Awaking Wonder: Shaping of a Whole Life Vision

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We are watching history unfold once again as we see people in every walk of life exhibit what has lived inside of them. Violence, accusations, opinions, convictions, behavior, relationships, theology, philosophy of iife, what value we give to other human beings does not come from a vacuum. What we believe, how we live and what we live for comes from the input, training, experiences and modeling that have been a part of our lives. What might we learn about our contemporary culture by watching the behavior, character and words of the people in the news today. Is it what you hope your children will immulate? Is the character you are seeing displayed what you hope your children will become?

As we ponder what the next generation of children are becoming by what they are being shaped by now, we must consider what they are hearing, evaluating, watching, pondering, learning through the moments of their days. But even more important to those of us who have faith or virtue as a foundation for our life philosophy, we must understand that our children have personalities, drives, imaginations that were given by God so that they could fulfill their part in His story on earth.

Jesus, kneeling down in the dusty floor, mingling his hands with toes, dirt and smell, lovingly touching and firmly wiping the feet of His beloved friends, amidst stench, noise and eating, laughing, living. Reaching their hearts, souls and minds with the depth of the call of the kingdom was an embracing of the reality of daily life amongst full-blooded, crusty, men, hungry to fulfill a life's purpose that captivated their deepest longings to see that their lives mattered..

Jesus didn't just talk about having a ministry from a broad, tall pulpit with a resounding microphone, while disappearing between sermons. He lived a deeply personal life with words and instruction as well as integrity and generous love demonstrated in each moment of every day and he served and bowed his knee to meet the needs and desires of those He loved.  He taught compassion, and then he demonstrated it by healing the sick, touching those with leprocy, drinking water with the prostitute, holding and caressing children, feeding those who were hungry.

Each of us longs to be a part of a great cause, an epoch story and each of us longs to belong in the hearts of someone in the world who cares for us. We can exist within the mundane moments of motherhood or marriage or work longer if we know and understand that somehow it is meaningful to our over-arching life story and heritage, a history that we are passing on, when we daily stoop to serve, and patiently give of our energy to meet the needs of others.

But we long to know our lives can make a real difference, that our being alive and making right choices isn't just about duty, but about a heart-gripping reality that will make a purposeful impact in the lives of others- and to know that someone cares about our life sacrifices and investment of our time.

We need to recognize these same needs in the heart of our children. "Our children's hearts long ot be a part of a great cause. Training our children for ministry needs to be at the center of everything we are attempting to do with our lives. Serving God and loving Him is not about knowing all of the right rules and keeping them; it is about cultivating compassion in the hearts of our children for a lost world and showing them how they can be a part of His great plans for them to reach their world in their lifetime." The Mom Walk

Jesus called his disciples away from tasks to make an imprint on history, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men!" "Go into the world and make disciples." "These uneducated men have turned the world upside down."

Paul and Peter were willing and joyfully sacrificed their lives because they knew, they deeply understood, they were a part of the movement of the Spirit of God to redeem the world for their creator, they were kingdom laborers. The passion in their heart gave them the power to serve. Service without heart kills the soul.

And so, when we seek to disciple our children, it is cultivating in them a vision for their importance to Christ's work, a hope that they are needed to fulfill a kingdom cause--with their unique personality and skills, and then giving them practice in serving others as they grow up in our homes, which are the center of ministry. It is about them watching us serve and being caught up in the beauty of our loving, giving to, serving and inspiring others from the integrity and compassion of our own hearts and lives, that their hearts will be captured.

Hearing about ministry, seeing ministry taking place and giving them a place to serve and be needed is the process of captivating their hearts with a passion that will last them their whole lives is the process of shaping them into life-long disciples of Jesus.  Discipleship is not about indoctrination, discipleship is heart work.

Today I am giving away 3 Awaking Wonder Books & 3 Awaking Wonder Planners. Follow my blog. or follow me on insta or Facebook and leave a comment and you will be entered.

Get your book so you can follow along with me in the next weeks.

Books Referenced in this Podcast:

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Sensing God: Celebrating Life as God Meant it to Be & Giveaway

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Sunday afternoon found me so wound up, I thought I was going to pop. Emotion of weariness and disappointment on many levels had been building up over weeks and weeks and especially the last few days. I did not need someone to say, “Sally, you need to trust God.” or “Sally, it is immature to be grumpy!” Those words might have made me explode!

Joy came over to me, wrapped her arms around me and said, “Did you know that Plato thought you could shake bad feelings out of a person, that that is why mothers rock their children back and forth?” She then jiggled me around a bit and we fell apart in laughter. I do think her shaking did some good.

