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.

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)

Let The Word Of God Permeate Your Life

“Your daily time in Scripture can open your eyes to a biblical principle that can be applied to a problem, to a verse that can enlighten a discussion, to biblical wisdom that will guide discipline or correction, to a passage that can be a prayer for a family need, or to a scripture about God’s protection for a frightened child at bedtime.


There is no plan or schedule or resource that can provide this kind of nurture. It involves you spending time with God and His Word, and then simply letting your children see in your life the truth of Psalm 119:105, that ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path,’ and the reality of Hebrews 4:12, that ‘the word of God is living and active.’”

From Heartfelt Discipline by Clay Clarkson.

Fortitude: Choosing Courage in Challenging Times

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When I was almost 42, my precious daughter, Joy entered the world. Celebrating her birthday by attending a concert by Paul Simon found us walking arm in arm, as close friends, sharing secrets, ideas, dreams. She wrote all about it in her latest Substack post—I know you will love reading it.

We came upon a bakery with her favorite pastries. Fortitude it boldly proclaimed.

Fortitude: the mental/moral strength to, persevere, withstand fear, difficulty.

Does it matter? The days of messes, children bickering, forming beauty out of chaos? One more sleepless night only to find more demanding hours awaiting our attention.

Endless, relentless days of cooking, cleaning, serving, correcting, repeating it over again?

Working through relationships with beloved adult children, issues bubbling up, difficulties abounding, the risk of being misunderstood, unnoticed.

After 45 years of marriage, 43 years of mothering, I know that every kiss, tender, gentle moment of talking, being patient, every late night feeding, midnight discussion with my bewildered teens and adult children, all matters profoundly. What would a world hope for if there were not great women committed to serving, civilizing, bringing beauty from chaos and believing courageously in the truths of God, during dark times? Courageous women are building a legacy of faith, love, goodness.

I know your faithfulness matters, because serving my children, giving my imperfect best, gave them an opportunity to ponder God, to grow beyond my meager offerings into their own potential for living truly in their generation. There is a sacredness of marriage, family, faith, life of human beings born into the world as tiny, dependent babies. We give worth to these truths by daily fortitude.

Your choice to trust God is ringing out cheers in the heavens because it is so rare. No formulas, no guarantees of exact results. We do not control our adult children’s choices. But they are more likely to follow truth if it has been lived out in myriad moments of serving, loving, feeding, listening, praying, teaching faithfully over years. Faithfulness happens over thousands of days, years, of laying down our lives. Today, you are writing your story of faith and faithfulness. Podcast today!

God Values Diversity

Rather than judging each person’s individual attributes according to our own standards of what is good and acceptable, how important it is that we look at the heart of who a person was created to be.

Accepting differences and learning to understand heart motivations for antics, behavior, or actions is of profound importance to validating a person’s worth, or indeed all people’s worth, as a masterpiece crafted by God.

To respect each person’s uniqueness is to worship God for His wonderful design.

Read more about this in Uniquely You.