Unprepared for Motherhood, Toddlers & Teens & Podcast Jane Biel

God’s unfailing love for us is an objective fact affirmed over and over in the Scriptures. It is true whether we believe it or not. Our doubts do not destroy God’s love, nor does our faith create it. It originates in the very nature of God, who is love, and it flows to us through our union with His beloved Son.
JERRY BRIDGES

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Motherhood came upon me by surprise when I was almost 32 years old. Then I had 3 children in less than 5 years and was hopelessly out of control of my time—and I didn’t know that was to be expected. I kept looking for books that would make it all easier, manageable, give me order and predictability in my life. But finally, God said, “What if the problem with your frustration is you? Children have had needs through all generations but when. mamas lived into the season of life with littles, they found more joy and peace.”

And so, I breathed. deep and began to learn how to find. peace amidst the messy parts and joy in the living of life together. Fast forward and I. had another little one when I was 42. But having lived through 3 children, I was prepared to live into this amazing gift God allowed. Today on my podcast, I explore the idea that most of us enter motherhood unprepared with my sweet friend, a mother of four, Jane Biel.

We named our younger daughter Joy, and she ended up living up to her name. To our family she is a total joy. Perhaps because I never thought I would have a child again, I did not mind the sleepless nights, her cries, or her baby needs quite as much as I did as a younger mom. I cherished and enjoyed her so much more because I knew what to expect and I had a sense that she might be my last baby and I wanted to enjoy her every day. Experience stretches us to give us joy in our limitations.

Joy moved from a crib to a real bed when she was about two and a half years old. Often, at the crack of dawn she would climb next to me in my bed, squeezing and snuggling tightly against my body. After settling in, she would fall back asleep for a while longer. 

Her feather-soft hair would tickle my cheek, and her warm pudgy body, soft to my skin, was a delight to me as I wrapped my arms around this tiny gift and held her tight. 

“Mama,” she said thoughtfully early one morning, “this is where I most belong, as close as I can get to you, because I can feel your love better when I am closer.” 

Then a smile crept across her little face as she breathed out a sigh and settled into a few more minutes of “love.” 

Because Joy was my beloved, prayed-for little girl, I loved having her next to me. I cherished the times I still had a little girl who wanted to be so near me, one who would trust me utterly. As her parent, I was so thankful she wanted to be near her mama. When she crawled into my bed and cuddled next to me, I was filled with happiness and appreciation of the gift she was to me. I loved it that she loved me! It didn’t matter what she had done the day before— 

if she had cried a lot

or broken a mug full of juice

or fought with her brother 

or disobeyed me 

She did not have to promise to be more mature, or confess her faults, or stay away because of having a bad day the day before. 

At any time, she could just snuggle up next to me, because as my daughter, she belonged there! I delighted having her near me. She was my own little girl. I loved her with my whole heart, and I loved knowing that she wanted to be close to me and that she depended on me for her security, protection, comfort, and love. 

My love for her had nothing to do with her performance. My love was committed, solid, and constant because she was my beloved one. 

This is a human picture of God’s parent love for us. The very nature of God is to love. He can do nothing else. His love defines Him, so His love for us is settled forever and cannot be changed. 

Of course, we will never come close to the perfection or holiness of God. We are selfish most every day! We often say things that are harsh, do petty things, and act in a stingy or angry way. Yet still He loves us and wants us to be close to Him! It is almost impossible to believe that He could love us even when we are not loving to Him. 

In the same way that I did not expect Joy to behave like an adult but accepted her limitations as a normal little toddler, so God is mindful of our own limitations and yet still loves us. 

God sees us as toddlers, so to speak. Understanding our fragility, our humanness, He responds to us as I responded to Joy. He is mature even when we are not. He is constant in His love toward us, His commitment, His care for our needs, and His compassion for our heart’s cry. As our heavenly Father, no matter what we do or how we fail Him, He is the constant one, the responsible one. He knows our frame—that we are weak, immature, and imperfect, but He doesn’t require us to perform before we come close. He just wants our heart to trust Him, and He wants us to depend on Him as our loving Father. 

When we come to Him as a child—innocent, dependent, trusting, and humble—He welcomes us into the place right next to His heart. 

Do you know that God loves you as you are—doesn’t expect you to be perfect, has patience, understands your struggles and still trusted you with the miracle of your precious ones. I pray today this truth washes over your heart.

