tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post197836214167944771..comments2023-07-22T06:00:18.229-04:00Comments on Out of the Ordinary: Gladness in weaknessSite Adminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092409812214063420noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-57893347839872312562012-10-02T17:22:47.757-04:002012-10-02T17:22:47.757-04:00Our journeys, or frustrations as the case may be, ...Our journeys, or frustrations as the case may be, are remarkably similar. Even today, just in the last few minutes, I have struggled with a profound sense of failure. Not only that, but I also have a great love of measuring my effectiveness by my To Do list--which is also totally anti-gospel! What a desperate pauper to grace I am and I am grateful for the Lord's faithfulness to expose my need...<br /><br />Thanks for your comment, friend. I am glad to know I do not walk this journey alone.Lisa Spencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12990706355525884593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-36864258724929432642012-10-02T17:18:54.773-04:002012-10-02T17:18:54.773-04:00Thank you for your comment, Tina. I will pray now ...Thank you for your comment, Tina. I will pray now for you and your son. One of the hardest lessons for me as a mom is the realization that nothing I do--or don't do--guarantees my children's salvation. THAT is between them and the Lord! As I said in the post, influential does not equal determinative. How we moms want to be in control! But the Lord is faithful and He is good and we can trust Him. Lisa Spencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12990706355525884593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-27089610876685741492012-10-02T12:28:43.342-04:002012-10-02T12:28:43.342-04:00Lisa, this fed my soul like you would not believe....Lisa, this fed my soul like you would not believe. The last couple months have been some of the hardest in my twenty years as a Christian, one of the many reasons being the feeling of a profound sense of failure as a mom/wife/woman/human....am I leaving anything out? :) Some of it has to do with the extraordinary "oversell" that my first church as a believer made me about marriage and mothering - that it was the highest, the best, the ultimate, blah blah blah. And a lot more of it has to do with how competent I was in previous seasons of life, like school and my career before I got married. To put it bluntly, I've been blessed with a good sized brain and a love of using it. And I think you have too, more than me. :) When you're used to being able to figure things out, solve problems, be articulate, etc., being kept perpetually off-balance by babies/kids doing those things they do and being utterly flummoxed for an answer, is ten times as hard. Americans in particular are such lovers of "can do". But it's profoundly anti-gospel. Thanks for this great reminder. Rachael Starkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10781158372237369417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-79950834474397445922012-10-02T10:48:53.099-04:002012-10-02T10:48:53.099-04:00God is so amazing! A friend of mine posted this on...God is so amazing! A friend of mine posted this on FB at the same time that I was broken down and sobbing on my knees because my son in college continues to reject the gospel. He had just posted a joke about Christ on the cross that he found to be hilarious, but was devastating to me. My whole family became believers during his first year of college, after he had left our home. The guilt I feel for having missed my opportunity to raise him to know who Christ is can be immense. Talk about "Looser Mom!" Yet, I understand that God is in control and has purpose in all things and will choose him when He is good and ready to choose him. So I remain at the foot of the cross everyday.<br />Make no mistake ladies, there is nothing more important you can do as a mother than share your love for Christ with your children!Tina Carlsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-63935331791692311922012-10-02T09:40:53.144-04:002012-10-02T09:40:53.144-04:00Daily medicine, at that! Sometimes hourly! Thank y...Daily medicine, at that! Sometimes hourly! Thank you for your comment, friend!Lisa Spencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12990706355525884593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-78496864488723182122012-10-02T09:40:20.739-04:002012-10-02T09:40:20.739-04:00Tears and year, yes indeed. What a faithful God!Tears and year, yes indeed. What a faithful God!Lisa Spencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12990706355525884593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-18043314569831328902012-10-02T09:39:54.344-04:002012-10-02T09:39:54.344-04:00Thanks for your comment, Gayle! This is not a trut...Thanks for your comment, Gayle! This is not a truth I have learned and moved past. Even this week I have dealt with "loser mom" despair but glory to God He is more than enough, He is everything!Lisa Spencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12990706355525884593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-42833289196380288262012-10-02T07:28:30.656-04:002012-10-02T07:28:30.656-04:00Thank you Lisa! This actually made me cry. I have ...Thank you Lisa! This actually made me cry. I have been questioning my sufficiency in the past few weeks with all of the trials and tribulation that God has put on me and this helps me know that He is teaching me instead of punishing me. Mom's can feel so much despair on so many different levels and it's all because we are trying to do it on our own. We all need God's help, even/especially me!Gayle Blankenshipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-45057618359836884612012-10-01T22:54:26.005-04:002012-10-01T22:54:26.005-04:00This s medicine for the weary mom.
