We just returned from vacation happy, but exhausted. As I walked around the house, I saw the many chores filling up the days ahead–the vacuuming, the dishes, the homeschool room that needs to be set up, the laundry, and the poop incident in the tub. And inside I complained. As I sat and watched the baby in his high chair after dinner, I felt God gently prompt me to thank Him. Here in front of me was the child...
I was driving home from my favorite discount grocery store and heard the Casting Crowns song, “Thrive,” playing on the radio. This chorus ends with this: “We know we were made for so much more / Than ordinary lives / It’s time for us to more than just survive / We were made to thrive.” I like the song, but weary from another long week with the kiddos, I thought of how my days don’t look like thriving, and they...
It was a rough day in the world in the world of mommying. I like things nice and neat, but nothing about this day was nice and neat. I like things orderly, calm, sweet–a hearts and flowers kinda girl. You can probably guess that today was none of those things. You think you’re a calm, patient, reasonable person who has attained some level of maturity, and then God puts you in the role of training and raising up adorable little...
There have been times this last week when the challenges of parenting compounded with physical weaknesses made it all seem just too hard, and discouragement creeps in. It seems silly to write it; I’m not gravely ill or suffering anything serious. It’s just the moment-by-moment challenge of life currently. My friend Laura recently shared the quote pictured above on her blog, The Blog Around the Corner. Laura is a friend that used to be part of our church...
You know how you read God’s Word, but it doesn’t really sink in? You’re thinking, I know this is really profound, but it just isn’t changing my life right now. What am I doing wrong? I feel like that a lot. But God’s Word is not a dead book for me to figure out all by myself: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of...
“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:11-13We are reading through Philippians with our community group and I’ve been meditating on this “I can do all things” verse for the...
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4As I interact with baby #3, now two weeks old, it keeps striking me what a different mommy I am than when I had my first baby. No, I haven’t morphed into super-mommy or “arrived” by any means (Philippians 3:12), but God has changed...
I’m waiting, not so patiently. Thirty-seven week pregnant and three weeks (or less) seem so far away. I realize when I’m forced to wait that my faith is often small, my hope short, and my patience untested. I am waiting for a baby that will most definitely come at some point. Small potatoes. Others in my life are waiting too:One for a foster child to fill a beautifully decorated room in her home.One on a chaotic government to come...
I was out this past Saturday for my baby shower and my oldest daughter asked my husband what he planned to do that day. “I don’t have any plans really,” he said. “Mommy always has a plan,” she replied. She knows her mama well. I’m a task person. I make lists. I keep a detailed planner. I like thinking up projects around the house. Sometimes this is a benefit to my family, and sometimes it’s a strain. But God...
