Tea Time Tuesday: Made to Be Artists

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"Ideals and the desire for beauty are simply the echoes of God's design in our hearts. He was the one who designed the world to be a masterpiece of wonder, color and life. Yearning for peace, health, comfort is natural to our souls and comes from the depths of our hearts where we can still feel and imagine what God created life to be before the fall." The Mom Walk, p. 58

In the beginning, God created...

The first thing he did was to create. As we bear His image we are made to create.

God placed his first children, Adam and Eve, in a vast, splendid garden with variety of color, sound, texture, light, taste—all for the pleasure of His beloved Adam and Eve.

We long to follow this design and make masterpieces out of everyday things. We sometimes forget that masterpieces are the work of a lifetime—we create, bring light, prepare food, build traditions, just as God did when he crafted the garden. He brought the light of stars, the sun, constellations. In like manor we illuminate our homes with the ambience of soft reflections of firelight, lamplight, candles.

When the real world comes crashing in on us, by rumors of war, killings, earthquakes, the fall of Godly leaders, we can quickly become overwhelmed and walk down the pathway of fear, despair.

We must persevere, to subdue, to create beauty in our world. When the walls within our home bring safety, the music brings comfort, the food satisfies the body, the touch brings affection, the words bring hope, we are like the Holy Spirit—bringing the reality of God to the dark places of our world.

When we give up, we are submitting to darkness that surrounds us. Giving in to fear gives darkness to our own soul.

Women are widely capable influences in this world for good. They embody incredible capacity to be strong, faithful, life-giving. Even lighting a candle will influence our surroundings, bring soothing comfort to our souls. The dancing flicker of light gives hope that we are making a difference in this dark world.

In Genesis 1, what words did God use at the end of days 1-5? He said, "It is good."

Creating beauty, light, as God did, is a "good" work of our own lives.

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We Believe In The Dark Times Of Life

We believe in the dark times of life. We worship and sing to Him when we want to hide under our covers. We wait as long as it takes to see His answer to our prayers — and we're so often surprised by the answer. We wait on God, and God alone.

We want to be faithful until we see Him face to face. All of life, it seems, works against our faithfulness. Both spiritually and physically, we are weak and vulnerable. We are surrounded by the voices of this world and tempted regularly.

But in all of it, God is cheering us on, hoping we will stand fast, desiring our hearts to remain holy and faithful to Him.

Tea Time Tuesday: Planting Words of Life

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"A man has joy in an apt answer, and how delightful is a timely word." -Proverbs 15:23

Indeed it is true that what we sow, we will reap. Yet, sowing requires a decision of our will, of our heart, to decide just what we will sow. One way we sow into our own lives as well as the lives of those around us is through our words.

Lifegiving words have deep, abiding power. It is through words that we come to understand the truth about the Lord.

Words can give hope, life, and redemption, or death, guilt, anger, and bitterness.

We are to be stewards of our words. If we are walking with God, we are to plant words as seeds in the hearts of our children, that our words of blessing might reap the fruit of life, beauty, hope and confidence in their lives.

The Legacy Of Words Of Anger

I have talked to a number of precious moms lately who struggle with anger and impatience, and yell a lot at their children. Of course all of us have experienced this if we have lived very long.

Yet, if we regularly sow angry words, condemning words, guilt-producing words, we will find our children feel hurt, condemned, guilty, criticized, unloved.

Studying scripture in this area lately has caused me to develop some stronger convictions again, about the importance of guarding my lips, keeping them from pouring out anger—and asking for forgiveness when I do. We all do this from time to time, but if we are to grow in righteousness, we need to use self-control in the area of anger and learn to move more into His gracious, patient love as we mature in understanding His own love and fatherhood of us.

Sowing Words Of Life

A child has joy in an apt answer, I might paraphrase, and how delightful is a timely word. If children grow up on words such as, "I am so thankful for you!" "You are a blessing to me." "I appreciate you because...." "God has a special place for you in his kingdom." "You encourage me." "I see that you are capable in ____area.” “You are the rock. You are a joy. You are faithful. You are a lover." "I believe in you." I believe in your dreams."

Then there will be stored up in their hearts a deep confidence that they are loved, respected, appreciated, called by God to accomplish great things for His kingdom. 

And in marriage. Same goes in friendship, ministry, and work situations. We can choose to be a blessing and sow seeds of faith in the lives of those God has brought in our lives, or we can sow death to a relationship.

As in all of the other areas of our lives, we have choices to make. We can look at the great faults of our spouses or friends, children, or hold on to bitterness or our rights, and justify our withering speeches, lectures and complaints to them. This kind of speech kills a relationship.  

Or we can look at those areas for which we are grateful or remind ourselves why we were attracted to our spouses to begin with. We can pile on guilt or discouragement, complaints, and un-forgiveness for what we have not received. This is the way of the world. 

The way of God, which includes forgiveness and love, is to learn to verbalize words that bring life. We must bear our spouses load and speak words of love, respect, admiration and support, and let them know we forgive them. What we sow we will reap. 

How are you speaking words of life today? Is there anything you need to repent for, give to God, perhaps even apologize to someone for? Better late than never. God will cover our faults (thank goodness!)

