God Is A Perfect Father Who Loves Us Perfectly

I have found that almost every season of motherhood has brought with it an overwhelming amount of worries, duties, fears, and responsibilities that seemed far beyond my capacity to deal with them. In my younger years there were sleepless nights, ear infections and asthma, moves, and constant demands on my time. Later, there were schooling issues, finding good friends, activities, more moves, and a variety of other new problems.

Every mother I know has seemingly endless seasons of stress, challenge, and worry. But it is a waste of time to spend energy and hours worrying, fretting, and troubling ourselves about things that we can't make go away.

How can we handle all the stress? Only by learning the place of prayer in the daily moments and issues of life. We are like little children coming to Him, giving up our entire souls with every bit of worry, joy, and fear into His committed, capable hands.

Prayer gives us constant access to God's presence. It keeps us in relationship with Him. It is only by prayer that we are able to release our lives into our Father's hands and accept the comfort and sustenance He offers.

Seeking God and acknowledging Him as our loving Father puts the issues of our lives in a larger perspective. It helps us to walk this journey of motherhood with faith and vision, without always being weighed down by our worries.

For more on this, get your copy of Your Mom Walk With God.

Tea Time Tuesday: Making Christmas Live for a Lifetime In the Hearts of Your Children

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When I was a little girl, once in a while, my mama would read about some project in a magazine and then would try to make it for one of us. She did not sew, wasn’t handy with needles. Yet, I remember as a wee little girl, she hid in a little room at the back of our house for several nights. The end result was the Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls in the photo above. They have sat below our Christmas tree for as long as I can remember. And I mainly remember, “My mama must have loved me because she worked so hard on these fun dolls.” Somehow I thought they were the guardians of our tree.

As a little girl, I would turn all the living room lights out and just sit in front of the tree marveling at the sparkle and beauty. My mama played a favorite Christmas album over and over again. How many hours I wiled away, I do not know, but it gave me scope and time be dream and imagine about fairy tales of my own making just from being there.

Truly one of the most wonderful parts of  Christmas is that everything is magnified through the eyes of our children. Coming up with ideas of things that would delight them and then continuing those traditions every year brings much joy to all, and it is so wondrous to me now to be able to watch Sarah celebrate with Lilian, Samuel, Lucie, and Elanor in her own home!

A friend asked me to write about the traditions we practiced when our children were little. There are so many that I would have to write pages to adequately describe them all.  We did different things at different stages.

However, the goal of  Christmas traditions is not to do the most elaborate and difficult things, but to help my children love Jesus, revere Him, enjoy His story, to embed the beauty of Christmas deeply into their hearts. Cheers and Happy Advent, my friends.

Surrendering To The Life That You Have Been Given

We have to learn to lean into life as something beautiful even if it is not exactly what we expected. Trusting that God works all things together for the good despite the challenges we face is a gift of worship we give to God. Acceptance with humility must eventually come to each of us if we are to please God. And He can use our unique combination of circumstances — even the difficult ones — for our good and His glory.

If we embrace our unique puzzle of life, we will find wholeness. As we look to God to slowly figure out how to put the pieces together, we will see a beautiful picture emerge. Our stories lived faithfully will become our glory — the place where He builds messages, provides answers to prayer, and teaches wisdom.

Read more about this in my book, Different.

Appreciating God's Handiwork In Our Children

God designed it so that children should feel totally accepted in their own home, just as we are totally accepted by him. Mothers, in fact, have the privilege of instilling in children a deep experience of God by modeling his unconditional love and acceptance.

Learn to appreciate God's handiwork in each of your children. When children feel appreciated, encouraged, and affirmed in their gifts, they become encouragers themselves, sources of life and hope in an often discouraging world.

Read more about this in The Mission of Motherhood.

Books, Books, and More Books!

As many of you know, I love books and especially lovely picture books with stunning illustrations. I am quite sure we have over 100 advent books and Christmas stories.

Years ago, one of my friends gave me this lovely idea. We would buy at least one new Christmas book a year. Her lovely idea was to wrap all of her Christmas books in tissue paper and put them into a basket, and after scripture reading for Advent each night or morning (or whenever you do it), the children take turns picking out one book to unwrap like a present and get to read that one together before going to bed or starting the day.

This also makes each book a treasure. If you want to make it easier, you can have an older child wrap up the book each night after it's been read so that it will be ready for the next year and then you won't have 24 books to wrap all at once!

I put book baskets in several places in our home, filled with different books and resources. I would love to know what your "classics" are — the ones you read every year. What are your favorite advent/Christmas-themed children's books and stories?

Tea Time Tuesday: Waiting For God's Light To Break Into Our Darkness

Joel and me in Oxford Parks

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Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for and hope for and expect the Lord!

Psalm 31: 24

Many people write me all the time saying, “We want to hear from your children!” And so today, I asked Joel to chat with me about life, beauty, music, art, and all the ways he is putting that into the world. My composer, PhD, artist son is one of my besties and it was so much fun to talk with him.

Waiting is a theme for us all! Join me as I speak today about the Biblical meaning of waiting. Advents finds us waiting for His light to come into our darkness. So many eras I didn't think I would live through — crying babies with colic; ear infections and nocturnal asthma; hysterical fits and fusses and tantrums for never-ending years, one day at a time, with a mysterious child with ADHD, OCD and ODD; marriage struggles between me, a totally romantic, relational woman married to a totally rational, organized man who had to work way too many hours to keep this family afloat; messes, rejections from family for our ideals; 17 moves; loneliness, too little help or support systems; financial crisis; illnesses and hospitalizations and testings never ending; church splits; irrational people; and on and on.

