I have the best readers on the planet and y’all were SO gracious and supportive when my first book released earlier this year. Today, my second book is being released!!
Devotions for Christmas is a project dear to my heart. I pray that the thirty days of devotions inside will bring peace and joy to your holiday season.
Amazon has only 12 copies left as of this morning, so get your copy soon!🙂 I would love to see it sold out on day 1!
You are loved!❤
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. Colossians 3:23 NIV
I am super proud of myself because all of my children already have their Halloween costumes AND candy buckets three full weeks before Halloween. To fully appreciate this you would need to understand that, last year, I forgot the buckets and sent my kids door to door with old Easter baskets.
Trick or treat! (Also, He is risen). Whatevs – in my day, it was perfectly acceptable to use an old pillow case. You know what, it held WAY more candy than a plastic bucket with a handle that breaks before you get to the end of the street.
It was a confusing time and more than one person commented on the unusual choice – as if I had the two options before me and decided to go with the blatantly inappropriate one. Sometimes, a girl is just doing the best she can, y’all.
When you see that mama at the store and her kid is screaming in the buggy and folks are giving her the stink eye? Yeah, she’s doing the best she can. No one needs to comment on how her kid would never act like that or that child should be at home taking a nap.
The other day I saw a woman at the store and she had two kids dressed in boots and jeans like it was about to be a blizzard, two kids in shorts and flip flops like they were on their way to the beach and one child still wearing what she slept in the night before. That poor woman – fine, it was me – was doing. the. best. she. can!
So, if some sweet child knocks on your door and says, “Trick or treat,” while holding a frilly basket decorated with Easter eggs, just give her some candy for crying out loud. And, if you are one of the ones who choose to hand out oranges or toothbrushes or mints from the Olive Garden (true story,) we will know that you’re doing the best you can.
It’s all any of us can do – the best we can. Our kids may still make bad choices. We will still make bad choices. We will wish for do-overs and have to settle for grace overs. We will say things we regret and regret the things we didn’t say.
Here’s my promise to you. When I see you fall, I’ll lift you up instead of laugh. I’ll listen to you instead of judge you. We can love each other without looking like each other. I will try to understand even if I’ve never stood where you stand.
We can do this thing together doing the best we can.
You are loved.❤
Has God ever hurt your feelings?
Have you ever been angry with Him?
Can you think of a time when you felt like He tricked you?
Have you ever wanted to do the fool me once, shame on me – fool me twice, shame on You thing to Him?
Have you ever experienced such a loss that you were prone to wander?
Most of us wouldn’t feel comfortable admitting to some of those things. So, for the next 500 words, let’s all pretend that we have a friend (I’m totally doing air quotes right there) who has experienced some of these emotions.
I was listening to a story yesterday about a woman who, after enduring several painful life experiences, decided that God was no longer good. She was wounded and unable to see beyond it.
It made me think of another woman I know who once said, “I’m afraid that, when it’s my turn to suffer, I will disappoint Him.” It was this woman’s greatest desire to suffer well for her Savior.
I couldn’t help but wonder, in the midst of pain, what makes one woman cling tighter to the cross and one turn her back and walk away?
I thought of Job who, of course, suffered more loss than most of us can imagine. But I also thought of his wife who, we often forget, suffered the very same losses. While they may have experienced the same losses, they had very different responses.
Job’s wife
His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.” Job 2:9
Job
Even if he kills me, I will hope in Him. Job 13:15
One says, “Forget it.”
The other says, “I’m not letting go.”
What’s the difference?
I thought about this for quite some time and here is what God kept bringing to my mind.
The first five verses in the first chapter of Job tell us a lot about Job’s relationship with the Lord before the tragedy. Before the loss. Before the heartache.
He was completely devoted to the Lord. It was his custom to rise early every morning and offer prayers and sacrifices on behalf of his children.
We have to know that we know that we know that the Lord is good. We have to trust His heart. We have to believe in His love. We have to be committed to Him. But this all needs to take place on the front end!
