For decades, I believed that my Heavenly Father was disappointed with me. I wasn’t measuring up to the standard of perfection, so my inner dialogue was full of scoldings.
See? You did it again. You messed up. When will you ever learn?
You better try harder because you’re falling behind.
You should do more and be more in order to make God happy.
These accusations tore me down. But in my stubbornness, I was determined to try harder and be better. After all, I prided myself on exceeding expectations—trying to impress with my prowess.
The gold stars, the pats on the back, and the thumbs up fueled my efforts. But soon I was weary from all the work of trying to measure up; striving as a Tightly Wound Woman.
I was living like a slave, not a daughter.
A slave toils to earn her keep. A daughter rests in her position as an heir.
A slave worries that she won’t be enough. A daughter knows that she doesn’t have to be enough in order to be loved.
A slave aims to please the Master. A daughter delights in her Dad who is already pleased with her, because she is His.
Toil. Worry. Striving.
These are the marks of a slave who fears her Master is never satisfied.
Rest. Peace. Delight.
These are the characteristics of a daughter who knows the acceptance of her Father.
His face said it all: his brows furrowed inward, his eyes squinted and his mouth was as tight as a rubber band ready to explode. My son was angry at himself. In all his 6-years of wisdom, he knew – he’d done something he wasn’t happy with.
He looked up at daddy and said, “I want to go in time-out for 2 minutes – for you, daddy…”
My son’s words got me thinking recently, as a friend offered me unsolicited advice I knew I shouldn’t be listening to. God had already made my steps clear: I was to wait on Him until wisdom came. I knew this was the plan. Yet, as I sat down with this friend and they started talking on and on about what I should do, my heart started to plummet.
Would it really turn out okay? I really should save myself. Is anyone there to help me?
While one minute I was standing strong with God, the next, I was tumbling over with fear. I was buckling in with anxiety.
Ever been there? Ever been sure of what God wanted you to do, only to act out the exact opposite?
I let another’s influence invade a boundary God had established. And, I felt horrible about it.
What do you feel horrible about? What boundary has been invaded in your life, in a way where you constantly beat yourself up? In a way where you feel bad, horrible and no good? In a way where you’re not sure you can ever be nice to yourself again?
Because of what I did, I was convinced God was stripping me of all my good girl medals. It was as if, the row of trophies I’d earned – were disappearing before my very eyes. I was being demoted on his team and I was being relegated to the sidelines.
I could almost see it all happening and transpiring because of my faithlessness. You’re out, Kelly! You’re out! So, I took myself out of the game. I counted myself unworthy. I discounted my standing. I practically said to God, “I want to go in time-out for 2 minutes – for you, daddy.”
Like me, are you keeping yourself in time out – for daddy? Are you holding yourself back to make right what you know you made wrong? Are you punishing yourself?
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Jo. 3:17
If Jesus didn’t come to put us in permanent time out…then why do we send ourselves there? Why do we stay far from the Healer who wants to heal?
If Jesus came to save and not punish,
his procedure is to heal us and not ruin us.
With this idea in mind, we can approach him from a feeling of loved, adored and about-to-be restored, rather than failing and floundering.
When can approach like this:
I am sorry God.
You forgive me God.
I am holy God, in you.
Nothing can change that.
I am blameless in you.
You are leading me a new way.
And then, we realize, we were never outside of his love, but we were always in it and, then, we remember it is his love that heals us every time.
Ever opened your bible to only hear crickets from God?
Ever felt like you and your Father were neighborhoods apart in connection?
Like you somehow lost your close standing next to your high King?
I feel this small creep. The creep of “something is not right,” the creep of pulling away, the creep of “I am not hearing as much.”
Small creeps away from God over days, turn into giant mile gaps over months.
What I have noticed is, the sooner my heart checks it’s receptivity to God, and adjusts its channels the more of a chance, I have of hearing his voice. Usually, I can avoid the “slow creep” seep – but I have to first start by being aware of when it.
The slow creep seep can be sneaky – if you aren’t aware that it can move in at any time.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there are times God does go silent.
Sometimes he shuts down the music, the connection and here is why:
1. To help us remember God is God and we are not.
When you did these things and I kept silent, you thought I was exactlylike you. Ps. 50:21
2. To settle our hearts in the deep places his trusting love.
The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. Zeph. 3:17
3. To handle “Kingdom causes” outside of our comprehension.
Why do You look with favor On those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they? Hab. 1:13
What I want my heart to finally learn is that: God does what he does, but he always reigns from above, out of love.