Finally, we put on loud music from a sound list she had made and danced with all our hearts for about 20 minutes. I actually felt better. :)

Today, I talk with Joel about his new book, Sensing God. I have been reading it a little every day and it is having such a sweet, encouraging effect on my heart. God created us to find our solace and satisfaction in Him through the Word as well as what He created for our pleasure. Drawing close to Him requires that we engage in touch, our hearing, our sight, our taste, our touch and so much more. God created us to know more about Him by experiencing Him with all that we are, all that He created us to be.

Did God Give Us Our Senses So that We Could Enjoy Him More?
Sensing God is a discovery of Jesus in all of the sensory points embedded into each of us. It shows how the holiest acts in our daily lives are often the simplest: reveling in the beauty of nature; listening to our favorite music; eating a nourishing meal with family. These are potentially heartbeats of a living faith, and when we learn to recognize and respond to God’s goodness in them, it draws us into redemptive participation with Him, the source of all beauty.

Joel shares personal stories and paints vivid imagery so that we, too, can taste and see (and hear and touch and smell) that the Lord is good. In our exploration, we meet Jesus, who invites us to enjoy his presence and proclaim his visible, tangible, and touchable gospel. We physically experience the glory of our Creator and at the same time, we make that encounter a testimony to a broken world that is desperate for restoration. We are encouraged to get the good dirt of God’s holy world under our nails.

Together, we will come into contact with the God who reaches out to us with His eternal truth through the goodness of beauty. Will you join the journey? Come and learn how to truly worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

Be sure to get your copy today. You will be so glad you did.

Find Joel on Instagram @ Joel.I.Clarkson

on Facebook @ Joelclarksonmusic

Enjoy his music @ Joelclarkson.com

Books Referenced in this Podcast:

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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!

Honor: Granting Worth, High Esteem, Deep Respect In All Actions of Life

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The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.

Fred Astaire

Manners are the practiced ways in which one person acknowledges and gives worth to others through their actions

One of the most valued points of training for my children was to teach them to honor others made in God’s image that they would learn how to honor God. Manners, the habit and action of practicing and living out ways to show this worth in practical ways was a very consistent part of our training grounds for our children. Honor requires a heart attitude that says, “There are others I must consider more important than myself, others I with whom I must learn to show respect. There are others to whom I should learn to give allegiance, loyalty because it pleases God.

First, I am asked to honor God. The way I learn this is by practicing giving it to others that there will be a pathway in my brain that is used to thinking of honor as a life core value.

If a child is to learn to worship God, to give Him the worth, the honor and glory he deserves, he learns the value of honor by seeing it lived outin his family and by practicing it as a way of life.

God tells children to "Honor their mother and father" and in this command is a practice of showing respect, giving worth, humbling one's self--in short practicing seeing the value in another person. When people are valued, valuing God and worshipping Him is already a pattern in the heart.

Manners must be modelled, trained, valued, so that that which is sacred may be learned through the life of a home. It is one of the best skills and heart attitudes a parent may give to a child.

From the first days of life, we speak the attitudes of faith into our little babies. When we treat them with gentleness and respond to them with patience and treat them as little infants of great value, we are already training the value of honor and respect into their brain patterns.

Honor is a value that must have precedence in a home, so that a child can understand the importance of  people, and  to learn to bow their knee before others who deserve respect.

Honor is a heart attitude that is chosen to be a guide to our behavior in life. Honor leads us to choose to act in a way that points to the holiness, the dignity of God. Honor begins with our attitude about God and what we owe to Him out of being His servants.

The beginning of learning to value a fetus, an old, frail or infirm adult, or a person of different race or color begins with the heart attitude of learning to honor and learning to submit oneself to others.

Honoring others in authority is biblical. Honoring the property of others is at the base of not stealing, not disfiguring a place. Sacred places that are of value to others require that we give places a sense of value for what they represent.

Honoring sacred places is a way of moving beyond giving worth personally to people to granting worth to the places that hold sacred meaning, value to them and to our community.

If there is no place in our lives where we must be hushed, out of reverence, when we enter a place; if vulgarity and crudity of language offers no pang of shame; if there is no sense of reverence in the grid of our lives that requires us to bow our own self in the presence of someone greater, then passing on a sense of awe and humility when we are in God's presence will be impossible.

We practice humility and honor with our peers that we may worthily understand God's rightful place in our lives as the sovereign over all.

