Sally Clarkson's Blog, page 96

A Mama's Life Has Varying Seasons

I think that fall may be my favorite season (or spring!). I love the colors, the sunny, crisp days, the opportunity to begin drawing in and making homemade soups and breads and reading a great book and creating more beauty and life-giving friendship and fun with more people inside the walls of our home. (I also love autumn art!)

Even as there are seasons with variety and scope in our lives, so there are so many seasons to a mother's life. One day she loves her children and thinks they are the greatest gift God has given. Another day, she isn't sure she even likes them, but she is obedient and has to put one foot in front of the other just to keep going.

Recently, a young mom I know confessed that she sometimes has a hard time "feeling close" to her young children and being available to them emotionally because she is tired. Most women feel this fairly often. I know that as the tasks of motherhood need to be pursued every day with intention, or they will overcome the home, so life can feel tedious. There were many times throughout the years that I did not feel like giving or even feel close to my children. But, I would just put one foot in front of the other and seek to be loving and gracious and patient, even though I did not feel like it, and eventually, my joyful feelings would return.

It seemed to me, that I would read stories of families that seemed to be all together--studying Greek and Hebrew by age 5, perfectly neat house, home-cooked meals and all in order, with children who had perfect attitudes.

That was not my reality. Mine was a whirlwind of seasons--some were fresh seasons where I loved my children and they seemed to be growing and I enjoyed them and others were winter seasons of darkness and struggle and seemingly no real life or  growth in our home. But I learned that all homes have seasons and it is the faithfulness through all of the seasons that determines the outcomes.

But this I have learned. The love of God, His commitment to hold and sustain me never varies. He is my ship in the storms, my light in the beautiful times.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:2-3

Whatever season you are in, His love will never cease. He sees you, He loves you, you can rest in Him because He will be faithful, every day.

Mom Heart Moments: Daily Devotions for Lifegiving Motherhood

By Sally Clarkson

Best of Sally: Loving and Fearing God is Most Important (and a Podcast!)

"I have come to believe that the success or failure of any woman who hopes to build her children into a godly legacy depends to a great degree on whether or not she is spending time in the presence of the Lord and filling her mind with His word." -Sally Clarkson, The Mom Walk

Play Episode on iTunes & Stitcher

Desiring to secure the hearts of our children with a love for God, often we try to teach them what is right, correct their attitudes, and often become frustrated with their immaturity, and so in our exhaustion, point out faults to our immature children.

We strive to be women of godly ideals, but tend to fall short and overwhelm ourselves with the mundane, ordinary day "have-tos."

Yet, we cannot show our children the excellencies of God's character if we have not invested time in His presence. We become like the ones we spend time with! --And so if we never make time to cultivate a deep love, a fresh worship, a spontaneous conversation with our dear Father, then we will not be living from His Spirit's truth, wisdom, and grace.

Spending time in God's word is essential to our restoration as mothers. Without God's word, what voices are filling our minds, hearts, and souls?

In the midst of busy, hectic schedules, it can be extremely difficult to make time for His word. We must be intentional and prioritize this necessary peace. Today, I am going to share three ideas with you on how we can not only pencil in and squeeze in our time with God, but full benefit from His amazing word.

1. Get an accountability partner.

Some of us need that extra push and reminder so that we don't forget to spend time in His word. Talk to your best girlfriend about holding each other accountable for your time in scripture. Call each other, or email, weekly to check in and remind each other of the importance of God's word. Commit to a 6 month period of time to be prayer partners or to study a book of the Bible or a devotional together.

2. Bible reading plans.

With so many things going on in various directions, sometimes we don't even know where to start once we open our bibles. Bible reading plans provide schedule, routine, order, and continuity to our time in scripture. Read through one Psalm a day and circle or note each verse that speaks of His character. Or underline wisdom or truth or a promise of principle. Or Read John and do the same thing. Keep a journal close by and each day write one thing you have learned. If you have time, pray through what you have learned. These books are good places to start.