This is always God’s MO, battle plan, driving force, and charge – every time.
On the other hand, sometimes the issue of silence is not founded in God’s plan it is founded in us. Like a cavity, we may have stored up so much decay that our faith bite loses its power.
Here’s how we remove decay and get back to the fullness of pleasure as we digest all the goodness of God:
1. We beat out bitterness.
Bitterness can be a byproduct of unforgiveness.
Who do you need to forgive – God, yourself or others?
2. We ask to hear and plead for God to come near.
O God, do not remain quiet; Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still. Ps. 83:1
When we ask, God listens.
3. We dive into the Word of God, to be replenished by his Words always read to bring truth.
He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” Lu. 11:28
When we hear the Word of God, we hear God.
4. Worship the one who surrounds you with his glory.
…God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Ro. 1:20
See God around you and you will start to feel God well up in you.
5. Seek and serve up love in all you do by giving, helping, serving, opening up, receiving and pouring out.
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 Jo. 4:12
The more we learn love (including the receipt of it), the more we feel God’s love.
The truth is – God is love. If we are operating from love, we are operating from the tabernacle of God’s goodness. Different days, call for different strategies. Sometimes, we are restored with his love, sometimes we are restored by a love of his Word and other times, we are restored to share
Different days, call for different strategies. Sometimes, we are restored – to love, sometimes we are restored – by His love and other times, we are restored – to search out greater love.
No matter what his call for you today, one thing is for sure, slow creeps are simply not from him. So, lets allow our hearts to creep back to the throne of the King of all care. He waits for us – with love.
My last semester of college, I moved to North Carolina for an internship at a giant computer corporation.
I hated to leave school early, but they offered me a chance to work into my first real job, and I couldn’t pass it up. Just before I moved, my boyfriend proposed, and we decided to get married less than 6 months later. Just after college graduation. It was an exciting time, to say the least.
So I transitioned into a new job, and moved into what would become our first apartment. I learned our new city and made some new friends. And after setting up our apartment with just the basics, I laid out pieces of wedding paraphernalia on the nightstand beside my bed. It was a daily reminder of my new life to come, the life I was eagerly waiting for.
Do you remember a time when you longed for something new, just around the bend?
I studied a verse earlier this week, and it reminded me of this anticipation.
“So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.” Hebrews 9:28, ESV
Let’s talk about that last phrase for a minute. To save those who are EAGERLY WAITING for Him.
Jesus will come again, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.
I have a question for you, and it’s probably going to hurt a little. But I hope it brings you to a better place, and a new perspective.
Are you eagerly waiting for Jesus?
He is coming to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him. But there’s just one problem.
We love the world instead.
We are eagerly waiting for all our dreams to come true in this life. We are waiting, for everything we love right here—for the work and accomplishments and people and events and promotions and possessions and all the plans we desire for our families, for our lives. Right here.
I hate to admit it, but my desires and dreams for this life compete with my desire for Jesus.
I’ve been involved in a love affair with this world, and it has prevented me from waiting eagerly for Jesus to come again. But the Holy Spirit used this passage to make me aware, and to lead me to repentance. There’s no better place to be, because repentance brings refreshment.
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” Acts 3:19
I don’t want to be waiting on all the amazing possibilities of this world.
I want to be waiting for the King of the world.
Let’s hope He finds us waiting for a new life to come. Waiting eagerly for Jesus.
Angela Parlin is a wife and mom to 3 rowdy boys and 1 sweet girl. In addition to spending time with friends and family, she loves to read and write, spend days at the beach, watch romantic comedies, and organize closets. But most of all, she loves Jesus and writes to call attention to the beauty of life in Christ, even when that life collaborates with chaos. Join her at www.angelaparlin.com, So Much Beauty In All This Chaos.
I know many of you are like me, we want our prayers answered.So how do we pray with confident assurance that God will hear and answer our prayers?
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him,” says 1 John 5:14-15.
What a powerful promise! God says he will give us “anything” we ask for according to His will. Isn’t that amazing? It doesn’t say that he might answer the prayer, or that sometimes He’ll say “no.” He says “we have what we have asked of him.” That’s 100 percent of the time! Granted it might not be in our timing, but it’s always in God’s perfect timing. The answer is, “Yes.”
But there is one caveat: We must ask according to God’s will.
