Ask AunT

     Trinette Collier Greene

Q: My husband is a sports enthusiast. He’s pretty much watching or attending sports events year round. His favorite sports are football and basketball and I’m finding myself competing, trying to get attention. He hangs with the fellas and often times they will bring their significant others to the events. I know without a doubt that he loves me. We have fun with each other and much more…I’m just not that in touch with the sports world. Am I being a whiney wife?

Signed: P.S.~Married to the Game

A: I know this scenario all too well! My husband is a sports fanatic and it seems like the seasons literally roll back to back! This is when I throw my hands up like “ I can’t win!” However, there is hope, Mrs. Wife! You are not a whiney wife and not alone. I suggest that you not compete with the world of sports…it will become exhausting and you won’t win, like that.

What you can do, if you have not already, is to schedule some days or nights to watch the games with him. I will do this because I don’t like crowds at the sports bars or it may be late games. While at home, I may order a pizza and wings (sports like foods) or make a dish. He will appreciate that and see that you are making an effort of wanting to watch the games with him. Dress up in his favorite jersey or purchase an inexpensive team shirt. I also recruited some girlfriends of mine to help understand the world of sports a little bit more!

Whatever you decide to do, make sure that it is fun and YOU are having fun. Remember to balance it. It’s ok if you don’t watch every game but be sure to do so here and there and also talk to him about taking up an interest of yours as well.

Until next time, take a moment to laugh, love, live and breathe life!

Love,
AunT

Trinette Collier Greene is a
Certified Relationship Stylist 

and
Contributing Writer

Submit your relationship questions to AskAunT@gmail.com

Model P31 Moms by Bridget McCray

To Repeat or Not to Repeat?

For anyone who’s been a parent for more than five minutes, we know that it’s tough, but an amazing job. Whether a birth, adoptive or foster parent, this role comes with tremendous responsibility, for we have the opportunity to shape future generations.

Some choose to rear their children the same way in which they were raised. Some don’t. Some had a loving, stable home with married parents. Others grew up with a stepparent. Still, others were raised in a single-parent home through the death of a spouse, divorce, or unwed parents. Sadly, some were even abused.

Our children don’t choose to be here. Our decisions as parents can often have a profound effect on them...and even on their children. Our relationship choices, our daily habits, the way we treat others, the way we handle finances: Would we want our children to emulate our current mindset & practices?

There are things in life over which we have no control, but there are others in which we have a great deal of control. The question is: To repeat, or not to repeat?

If we didn’t like our upbringing, we have an opportunity to do something different. If Dad didn’t say that he was proud of you, now that you’re a dad, you can make sure to let your child know how proud you are of him or her. If Mom didn’t hug you and say that she loved you, you can choose another path with your child.

No parent is perfect, including us. The good news is that we can count on the Lord for the wisdom needed to rear our children, and we certainly do need it. If we want better for future generations, it starts with us today. We can do it with God’s help. It’s available if we’ll only ask. So...to repeat, or not to repeat? The choice is ours.

Bridget McCray
Contributing Writer
Author, H.E.A.L.T.H.: It's Not Rocket Science (My Journey to a Healthier Me)

Available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble in both paperback and eBook formats!

Be a light!
#Matthew5:16

Trinette Collier Greene

Q: My male companion and I have been dating for about three years. We are both Christians and very dedicated to our service. We have fun, love each other dearly, enjoy our families and the families enjoy us! We have experienced some trials and tribulations as a couple. We attend different churches and we have visited each other’s congregations. Recently, he stated that I wasn’t submissive enough for him to marry. However, he continues to say that I’m the perfect woman for him! I don’t understand…what should I do? I love him dearly but this is causing me to have some doubts. 

Signed: T. M. ~ Not Sure About Him

A: Thanks for writing and sharing. I believe this may be a tad bit confusing…for him. It sounds as though he may be experiencing misinformation about marriage, women, and submission. If he is speaking of marriage, this would be a great opportunity for you to suggest seeking premarital counseling or even joining a group for Christian Couples that could possibly discuss this issue. Also, I would suggest seeking the advice/wisdom of a trusted ‘elder’ of both families. However, don’t give up, pray for clarity and understanding.

