Mercy at Christmas

Because judgement without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgement!
             James 2:13



It's that time of year again, where we're faced with parties, busy shopping malls, school pageants and the family gatherings. These things can combine to make the next week one of the most stressful times of the year instead of the most wonderful time of year.

Even though my calendar is not full and all the presents are purchased, I still have a lot of stress over what's going to happen next week. Will the gifts be acceptable. Will we be able to fit everybody's wants into the time frame we have. Will I be able to eat healthy while surrounded by goodies. My list could go on and on.

But this year, I'm trying a different approach. I'm trying to look at all the events and people I encounter with mercy instead of judgement. As I read the above verse from James, I was convicted by the thought that if I don't show mercy, none will be shown to me.

Now I don't mean to say that if you're merciful to everybody who is pushing their way into the check-out line at Wal-Mart that you will achieve success in getting to the line quicker. But what if you did show mercy to your fellow shoppers? I think you would see a change in your own heart, even if they do not respond in kind. And what about that family gathering that is happening next week? What if you kept quiet about some of the things that you see wrong and instead, just enjoyed watching others smile.

These are things that I need to hear, probably more than any of you. I'm going to approach this next week with the mercy of God towards others and allow Him to do this work in my heart, because I can't do it without His help.


As we wrap up 2013, I want to thank each and every one of you for taking time to read my blog. May this Christmas be full of the hope and joy that Christ brings. Merry Christmas!!!

Failing Forward

- Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success.



This morning, I was watching my 6 month old son trying to crawl. He pushes himself up onto his hands and tries to lift his tummy off the ground. Sometimes he gets frustrated and starts to cry, but the more and more he tries, he longer he is able to hold himself up. It's not easy to watch my kids try something new. As the parent, I want to jump in and help because it's not easy watching them fall down or get frustrated. But in the case of my son learning to crawl, he has to learn to do it himself.

As I was watching my son, I started thinking about Renee Swope's book, A Confident Heart, and Chapter 7 titled "When Doubt Whispers 'I'm such a failure'."

When I watch my children try something new or practice to get better at a skill, I would never call them a failure. Finding what you are good at or learning to walk, for instance, are just a part of growing up. A child learning to walk takes time and more than likely, is going to fall before they are steady on their feet, or borrow Renee's phrase, failing forward.

As I look back at my own life and what I consider failing, I remember the disappointment of my first driving test. I remember the big "D" on my first history (my favorite subject) paper of high school. I remember sitting on the floor crying when my oldest hit the terrible two stage and I seemed to be losing the battle of yet another tantrum.

But in all of these instances, I learned something valuable. With each test, paper and day with my child, I learned from the mistakes I had previously made.

There have also been times when God has allowed me to struggle with a sin or difficult person, to the point of exhaustion. I've cried out to him in confession and pleading to help me. But as I do with my own children, He allowed me to struggle. I believe He has used these times to build patience, perseverance and kindness.

God doesn't look at me as a failure, but He does allow me to fail to help me attain something He wants me to learn. As Renee says in her book "Failure pushes us to do more than we think we can and try other methods of doing things when one way doesn't work. Failure can be hurtful, but it can also be beneficial."

For Me Or Against Me

If God is for us, who can be against us?
               Romans 8:31b



"I am never going to be a good enough ____________."

If you're like me, you've filled in that blank more times than you can count. And more often than I like to admit, I'm comparing myself to someone else. Someone more virtuous, more graceful, more beautiful, more...

As I read Chapter 6 in A Confident Heart by Renee Swope, I was challenged to replace all of these statements against myself, or AM, that doubt whispers to me on a daily basis with statements for me, or FM. The FM statements are God's promises to me.

At first I thought, I don't need to do this. I know enough of His promises to me and have the knowledge of when to apply them. But then I had to stop. Obviously I wasn't applying God's promises FM because I was still facing many doubts on a daily, if not hourly, basis.

As I sat down to write out my AM/FM statements, I thought of my daughters. They love to dress up in princess dresses and will often come twirl for me. They will occasionally ask "Am I beautiful, Mommy?" And I rave over how beautiful the are, but I also work really hard at explaining to them that what makes them beautiful is not what they wear, but who they are and how they treat others.

At that moment, God whispered to me,"Don't you think I want you to know the truth about what makes you beautiful? Don't you think that I want you to dwell on my promises and not the lies doubt tells you? I want to show you how much I value you."

Those thoughts from God changes my perspective on the AM/FM statements. So here are some my AM/FM statements.