Books Referenced in this Podcast:

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Given: Permission to Be Yourself!

"It is for freedom that Christ set us free, therefore, keep standing firm that you may not be subject to a yoke of slavery."

~ Galatians 5:1

We’ve had a lovely Christmas and New Year, even in the midst of the difficult lockdown here in the U.K. There aren’t a quarter of the decorative things to take down and pack away as we snuggle into our little house in Oxford, which is a blessing of itself! Finding ways to enjoy and celebrate life—and even have fun—takes a bit more work than usual, under such odd circumstances. And yet, it may be more important than ever.

What a crazy year—what a crazy few days. If we weren’t all struggling before, there are new issues to face after the terrible attack on Wednesday. Grace to all of you. Grace and peace amidst all of the conflicting ways we are feeling about life. But overall, struggling in dark times is a healthy reaction. And now, you and I need more time to regroup than ever.

Do you know that God crafted different personalities so that women could express different attributes of God and His strengths? It is knowing this that encourages me, reminding me that each mama needs to find her own way as she lives with her family in the time in which they live.

I wrote a chapter in Seasons of a Mother's Heart about legalism imposed upon us by others that produces burdens God never intended us to carry. I find it interesting that God purposely left many areas in scripture very vague. There are no lists about just how to discipline a child, exactly what to do or say at each age, for instance. There is no rule book about what a mom should cook if she is really dedicated to bringing health to her family, or what exact music is acceptable and what music would indeed lead a child astray. Or even what it really looks like to submit to a husband—which is good, since (they are all different and have different preferences!

There is not even a verse that says, "Every mother should stay with her children all the time every hour or else they are not spiritual and their children will go astray." Or, or, or. There is so much in scripture about living by faith, trusting God; both Jesus and even Paul were very clear about not having the heart of a Pharisee and putting heavy loads on people.

Instead, we are to use wisdom principles and have quiet times and grow in maturity. I  came to the conclusion that if I wanted to pass on my life and beliefs and vision to my children, I needed to be the one who invested time in them and won their hearts, out of the integrity of my own heart.

But, seeing my children do well in life and love the Lord and us and continue growing is not as a result of a list of rules that I followed, but of following the Lord, praying, obeying Him and seeking His wisdom, living by faith and watching His grace. God is in charge and will work in and through the personality and circumstances of my life uniquely, if I walk with Him.

There are many wonderful teachers and speakers who have good hearts and love the Lord and want to encourage others. But the word of God is to be our final ideal, and not just "wisdom" from others that is extra-Biblical and not scripture--and I find God to be a better task master than most humans I have ever known.

So many young moms lacked good families, and now they want to "do it right" with their own children, so they are willing to believe anything in print or that they heard a speaker say—and then put themselves under great burdens in the name of Christian ideals.

These difficult pathways lead to disappointment with self and with your own children, because they will never ever measure up to someone else's standard. Then, these sweet moms find themselves wanting to give up ideals because they are very depressed or overwhelmed and unable to serve this impossible master. There is no grace and peace in legalism and a rules-based life.

I find that the longer I walk with the Lord, the more freedom I feel to be who I am. I don't have to live by anyone else's laws. Clay and I just have to answer to God and scripture, not to an arbitrary list of someone else's standards. I think living overseas and traveling a lot has helped in this area a little.

Every culture I see and each national I meet has a different tradition of worshiping God, and a different set of circumstances to deal with as they strive to apply the word of God to their lives. This helps me see God is so much bigger and beyond my own box. And yet, He allows all of us, from so many different points of view, to enter into His rest and redemption and forgiveness because of His wonderful, gracious love.

Every family is broken in some way, yours, mine, always will be ‘till we get to heaven. But that is where the grace of God comes in—it really is a way of breathing life into our limitations and brokenness. And I have seen that even living imperfectly, but by faith, has show God’s grace in the lives of our family—in spite of our imperfections.

So, my real desire in writing this article is to give moms permission to be themselves! There is no "one right way". Each of you has a different puzzle to solve--different children's personalities, husbands, and even a different personality yourself. Some of you are introverts and some extroverts. Some trained and educated in high spiritual values, and some coming at it for the first time.

But the bottom line is, that as a wise woman, you need to figure out how you can best make it in the long run--loving God and loving your family, and finding ways to do this so that your own spirit is filled with life and joy.

You are just exactly the right person, the one who God picked to shepherd these children in ways that no one else could. So live in that freedom today and enjoy your own unique family culture. This is the day the Lord has made--rejoice in the moments and be glad.