3. Scripture Challenge!

Try memorizing a scripture each week. If His lovingkindness is before you every day, then you will walk in His ways and find His blessing!

Choose one of the scriptures below and personalize it for yourself:

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." -Psalm 119:105

"For Your loving kindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth." -Psalm 26:3

Serving a holy God, living for his glory is our goal.

If this is not built into the warp and woof of your life, then when it comes to adulthood and worshipping and reverencing God, there will be no pattern, no practiced understanding of what it means to love and obey our Lord with wholehearted devotion.

We can learn the words of this family way, but we also need to live the reality of our devotion and respect in order for the words to have meaning. Humility is at the heart of honoring others or God as much more important than yourself.

How have you instilled reverence and devotion to our Holy God in your lives? 

How have you regarded sacred traditions or relationships as common and lost value for being reverent?

How have you seen things that have intrinsic eternal value degraded in the culture of your world?

Name several ways you can establish a practice of valuing the sacred in your own life.

Would others say that you brought a sense of honor to the atmosphere of your friendship because of the ways you showed honor, consideration and manners of others in your life?

I hope these thoughts will encourage you—and also that you’ll enjoy my podcast today, which also includes a bit from our Proverbs study at Life with Sally!

Printables:
Psalm 119:105 PDF

Psalm 26:3 PDF
Books Referenced in this Podcast:































































































More Resources:
Life with Sally
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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!

Play Episode

Best of Sally: Raising Boys to Be Good Men (and a Podcast!)

"The only thing necessary thing for the triumph of evil is for good women (men)  to do nothing."

Edmund Burke

Play Episode on iTunes & Stitcher

We have all probably heard the quote above many times, but still, it is so true. Passivity is a form of rebellion. It is a choice we make when we say, “I won’t follow my ideals. I will not help. I can’t give. I won’t serve. I refuse to get my hands dirty or to live sacrificially.”

Either we are engaged in the battle or we are quitters. There are times for rest, for regrouping, for restoring or renewing a vision. But to choose to be passive about serving God or standing up for what is right is to reject being responsible.

Obviously I cannot speak to every situation in one small blog. But we observe in our culture that there are very few “Stand Out” heroes for our boys to follow. Yet, I think deep in the heart of most every little boy is a hero waiting to be let out.

A few weeks ago, I was flying back home from Chicago and I was riding a train from the concourse to the terminal. A older woman stepped on the train just in front of me. Immediately a little boy about 9 years old jumped up from his seat and said, “Would you like to sit here? I don’t mind.” Immediately a small host of men riding together cheered spontaneously. “Woohoo! Way to go! What a great guy!” They proceeded to pat the little one on his back. I think the little boy will never forget the cheering he received for being thoughtful as a “man”.

We have the ability to call our own little boys (and girls) to their best selves. We need only look inside their hearts to see the courage, nobility, kindness, generosity that wants to be expressed through their lives.

Today, Nathan and I talk about what it looks like to be a good man and how to shape your boys’ hearts so that they will grow in their self-image to wanting to be a good man in their generation—a good man who is willing to be a part of bringing God’s goodness and light and morality back into a culture that longs to be led and taught.

Books Referenced in this Podcast:























 























 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

He Called to Me, "Come Follow ..."

"Take my will and make it thine, It shall be no longer mine, Take my heart, it is thine own, it shall be thy royal throne, It shall be thy royal throne."

Exhausted and drained were the perfect words defining how I felt as I stumbled in out of the pelting rain, several years ago.

After two hours of driving Kentucky’s back highways and a weekend of speaking a total of ten hours to a sweet group of moms in a Tennessee lake house, I was spent. It wasn't just the weekend, or meeting with more surgeons, or finding an oral surgeon for Joy or working on a movie project with Nathan or finding Sarah with a 103 temp and needing advice about a ruptured ear drum or hearing that a sweet friend had borrowed her car and had an accident and totaled the car and trying to figure out how to proceed (!!!)— it was the cumulative weariness that just comes with some seasons of life. I think there are parts of me that are bone tired and soul weary from many years of being in the battle.