Books Referenced in this Podcast:

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Home: The Place of Grace & Welcome Podcast

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“I go to prepare a place for you,”

I wish I could invite all of you, my friends, into my home, for a warm meal, a friendship conversation where I could listen to what is on your heart, a place to restore your soul— and to spoil you just a little. Hospitality, the tender care, attention, love and attending to the needs of others is a way we use our place to give others welcome. After such a wearying 3 months, many are in need of our invitation. You are probably in need of it yourself. Our homes can give life where hearts can find comfort, welcome, belonging if we use our them to invite those who need care Into a place we have prepared as a haven for them.

Hospitality is the intentional caring for, preparing for, meeting the needs of others to show them care and attention so as to meet their deep and felt needs. Home is the place where we can offer this to neighbors, the lonely or needy, or people needing to have a friend. There is an ache in our hearts to have such a place where we find belonging and acceptance. The ache is there because God created us for such a place.

“Every day in each inch of space, each rhythm of time, each practice of love, we have the chance to join God in coming home, in living so that we make a home of this broken and beautiful world all over again. Love is enfleshed in the meals we make, the rooms we fill, the spaces in which we live and breathe and have our being.

All people need a place where their roots can grow deep and they always feel like they belong and have a loving refuge. And all people need a place that gives wings to their dreams, nurturing possibilities of who they might become.” 

The Lifegiving Home

I hope the podcast will. refresh you in ideas of how you can use place, big or small, as an outreach to those in need.

Books Referenced in this Podcast:

The Lifegiving Home Experience: A 12-Month Guided Journey

By Clarkson, Sally, Clarkson, Joel

The Lifegiving Home: Creating a Place of Belonging and Becoming

By Clarkson, Sally, Clarkson, Sarah

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• Join my friends and me in membership at Life with Sally, a place for me to share more teaching from the Bible and messages on education, motherhood, discipleship, and more!

Who Is My Neighbor? & Podcast

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“Mama, you know that all four of us kids can look back and see the imperfections of our family, the ups and downs, but there were anchors that kept us from being caught up in the storms of life. What has carried us through all these years is that we saw you and Daddy seeking God, praying every morning. Then out of that we saw you earnestly seeking to live out through your actions what you learned every day and talked about in our devotions together.”

“We never thought our faith was based on mere rules but on the stories and the impressions that Christ left when he walked on this earth. He. was really alive in our home and He has followed. us everywhere. We still hear those messages woven in and through our thoughts and remember the ways we lived them out together in our family culture.”

Our children are always watching, learning, hearing and following. We feed their imaginations with the beautiful stories of Christ so that they will always have His love and wisdom to guide them. I was remembering how much like a treasure scripture was to me when I was newly a believer and lived on every word I read. Today, I will share my story.

Feeling desperately alone amidst a sea of people, and typical myriad constant activities of a collegiate life, I knew that there had to be. something more. From the. outside, I appeared as a. typical college sophomore, holding my life together with smiles, quips and staying as cool as I knew how. But through tears and the darkness of my lost soul, I knelt down on my. knees. in my tenth. floor dormitory room on hard linoleum gray floors, and prayed:

“God, if you are out there somewhere, please find me. I feel so alone and desperate and lost. Please do something to let me know you hear me, please.”

And so it was a few weeks later, a very shy woman knocked on my door, started a conversation with me and told me that God loved me. It transformed my life. I could not get enough. the Bible was my treasure chest. I had never known how I had longed for life to make sense and that when I read scripture, I found my heart filled, comforted, and for the first time in my life I felt known and still loved.

Fast forward, my Bible became worn, underlined, memorized and it was the light I lived by. Over many years, it gave me all that I needed: wisdom, comfort, love, understanding, direction and purpose.

And so in every point of life, every drama, every issue, the Word of God informed my decisions, my trajectory, my steps, my way forward. And. so it was. my “bread of life”, my manna, last week, the the week before that and the weeks yet to come. But for 48 years, my times in the Word have guided the decisions, actions, moments of my life, one day at a time.

When I had my children, I wanted them to know the word as something that lived in their hearts, every day, all the time. I wanted them to imagine Jesus right there with them, preparing them for all that they would face in life by giving them His stories, HIs model, His love and wisdom. This life of Christ came through every day, little by little, as we cherished the stories together in our family culture.

I knew they would face challenges, stress, pressures in their life time as I had, but I wanted them to have the voice of God whispering to them to show them how to make the kinds of decisions that would honor Christ, that would follow the integrity of God’s word.