Living With Deep Intentionality, Bold Faith & Podcast

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Joy and I were walking along a rainy road the other day. We came upon a hidden concrete, roughly carved plaque with the words , “All we have to decide is what to do with a time that is given us.” Gandalf.

We each have a commodity of time to invest our lives. What does it mean to invest them in all that is good and true and beautiful? I spent some time in the past few days pondering at the foundational level what it meant for me to live forward into the life I believe God has designed for me. What does it mean to live with bold faith?

I share some of my foundational goals in my blog post and in my podcast today. What does it mean to own my life at this juncture if my life. I would love to know some of your goals and purposes. I shared some of my thoughts in my podcast today. I would be so honored if you would join me there!❤️ and do tell me what you have planned for the direction of your year.🌺❤️

1.To Please Christ: To follow His word and admonitions, to grow every day, to love Him from my heart, to humble myself and confess my need for him and to ask His forgiveness when I fail, to seek to walk in His spirit by faith every day.

Let the word of [q]Christ richly dwell within you, [r]with all wisdom teaching and admonishing [s]one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Colossians 3: 16-17

2. To take all that I have learned and benefited from over the years of walking with Him and to bring this light to the world in every means I am able: to my children, husband, friends, neighbors, world.

Matthew 28: 19-20

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to [b]follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you [c]always, to the end of the age.”

3.To Love well and to seek to have a testimony in every season of my life where God has led me so that others might be encouraged. (Follow me as I follow Christ) Love one another. Love God, love my neighbor--Love is the fuel to ignite a heart with authentic faith in Christ

Matthew 22:37-39

37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and [a]foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’To Love well and to seek to have a testimony in every season of my life where God has led me so that others might be encouraged. (Follow me as I follow Christ) Love one another. Love God, love my neighbor--Love is the fuel to ignite a heart with authentic faith in Christ

4. To live by Truth of scripture, with godly character, with wisdom applied to my life

2 Timothy 2:15

15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a worker who [a]does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

Printable:

Books Referenced in this Podcast:

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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!

Starting the New Year: Words of Hope & Podcast

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“For Mom, who first taught me the steps of God’s glorious dance.”

Do you ever wonder if anything you are doing matters? If anyone is listening? I have wondered that many times. Seeing my imperfections and all of the stresses and glitches in our family over so many years left me a humbled woman.

Last week, Joel received his copy of his new book, Sensing God, in the post. He passed it around and when it got to me, I opened it and began to flip through it, and there it was—he had not told me he had dedicated it to me. And to think he saw me as one who taught hi to dance in the midst of this very long journey of life.

We all need a little bit of dancing right now, don’t we. This morning, we took a very long walk in 35 degree we ather and talked and talked as friends. How dear it was to me to be, once again, sharing in heart passages of this man, my Joel, and to hear the fire burning brightly in his heart.

I know that your children, your friends, your husband, your co-workers are learning dance moves from you as you choose to grab hold of life and follow God’s music. it does matter. In this spirit, I have planned some soul-refreshing, some dancing themes, some vision restoration posts and podcasts for me and for you in the weeks ahead. I hope you will join me.

Own Your Life was written over 7 years ago when I sensed that I and my friends needed a foundation of rock solid principles in which to live life, parenting, marriage, friendship and more. I am so excited to do a new podcast on a seasoned book. Take yours out of the book shelf or purchase your copy for 12 weeks of foundational encouragement.

In pursuing these themes, I have been rejurvenated, refreshed and felt the surging love of God anew as I have been journeying through this wonderful book that my son, Joel, is launching in a few days. I know you will be refreshed, too.

Sensing God is a discovery of Jesus in all of the sensory points embedded into each of us. It shows how the holiest acts in our daily lives are often the simplest: reveling in the beauty of nature; listening to our favorite music; eating a nourishing meal with family. These are potentially heartbeats of a living faith, and when we learn to recognize and respond to God’s goodness in them, it draws us into redemptive participation with Him, the source of all beauty.

Finally, I am so very excited to be launching a Wednesday podcast next week on ideas and inspiration from Awaking Wonder to give a way forward to those who are hungry for encouragement and vision. Overall the next months will be a treasure of wisdom for scripture and thoughts to guide.

I am so very thankful you have chosen to join me. May your new year be most blessed and full of unexpected joy.

Books Referenced in this Podcast:

Awaking Wonder: Opening Your Child's Heart to the Beauty of Learning

By Clarkson, Sally

FOR MORE

• Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.

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

• Follow on Facebook and Instagram for the latest news and updates.

• 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!

