Sally Clarkson's Blog, page 100
August 6, 2019
When Life Gets Tough, Put on Lipstick & Podcast
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Sometimes, we need to just stop life from invading every moment of our day and sapping all our energy, and take the time to make a new plan. Rest, rest, rest. We all need to regularly rest to keep ourselves alive. But we need more than rest: sometimes: we need something fun.
When the girls came to Colorado for our yearly national team meeting this year, we took some time to sit down and record a chat about some of our favorite things to do when we just needed to restore our souls in an enjoyable way. We did a lot of giggling, and hope you feel like you’re sitting with us today as you listen in.
Oh—and lets not forget the most important thing: what lipsticks do we all prefer???
Sally uses Burt’s Bees Lip Crayons in Niagra Overlook and Hawaiian Smolder (she may not live that color name down, ha!) Jacqui likes Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector; Zoe’s favorite is Maybelline Colour Sensational Loaded-Orange Danger (Jacqui also loves the same line in Bossy Berry and Fiery Fuschia), Kristen wears Turkish Delight by Nars everyday and a gorgeous red called Jackpot from Sephora for special occasions, and Misty has been wearing L’Oreal Paris Colour Riche in Mica (which looks nothing like what’s in the tube when you put it on!) for longer than … well, let’s just say it’s been a long time, and has a special place in her heart for the roll-on gloss called Lip Potion which she fondly remembers even though the last bottle she’d seen of it (glass) actually broke in the back pocket of her jeans wayyyyy back in 4th grade!
Of course, we talked about lots of weightier matters, too. Sally shared this story …
Years ago while we were on a long walk, I asked my adult kids what they really thought mattered—what were the important things in life. Maybe you should ask yours, too!
Here’s what they said …
People, not things
Kindness, not being right
True life virtue, not opinion or debate
Loving, redeeming, forgiving, extending grace; not judgment, criticism, self-righteousness, or cynicism
Living into His grace as a habit of living well with others; not striving to impress or earn love through works, accomplishment, status, fulfilling expectations, or influence,
Being intentional, not just frantically busy
Seeking Him, pondering Him, listening to Him; not the approval of man or living by the rules of others or seeking to be popular but living happily within the limitations of life
Seeking the Kingdom and eternity, not the kingdom or voices of the world
Honestly admitting a need, confessing a weakness or sin, not stuffing our insecurities and pretending to be perfect
Being humble and meek, not powerful and influential
Waiting for Him, not living in the flesh and striving
Living a life of worship, focused on meeting the needs of others; not making self-fulfillment our life goal
Being still and knowing He is God, not living a noisy, empty life
Loving well with words, actions, and setting an atmosphere of love and acceptance, not competition
We pray you’ll enjoy listening in, and also think about what small actions can restore your own soul this summer!
Printables:
Matthew 11 MSG PDF
Hebrews 10 PDF
More Resources:
Episode 62 "How to Have A One Woman Retreat"
Episode 95 "Remembering to Care for You"
Misty Krasawski On Instagram
Kristen Kill on Instagram
Jacqui Wakelam on Instagram
Zoe Wakelam on Instagram
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Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.
Leave an iTunes Review These are so important as they help our podcast reach more women with messages of encouragement.
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Share with others. My prayer is that this podcast brings encouragement to women and families, and I would be honored for you to tell others about it.
Join my friends and me in membership at Life with Sally, a place for me to share more teaching from the Bible and messages on education, motherhood, discipleship, and more!
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August 4, 2019
Blessed, Broken & Given: Glenn Packiam & podcast
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Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”
Jesus, (John 6:35)
Throughout all cultures, bread has been the basic, sustaining food that represents the satisfaction of hunger. Whether tortillas, a loaf of sandwich bread, pita, nun or others, bread is a basic of life.
Jesus called himself the bread of life—and he said He would satisfy our hunger.
Do you hunger for love? For finding purpose in the midst of your every day circumstances of life? For forgiveness? For belonging? For healing?
Jesus is our bread of life. But what is also mind blowing, is that when our own hearts have been filled by His love, power, personal presence, He fills us with Himself and we become and offering of His attributes of filling hunger for others. We are blessed by His adoption, redemption, coming into our lives.
