He is 18 and my first born. I have a fierce desire to protect him with everything that is in me…but he is also an adult now and making decisions on his own.

One of those decisions came when he got his motorcycle permit. We don’t own a motorcycle, but he has a good friend who’s family does and so he wanted to get his permit so one day they could ride together.

I can say I wasn’t really thrilled about this…so many bad things can happen and I worried for his safety.

But Isaac is a levelheaded young man and soon after getting his permit he signed up for the motorcycle safety course. He spent several hours over a weekend riding, practicing new skills and defense mechanisms to keep him safe on the road.

His friend invited him out to ride one night and I said a quick prayer that God would protect him.

I didn’t know what had happened until later that evening. They had been riding and heading around a slight bend in the road. Isaac was the 2nd in line and his tire hit a small patch of gravel and he started to lose control.

He did all the things he had been trained to do and drove it into the ditch and laid the bike down in the grass. It could have been so much worse. He didn’t crash the bike, but it was an accident.

A learning experience our friend’s father said.

Apparently most riders have a story…a crash or an accident that has happened. An experience that they have learned from. Isaac just got his on his first ride out!

As a mother, part of me wants to forbid that he ride again. But the reality is that he learned from this experience. They went back to the place it happened the next day to see how he may have approached that curve differently.

If we are willing we can learn from the crashes in our lives.

Yes they will happen, inevitably, so are we willing to go back and see what we could have done differently and then be brave enough to move forward?

I have been a fear-filled woman for too long.

I crash and then I don’t want to try again. But God has protected me, and I am seeing through the example of my brave son, that I too can learn and grow and move forward.

If we seek God we can learn from our mistakes and be strengthened to get back up and try it a new way the next time. Thank God for His provision and protection and that we can start again.

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Because I am a part of this fun #Write31Days community I have something extra fun to share with you for the rest of this month! DaySpring.com is celebrating all of the amazing Write 31 Days readers who are supporting nearly 2,000 writers this October! To enter to win a $500 DaySpring shopping spree, just click on this link & follow the giveaway widget instructions. Good luck, and thanks for reading! I’d love to see one of my readers win this so enter today!! 🙂

Psalm 62: “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.” (v. 1-2)

“Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” (v 8)

I think that one of the most difficult parts of my faith life are the times when there is perceived silence from God. Now let me clarify that I do not and have not ever heard the audible voice of God.

Although there have been times that I have asked! “Speak to me Lord…tell me what to do and I will do it…” these requests are followed by silence.

But there have been times that I feel God has spoken to me through other people, or an open or closed door, a hitch in my spirit about a decision that needs to be made. So while it isn’t an audible answer…there are times I feel clearly led by God.

As a perfectionist and people pleaser I want to follow God’s plan for my life…and sometimes I just don’t know what that is and I am so afraid of making a mistake.

What if I take a wrong turn, will I ruin my chances at my best life?! Will I mess it all up?!

But the verses in Psalm 62 bring me comfort.

For God alone my soul waits in silence because from Him comes salvation.

I don’t need to seek out anyone or anything else…God is my refuge and my strength and I can pour out my heart to him.

There will be times in my life that I don’t know what to do. Times when I ask for direction and may not get a strong leading one way or another. During those times I can wait. I can calm my spirit and ask God to lead me when He is ready.

While I’d love my life to be on my time table I have learned that it often isn’t! So I will continue to seek Him, to ask for guidance and lean on Him when I need help. He is my refuge, my guide….

Silence doesn’t have to be a bad thing, maybe it is just an opportunity to still ourselves and wait.

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Because I am a part of this fun #Write31Days community I have something extra fun to share with you for the rest of this month! DaySpring.com is celebrating all of the amazing Write 31 Days readers who are supporting nearly 2,000 writers this October! To enter to win a $500 DaySpring shopping spree, just click on this link & follow the giveaway widget instructions. Good luck, and thanks for reading! I’d love to see one of my readers win this so enter today!! 🙂

Can I share a secret with you?

One of my biggest hurdles, the thing that trips me up more often than anything else is my need to impress others. It is hard to admit that, but it is true.

I have long had a deep need to seek approval and acceptance from others. As early as 6th grade I knew that I didn’t fit in and I so desperately wanted to. Maybe the cheerleading squad would get me there…or a boyfriend, all the popular girls were “going out” with a boy.

Insecurity keeps me waist deep in the struggle to find value in what those around me think of me. I am not always patient and I would be terrible at homeschooling my kids, and I don’t really have the desire to stay at home, I enjoy working. That alone must make me a terrible mother.

So instead I put on a happy face, dress my kids up nice for church and tell them that they better behave “or else.” We need to make a good impression to those that matter most.

It’s all a fancy show, and I am guessing those that know me well, aren’t buying it.

I read books about how I should focus on the value I have in the eyes of God…and while I want to believe that, the enemy reminds me of how very broken I really am.

Surely God can’t value a girl like me. That woman down the street that has it all together…I’m certain God values her more than someone as flawed as me.

I don’t share these whispers so that you will all tell me how great I am…really, I do so because I believe that there are those out there believing the very same lies and are just as stuck as I am.

Because that’s what they are…lies.

God doesn’t value us because of what we do, how perfect or imperfect we are.

No He looks at each of us, His creation, made in His image and He loves us. He values us because we are His. We don’t have to do anything to deserve this kind of love. Thank goodness right?!

I still struggle with the need to impress. I am learning very slowly who I am IN Christ. I know that freedom is possible, I am just not walking fully in it yet. But I have hope.

By seeking God each day, reading His word and reminding myself who He says I am, beloved, chosen, a woman of value….I am walking towards freedom and I trust that He is with me every step of the way.

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Because I am a part of this fun #Write31Days community I have something extra fun to share with you for the rest of this month! DaySpring.com is celebrating all of the amazing Write 31 Days readers who are supporting nearly 2,000 writers this October! To enter to win a $500 DaySpring shopping spree, just click on this link & follow the giveaway widget instructions. Good luck, and thanks for reading! I’d love to see one of my readers win this so enter today!! 🙂

It never stops.

The endless rolling of the waves in the ocean. It builds and rolls and crests and crashes, over and over again.

I sat out on the balcony of the condo we rented in Florida in September. My internal clock didn’t seem to know it should be on vacation mode and I woke at my normal time. I forced myself to rest a short time more, but the waves were calling me.

I snuck outside and was protected by the rain storm that was rolling into the gulf. The sky was overcast and the water dark but even though the sun wasn’t shining its beautiful rays, the scene was amazing.

There is something about the sound of the waves crashing that is calming and yet joyful as well.

I felt like I was in the audience of a concert that was being played for the God that placed the seas, the God that told the ocean when to roll and when to crash upon the shore.

It was breathtaking.

I posted a short video online and said that I could listen to that sound for the rest of my life. An endless song, a rising and falling with a crescendo at the end as the wave meet the shoreline.

As I spend time seeking God it is my prayer that my hearts song would be one of endless praise.

Like the ocean that sings and never stops, I too want a life that reflects my gratefulness and worship to the one who created me. What a gift that morning was. And while I won’t be able to see that every day here in Minnesota…I want to always remember.

The waves cry out, they sing and dance and so should I.

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Because I am a part of this fun #Write31Days community I have something extra fun to share with you for the rest of this month! DaySpring.com is celebrating all of the amazing Write 31 Days readers who are supporting nearly 2,000 writers this October! To enter to win a $500 DaySpring shopping spree, just click on this link & follow the giveaway widget instructions. Good luck, and thanks for reading! I’d love to see one of my readers win this so enter today!! 🙂