Ah…now that’s the tricky part. How can we possibly know God’s will? The only way to truly know God’s will is to pray the Scriptures. As it says in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”
When I (Sally) was a young mom and a new believer in Christ, I had never actually prayed out loud. So when I stepped into my first Moms in Prayer meeting, I listened. Just listened. For six weeks I prayed along in my heart, but didn’t say a word. I loved hearing the other women’s Holy Spirit-directed prayers for my children. Yet I was too afraid to pray out loud. After about six weeks, I was brave enough to pray the Scripture for my child out loud. The Holy Spirit gave me the courage to speak out His Word, to pray His truth for my son. What an amazing experience, praying for my son, hearing other moms pray for my son. This was my new top priority for my kids.
God’s answers poured out like a flood that first year; our group witnessed dramatic miracles. God healed children of major illnesses. We saw changes in kids’ attitudes and behaviors. We prayed that every child would hear the good news—and He brought a Good News Club to our campus. And several teachers at our elementary school accepted Christ as Savior!
Eventually, I was leading my own Moms in Prayer group. We’d pray for our public school teachers adapting verse Acts 26:18: “May [teacher’s name] open his/her eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ.”
One day a mom came into the group upset about a certain teacher. I said, “That’s the teacher we’re going to pray for today!” And every week we prayed for her. As we prayed week after week for this teacher, God grew our love for her. Soon, she came to know the Lord, and my two youngest got to be in her class. I felt so privileged to be able to talk with her about the Lord and about prayer. It was amazing to watch and see her grow in Christ. But that wasn’t the only teacher that became a Christian on that public school campus. Eleven other teachers came to Christ as we prayed Acts 26:18 over them!
Want to see God at work? Pray the Scriptures over the people in your life. How do you know if God is going to answer your prayer? If you pray according to His will. And His will is the mighty Word of God, which never comes back void. It always fulfills His purpose and His plan.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:8-11
My prayer for each one of you, is that you will “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16. And every day has a time of need.
Related Resources: Want to learn how to remain unshaken in our crazy world? Sally Burke, the president of Moms in Prayer International, and Cyndie Claypool de Neve explain how in their new book, Unshaken. Want to go deeper? Experience what it really means to be unshaken through the innovative companion study guide.
Enjoy the peace and power of praying with other women for your children. Visit www.MomsInPrayer.org to learn more.
I’ve battled the tightness of chest, the shakiness of body and the uncertainty of what is to come for quite a while. Only recently have I been able to win the war against what seems incurable: my anxiety.
Do you suffer from it?
It’s a feeling you can’t get ahead…
It’s surviving, with generalized gnawing…
It’s living with overwhelming tenseness because you feel out of control…
It’s bearing with the weight of the world on your shoulders…
It’s carrying irritation from others actions…
It’s a true sense of your inability to change things…
For so long, anxiety crept up on me like a lightweight spider; I didn’t know he was on me until his poison sank in. Then I knew, I was in for it. He saturated me in a way where it felt impossible to get well again. To fix things. Maybe you’ve been there. I wouldn’t wish it on my greatest enemy.
Anxiety has ruined family vacations.
It’s made me snap like an explosive.
It’s caused many a sleepless night.
It’s broken peace.
It’s stolen moments.
It’s made me self-consumed.
It’s made me angry at myself.
What has it taken from you? What has this poison done in your body? Life?
Only recently have I started to make headway against it.
Step 1 of progress is in acknowledging this: My anxiety is due to a gap I do not internally believe I have the power to bridge, control or fix.
Step 2 is deciding I am in charge of my feelings. No one else has the ability to: 1. Tell me how to feel. 2. Make me feel a certain way 3. Force me to have feelings or to act a certain way.
With this, I can imagine a holy box of God around me. In this space, I am permitted to feel as I feel without feeling bad about it. In this space, I am able to present to God the actual emotion I am feeling and the cause that set it off, without living under the weight of crushing judgment. Why can I do this? Because Jesus is my advocate. He forgives, heals and helps. He is behind me and for me. He also wants me to discover his peace. He loves me.
Step 3 is saying this: God, I do not have the ability to figure ______ (insert the trigger of the issue here) out. I need your help with how to respond. Will you show me how to stay with you in this space and place that feels scary? Will you show me how to lean on you when I am not sure how people will react or how well I will do? Will you be my protection as I respond in a way that is truthful – to you and to others? I can hand over to you the person, place or thing that is troubling my heart and be with you in the moment. Here, you will lead me and prompt me to move with your love, grace and mercy towards myself and towards others. I can trust you to be with me, even when I feel all alone.
