Category Archives: Guest post

Lessons I Learned from My Daughter

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Mess 1

My only daughter is a bit of a hoarder.

She is three and fiercely independent, and apparently has a problem sharing her things. She will make piles with all of her favorite toys in the middle of her room, add a bag of chips and her new beach towel and she is set and her room is off limits!

I will “encourage” her to go and clean her room. And since we are all friends here and I am sharing a bit of my reality…she doesn’t listen to a word that I say. She instead will “encourage” me to clean it for her. Ahem – it is a time of training for both of us.

She is holding tightly to those things that she thinks she can control, testing boundaries and seeking to find her place in our family.

And I realize that I am no different in my Father/Daughter relationship with God.

I did the whole “accepted Jesus in my heart” prayer when I was a pre-teen. I heard a woman’s story of redemption, and her call to pray a simple prayer. I said the prayer with expectation but didn’t feel a change.

I figured I must have done it wrong. So each time I had the opportunity to say that prayer, I did…I assumed that at some point it would “take.”

My teenage and early adult years weren’t easy – whose are really?! But I didn’t have a relationship with God because I didn’t feel worthy. My life was always such a mess.

God wants us right in the middle of our mess because it’s the perfect place for Him to shine through our imperfections.

I walked through life knowing I was a hypocrite.

So I worked really hard at trying to “get it together”. Instead of embracing the failures as opportunities for growth and thanking God for the grace He gives me, I tried to just be better, do better, act better…because maybe then I would earn the right to be one of His.

That merry-go-round is exhausting isn’t it?!

It has been an honor to be a part of the Rhinestone Jesus launch team and today I had the opportunity to share a “Yes in my mess” guest post! You can read the rest of this post over at Kristen Welch’s blog “We Are That Family“!

Why Our Individual Stories Matter

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Journal 1

The word “blog” was something I hadn’t even heard of until early 2008. My husband and I had tickets to attend a Selah/Point of Grace concert and we heard that the lead singer of Selah wasn’t going to be able to attend. His wife was carrying a baby that was “incompatible with life” and she was due to deliver the same week as the concert.

The radio station gave the name of Angie Smith’s blog, and asked us to pray.

I wasn’t even sure what I would find on this blog, but I wanted to read more about this family. So that night, while using my incredibly slow dial up internet service, I logged on and found myself engrossed in a story I hadn’t expected.

Here was a woman, who had made a choice to carry a baby they were being told wouldn’t survive, and she was praising God in the middle of it.

I was heartbroken for her and yet inspired by her faith. My own prayer life changed as I found myself praying for Angie and her family. I watched as a community of strangers left comments and encouragement, offered up prayers and showered them with love.

Until that time I didn’t know that community could be formed online.

And then in February of that same year my husband and I had a miscarriage.  I was really struggling with the loss, even though it was early in the pregnancy, and I needed a way to process everything.

I had journaled as a teenager and thought that maybe this blog thing might help me. And so my first family blog was born.

I had 4 readers, literally 4. My parents and my grandparents. 🙂

Initially, I was writing for me….finding a way to work out my faith in this grief process I was going through.

The writing was healing for me and while I didn’t have an audience of 10,000….I was so encouraged by the community that I had seen form online that I kept going.

Then somehow I stumbled onto a few more blogs and “met” other women who were dealing with pregnancy loss and infertility struggles. I was not alone. And while none of us had the same story, I recognized that each individual story mattered.  (<=== Click to Tweet)

I am sharing the rest of the story over at Laura Rath’s blog today – will you join me over there?!

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Original Photo Credit: Walt Stoneburner modified by Kristin Smith

 

Hardships & Hopelessness

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Family Pic 2

I had the incredible honor of sharing a part of my story over at Wifessionals today. I have always been so impressed by Kaitlyn’s heart for women. She has a genuine desire to help others, whether it is to grow their blog, promote their business or encourage them with stories of life and faith. When she asked me to share a bit of my story with you I was humbled at the opportunity. My hope is that this will touch someone in a similar situation and show that even in the darkest of times there is hope!

2011 – 2012 were difficult years for my family.  Here is a brief timeline – My husband had moved to a neighboring state for a new job we felt led to take, I was pregnant with our 4th child, we finally moved back together as a family after 8 months apart and then in the next 6 months both found ourselves unemployed and facing the real possibility of bankruptcy and foreclosure!

I went from feeling clearly that we were doing what God had called us to do, to completely doubting His voice and His plan.

It was a very dark time for me. Have you been there?

Have you ever found yourself in a place that you couldn’t have imagined you’d be and wonder why God had forgotten you?

I know that isn’t the “pretty” scenario I’d like to be able to portray to you, but apparently I am a little stubborn {ahem} and often times I have to learn my faith lessons backwards. So in an effort to keep it real I wanted to share about this time because in the end, I think you will be able to see the hope that sprang forth.

It was one thing for my husband to lose his job, that was scary yes but when my 13 year position was “outsourced” only 6 weeks later, well any thread of hope I had left was completely shredded.

I’d love to have you join me over at Kaitlyn’s blog to read the rest of my story! And if you blog there is a link up to share your own story as well!

God Works in Mysterious Ways – A Guest Post from my Grandpa!

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I am so excited about sharing this post here. Below is a letter that my grandpa wrote and sent to several members of our family.  He has such a beautiful way on integrating family history with God’s truth.  I have asked for permission before sharing this but out of respect for him, will not be posting this on Facebook. I know you will be blessed by the wisdom he has to share!

September 22, 2013

Dear Family,

I am writing this to demonstrate that sometimes something one would consider to be a very unfortunate situation at the time later turns out to be a blessing. Without what happened to my Father, things would be very different today for all of us.

You see, my Dad was born in 1889 with a deformed left hip.  The ball and socket in his left hip were only partially formed. It was basically bone on bone. Doctors who have seen X-rays of his hip have wondered how he could walk at all. This was, of course, long before hip replacement surgery. As a result his left leg was shorter than his right leg. When he purchased a new pair of shoes, he would take them to our local shoemaker to have the left heel and sole built up so he could walk better.  He always used a cane when walking long distances, and in later years he seldom walked without some pain.  One could say:  “How unfortunate that God would allow him to be born that way!”  But there is more to the story.

Because Dad had this physical problem, he was unable to work in his father’s fields and follow in his father’s footsteps as a farmer in Sweden.  Instead, he left home at age 15 and began working in various machine shops, the last being a watch factory in Sweden.  (I still have the watch he purchased at that factory.)  He learned great mechanical skills in these shops and factories that he would later put to use here in America.

Thus this so-called unfortunate situation led to Dad’s emigration to America in 1909, his eventually starting an automobile garage and sales agency in Chisago City, MN in 1916, marrying and raising a family.  Now we are his descendants and also Americans, with all the blessings we have in this great country. Who knows what the outcome might have been if he had remained in Sweden as a farmer there.

I see the hand of God in all of this.  We can never fully understand His plans for us or for our lives.  Instead we must trust that He will always be with us, even during times that give us cause to question.

Love, 

Dad, Grandpa, & Great-Grandpa