Until next time, take a moment to laugh, love, live and breathe life!

Love,
AunT 

Trinette Collier Greene is a
Certified Relationship Stylist 

and
Contributing Writer

Submit your relationship questions to AskAunT@gmail.com

Model P31 Fit by Bridget McCray

A Change in Thinking

Four years ago this month, I was super-excited about the time I’d invested in myself at the gym one particular morning. Why? It’s because I was able to set FOUR personal records! So…what's the big deal about that? After all, it's just my physical body, which will ultimately die anyway. Right?

Well, yes, it will die. However, while I'm still living in it, I want to have the best quality of life that I can have for however much time I have left on this earth.

For me, the bigger issue was the battle going on in my mind. Prior to that day, I didn't THINK I could do the things I’d accomplished that morning. However, when I went then, I’d made a decision to give my best EFFORT. With God’s help and my hard work, I’d accomplished them!

So, again: What's the big deal? For me, it's that my thinking was changing. That day, there were impossibilities before me...at least, in my mind. They were unattainable no more!

I continue to realize that this does not just apply to fitness, but to EVERY area where God has called me to serve Him and serve others. Change starts in the mind!

May I ask: Is there an impossibility before YOU today? I would encourage you to give your best effort, knowing that the Father loves you and wants what's best for you. Though the process isn't always fun, know that the results will most definitely be worth the work! (Hebrews 12:11)

You CAN change your thinking; just give it a try! Here’s to a healthier you!

Bridget McCray
Contributing Writer

Author, H.E.A.L.T.H.: It’s Not Rocket Science (My Journey to a Healthier Me)

Available at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com in both paperback and eBook formats!

Booking Information
Please visit www.bridgetmccray.com

Humbly Yours by Valerie Crawford

ABBA FATHER – Thank YOU for another opportunity to share YOUR truths. Open our hearts and understanding so that we can receive and develop and become workmen not ashamed but correctly interpreting YOUR words so that others can receive and develop and grow. In the Matchless Name LORD JESUS!

² In the same way that nursing infants cry for milk, you must intensely crave the pure spiritual milk of God’s Word. For this “milk” will cause you to grow into maturity, fully nourished and strong for life— ³ especially now that you have had a taste of the goodness of the Lord Jehovah and have experienced his kindness.   1Peter 2:2-3 (The Passion Translation)

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good …Psalm 34:8(a) (King James Version)

¹¹ We have much to say about this. But it is hard to explain because you are so slow to understand. ¹² You have had enough time so that by now you should be teachers. But you need someone to teach you again the first lessons of God’s message. You still need the teaching that is like milk. You are not ready for solid food. ¹³ Anyone who lives on milk is still a baby. He knows nothing about right teaching. ¹⁴ But solid food is for those who are grown up. They are mature enough to know the difference between good and evil.    Hebrews 5:11-14 (International Children’s Bible)

Developing Spiritual Children

When I was a little girl at my grandparents’ home in South Carolina, I sat in a corner, picked up my Pop’s bible and started reading. I don’t remember the passage, but I do recall my Pastor’s-Wife-Sunday-School-teaching grandmother walking in, taking the bible away & telling me, “I don’t want you reading this.” When I asked her why not, she told me that I would not be able to read the words in it. I remember very vividly assuring her, “Oh no, Nana! I’m a really, good reader! I’m in the top reading group in my class!” She smiled at my innocence and handed me another book – The American Standard Version of the Bible and my own catechism to study. Then she explained that she knew that I was a good reader, but she wanted me to use a version of the Bible that would make the words plain and clear to me.  Little did I know that Nana was my first lesson in establishing and developing a Spiritual Child! My Nana was my first MasterLife Facilitator!