Today, as I look back, I am still here, but God has changed me through it all. I am more patient with everyone because I see how much I needed patience and still need compassion. I appreciate my faithful husband who has stuck with me through it all and has continued to dream of how we can change the world and write new books and keep this ministry afloat (amidst him doing 4 loads of laundry last weekend, while I grocery shopped, bought birthday presents — again, and wedding presents for family).

The failures and mistakes I made gave me humility — a gift that allows one to be more appreciative of God's forgiveness, love and grace. Humility prepares one to minister to others with compassion and sympathy. Few leaders are wise without a dose of failure and having to submit to God's discipline. Children have a way of humbling mamas.

Today, Tea Time Tuesday is a long one. Hope you enjoy! Recipe, books, different teas, and more.

The Artistry of God

Wonder is the engine that drives curiosity and shapes a robust intellect. Wonder was sown deeply into our psyches by the One who made us. The drive to ponder, to imagine, to ask questions, to be curious, to ask “How? Why?”

The sheer splendor of God's creation, from the tiniest plankton to the biggest whale, from microscopic crystals to soaring mountains, calls to the deepest part of our human nature. It offers us a deeper appreciation for life, as well as for God as the greatest artist.

God is more than a philosophy to be known, more than a theology to be espoused. He is a mystery to ponder; a loving Father who created so much beauty and pleasure; a holy, sacred Creator to worship; a Savior who showed compassion; a mysterious wind blowing through our lives to cherish — and this is reflected in the beauty and design of creation.

Read more about this in Awaking Wonder.

Tea Time Tuesday: We May Never Pass This Way Again

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Tea Time Tuesday

Greetings from snowy Colorado, my lovelies. Praying grace, peace, joy and strength for you these next weeks of holiday celebration.

Today, I looked at this photo and already it is a sweet memory. The house was filled with children’s voices, laughter, chatting, and the noise of 7 people living together, for that moment, together in a charming cottage. As I had my treasured moments to hold baby Elanor close in my arms, I knew to live into the moment amidst the busyness of the household. She was here, healthy, lovely and soft and I could will my love and God’s love to seep deep into her little soul. I was holding a treasure at this moment in time.

I already look at Lilian, Samuel, and Lucie, my other grands, and see how quickly they have grown up and their own “babyhood”—slipped away right in front of my eyes. So many times, when I have been in a particular season, like nursing my babies, or tucking my children into bed and night and they want to talk, or sharing a companionship moment with Clay when partnering in this group called Clarksons, or hearing the secrets of my teens, and I have taken it for granted. I can suppose that “I’ll have another chance to do this again.”

My friend, Jacqui and I were talking about how, for a time, we had adventure days where, as friends, we would plan every Tuesday to foray out into a new English hamlet near Oxford, to discover a new charity shop or beautiful fields to walk in, or a tea house where we could sip and tell secrets. And yet, suddenly, without warning, our ability to get together on Tuesdays changed. Schedules shifted, responsibilities came and our committed time of friendship adventuring together on Tuesdays was over, at least for now.

When I spent my last days in Oxford some days ago, I made sure to make the most of each person I spent time with, to look them in the eyes, to listen to what was in their words and on their heart—because I knew that I might never have this moment to enjoy, to remember, to celebrate.

The holidays bring such an array of activities, things to do, traditions to occupy our time. Yet, if we want to make this holiday memorable and special, we need to determine to be present in the moment with those in our midst, our children, friends, relatives, neighbors. This is the day, this is the moment the Lord has made.

Today on my Tea Time Tuesday podcast, I share some of my Oxford experiences, favorite Thanksgiving food, of course music, books, and a challenge to make advent season a time of delisting in the Lord. Give Him the gift of your whole heart this season, worship Him, enjoy His presence, take time to experience His companionship, look for His fingerprints in your days, and tell Him how much you love Him.

Happiest of Thanksgiving to you, my friends. I am thankful for you.

We Are Living Sacrifices

As a young mother, I found that embracing God's call to motherhood once and for all brought me great peace. Instead of seeing fusses and messes as irritations in my day, I was more likely to see them as opportunities to train my children to be peacemakers and to learn to be responsible. Instead of resenting the interruptions to my schedule, I was more likely to accept them as divine appointments. More and more, I learned to see my children through the eyes of God.

To fully experience our fulfillment in Christ and fulfill his will for our lives, we must come to the point where we give our whole selves to him — our freedom, our time, our bodies, all of our possessions and gifts — trusting hi, to show us how to use all that we are for his glory.

To sacrifice means to give up or surrender something of value. We are living sacrifices, which means that moment by moment, out of our worship for him, we are to surrender our own needs and expectations for the greater value of pleasing the Lord.

Read more about this in The Mission of Motherhood.

Celebration Proclaims The Goodness Of God

Sometimes celebrating, enjoying, and laughing seem almost inappropriate in a world as broken as ours. We look around and see panic on the faces of everyone we see. Tragedies become ordinary. How, in good conscience, can we laugh and celebrate and eat pizza?

Did not Paul say to Timothy, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7)? When we give in to fear, we give in to the dark powers of our day.

Though dark and scary events may take place, our homes and communities can still be bastions of celebration, laughter, worship, thankfulness, and fun. Our love, our friendship, our sympathy can be lifegiving instruments of hope.

We celebrate God's work in the ordinary. We create foundations of connection and relationship. We worship God for the gift He has given us of the world. Nothing could be more lifegiving than that.

Read more about this in The Lifegiving Table.