Comparing Oneself to Another

Lord, help me to best respond to the narcissists in my life.  

I pray that all of us see our sinful ways, ask for forgiveness, and accept the grace You so freely give.  Let Your light shine on our dark places, so we can better deal with them.  Help us to not compare ourselves to others but to the Perfect Lamb of God, Jesus.  It is then that we will see what wretches we truly are.  Once that happens, I ask that despair not take hold.  Let us breathe in Your mercy and grace and truly accept You as our Lord and Savior.  Help us to forgive ourselves and move on in Your light.  

Lord, let Your light shine through me as I interact with all those around me.  Help me to be more like You every day.  

Thank you, Lord.  

In Jesus' precious name.  

Amen.

Homerun!

I am reminded that I hit a HOMERUN.  Where I am going will not change no matter what happens here.  When I begin to falter, I draw my attention back to the truth.  Yes, life has ups and downs.  It may knock me down, but it will never keep me down.  

I am a sinner saved by grace.  Jesus came and took my place and conquered death.  Now at the judgement seat, it won't be me who God sees but Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice.  Jesus is the perfect lamb.  He took my place and conquered death.  He has washed my sins away.  There is nothing I can do to right my wrongs; I just need to accept His free gift.  His is my Lord and Savior.  I hit a HOMERUN!

Making It Work

 As a homeschool mother of three, I have learned that my children all learn differently.  So I tweak the lessons to fit their needs and strengths.   Well, the same goes for life outside of school. 

When my children were little, I found these beach towels with a whole in the middle to fit over their heads and a hood attached.  As they grew I modified those towels to grow with them.  Then one by one they each grew to big to even fit those.  So I found a post on Pinterest of a tutorial for a hooded towel that they could also change inside of if needed.   Those were also modified as they got bigger.   Now they are so worn that I needed to make another one.   

This time I decided to design it myself.   Hmmm...  I offered to put velcro on them to make them easier to use and dry.   My son was not having it.   So I made his first testing it the whole way.   He does not like being a model.   At 6'4" it took some creativity and trial and error to make his fit.  But alas he seems pleased enough.   I think he was actually just done with trying it on at each step; he would have taken anything at that point 😆 

Then I made my daughters' and my towel.   My oldest daughter did not want a hood.  My youngest and I actually liked that design, so we each have one very similar to the each other's.   Mine was the last to be made and the fastest one put together.  I already had the design down by then.   But I really liked having something covering my arms, so I opted for an additional shall/hood.  It's its own piece, so I can wear it by itself, with the wrap or not at all.   Actually, I brought it with me to soccer practice in case I needed just a little wind covering 😀  I think it will come in quite handy. 

Find what works and make it yours or your children's ❤️ 

Cling Sin

 A few months back my pastor asked all of us to take out our notebooks and write down "Cling Sin."  Then he told us to write what our individual "Cling Sin" was.  Well, it took me a minute, after all I'm prit near perfect.  Just kidding :)  But it did take me a minute to figure out which issue I deal with most often.  I could have written 'yell at my kids over something silly,' 'selfishness,' 'put things off that should have been done yesterday,' 'not give my husband enough attention.'  The list goes on...

But I realized there was one sin that I have dealt with my entire life.  If I'm being realistic, I've dealt with it since I was a baby.  I may have started out innocent enough.  I mean come on, I was a baby.  But as I grew, I didn't recognize that sin in my life.  It was something that gave me comfort.  It didn't hurt anyone.  I didn't see it as sin.  Then a couple years ago, I realized that 'thing' was my first thought when I needed comfort.  I looked for that BEFORE I looked for God.  You might think that since I recognized it I would be able to take control of it.  Well, it's not called a "Cling Sin" for nothing.

I've prayed for God to take away certain sins in my life.  It took time, but I kept praying and desiring it to be gone, and each time I was changed from the inside out.  But a "Cling Sin" is a cloak that keeps you warm in the dead of winter but you don't realize it's actually summer.  The tricky thing about a "Cling Sin" is that you don't necessarily realize that your insides are boiling.  It's like a frog in a pot of water with the temperature slowly rising.  It's a habit that just happens without you thinking about it.  

My "Cling Sin" is gluttony.  People might look at me and think, "She could stand to lose some weight."  But they wouldn't think, "Glutton!"  Actually, when the sin doesn't necessarily stand out to others, that's when it's even harder to deal with.  You can disguise it, cover it up.  I want to be healthier, BUT I really like eating.  So I go in spurts of eating healthy and shedding some fat to enjoying "see food."  Yes, I spelled that right.  I see food and I eat it.  

I need to stop blaming others for my "Cling Sin."  I think, "If they didn't offer it to me, I wouldn't eat it.  If I didn't have buy food for my growing children, I could eat next to nothing.  If... If... If..."  The truth is... a "Cling Sin" is no laughing matter.  To truly get rid of it, you need Jesus and you need to stay in the Word.  It probably won't happen overnight, but if you keep your eyes on Him, He will help you overcome even your "Cling Sin."  When you fall down, get back up.  His mercy and grace is abounding.