As I was praying about what to share with you today, God brought to mind this story of how we are to respond to and love and serve our neighbors. And this story was one that captured the wonder and imagination of all of my children, a story they each remember and. use to guide the relationships of their own lives. We give our children the best gift when we provide them with the voice of God in their own hearts because of growing up in HIs life over all the years in our homes.

Today, as I was reading and praying for our world, my friends and all that is going on, I was reminded of a profound question that an educated, earnest student of the law of God asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor.” The following is the passage. I hope that this story encourages you as it has me. More in the podcast.

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”

28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Go, do likewise, have compassion, show mercy, help the one who needs help, give generously as Jesus has given to us. It was His story. It is what He requires and desires for us to do because of our love for Him. I take it to heart. May it bless you today.

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The Lord is. Enthroned As King Forever & Podcast

On my walk yesterday! :)

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In the midst of national turmoil, my daily walks in the national forest near me, have been such a contrast. The beauty is breathtaking God has whispered through the beauty, ”I’m still here. I am ever present. My goodness is real.” Our life with God is not measured in the rules or goals or laws that He gives. But, as the Author of these ideals, and bound up in His love and care for us, God uses truth and goodness to work on our hearts. He demonstrates Himself through Christ in a relationship with us as a servant, a husband for the bride of Christ, a friend of the common people with whom He broke bread. Holiness, compassion, love, faith is expressed in the moments of real life, every day, all the time.⠀
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So God becomes our pattern for parenting. He served and loved and sacrificed and gave of Himself, so that we would long to be holy out of our gratitude and reverence and love for He who is, the one who provided us with everything. He called His disciples to serve, to love, to give, and to be holy. He did instruct them and train them, but it is no wonder they wanted to follow them to their deaths. He gave them true life, beauty, and love that filled their deepest needs and longings to live a purposeful life.⠀May our lives daily bring the same beauty, goodness, reality to those around us. .⠀

How are you today?

I have to say that I am so blessed and have the best community in the world. So many of you have encouraged me, sent notes, are. praying for me, have joined the membership, have donated to our ministry, (Wholeheart.org) and I just don’t deserve the love but am quite humbled by. your encouragement. I just thank God for you and pray for you so very often.

Rest assured. I am praying for all of you with my family.

Forty-six years ago, I went into full time Christian ministry--can. you believe it? And. through these years, I have experienced so many times of trials in history and personally, as well as deep joys. But as I learned to walk one step at a time, learn to trust God one day at a time, learned to put aside bitterness and cynicism, I could eventually always see the grace, love and goodness of God, and learned to stretch towards HIs light and love. You might enjoy my podcast as I share more about this.

I wanted to add a little levity to your life as we are finding escapes for ourselves just to not live in the tension of the sadness and issues every moment of the day. Two books I found for Sarah’s and Joy’s birthday have been fun:

The Jane Austen Society: A Novel

By Jenner, Natalie

Cooking With the Saints

By Alexandra Greeley, Fernando Flores

Little levity for the road--Jane Austen Society

Cooking with the Saints---so beautiful and so many gorgeous recipes

From traditional Cottage Pie on St. Patrick's Day to Basque Lamb Stew on the feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, the delicious recipes in this unique cookbook will excite your senses, awaken in you greater love for the saints, and bring Catholic festivity into your home.

Here you'll find brief saints biographies and ideal accompanying dishes tied to the liturgical feasts of the Church. From this exceptional cookbook, your family will receive triple nourishment: for body, mind, and spirit.

In it, you'll encounter: 

• Scores of exciting dishes from dozens of countries, including Ethiopia, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Korea, Scotland, France, Greece, and Sweden.

• Sixty fascinating saints biographies.

• A comprehensive list of celebratory cookies for feast days throughout the year.

• Many traditional recipes, including Roman Honey Cake, Hungarian Goulash Soup, and even Papal Cream Cake (a favorite of St. John Paul II).

• A handy index to help you find just the kind of dinner you need tonight.

• A carefully categorized shopping list for each recipe, to save you time in the store.

And then, we have been watching hero movies—Marvel style—and it has encouraged us to have hope, oddly.

Much more in the podcast, but here is a verse I wanted to end with that a friend shared today:

Psalm 29:9-10

The voice of the Lord twists the oaks
    and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
    the Lord is enthroned as King forever.

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• Leave an iTunes Review These are so important as they help our podcast reach more women with messages of encouragement.