We then see that our brokenness is satisfied by His presence in our lives.
Then, our lives become a sacrifice, breaking open for the sake of others who are hungry for Him. We are given to the world, as He was, to bring His satisfaction to those who also hunger and thirst.
My friend, Glenn Packiam, has written a book that will refresh your understanding about how Christ comes to you to satisfy your life, to validate your story and to show you how to become His life and light to those He brings your way.
I so enjoyed talking with Glenn Packiam on my podcast today about the beautiful, life-giving concepts he shares in his new book. I pray the podcast will be of great encouragement to you as you continue to know God’s blessing and then become bread of life, because of His presence through You, to those who long for His love, light, satisfying love.
Printables:
John 6:35 PDF
Books Referenced in this Podcast:
More Resources:
Glenn Packiam
Life with Sally
FOR MORE
Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.
Leave an iTunes Review These are so important as they help our podcast reach more women with messages of encouragement.
Follow on Facebook and Instagram for the latest news and updates.
Share with others. My prayer is that this podcast brings encouragement to women and families, and I would be honored for you to tell others about it.
Join my friends and me in membership at Life with Sally, a place for me to share more teaching from the Bible and messages on education, motherhood, discipleship, and more!
Play Episode
Blessed, Broken & Given: Glen Packiam & podcast
Play Episode on iTunes & Stitcher
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”
Jesus, (John 6:35)
Throughout all cultures, bread has been the basic, sustaining food that represents the satisfaction of hunger. Whether tortillas, a loaf of sandwich bread, pita, nun or others, bread is a basic of life.
Jesus called himself the bread of life—and he said He would satisfy our hunger.
Do you hunger for love? For finding purpose in the midst of your every day circumstances of life? For forgiveness? For belonging? For healing?
Jesus is our bread of life. But what is also mind blowing, is that when our own hearts have been filled by His love, power, personal presence, He fills us with Himself and we become and offering of His attributes of filling hunger for others. We are blessed by His adoption, redemption, coming into our lives.
We then see that our brokenness is satisfied by His presence in our lives.
Then, our lives become a sacrifice, breaking open for the sake of others who are hungry for Him. We are given to the world, as He was, to bring His satisfaction to those who also hunger and thirst.
My friend, Glen Packiam, has written a book that will refresh your understanding about how Christ comes to you to satisfy your life, to validate your story and to show you how to become His life and light to those He brings your way.
I so enjoyed talking with Glenn Packiam on my podcast today about the beautiful, life-giving concepts he shares in his new book. I pray the podcast will be of great encouragement to you as you continue to know God’s blessing and then become bread of life, because of His presence through You, to those who long for His love, light, satisfying love.
Printables:
John 6:35 PDF
Books Referenced in this Podcast:
More Resources:
Glenn Packiam
Life with Sally
FOR MORE
Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.
Leave an iTunes Review These are so important as they help our podcast reach more women with messages of encouragement.
Follow on Facebook and Instagram for the latest news and updates.
Share with others. My prayer is that this podcast brings encouragement to women and families, and I would be honored for you to tell others about it.
Join my friends and me in membership at Life with Sally, a place for me to share more teaching from the Bible and messages on education, motherhood, discipleship, and more!
Play Episode
August 1, 2019
Child Training in the Family: What Do You Want to Build? (part one)
"A wise woman builds her house, and a foolish woman with her own hands tears it down." Proverbs 14: 1
Often, in my conferences, I have said, "In order to build a house, you must have an architectural plan or the house will not stand. There are many ways to build a home and many kinds of homes. One can build a small shack or a grand estate, but all begins with a plan. It all depends on how big your vision for your plan is--you can build generations of legacy or only have a small sphere of influence because of having no imagination or Biblical plan in place. "
None of us is perfect and so we will never have a perfect plan, but we must have something in place and expand and build on it! Here are several foundational principles that Clay and I followed.
1. God designed the family and children and He called them a blessing--so He must have something in mind.Starting out with scripture, reading Genesis 1, pondering how God fathers us, observing how Jesus influenced His disciples, --these principles give us a starting place. God is relational and loving and provides and pursues and protects and wants to communicate. And so I pattern my life after His.
