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One Comment» Continue ReadingThis is meeting my heart with humility and conviction: “A temptation in ministry is to think that just because we prepared a Bible study, a sermon, or a discipleship appointment (or wrote a book like this!), we are deeply engaging with the God of the universe. But that’s not necessarily true. It’s easy in ministry to live more as a ‘pipe’ than a ‘reservoir.’ That is, it’s easy to live merely as a conduit to others of the transforming truths of God’s Word, rather than as a changed and transformed reservoir who overflows with lived-out gospel truth. You wouldn’t imagine cooking meal after meal for your family without sitting down to enjoy that nourishment, would you? To paraphrase James 1:22, let’s not merely be hearers or speakers or counselors of the Word, but doers, first and foremost.” Be blessed as you go into your weekend…and may it be filled with […]
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» Continue ReadingThe company we keep as adults are often in the thoughts on which we linger, the hobbies we savor, or the habits we form. Who are your closest companions, so to speak? Is it truth or is it lies, that you cozy up to and find ease with? If Proverbs 13:20 is correct: “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm,” then we should assume that we are becoming who our companions are influencing us to be… The Christian gospel is a message of freedom through grace and we must stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. But what shall we do with our freedom? The Apostle Paul grieved that some of the believers of his day took advantage of their freedom and indulged the flesh in the name of Christian liberty. They threw off discipline, scorned obedience and made […]
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» Continue ReadingI served lunch yesterday on behalf of our church, to sixty or so college students at the Baptist Student Union at our University. While composing mounds of build your own nacho/taco salads for hungry “kids” in their late teens and early 20s, a realization fell gently but heavily upon me: I’m a grown-up. It was like a light rainfall that’s refreshingly welcomed, and yet leaves you dripping and soaked. The thought was lucid, as I recalled my days in their shoes, giggling and flittering about, believing the inconveniences of school, work, and relationships to be the most trying, most dramatic life choices I would ever have to face. I thought that then because that’s all I knew. Life looked so different yesterday from the other side of the nacho bar. The 15 years it’s been since college has proved to be faith-proving, love-deepening, and foundation-crumbling, then foundation-firming. Yesterday’s rainfall washed away any […]
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» Continue ReadingNot many men understood faith and trust in the Lord as George Muller. Not many were used so greatly to influence so many lives. Few have faced uncertainty with such confidence in the sovereign goodness of God as this 19th century man of faith. This is what he says about seeking God’s will for one’s life: 1. I seek to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in a given matter. When we are ready to do the Lord’s will—whatever it may be—nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome. 2. Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impression. If I do so, I make myself liable to great delusions. 3. I seek the will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, God’s Word. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look […]
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» Continue ReadingIn marriage, we are one flesh with our spouses. When my husband experiences clarity in his life, I benefit from it immensely. When he goes through times confusion, I bear the burden as well. And yet, there is no greater time, than when your spouse is weary or weak, to be firmly planted in your identity as a child of God: daughter first, wife second. Whether your husband is currently faithful and strong, or is in a season of discouragement; be encouraged, sister, to find Christ to be your Rock, your Strength, and Shield. Here’s an excerpt from a post by Jen Schmit, for your encouragement: Who Is Your Rock? There is no more heart revealing place for a wife than when her husband is vulnerable. Immediately and with gut-wrenching force, a stumble or struggle from our husbands exposes us to the core. Fear and anxiety leap to the surface […]
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» Continue ReadingMeditation For This Morning by Charles Spurgeon August 31 Isaiah 51:5 On mine arm shall they trust. In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When his vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail, he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives the soul to God and God alone! There is no getting at our God sometimes because of the multitude of our friends; but when a man is so poor, so friendless, so helpless that he has nowhere else to turn, he flies into his Father’s arms, and is blessedly clasped therein! When he is burdened with troubles so pressing and so peculiar, […]
