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Thanksgiving {Grace & Truth}

November 27, 2024 By 0

Hello! Thanks for joining again for the Grace & Truth linkup. I hope your Thanksgiving was special!

My weeks have been a little chaotic. Between work, school for my kids, and family activities, the last few weeks and next few weeks are going to be…full!

The big news, though, is the one thing that is completely and utterly out of my control…and though I’ve tried to give up wanting to control things, when it comes to my kids, I want the best!

My son is applying for college. Not only is he applying, he also has to audition for the music program at several colleges. Those auditions will be next week - the week of November 30th. He’s practicing for his normal hours, plus sneaking in a few minutes wherever he can find them.

So if you happen to read this, we’d certainly appreciate your prayers!

And if it’s a little quiet around here, it’s because I’m actually not here! 😉 I’m trying to get here, but I would certainly appreciate your grace for the next couple of weeks.

Now it’s time to linkup.

Grace & Truth - a weekly linkup for Christian bloggers

Grace & Truth exists to point people to Jesus! We hope this link-up will be a source of encouragement each and every week. If you’re a blogger our hope is that you’ll use this space as a way to meet new friends within the Christian blogging community. If you’re a reader our hope is that you’ll meet new bloggers that love Jesus just as much as you do! Most of all, we hope you’ll meet Jesus here.

Meet Your Hosts

Satisfaction Through Christ BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER |G+

Kaylene Yoder BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

The Brown Tribe BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Arabah Joy BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | PINTEREST | G+

A Divine Encounter BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | G+ | STUMBLEUPON

Being Confident of This

BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Busy Being Blessed BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Sharing Redemption’s Stories BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Grace&Truth-Rules2

1.) Follow your hosts via their blog and/or social media channels. This is not mandatory, but appreciated!

2.) Leave 1-2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. Please do not link DIY, Crafts, Recipes, etc. Links of this kind will be deleted. We also reserve the right to delete posts that don’t align with the theme or that are deemed by the hostesses to be inappropriate.

3.) Visit 1-2 other links and leave a meaningful comment! We want to encourage community, so please don’t link and run!

4.) All links are randomly sorted - feel free to link as early or as late as you’d like. The playing field is even!

In order to be featured next week:

5.) Grab a button or link back to encourage new linkers. This is not mandatory to participate, but is required to be featured.

6.) Each host will choose one link to feature and promote via their social media channels next week.

7.) By linking up you agree to allow the hosts to use your featured post image if you are chosen as a feature for next week.

8.) By linking up and leaving your email address, you agree to link-up reminder emails.

Join the link-up below!

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Filed Under: Grace and Truth

Grace & Truth linkup

November 20, 2024 By 0

Welcome back to another week at the Grace & Truth linkup! We hope you’ll find some great new blogs to read, and come away feeling encouraged! Feel free to link up a few of your Christian-living posts and be sure to check out some of the hostesses.

Now it’s time to linkup.

Grace & Truth - a weekly linkup for Christian bloggers

Grace & Truth exists to point people to Jesus! We hope this link-up will be a source of encouragement each and every week. If you’re a blogger our hope is that you’ll use this space as a way to meet new friends within the Christian blogging community. If you’re a reader our hope is that you’ll meet new bloggers that love Jesus just as much as you do! Most of all, we hope you’ll meet Jesus here.

Meet Your Hosts

Satisfaction Through Christ BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER |G+

Kaylene Yoder BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

The Brown Tribe BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Arabah Joy BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | PINTEREST | G+

A Divine Encounter BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | G+ | STUMBLEUPON

Being Confident of This

BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Busy Being Blessed BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Sharing Redemption’s Stories BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Grace&Truth-Rules2

1.) Follow your hosts via their blog and/or social media channels. This is not mandatory, but appreciated!

2.) Leave 1-2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. Please do not link DIY, Crafts, Recipes, etc. Links of this kind will be deleted. We also reserve the right to delete posts that don’t align with the theme or that are deemed by the hostesses to be inappropriate.

3.) Visit 1-2 other links and leave a meaningful comment! We want to encourage community, so please don’t link and run!

4.) All links are randomly sorted - feel free to link as early or as late as you’d like. The playing field is even!

In order to be featured next week:

5.) Grab a button or link back to encourage new linkers. This is not mandatory to participate, but is required to be featured.

6.) Each host will choose one link to feature and promote via their social media channels next week.

7.) By linking up you agree to allow the hosts to use your featured post image if you are chosen as a feature for next week.

8.) By linking up and leaving your email address, you agree to link-up reminder emails.

Join the link-up below!

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Filed Under: Grace and Truth

The Night the Angels Came

November 16, 2024 By 0

We were just standing there talking as I dried her hair….

Suddenly, a shadow passed across her face, as she turned her head away from me.

I called her: “Honey. Honey? Honey!”

She didn’t respond and her body became dead weight in my arms as she went down.

The next few minutes were a blur as we called 911 and attempted to explain what we could not understand. How do you convey that your daughter was just fine a moment ago, and now she’s unresponsive and completely dead weight in your arms?