My heart, though, was swimming in hope and excitement and child-like anticipation,  because my borrowed car was headed to the wonderful home of my forever sister-friend, Gwen, where I knew that God lived.

After gratefully crawling into a warm bed there and sleeping for nine hours, (unheard of for me), the next morning I woke and found Gwen, candle lit, Bible in hand, cup of coffee steaming, in her quiet time chair. "Curl up in my bed, and I will pour you a cup of tea and we will be friends," she whispered, as she gently wrapped her blankets around my shoulders and puffed up the pillows in the bed where I had gratefully obeyed.

And so a beautiful little candlelit tray came to rest in the room, and life and beauty took place. I have many friends and thousands of sweet women in my life, but few who, when I am with them, will always have the palpable life of Jesus glowing, living, stirring in their midst. I always know I will find it here in Earlington, Kentucky, with sweet Gwennie.

After, journeying over bits of life, events, people, illnesses, deaths and heart sharing, we came to the most important subject.

"Why are we so blessed? What shaped our lives so that we have been able to live purposeful lives, we have seen dramatic answers to prayer, we have watched the life of God's spirit swirling amongst the events of our lives our whole lives. Why, in spite of the battles, do we see God's favor?"

And she showed me a poem she had written in her Bible many years ago,

"I heard Him call, "Come follow."

That was all.

My gold grew dim, my soul went after Him.

Who would not follow IF they heard Him call."

That was it. The secret. At an early age, we were both challenged to follow Him, to listen for His voice, to be His bondservant, to let Him show us the path, to live by faith, to believe in the power of prayer, to invest in His kingdom, to put aside the voices, the peer pressure of the world to conform, simply to follow Him.

Both of us have had to reject the voices of "Job's friends" in our lives, and the world's voices, and all of those voices who seemed to have "God's will in mind for us," and we could see, looking back, that holding fast to His voice, His way, His direction, as our pearl of great price, was the secret. Always, He is at the center. Always, His paths are the right paths.

And so, both of us, bow our hearts before Him, together, thanking Him for the miracle of the lives He has allowed us to live.

She has seen the death of all of her siblings, grandparents, many cousins, and all other support systems dwindling, with her precious mama still loving and smiling for many more years before going on to heaven.

As Clay and I followed His voice, He led us to leave overseas missions, to move back to America, to raise four wholehearted children, and to write about parenting, mothering, and discipling the next generation; to make radical decisions that most of our Christian friends and family did not understand.

After 25 years of serving the Lord in Austria and Eastern Europe, He directed Gwen to live a quiet life in a tiny town caring for her elderly mom, day after day, for many years. But both of us live in the comfort of knowing He has guided, He has been faithful, and His ways have indeed been the pathway of blessing. And in reviewing His history of faithfulness, our hearts are refreshed in the company of each other.

And so we ponder … I wonder how God might direct us to serve Him, to follow Him, to hear His voice in the next 30 years? May we both be attentive, may we both hear, and expect His presence, and may we both obey and simply follow Him.

"Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise, Thou my inheritance, now and always; Thou and thou only first in my heart, High king of heaven, my treasure thou art."

A Different Child: A Marathon not a Sprint & A Podcast

Thanks so much all of you sweet friends for supporting Nathan and me in our book launch yesterday of Only You Can Be You. I thought I would put up an old post again that many of you loved because you have asked for more of me and Nathan discussing unconditional love and more.

Just thought you might enjoy this podcast from a bit ago because many of you have asked for more of “Nathan and me.” So here it is. Enjoy.

Both of us have received hundreds of emails, texts, letters and comments from so many of you since we first published our book, Different, less than a year ago. Those of us who deal with the daily issues of challenging circumstances in our home just need to know others understand and that there is hope for our story to end well. Though our story is not over yet, it will pretty well developed and we see God's grace and fingerprints all over our lives--and we are best friends.