2. We are building generations--a legacy of messages, values, traditions, and convictions.Parenting is not primarily focused on behavioral goals, but on heart values and messages--those purposes that inspire, capture a child's imagination, and give those in the family a sense of belonging and hope. Purpose and focus on heart messages is a part of the grid that I work from every day.
3. We must have in mind what it is we are building.Clay and I partnered together to come up with values, truths, and habits that we wanted to become the very core of our children's impulses on how to live life well. The picture of the Holy Spirit comes to mind. Jesus said, "I will send you a Helper, and He will guide you into all truth." We are like that with our children and as Christ was with His disciples: helpers who will guide them into truth.
"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
All day long, the grid I worked from was through the lens of our “family ways”. For instance, when a toddler was about to hit another, I would pick them up, hold the hand and say very seriously, "We never, never use our hands to express hate or anger. Remember our way: ‘We treat others with kindness, gentleness and respect.’"
If a child was older and mouthed off, I would remind them of that same "way", and require them to apologize or write a note to the offended person, or write out the memory verse however many times I thought would be appropriate. Our ways became an objective grid for training and building expectations in our children's soul for Biblical ideals.
Our 24 Family Ways is a devotional that Clay wrote for our family, to be the discipleship tool for building a plan of how we wanted our children to live life--to train them in what was true, what was expected, and how to practice living within the guidelines of the Clarksons. We wanted our children to know how to honor us and God; to know how to practice loving others in word and deed; to know how to cultivate strong work habits and attitudes about all of these and many other things. We attached each "way" to scripture, gave our children memory verses, and went over our ways again and again over the years so that these truths would be deep in their hearts. We pray this book will be a blessing and guide for your family, too!
Our 24 Family Ways: A Family Devotional Guide
By Clay Clarkson
More next week on this same topic!
July 30, 2019
Deep Heart Satisfaction of Friendship With Women & Podcast
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A man of too many friends comes to ruin,
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.~ Prov. 18:24
One of the most common letters or notes I receive is, “I am so lonely and have difficulty finding like minded women.”
Cultivating deep, soul filling, heart strong friendships with women who call you to your best self is becoming more and more rare. Yet, love, companionship, comfort, understanding, sympathy, “being known and loved” is one of the ways we were created to experience the Love of God in our lives. Love gives us the oxygen we need to breathe in grace through the taxing days of our lives.
Friendship is an imperative part of a healthy life! We hope you’ll enjoy our podcast today as we discuss women’s friendships.
It is the reason my girls and I wrote “Girls’ Club”. We wanted to help women remember the gift of developing close, intimate friendships with other women and we wanted to encourage women to reach out to others.
Today, ponder the podcast and pray about the truths we address for your own life. Reach out to at least one woman this week. And we do pray that each of you will find a sweet friend with whom to walk through the pathways of life.
Remember, Proverbs tells us, “A friend loves at all times.” Proverbs 17:17
“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.” ~C.S. Lewis
Printables:Download and print the postcards below and send to a friend!
CS Lewis Friendship Quote Postcard PDf
Proverbs 18 Postcard PDF
Books Referenced in this Podcast:
More Resources:
Life with Sally
Misty Krasawski On Instagram
Kristen Kill on Instagram
FOR MORE
Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.
Leave an iTunes Review These are so important as they help our podcast reach more women with messages of encouragement.
Follow on Facebook and Instagram for the latest news and updates.
Share with others. My prayer is that this podcast brings encouragement to women and families, and I would be honored for you to tell others about it.
Join my friends and me in membership at Life with Sally, a place for me to share more teaching from the Bible and messages on education, motherhood, discipleship, and more!
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July 28, 2019
Learning to Expect Miracles (DWMHF #6) & Podcast
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Often in the past, Lord, I have come to thee with a heavy heart and burdened life. And thou hast answered my prayers and graciously lifted the burden from me. Yet with strange perversion, I still refuse to leave my burdens with thee. Always I gather them up—those heavy bundles of fears and anxieties—and shoulder them again.