This 3-step process has literally been my saving grace. When I feel the poison starting to rise up from within me, God’s grace towards my constricting heart makes all the difference. It frees me. The secret is: you gotta catch it early. Right when it starts.
And, when you don’t, it’s okay. Just try again next time.
Prayer for women like me who struggle like this: Dear God, here we stand before you, women who don’t have it all figured out, women who want to be better, women who struggle inside our own bodies. God, will you help us to rely on your truth instead of our feelings? Will you help us to put up healthy barriers between us and the world? Will you help us to take your peace you’ve given us and to keep it? We need you. We can’t do it alone. Please be our guide, Lord Jesus. You are the answer every time. We trust your ways and want to die to our own. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Has your heart ever been broken? Mine has – by a woman nonetheless…
I remember standing on a field so many years ago – new at an all-girls school where bonds from middle school past already seemed tightly formed.
Could I make my way here?
I gave it my best shot. I practiced with intensity, hit every ball with power and ran so hard I felt like I might faint. Near buckling at my knees, I didn’t care – every move was a silent message to this new world: I am impressive, beautiful and desirable.
My effort will make them love me.My worth here will prove me lovable. I will belong to this club – even if it kills me…
Sweaty, panting and constantly smiling, eventually I made headway with the girl with the constantly swinging brown ponytail. She was nice. I was happy. We continued talking.
We will be great friends – me and brown ponytail girl. I was certain of it.
But, that wouldn’t happen, I would come to find out. You see, blond ponytail girl – the real all-star leader of this pack, had other plans: plans to point a finger at me from afar, plans to whisper, plans to grab brown ponytail girl’s hand, plans to pull her away, and plans to crush me.
Brown ponytail girl no longer gave me the time of day.
So, I gave up and stopped trying.
I was cut from the team.
Then, I gave up on the school.
I left it the next year, taking home with me the lesson: Women hurt women. They are scary and always will be.
Have women also scarred you on the inside?
In that place where no one can see, but you can always feel? In a way that makes you fear being hurt again?
You are not alone with your scars, this I know. Women hurt women, but here is the amazing part: women, through Christ, also heal women. Our stories, our lessons, our insight, our biblical truths – they bring light and life.
There is power in the radical realization: we are not alone in our struggle.
This is, in part, why I started the Journey Together Summit. I believe, we women are better together than apart. We best fight fear, when we remind each other God is near. And, through vulnerability, we access new dependability on God.
Healing happens in comforting quiet with God, but it also happens in the common conversations with women.
Might you want to discover the freedom God has for you, through the courage- building stories of other women?
And find healing today? Join me and 34 author experts (including a couple New York Times Bestsellers) for The Journey Together Summit. It is a free online event (Starting TODAY, but viewable after today) where we chat openly and transparently about fear, worry and anxiety. There are topics for everyone, including: unmet expectations, an unfair life, shame from the past, uncertainty of the future, worry, anxiety, feeling like a bad mom, marriage, intimacy, work issues and so much more.
Can’t attend these dates? We have a way for you to access everything on your own timeline. Discover more.
Relationships restore. What might God have for you if you were to begin fighting fear at The Journey Together Summit?
About Kelly Balarie
Author and Speaker, Kelly Balarie didn’t always fight fear – for a large part of her life, she was controlled by it. Yet, in her book, Fear Fighting: Awakening Courage to Overcome Your Fears, with God, Kelly charts a new course. Join Kelly, on the journey to go and grow with Christ’s bravery, the Spirit’s counsel and God’s unending love that squelches fear. Get all Kelly’s blog posts by email or visit her on her blog, Purposeful Faith. You can also find a variety of resources for your fight against fear at http://www.fearfightingbook.com/. Don’t forget to take part in The Journey Together Summit.
Two moms duked it out, while I tried to pull a floppy wet shirt off my body in the pool stall. I’d tell you all I wasn’t eavesdropping, but I’d be lying; I was 100% listening to every word that flowed from their mouths from the safe-confines of my bunker.
“Harvard is going to be such a far drive for my son come Fall. I don’t know how we are going to do it.” Said mom voice 1.
“Well, thank goodness, He’s going to Harvard because Stanford is farther and I get sick flying on airplanes, even in first-class.”
Now, these two, who I was sure were perfectly toned, impeccably made-up and outrageously beautiful, brought to the surface my every insecurity. And based on their words, I was scheming… trying to internally figure out how to corral my son, tie him down and drag him to the local tutoring session post-school… It’s not too much to ask a kid to do SAT questions at age 6 is it?A mom’s who starts early, wins.
