"My grace is sufficient"

"My grace is sufficient": Let us consider one another to provoke to love. : "More than any king before him, Ahab son of Omri did many things the Lord said were wrong....He did more things to make the Lord, the G...

"More than any king before him, Ahab son of Omri did many things the Lord said were wrong....He did more things to make the Lord, the God of Israel, angry than all the other kings before him" 1 Kings 16:30 and 33. I knew a powerful person once, who was a Christian. He told me that he believed strongly that as the salt and the light, Christians should mostly be examples of God's goodness. Unfortunately, instead of showing God's love and compassion, the man (in my opinion) did more damage than good. He was quick to point out weaknesses of others, and instead of working to understand someone and hear where they were coming from, made judgements about them. I can speak from experience to say that his pride and ignorance got in the way of his message. There is a fine line a Christian walks. While we are led to love others, and witness about Christ and His compassion, we also carry the burden to reveal the truth about sin in this world. As sinners ourselves, it is impos...

When Harrison was born, and I was scheduling his feeding (3,6,9,12...), I remember the one hour period a couple times a day that he would cry. Because I knew that it would be easier to have a scheduled baby in the long run, I withstood the tears. It broke my heart to watch him cry, and to try everything: pacifier, blanky, walking, stroller. There were times that nothing worked. But suddenly, 5 days later (and almost every day of his life after that), Harrison was on schedule; eating only at the times that he was scheduled to...on the hour. He slept through the night better, and it was easier to ween him of his nighttime feedings (I would take away 12, then 9, then 3am, and soon, at 3 months, he slept through the night). The same was true for my other kids. It was like tearing out my heart to listen to them cry, but after they were scheduled, I always could do my best to predict what was wrong; if they were full, and well slept, then I could count on a fit being teething, or needing m...

I notice pretty quickly, that I can start to throw a pretty awesome pitty party for myself. There is a lot of pressure in life. The week happens, and I begin to uplift my own labor. I put myself on a super high pedal stool: I work from home, watch the kids, clean the house, do the yard work, taxi Harrison around town, feed the baby, try to get a work out in, make breakfast, clean breakfast, make lunch, clean it, then dinner (by the way, Jon rocks because he takes the load off the laundry, and makes dinner most nights- this is a picture of my inner dialogue, not a clear depiction of the actual #truth...hashtag truth...)...and if Jon gets home, and he is having a bad day, I often start to desire strongly to not listen to his stress, but instead, I want so badly to compete. I have an evil, natural wanting to place my burdens on him. I'm really dramatic about it. So not only has Jon had a bad day, but I want him now to experience my stress. Even if it's not as bad as I can make it ...

I've been trying to post about Hallie every week since she was born, and I have had such a hard time explaining in words this transition of having a new, sweet, easy, perfect little girl added to our family. I haven't been able to say what I want to, and I think it's because the kind of love that you have for a child is impossible to explain. I keep coming across as too cheesy or really wordy. But I feel like posting about her, because I want to remember this time. God has been at work in so many different ways, and I feel like if I don't write it I will forget it. So here goes my really selfish blog post... Four weeks ago today, Hallie was born. I love her. She is such an easy going, little blessing. She loves her brothers; which I can't REALLY tell because she is so new, but she gets so calm around them. If she is crying, I can lay her down where they are playing (lego's, coloring, fighter guys...whatever) and she will stop and watch them. When they hold h...

Why are we in such a rush to be happy? Whether we shop beyond our means, or change the channel fifty times, or make an irrational decision in the moment that could later lead to destruction...I have noticed that we are constantly trying to self diagnose and self medicate.  I have seen the saga happen so many times in my life; I see it in my own decision making, but also in decision making of those around me. People are really quick to make selfish demands because they are uncomfortable. It's a lie. It's a divorce. It's a weekend spent high. It's a good job left because of festering anger. It's money spent that shouldn't be. It's words spoken to hurt. It's gossip. It is breaking away from those who are close to us. It's fear... Our minds justify such actions in the moment. Maybe we were hurt, and we feel the need to uplift ourselves. Maybe the other person deserves it. Maybe we are just unsettled, and we are trying really quickly to settle our o...

"Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it." Luke 17:33 I see Jesus here, echoing the voices of the past. I love that the Bible is filled with such a strong account of characters who fail so often to trust God.  I fail so often to live out it's message. But what if God's word is really true? What if I REALLY lost my life in Him? I mean...really let go? I was looking through my prayer journal, and thinking about my requests to God. Every day, I fervently pray for my kids, my job, Jon, my friends, my family, my house...but then, I start my day and after surrendering it all, I take it all back. And for some reason, I fear that if I'm not in control of my life, that somehow, things will fall apart. And for another reason, I don't always know what it looks like in certain moments to let go. Emotions and circumstances come at me quickly. Instead of falling on my knees and seeking His will, I react. I react in...