Friday Introductions: One Girl Among a Bunch of Boys

Last night and this morning, I've been babysitting a friend's three kids. That makes five kids in my house. If you're the mom of five or more, God bless you. It's been loud and challenging. It's also been raining, so my grand plan of sending them all outside to play went nowhere.

So, we've spent the last 18 hours together in our three-bedroom ranch. I've been busy trying to get us ready for vacation while settling disagreements, finding toys for a bored 4-year-old and mentioning that hockey sticks are not a weapon.

Yesterday, the 4-year-old followed me from place to place as I was trying to pack She talked non-stop. I have never been so glad to put a child to bed. My poor ears simply needed a break.

Listening to one voice for long periods of time can skew your perspective. Simply listening to my friends' daughter all day yesterday, I learned that a radio is a magical thing, she was very concerned about where she was going to sleep and she likes princesses. But if that was the only voice I listened to ever, I would have a very skewed perspective of the world.

I love that each of you makes Everyday Truth a part of your day. I love sharing my life with you each morning. I love that you are willing to send me emails and comments to share your lives with me. But there are so many great voices out there that I don't want you to miss, either. So many wise people who have amazing things that God has laid on their heart to share.

God offers us wisdom in so many places. Mining the treasure trove of wisdom that's available from others always brings fresh perspective into my life. Some days it helps me to know I'm not alone. Other days it brings a much-needed smile to my face. Proverbs 11:14 says, "For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers."

The more wise, Godly voices we have in our lives -- whether they be in real life or virtual -- the better able we are to seek after God. We should never substitute someone else's voice for God, but we can gather insight and joy from what others have learned about Him.


So, I'm going to start using this space on Fridays to share with you other blogs and books that touch my heart and speak wisdom into my life on a regular basis. Some of them are written by people I know while others are ones I've simply come across on my own. We're going to call it our Friday Introductions.

Today, I want you to meet my friend Tonya Shrader. She's the mom of two boys and has an amazing testimony of God's faithfulness. She's a talented writer, and I'm thrilled to call her my friend. She writes a fantastic blog called "One Girl Among a Bunch of Boys." This week she blogged about her experiences teaching Vacation Bible School and had some fabulous insights into the hearts of children. Her blogs this week made me smile and brought tears to my eyes. Head on over and check out what she had to say. I'm sure you'll love her as much as I do.

I hope you enjoy this trip as we venture outside the cyber walls of Everyday Truth to meet some new people on our journey. If you know someone who writes a great blog or has written a book that touched your life, shoot me an email or leave me a comment and I'll consider using them in a future post.