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• Share with others. My prayer is that this podcast brings encouragement to women and families, and I would be honored for you to tell others about it.

• Join my friends and me in membership at Life with Sally, a place for me to share more teaching from the Bible and messages on education, motherhood, discipleship, and more!

Love: The Perfect Bond of Unity

Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

Col. 3:14

Recently I was at the home of a precious friend and her sweet little ones were delighting me with their antics, love, fun, playing—and I received the sweet gift of a hug that went to my heart.

At this time when nerves are raw, we have been depleted by so much stress and so many sad events. we are all in need of a good dose of love.

An aching, longing pulses beneath, where no one can see. As the body requires food to stay alive, so the depths of all of us, especially our children, hungers for love in order to stay alive. Love that embraces, validates, affirms, whispers, "Just as you are, I adore you. You delight me. I think about you, I cherish the day your were born. You are my beloved and always will be, no matter what."

Each of us was crafted with soul container that would be filled with love. Though no one can see from the outside whether ours is empty, desolate or full to overflowing, each of us has the capacity to fill up another's cavern with words, touch, sacrifice, generous gifts. When full, we are most likely to understand and worship God.

Without that filling, we will search for it all of our lives, even in the wrong places--places that promise to give love and fill hearts, but steal and destroy instead.

A mother's love is a most constant resource of God's love that can sustain, strengthen, heal and restore a child. This is a time for us to exhibit the reality of love towards those who are hurting, to be an example to our children of loving unconditionally. It is also a time to extend the love that creates a perfect bond of unity. It is a time to love our neighbors as ourselves.

When I dress in the mornings, I choose what I will “put on.” It is an act of choice, it. is deliberate, not based on feelings. Because we are beloved by God, we can choose every day to “Put on love.” Paul tells us to “put on love.” We practice it, we clothe ourselves in it and it determines our actions, reactions, words. Because of our heart to be humble. before he one who is love, who sacrificed everything for love, we humbly follow His example. Colossians 3 teaches us to choose love, to clothe ourselves in love.

Over 500 times, He speaks to us of love.....

God is love.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

If you have not love, you have become a noisy gong or a clanging symbol.

They will know you are my disciples by your love for one another.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Let us remember,

Love moves, inspires, shapes the dreams, gives hope, holds us for eternity--for heaven.

Every child, every grown child—adults, needs, exists well when love is given.

It is our heritage, our duty, our service of gratitude. Love keeps us alive.

When we by faith invest love in others, our own souls become full of His love--we pour out, He pours in.

Why do I focus on God's love and grace so much? Because Love is the source of all life, it is Him reincarnated through us. Love fuels faith and hope and inspires to overcome..

I have read the introductions to two books this week. Two grown men, famous in their own arenas. Both wrote of the anger of their father, that still stings, still holds them in bondage, still darkens the memory of childhood soul. It ought not to be the legacy we leave.

Love covers a multitude of sin. it is to a man's honor to overlook a sin. Love is the perfect bond of unity.

And so I speak of love--the acting out of love which brings light to darkness, satisfaction to a starving heart, comfort to a lonely soul, sympathy to hurt feelings, Love never fails. May our love muscles grow stronger and stronger until we see Him, Love incarnate, face to face.

Peace of God Be Yours & Podcast

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Many have expressed to me how sad they are about all the circumstances of the last week. I certainly understand. I have been praying often. But today, I was focussing my heart on the presence of. Christ, with us, present in all the places, having compassion for all, seeking to draw many to Himself.

He is our hope, He is our peace, He is our wisdom. The. verse in I. Peter 4: 7-8 has been in my heart and on my mind today. I thought I would share it with you:

The end of all things is. near—in light of that, remembering that soon, in God’s. timing, we will see Him

Therefore, be. of sound judgment and a sober spirit for the purpose of prayer—stand back, see God, ask Him for His presence, His ways to prevail—be found praying to Him out of a trusting heart, focussed on Him.

Above all, keep fervent in your love,—this means it is a choice—and be fervent for absolutely everyone.

Love covers a multitude of sins. Love covers, places grace over it as a blanket, seeks to bring unity through Christ.

May God give each of you peace in whatever circumstances you find yourselves. May the Love of God be real to. you today.

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• Leave an iTunes Review These are so important as they help our podcast reach more women with messages of encouragement.

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• Share with others. My prayer is that this podcast brings encouragement to women and families, and I would be honored for you to tell others about it.