My competitive juices were flowing. My mind racing and twisting and…all of a sudden – Godly wisdom struck: I don’t have to enter into this life-killing race with these women.
I can choose not to be a part of this rat race. I can unsubscribe.
Unsubscribing sounds like this: They can do what they want to or say what they say. They can work hard to acquire wealth, goods or status. They can talk about it. They can make it their life goal. But, just because that is what they are doing, doesn’t mean it is what I should be doing. What I should be doing is: making Christ my aim, making Christ my thoughts, making love my goal.
I can’t change people, but what I can change is: my mind, my thoughts and my goals.
This feels like freedom.
I sense there are some of you who need freedom right now too. Maybe from a person who is causing your mind to go to places God hasn’t invited it?
Right now, join me in asking God, “What words, goals or pursuits have I been allowing to take hold in my heart that are not from you?”
Listen for his response. Be aware of how God might be leading you.
Then, ask him, “How can I protect my heart in a better way?”
I believe he’s saying to me: “Kelly, everything you hear doesn’t have to go to your heart.”
And, I agree. Starting today, I’ll filter what I let in.
Thank you God, you are faithful.
Don’t Miss The Journey Together Summit, June 5-8! Join 34 leading authors with the sole mission of helping you discover new bravery. Whether you desire to be brave at home or at work, in your marriage or with your children, in ministry or in the mess of the day, dealing with a surprising life or just organizing it – this is the event for you. There is something for everyone with over 34 topics of fear covered (wait till you see them all!).
The truth was, everything being divulged was an outright lie.
My stomach churned.
My gut cramped.
A burning sensation rose in my throat, beads of sweat pooled on my forehead as I willed bile back down.
Nausea swirled about me as if intentionally together, we spun miserably about a ballroom…naked.
Exposed.
I was hurt to my core.
Utterly undone, the feedback stung my ears. The story being relayed to me, a story this person heard from my friend… my Christian friend was a lie.
I managed to behave as though the incident were laughable. I changed the subject and then explained I had to be on my way.
The informant substituted concern, “I just knew you would want to hear it from me instead of someone else, don’t worry, I won’t repeat it.”
I tried not to guffaw audibly. She’d already repeated it to four or five others, who I knew – knew, and now I knew they knew for sure because of their delicate treatment of me just hours before… I knew for sure.
I knew better than to trust… but, still was this really my fault? Really? Was I, the victim of a malicious lie, by someone I counted a friend, the one to blame?
Certainly, I felt like a fool. Alone in my car, I wept… er, well… snot flinging hysterically wailed. I was humiliated. I checked the date. Indeed, 2016… the circumstances had me briefly fooled to believe it was in fact 1986 and the last day of junior high.
Okay, I am a creative gal. I plotted my nemesis’ demise.
I pulled through Starbucks and ordered something hot and decadent. I knew stuff about this wretched “friend.” An eye for and eye I thought. And the tales I would tell would be the truth.
Why did she make up such a terrible story about me?
What made her feel the need to betray me?
I plotted and toiled.
I pulled my car into an empty place at the park, pulled my sweater from the back seat, grabbed my magic Java and decided to walk. I had about 45 minutes until the afternoon rush. I wanted to empty my head and pray.
The crisp March air borrowed only hints of warmer days to come. I walked slowly and observed little buds forming on the trees. Soon they’d expose entire blooms, for now there was only the hope that a late freeze wouldn’t destroy the mystic.
Tears nipped my eyes again.
Part of me wanted confrontation, the other part of me wanted to disappear.
I stopped and sat down on a bench and prayed.
“I am so hurt. So, embarrassed. So, angry. What should I do?”
There was no audible answer. And I didn’t want to rehash the story to my husband or tell it to another friend. I knew it was wrong, I didn’t need that affirmation.
I waited.
Somewhere on the breeze, I heard my answer.
Nothing.
I inhaled deeply and prayed a prayer that was not my own.
“Jesus, show me what you see.”
Suddenly, I was bowled over with compassion. Immediately my lungs filled without ache. Instantly I felt a rush of love and understanding.
I saw what He saw.
Tears bubbled up again, but I wasn’t angry. I wasn’t even sad. I was flooded with a wisdom that what I thought was a friendship was not. I came to terms with that undoing in a supernatural way. However, I didn’t believe this betrayer to be my enemy either?
I knew the truth.
