{Day 30} Interrupted by 'God Loves You' (And Give Away Results!)

You're dying to know who won the goodie bag, aren't you?  If I were you, I'd scroll to the bottom to find out and then read today's story.  But, I'm sure you have more self control than I do.  :)

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Today as I drove our little trio to homeschool co-op I was thinking about all of the options we have in this life, particularly thinking about curriculum choices for homeschoolers and how overwhelming it all can be: wanting to do well by your children, not wanting to be judged for your choices, having too many good options, etc.  (I just placed an order yesterday to take advantage of some sales, so it's on my mind!)  I was also reflecting on my insecurities as I observe others who seem to have it all together - imagining, falsely, that their little world is always roses and sunshine - when I glanced over at a run-down, weary looking house across the road.  There in the second story window, which was almost at eye-level because the house entry sits below street-level, was a picture of a cross and a homemade sign that read, GOD LOVES YOU.

In that split second, rounding the curve, I was interrupted by grace.

What a comfort to be reminded, by a sign I've never noticed in a house I've passed twice every Tuesday for the last two academic years, that God loves me.  Normally, to be embarrassingly honest, I find signs and bumper stickers like that to be cheesy.  Imagine God using such a thing to interrupt me today!  Classic move on His part, to challenge my judgments while reminding me of His love.

Short reflection on that reminded me that it is security in God's love that frees us to love others, to let go of idols, to confess our sins, and to set aside our doubts and fears.  It is His love, extended to us by grace, that frees and transforms us.

That's cool.  And amazing.

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Now, on to the moment you've all been waiting for (or that you jumped ahead for)!

Drum roll please!!

This month's winner is

Congratulations!

Thanks to all of you who threw your names into the running.

I hope to have another sometime later this year.

And so this April's interrupted by grace series comes to a close.  I pray God has used my reflections to draw you closer to Himself and to remind you that He is at work in and around you every day.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,

so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

{Day 29} Interrupted by (a little more) Freedom

Oh no!  What's happening to me?  Here we are, nearing the end of the series, and I don't feel like I have any dramatically interesting stories to tell.  (Wow, Heather, way to make your readers want to read on!)

Aaaaanyway.

Mom went back to
Africa today.  <tear>

This year, I've been thinking about this idea of breaking free, meaning no longer being bound and paralyzed by the world's standards or the standards I create for myself.  I desire to live free in God's grace.  Having lived so long, however, in bondage to what I think people of think of me, my fears of failure, and my pride, I know this will not be an instantaneous transformation.  I'm a black and white kind of girl.  I want to know what to do and do it.  I hate grey areas.  I want to be sure that "I'm good."  (It's a pride thing, not a righteousness thing, by the way.)

Life and the Word are teaching me that most of life is lived in grey areas.  Scripture tells us to do (or not do) certain things, but how those things play out in day-to-day life can look very different from person to person and family to family.  And that is OK!

For instance, specific to my situation: homeschooling.  There are almost as many ways to homeschool as there are families that do.  This is beautiful.  But for me it is also uncomfortable, because I want to know that I'm doing it "right."  When I feel like I'm not measuring up, very quickly I become overwhelmed by all the options, dissatisfied with everything we're doing, unable to rejoice in and appreciate what others are doing, and all of life gets very tense.

Part of breaking free for me involves the process of becoming more flexible. Like a stiff reed that needs a  soaking to be useful, I need the Lord to soften me up every time I start to dry out and tighten up in my doubts, fears, plans, and programs.

Graciously, He comes along side and nudges me to trust Him.  For much of this month, I've been nudged a lot.  Schedules have been disrupted for various reasons, today by taking my mom to the airport during "school time."  But the build up to today brought me to a place that was okay with getting some work done in the car and other things later in the afternoon, without fear of disaster striking or us not being able to get to everything, because we were doing a better thing in the grand scheme of life.  (We got our work done before dinner, too!)

Reflecting on all of this I'm interrupted by grace.  God calls us to things by His grace for certain purposes.  We wander here and there around them sometimes, but He always graciously, gently, and compassionately takes our heads in His hands, so to speak, turning them to refocus on Him and the path He's clearing for us, that we may entrust to Him the unknowns, the uncontrolables, even the unbelief.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.  ~Galatians 5:1

Praise be to God!

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REMINDER: Get your name in the running for this month's little interrupted by grace gift bag!!  Tomorrow is the last day in this April series because, well, it's the last day of April!  Click on this link to leave a comment letting me know you'd like me to put your name in the jar.  Make sure to get on it before 5pm EST tomorrow evening.  Thanks for hanging out with me here in my little corner of the internet this month!