• Join my friends and me in membership at Life with Sally, a place for me to share more teaching from the Bible and messages on education, motherhood, discipleship, and more!

Hope That Restores, Comforts & Builds a Godly Nation & Podcast

”Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” --Aristotle

“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.” Abigail Adams

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As we come off of several days of catastrophic violence and destruction throughout the country, I have asked myself what is behind this? Why the deep reaction and so much anger at this moment? Frustration does not come from a vacuum. I have had much sympathy for the pain, frustration and grief that many have felt. Their frustration for feeling they aren’t heard or valued, have no one to give justice is understandable. And this frustration goes beyond skin color or culture. Many have been building up frustration from many stresses and pressures and fears stored up in the demands of life—job loss, insecurity, racial tension, values clashes and more.

Yet, I believe that at the bottom of many of the behaviors we have seen is the lack of a foundation upon which to rest life, a shaky ground upon which to build and live life. We see. this in some of the leaders, some of the police force, some of the protesters. Perhaps lack of character training, the absence of instruction and modeling of a noble life, and the deficiency of models of moral strength—the absence of seeing the love of Christ displayed to them personally. Love must be shown and felt, honor must be modeled and spoken about to take root.

We have also witnessed those who are reaching out in peace, in attempts to heal, to listen, to understand which has been a light amidst a dark time.

But at the root of it all, the longing for change is the absence of God in our midst. God brought to my life all that I longed for and needed—unconditional love, purpose, community, wisdom, protection, the instruction of how to live well, how to walk forward in all areas. Jesus became the epicenter for my whole life. A life without all of these that He provides is a life that is empty, unfulfilling, without hope, devoid of unconditional love, no moral fibre to guide actions and a loss of the sense of forever belonging. Without wholeness of life, leadership will be corrupted, actions will be skewed, consequences will be devastating.

A generation has not internally ingested the idea of how to honor others or other’s possessions because they have not been taught to value the lives of all human beings in their homes. They have been surrounded by violence on television and in media, the voice of snarky critical, often hypocritical people and have a vacuum in their souls to understand the need to honor all human beings. In the absence of biblical wisdom and instruction, people are subject to the drives of their anger and passion, and peer dependent on the voices and messages of culture. Souls are raw, needs are unmet and behavior expresses what frustration is going on internally. I do not want to diminish the reality of inequity or feeling invisible to the justice we all deeply long for.

Yet, for true understanding and compassion for people to take place, it must be built for many years, over many days, intentionally correcting heart attitudes and coxing love to come forward.

In other words, loving others as we love ourselves is developed over much time and through intentionality. We prayed how to enact this. My children grew up in the organic life in our home of hosting people from all over the world at our dinner table. We prepared our guest rooms for people from every culture, every sort of background. We spoke of the verses in scripture about God’s compassion, love, justice. We prayed for people who were in need. We learned of the desire of Jesus to set captives free and we read rousing tales of people who, throughout history, gave generously for the sake of others who were oppressed. We had people in our church in Vienna from 40 different nations and they were our friends. Learning to be free from racial baggage came over a life-time of living free of bias in the daily circumstances of our lives. It was a living process of learning and becoming.

If we hope to see long term changes in the ways people think about racism, equality, honor, civility, decorum, behavior, we need to understand that that shaping of a soul and the forming of convictions is a long term endeavor, not solved in limited acts of dramatic engagement.

Change does not usually come through one enormous dramatic event, but heart-deep change come from daily, weekly, monthly training and instruction over many years. Embracing virtue, loving godly character happens over a lifetime of practicing living a godly life.

Rembrandt became a master of light and a detailed painter, exquisite faces by training, practice, and years and years of painting, over and over and over again--practice. And so it is with any craft, skill, degree or accomplishment.

However, it is also true of character and a Christian testimony--

the character that is habituated to improving, developing integrity and relational inclusion grows by practice, stretching to work hard, to do the best, to exceed expectations which comes from daily practice and personal integrity

Those whose ideals are set high and aim, each day to pursue those ideals will have the opportunity to become excellent in any field, any philosophy of life.

This comes from an inner grid, the way one learns to see life and expects himself to live. We called this "self-government," when we trained excellence of character into the very fiber of our children's souls.

Recently, I spent hours on the phone with 3 of my children to discuss life, to see what they were thinking. Seeing them care greatly about issues of morality, faith; watching them understand the need to uphold God's character in the market places of life, hearing convictions and desires to impact their arenas for Christ, heartened this mama's soul.