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» Continue ReadingNot many of us have experienced the pain of losing a child, much less the unthinkable tragedy that Steven Curtis Chapman’s family experienced two years ago. In her book, Choosing to SEE: A Journey of Struggle and Hope, Mary Beth Chapman writes these words to her son Will Franklin: You have been entrusted with an incredible pain! I’m so sorry. I wish as your mom I could take it away, but I know that God has a plan for you to steward this story well and to minister to other in your suffering. Nothing I’ve suffered in life has ever compared to that kind of loss. Nevertheless, whatever trial, whatever suffering you are in the midst of is the pain you must contend with. Do we think of it that way when we go through times of trials and suffering? Do we feel we are ”entrusted” with something valuable and […]
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» Continue ReadingHave you noticed that laundry and other housework does not naturally reset itself at the beginning of a new week? You don’t wake up on Monday morning to find that the counter is set to zero, and the baskets are miraculously empty for reloading. No, instead, we find that what awaits you on Monday morning is the culmination of what you have or have not addressed the previous week. When it comes to housework, there’s no “clean slate,” so to speak, unless you cleaned the slate, or are progressively cleaning the slate. This is not a difficult concept. So why do we struggle to apply this same reasoning with our attitude towards worry? Jesus tells us not to worry, to be anxious for nothing. But, rather than addressing the worry and anxiety the moment it comes into our minds, we so often grow lazy and allow the piles of fruitless […]
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» Continue ReadingO God, the Author of all good, I come to thee for the grace another day will require for its duties and events. I step out into a wicked world, I carry about with me an evil heart, I know that without thee I can do nothing, that everything with which I shall be concerned, however harmless in itself, may prove an occasion of sin or folly, unless I am kept by thy power. Hold thou me up and I shall be safe. Preserve my understanding from subtilty of error, my affections from love of idols, my character from stain of vice, my profession from every form of evil. May I engage in nothing in which I cannot implore thy blessing, and in which I cannot invite thy inspection. Prosper me in all lawful undertakings, or prepare me for disappointments; Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with food convenient for […]
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» Continue ReadingFrom Martin Luther’s Lectures on Isaiah: He gives power to the faint. -Isaiah 40:29a …Reason willingly hears one thing–that God gives strength, but it does not want to be worn out and nothing. So all the self-righteous willingly receive strength from God, but they do not want to be faint… But God gives strength to the weary, the oppressed, and the troubled. The emphasis lies on the word “faint,” but we look for the stress on the word “power.” It is as if God were saying: “You must be weary and emptied, so that there is no way out for you. Then I will give you strength. First you must become nothing, then consolation and strength will come.” Therefore let us learn to console ourselves when we are afflicted and say, “What I do not have and what I cannot do, that Christ has and can do.” This, and other […]
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» Continue ReadingI didn’t make my Spring Salad for Easter Sunday. In fact, this weekend really didn’t go as planned at all. As I write, I continue to feel weak and achy all over, trying to get my body on the mend before Cinco signals his arrival any day now. On Saturday, our family came down with the most terrible stomach virus I think we’ve ever experienced. We ruled out food poisoning as we and another family were both exposed at the same function a day earlier, with the same repercussions. Though clearly unintentional, it was a preventable disaster, making it all the harder to bear. At 39 1/2 weeks, dehydration and vomiting is not to be desired, not to mention, completely debilitating with the usual aches, pains, and contractions that come with this stage of pregnancy. Unlike many other times of illness and duress at our home, my dear Preacher could […]
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» Continue ReadingMy house is almost perfectly clean…about 15 minutes of every week, total. I’m never caught up on laundry. I’m always missing a sock or three in every load. I sometimes act like cleanliness IS next to godliness. I shared on Monday that I am keenly aware that an organized and de-cluttered home is not my highest calling in nesting. In fact, I can have simplified, highly organized spaces throughout my house, yet be void of the joy that is found in a home that is occupied with the worship of Christ. I truly believe that we honor the Lord with stewardship of our homes, with diligence in our house-cleaning, and dedication to simplification. But, that can’t be the end. It can’t be our ultimate goal, or our sense of daily satisfaction. So, in response to my own challenge this week to de-clutter in a deeper sense, I’ve focused on one […]
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Hello, friend...I'm Ruth. Welcome to GraceLaced, where you will find my imperfect, but grace-filled musings on the Gospel, motherhood, crafting, art, domesticity, cooking, and the often-times overlooked joys of finding grace in the everyday of life. Read my full profile here.
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