 Twenty seventeen started off differently than I expected: working through anxiety, stress, fears, several deaths between family and friends and some personal health struggles. Definitely not my idea of welcoming twenty seventeen warmly. This year started with a deep groaning and the Lord working through some thorns and bramble in my heart, namely pride. If there's one thing that God has been teaching me over the past few months it's that I am not God. I am limited. I am weak. I am dependent, and I need Jesus more than anything. But I am a stubborn sheep that likes to run away, and the way my Shepherd saves me from myself is by breaking my legs and carrying me. I think we all experience these moments in life, when we just don't understand why we go through suffering and trials until we see it's greater purpose. It leads to a deep sense of humility and an admission: I am not God and that is okay. I'm learning to allow suffering, fatherly discipline from my Shepherd, anxiety, and fears point me humbly towards the One that understands and knows everything. I started reading a well recommended book yesterday, Humble Roots: How Humility Grounds and Nourishes Your Soul by Hannah Anderson. The introduction alone was like a balm from the Lord to my soul. Something she wrote struck a chord that's been reverberating in my heart over these past few months. I'd love to share it with you: You're not God. I'm not God. None of us are God. How freeing it is to recognize that there is a God and we are not Him. As I've walked through fears, anxiety, trials, and sorrow in the beginning of twenty seventeen, this is the way that the Lord has comforted my heart, and it's how He can comfort yours if you're walking through similar things. We can have peace in the midst of different situations, because we are not in control. We can have peace when we're fearful, because we have a good Shepherd that leads us beside still waters and through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23). We can have peace when we're sorrowful and mourn, because we have a God that comforts the weak and those that mourn (Matthew 5). My prayer for us today is that we would humbly recognize in the good and hard circumstances of life that we are not God and that this truth would bring us peace and grow our faith. If the Lord's doing this work in your heart too, these links might be helpful on the journey: Dying to Self in the Age of Self-Love from Theology for Women The Best King of Self-Care is Care for Others from Hare Translators Four Reasons to Slow Down from Desiring God
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 I am not a parent, (I hope that that is apparent by my lack of posts or photos that include cute children) but I've learned that it is wise to learn from wise people in preparation for future seasons. Before getting married or even dating, I had ample opportunities to learn from family, friends, and books about marriage and dating. Their wisdom and insights prepared me to honor the Lord and navigate unknown waters. Brandon and I would love to be parents one day, so it made sense to start reading parenting books now in preparation of future unknown waters, and then Crossway offered a free copy of Parenting by Paul David Tripp in exchange for an honest review. Let me begin my review with this: you don't have to be a parent to glean nuggets of wisdom from this book. Paul Tripp's gospel-focused content encouraged me in marriage, discipleship, friendships, and even in preparing to be a parent one day, whatever that might look like. If there is one thing that I gleaned from this book, it is this: the law cannot do what only grace can accomplish. This simple truth has impacted me deeply since reading this book. What does grace accomplish that the law cannot? Well, grace changes hearts. The law reveals hearts, but only grace can change and grow hearts. What does this look like? As a parent, it means that being strict and making more rules will not change a rebellious teenager's behavior. Behavior flows out of the heart, and only grace can change a heart, which changes behavior. This might look like sitting down with your children and seeking to know and understand what is going on in their hearts, helping them to see what is going on behind their actions. Paul Tripp gives a lot of great examples of what this could look like. This principle is so helpful that it's even impacted my marriage. I can't expect the "law" to do what only grace can accomplish in my husband's heart. I can't expect nagging him or getting upset with him or telling him what to do to change his heart. Only grace can change his heart, just like only grace can truly change my heart. How liberating? Because we can't change hearts, only God's grace can truly change and grow people. This book is definitely more of a big picture principle book than a list of things to do. If you are a parent or not a parent, this book gives a great grace-filled and gospel-focused vision of parenting for God's glory. Highly recommend it. I enjoyed it so much that here are 5 great books from the book: 5 Great Quotes From Parenting If you read your Bible carefully, you will understand that God doesn’t call able people to do important things. Abraham wasn’t able. Moses wasn’t able. Gideon wasn’t able. David wasn’t able. The disciples weren’t able, and the story goes on. The reason for this is that there are no able people out there. They just don’t exist. And they surely don’t exist as parents. God did not create human beings to be independently able; he designed us to be dependent. (35) You can read another great review of this book on the Gospel Coalition: Parenting with a Big Gospel Picture  The Amazon link to the book mentioned above is an affiliate link. If you click on the link and purchase this book, this blog is supported at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting She Laughs Without Fear!
 Brandon and I went away for a night at a little country inn courtesy of a gift from dear friends. Upon arriving, we explored the quaint property, and found our room for the night (which had a fun private staircase to enter). As we sat in our room later that night while playing a game of Ticket to Ride: United Kingdom, a thought crossed my mind: God is with us, right here and now. But God is also downstairs at the front desk. He is present at the restaurant, several hundred feet away, and everything in this dainty room is the work of His hands. A similar thought crossed my mind the next day as we drove home and passed an overlook of Bethlehem City in Pennsylvania. This time I thought about how God is sovereign over the city, how small it is in comparison to the majesty of God, but how tiny I am when I walk down Main Street.  And then in my She Reads Truth Bible Reading Plan this morning, one of the passages was Psalm 8 "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?" Psalm 8:1-4 The work of God's fingers, the moon and the stars, as if poetically He painted them in the sky. I'm amazed and left in awe every time I think through God's creative ability. Things that I could only dream of creating or would take years for me to create (like a novel) would take God less than a second. With a word He spoke the earth into being, and everything is a result of His workmanship. I am also His handiwork, made in His image and with such particular care. Who am I that God is mindful of me and cares for me? These are just some of the things that I've been thinking about over the past few days, pondering the works of God's fingers.  The Amazon link to the game mentioned above is an affiliate link. If you click on the link and purchase this book, this blog is supported at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting She Laughs Without Fear! Ten days into 2017, and already well-considered and prayed over goals are becoming a struggle to maintain and achieve. I'm reminded lately of Psalm 127: "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain." There are many goals and resolutions that I could focus on and many ways that I would like to grow over this year, but there is one way that I know for sure that the Lord wants me to grow. He wants me (and you) to love Him with everything and to love my neighbors as myself (Mark 12:30-31). This is my prayer for 2017, that the Lord's will would be greater than my own... Heavenly Father, help me to love you with all of my heart and with all of my soul and with all of my mind and with all of my strength, and help me to love my neighbor as myself. Even though I will fail in these ways in this life, help me to focus on Jesus and remember Your grace. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. My goal is to pray this everyday over this next year. Feel free to use this prayer or to write your own for this New Year.  |
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