When you know someone’s heart, you can trust them more. When someone has proven to be faithful, you cling tightly to them even as the storm rages around you. Notice that Job never claims to not be in pain. Life is dang hard and no one makes it through unscathed. It still hurts, y’all. But our hurt doesn’t cancel out our hope.
Whatever the days hold for us, let us be people who refuse to let go no matter what.
You are loved.❤
I am a huge fan of shows involving obstacle courses. I love to cheer on the underdogs and, perhaps, I’m a little pleased when the overly proud ones slip early on and eliminate themselves. I am not even remotely athletic so I’ve always wondered why these types of shows appeal to me so much. Then, I took a shower last night and it all made sense. Every time I enter my bathroom it’s as if I’m participating in an obstacle course without ever signing up for it.
If you’ve ever gone to the restroom and realized (after the fact) that someone used the last roll of toilet paper and failed to replace it – then you know what I mean. You jiggle. You shake. You yell to see if anyone is within earshot. (They never are, by the way. Not unless you’re opening a candy bar.)
Then, there is the shower obstacle. You attempt to place your feet somewhere in between the Barbie dolls and the Hot Wheels. Just the other night, I pushed all of the toys to one end of the tub but failed to notice the white, rubber ball which blended quite nicely with the white tub. That was almost the one that eliminated me from any further competition.
My personal favorite part of the show is when I attempt to wash my hair and must determine which bottles actually contain shampoo and which ones have been filled with week old bath water. Trust me, getting that one wrong is quite unpleasant.
Let’s say, by chance, you are one of the superior competitors who survive the shower scene. That’s about the time you open the linen closet and find that the towels have all mysteriously disappeared. Oh, sure, there is one limp, slightly damp towel laying on the floor. Do you dare?
Why is the towel wet? Did it dry a clean body fresh from the shower or was it used to mop up an overflowed toilet? You take a quick sniff and go for it. This ain’t your first shake yourself dry on the potty, almost die from a rubber ball in the shower, wash your hair in dirty bathwater and dry yourself off with a questionable towel obstacle course.
No, ma’am. You can do this thing.
My heart broke as I listened to story after story. The things that go on in schools these days are terrifying. Even the so-called good kids make bad choices and what is our world coming to when children can’t just be children. Mamas afraid to put their children on a school bus and dads having to have conversations about drugs and s*x with kids who should still be innocently giggling and jumping rope.
As I sat there, I thought of a verse in the book of Romans. Paul is reminding his readers of the time Elijah was convinced that he was alone in the world. The people were worshipping other gods, the prophets were all being killed and Elijah’s own life was in danger. He cries out to God, “I am all alone in this!” But the Lord is quick to set him straight.
I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Romans 11:4
Elijah panicked and ran because he was convinced that he was alone. You can read the whole account in 2 Kings 19. My favorite part is, as Elijah is hiding in a cave, God comes to him and asks, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
God sends him back to where he came from and He gives him the names of people who are still standing strong. There is Hazael, and Jehu and Elisha. Also, there are seven thousand others. Elijah was never alone.
Paul tells his readers that, just like in Elijah’s day, there is a remnant chosen by grace (Romans 11:5.) It may have appeared as if the Jews were all rejecting Christ but there was always a remnant of believing Jews who would not abandon their faith. Matthew Henry’s commentary on this verse describes this remnant as people who were “chosen from eternity in the counsels of divine love to be vessels of grace and glory.”
We may look at the environments our children are having to navigate and be tempted to think they are all alone. As a fellow mom who has the same fears, I can promise you that they are not alone. There will always be a remnant chosen by grace.
Your child may just be a part of that special group chosen from eternity to be a vessel of grace and glory. We need to cover our children in prayer. Let’s ask God to reveal some of the others who are still standing for Him just like He did for Elijah so that our children know that they aren’t alone.
Perhaps, it’s you. In the workplace. In the gym. In the playgroup. On the campus. Wherever you are – you’re not alone. You are a part of a remnant chosen in love to carry His grace and glory to the darkest corners of the world.
Carry on. You are loved.
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