A New Year's Tradition: Decluttering Your Soul! A New Start

As usual, I love the celebration of life and the traditions and the fun and the beauty of special times spent with my children, husband and friends that Christmas brings. But, there is something deeply satisfying to me about getting it all put away and getting back to normal. With 8 of us around our small house, some on couches and floors, we had fun—but a sort of chaos.

Closing this season is also a little bit of a relief to me, as I know the wonderful freedom to start a new year, as Anne says, “With no mistakes in it” gives me a tingling excitement. But this year, as we in the UK are threatened with new lockdowns and more limitations, I face this new year with a little bit of trepidation. Who could ever have thought 2020 was going to be so out of control. And it looks like 2021 might follow suit.

Every year as close as possible to New Year’s, I try to get away for a bit to do something I’ve come to call decluttering my soul. This year, I will have to try to find a place in my home where I will be alone at least for some of the time. Many have listened to my “Declutterung your soul” podcast. Today’s blog is the foundation for verses, Gods voice and truths that are the basis of my planning. Be sure to read it or print it out to use.

Getting Rid of Soul Clutter

Even as we might sort out a closet, throw away out dated and used clothing, papers, books, toys, unnecessary items, so we need to sort our our feelings, thoughts, spirit, body, life. We need to clean out and throw out unneeded items in order to start out with a clean slate. I think sometimes in the demands of life, we carry burdens inside that we are not even aware of. These burdens keep us from living in the freedom, peace and love God intended us to experience every day. But it takes time and intentionality to off-lift burdens, to wash my heart clean and to move forward with the grace and energy God wants me to experience every day. Here I’m sharing my thoughts from years past about what that looks like, as I will follow the same pattern again, and hope you will join me for this most important of tasks as we enter a new season!

We can all see how too much clutter and too many piles causes us to feel overwhelmed with life. Consequently, slowly, I have learned to declutter as often as I can—throwing away unnecessary stuff. Clay is really the master at this. He helps me get rid of things, organize things, and put away things. Yesterday, he decluttered our pantry—threw away chip bags that held little but took up space, cleared out empty water bottles and bad, junky Christmas candy that would never eaten, baskets that had fallen off of their nails, groceries that had never been put in their place. Now, if someone came into my pantry, they would mistakenly think that I am an organized person. (Thank goodness for Clay!) It made me feel good just to open the door and to see that all is manageable again.

I have come to realize my brain and heart can be the same way---cluttered with worries, responsibilities, duties, children’s future, finances, time constraints, expectations, disappointments, critical attitudes, resentment. All these added together can tend to create soul piles and mind clutter. If I don’t take the time to sort the piles, my spirit becomes a mess and my heart becomes overwhelmed and weary.

This year, I have stored up some very distinct sadnesses, confusion, disappointment, anger that needs to be dealt with—Covid and all its cancellations. months inside, activities and church cancelled. isolation, political distress and conflict on all sides of social media, the protests and deaths of so many, storms, deaths of friends, and so much more.

It is what awakened me at 4:00 a.m. this morning: soul clutter and worry. And this is another reason I like January. Not because of the clutter waking me, but because the new month in the new year gives me an opportunity to make a new plan, to simplify the mind messes and to start off a whole new year well. In the same way that throwing away stuff and clearing out closets brings me relief—even more—soul and mind cleaning and decluttering brings me rest.

So, as I begin a new year, I resolve to deal with my soul-clutter, so that I may have strength to face each day in peace. I come to the place where I know I will find the help that I need. I come to my Father and ask Him to help me, His child, and ask Him show me how to make get rid of the junk that is unnecessary, to help me clean out and organize my soul.

To begin with, God speaks to me gently.

*Release

Release is the first phase for me. I seek to release, to identify, to unearth all of the pressures, fears and burdens I am carrying.

It was in writing my book, Dancing with My Father, that I learned so much about finding joy and peace. In Him, with Him, by Him all the moments of my busy day. His voice leads me to what I long for--but I must get rid of all that causes me to fret, worry, criticize, control. There is a way....

“In quietness and rest shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15 You need to come to me and give me all those things that are weighing on your heart. Resolve to seek rest and peace.

“Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29

Only God can give us what we need. Only He is the source of rest and peace.

I listed all my issues this morning in my journal (and there seem to be multitudes of clutter piles in my soul--worries, attitudes, bitterness, weariness, fear, sin and a few more!) These are issues that will suck me dry and my energy dry if I do not notice them in order to clean out my soul.