PETER MARSHALL
Today on my podcast, I tell one of the most amazing, miraculous stories about when Nathan moved to New York City when he was 19. The ways that God worked helped me to remember his faithfulness at other times when we needed to see Him work. Dancing is learned through practice—and so letting God lead gets easier the more we allow Him to lead. I hope you enjoy it.
I was on a mission to get my work finished. I drove downtown toward a quiet hotel where I would be free to write without any interruptions. I had to stop on the way because my gas tank was on empty. (Someone had borrowed my car and leftit without gas!) Next, I stopped at a coffee shop. Before I ordered, I saw a mug on sale and thought, I would much rather drink out of a real mug so I bought it. I turned to walk away from the counter—and promptly dropped my new purchase. It shattered into hundreds of pieces. I bent down to clean it up and saw that the coffee had spilled on my new shirt. Finally after I cleaned up the mess and fixed my shirt as best as I could, I got on the road again—and was promptly halted by a long, unexpected construction detour.
Tempted to become irritated at how my day was going, I decided to give this book and its deadline over to the Lord. I would choose not to pay attention to the broken mug and my dirty shirt; it's just part of normal life. So I put on some quiet instrumental music, sat back in my seat, and enjoyed the peace as I waited to move through the congested traffic.
A commitment to living a life of joy involves a one-time decision in our heart: "Lord, I want to know your joy every day of my life, and I will seek to find out what it means to dwell in your presence in joy."
Experiencing joy, though, is a long-term process—a journey toward maturity as we begin to be aware of those thoughts and worries that would steal our joy. The more we practice taking all of our troubled thoughts captive, the more easily we will recognize them before they take hold in our heart. Practice and discipline provide strength training for our mental muscles and heart responses. So walking in the reality of joy is a road we truly find only as we mature and become stronger. The more consistently we follow that path—believing in God's goodness and turning away from Satan's taunts—the more the habit to submit to the Lord and trust him becomes second nature.
We can make a commitment to take every situation, every feeling, every fear to God as it happens. We don't have to remain in a state of emotional separation from the Lord every time we get out of step. We simply have to practice walking each step with him and allow his presence to bring us the joy that comes from resting in the arms of our capable dance partner through each measure of life's song.
Thoughts for today …
Paul wrote, "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). What does it mean to take every thought in your head "captive" to the obedience of Christ?
Are there any specific patterns of thought (fear, jealousy, irritation, impatience) that you struggle with? How does this rob your joy?
What do you need to do to change that pattern?
Find your copy of Dancing with My Father, here !
Printables:
Romans 8:28 PDF
Books Referenced in this Podcast:
More Resources:
Psalm 22
Speaking with Joy Live Events
Life with Sally
FOR MORE
Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.
Leave an iTunes Review These are so important as they help our podcast reach more women with messages of encouragement.
Follow on Facebook and Instagram for the latest news and updates.
Share with others. My prayer is that this podcast brings encouragement to women and families, and I would be honored for you to tell others about it.
Join my friends and me in membership at Life with Sally, a place for me to share more teaching from the Bible and messages on education, motherhood, discipleship, and more!
Play Episode
July 25, 2019
Sneaking Away in the Morning is a Habit (With a Reward!) for this Mama
This morning, when it was still dark, I crept out of bed so as not to awaken anyone in the house. I have always had a child's delight in being alone in the early morning, like I was playing hide and seek with the bodies asleep in my home. I made a big mug of coffee (with a dash of vanilla!) and drove away from my home at 5:45 as the sun was peeking out behind the clouds.
I was in need of time with Him, my true Friend, my Counselor, my Comforter, my Father. Sometimes with all the bodies and voices swirling about in my home, I lose Him. And so, I have learned to leave and invest in the morning hours with Him always, always waiting to talk to me. The Sunday morning breakfast feast will be ready at 9:30 as usual, but I will be different by the time I get back home.
Birds seemed to chirp more loudly than usual, the sun sparkled as the gentle waves of the lake danced slowly, and I was awash in peace and quiet, alone with Him.
I read Psalm 25 many times this morning--Lead me, teach me your paths, Instruct me in your way---the words became my prayers. Always big issues of life weigh too heavy on my shoulders. But very quickly in His bigness, my needs become small.
