This past year our church leadership decided to celebrate communion every Sunday as long as the Spirit led us. It’s been a beautiful thing to come to the table prepared for us–every Sunday. We eat and drink “in remembrance of ” (read Jesus’ instructions for celebration in 1 Corinthians 11:23-28). It reminds us that this is why we’re together, why we’re a church, why we have life at all.But to be faced with His table, with HIM, every Sunday–has demands...
I am weighed down. I lay things down only to later realize I’ve picked them back up again. I’ve been reflecting on this Scripture: “Oh LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.” Psalm 131:1-2...
Some days I really need a boost of confidence. But where is that found? I can fill in the blank above with:my abilitiesmy wisdommy personalitymy experiencemy husbandmy churchmy friendsmy parenting strategies I don’t know about you, but confidence in these don’t always inspire courage and quiet my anxieties. We start homeschool for real next month and I range from excited to really sure I’m going to blow it. “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose...
Sarah Grace (5): “Mommy, does pulling a tooth out hurt more than pulling out a baby?” No, child. Not quite. Being pregnant with a five-year-old is way different than going through it with an under-two-year-old. I already feel sometimes when we go out that someone is missing. I worry about my baby. I’m not an overtly anxious person. My anxieties are lingering undercurrents of thoughts that I’m not taking the time to examine and bring under Jesus’ control. So they...
Something about mommying pushes me to the end of my of myself–pretty much every day–or at least several times a day. I stay home with the kids and we’re starting homeschool in the Fall, so we’re together A LOT. I love it, I really do, and I’m so thankful for it, but it pushes all my buttons and challenges all my shiny, but fake idols that I love more than Jesus (including a desire for space and control over...
It’s been a “hard-pressed” (2 Corinthians 4:8) kind of season season. Lots of situations I have no idea how to handle or make any sense of, worries that are hard to calm or talk myself out of, not-so-beautiful stuff coming out of me. And in the middle, God whispered this: “Something beautiful is coming.” Making things beautiful and right–that’s what He does: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet...
