I had a longer blog post planned for this week, but quite honestly I’m having a hard time keeping it together this week. Let’s just say the combination of three kids doing school at home all day plus the frustration of not getting to do all the things I’d like to do is draining for me. As I looked through some photos I snapped recently of old family photos at my mom’s house, I thought about my parents. I...
“I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.” (Hosea 11:4 ESV) sometimes I feel I’m coming loose barely clinging to You a little too much distraction immaturity or plain exhaustion poor in spirit small of faith in courage, a mewling kitten beset by fears vulnerable to snake whispers are the ties...
“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8 A whole three years ago when I was a brand-new blogger, I posted my very first printable. It was a lettered print of 1 Peter 4:8, and it’s been a popular post on my blog since. I still love it (and have it on my wall), but I wanted to give it a little makeover. Plus, my husband and I just...
I can’t think on much of anything more astounding than the sovereignty and patience of God in completing His plan for us. “It is finished” was the final cry of Jesus on the cross as He surrendered up His human spirit. Every prophecy was fulfilled. A perfectly righteous life lived. Every sin paid for. The great enemies (Satan, death, and sin) defeated. The veil (symbolic and physical) separating God and man torn (Matthew 27:50-51). If “it is finished,” where...
“And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.'” And he said...
At one point this week, one of my children screamed from the bedroom, “I hate this place so much!” To be honest (which I always try to be here), I wasn’t loving “this place” so much either. Summer has been trying at times here for us (well, mostly me). We’re off our regular routine of friends, community, and school. I’m dealing with some allergy issues. My husband is in the middle of some demanding projects at work. And let...
Marriage can be a beautiful, but tricky thing. First of all, let me say that I’m so thankful to be married to a man who is a new creation in Jesus and who is always growing and learning. The two of us have the same Spirit, so in the end, God smoothes out our rough edges. But in the middle . . . well, we sometimes get splinters. Take this past Sunday morning. My husband grew up in a...
I am frustrated with my frustration. I am impatient with my own impatience. Why do I keep letting these little people get to me? We may all look put-together as we herd our scrubbed and somewhat-matching little duckies into church on Sunday morning, but I have a feeling we all say the same things come mid-Monday morning. Today we had a frustrating morning of attempting school while trying to keep the baby from climbing from the chairs to the...
God is up to something in me. I feel a particular strain of truth hitting me from several directions and I’m wading in the deep of it. We have just started a study of Galatians in our community group. I’m reading Elyse Fitzpatrick’s “Good News for Weary Women: escaping the bondage of to-do lists, steps, and bad advice,” I had a conversation about judging and grace with my friend Katie over lunch leftovers last week while the kids ran...
