when God flips you inside out and guts you like a fish...

yes,

God guts you sometimes.

i know it's not a pretty picture...

it's not supposed to be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

my heart has been stirred lately by a handful of events happening at once.

 

 

 

first,

i have seen some of the most amazing, Godly women be chastised for their past sins or life choices.

and i honestly can't stop thinking about it.

 

the church {and by church i mean body of Christ} should be there to guide and direct and at times confront.

what the church should not do is make blanket statements without considering the person's life.

this pin yesterday said it perfectly!

 

 

{unfortunately i am not able to link the original source}

 

 

as far as past sins...

i wonder if these churches would turn away King David if he were to walk through their doors?

would we admonish someone with a past who God himself has forgiven and set free?

 

just something to ponder...

 

 

 

i also have had my heart stirred by a friend's facebook status in regards to Christians slamming the president with rude and hateful and derogatory words.

that made me a little sick.

oh, i don't like the president either.

i laugh at the funny cartoons and quite honestly, i think the humor is fine.

but the Christians who are saying truly disgusting things that resort to name calling rather than stating their problems with the issue???

probably not the best way to be the hands and feet of Jesus to a nation already growing daily more hostile to Christianity as a whole.

it is such a fine line to walk between being firm in our faith with the political issues we feel strongly about and discussing them maturely, and resorting to a less than Christian way of expressing our frustrations.

we are called to be firm and gentle.

we should make every effort to behave better than the rest.

it is not an easy task but i would hope that we try to remember in seasons like this that we already have so much coming at our faith, let's not give them any more ammunition...
the battle is God's

 

 

as for the real gutting...

it is happening here at home.

it is happening in my heart.

i find that i have come to the very end of me,

only to find Him.

why oh why do i keep thinking i can do it?

i can't!

and i am finally resting in the fact that that's okay.

i have nothing left to give this child that presses me at every turn.

we are in the hardest testing stage yet.

and you wanna know what's ironic?

somehow...

i am enjoying him more than ever.

God is providing grace through me to him, that i certainly am not extending on my own.

he is more maddening than ever and i am loving him more than ever.
it is not of me, but of the Lord.
i have been found lacking, but He is filling.  He is teaching me how little i really know, how incapable i really am.
this gutting me is quite humbling and yet so desperately wonderful.

 

there are seasons we all need to go through, battles we all need to win,

even if means God flips me inside out and guts all i know about me to conquer it.

 

 



a right of passage...

the # 1 monkey has just passed a significant milestone for his dad's side of the family.

he shot his very first deer!

 

i am so proud of him.

he really is a wise and old soul.

we have had several struggles with him recently and i know this is just the thing he needed right now.

my husband's family has been hunting these same places since the early 1900s and it is a family affair with all the men, uncles, cousins, grandpa, and distant relatives coming together each fall. i love that aiden gets to be a part of all that.

i know these memories will be with him a lifetime.