I thought it would be great to do a little podcast of together sharing some of our most recent thoughts about living with an outside the box story. Hope you enjoy it. I am also including a short part of one of our stories in the book.

Finally, we are pondering publishing a beautiful new picture book for children about all of us being different. If you would enjoy such a book, please leave a comment below. It is our hope that our story will be of encouragement to you. 

Play Podcast # 107 With Nathan and Sally Clarkson

 

 

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As I prayed for Nathan and pondered him over the early years of his life, I gradually began to understand more fully that he was not a problem to be addressed, not the sum of his behavioral performance. His worth to God was not about his ability to fulfill other people’s expectations or act according to accepted norms. Instead he was a beloved child of the Father with a specific role to play in God’s ongoing story of redemption.

Again, this was a lesson long in coming. It hurt my feelings when people made no effort to understand what we were going through. I often felt humbled, discouraged, angry, lonely, and so very tired of dealing with these issues day in and day out, especially with three other children who needed me and other responsibilities mounting in my life. Daily I sought for wisdom, understanding, and insight into what would make our lives a bit easier and help all my children grow into their potential. And gradually I began to focus on two scriptural principles that helped me immensely.

Because of my many years in ministry, I had studied and written a lot about Jesus’ relationship with His disciples. And I had noticed that one of the Master’s relational strengths was His constantly speaking positive things into the lives of His followers:

“Peter, you are the rock” (see Matthew 16:18). (The one who cut off the ear of a soldier, who called Jesus down for saying he would die, who denied Jesus was still the rock Jesus used as the one who would lead the disciples.)

“Mary, you chose the good part” and (later)

“Mary, your story will be told through generations because you have done this beautiful thing for Me” (see Luke 10:42 and Matthew 26:6-13). (He did not criticize her for not working enough to help with Martha.)

“Centurion, I have never seen greater faith in all of Israel” (see Matthew 8:10). (He did not comment on the fact that he was not a faithful Jewish man.)

“Nathanael, you are a man in whom there is no deceit” (see John 1:47). (He was the one who doubted Jesus' resurrection until he could see him face to face--and yet he was a chosen disciple.) 

That was one principle. The other emerged as I studied God’s priority for His children throughout Scripture. I noticed a consistent theme: the importance of the heart.

“People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7, NLT).

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart” (Matthew 22:37).

“The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His” (2 Chronicles 16:9).

There are many, many verses like these throughout the Old and New Testaments. In fact, the heart is mentioned as a priority to God more than eight hundred times in Scripture. The overall implication is that God values the inner person—will, imagination, values, purpose, attitude—more than behavior or even beliefs.

That’s not to say behavior and beliefs are unimportant. They are. But God seems to care most about who we are on the inside. He looks for a heart that is devoted to trusting Him and then strongly supports this person’s life, work, and relationships, accomplishing far beyond what that person could do naturally.

Those two scriptural principles—speaking positive words into a life and focusing on heart issues—became my essential strategy for raising Nathan. We prayed regularly that God would help us figure out how to reach Nathan’s heart with a vision for how God might use him. We wanted to build a world in Nathan’s mind where he was not always the odd man out, the kid who could not perform to the expectations of others. He needed a sense of himself that was not based on math scores or behaving correctly inside four walls, but on integrity, moral character, and courageous action. He needed to find a way to be fully himself and yet be strong in ways that God would use.

This kind of affirmation is important for all children, of course, but it's especially crucial for the Nathans of the world, who tend to push buttons and provoke negative feedback from others and who can easily lose heart as a result.

A constant feeling of just not measuring up can build a lifelong legacy of insecurity and even despair. Feeling like a disappointment on a regular basis can actually shape the brain patterns of a growing child. Failure and helplessness can become self-fulfilling prophecies.

So how can the parents of a different child counter that tendency while still giving the child necessary guidance? Partly by choosing our battles, as I have already mentioned. (Not everything is worth a confrontation or even a correction.) But also by deliberately speaking forward, by faith, into the heart of the child.