{Day 27} Interrupted by Busy

Here I sit down to write, and I can't think of any specific grace interruption to share.  Today flew by like this:

• 5am wake-up call from Katherine - for me, not her.  She fell asleep after a short snuggle.  I was awake for the day.
• A quick visit to read and write at Starbucks where my friend works at such a crazy hour on Saturday mornings.
• Home by 7am to be with the family and do Saturday morning family things like breakfast, chores, play, etc.
• 10:30 trip to pick up bridesmaid dresses with friends and see the Bride at her fitting.  (We got there late, so she just saw us in our dresses.  They're cute as can be.)
• Got home at 1:30 to shove lunch in my face (I was so hungry, because I forgot to eat a snack.  Silly.) and relieve Colin to do a little work.
• At 2:30 we set up a little lemonade stand for an hour down on the corner, something really important to Elizabeth today.  It was a perfect day for it.

• We left at 3:45 to get to our nephew's birthday party that was at least 40 minutes away and started at 4.  Oops.  (Today's theme-word: late.)
• We partied and had a great time out in the great outdoors with family, friends, and yummy food.  But as we were leaving my eyes started to itch and puff.  I'm looking pretty awesome; Colin had to do the driving home.
• Naturally we arrived home at (or after) everyone's bedtimes, and Katherine still needed to eat something substantial, since she didn't really at the party.  Thankfully the older two got ready for bed and helped with other things as needed, so the total chaotic pandemonium I was expecting did not come to pass.  Yay!
• A little after 8pm we read a chapter of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and called it a night.  Those kids fell asleep real quick!

And now, to breathe!  Ahhhhhhh.

I suppose one thing I could say is that God has interrupted me by grace in the midst of a very busy month by saving me and our family from caving in, especially through how gracious Colin has been toward me being away doing things so frequently, (particularly on the weekends).  Such a blessing.

That said, I am relieved to look at May and see more white space in the calendar!

Have a great Sunday and don't forget to get your name in for the give away.

Make sure to leave a comment letting me know how many entries to put you in for.

Thanks!

{Day 26} Interrupted by a Phone Call ~ And It's Give Away Time!

This morning's interruption came early.  A friend called to ask me to join her in prayer throughout the day for her son's day at school.  He'd had rough start and was feeling anxious and emotional when she dropped him off.

Is it not a great gift of grace that we can pray for one another?

I was interrupted by grace each time I looked at his name scribbled on the back of my hand (my you-must-not-forget-this! spot for notes) and said a little prayer for him.

It's wonderful that we can pray for one another.  It is amazing that God wants to hear from us.

Interrupted by grace, indeed.  God's good and great grace.

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Now, for something fun!

I love to end each month-long series with a give away.

Here's what's up this time around:

The lucky winner will receive a pocket journal, a bar of one of my favorite chocolates, some new pens, a small tube of lotion, and a mini candle called "days end." I thought that candle name was perfect for this series; at "days end" you can pause and take a moment (or more!) to think about how God interrupted you by grace.  In addition, you can savor a piece of chocolate while you savor memories of His mercy that day!

Here's how you can get your name in the running

For one entry: Comment on this post and say "I want in!"

For another entry: Share a story in your comment about how God interrupted you by grace sometime recently.

For another entry: Share my blog with a friend. (honor system, just let me know!)

For another entry: Share my Facebook page on your wall, only if you think it worthy of sharing, of course!

For another entry: Like my Facebook page for the first time!  (Some of you just did that today - welcome!)

You can jump in on this if you've been reading for years or just started today.  Don't be shy!  I will ship anywhere, so if you want it, get in on it!!  :) 

Get your entries in by 5pm EST on April 30, when the kids and I will choose the winner using our highly sophisticated names-on-slips-of-paper-in-a-bowl method.  I'll include the winner's name in the final post of the Interrupted by Grace April series.

Have a lovely evening!

{Day 25} Interrupted by a Language Arts Lesson

This morning crazy-mama did not pop in for a visit.  That was nice!  Before we got to school start time, we'd gotten through morning chores and gotten the kids' room cleaned up in preparation for our monthly fellowship time with church friends this afternoon.  The kids even had some time to play together before nine.  We were on the ball this morning, baby!  (One must celebrate these rare occurrences, no?)

After we read a Bible story and did today's catechism reading, Elizabeth got settled with her math and Brian and I did his reading lesson.  Katherine napped - good girl!  Then Brian got settled with some independent activities and Elizabeth and I worked on her Language Arts lesson.  Her dictation passage was a couple of sentences from a book about a girl who's frustrated with her little sister and how her parents tell her that siblings are forever friends (my paraphrase).  The middle of the lesson involved looking up the definition of a friend, making a list of what she thinks a friend is, and talking with me about friendship.  It was fun!  Then came the final activity.  Elizabeth had to make a chart with her siblings' names and spaces for each day for one week, and every day for the next seven days she can get a star or sticker for doing something special for Brian and Katherine to be a good friend to them.  I thought this was a wonderful idea.  So we all made charts!