Escaping The Exhaustion Trap

Surely my longing for those things was an indicator that God wanted more for me than I was currently experiencing. Surely He didn’t enjoy my rote, dead obedience any more than I did. Surely the One who crafted giraffes and hot peppers, rainbows and snowflakes, emus and flamingos didn’t want me to live life in a state of exhaustion and darkness, but to dance with Him day by day.

And that’s what He wants for your life, too. We must find a way to return to our first love if we are to escape the exhaustion trap. I determined that I would draw closer to God and not allow exhaustion to steal my love for Him away. Times of regular rest (Sabbath!) have been the most helpful for me in this battle.

Read more about this in Help, I’m Drowning.

Filling the Treasure Chest of Your Heart

A joyful heart is good medicine.

I am so excited today to be able to tell you about a wonderful new book that is coming into the world today. My lovely daughter in law, Keelia Clarkson is sending out her first book, Chapter One Again.

It is a heart-warming, cozy story that warmed my heart. The story weaves a tale that includes a woman finding purpose, friendship, love, renewed faith, restored family relattonships, with a charming bit or romance developing throughout. Life soothing, hopeful and and validating to the ideals of my heart.

I have noticed over the past couple of years that sometimes all the darkness in life and the stresses that are permeating our lives and evident in social media and news articles, that I can feel the despair. One of my defenses when this happens is to remember the verse above—a joyful heart is good medicine. So, I have the habit of looking for life-giving, light hearted books, that give light, beauty and delight to my soul. I have even been known to watch an occasional Hallmark movie or listen to a sweet, warm hearted piece of fiction on my audible because I know it will lighten my thoughts, inspire homeHopeful, kind hearted stories life my spirits and encourage me to live in hope, life-giving and love.

That is why I am so excited for you to get this book into your hands. I know it will bring a smile to your heart.

What is even more meaningful to me is that the author is my beloved daughter in law who also happens to be one of my bf’s.

When my now adult children were growing up, I would often pray that in His time, God would bring them a worthy spouse, a partner with whom to share life ideals and faith.. Little did I know what a blessing and grace that person would be, not only to my children, but how deeply I would be blessed. And so my darling Keelia is such a person—an angel blessing to my life.

Be sure to get your copy today and share it with your friends. I know it will give you light and life during this season of life. Don’t miss LifewithSally podcast today.

Grace, Not Perfection

We put so much pressure on ourselves as mothers. Often, I receive comments or letters from mamas who say, “How did you seek joy? How did you manage to live by faith?” The truth is, the grace of God is given in spite of our circumstances. His peace comes when our difficulties would suggest otherwise.

In my home, we did our best, but our best was certainly not perfection. We just committed our hearts toward our kids with a desire to shape their souls to respond passionately to their Creator. He came with grace and truth to bring life and wholeness into our hearts.

Read more about this in Mom Heart Moments.

The Point Of Keeping A Home

I practiced for many years to always light candles at the dinner table and put music on every evening, whether we had a piece of toast or banquet fare for our dinner. It soothed all of our souls.


The mundane is a heaviness that compounds stress to make life feel even more unmanageable. Adding color and interest into the tasks of my life significantly diminishes that weight of stress and refills my soul to keep going. Listening to a book on tape while folding laundry or playing loud music while cleaning the kitchen makes the chores so much more enjoyable.

The reality is that the constant stream of work will never really stop flowing; it will only change and morph over time. Your home will never be perfect, but accepting housework challenges as a part of a normal life and embracing them as part of a regular rhythm will allow you to make peace with the realities of daily life. It all bring grace to the the people in your home as you learn to walk in conntentment with this. Peace be yours today.

Tea Time Tuesday: Follow Me!

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“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My Ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts Your thoughts.” Is. 55: 9

I wonder if the disciples had any idea what they were in for.

While Nathanael gathered figs, Matthew sat at his table counting taxes, Andrew wound nets tight on a rocking boat. Did any of them dream of something more? Did they ponder the Scriptures promising the Messiah would come? Or were their minutes already as full as my own? Did His coming and calling take them by surprise?

I think the latter is probably more likely. He surprised them. They probably weren't watching. And they certainly didn't expect Him to show up and call them personally. Normal people used supernaturally through the Spirit.

What about you, dear one? Do you remember that He has come, that He is coming, that He continues to call men and women to Himself? Do you live your life with an eye open to the eternal things God might want to do in your own life? To love your neighbor, give to the needy, spread light?

“Jesus’ work in a person's life has always begun with a call to leave behind the goals, purposes, distractions of this world, to say yes to a whole new life, and way of thinking. ‘Follow me,’ He told the disciples as He recruited them. And they did, abandoning their fishing nets, their tax-collector's moneybags, permanent homes, their everyday duties and pleasures. They never went back. Sure, they still did a little fishing from time to time! But once they made the choice to follow Jesus, their lives were forever changed, never returning to 'normal.'

We know we are called to follow Christ, to take His message to the world, to raise our children to heed Jesus' call—to understand this. But sometimes I think we fail to consider that following the Lord might mean leaving behind the ordinary, the familiar. It means exchanging a temporal view of life for an eternal goal. And this may mean leaving behind things we really care about—involvements, pursuits that seem important and worthwhile but may not be God's best for us.” (Quote from The Ministry of Motherhood)