relationships

Christ Removes the Curse of Criticism

December 15, 2015 by amanda 2 Comments

The greatest regret I have in my life is relationships broken by my poor handling of criticism. For many years, I felt unjustly accused and misunderstood by those close to me, and so, I was indignant and heartbroken by what I felt were unfair accusations.

With incredulity, I asked myself for years, How could they say those things or think that way about me?

But God has been relentlessly shattering my arrogant heart and puncturing every weeping wound with the beauty of his good news. The gospel breaks the chains of guilt and pride, enlightening dark and shadowy strongholds of self-righteousness and self-promotion.

The raw truth of the gospel — that Christ died for my sins, that he was buried, that he was raised for my justification, and that he always lives to make intercession for me — helps me to make sense of my violent reactions to criticism. It teaches me how to respond to criticism, whether or not I believe it’s warranted….

Unworthy to Worship

August 31, 2015 by amanda 10 Comments

Recently I was standing beside my newborn daughter’s crib, cradling her in my arms and rocking her back and forth. I was trying to soothe her down for a little nap, and I was suddenly so overcome with glad emotion that God had made this barren woman a mother….again.

As I swayed gently with her in the dim light, I began to sing softly to my Heavenly Father, filled with joy and marvel at this precious pink bundle that He had given to me.

I was singing and humming and began to be caught up in worshiping the Lord:

“Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, worthy is the Lamb who was slain!
Highest praises, honor and glory, be unto Your name…be unto Your name..”

Before I could finish these words, I stopped singing.

How many days had it been since I had read my Bible? I hadn’t made it to church yet since the baby was born. I was wearing pajama pants and a shirt covered in spit up….from yesterday, I think. I had been wrestling with those crazy postpartum hormones (and losing), and I’d lost it (again) with my husband and my preschooler.

Until I could get myself together a bit more and find the wherewithal in this season of newborn-fog to spend time confessing my sins, and until I could get back into the scripture and spend time in prayer, I had no business worshiping before the throne of the Lord God Almighty. I was in no way worthy to echo the words of that song that the throng of heaven cries out in worship before Him who is seated on the throne (Revelation 4:8-11).

I would have to pay penance for my stumbling and sin. Some time would have to elapse before I could freely and unashamedly approach the Father in worship and praise. I would have to come to the Lord as a slave rather than as a son, for I had lost the privilege to enter His presence with emotion, affection, boldness, and joy….

Dear Young Single Woman

July 26, 2014 by amanda Leave a Comment

Dear beautiful young Christian woman,

You have my heart, you know? You feel a rush of joy in your soul and a knot in your stomach as you look across the horizon of your twenties and soon-to-come-thirties. You wait in expectation and with high hopes for the future and for good things to come.

And I’ve not met a one of you yet who’s not a little anxious to meet Mr. Right. Most of you shyly grin that, although you have lots of public goals and after-high-school dreams and post-college-ambitions, your BIG dream is to meet the right man. Someday be a wife. Someday have a little house. Someday be a mom….

Homemaking {A Most Holy Offering}

June 16, 2014 by amanda 3 Comments

As I’m chipping dried mustard from off the back of the high chair while on the phone (“on hold” again) hassling with the doctor’s office over insurance deductibles or co-pays, it feels like real spiritual work is being neglected, and I’m relegated to menial housework and tension headaches.

So often the practical, mundane, and repetitive tasks of keeping the home feel burdensome and draining……and very unspiritual. However, making your house a home can be a means of offering worship to God and serving Him in obedience and gratitude….

How Do You Serve Others when You Have Nothing Left to Give?

May 19, 2014 by amanda 7 Comments

You’ve been up all night nursing a sick baby, and the next morning a friend calls and needs someone in whom she can confide her struggles; you serve in the church in what seems every capacity that exists, and you just have nothing left to offer; a friend betrays you..again..and you’re ready to “can” the relationship; it’s 10 p.m. and you’re still cleaning up the kitchen. Your husband’s dress shirts are wrinkly-cold in the dryer, crumbs still cover the kitchen table, and you’ve got to get up and do it all over again tomorrow……

His Calling Is Your Calling, Too

April 29, 2014 by amanda 8 Comments

Wedding bells ring; congratulations, gifts, and honeymoon ensue; newlywed bliss begins. You are so excited about the new life you and your husband are beginning together. Today, I want to encourage you, young bride or bride-to-be, that your husband’s calling is your calling, too. Join him in that calling.

Wedding cards and love songs often offer words that conjure up an image of two young lovers on separate paths, but who, unbeknownst to them, have been headed in the same direction all their lives. Fate causes their paths to meet, they fall madly in love, and then this young, head-over-heels couple gets married.

In this scenario, the man and woman leave their original paths that brought them together, and the two of them begin a new path and a new life — their new life together.

Stop. News flash: You are not starting a new life from scratch with your husband. Wives, I want to offer to you what I believe is a more Biblical model than the one I gave to you above. A dear friend of ours shared this secret with me when I was a newlywed, and it has helped me many times since then….

relationships

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