![MP900440274[1]](https://faith.5minutesformom.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/MP9004402741-300x200.jpg)
Imagine giving a gift and having it refused.
Maybe it’s happened to you like it’s happened to me.
It was a small gift—nothing major, but something I thought would be enjoyed. The response I received was No thank you; I don’t have anything for you.
My gift was refused because it couldn’t be earned or reciprocated. And it hurt.
I wonder if that’s how God feels when we refuse His gift of grace.
Grace…God’s free and unmerited favor toward sinful humanity (NLT Study Bible, Tyndale)
God’s love and forgiveness wrapped up in His gift of grace.
It can’t be earned and can never be reciprocated.
Continue Reading »
I live in a noisy house, maybe you can relate? I live with 4 wild souls, a dog, and two cats so it is to be expected. I have learned to embrace the noise for the most part but it can begin to consume my heart and mind if I let it.
An everyday symphony, made up of many instruments with many different sounds. Every day is different. Some days it is sweet music to my ears, other days I have to turn it down and tune it out, and then there are days like today, where the noise just became too overwhelming for my heart to listen anymore.
Continue Reading »
GRACE IS…
the unexplainable hope
that washes away
the accusing whispers that dance in the darkness
and hide behind the mirror
and say, “You need to be thinner
and thinner
and thinner.”
Grace…
is the light that calls you
toward something so good that you’re scared to trust it.
You might even ignore it at first,
thinking it’s not for you.
Instead,
you try to get better
and fix things on your own.
You try to be strong.
Confident.
Perfect.
But hours of 3:00 a.m. sit-ups,
calorie counting,
dieting,
scrutinizing,
and hiding,
will make a person fall.
Yet Grace…
is the mighty hand that will catch you
and promise you
that you don’t have to be
perfect.
Continue Reading »
The words breezed by me countless times throughout my 36 years, I’m certain.
A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” –John 13:34
All these times, I’ve registered recognition but not nothing more: Oh, yes. The love commandment. I know that one.
Until this day.
God’s been persistent in whispering clues about how He loves. He knows I need to get this before I get anything else.
I’ve been alert, awaiting the whispers. So, on this day, when I read of Jesus speaking about love…
I pause.
Continue Reading »
I sometimes wonder if this picture is how my children will remember me: my back to them, staring at the computer screen, saying, “Just a minute” for the fifth time in a row.
Is my love for everything internet causing me to neglect my children? I was so disturbed by this idea that after reading Not Now Darling, Mummy’s Tweeting, I was ready to unplug and exchange my smart phone for a dumb one. The article suggested that ignoring your kids in favor of a screen damaged their self-esteem.
How many times had I done that? I was clearly neglecting my children and I was overcome with guilt.
Continue Reading »
The words stuck to my tongue like peanut butter on dry bread. And I’m so thankful they did. Though the taste was familiar, they felt bitter and far from the sweet, savory truth.
But shouldn’t I help my son overcome the fear of darkness?
Shouldn’t I tell him his surroundings are the same in the dark as the light? Shouldn’t he feel safe regardless of the time of day, no matter what he can or cannot see?
Normally, I would have tried to convince him of this. But the idea of light has followed me around lately. Reaching me in the most obscure and obvious places.
Continue Reading »
I stood outside their bedroom door tonight after tucking them in, leaning on the frame, listening. Curious if they would fall asleep quickly or if there might be some cute dialogue between the two of them. Usually I break away for the computer or a book — some place to decompress after a mentally-draining day, but tonight I lingered, wanting to soak in a motherhood moment.
“Did mommy leave?” asks the younger. “Yes.”
“Didshee come in dust to top?” he says in his usual not-so-easy-to-understand 3-year-old-ese. “What?”
“DID she come in dust to talK?” he enunciated the k better this time.
Continue Reading »
There are painful times in life when it seems that all we can do is grasp for some sort of encouragement to get us through the present moment. These times can either be full of a flood of excess emotion or the opposite absence of emotion. Both are a sign of a heart in intense pain. It can be hard to tell which way is up, and time is blurry and abstract. It can be hard to have vision for the current day, let alone the grand scheme of life.
If you aren’t in a time of life like this right now, chances are you have been or will be in not too terribly long.
Continue Reading »