Be sure to listen to the podcast today. 

Be sure to leave a comment below if you would like to have a "Different" picture book for your family. :)

Only You Can Be You: What Makes You Different Makes You Great

By Sally Clarkson, Nathan Clarkson

 

 

 

It's Launch Day for Only You Can Be You!

Nathan and I are so excited that our newest book baby is officially in the world today! Have you ordered your copy yet? I hope you’ll love reading this story to your little ones. (And also, I think they’d make perfect Christmas gifts for any children in your life—or mamas!) There’s even a board book version!

Only You Can Be You: What Makes You Different Makes You Great

By Sally Clarkson, Nathan Clarkson

Some kids like to dance and laugh out loud, and some sit quietly and make up stories in their heads—but we're all different, and that's okay because the maker of everything made us this way!

In our first picture book, Nathan I want to encourage children on the journey to discovering their strengths. As mother and son duo , we draw on themes from their first book, Different, the inspiring story of Nathan's experiences growing up as an out of the box, bigger than life boy and my journey to loving him unconditionally. With the powerful truth that what makes you different makes you great, Only You Can Be You will help children learn to love who God made them to be, as they are with their unique personality and strengths and weaknesses and to embrace their differences and celebrate the differences in others.

The irresistible rhymes paired with Tim Warnes's whimsical illustrations will encourage your children with the reassurance they're looking for in their own uniqueness. Whether they are quiet or artistic, funny or boisterous, your children will love this heartwarming read that assures them that they're wonderful exactly as they are.

We hope you will be as delighted as we are with the fun illustrations and that our poem will be a jumping off place to ask your children questions that will open lots of conversation and give them a chance to identify with the wonderful children in the book.

Questions like: “Let’s look for one of the people in this book that is the Most like you. Do you see kids that remind you of someone you know? How are the kids different? How do you feel different? I love just who God made you. What do you like best about being you?

And so many more!

Don’t miss the wonderful activity sheets and color in pages found at my Only You Can Be You tab of my blog. Also a free downloadable education guide.

Thanks for helping us make this book get into the world with such grace. We appreciate you, our online friends, so very much.

Only You Can Be You: What Makes You Different Makes You Great

By Sally Clarkson, Nathan Clarkson

Get Your Copy HERE:

5 Best Ways to Love Your Boys (And Girls)!

Play Episode on iTunes & Stitcher

Loving well is the best and most profound act of life.

Sally Clarkson, Own Your Life Book

Today, I am in Oxford and have spent every minute chattering with Joy, after several days of talking, sharing life and being best friends with Sarah. Twice I have talked to Nathan in the past 3 days and Joel as well. We really love one another and share best friendships together. (And of course Clay is an integral part of this crazy family called the Clarksons.)

Today, I have realized, again, how profoundly important love has been for our family, as the foundation for all that we have built in our hearts, souls and minds. Nathan and I have recorded a podcast with you that I think you will love about 5 of the Best Ways to love your children. We are releasing our new book, Only You Can Be You that speaks to giving a foundation of this love to our children so that they might understand better the love of God. Enjoy and if you want, you might enjoy this fun book, too, but if not, enjoy the blog and podcast.

"Mama, you love me the most, right?" ....Our joke through all the years but repeated over and over again.

"I love you the "Joyest" and you the "Nathanest" and you the "Sarahest" and you the "Joelest" my sweets.

Seems that even now, I am often texting, emailing, fb'ing my kids how much I love them, how special they are to me, how much they are beloved by God.

All of my children have gone through bouts of doubt when confronted by a constant barrage of challenges. All four have written notes to me to say our constant love is what pulled them through. "You always believed in us, you were always at our back. You never gave up!"

A heritage of being loved and cherished is profoundly important in the life of any human being.

Surrounded by people who care for their needs, commit to cherishing them from birth to death, wrapping them in the bonds of unconditional love is a legacy that will give them strength, hope and vision through the rest of their lives.