When doubt tells me that I'll never be good enough, I will cling to the promise that God will complete the good work He started in me. (Philippians 1:6)

When I feel like no one likes me, I will remember that I have been chose by God and adopted as His child. (Ephesians 1:3-8)

When I feel like I'll never be the Christian that I feel I need to be to please God, I will trust that I am free from condemnation and cannot be separated from God's love. (Romans 8:1-2, 31-39)



The same way I want only good things to fill the minds of my chldren about who they are and what truly matters, God wants me to remember His Truths and do away with the doubts of this world.

Who am I?

I am a precious and chosen child of the King. If God is for me, then no one can be against me.

So who are you?

Feeling the Unfailing Love

How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

                      Psalm 36:7

Unfailing love is almost considered an oxymoron in our society these days. The love that most people know fails, cheats, lies, abuses, degrades and has conditions. It serves only selfish purposes and does not offer any protection or care.

This is why the priceless, unfailing love of God is not easy to comprehend for most people, myself included. Even if you are accustomed to good relationships with people you love, our human love is not perfect and it does fail because we fail.

But the beauty of God's love is that no matter what I do, what I accomplish or how I look, He will never love me any more or any less than the day He sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sins. Do you believe that? Do you live as if you believe it?

After reading Renee Swope's A Confident Heart, her statement on page 54 that says "I needed the knowledge of His unfailing love to move from my head to my heart," was something that jumped out at me. I know that feeling. 

I have never known life without the knowledge of God's love for me and I value having been taught that from an early age. But because it's something that I've known of for so long, I have often felt that God and His love for me are not necessarily something I feel deeply in my heart. 

And I know that I'm not alone in this. I've had people that have been Christians for both a long time and a short time express the same concerns to me. They ask me, "How do I feel God's love and a love for Him?" To be honest, I don't have any easy answers. 

But this I do know. God desires to have a relationship with me. He wants me to be on fire for Him. He wants me to yearn to spend time with him daily. He wants to be my very best friend and be in constant communication with me. So because I trust that He wants me in all those ways, I know that if I study His Word and pray to Him, expressing my desire to "feel", He will be faithful in helping me get to that place. 

I can see Him doing this in my life, slowly and surely. And He will do it for you too! So surround yourself in the promises of God. Talk to Him. Tell Him your concerns, fears and struggles. He won't fail you or fail to love you. 

Surrounded With The Truth

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
                John 4:23


Do you struggle with self-doubt, insecurity and feelings of worthlessness? I do. I've blogged about this topic before, but it's worth revisiting because I think it's a very common problem, especially among women. And it's something I have to deal with every day of my life.

It's so easy to pin our value as a person on what we accomplish, how we dress or who our friends are. But as I've been reading and studying A Confident Heart by Renee Swope, I've unearthed some of the hard truths about my insecurities and doubts.

I've discovered that one of my earliest doubts was whether or not I was going to be safe. I've learned that my insecurities keep me from being myself and having fun. I don't know what it's like not to worry if I'm good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, etc. And that I'm scared. Scared of being radically different.

I'm sure some of your own doubts and insecurities are popping up in your mind now. They may be to a lesser degree than mine are, but none the less, they hinder you in some way. And if you're like me, you may feel overwhelmed just thinking about what you feel hinders you.

But stay with me!

We don't have to stay in this place. We don't have to sentence ourselves to living never feeling like we're enough. Because above everything we doubt and dislike about ourselves, and what we think others doubt and dislike about us, is the truth.

The truth is not what we think, what others think, but what God thinks. God tells me I'm a masterpiece (Isa 62:3). He tells me I'm never alone (Deut. 31:6). He tells me I'm precious (Isa 43:4).

But do I believe Him? Do I live like I believe Him? Honestly, no. I know I believe Him a bit more than I did last year at this time, but I still have a long way to go. Each day is a battlefield in my mind, so I've chosen to surround myself with truth.

How? I'm taking it one step at a time. This week, when I encountered a truth that I felt God wanted me to believe about myself, I wrote it on a heart sticky note and placed it around my bathroom mirror.

How will you apply God's truth to your life and take steps toward believing who you really are?

Because You Say So

Do everything without compaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life--in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.
                          Philippians 2:14-16


I have been a parent now for almost five and a half years. I know there are so many more parents out there with much more expereience then myself, so please bear with me. In that five and a half years, the one thing I am most convinced of is that God gave me children so that I could grow. When I'm dealing with my oldest and she is questioning why I am asking her to pick up the toys that she is just going to play with tomorrow and she sees no reason why I should ask her to do work now, all I can hear in my head is myself asking God why He's asking me to "give in" to  be nice to someone I really don't want to be nice to.  See the irony of that? I do. And there are so many other examples that I could tell you about.

