact, God tells us to embrace unspeakable joy and incomprehensible peace now. Not because of our dire circumstances and trials. But because we know He is Savior. The Prince of Peace.
Biblical shalom refers to an inward sense of completeness or wholeness. Although it can describe the absence of war, a majority of biblical references refer to an inner completeness and tranquility. http://firm.org.il/learn/the-meaning-of-shalom/
This is what we need : shalom
“The Bible teaches that our “best” doesn’t come in this earthly life, but to the degree we experience shalom in every part of our beings—body, soul, and spirit—the more
effectual and life-giving our time on earth will be.” Culture Changers, by Tina Webb
[image error]
September 11, 2020
The Hand of God IS on this Nation
and I don’t mean judgment. I am talking about a re-forming.
When 9/11 happened, I was a home school mom of 4 kids under ten. Like many of you, by 10:08 am the morning of Sept 11, my whole world shifted. I wasn’t safe anymore.
I had grown up in suburbia Ohio and New York State. An Afro-American Heritage Club provided ethnic engagement and education, orchestra life was my favorite space, and a sense of cultural Christianity of the 1970s and 1980s was my world. From classmate to neighbor, everyone believed in God, even if they did not often mention His name. My world seemed safe.
By 10:28 am on 9-11-2001, any remaining sense of security shattered as I watched the first tower collapse.
Where was God then and where is He now?
American citizens are divided. Some cry “MAGA” and others cry “When the he– were we ever great??!” The Christian foundation of our nation has been taught by Wallbuilders, the Providence Foundation, and America’s ?? for years. The true for me is that despite the seeds of God’s word being in the hearts of many who landed here, the seeds of corruption were also present.
Re-forming – I believe that our Creator’s design and intent for humanity was corrupted in the Garden. Divine initiative presents us with the reality of redemption, which starts with individual salvation and channels through the gifts, purposes, and suffering. Basically Christ’s redemptive power rescues what the enemy stole and brings triumph out of tragedy. We have not yet seen the end of Christ’s redemptive plan for earth. What is this end? Despite various eschatological views, the end brings the restoration of His design and intent for this race of human beings. Since the planet is made up of nations, tribes and tongues, the re-forming is meticulous and steady as God brings His light into the unseen and seen realities of our lives.
So although we are surrounded by dark things: injustice, sexism, child abuse, political corruption, addictions, hopelessness, we need to be encouraged that God’s light has not faded–it is in the hearts of men and women who agree to partner with Him. To hold His hand through the dark streets of pain. Use their stories as a catalyst for someone’s healing. To contend for God’s original intent for this nation and all people.
If this resonates with you, then I invite you to watch the book trailer to my upcoming book, Culture Changers: Understand the Roots of Brokenness and Help Heal Your Family and Community.
culturechangersbook.com
Click the link to:
Read Chapter One
Pre-order paperback on Amazon or Walmart
Ebook now available
Launch Team Invitation
September 8, 2020
When Kids Don’t Get Along – Part 1
Sibling rivalry is as old as Cain and Abel. Perhaps you are dealing with the animosity that your toddler is showing towards his infant sister. Or maybe you haven’t talked to your brother in years because you just can’t get along with him. Are your teenagers or tweens constantly at odds? Please, don’t ignore it and chalk it up to normal family life.
I firmly believe that Christ came to give us abundant life and the outpouring of this abundant life is meant to occur in our homes. So as parents and caregivers we need to teach and model reconciliation. Our kids need to experience reconciliation with their siblings, their friends and we all need this skill in our world today.
[image error]
August 10, 2020
My Response to Homelife Stress
What are you thinking the most about these days? How have you been feeling? Disappointed? Tired? Anxious? Our emotions tell us about the state of our internal world.
Recently I realized that soon after I woke up in the morning I felt tense and tired. Since I generally sleep well, I was confused. During prayer time, it dawned on me. I wasn’t looking forward to my kids waking up. The early morning peace and quiet was such a contrast to their noisy activities and their regular disagreements. All kids have seasons of behavior issues and God showed me that the more difficult of these seasons had given me a level of stress that I was still carrying. So every morning as I enjoyed the songs of birds coming through our open windows, I had a foreboding because I knew that my moments of peace wouldn’t last long. And I had no idea if it was going to be a “good” day or a “bad” day.