Being together like this and discussing these important issues was reminiscent of all of the years we discussed truth, history, morality, the need for obedience, personal righteousness and a stewardship of the gospel and the inclusion of love for others. Their adult hearts were shaped by endless days of soul investment in our home when they were little. God would take my fish and loaves, my inadequate efforts and through His spirit, stir their hearts.

It is possible to watch God transform lives of little ones into adults who care deeply about the things of God. Passion, inspiration, obedience, a love for truth is learned by our children, family, friends, from seeing it modeled and being captured by the life coming from a real live person--you!

It has made me realize, again, that I would so love to help encourage, inspire, train women to own their lives by learning how to establish foundations of these important convictions in the lives of their own children.

I have been surrounded by mediocrity, compromise and substandard Christians behavior in several public arenas and personal situations lately. Our children have experienced the same in their worlds. I have asked myself, with the image of the living God imprinted upon my very being, shouldn't I, and all true believers,  be able to call forth excellence and integrity as a reflection of Him in my life.

"As a man sows, so shall he reap." Galatians 6:7

Yet, excellence and integrity is a personal issue.

One can only become this way through a personal commitment, a vision of oneself, and a decision that says,

"Regardless of what is happening around me, I will be the best I can be, work the hardest I am able, pursue the highest standards--especially for my personal life where no one but God sees--because I have been bought with a price and have His Holy Spirit residing within. So my worship of Him requires that I pursue the standard of His Holiness, sacrifice and love as an affirmation of His reality in my life."

Whether as a mother training the character of children, filling their minds with excellent writers, artists, thinkers, or as a woman being a steward of every aspect of her life, one can only become excellent by stretching, determining to obey His still small voice and then using every resource to pursue bringing His light and imprint upon this world.

This labor of excellence, personally and in the lives of our children, may/will take many long years--but if we are not committed to pursuing whatever it takes to build these convictions, then what hope does our future have--and even more, how can we represent Him, who has given all?

Paul said, "Follow me as I follow Christ." We are called to become leaders that others can follow and emulate. With every year of faith, there should be more of Him reflecting through our lives.  It is not a choice, it is a call on our lives. We cannot say, "I am a Christian, but I think I will make "c's or d's" in my character choices. We aim high because the love of Christ compels us.

Books Referenced in this Podcast:

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George Floyd: Doing Justice, Loving Kindness, Showing Mercy & Podcast

He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8

Play Episode on iTunes & Stitcher

Praying, pondering, walking a lot has filled my days all week since I heard about the terrible death of George Floyd. What a devastatingly sad tragedy. I have realized that I wanted to be intentional about what message I communicate publicly. I want to honor the precious hearts and feelings and ethos of my dear friends who are in the Black Community. Joel and Joy helped me gather thoughts as I pondered. what to write and speak.

And then, since I wrote this post and recorded this podcast, so much more has happened. Anger has erupted into destructive violence, fear is filling the hearts and minds of ourselves and our children. I come to you today with fear and trembling, praying, praying, praying. I want to be a touch of the Spirit of Christ. What would He say? How would He comfort us? How would he, the Prince of Peace, ask us to move forward? How to carry His peace and light into a world so dark at this moment in history?

The word justice has filled my thoughts and often been a study of mine through these days. Jesus is a God of just love—equitable generosity and care for all people, all created in His image. As Christ followers, we are to exhibit Him in every relationship. The world is to know we are His disciples by our love: love expressed, love through forgiveness, love through generosity of heart and through all of our actions, as we seek to bring His reality to bear even in this time of darkness.

Jesus humbled himself to give us everything. So, we owe all people His love, forgiveness, redemption, grace and friendship. And so, choosing to pass on racism as a legacy of our lives is not acceptable, ever—not before this moment, not in it or ever if we have given our lives to serve Jesus. Yet we do see hate, small mindedness, and violence everywhere.

At the heart of the gospel is the willingness to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. All those things go together and all are actions. We can’t walk humbly with our God if we ignore the injustice around us, if we don’t have mercy on those who are suffering, if we don’t treasure forgiveness and peace-making in our hearts and do something about them.

Right now, in America, our black brothers and sisters are experiencing a lot of suffering. And it’s not just because of one incident; it’s because in America, there’s been a long history of devaluing Black lives. As uncomfortable as it may make us, this history continues today, and we see it over and over again in stories on the news. 