In the verses I've quoted above, it talks about doing everything without complaining or arguing. I remember memorizing this verse as a kid with Steve Green and his "Hide 'Em In Your Heart" tapes that had verses set to music. Flashback for some of us, right? Anyway, as a kid I took these verses to mean that I had to bite my tongue and do what was asked of me no matter what. But as I've grown, I see that there is so much more than just doing what I'm told. Paul is encouragng us to live as shining examples in a generation that is lost and crooked. Doesn't that describe the world today?

This week in my study of What Happens When Women Say Yes to God by Lysa TerKeurst, she talked about the story in Luke 5:1-11 when Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James and John as disciples. These men were fisherman by trade and were coming to shore after a long night of fruitless fishing on the Lake of Gennesaret. On the shore, Jesus was speaking to a crowd that was pressing in on Him, so He climbed into Peter's boat to continue teaching. He then asked Peter to push the boat out from shore a bit. Verse 4 of chapter 5 says "When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon (Peter), "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." Now remember, these men had just come in from fishing all night, but notice how Peter responds to Jesus. "Simon answered, 'Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.' " And guess what, their nets were filled so full with fish that it began to sink their boats.

Now you're thinking, that's fine for Peter, but what about my life where I think I'm doing what God wants only to be wallowing in more trouble and lack of fulfillment. I wonder what would happen, myself included, if our hearts were more like Peter's and said, without hesitation and question, "Because you say so, Jesus". We get so focused on needing to know the end result or the "why" like my five year-old, that we ignore the fact that God has the ultimate plan.

So many times I am guilty of doing just that. Arguing with God. Complaining that He doesn't understand how hard it is for me to let go of something or someone. How scared I am to speak to someone about Him. But why do I argue then wonder why I feel like I'm missing out on something? Maybe it's because I am. Peter's life was the perfect example of how doing one simple act of obedience that made no sense to him, changed the course of his life.  He didn't complain or argue, and he was a shining example to all those in his generation. Yes, he struggled at times, even denied Christ in the hours before His crucifiction, but God took all Peter's experiences and used them to help him eventually lived boldly for The Lord and helped establish the early Church.

So is there something God is calling you to do, but you're asking why or telling Him that is doesn't make sense? Do everything without complaining or arguing isn't just a good mantra that we tell our kids. Let us lead by example when God is calling us to obey and stay focused on Jesus.

Wholly Committed

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.
              1 Peter 3:13-15a


Committment. It's a word that strikes fear into the hearts of many people. I believe that's why there are so many couples living together before marriage, or instead of getting married. Oh they say it's so they can "test drive" the relationship, but deep down, they are scared of being committed to someone.  Comittiment is easy when things in the relationship are going well, but I find it very interesting that so many couples who have "test drove" their relationship for many years, end up divorcing not long after the marriage license is signed.

And me in my self-rightous attitude used to think I was not afraid of committment. But as it says in Proverbs 16:18, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."

As the Proverbs 31 online study of What Happens When Women Say Yes to God by Lysa TerKeurst looked at Chapter 4 this week, Lysa dug deeper into the concept of radical obedience that I wrote about last week. And true to form, God is pinpointing the areas that I think I don't need to work on.  He is revealing to me how disobeying and falling short in one area of my life points back so closely to my committment level.

Why did I think for so long that I didn't have a committment problem? God is showing me that it's because I wasn't actually committing or obeying in the fulness that He requires.

So why is committing to God such a scary thing? Am I scared of getting physically or emotionally hurt? Scared of what others will think? Fear of the unknown? Peter addresses those reasons in the verses above. But he calls us to set our hearts apart Christ as Lord. And that is exactly what I think holds us back. At least it is for me.

It's the putting Christ and His ways as the only priority of my heart. And what exactly is my heart? In the Hebrew culture of the Bible, the heart was credited with being the center or core of a personality. It was the spiritual center and your life flowed from there. Your heart defines you, determines who you are, how you think, and what you do.  All of your emotions, motives and will come from your heart and it reflects your true identity.  That is why Proverbs 4:23 says to guard your heart above all else.

Our natural tendencies, or our sinful nature, doesn't want to be stifled or controlled by anything other than our wants and desires. And that's what makes being wholly committed to God scary to me, and so many others. And it's also why I believe so many people like to "test drive" their relationship with God. They don't want to be committed to Him in all areas of their heart because it might mean they have to give up something.

But being wholly committed to God is where I want to be. I want to be a woman who doesn't have to think twice about being wholly committed to God in every area of my heart.

What about you? Are you testing driving your relationship with God and holding back your heart from Him instead of setting it apart for Christ?