[image error]
God showed me that my peace and joy was being dictated by the behavior of other people. Maybe you deal with this too. Teen moods and toddler tantrums, marital disagreements to political debates. We can’t eradicate relational strife so you and I have to learn how to process the stress.
Stress. The swirl of our life–work, caring for a sick relative, family activity, a tighter budget–many things will begin to threaten our physical health if we don’t pause and inspect our emotional disposition and spiritual focus. When our thought-life default is our problems and the people that create them, we need to dive deeper into the Word of God to give us emotional stability.
Have you ever thought about Jesus’ moods when he had to deal with Peter’s rambunctious zeal? Or James and John fighting over who was the greatest? It doesn’t appear that he was exasperated with them, does it?
Picture a boat. It sways with the current and feels the waves but it doesn’t get dislodged because it is anchored into the bottom of the ocean. Over time the exterior paint gets affected by the atmosphere of the day. It becomes worn (think of those times when you notice a wrinkle or grey hair!) But the boat itself is firmly fixed in a sure foundation. In my book, Cultivating the Souls of Parents, I liken our souls to a house with an open floor plan, but for this analogy, I will make it a houseboat. There is an area for thoughts, an area for your will, and an area for the array of emotions that you experience in a given hour as you experience the swirl of life.
[image error]I want to hear from you!
Sign up to get my updates, ask me a question or leave a comment.
[contact-form]
August 2, 2020
Special Needs, Faith, and Race – Parenting Adopted Kids
I know you will enjoy my interview with Paul and Bettina Stevens, who have adopted three international children in the last five years. They had no idea the amount of trauma that the children had endured before coming into their home. Their daughter would scream whenever Paul came near her. One of their sons was found to be autistic. During the hardest part of their emotional journey, Bettina was forced to leave her job. The couple told me about the extreme hardship that trauma can bring…especially when you realize that your faith circle isn’t comfortable with “messy”. Racial tensions in the last few years has brought another challenge as white parents to three non-white children.
They knew there were other parents who were struggling and God gave Bettina an idea. Since they couldn’t find a support group, they would start one! Reclaimed Hope Initiative now serves dozens of families in their locality. Check out their website below.
July 6, 2020
Drugs and a Daughter’s Recovery – An Interview with Sherri Cotten
[image error]
Spending these precious 30 minutes with Sherri was a June highlight. I hadn’t been to her house in years–gone were the days of home school basketball games when my oldest daughter and her 2nd daughter played together. Our lives went in two different directions. I had two more kids and she ending up navigating a road that no parent would sign up for: her youngest daughter became a drug addict and served time in jail.
Sherri shared:
“She was different than our other kids, but I did not see addictive behavior. In hindsight, I saw that she felt things on a level I didn’t even realize and she didn’t know how to process those feelings. She didn’t know how to process some childhood trauma and we didn’t realize the degree of the trauma for her. The addictive behaviors showed up in her early teen…I’ve come to learn that some people have addictive type personalities. My husband claims he is that type and I believe my daughter is too. She was born and raised in the same church cult her dad and I were and that caused more damage than we thought, though we left when she was just turning 13.”
Did you ever feel guilty, if so, why?
“Yes! Because we couldn’t stop the freight train coming down the road. Because we couldn’t love her enough to fix her. Because of the things I would’ve done differently. I even felt guilty for not knowing anything about so many subjects: self-harm, eating disorder, drugs, drug abuse, trauma, etc. This quote has helped me a lot:
Mercy is giving people what they need, not what they deserve.“
How did you process the pain when it was greatest?
On my knees. I cried. I raged at God. I begged and pleaded. I surrendered. Also, I processed the pain with the one closest to me who went through it with me: my husband. Also with my family. I processed through prayer, reading, learning, educating, counseling.”
Sherri Cotten – Plan B – A Mother’s Journey Through Addiction and Recovery
Detaching with love means to let go and allow others the dignity to make their own choices and decisions.
