Unwelcome Stress and God’s Mercy

Do you ever start “evaluating” your life and making plans for the future even when you don’t really want to?  Someone mentions to you something they’re doing (on what you assume is a regular basis) and you’re thrown into a mental panic: Oh, no!  I should be doing that TOO!  And if you’re a homeschooling mom, you add, I’m probably ruining my kids by not doing this already! And THEN I think, I’ll have to add that in the future—but how will I do it all?

Well, this happens to me ALL THE TIME!  So I was encouraged when I read the following devotional the other day…this is most of it, but it’s not very long…

God’s mercies are new every morning because each day only has enough mercy in it for that day.

This is why we tend to despair when we think that we may have to bear tomorrow’s load on today’s resources. God wants us to know: We won’t. Today’s mercies are for today’s troubles. Tomorrow’s mercies are for tomorrow’s troubles.

Sometimes we wonder if we will have the mercy to stand in terrible testing. Yes, we will. Peter says, “If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you” (1 Peter 4:14). When the reviling comes the Spirit of glory comes. It happened for Stephen as he was being stoned. It will happen for you.

When the Spirit and the glory are needed they will come.

The manna in the wilderness was given one day at a time. There was no storing up. That is the way we must depend on God’s mercy. You do not receive today the strength to bear tomorrow’s burdens. You are given mercies today for today’s troubles.

(This is from Desiring God’s Daily Devotional app, which features over 30 years of John Piper’s teaching.  It’s free!)

We need to focus on the mercy that’s given for TODAY and remember that NEW mercy will be given for tomorrow—whatever that may bring.  So keep going today, even if you feel like you’re only plodding.  Or even “failing.”  (I’m preaching to myself.)  J

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)

Swimming Lessons and Simplicity

Every Christmas for the past several years, my mother-in-law has given my kids swimming lessons for their Christmas present–and then she picks them up and brings them once a week for the next eight weeks.  This is a great idea for several reasons…

• We don’t want our kids to associate Christmas with a lot of presents
• We don’t need any more toys in our house
• The kids are learning a valuable skill, and it counts as Phy Ed
• I get a quiet morning once a week in January and February (this is the best one!)

So each year I usually work on a big project on these quiet Thursday mornings, such as painting.  But this year, I’ve been decluttering, mostly because I don’t want to paint with my three-year-old around!  (He was still taking a morning nap last year.)  This morning, in addition to doing general decluttering in my bedroom, I went through a whole box of stuff in the storage room that we haven’t even looked at since we moved–six year ago!  Now I have room on my storage shelf for a box that’s been sitting in my bedroom for six months (cloth diapers–and I’m saving them for now; maybe one of my kids will want to use cloth diapers for their babies!)

Final Thought:
I’ve been doing much better at decluttering as I go (and you can get a LOT done in five minutes, as it turns out), but in order to tackle the “laziness” (or busy-ness) of the last fifteen years, it’s nice to have some chunks of time.  So I’ve decided that even after swimming lessons are over, I’m going to spend part of every Friday (a lighter school day) going through at least one box!  I don’t want to leave a huge mess for Scott and the kids when I die!  (Nor do I want to look at it for that long!)

I’m always inspired by images of simple homes, like this one…if one or two people can live in a house this tiny, then maybe my nine-person-family could live just a little bit like this–in a bigger house!  (Although the owner of the house in this image obviously doesn’t homeschool!)

Adoption – Hard (Maybe), But Not Joyless

Our sermon on Sunday (and my subsequent post about it) made me think about adoption, and I’d like to encourage any of you who might be thinking about it to take the first step.  It’s a great way to “tend to things temporary with a mind on things eternal.”

For those of you who didn’t know, we adopted two of our seven children.  (And I bet you can’t tell which two from the picture…it’s the girl holding the boy–and the boy.)

Here’s a link to an article about adoption; I got it from a friend’s blog, Abilgail’s Leftovers.  Here’s an excerpt…

If you want your “dream baby,” do not adopt or foster a child: buy a cat and make-believe. Adopting an orphan isn’t ordering a consumer item or buying a pet. Such a mindset hurts the child, and countless other children and families. Adoption is about taking on risk as cross-bearing love…

Children are alive. Children are persons, with individuality that can’t ultimately be suppressed. Children, of all sorts, are, by definition, unpredictable. Children shatter your life-plan. Adoption certainly does.