It broke my heart the first time I had a black friend who told me they had to teach their boys how to react if they have an encounter with a police officer, so as to save their lives. I’ve had numerous friends share that exact same story. I would never have had to have considered this with my boys.

A Bible story came to my mind that has stayed in my heart. In the gospels, there’s a story of a man named Lazarus, who eats the crumbs from the table of a rich man. After the rich man and Lazarus both die, the rich man finds himself in hell, and pleads with Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers to live a better life. 

29"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'

30"'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'

31"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"

Lazarus is at our gates. We’ve had Moses and the prophets, and we’ve had the gospels and the whole Bible to convict us, to lead us, to show us the heart of God. We have far too long looked away from the suffering of those at our gates. As a mother, and as a teacher of mothers, I was particularly grieved by George Floyd’s calling out to his mother just before his death. If we as mothers don’t soften our hearts, and the hearts of our family, who will? If we don’t teach our children to respect the image of God in every person, who will? 

I hope and pray that you will join me in grieving this; and even more, I hope you will join me in asking how, as a mother and a Christian, you can be an agent of justice and mercy in this pressing gospel issue. And I encourage you—and I hope to do the same—to speak less, to listen more to my black friends on this issue, and learn from the testimony of their stories, of their faithful lives in the midst of suffering. And then to pray God will bring His Spirit’s wisdom, love and light through me, every day, through all the years, until I see the Prince of peace face to face. Blessings to each of you. 

Here is an article about the gentle, generous, faith side of George.

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(Please feel free to download and share this image on your social media.)

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He Is Not Tame, But He Is Good

"He is not a tame lion," said Tirian. "How should we know what He would do?"

The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis

When I first ventured out as a missionary into Communist Eastern Europe, I faced many unknowns with my fellow pioneers. Our doors were pounded by police, we had to smuggle Bibles and Christian materials in our car, and sometimes our knees shook in frightening situations. Our roommates were questioned by the secret police, as Christian ministries were not allowed to exist in a Communist country.

But we believed we were involved in a spiritual revolution for God, who was bigger than governments and stronger than any barriers.

The language was quite difficult, we were lonely, and there was not much food. We could not understand anything on the television, and had no cell phones or personal computers. The food was strange to us, and eggs made up the protein element at almost every meal because we could not get meat very often.

Our parents worried when they heard on the American news that the Russian tanks were plowing into our city in Poland because of the rebellion rising all over the country. We hovered around the BBC radio to try to hear what was really taking place in our country, to try and find out if we were really in danger.

But, deep in our hearts, we had made the commitment to be there because we believed with all of our hearts that we were living for a Kingdom that could not be shaken, and we were determined to bring light to a dark world where Christianity was suppressed.

To us, God was almighty, Holy, and beyond our comprehension; and so we trusted Him to do miracles … and He did. We also knew He was One who heard our prayers and was willing, for the sake of those who believed, to bring powerful redemption to a whole nation and to the world behind the iron curtain.

Our faith was exhibited behind closed doors where our hearts were tested and no one could see.

Sometimes, I miss the fellowship of such believers. We knew that God could not be contained in a box--but that He was much bigger and more powerful than we could ever imagine. We took risks in order to bring this Hope to a world that desperately needed light and and hope.

These many years later, I do not want to be satisfied with what I have seen God do previously in my life. I want a new frontier, a new way and place to cast a vision into the lives of others so that they might understand the infinite ways of His love, wisdom and goodness.

I often feel as though we do God an injustice by playing at words and grappling after finite issues, indulging in pettiness and criticism of others, when the lives and eternal destiny of people are at stake.

How can our children be inspired to live great lives if our lives are not burning with a passion to serve Him and to see His power lived out through our lives?

Perhaps we are indeed guilty at times of straightening the picture on a wall of a house that is burning down, when we focus on temporary issues.

And so, as I reevaluate my life and my goals, I pray:

Let my faith not be limited to mere words on the internet, but let my life be a sacrifice to real people who need to know the loving touch of your hands, the power of life-giving words, the healing of forgiveness and acceptance that you have so generously provided.

Let my messages be filled not with rules and lists and formulas, but with truth, vision and foundational instruction. In the power of your Holy Spirit, God, give me renewed faith, boldness, compassion, so that I may expect to see your power through my life in new ways. In the next 10 years, what would you imagine for me to accomplish for your kingdom? What would you have Clay and me venture to help others understand your power?