The Lord prompted, "List all of your issues, give them over to Me. Don’t hold on to them. I am capable of taking them from you and being responsible so that you will not be weary or carry what you are not capable of carrying.”

*Choose Rest, Believe in His ability to Hold You

"Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. “ Psalm 37:7

Focus on resting in me—sit in my lap, and rest in my arms. Let me carry you. I love you. Wait for my timing. Don’t force things or beg me to hurry up. I am in control.

“Be still (cease striving) and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

“Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother;Like a weaned child is my soul within me.” Psalm 131:2

Give me your attention and get control of your spirit. Be quiet. Be still. Recognize my sovereignty and transcendence. Remember what Jesus said, “Our Father who art in heaven, holy is your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus modeled his understanding that my will is what you need to rest in. I am in heaven and I see all things—the future, the past, your children, your relationships, --all your clutter. Give them to me. Quiet your soul and rest in my strength and power.

*Trust

Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one little child like this receives me.” Matthew 18:3-5

Come to Me as a child—even as your children, in their innocence and sweetness of heart, know that you will care for them and meet their needs because you are a loving parent who cares for them, so I am your Father who will take care of you. Leave the burdens to your Father and take your rightful place as a child. Humble yourself and trust Me. Enjoy Me. Delight in the beautiful moments of this day. Notice the little miracles. Live as an unfettered child. Accept your little and big children and receive them as a gift from Me, and You will indeed receive me into your midst.

“ ... a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.” I Peter 3:4

*Simplify

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about so many things. But really one is needed and Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Luke 10 41-42

Don’t worry and fret and stew and stir up unnecessary dust. Choose simplicity—just one thing I require—that you give it all to Me and love Me. I will take over. Even as I gave and provided a Sabbath in which all of My children should have rest from their work, so I want you to live in my Sabbath rest for your soul. Rest from your striving and labor. Take time for naps, for pleasure, for joy. This day you have to receive as a gift--I can't promise what tomorrow will hold. But today you can love, give peace, speak kind and wise words, dance in your soul with My secret pleasure that comes from knowing that I love you. Simplify your life, don’t make choices that will complicate or add unnecessary pressure or cause you to sin or grumble. “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life,” as Paul said.

So, as I yielded my lists into God’s hands and de-cluttered my troubled soul, I left feeling that even as my house has been coming to order after we cleaned and straightened it yesterday, so now my soul is moving in the direction of order.

How should I declutter my soul?

1. Check your heart for any guilt or unconfessed sin. I have found that letting God erase my weight of real or false guilt, helps me to admit with God that I need Him, His grace and His forgiveness.

2. Are there any hurts, burdens, fears, worries from the past year that you are carrying on your own shoulders? Write them down, give them over into God’s hands and ask for practical wisdom about how to handle it. Pray from your heart about how you need help.

3. Are you carrying any bitterness, worries, cynicism that is stealing from you? When we do not give forgiveness or accept the limitations of a circumstance or person, we are the ones who suffer the most. Be humble, give up bitterness, revenge, a gossiping heart and mouth.

4. What are some dreams or ways you need to see God help you? Ask Him to provide for you—what is on your heart. God delights in answering prayer.

5. Are you cherishing the world or worldly things too much? Is ti keeping you from being close to Him, from developing righteous values? What do you need to change to move toward a closer walk with God? books? conference? daily time?

   What does it mean to “Seek first God’s kingdom for you this year? Only in His priorities will we find centeredness and blessing. List what your eternal/kingdom goals are and how to get there.

6. Be yourself. Make plans that suit your loves, your personality, your limitations. Your story will be different than that of anyone else. Don’t carry the burden of comparison to others or a phantom that makes you think you should be a certain way. Be free, live in grace.

So many planners and so many ways to feel guilty or less than, but when we seek Him and His priorities and free ourselves from the burdens we are not meant to carry, we will find strength and purpose for each day.

May you know God’s deep love for you, His sovereignty even over unsure places and times. I pray you have a wonderful New Year and a light soul. Happy 2021!

Sometimes I Get Lost: Finding My Way Back, Decluttering My Soul 1 & Podcast

“Not all those who wander are lost.”

Tolkien

I have walked to “the Parks” countless times. But today, I was praying, deep in thought and passed the road I was supposed to turn on. I was deep in the neighborhood streets where all the homes look the same for blocks and blocks. I also had my earphones in my ears and literally was just not paying attention. Coming to a dead-end street that ended in tennis courts, I suddenly realized I had not been paying attention and was lost. I had to walk a little bit out of my way, walk down a wrong street, turn around, but finally found a back entrance I had never seen to the many acres of pathways where I often walk. You see, I had walked these roads to one of the back entrances to the park but I knew the way, not the names of the streets.