It’s worth it…

If what you like is the idea of a baby who fulfills your needs and meets your expectations, just buy a cat. Decorate the nursery, if you’d like. Dress it up in pink or blue, and take pictures. And be sure to have it declawed.

BUT…if you want a challenge that also helps another soul in need, spreads the gospel, shows the love of Jesus, makes you trust God more, teaches you about yourself, AND GIVES YOU JOY, then adopt!  God will not give you more than you can handle.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:9

The Results of Our Family Recording Session – John 14:2-3

Our family loves to sing together, and last week we recorded a Fighter Verse Song  we’ve been working on.  (I am SO HAPPY we now have a tenor in our family; we have a choir!)

It’s going to be tweaked a little more (mostly to hear the kids more than me), but it had to go online today because it’s our church’s verse this week.  Scott joins us the second time through.  THANK YOU to everyone who helped us with this!

Here is John 14:2-3…

“Hard Does Not Equal Joyless” and other inspiring quotes

“Hard Does Not Equal Joyless.”  

This is a quote from our sermon this morning, which I thought was very inspiring!

John Piper said that “nothing hard is done in vain” and that every “hard” thing found in John 12:20-26 also has a corresponding “glory.”

See if this doesn’t inspire you:

The seed DIES (it’s hard to die)… The seed BEARS MUCH FRUIT

We are to HATE our lives in this world…we get to KEEP our lives for eternity (not a bad deal)

We are to FOLLOW Jesus to Calvary/death… We are WITH HIM wherever He is (very comforting)

We are to become SERVANTS… Servants are HONORED by the FATHER.

In Pastor John’s opening prayer, he said something like, “Awaken in us a profound willingness to be dead.”  He also said, “There’s no such thing as ultimate self-denial in the Bible.”  Denying ourselves in this world means we love ourselves, because we’re thinking about eternity.

Doesn’t this inspire you to do something hard?  Something that the world would call crazy?

(This reminds me that when I was pregnant with our fourth child, a mother of four said to me, “Having four is REALLY HARD.”  Little did she know, I find joy in a God-given challenge, so now I have seven!)

Do you feel like a leaky bucket?

Do you ever feel like a bucket with holes?  –Like you just learn an important life lesson, only to forget it the next week?  So did the writer of this prayer:

“My mind is a bucket without a bottom,
with no spiritual understanding…
always at the gospel-well but never holding water…
My heart is without affection, and full of leaks.
My memory has no retention,
so I forget easily the lessons learned,
and thy truths seep away.
Give me a broken heart that yet carries home the water of grace.”
(From The Valley of Vision)

I pray that my leaky bucket will hold enough gospel grace to pass on to my children–and that when they’re discouraged about their leaks, they’ll know where to go!  I don’t feel adequate for the task, but “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift [of grace]!”  (2 Co. 9:15)

How “substitution” is freeing me today

In today’s sermon, John Piper said, “Substitution” is at the heart of the Christian faith.”  Essentially, God killed Jesus so that He wouldn’t have to kill me, a sinner.

So I got to wondering, How often do I condemn myself for little things as if Jesus was NOT my substitute for EVERYTHING?  It’s as if I believe, Sure, Jesus paid the price for my sins and saved me from eternal death, but it’s MY RESPONSIBILITY to have a clean kitchen at all times!  It’s MY responsibility to make sure my kids learn their spelling words, etc.  I admit, I have a problem with beating myself up over little things (little things compared to eternity, anyway.)

So as I’ve been walking around my house today, I’ve been doing this:  See a mess that I normally blame myself for instantly (because I didn’t plan my day wisely enough or did not train my kids well enough), and instead say, “Substitution!”  As in, “Jesus’ death paid for this, too!  I’m free from the guilt of this AND I can trust God even with this mess (or whatever failure I happen to be viewing)!” ( Now, if I were actually were being completely lazy, that would be a slightly different story. :))

Note:  I’m not saying I’m perfectly free of laziness.:)

How First Timothy Inspires Me

I just finished reading I Timothy today, and thought I would share just a few of the passages that I underlined.  (Emphasis mine.)

REGARDING OUR GOALS…

• “The aim of our charge is LOVE that issues from a PURE HEART and a GOOD CONSCIENCE and a SINCERE FAITH.”  (1:5)  I often forget that my most important task of the day is to LOVE my children and show them God’s love, rather than accomplish everything on my list!
• One of the reasons we are to pray for our leaders is so that “we may LEAD A PEACEFUL AND QUIET LIFE, GODLY and dignified in every way.”  (2:2b)  Isn’t that inspiring?