And how do you attempt to stay calm when you aren’t sure if she will draw another breath?

Suddenly, I realized that her life was out of my hands and that my heart was begging God to bring her back, while waiting for the ambulance.

After just a few seconds, she opened her eyes. She had no recollection of how she got out of the bathroom and into the living room, and she never heard us calling her.

Within just a few minutes, the angels arrived.
They weren’t wearing white robes and halos, though.

These angels had on dark clothing, latex gloves, they carried stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs and came with a truck full of equipment that could be used to save her life if necessary.

The Night the Angels Came - How a parenting nightmare changed my perspective on how God views us.

The explanation from the emergency workers was that maybe she’d been too hot between the low-grade fever, the warm bathtub and time spent drying her hair. Her body attempted to cool her off but wasn’t able to properly combat the heat, resulting in her passing out. A follow-up visit to the doctor the next morning confirmed that. The nurse found an additional infection which we were able to treat easily, and our girl has been on the mend.

My real-life situation gave me a new perspective on our spiritual lives.

We are given countless opportunities to speak into people’s lives. We were made for community - to need, and thrive from, relationships with one another.

As Christians, we have the benefit of being able to share about the most important relationship - the one with Jesus Christ.

We have many chances to talk, to interact, to share truth. Every day we cross paths with people who need to hear about the hope we have in Jesus.

What we don’t often consider is that the words we say to someone may be the last words they hear.

We don’t know when a life will come to an end. We don’t know when God will turn the last page of someone’s life.

As a mother who stood over her daughter’s body, I willed her to hear my voice, to come back to me.

As a heavenly Father, don’t you think God does that, too?

The Lord is…not willing that any should perish.
II Peter 3:9

Consider how many people you see each day - at the grocery store, at your child’s school, church, at a job outside the home, wherever your day may take you.

Now, I’m not saying that you have to talk about Jesus with every person you see, but consider how your actions, your expressions, your thoughtfulness can bless someone.

You are interacting with a child of your heavenly Father. If the person is a believer, that’s fantastic - we’ll have eternity with them.

If the person is not a Christian, though, they have a heavenly Father standing over them, wanting them to come back to Him - much like I waited for my daughter to return to me.

The Father has a love that is so great that He sent His Son to die for us, providing a way for us to come back to Him.

How great the Father’s love for us!

And we have the opportunity to share that love with others - in word, in deed, in kindness.

Like the first responders who came to my house, prepared to fight for life, we are first responders in the lives of others. We have the key to life - to everlasting life.

We are first responders in the lives of others. We have the key to LIFE! Click To Tweet

Friends, let’s fight for life this week. Let’s remember that this world here is not our home. One day the Lord will turn the last page in our story.

I hope these thoughts are an encouragement to you; they have stayed with me since the night the angels came.

The Night the Angels Came - How a parenting nightmare changed my perspective on how God views us.

 

photo source

Filed Under: having faith in God, Motherhood

Messy, Beautiful Truth {Grace & Truth linkup}

November 13, 2024 By 2

I so appreciate each of you who show up to the linkup each week. And I’m blessed by reading through your posts - thank you! This week I saw a title and thought, “YES! That’s exactly how I feel!”

A few lines jumped out from her post:

“Why are we even doing this?”
“We set out with glorious expectations of victorious living and mountaintop experiences with God…And yet when we get hit in the face by crisis after crisis, or bogged down by the life-sucking sludge of everyday struggle, we are tempted to lose heart.”
“Why does the path have to be so steep, our struggle to climb it so constant?”

And then, this:
“They kept going not because it was somehow easier for them to keep believing or because the trials they faced were any less daunting, but because their deeper longing for God won out over their immediate desire for comfort and security.“

Her post is titled “The Slog to Glory“.

And really, doesn’t that seem like exactly the right word to describe our messy attempt at making it through life - slog?

Maybe you’re feeling bogged down, stuck in the mire of life. Stop over to read Tiffany’s post - and don’t miss the verses she shares on the side. I love the encouragement I found there!

Tiffany, thank you for sharing your post with us, for writing these truthful, messy, beautiful words.

Feel free to grab the button:

Grace Truth featured button

Now it’s time to linkup.

Grace & Truth - a weekly linkup for Christian bloggers

Grace & Truth exists to point people to Jesus! We hope this link-up will be a source of encouragement each and every week. If you’re a blogger our hope is that you’ll use this space as a way to meet new friends within the Christian blogging community. If you’re a reader our hope is that you’ll meet new bloggers that love Jesus just as much as you do! Most of all, we hope you’ll meet Jesus here.

Meet Your Hosts

Satisfaction Through Christ BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER |G+

Kaylene Yoder BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

The Brown Tribe BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Arabah Joy BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | PINTEREST | G+

A Divine Encounter BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | G+ | STUMBLEUPON

Being Confident of This

BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Busy Being Blessed BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Sharing Redemption’s Stories BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Grace&Truth-Rules2

1.) Follow your hosts via their blog and/or social media channels. This is not mandatory, but appreciated!