I will wait on you, oh Lord.
And then He reminded me--David waited and waited and waited for God and sang and danced while he waited. He did not take the throne from Saul. He did not murder Saul when God delivered Saul into David's hands, he just humbly waited on God to make His move--for years and years He waited, in peace, and writing and praising all along. Is this what it means for David to be a man after God's heart---looking to Him, waiting on Him, rejoicing in Him, in the midst of battles going on all around in his life?
Saul, however, though big, handsome and strong, was not considered worthy to remain as king. He took matters into his own hands. He exerted his will, his way, his wisdom in being king. He did not wait on God, as he thought he knew better--and so God rejected him from being king.
Oh, please, Lord, do not reject me from being usable to you and your kingdom purposes. Help me to wait on you as David did.
God wants those who wait on Him, follow His lead, hear His voice. I have noticed in my own life that God is not in a hurry and rarely does things quickly, but in the process of His leading, He cares more about forming character, building holiness, stretching our trust, strengthening our muscles of faith--and through this process He builds in us a legacy of integrity.
And so, this morning, my soul is once again filled with joy, peace, worship and rest--I do not know the future, but I rest in the one who does. It all comes from a habit, a rhythm of making time to be with Him, to hear His voice, to follow His ways. Years and years and years of getting away--to Him.
May He guide you to His presence today.
And now the favorite of the verses I pondered today:
Make me to know your ways, O Lord; Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, For you are the God of my salvation.
For you I wait all the day. Good and upright is the Lord; Therefore He instructs sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in justice and He teaches the humble His way. All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth.
Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way He should go. Indeed, none of those who wait for you will be ashamed.
I pray you will find some peaceful morning time of your own, this weekend.
July 23, 2019
Cultivating Friendship with Children & Podcast (Misty, Kristen and Sally)
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“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” John 15:13-15
Unwinding in my cozy little library, I was so engrossed in my book that I didn’t even realize the sun was setting. But then I was jolted out of my reverie by the familiar sound of my cell ringtone.
“Hi, Mama!” chimed the familiar voice of one of my adult children. “I’ve been really busy, but I just needed to hear your voice, to know that you love me and are thinking about me. You know, there’s no substitute for your words of love. Helps me feel closer to God somehow.”
I get a call like that nearly every day—and I make a few calls of my own. My children and I are a tight-knit group, joined at the hip, fast and dedicated friends. They all live and work in very secular arenas and are taxed to their souls on a regular basis. All four travel all over the world for their jobs and schools, have their own groups of friends, and function as reasonably mature adults.
And yet, wherever they go, it is very difficult to meet adults who hold their values, beliefs, morals. Intentionality in our friendship costs time, thoughtfulness, heart investment. Yet, our friendship grows deeper and deeper through the years because they feel a need for a touchpoint with someone who "gets" them and loves them as they are. Next to Clay, my children are my best friends, and we remain their dearest companions. But we are also the tangible fingers and arms of God to keep them in the circle of his love.
Because of back surgery, Clay cannot travel much. But he regularly sends me to places my children live as a "live" picture of our love, cheerleading and devotion to helping them stay fast in their faith. A part of our calling of "home" is to give our children a stable sense of the good foundations of what we believe and then to help them have reason to keep faithful to those foundations after they leave the physical structure of our home. Home is the place we build vibrant, life-giving relationships that last a lifetime.
So it was with Jesus and His disciples. Sharing meals, walking together on dusty roads, having exuberant discussions about theology, sleeping under the stars, sharing hopes and fears, and enjoying some good laughs in between it all—this was the nature of Jesus’ friendships. He wove His love and grace into the lives of all who were close to Him. And as a result they were energized, driven, and excited to spend the rest of their lives telling the world about their closest and most trusted Friend.
When the relational aspect is removed from faith, Christianity becomes a list of rules to keep, a dry obedience to abstract facts. The heart is left feeling perpetually unsatisfied. Over time, doubts and insecurities creep into our faith, and we may begin to develop guilt for not being spiritual enough. We start to hope that no one notices our failure, and—the worst consequence—we may even try to hide our dissatisfaction from God.
