GRATITUDE 241 Sunday evening baseball

Thankful:

For our Cul de sac
For shorts weather in December
For all the fun people we live near
For cul de sac baseball
For God's kind and lavish provision of our home, neighbors, and friends for our kids.  Kindness.

GRATITUDE 240 An Early Christmas

We had an early Christmas with my parents and it was delightful.  So grateful for these two, for their love and generosity and the really fun time we had this weekend!  

MY. PARENTS. ARE. AWESOME.  

EG made earrings for my mom, who was a very good sport and wore them (they were made with paper clips!!!)

GRATITUDE 239 They're off!

My kids have the best grandparents...the best.  So thankful for the way these two love my kids!

They're off to Legoland for Jack's 6th birthday.

GRATITUDE 238 This season

So thankful for this Advent season...we've had a great time working our way through the Jesse Tree and reading the grand story of God breaking into lives with incredible promises, radical grace, and an incredible plan to rescue his people in the face of their sin and brokenness.  As I have prepared my heart for his coming at Christmas, my mind and heart have been drawn to his second Advent.  Oh come quickly Lord Jesus!

Here are a few things I am thankful for in this season:

chocolate kisses each night with our reading....what delight they bring to my kiddos
Promises of peace with God, peace with each other, and peace in the deepest recesses of my soul!
That my God is wild with mercy, radical with grace, fiercely committed to glorifying his name by rescuing his people
A few cold days where we even had to turn on our little space heaters
Fall colors...yep fall is finally here in Florida
Christmas lights, hot chocolate and friends...a great night!

GRATITUDE 237 Happy Birthday dear Jack!

Tender and kind,
Strong and brave.
Fun and silly.

A gift to this mama indeed.   Happy birthday Jack.  I've said it many times...I am so grateful that I get to be your mama!

GRATITUDE 236 The whisper of the better tree

Satan is the Father of Lies and he's been spinning the same story since the beginning. If you stop and think about the root beliefs behind each choice to sin, you'll here his voice, you'll recognize his lies. Yes, Eve heard his lies loud and clear and she bit into the over-promising and under-delivering fruit of the first tree. We too so often sit under the shadow of that tree,  looking to what the world can offer us, and we don't even know we are listening to his lies.  See if you recognize his voice next time you are heading to pick the fruit yourself. It sounds something like this:

God will withhold from you

He doesn't really want you to have everything your heart really desires

He's not really trustworthy so go ahead, and take care of yourself.

He doesn't really love you

Don't trust him.

But at the better tree, the cross, God whispers the truth to your doubting heart:

I will not withhold anything from you, not even my son. How will I not along with him graciously give you all things?

Through this tree, I give you access back into my presence...where there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. Yes, everything your heart could ever want....it's here with me.

And through this tree, you'll get my spirit too, which will constantly be pushing you to call me Daddy, yes, encouraging you back into loving dependence on me, your good Father.

Yes, at this better tree, in the face of your sin, I give you my son, I give you my spirit, I give you access back to me, your Father. I love you. I always have. I always will.

You don't have to take care of yourself....I love you. I will take care of you. Trust me.

I want to sit under the shadow of the better tree and let God whisper his words of love to my mistrusting heart. Yes, he loves me! Yes, I can trust him. The fruit of the tree, as much as it promises satisfaction and beauty offers nothing compared to the eternal joy and pleasures of being known by God and knowing him.

Let's find time to sit under the better tree and allow it's shadow of love to renew our minds to see him as he is: OUR GOOD HEAVENLY DADDY.   

GRATITUDE 235 Advent Traditions!

Christmas Season is Underway and I am thankful for a time to reflect on our Savior's coming.

Thankful for our Advent Traditions.

Thankful for my cute kids in Christmas pajamas

A fun "night before Advent" hot chocolate party with neighbors

Thankful that Christ has come into my life...that he is coming into all the broken sinful parts and is making me new!