2.) Leave 1-2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. Please do not link DIY, Crafts, Recipes, etc. Links of this kind will be deleted. We also reserve the right to delete posts that don’t align with the theme or that are deemed by the hostesses to be inappropriate.

3.) Visit 1-2 other links and leave a meaningful comment! We want to encourage community, so please don’t link and run!

4.) All links are randomly sorted - feel free to link as early or as late as you’d like. The playing field is even!

In order to be featured next week:

5.) Grab a button or link back to encourage new linkers. This is not mandatory to participate, but is required to be featured.

6.) Each host will choose one link to feature and promote via their social media channels next week.

7.) By linking up you agree to allow the hosts to use your featured post image if you are chosen as a feature for next week.

8.) By linking up and leaving your email address, you agree to link-up reminder emails.

Join the link-up below!

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Filed Under: Grace and Truth

My Grace and Truth

November 6, 2024 By 4

Ever have one of “those days”?

Mm-hmmm.

Ever have two of “those days”? Or a week?

I’ve been looking at the last month without a lot of grace or truth.

In the last month, we’ve had 2 major vehicle issues, a freezer that just quit, and a bunch of those little things that just creep in and then find a way to throw you off track (like cinnamon sugar spilled all over the floor about 10 minutes before it’s time to leave).

This morning when I woke up, I told my husband that today had to be better, it just had to be better….right?

Turns out it wasn’t.

The cinnamon sugar incident happened this morning. The kids had their issues - that’s always lovely.

Then, somehow I managed to mess up my email account and delete a whole bunch of things that I actually still need…as in, I permanently deleted them. Because you know, if you’re going to mess something up, you might as well do it BIG, right?! eh-hem…anyway….

I’m pretty sure I yelled at my phone (yes, really) more than once today. I also snapped at my husband (who was graciously trying to help me…eh-hem), and realized that I really needed to refocus my thinking. After all, enough little things can make one day difficult. A few days (or a month) of things going wrong, though, can cause some bitterness to grow and make life generally dismal.

So I texted my husband and told him I really need to get back to looking for things to be thankful for.

You know…the same husband I’d snapped at within the last 90 minutes….

He could have ignored me - after all, he was at work. But he didn’t. When I said that I needed to find things to be thankful for, his immediate response was, “Well, I know four things to start your list!”

And my heart melted.

Don’t you sometimes feel like your job is your “thing”? (like…you’re a teacher, or an artist, or a therapist) Or maybe your ministry is your “thing”? (like…you’re a pastor’s wife, or a worship leader, or a Sunday school teacher). Maybe you’re home with the kids, but you’re a homeschool family and that’s your “thing”.

I’ve had a lot of “things” over the past few years. I’ve lost a lot of those identities, too.

The one thing I prayed to never lose in all the ups and downs of the past years is my family. My husband offered a gracious reminder of that answered prayer today.

Those four people - my husband, 2 sons and a daughter - are my life. I love being with them! I love the laughter, the snuggles, the jokes, the ponytails, the mohawks (twice now!), mismatched socks, one more cup of water…I love it all!

The truth is - grace really makes a difference in our lives. My husband could have ignored my text; he could have snapped an unkind response to me. Instead, though, he extended grace with the reminder that the 4 other people who live under this roof truly are at the top of my list of blessings.

Where have you found grace and truth this week?

Now it’s time to link up your Christian living posts.

Now it’s time to linkup.

Grace & Truth - a weekly linkup for Christian bloggers

Grace & Truth exists to point people to Jesus! We hope this link-up will be a source of encouragement each and every week. If you’re a blogger our hope is that you’ll use this space as a way to meet new friends within the Christian blogging community. If you’re a reader our hope is that you’ll meet new bloggers that love Jesus just as much as you do! Most of all, we hope you’ll meet Jesus here.

Meet Your Hosts

Satisfaction Through Christ BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER |G+

Kaylene Yoder BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

The Brown Tribe BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Arabah Joy BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | PINTEREST | G+

A Divine Encounter BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | G+ | STUMBLEUPON

Being Confident of This

BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Busy Being Blessed BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Sharing Redemption’s Stories BLOG | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | G+

Grace&Truth-Rules2

1.) Follow your hosts via their blog and/or social media channels. This is not mandatory, but appreciated!

2.) Leave 1-2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. Please do not link DIY, Crafts, Recipes, etc. Links of this kind will be deleted. We also reserve the right to delete posts that don’t align with the theme or that are deemed by the hostesses to be inappropriate.

3.) Visit 1-2 other links and leave a meaningful comment! We want to encourage community, so please don’t link and run!

4.) All links are randomly sorted - feel free to link as early or as late as you’d like. The playing field is even!

In order to be featured next week:

5.) Grab a button or link back to encourage new linkers. This is not mandatory to participate, but is required to be featured.

6.) Each host will choose one link to feature and promote via their social media channels next week.

7.) By linking up you agree to allow the hosts to use your featured post image if you are chosen as a feature for next week.

8.) By linking up and leaving your email address, you agree to link-up reminder emails.

Join the link-up below!

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Filed Under: Grace and Truth