My God knew the truth. He loved her, and He wanted better things for her than juvenile lies that hurt me. He was altogether for me… and yes, for her. For her, He wanted her to live in the freedom of His abundance. She was trying to make things happen, a busy-ness I was once a party to. And as I sat and sipped my Mocha, He sat with me and offered me comfort and ask me to pray… and to let this one go.
I agreed, I would.
Sporadically, over the next couple months, the hurt would sneak up on me. There was no way she didn’t know I knew. It was awkward, but I was obedient to the agreement. I let it go. On occasion, it came up with a group of friends, I quickly changed the subject. And it is not as if I am better than, I am just His. I want what He wants and He wants restoration, peace, joy, and life abundant.
This scenario is not always the answer, but in this incident, I was in perfect sync with what Jesus wanted for this person and me. Letting Jesus be Jesus was the most healing medicine for my hurt. Later that summer she and her family moved and I have never seen or heard from her again. Yet I feel no lack of closure. I need not retribution or malice. I want God’s will and His will is always Jesus.
Since that day in the park, my chosen prayer is simply, “Jesus, show me what you see…” And I close my eyes and wait.
For there is nothing hidden that not be disclosed and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Luke 8:17
Jami Amerine is a wife, and mother to anywhere from 6-8 children. Jami and her husband Justin are active foster parents and advocates for foster care and adoption. Jami’s Sacred Ground Sticky Floors is fun, inspirational, and filled with utter lunacy with a dash of hope. Jami holds a degree in Family and Consumer Sciences (yes Home Ec.) and can cook you just about anything, but don’t ask her to sew. She also holds a Masters Degree in Education, Counseling, and Human Development. Her blog includes topics on marriage, children, babies, toddlers, learning disabilities, tweens, teens, college kids, adoption, foster care, Jesus, homeschooling, unschooling, dieting, not dieting, dieting again, chronic illness, stupid people, food allergies, and all things real life. You can find her blog at Sacred Ground Sticky Floors, follow her onFacebook or Twitter.
My son approached the buffet like a kid in a candy shop. He wanted to devour it all. It all was his for the taking. He could approach it as many times as he wanted. He could fill up his plate to the point where it was overflowing off the sides. He could eat and then go back to the dessert taking and try a bite of each pie.
If I didn’t know better, I would have thought the kid died and went to heaven.
I know better though. He was very much still on earth and this was very much a Mother’s Day brunch I was delighting in. Everyone was all – smiles, sugar and sweetness. MMMmm…I wish you all could have been there with me.
You would have died for the key lime pie, but I digress…
Kid ate so much. And, I just allowed it… You know, there’s a tendency to want to take away in abundance, but I didn’t. I encouraged him to just enjoy. There’s a tendency to want to comment on his sticky hands. I didn’t. I let go and let him eat in peace. There’s a tendency to want to wipe up and pick up the area around his plate. Nope. I didn’t. It would have ruined his moment.
He loved it.
So much so, he did what he usually never does. He looked at his plate and said, “Mommy, I want to share the best with you.”
He wanted to give me tastes of his best stuff. He wanted to give to me from a place of abundance. He no longer, like usual, saw what he had as limited, he saw it as unlimited and that changed his entire view. It made him a giver instead of a horder.
As he thrust his plate of coconut pie towards me, I thought, “When we live from a place of God’s abundance, we so much more easily share it and spread it.”
Are you a giver or a horder? Are you living from a place of abundance, where you believe God is providing all you need (and then some), or are you living from a table of lack, where you concentrate on how little there is? Where you see all you don’t have? Where you can’t give anything away? Where you don’t believe God will provide?
Switching our mentality is powerful, because when we believe God is giving we start giving. We loosen our grip and come towards people with open hands. We let go of the stress and find rest. We stop counting and keeping our pennies close to our vest.
We see the poor and we approach them.
We invite people over and make left-overs.
We pull out cash and church and give the whole wad.
We hear no words of affirmation in our ear, but hand them out anyway.
We notice a person alone and give of our time.
Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much… (Lu. 16:10)
Don’t Miss The Journey Together Summit, June 5-8! Join 34 leading authors with the sole mission of helping you discover new bravery. Whether you desire to be brave at home or at work, in your marriage or with your children, in ministry or in the mess of the day, dealing with a surprising life or just organizing it – this is the event for you. There is something for everyone with over 34 topics of fear covered (wait till you see them all!).
Want to learn how to remain unshaken in our crazy world? Sally Burke, the president of Moms in Prayer International, and Cyndie Claypool de Neve explain how in their new book, 
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