It is something that cannot be bought or quantified or boxed. Love is real, day in day out, giving of ourselves to the benefit and values of others God has place in our lives--a giving of ourselves for the blessing of others. When we love and touch it pre-disposes our children to remember the caresses and affection of love and will cause them to be more prone to believe in the love of God when they are teens and we tell them God loves them.

When children are deprived of love as an infant, consequences to their health, emotional stability, understanding and perception of God, ability to hold relationships and even intelligence is effected the rest of their lives. Of course, Christ is able to redeem and restore all things. I know in my own life that restoration and healing are possible. But in this fallen world, the process of healing may take awhile.

God created all of us with a deep need to be loved, and a capacity to love generously.

Being loved perfectly was God's original design, it was born in His heart when he created us to know Him intimately.   

If I could point to one thing that truly had an impact in my children, it was giving them a foundation of unconditional love. Generous, overwhelming, words of affirmation, an expectation of forgiveness, acts of service, and many more gestures of love is what opened our children's hearts to listen to our messages about God. 

Love done well is expressed in the messy details of life.

Loving them as they are, appreciating the personality that God has given them, restoring them to generous love when they have failed, pouring out love even when they were at arm's length, focussing on love as the lens through which I looked at life as a mother, giving out words of love on a daily basis--sometimes many times a day, became the fuel for building a fire in their hearts to want to love God.

When love is modeled as a way of life, then a child has the brain patterns, the very familiarity of how love feels from a parent, and will then be more able to experience the love of God when introduced to it as a concept.

We read:

God is love.

Greater love has no one than this than a man lay down his life for his friend.

The two greatest commandments are to love God and to love others.

Love one another and so fulfill the law of Christ.

They will know you are my disciples by your love for one another.

So many times, parents are afraid that if they show their love for their children too much, they will spoil them.

Has anyone ever loved you too much? Or do you wish for more love?

Today Nathan and I are talking all about the WHYs of Only You Can Be You! We hope you’ll join us. And be sure to order your copy of this delightful book!

Printables:
























5+1 Ways to Love Your Boys PDF
Books Referenced in this Podcast:














Only You Can Be You: What Makes You Different Makes You Great

By Sally Clarkson, Nathan Clarkson















Good Man: An Honest Journey into Discovering Who Men Were Actually Created to Be

By Nathan Clarkson






























 More Resources:

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

Live Grace, Give Grace: Only You Can Be You and Podcast

Play Episode on iTunes & Stitcher

He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young. ~Isaiah 40:11, NIV

Often, lately, when I meet someone new who has read some of my books, they chat for a few moments and then confess their faults as a mama. I certainly don’t want others to think that just because I write about ideals, that I don’t fail to fulfill my own standards on a regular basis. But the ideals, the following the heart of God is what makes me continue to move forward.

Sometimes I even feel as thought God looks and me and shakes His head—”Oh that Sally! She just disappoints so often.” And yet, the more I ponder the Lord, the more I see HIs deep compassion and generous love toward me and all of his own children.

Somewhere along the way, I decided to put the load of guilt from all the ways I had failed into the file drawers of heaven and mark forgiven over them. Now, when voices accuse me of once more blowing it, I just pray and again give my state of guilt to Jesus, seeking to stay alive in the freedom that He has provided.

All of us carry guilt—because we yelled, because we have selfish, hateful thoughts. Yet, in spite of it all, we can start over every single day. And because your children want to love you and give you grace.

You are still writing your story. That story cannot have a good ending unless you decide to celebrate life right where you are and lay your guilt, inadequacy, and condemnation at the foot of the cross and then move on to live in the freedom He wants you to have.

In the same way we would not expect a toddler to live a life without making messes, crying, and throwing a few fits, so God is not surprised at our incredible potential for messing up. In comparison to His holiness and perfection, we are mere toddlers—if that.