This is not even remotely God’s will for our lives. It is a lie of the evil one whispering to us in our inadequacy. Satan wants us to live in condemnation for all the ways we are imperfect in loving. The insidious thing is that the deceptive narrative is self- perpetuating.
It not only makes us believe that God just wants our obedience and good works but also makes us feel like failures when we inevitably don’t live up to those standards, and this causes us to draw even further away from God.
When we observe the lives of those closest to Jesus in His earthly life—the disciples—it becomes immediately apparent that they were alive with faith and hope. Even as flawed human beings, they were filled with a power that can come only from being loved and accepted by their Savior.
This liberating love is still offered to us. God wants to be as close to us as Jesus was to His disciples and to inspire the same kindness and goodness in our hearts. If we as parents can learn to embrace our relationship with God, we will be empowered to create for our children and anyone else who crosses our doorsteps a true culture of love—a home environment where the life of God is breathed through all moments and love becomes the fuel for living with hope, purpose, and expectation.
Ultimately, God desires that we instill in the hearts of those around us the same love that has been made real in our lives. That is the crux of discipleship. Our disciples—whether they be our children, our friends, or anyone else in our care—must eventually be sent out into the world as Jesus sent out His disciples.
When they have grasped the vision of the Kingdom and the King who rules it, they, too, can be world redeemers. But they need to be prepared. Jesus knew He was sending out His disciples into a world where they would often be rejected and abused. He taught them how to handle painful encounters and asked the Father to keep them from the evil one while they were about His business. And over and over, He infused them with His love and taught them to love one another.
Our children, too, will go out into an antagonistic, difficult society. But the power that will hold them fast to the ideals they learned at home will be the bonds of love and the deep companionship we shared with them, the compassion and kindness and grace we gave to them during hard times, and the constant reassurance that they are precious to us and to God. Whatever we have spoken into the daily lives of our children is what they will hear when they are far away.
“How many parents there are … who are readier to provide playthings for their children than to share the delights of their children with those playthings; readier to set their children to knowledge-seeking, than to have a part in their children’s surprises and enjoyments of knowledge-attaining; readier to make good, as far as they can, all losses to their children, than to grieve with their children over those losses. And what a loss of power to those parents as parents, is this lack of sympathy with their children as children."
Henry Clay Trumbull, Hints on Child Training (1890)
We hope you’ll enjoy the podcast today. Kristen Kill, Misty Krasawski, and I are discussing the ways we’ve built friendships with our children and why we believe it’s so important! Be sure to click to download these lovely printables for your fridge or wall.
Printables:
John 15:13 PDF
Love Influence Quote PDF
Books Referenced in this Podcast:
More Resources:
Nathan Clarkson on "The Complicated Heart" Podcast
Life with Sally
Misty Krasawski on Instagram
Kristen Kill on Instagram
FOR MORE
Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.
Leave an iTunes Review These are so important as they help our podcast reach more women with messages of encouragement.
Follow on Facebook and Instagram for the latest news and updates.
Share with others. My prayer is that this podcast brings encouragement to women and families, and I would be honored for you to tell others about it.
Join my friends and me in membership at Life with Sally, a place for me to share more teaching from the Bible and messages on education, motherhood, discipleship, and more!
Play Episode
July 21, 2019
Dancing to God's Melody of Joy DWMHF 5 & Podcast
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Slouched down in my leather seat in a crowded railway car, I was being gently rocked to sleep by the rhythmic swaying back and forth of the old train clattering across the Polish countryside. Returning from a student conference in the mountains where I had been teaching and counseling with college students all weekend had left me a bit weary, lonely and depleted. Working through translators for each message was a slow, tedious process.
As an American woman, I felt the cultural distance between me and these youth who had grown up under a supressive, Communist government. The religious freedom I had taken so for granted, made these students eager to know about God, about Jesus, about a kingdom in heaven where they would be free and blessed by the God who made them. Exhaustion tended to exagerate cultural differences and made me feel somewhat isolated as a 24 year old, struggling to understand even a portion of the things that were spoken to me. I remember riding along in the car wondering if I would ever not feel lonely.
