Life with Sally

Today, Lanier and I talked about the process of living by faith in times of chaos. Moving to a place of restoring is a walk of perseverance and we have both learned this through many seasons of our lives. Chaos often invades our lives when least expect it. The Covid Virus has turned all of our worlds upside down. Yet, having lived through many a heart-breaking disappointment or even just a cancellation to my plans, a loss of control of our lives, I know that waiting on God in faith will show me, in time, that He had never left me, that He was always walking with me through every trial, every season. His faithfulness never fails.

In this episode, Sally and Kristen discuss how to impart a love of community and friendship to our children. They encourage moms to model how to serve in friendship themselves, as the first model their families will see, and explain what it looks like to serve in friendship through trust, loyalty, empathy and encouragement. They share how to become an invitation to others in everyday life, and how to teach your children to be a friend through: -Trusting the Holy Spirit -Training them how to share and live generously -Teaching them HOW to create community Ultimately, Sally and Kristen encourage and equip moms to cultivate their own hearts for service and love, while becoming a living example of how to put others first. Then, they are joined by special guest and friend, Elizabeth Foss who shares her own testimony of trusting God even when we feel weary. Reflecting on her cancer journey and the community knit in her own family mothering nine children, Elizabeth reminds us all that there is nothing that we face that Christ has not also endured. She's also sharing about a special new project that we are excited to share with you called Take Up and Read 

Nathan has always been larger than life and had on his heart the desire to be a hero. We saw Nathan‘s spirit early on and even while struggling with learning disabilities and an out-of-the-box personality we encouraged Nathan into the story God had for him to tell. We wanted to instill in each of our children the the values of a loving and good God and the belief that they had a work on the world We believed forward into their lives. Which is why I am so excited that Nathan is releasing his first solo book called Good Man, it’s a collection of Nathan‘s stories, thoughts, and insights from his journey of discovering who it was God created him to be.

One of the most profoundly important gifts we can give to our children is a life of faith, a life of believing God in the small moments of life, the large challenges, a life given to believing in His reality. Without faith, we cannot please God. No works, performance, giving will cover over a lack of faith and faith living.

Joy is one of my favorite people in the world. Today, we took time to record many of the rhythms, food, practices that we have both been practicing in our home to make it through these challenging days. I hope you will love it as much as Joy and I enjoyed being together across the miles in a FaceTime recording. You can find all things Joy @Joyclarkson.com and you would be so entertained and inspired to connect with her on Instagram @joynessthebrave Happy Tuesday! We are thinking about you all and praying for you!

In the busyness of our activity-oriented world, it is tempting for us to measure the value of lives by accomplishment or position. Yet, in this time of the covid virus, we are all re-evaluating our priorities. As I look back on the years with my precious children, I found myself seeking to understand how important it was to lay heart foundations, an imagination for living for God, an understanding of truth before I worried about the academic accomplishment of my children.

Perspective is something I have had to learn about the last many years of my life. In the workaday world, busyness can take over and often I have the illusion that I can control my life. The Corona Virus has taken all of us by surprise and has shaken up our expectations of life. Finances are at stake for many of us, illness, disappointment, confusion. But, I have learned that my God is stable, secure, and loving and He is always in control—even when we do not understand or feel secure.

On my podcast today, my friends and I came up with countless ideas of the ways we have created and nurtured life-giving memories with our own. I hope our ideas will inspire you.

We wanted to share with all of you what we filled our hearts and minds this weekend and to give some history and encouragement about how such deep friendships are developed over time. Actually, we talked about lots of important things on the podcast and I hope you will find life and encouragement from our time together that might be a light in the midst of a crazy week.

Fear, weariness, concern, cynicism, frustration seems to define the mood and emotions of many today. We hear of war and violence, corona virus, financial crisis, devastating storms and tornadoes, moral collapse amongst youth, a loss of faith for many young adults, and we are tempted to tremble in our boots, or to be filled with despair. Yet, scripture speaks to us over and over again about God’s desire to protect us, to be present with us, to respond to our prayers, to crush the wicked. Over 80 times in scripture we read, “Fear Not!” and the verse above is one of my favorite “fear not” verses that I learned when I was a very young believer.