She saw my ‘infant’ need for nourishment and as my first real disciple-builder, began gently establishing the roots of a new spiritual child. Yes, I needed (NEED) the WORD to grow and flourish but Nana also recognized that I needed ‘milk’ … just like Peter said in 1Peter 2:2-3!  Peter reminds me of my Nana with his ‘gentle’ instruction to crave the WORD like a baby longs for milk.

As babies, we ‘discovered’ new tastes all the time, don’t we? “Mmmm! What was that?!? It was good and it plunked in my tummy!” Their little fingers grasp for it! “More! More! More!” And our grown-ups happily share, excited about the eagerness and anticipation!

But not too much – not yet. You must establish a tummy strong enough for the next thing. We don’t introduce peaches and peas at the same time, for example, because we need to recognize if there are allergies and what to address.

And the same way we entreat a new-born baby, we should help our new-born spiritual siblings to grow and be strengthened … Established. But we can’t stop there! There is more - much more! At some point, I would need to move from the pureed peaches to a pork chop!

Now, if my Nana was my Peter, then without question, my Margaret is my Hebrews Writer! Margaret is my spiritual Mom and one day, when I was falling apart at her kitchen table, she asked me a simple question that I still apply today. “You’ve been down this road before. What is this really all about?”

That was the best question ever! It caused me to look deep inside to the root of the situation and say to my Self, “Listen – you are not a baby anymore.”  

The fact was - I HAD been down that road before! It was time - beyond time - to apply the Word that I danced and shouted to every Sunday!

“You should be on meat by now. You should be helping, teaching, guiding … DEVELOPING someone else!”

From my ‘great cloud of witnesses – my Nana and my Margaret to Latriece and Mother Coates; from my Pastor Burton to my Cousin Pastor, from my Pop and my BishopPastor all the way to Peter and that Hebrew guy; – I have learned this very important thing:

 In the same way that we don’t leave a human baby to fend on his own, we must initially slow walk a babe in CHRIST. The same way we would not serve a T-bone to a 3-month old, we must offer helpful, loving, patient guidance and aid to our new or newly rededicated siblings in CHRIST … allowing for baby steps and stumbles. Then, later, when they face the bumps in the road along the way, be there to remind them that GOD’s Mercy still endures, and HIS Grace is still sufficient!

Then we can watch like I imagine Barnabas and Ananias did, with the humble pride of parents, as our spiritual children walk across the stage, fully-developed – ready to join and perhaps even to surpass us in ministry.

One plants. Another waters. And ABBA FATHER continues to provide the increase!

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”   Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)

Simply Cindy Blog Team - Past and Present

      Trinette Collier Greene 

                                                             

Q: I am married with a 10-year-old son from a previous relationship. My son’s father and I co-parent fairly well, including my husband. During my son’s weekend with his dad, he comes home to tell me that his dad has a new girlfriend who lives with him. I was a bit disturbed by this action however, I didn’t confront him like I wanted to. Should I or am I being extra?

P.J. ~ NotJustABabyMama

A: First, let me say that I am not a parent however, I have had many friends and family members to experience this exact situation. In the father’s eyes, he sees nothing wrong. He sees that you are married, his son lives with a StepParent and he’s fine. However, in your eyes, being the mother, you are thinking of safety and more. In your mind, you’re asking the question “who dis, Harpo?!” You need to know the details of this woman. Not only for safety but for support of your son as well. Is this a potential mate that he is planning to marry or a fling?

Honestly, I believe that communication is essential in these situations…purposeful communication. I would approach your son’s father in a nurturing and non-combative manner but yet firm. Let him know your concerns and request to meet her for your son’s sake. If this is a serious relationship for him, I believe he wouldn’t be opposed to it. As always, pray about it. 

Until next time, remember to laugh, live and love!

Love, AunT

Trinette Collier Greene is a
Certified Relationship Stylist 

and
Contributing Writer

Submit your relationship questions to AskAunT@gmail.com