Suddenly, the train took a small bend and in front of me were fields of thousands upon thousands of bright red poppies, gently swaying in the wind. Fields of poppies, obviously growing wild, spread over miles of the countryside. I was mesmerized by the beauty and found myself wondering how long it had taken for these beautiful flowers to be planted over the years so that there would be so many everywhere.
I began to imagine the invisible hand of God intentionally spreading seed generously over the many fields, so that in a country where there had been so much division, war and darkness for so many generations, that there would still be a picture of His beauty, creation and life to comfort those who would see it. That it would draw their thoughts and hearts, like it did mine, to thoughts of Him who was the artist of such beauty.
This has become to me a sort of picture of my place in the world. Jesus often talked about sowing seed in many of His parables. The people of His time were tied more closely to farming, sowing, reaping because their very lives depended on the well-being of the crops as their source of food.
Join me today in my podcast where I share the story of my being in Communist Poland as a young, single women wondering if I was even capable or adequate to being a missionary. God has taught me so much about cultivating joy every day since then, but it is a long journey of maturing a little at a time to learn to dance in His joy every day.
Printables:
Galatians 5:1 PDF
Books Referenced in this Podcast:
More Resources:
Life with Sally
FOR MORE
Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app.
Leave an iTunes Review These are so important as they help our podcast reach more women with messages of encouragement.
Follow on Facebook and Instagram for the latest news and updates.
Share with others. My prayer is that this podcast brings encouragement to women and families, and I would be honored for you to tell others about it.
Join my friends and me in membership at Life with Sally, a place for me to share more teaching from the Bible and messages on education, motherhood, discipleship, and more!
Play Episode
July 18, 2019
Difficulties Abound Outside, Yet Within the Walls of Home All is Well
Arm in arm, my sweet one and I walked our familiar evening path, sharing hearts and finding solace in our companionship amidst the beauty of one more flurry of pinks and golds as the sun settled in for the night. We knew we were not alone. God walked with us and smiled at us through His clouds and presence in our friendship.
As we turned the corner of our last way home, the moon spoke to us once again of His companionship as we breathed in the comfort of friendship.
Upon returning home, we lingered in the moonlight on our front porch, rocking gently as we talked more of life. Eventually, five of us gathered on the porch in the twilight. Comfort, belonging, peace, security, and stability is what is felt in the walls of our home. We belong to each other. We know a comfort amongst our trials, our joys, our doubts and our anger. .
As I glance through the pathways of our story, there are many trials and obstacles along the way--car wrecks, cancer, deaths, births, illnesses, financial problems, church splits, relationships coming to an end, new ones beginning. Our world is a battlefield against small conflicts, difficult circumstances and big evils that abound. Yet, by His grace, we have come to know that we have a harbor in our storms, and our family's mutual love has wrapped us further in the bonds of rest that comes from being loyal, strong, devoted and present with one another through each day, each year, each conflict.
God designed us to be "home" makers, so our families might have foundations from which to live life.
At my age, in spite of fear that life storms would overwhelm, I have lived to see the fingerprints of God all over our days. His goodness has followed us through all of our seasons. Because He has been our hope in every storm, and we have cherished Him together, we have found that, as David said, "Surely His goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord, forever."
There will always be storms old and new. Yet, one of the joys of my mother heart has been to watch my children walking in faith through unanticipated trials, seeking God's goodness, living together in the harmony of family love. Adults making their own choices to trust God, to learn and grow, to strain towards His righteous ways.
All the devotions, all the cherishing of His word together, all the training is now reflected in their lives. I have watched my boys become strong, constant men, heroes in their generation-- in the eyes of God, as they choose to live faithfully in soul, steadfast in commitments, and integrity of life, seeking to grow, learn, and act in noble ways, even when others in their lives have not chosen the same path.
My girls are straining towards spiritual strength and wisdom and learning to give, to serve, to love well, while cherishing moral excellence, amidst a world that is dark and compromising. The seeds of faith planted have taken root and grown.
The battles rage. Yet, we have lived long enough to understand that there is an invisible power living in our home that keeps us, holds us, and companions us we we walk these roads with Him.
Peace be yours today. The Lord is with us and with you. May He companion you in the midst of your days.