Today, take off the burden—it’s ok to take a day off. Do something fun, look at that crazy child you have and look for the ways you can love them. Eat something fun and tasty. No legalism or pressure or guilt allowed today—for you or for your children

Celebrate life, Start over. All will be well and the world will keep turning. Even as you need new starts and do overs, so do your children need. Give them the love for who they are right as they are right now and give yourself the gift of loving yourself, just as you are.

Do not accept the heavy burden of guilt—choose to live in your new freedom. Choose to put away the voices that condemn. Faith is a choice of your will. Believe that He is a Redeemer. He can draw back stray sheep because He loves them and especially wants to love and help you because you are a mama after His heart. He will redeem— buy back—all of those mistakes. Redeeming is what He does—He delights in doing what He was made to do. So don’t waste your time worrying—leave your failings and regrets in His loving hands.

After all, I think mamas are close to His heart because, like Him, they make sacrifices for their sweet sheep.

One of Nathan’s and my desires in writing this book, Only You Can Be You, was to help parents to give their children the gift of grace, the gift of not having to bear unnecessary guilt or false guilt. We are all imperfect and yet, by His redeeming us, we are of great value, even in our own limitations. We hope you will use this book to talk with your children about God’s unconditional acceptance and love for them and that all will delight in the message and the amazing photos.

Also, there are free downloadable coloring pages, activity sheets and educational questions you can use to help children absorb the message behind this book. Go Here for more.

May you live in the resurrection power today and each day until you see Him face to face.

Printables:
























Isaiah 40:11 PDF
Books Referenced in this Podcast:















































 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

God's Unconditional Love: His Remarkable Power That Holds Us OYCBY

Remarkable: Our Lives are Held by the Hands of God

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Today, I have two messages on my heart. The first, as I launch Nathan’s and my book, is that being loved is practically the oxygen that we were made to breathe in order to keep alive and to flourish. An aching. longing pulses beneath, where no one can see. As the body requires food to stay alive, so the depths of a child hungers for love in order to stay alive. Each person longs for love that embraces, validates, affirms; that whispers, "Just as you are, I adore you. You delight me. I think about you and cherish the day you were born. You are my beloved and always will be, no matter what."

Each of us was crafted with a soul container that would need to be filled with love. Though no one can see from the outside whether ours is empty or full to overflowing, each of us has the ability to fill up another's cavern with words, touch, sacrifice, and generous gifts as we extend the life of Christ who is the source of life and love. But ultimately, it is Jesus who is the source of the love that will fill the holes in our heart.

We all sense that a mother's love is one of the most constant resources of God's love to children, able to sustain, strengthen, heal, and restore a child. Her love is a vibrant, living picture of what Christ is like. When we love our children well, and model to them what it is like to live a life of deep faith in our amazing God, our children will better be able to catch a glimpse of the remarkable life God has planned for them. These verses remind us:

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

If you have not love, you have become a noisy gong or a clanging symbol.

They will know you are my disciples by your love for one another.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

REMARKABLE

Second, Jesus, God in the flesh, is the source of all our love, the power behind the love, the one who extends HIs love to us. He is, in short, remarkable, and came to allow us to share in the remarkable possibilities of engaging in His love, purpose and ways in and through our own lives.

When full of His reality in our own lives, we are most likely to understand and receive and live out the love of Jesus.. Without His filling of our own hearts, we will search for belonging all our lives.

Today, I know you will enjoy the podcast I recorded with a friend who has been a pastor of a church I attend for many years. Pastor Brady Boyd has a passion to spark and inspire true faith in the lives of all he meets, He desires that we know and understand the, well, remarkable life God had in mind for each of us. I know you will be inspired and encouraged by our conversation today.

I have been inspired and so encouraged to live fully into my heritage in Christ by Pastor Brady many times over the last number of years. So grateful.

Brady Boyd is the senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs. I know you will be encouraged by his new book, Remarkable.

Let us remember, We know that God is Love.

