God, I’m sorry you’re not getting the best of me these days. I was feeling discouraged with myself (DING! DING! DING! Discouragement with myself is the opposite of putting my trust in the Jesus, right?). I was discouraged with my “devotional times,” or lack of them. I don’t have a beautiful, daily, focused time of “devotion” in the prayer and the Bible, and I’ve definitely never been a morning person. My read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plan petered out in 2 Chronicles ....
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...
My son, who is now one, is beginning to love little hiding places. When I take him into the bathroom with me (because that’s what moms of curious walking one-year-olds must do, right?), he crawls into the empty cabinet under the sink and shuts the doors. Another favorite place is the space in the corner of our living room behind our Ikea lounge chair. There’s something comforting about being tucked into a secret place, unless you are claustrophobic like...
This week we are attempting to “practice kindness.” How could you say that kindly? How could you respond differently right now? I’m sure it’s going to get annoying, but we have got to start some new habits (and stop yelling at each other). I could point my finger at my little people, but it might get dangerous with that big log in my eye. “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not...
I woke up this Monday morning after a week of my kiddos being sick that blended into a weekend of fevers, coughs, and snotty noses. It wasn’t a pretty week for us and I wasn’t ready for a new one yet. Lord, help me be a slave to your Spirit today and not to my flesh. That was the only thing I could think of to pray over the day ahead. But something in that prayer–not in the words...
