-
4 Comments» Continue ReadingI say I’m blessed, and am full of thankfulness. But sometimes I don’t act like it. Or speak like it. I need to be reminded regularly, to cultivate gratitude, that I might guard my heart from self-righteous grumblings and the sinful root of discontentment. I can truly say that I’m grateful for a husband who cares enough to send me the following…which I share with you with humility and love: Gratitude arises from a contemplation of the goodness of God. It is bred by serious meditation on what God has done for us… Gratitude and thanksgiving forever stand opposed to all murmurings at God’s dealings with us, and all complaining at our lot. Gratitude and murmuring never abide in the same heart at the same time. An unappreciative spirit has no standing beside gratitude and praise. And true prayer corrects complaining and promotes gratitude and thanksgiving. Dissatisfaction at one’s lot, […]
-
» Continue ReadingHere we are at our final week of the Simply Nesting challenge. Thank you for coming along, friends. I have something different for you this week. While there are still many areas of my home that could use simplification and a good clean-out (oh, let’s see…the bedroom, kids’ dressers, refrigerator, master closet…), I’ve decided to end our challenge focusing on an area that may perhaps be of the greatest importance in a mother’s life. More critical than a clean closet, an organized pantry, or a simplified utility space, is a de-cluttered life in the way that matters most: that is, in heart and mind. What I have learned the last four times I’ve been blessed with a new baby is that structure, schedule, and simplification in the home makes a huge difference in welcoming a newborn, but more than anything, it is how I’m prepared in the thoughts of my […]
-
» Continue ReadingMarriage is joined upon a field of great spiritual battles. But it rests within a war that is already won. Our real opponent is not on the opposite side of the bed, but within our hearts. Our enemy is the desires of our flesh that oppose the desires of the Spirit. This is the fiercest and only true enemy of our marriage. We must know this enemy well. This stunning discovery of the true nature of indwelling sin is not the end of our marriage battles, but it is an important beginning…It means there are no lost causes or hopeless conflicts…marriage battles are no longer merely something to fight our way through, hoping we can come out on the other side with the relationship still intact. Instead, even our conflicts have redemptive possibilities because the war with sin is won in Christ, by the grace and power of our Sovereign […]
-
» Continue ReadingI am so honored to be featured all week on the homepage of FaithBlogs: and to make an appearance on their blog here, and with this familiar guest post. It is a great joy to be included in the company of other inspiring, insightful, and creative blogs written by godly folks. However, to be featured as a blog and blogger has brought into focus a question no one ever asks (me), but I choose to answer (for myself) each day: “Why do you blog?” Why do I consciously answer this each day? Because there is a question that many DO ask me regularly: “How do you do it all–craft, cook, raise kids, minister, and blog on top of it all?” In honor of my special week as the first week-long featured blog on FaithBlogs, I thought it would be a good opportunity to be vulnerable and real, and to share my answer […]
-
» Continue ReadingDo you ever find yourself so busy serving the Lord that you’ve neglected intimate worship in his very presence? I’m not referring to merely listening to Christian radio or reading a devotional guide…I’m speaking of utter submission and glory to the “worthship” of Christ. He is worthy; we just don’t always attribute worthiness to Him over ourselves and our own efforts. Here are some thoughts to meditate on from the first few chapters of a simple, but poignant little book I’ve been reading, How To Worship Jesus Christ: “You never drift into being a Mary. You can always drift into being a Martha. All you have to do is just let yourself go. No woman ever drifted into being a Mary.” “Worship is not simple, but it is glorious! I have found these many years that it is the one thing the enemy will oppose more than anything else–more than intercession, […]
-
» Continue ReadingLast Monday I was sharing my heart about resting in Christ while laboring to see the Gospel transform others’ lives. I was so encouraged to read your many responses, and to be reminded that God is truly at work in each of our lives–finishing the work He has begun. It’s fitting, I suppose for these thoughts to be fieldnotes, observations that dominate my thinking at the start of a week, as Sunday is the day that my spouse’s weeklong wrestling with the Word of God culminates in the proclamation of that truth. Sometimes it’s a slam dunk; sometimes it’s not. And while it may appear that he has “one shot” each week at delivering the message, the work of God upon the flock is not a once-a-week engagement. Sunday is not “showtime,” a performance, or the sales-pitch. In fact, my sweet Preacher likes to think of the finish line each […]
-
» Continue ReadingThe side of my life I don’t speak much of in this public arena, is the great rewards and heartbreaks of living and loving out the Gospel in ministry and service to others. For some, what The Preacher and I do day by day may be considered a profession, but for us, it is truly a calling and a conviction. John Piper has described it this way: “If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full.” I have never known this truth more greatly than I do in this season of my life. You don’t have to be a church minister, a mentor, a counselor, or a Bible scholar to know the weight of Piper’s insight here. You must merely consider the truth of God’s Word as more important than your own, the […]
-
» Continue ReadingI’m so pleased to introduce today’s guest blogger, Beth, from ‘Tis Mercy All. Beth and I have several things in common, among which are having five children of the same gender, attending a UMS school, and a love for God’s Word. You’ll find the latter to be at the heart of how she knows…that indeed ’tis mercy all: What fun to help celebrate Ruth’s 500th post by writing a guest post! I’m Beth from Texas, and I praise God for the similarities Ruth and I share. Our hearts beat in sisterly time when it comes to Jesus, family, His calling on our lives, and His Word. There are many commonalities between us, but my favorite is that we have both been blessed with the unique privilege of having five children of the same sex – for Ruth, it’s boys, for me it is girls. Ruth posted several months ago on […]
-
» Continue ReadingThis is the time of year you hear comments like these: “I’m going to cut out all sugar starting January 1.” “I sure didn’t do so good with my workout plan last year, but I’m starting the gym the first of the year.” “I totally failed in my Read-through-the-Bible-in-a-Year plan. I always get stuck in Numbers.” I’m being honest. I am no optimist. I have always professed to be anti-goal making, or more aptly, resolution-phobic. Yet, recent years of learning to preach to my own heart has revealed that what appears to be perfectionism and a fear of failing is really pride and self-sufficiency. I don’t want to set goals because I don’t want to either beat myself up to succeed, or to stress myself out when, in my own strength, I cannot find the consistency to accomplish what I set out to do. And, so….for many years, there you’d […]
-
» Continue Reading
A solid week of unrelenting nausea and a persistent upper respiratory infection has left me exhausted and fuzzy about what day of the week it is. Every other thought is interrupted by four interchangeable thoughts: I can’t breathe. I’m starving. My head is pounding. Nothing sounds good. Oh, I guess one other thought comes to mind: Why is it so easy to become discouraged with physical discomfort? I’m not in chronic pain. I don’t have a terminal illness. My discomfort is treatable (or at the very least, some of the symptoms will end in 9 months!) And yet, the misery seems to never end. Until I read: “My grace is sufficent for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, […]
-
» Continue Reading
If God declares: You shall have no other god before me, (Exodus 20:30) which means You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might, (Deuteronomy 6:5) then you must Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life, (Proverbs 4:23) because Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21) Is it any wonder, then, that Where your priorities are, there your time will be also. (Gordon MacDonald) So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12) and Lord, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient I am. (Psalm 39:4) since if this is true of me: You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body. (C.S. […]
Welcome!
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.
Sponsors
Please take a moment to visit the kind sponsors of GraceLaced. Please contact me if you are interested in more information about advertising.
Affiliated
Share GraceLaced
Find Me Here
Recent Series
Recent Comments
- D. Cano commented on If You Love Somebody
(1 hours ago) - Katie commented on Knit Together In A Fallen World
(5 hours ago)