Let us remember that His Love through us moves, inspires, shapes the dreams, gives hope, holds us for eternity--for heaven. Loving well is our heritage, our duty, our service of gratitude as we extend HIs love and life through ourselves to others. . Love keeps us alive. When we live by faith, this invest love in others, our own souls become full of His love--we pour out, He pours in.

Why do I focus on God's love and grace so much? Because Love is the source of all life. It is Him reincarnated through us. Love fuels faith and hope and inspires to overcome. And so I speak of love--the acting out of love which brings light to darkness, satisfaction to a starving heart, comfort to a lonely soul, sympathy to hurt feelings. Love never fails. May our love muscles grow stronger and stronger until we see Him, Love incarnate, face to face.

Today, live into HIs remarkable design for you. Give your children the gift of understanding this wonderful design by teaching them about God’s love for each of them as they are.

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Books Referenced in this Podcast:















































More Resources:
Only You Can Be You Book Page & Resources
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Diversity Matters To God! Only You Can Be You & Podcast

My dear friend, Glenn Pakiam, reading to two of his children.

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Diversity is a hot topic in our culture today and brings up all sorts of fire. Yet, as Nathan and I began to write this book, we realized that a part of our heart was to inspire and encourage parents to lay a foundation of unconditional love and acceptance for all people, all cultures, all color of skin, all backgrounds as a part of the beginning of shaping children’s value system.

In Sunday school years, many of us memorized, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.”

Yet, in the historical arena of wars, religions, and politics create voices of prejudice and hostility in our minds. Many evangelical believers even justify cultivating prejudice in their values. Yet, Jesus is the one who said, “Go into all the world and make disciples.” All the world, no exceptions.

Clay and I had the privilege of being one of the staff couples in Vienna, Austria in an International Chapel there. It was no unusual for us to have people from 40 different countries on a Sunday morning. We had friends from Asia, India, Africa, Europe, Iraq, Iran, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and so many more. We all stretched to understand and imagine one another’s back ground, to grow stronger because of the influence our many friends from many cultures had on us.

Once I was returning from a mission trip where I had spoken in hidden places in the desert where Christianity was outlawed just out of Dubai in the desert. I was surrounded by sheiks who would not acknowledge me as a woman. On to Macedonia, a poor muslim country where women and children had little to eat. On to speak in Catholic Poland where many were hungry for Bible teaching in a country that had previously outlawed Bibles and where people longed for Bible teachers. As I was training through Germany when it was all over, I realized that God heard the prayers of all of these in each of their languages and that He was not partial to English or Americans. When I looked at the context of each person that Christ had died for, I better understood HIs heart.

One of the things I loved about living in Oxford was being surrounded by so many different languages, cultures, backgrounds and peoples. Joy and I talked about being charitable to all, taking time to listen to their stories to understand and sympathize with their faith and values by knowing more about their context. We will never penetrate secular culture with the love of Christ is we do not first extend the love and sympathy of Christ through our own lives so that others may understand His invitation.

His creation is full of diversity—tall and short, loud and quiet, creative and logical, each fingerprint and DNA unique. God loves and died for all people, every single person. If we are going to obey his mandate for the world to know we are HIs disciples by our love, then it means we need to teach, model and extend that love to all people, everywhere. Prejudice is not from God. Supernatural love the crosses warriors is a part of this heart. It is why he told the brave faith of a Roman guard, not accepted by the Jewish culture. He lifted up a Samaritan, one of a different culture and skin color than that of the Jewish Pharisees he was telling the story of the Good Samaritan to.

If we want our children to push through differences of people, for the sake of the love of Christ, we must teach them the value of loving those who are different than us and then model it in our words and behavior.

I do not want to offend anyone in opening this subject,.but do hope you will enjoy our podcast today and the importance of having a heart, and seeing inside of all of those God brings into your life. And I pray you and your children will have the privilege of reaching out to share the love of Christ with them.

Books Referenced in this Podcast:































































































 More Resources:
Only You Can Be You Book Page & 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!

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