Testimony~ Jesus Christ Saved Me From 27 Years of Homosexuality

His Will, His Grace

I know I posted this quote a while back, but I was so blessed by it that I put it with a picture.  I love this picture of Sarah.  Carefree, but diligently working away at pulling loose roots up from the yard.  She was so peaceful.  I thought the picture went well with the quote.  So... I had to post it again. :-)
~Brittany

I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize

the Lord is able to carry out His will,

and His will is mine.

It makes no matter where He places me, or how.

This is rather for Him to consider than for me; for in the easiest positions

He must give me His grace, and in the most difficult, 

His grace is sufficient."

~ Hudson Taylor ~

I was very blessed by reading this on another blog this morning, and am seeking to apply it to my life.  The Lord is so good to remind me to simply trust in His faithfulness!  I hope this quote is a blessing to some of you as well!

~Brittany

Parenting In Weakness~ A post especially for mammas with little ones! :)

A friend shared this post from GraceLaced blog on facebook.  It was such a blessing to me to read, and I thought of several mom's that we know that I thought would be encouraged by reading this as well.  Thus this post is dedicated especially to you precious mammas with small kiddos!  

May the Lord bless and strengthen you!

 

God makes two year olds absolutely adorable because it’s right around that age that you can feel like you’ve had it with this parenting gig. You look in the mirror to find that the sweet gentle mama that rocked her baby to sleep has disappeared, and a fire-breathing adult child with anger issues in her place. At the very least, it can feel that way.

Between the tantrums, the defiance, the messes, and the emotional manipulation, sometimes a mother is left feeling like she’s dealing with a giant foe rather than the pipsqueak that is her child. Rather than feeling in control and decades older than her little person, she finds herself tempted to succumb to foolishness; tantrums, defiance, and manipulation–adults can play that game too.

And mamas– mamas who have forever aspired to the calling of motherhood and mamas who have been thrust into it reluctantly alike– all find themselves inadequate for the task. Sure, we may have read parenting books, watched others parent before us, babysat for countless hours, and listened to advice from many many other moms, but nothing blunts the overwhelming fact that our weakness as moms plus their foolishness as children, equal the potential for great despair.

And we mamas begin to wonder if we are simply not right for the job…that God missed the part about us being impatient, angry, selfish, and unwise in our records?  How does he expect me to not ruin my kids if he knows I’m so messed up? 

We might even make a plan to speak and act nicely, starting tomorrow.
We may confidently proclaim, “I will NEVER do that, like my mom did.”
We might promise to do our very best.

But playing nice and making promises leave us disappointed and despairing when we come up short, and incapable of even doing what we set out to do just the night before. That ugly tone of voice still spills out. That condescending look takes over our face even when we try to hide it. Our best is simply not good enough. 

Our best was never meant to be good enough.

Motherhood is not some cruel joke through which God seeks to highlight your failures, and leave you feeling helpless because of poor upbringing, unhealthy examples, and lack of personal growth and self-control.

Motherhood is the loving vessel through which God seeks to highlight his sufficiency and ability, and grow your sense of his faithfulness because of his pure and sinless life, his provision on the cross, and his substitution of your dead end with his new beginning.

Jesus did not save us so that we could do motherhood on our own, apart from him; he saved us so that we would be forever connected to him, forever dependent on him– on the sustenance that flows through the cord of his unending love. Jesus was cut off from the Father that we might not be cut off from him.

Because we were not meant to do it apart from his enabling, we can set aside our deficiencies as mothers, as well as our pride…

If we parent consistently and show patience, it is God’s grace.

If our children obey, it is God’s grace– that it is his sanctifying work in us that enables and instructs us in faithfulness as mothers.

If our children defy us in disobedience, it is God’s grace– that we might have the opportunity to show the gospel to our children once again.

If we struggle to be the mamas we desire to be, it is God’s grace– that we would be reminded once again of the price paid on our behalf, the worthiness of Christ bestowed on us.

It is grace from start to finish.

And so, motherhood is not for the qualified; none of us are. Motherhood is for those he qualifies through Christ. He did indeed see your record, friend…and he erased it. He knows your weaknesses…and he transforms them.

And if, today, you are crying out in helplessness, he replies with open arms, “Now, child, you are ready for what I have for you. You are ready to become the mama I will make you to be.”

~Posted By Breanna

His Grace is Sufficient

 

“My grace is sufficient for thee.”
- 2Corinthians 12:9

If none of God’s saints were poor and tried, we should not know half so well the consolations of divine grace. When we find the wanderer who has not where to lay his head, who yet can say, “Still will I trust in the Lord;” when we see the pauper starving on bread and water, who still glories in Jesus; when we see the bereaved widow overwhelmed in affliction, and yet having faith in Christ, oh! what honour it reflects on the gospel. God’s grace is illustrated and magnified in the poverty and trials of believers. Saints bear up under every discouragement, believing that all things work together for their good, and that out of apparent evils a real blessing shall ultimately spring-that their God will either work a deliverance for them speedily, or most assuredly support them in the trouble, as long as he is pleased to keep them in it. This patience of the saints proves the power of divine grace. There is a lighthouse out at sea: it is a calm night-I cannot tell whether the edifice is firm; the tempest must rage about it, and then I shall know whether it will stand. So with the Spirit’s work: if it were not on many occasions surrounded with tempestuous waters, we should not know that it was true and strong; if the winds did not blow upon it, we should not know how firm and secure it was. The master-works of God are those men who stand in the midst of difficulties, stedfast, unmoveable,-
“Calm mid the bewildering cry,
 Confident of victory.”
He who would glorify his God must set his account upon meeting with many trials. No man can be illustrious before the Lord unless his conflicts be many. If then, yours be a much-tried path, rejoice in it, because you will the better show forth the all-sufficient grace of God. As for his failing you, never dream of it-hate the thought. The God who has been sufficient until now, should be trusted to the end.
-Spurgeon Morning Devotional

~Posted By Breanna

God Makes Evil and Sin the Slaves of His Mercy

 

By Jon Bloom

The old hymn says it beautifully: “Grace, grace, God’s grace; grace that is greater than all my sin.”

But the grace of God is not only great enough to “pardon and cleanse within.” It is so powerful, as Joseph’s older brothers learned in Genesis 45, that it can turn the most horrible sin you have ever committed against another, or has ever been committed against you, and make it the slave of his mercy.

What Joseph’s ten older brothers did to him was heinous. They made him the merchandise of international human trafficking. They subjected him to slavery and sexual abuse. With no rights or defense, he was thrown into prison to rot. These likely left Joseph with life-long scars.

But note Joseph’s words: “it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Genesis 45:8). Neither treacherous siblings nor a woman’s lust nor the shame of prison nor a cupbearer’s neglect could thwart the purpose of God (Job 42:2) in preserving God’s people (Genesis 45:7) and fulfilling a prophecy given to Abraham (Genesis 15:13). God made evil the slave of his grace.

And he’s doing the same for you. God is doing more good than you can imagine through the most painful experiences of your life.

If you’ve sinned against someone else, do everything in your power to make things right. But know this: your sin is no match for God’s grace.

And if you find yourself in a place you do not want to be as a result of someone else’s sin, take heart. God knows, and he knows what he’s doing. Stay faithful. In time he will show you that he sent you for redemptive reasons you would have never guessed.

To read the entire article, click here

Posted by Breanna