This was not the only time I have been lost. It is fairly common to a walking life in a new international city. One has to learn the ropes, the way to what eventually become familiar places. When I first moved to Oxford a few years ago, I ended up late one night in a very dark part of town where my cell phone did not work. The streets unfamiliar to me seemed to go in circles. But, I didn’t panic. I was used to getting lost in international cities on occasion from the first time I moved overseas. Patience and taking my time always led me back home to a familiar place. Tolkien seemed to get it right, all who wander are not lost necessarily, but on their way to finding their destination eventually.

Many people I have talked to right now feel like they are wandering through life, feeling a bit lost in their journey. We are all trying to make plans that will be cancelled, trying to make sense of life while being home all the time. Some are faring better than others.

Life has taught me that even when I feel lost, I am not lost to God. He sees me, loves me, has an ultimate purpose and will lead me as I hold His hand and walk with Him.

In Psalm 139: 7-12, David, who was beloved by God, but had to walk through so many years of running away from Saul, wrote:

Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
9 If I take up the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will take hold of me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,”
12 Even darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.

Even in the darkest of places, where we cannot see at all what is ahead or behind and we feel lost, we see that darkness is not dark to Him.

Each year, people are quite taken with planning and goal setting in an new year. I love to make goals. But I heave realized that the most important and foundational planning for me is for spiritual direction. If I “right” my heart before God, He will give me peace that passes understanding, He will grant me wisdom, He will give me his gentle companionship, He will be with me every step of the way.

Today, I am providing a podcast that I hope will help and encourage you right where you are. Tomorrow, I will have a blog that speaks directly to the importance of decluttering our souls—taking away the doubts, the guilt, the fears, the stress and making a plan of how to stay close to our precious, loving Father, whatever befalls us during this new year, 2021.

May God grant us all grace and peace.

How Can A Mother Find Favor With God? Happy Christmas!

The Annunciation, by Henry Ossawa Tanner

"Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you." Luke 1:28

Oh, how I wish these words expressed how God felt about me! Would God see me as the kind of woman He would choose now to mother Jesus, the most high God? By what means did she find favor, in the hidden moments of her life?

Mary lived in a tiny, obscure village amidst a humdrum life. Wheat was ground, bread was pounded out on wooden tables, crumbs were swept from the floor, children lovingly tended, with mother and father presiding over the home, the Shema was listened to every day over shared family meals, the Sabbath was kept. She lived in invisibility, in the moments of an ordinary, obscure life, as far as anyone knew. And yet, in the living of her life quietly and faithfully, God noticed her. He saw her, and she found favor and pleased His heart.

God always sees, even when no one else is noticing.

Imagine being greeted by an angel in the midst of a normal day, when no one else knew: "Hail, favored one!”

And then the angel said, "Mary, do not be afraid, for you have found favor with God."

Really? She did not have a college degree or a ministry position or title and had never published a book or even spoken in the synagogue--and yet, in the midst of her quiet life, she found favor with God.

There are clues as to why... Being the mother of Jesus would require a tenacious, steady, engaged faith. As his mother, her life would be  in danger. Jesus would be  pursued by a crazy king, and at every point, people would cast doubt on her irregular, fantastical story.

 Satan would have wanted to prevent Jesus becoming Savior, and Mary would be his protector--a shelter from danger, a nurturer of his soul, a provider of truth, a teacher and trainer, a strength in storms--all of this she would be asked to be for God, the baby, entrusted into her hands, as his mother; a divinely appointed role.

She would have to move, put up with peer pressure, believe in the miraculous, and live for ahwile amidst the despised Egyptians. Her life would be filled with stress, pressure, rejection, fear, loneliness, and questions.

And yet, God had called her favored, He had seen her heart, noticed her response to circumstances throughout her life, and tested her willingness to obey, and she had been found faithful, and so she was favored.

Her response, ready on her lips, had been practiced in her heart.

"“Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” Luke 1:38

God looked for one who would serve Him, willingly, readily, at the moment of His impossible request, one who would respond in utter submission.

I am your bondslave--a commitment he had seen in her prayers, through out her life as she engaged her heart in scripture, He had seen her practice of worship by choosing, through all the years of her training, her response of believing and her heart consecration to serve Him, to obey throughout the seemingly unnoticed moments of her life.