Please, Lord, let our faith never diminish to a point of limiting you to a mere philosophy or dogma. Help us always to see you as the Lion of Judah, the God transcendent, the one who crafted the galaxies and put in place the eyelashes on a baby's face. 

And let my children understand these truths and live their story faithfully, boldly, to give profoundly of your love and life ‘til they see you face to face.

As we ponder your omnipotence, that you are greater than we could imagine, 

that your ways and thoughts are higher than ours and that you can do whatever you choose, 

let that picture of you inspire us to bow our knees to your will and be willing to risk and work with all of our hearts to please you until we see you face to face in all of your beautiful wildness, glory and splendor.

From Toddlers To Teens: Seeking Independence. With Holly Packiam & Sally

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“I want to carry it!” Starts early. Recently when in England, I told Lillian we would buy some flowers for mama. She helped me pick them and then they were hers! She did not want to put them down-not even when we were jiggling on the train. She had a legitimate desire to surprise mama.. Independence starts early. 

There is a window of time when children are little and are dependent upon their parents, believe everything they say and want to please them. This season of innocence and trust passes so quickly This is the time to prepare their hearts to be ready for the years when they will naturally, designed by God, begin to seek independence of thought and convictions.

All teens, in order to grow into adulthood strong and ready to face life, must test what they have been taught and own what they really believe. It is the passage between childhood and adulthood. These years--be they preteen or teen, come far too quickly. Maneuvering this transition with wisdom and faith is essential to coming through at the other end with a relationship still intact.

Living by faith in our family meant an ever-growing understanding of His presence in the life of our children  and in our home. We deeply loved and related to our children, and consequently, in their teen years, we found that our relationships were founded on trust after a lifetime of building it that way.

Sympathy goes a long way in teen years. Teens want to be affirmed, loved and accepted by others their age--it is a healthy part of straining towards adulthood to become independent and stand on their own two feet. And yet it is a growing process.

Use words of life and encourage, love and accept your children, even more intentionally than before.

Teens are having thoughts about sex, girls and boys, and mysterious developments in their bodies that sometimes make them feel overwhelmed and distracted. Make sure to remember this and to ask yourself what is going on inside, not just outside your children.

If you have talked to them about everything in the world before they become teens--developed a trust relationship where they can confide things--fears, thoughts, negative feelings, doubts about God, without you reacting in fear or giving them guilt, then they will probably want to talk to you about the mysterious issues of a teenage life and you will be their ally.

But if they think you will get mad, make fun of them, yell, not understand, then often they will seek the input of others--and those others may not have your values. So teen years are the time to deeply work on building that trust relationship--so that you will always know what is going on. Better yet, start working on it when they are tiny so they will naturally come to you.

Don't ever say, "My children will never do such and such!" Beware--it is a very challenging world out there for teens and young adults, and pride goes before a fall!  And they need you to walk beside them every step and to be very involved, to help protect them from unnecessary scars and to help them make wise decisions. All of us fail in some ways in our lives, so be sure to exhibit and express that your children can always come to you with anything and then prove to them that you can be trusted by listening, not reacting, and helping them with a gentle spirit.

Hormones throw preteens and teens into a slump of regressing, at times, because the hormones disrupt the familiar patterns of their body and brains! Moodiness, sleeping longer, emotional bouts over seemingly little things, are a norm with kids going through hormones. Not to mention all of the sexual changes, which are of incredible magnitude. Many times a mom is tempted to become exasperated and angry at the child, as though it is a willful choice. But since all of my four children went through this passage with such issues, though expressed in different ways, I could be more rational and not take it personally.

Many moms say that from one day to the next, their children change---Hormones!

And sometimes the passages feel a little like the toddler years. You are supposed to be the mature one who doesn't yell and become emotional--but the humorous fact is that often when moms have teens, they are reversing in their own hormones and often have emotional and angry bouts themselves.

Grace, strong heartedness and love covers a multitude of sin!

Teen years are the making of the child into an adult and the humbling of the parent who realizes they never were in control of their children! But it also makes for forming great adult friendships that will give back to you the rest of their lives. Take heart and a deep breath and expect to see God's grace and provision in new ways--and above all, don't let it get you down. It is a normal process for all of history--the reason Solomon wrote Proverbs to teens,  and the means through which many adults become more humble and compassionate for others.

Take Heart! :)

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• Join my friends and me in membership at Life with Sally, a place for me to share more teaching from the Bible and messages on education, motherhood, discipleship, and more!