To keep up with Plan B – A Mother’s Journey through Addiction and Recovery
FB page link: https://www.facebook.com/MothersPlanB/
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSHlmlXh1DHJhF_yKbbAhgg?view_as=subscriber
IG @amothersplanb
Interview with Cynthia Hash for By God’s Grace Radio at WINA: https://wina.com/podcasts/sherri-cotten/
Cultivating the Souls of Parents byTina Webb
[image error]
Excerpt of Cultivating the Souls of ParentsDownload
June 21, 2020
Interviewing my husband about Fatherhood, Emotional Growth, and God.
For Father’s Day, I decided to ask Doug questions about his journey as a father. You can watch the video here. Because our children span 20 years, it’s interesting to look back at who we were then–in the 1990s, and who we are now–adults in our fifties trying to parent both young adults and two young boys. To begin the conversation, I ask him questions based on the first chapter of my book, Cultivating the Souls of Parents.
Doug gets vulnerable as he shares about his dad and his relationship with God.
My interview with my husband, Doug.
[image error]
[image error]Connect with Us!
I want to hear from you!
Sign up to get my updates, ask me a question or leave a comment.
[contact-form]
May 28, 2020
Will I Make It Through Tomorrow?
I didn’t want to wake up.
But the bird outside wouldn’t shut up. I squeezed my eyes closed and put the blanket over my ears to see if I could cue another dream. Two minutes later, I rolled out of bed, frustrated, grumpy and slightly depressed.
My only saving grace was that it was 6:40 am and my kids would be asleep for another hour at least. So I headed upstairs to my office, resigned to leave my morning coffee for later. No need to make noise grinding coffee beans. Silence, my heart, and God were all I needed.
#Momlife was exhausting me. But so was #homemakerlife and #quarantinelife and all the other lives that I think I’ve lived in the last few months. Pent-up stress with no where to go. I was reaching a breaking point that was. not. good. Honestly, I wanted to stay in my office, stare out of the window at the trees, and not see a soul…for days.
[image error]
Practical Solutions that Seems Impractical
What do we do when our emotional gauge is so low that we feel like we are a glass vase about to shatter? Or a volcano about to erupt? When I reach a place in my emotions where Doug’s extra assistance, a weekend trip, and sleeping-in doesn’t help, I know that something deeper is going on in my soul. Usually I’m pretty good at dissecting the unseen parts of my being, but when I get a sense that “I’m close to a breaking point”, I know I need to tell someone who lives outside of my life.
1) Ask for Prayer.
I’m blessed to know a TON of prayer warriors. And if I didn’t have them, my church has a prayer help line. So my simple advice if you ever feel close to a breaking point is: phone a friend. A praying friend. A simple text is enough. Keep it simple: “I desperately need prayer because I am feeling (fill in the blank).”
The reason why I choose to ask for prayer first (versus texting “can we Facetime” or “Can I call you”) is this: when I talk to someone in this emotionally frayed state, I leave that initial conversation disappointed because I go into the conversation unconsciously expecting them to solve my problem.
Maybe it’s just me who does this, but when I am this low-which doesn’t happen often, but it does happen-I inadvertently make it someone’s job to get me out of my darkness. It’s totally unintentional. I don’t realize it until I feel the weight of disappointment settle on my shoulders after the conversation. The disappointment helped me realize that inwardly I’d hoped that they, friend or counselor, could “save” me from my despair. Maybe this has happened to you. Instead of feeling disappointed, perhaps you’ve gotten angry. Or confused. While emotional support and spiritual discernment is absolutely necessary when we are having a “dark night of the soul” day or season, no other human being can heal our souls. Note: I will always endorse professional counseling. If you are still sinking quickly despite the fervent prayers of faithful friends, then please pursue a professional counselor. Call a local church for recommendations.
Prayer does what a moment of practical help cannot, because it takes us to the only One that can truly bring us relief.
Prayer from a trusted friend reminds me of Mark 2:4. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
When we are frazzled, paralyzed in a mood, or emotionally depleted, we need others to take us to the feet of Jesus. We need them to carry us, through the act of intercessory prayer, to the place of healing and breakthrough.
Some people don’t understand how prayer and intercession actually works. Here is a super simple, one sentence analogy for prayer. (Please don’t be offended by the “commerce/store” aspect of my analogy. I do recommend the books: With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray and Intercessory Prayer by Dutch Sheets for a thorough teaching.)
[image error]
Prayer is like driving your car to the store, buying what you need, and then going home.
Maybe that analogy doesn’t work for you. 