Is that my response to this life He has given to me--be it done according to your will for I am your bond-servant? Even if it means sacrifice of the plans I hold dear? Even if it means being misunderstood? Rejected? Chased? Inconvenienced? Even if it requires me to have courage against fears that will assail my life?

We are left  another clue. Elizabeth, her older cousin, who had also lived above reproach and obeyed God, upon seeing Mary, responded,

"And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”

Mary believed God.

She had a ready heart to believe Him, trust Him with all that it would require of her, to await the miraculous, to live through long years of waiting and quiet and mundanity, as she awaited to see this little baby become the expected Messiah, the fulfillment of His role as Savior.

She believed there would be a fulfillment.

 She had practiced believing in Him her whole life and this, I think, was in part what would qualify her to be the mother of the son of God. She was ready, willing to immediately respond to Him in belief--even to the impossible--even in the obscure place of dust, dishes, and duty.

And so God shined His light on my soul this early morning as I pondered Mary in His presence--am I ready to believe, to obey wherever He takes me, to await the fulfillment of His word and to choose to believe in His future fulfillment of faithfulness in my own life and in my own prayers--even if the ultimate fulfillment will take years and years, as it took Mary?

Today as I sit in the sparkle of our Christmas home, I hope that He will find me, in the integrity of my heart,  obeying, responding, and bowing my knee to His will as a bondservant whose heart is ready to follow, obey, accept limitations of a world at battle for righteousness, and yet ready, in His strength, to believe.

May He prepare your heart today to worship in the quietness of your life, right where you are. May He bless you with His peace and grace. May you be filled with all the fullness of God.

Merry, Merry Christmas!

I Need Friendship, Inspiration and Community. Do You? Christmas Giveaway! & Podcast

Play Episode on iTunes & Stitcher

“I need a place to refresh and refuel. Maybe a weekend at a hotel. Chocolate. Clean sheets. Women with my ideals. A nice meal. A friend!”

As I look back through the years, I realize that what I needed as a young mama and wife is what I still need—friends and community. In this very strange time of unusual isolation and separation from our normal commitments, activities and communities, we have all felt hollow in our hearts. A longing for someone to understand, someone to celebrate life with.

Fast forward through the years, and we created conferences, retreats, leadership weekends for women to lead small groups, blog posts, podcasts and wrote over 25 books and devotional workbooks to help. Finally, a three years ago, we started a membership that is a community that holds all of the things we have been writing and speaking about over all the years.

As an older mother now of four grown children and two grandchildren, I'm investing my time here to give back to moms like you the wisdom and truth I've learned in my long mom walk with God. I'm here, with friends, to give you help and hope. We have gathered discipleship messages, Bible studies, videos of our favorite recipes, book reviews, Awaking Wonder unit studies, art, classical musician studies, printables and so much more. It would take months to access all of the resources available there. We receive letters from precious ones all over the world who have loved this community.

Clay and I wanted talked and prayed about how we might at least be a blessing in providing a little more opportunity for this for others like us. Several years ago, we developed a community around a monthly membership where we could encourage women who shared our ideals, not even dreaming that some day we would be unable to host any more conferences where women could gather together as we had done for 25 years.

Soooooo, we are giving away 30 one year scholarships to our membership to celebrate the spirit of Christmas giving, Life With Sally. Our desire is to make this available to those of you who have had an especially challenging year or those who cannot afford to pay for the membership, or in some way have had an unusual hardship that would make this gift a blessing to you. Perhaps you are:

*A single mother

*A Military wife of a deployed husband

*Have lost a family member this year or had severe illness of some kind in your family

*Have lost income or job and have financial difficulty as a result

*Other challenging difficulties

If you want to be considered as a recipient of the scholarship, please an email to:

scholarship@wholeheart.org

Wo remember: You will be entered in the scholarship provision by emailing us at scholarship@wholeheart.org.. We will take entries until midnight on Christmas Eve, mountain time. Then we will process the entries, use a random means of choosing 30 people from the entries to receive a scholarship membership for 12 months. We will have the final winners picked by Monday, December 28 and contact you if you have received a scholarship. If you know of a friend who is in need of a boost or would benefit from this giveaway, be sure to tell her to enter.

I hope you have a wonderful season of advent, and a warm and cherished time with your loved ones on Christmas Day. I know many of you will be alone or in different circumstances this year. I pray you will find God’s grace, love and compassion wherever this special day finds you. I wish you love.

For those of you desiring to have encouragement and and fellowship within our community of women, and are able to pay for a subscription, consider joining with us in our monthly membership. We would so enjoy having you in our community. LifewithSally.com

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