REGARDING OUR ACTIONS AND USE OF TIME…

• “Women should adorn themselves…with MODESTY and SELF-CONTROL…with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with GOOD WORKS.”  (2:9)  I love that the Bible does not discourage us from doing good works even though they are not required for salvation!
•  “…set the believers an EXAMPLE in SPEECH, in CONDUCT, in LOVE, in FAITH, in PURITY.”  (4:12)  I need to ask myself: Am I a godly example to my KIDS in all these areas?
• This one is for widows, but I want to be like this too!  “…having a REPUTATION for GOOD WORKS…brought up CHILDREN, shown HOSPITATLITY…has DEVOTED HERSELF to EVERY GOOD WORK.”  (5:10)
• “GOOD WORKS ARE CONSPICUOUS, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.”  (5:25)  Encouraging for those of us who do most of our work at home!
• “FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH.  Take hold of the ETERNAL LIFE to which you were called…”  (6:11)  I often feel like I’m “fighting my kids” when I can’t accomplish what needs to be done, but the real fight is with my own sinful nature and the temptation I face every day to be selfish!  I need to remember that eternity is only moments away in the big picture!

 REGARDING GOD…

• “As for the rich in this present age, charge them…to set their hopes…on God, who RICHLY PROVIDES US WITH EVERYTHING TO ENJOY.”  (6:17b)  Amen!

SIMPLICTY IN DEPENDENCE

“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro, throughout the whole earth TO GIVE STRONG SUPPORT to those whose hearts are blameless toward Him.” (2 Chron 16:9a)

As a homeschooling mom with seven children, my life sometimes feels REALLY complicated and overwhelming, and I need STRONG SUPPORT!  God is LOOKING for people to help!  I’m so glad that this verse does not say that the Lord is looking to give strong support to those who “show potential” or are already “successful.”  All I need to do is have a “blameless” heart…

I hope that this at least partially means feeling helpless and DEPENDING on God alone for everything—everything from salvation to putting one foot in front of the other when I don’t feel like it! And even though I don’t like the feeling of helplessness (because I feel like I must be doing something wrong; maybe I bit off more than I could chew), I think that the more helpless I feel, and therefore the more DEPENDENT I am on God, the more He will give me strong support and work through me.

But I don’t think we moms always see God’s power at work in us because we’re so in-the-thick-of-it (—and we still feel so overwhelmed!)

Also, it simplifies my life and alleviates some anxiety to remember that God can do more for my children (IF I DEPEND ON HIM through prayer and obedience) than I could ever do on my own—even if I had all the time in the world!

• “Every new duty calls for more grace than I now possess, but not more than is found in thee… May [I] honor thee by my entire dependency and the greatness of my expectation.” (Valley of Vision)

Even Imperfect Diligence will “Lead to Abundance.”

My prayer journal is a small 3-ring binder to which I can add pages and dividers, and I’ve used it ever since my first child was born. Throughout my journal, but especially in front of the first divider, I have “inspirational” verses or quotes that I copied from the Bible or other devotional books.

Today, I ran across a few verses about diligence, copied into my prayer journal a long time ago. I hope that you find them inspiring, as I did. (And just so you know, I’m not trying to get worldly riches!)  🙂

• “The hand of the diligent will rule…” (Pr. 12:24)
• “…the hand of the diligent makes rich.” (Pr. 10:4)
• “…the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.” (Pr. 13:4)
• “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance…” (Pr. 21:5)

I like that God’s Word does not say that the hand or soul or plans of “the successful” will rule or have abundance! All I need to do is, by God’s grace, keep on doing what I know God has called me to do, even when progress seems to come very slowly or even falters!

For example, when my oldest was two years old, I started working on catechisms with him at breakfast. We learned approximately one new catechism a week. Now that all of us are much farther in the book, it sometimes takes two weeks to really learn a new catechism. 

But I  have gone through phases when I’ve thought, Why do I keep doing this? This is so time consuming, and my kids don’t even enjoy it—they just put up with it! And what good is it doing them, anyway? I have actually taken a break a few times for a week or a month. But something made me keep going back, and now, 11 years later, diligence has made it possible for my kids to learn a lot of catechisms! And just for the fun of it,  I said one day, “Tell me the answer in your own words,” and we had the BEST conversation about justification and sanctification! My purpose is not to say that everyone should be learning catechisms, but rather to show how even imperfect diligence in something worthwhile will “lead to abundance.”