Thanks for sh...This s medicine for the weary mom. <br /><br />Thanks for sharing.Beckyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06316091397642506393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-44520491813537890922012-10-01T21:55:03.760-04:002012-10-01T21:55:03.760-04:00BEAUTIFUL Lisa! Oh, how many years and tears doe...BEAUTIFUL Lisa! Oh, how many years and tears does it take to finally realize these marvelous truths! Very well said, my friend!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-56974429504259316492012-10-01T10:15:17.121-04:002012-10-01T10:15:17.121-04:00I've spent many a season of my life hating my ...I've spent many a season of my life hating my weaknesses--hiding them, rationalizing them, despising them--which is what makes Paul's declaration all the more shocking to me. I do not pretend to have "arrived" in terms of boasting in what makes me weak and desperate but I am grateful that the Lord is faithful to teach me of His strength and His sufficiency by revealing my overwhelming insufficiency. He is good to me!Lisa Spencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12990706355525884593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-2453666844032715612012-10-01T10:13:17.201-04:002012-10-01T10:13:17.201-04:00Yep, I complete relate. I can't write haiku bu...Yep, I complete relate. I can't write haiku but I certainly can testify to the fact that anything remotely "good" about my kids is totally and completely by God's grace and wholly in spite of myself. :)Lisa Spencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12990706355525884593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-83357501841228475732012-10-01T10:11:29.343-04:002012-10-01T10:11:29.343-04:00Being named in the same paragraph as Elyse is high...Being named in the same paragraph as Elyse is high praise indeed! :) <br /><br />Thank you for your comment, Violet. I haven't read "Give Them Grace" but I am a big fan of Elyse's other books and I am thankful for her commitment to the proclamation of grace, particularly in motherhood. How much we need to hear and heed the message of the Lord's free gospel grace!Lisa Spencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12990706355525884593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-31273923211412920422012-10-01T10:09:24.841-04:002012-10-01T10:09:24.841-04:00Thanks, Kim. I appreciate your kind words!Thanks, Kim. I appreciate your kind words!Lisa Spencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12990706355525884593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-38176092075564079242012-10-01T10:08:43.317-04:002012-10-01T10:08:43.317-04:00Yes, our stories are quite similar in that respect...Yes, our stories are quite similar in that respect and I too praise the Lord for His grace!Lisa Spencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12990706355525884593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-17751170672895672052012-10-01T10:08:01.604-04:002012-10-01T10:08:01.604-04:00You are welcome, Andrea. I am glad I am not alone ...You are welcome, Andrea. I am glad I am not alone in my need to hear the gospel!Lisa Spencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12990706355525884593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-77267873650012869422012-10-01T10:07:33.101-04:002012-10-01T10:07:33.101-04:00I always seem to forget as well and need reminding...I always seem to forget as well and need reminding. Sometimes just a quick glance at Twitter or Facebook is enough to cast me headlong into that same old despair. What freedom we have in Christ! Praise the Lord for the good news that Jesus saves!Lisa Spencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12990706355525884593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-4017072668288829782012-09-30T14:59:58.168-04:002012-09-30T14:59:58.168-04:00I LOVED this article. I have definite weaknesses i...I LOVED this article. I have definite weaknesses in my life and at times I hate them. I dont see them for the tools that the Lord is using to make me more like Him. And you are so right, that is what He is doing in my life. Thank you for such rich gospel centered truths! Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17477520117960176737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-29486888556668105862012-09-29T01:59:55.385-04:002012-09-29T01:59:55.385-04:00>"Lisa, Lisa, do not despise those areas o...>"Lisa, Lisa, do not despise those areas of your life that make you desperate for Me. Do not reject what keeps you at the foot of the cross pleading for mercy."< I love this. I'm going to print it out and put it somewhere where I can see it in all my mess. It's gotta be God talking. It sounds so like Him--and He says your name twice so that proves it! ;O)<br /><br />When my kids were out of their teens I wrote a little booklet of haiku called Poems for Parents and I dedicated it to our children: For Ben and Becky/who, by God's grace, turned out OK/in spite of us.Jessica Renshawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06772797916085422429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-76853336493037920672012-09-28T17:26:00.333-04:002012-09-28T17:26:00.333-04:00I have just been reading "Give them Grace&quo...I have just been reading "Give them Grace" by Elyse Fitzpatrick. Your post summarizes her thoughts so well. I especially liked your statement: "Finally, ultimately, motherhood, as well as the whole of the believer's life, is about the Lord, His sufficiency, His grace, His salvation, His glory."Violethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17548774944224356439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-84768497326143735742012-09-28T16:51:40.669-04:002012-09-28T16:51:40.669-04:00I can relate so much to what you are saying, Lisa....I can relate so much to what you are saying, Lisa. I'm so glad you wrote this!Kim Shayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636800185288441620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-21136419539871358192012-09-28T12:40:20.270-04:002012-09-28T12:40:20.270-04:00"I'd paid lipservice to grace but I lived..."I'd paid lipservice to grace but I lived as if it were all up to me--directly opposite to what grace really is. Grace says I can't; Jesus is and can and will and does."<br /><br />Story of my life, Lisa. Thanks for sharing this and praise God for the gospel of grace.Persishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17686511618515789601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-2989013437595515062012-09-28T11:00:03.942-04:002012-09-28T11:00:03.942-04:00Thank you for the reminder, I needed that today.Thank you for the reminder, I needed that today.Andreahttp://thesebeautifuldays.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1873453867984233607.post-47408672579476212532012-09-28T08:06:37.961-04:002012-09-28T08:06:37.961-04:00"Finally, ultimately, motherhood, as well as ..."Finally, ultimately, motherhood, as well as the whole of the believer's life, is about the Lord, His sufficiency, His grace, His salvation, His glory."<br />Love that, yet somehow, I always seem to forget it, and need reminding.<br />Thanks for the post, Lisa. It is an encouragement.<br />Grace,Peace and Joy,<br />Jojo<br /><br />EJNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03552287834410372714noreply@blogger.com