What struck me most about this little activity was the simplicity of helping the kids to think of each other as friends.  I think they already do, but that may not always be the case.  I was interrupted by grace as I realized that the Lord guides and directs us as we raise our kids.  We don't need to over-complicate, buy a special program, or read a million books.  We can think about character we want to instill in them, talk with them about these things, model them, and maybe do a fun little activity now and then to be more intentional.

My natural inclination is to seek out a formula - for everything!  But life and relationships do not run on formulas, they run on time spent living and learning together.  I'm thankful for the reminder to take a deep breath, relax, and live this life one day at a time, seeking the Lord for wisdom and asking the Spirit to guide my words and actions. That's all I really need.  That's all any of us need.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

    and lean not on your own understanding;

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in all your ways submit to him,

    and he will direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

{Day 24} Interrupted by a Do Over

I was tired when I woke up this morning.  I find that to be one of life's most frustrating things, waking up tired when there seems to be no reason for it.  Humph!  After one round with the snooze button, I dragged myself out of bed to brew the day's coffee, check the cell for messages, and settle into my cozy morning quiet time chair.  With a pillow on my lap, topped by my notebook and Bible, I scribbled out some prayers, pausing occasionally to rest my tired eyes, wishing deep in my soul that I could fall asleep there and that the kids would snooze till noon.  I got those lids to stay open long enough to finish my prayer thoughts and read through a Psalm and Proverb.  God's Word is so good for the soul, even the sleepy one.

Still tired, but feeling hopeful, I forced my body out of the chair and up to get started with the day's "stuff."  My little bundle of boy came down at "seven, zero, zero" on the nose; he's always up at least thirty minutes before he's allowed to leave his room!  We talked briefly then went to get Katherine, who was making her morning coos and squeals.  (Seriously, listening to her in the morning on the monitor is one of my favorite things!)  Afterward, Brian went to try to wake Colin and Elizabeth so we could have breakfast together.

The morning was going just fine.

During breakfast, however, I was distracted by a million things and the kids wanted to talk to me (why?!) and kept annoying each other, and Katherine, well, she just makes lots of noise sometimes.  After eating, Elizabeth started her morning chore of emptying the dishwasher and I was transforming into nagging-mom-of-the-year, getting more and more annoyed with her inability to keep working while talking with me.  In the background Katherine was just plain obnoxious, incapable of entertaining herself and whining.  What is she, a toddler or something?  Ah!  I was going to explode!!

I don't remember all of it, but at some point I came downstairs, (I think by this time the older two were upstairs taking care of their morning chart duties) and Colin said, "I think mom needs a vacation from the kids."

Ouch.

He wasn't exactly right, but he was on the right track.  I needed something.  That something was a deep breath, an attitude change, and to apologize to my children.

The truth about what a lunatic selfish brat I was being stung, but that was how I was interrupted by grace.  Grace said to me, Hey girl, let's not let this attitude dictate how the rest of this day is going to go.  With me, there is forgiveness and a fresh start.  A do over.

So when the kids came down, I apologized to Elizabeth, because she had born the brunt of nagging-mama.  We started over and the day went far better than it had begun.  I'm thankful for do overs today, and for these three children and how the Lord uses them to shape me every day.

Holding my babies all at once!

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 4:22-24 

{Day 23} Interrupted by a Bathroom Break

Tuesdays are our busy afternoons.  We go to our homeschool co-op and then take Elizabeth straight to choir.  On other afternoons, we have lunch then rest time before doing anything later in the day.  Our bodies are used to that routine, so Tuesdays wear us out, especially Elizabeth.

Tuesdays also involve quite a bit of driving back and forth to these activities; the group we're a part of is about twenty-five minutes away.  Today the kids were extra tired on our way home from co-op and I had space to think.

I was thinking about the strange ebb and flow of life as human beings, particularly with regard to sin and forgiveness.  We kinda float back and forth between these two things throughout our days.  Sometimes we give ourselves and others the benefit of the doubt or simply extend kindness, and sin is unable to grow and expand in our interactions.  Other times, we're feeling cantankerous and encounter another in the same state, and "all hell breaks loose."  (That seems like  good phrase when talking about our sin, eh?)

Today I was feeling really tired and tense at the beginning of our co-op time.  No reason really, other than the tired getting to me I suppose.  On top of that, our little preschool class was a bit antsy.  I was not feeling all that gracious.  But when the sweet little one who I was finding most difficult to corral, and who is not yet potty-trained, asked me to take her to the bathroom, operation soften-Heather's-heart was put in motion.  In the midst of my frustration with her more difficult than usual day, I was given the opportunity to encourage her in her potty usage and left the bathroom feeling more at ease.  I had to speak kind words to her.  Being put in that position was exactly what I needed at that moment.

I was interrupted by grace as I drove around thinking about that situation and my own need for grace and encouragement when I'm having a less-than-cooperative kind of day with the Lord.  He's so patient and kind, and He's committed to the covenant He made with His children.  Reminds me of some verses I read this morning that jumped off of the page at me:

Many times he delivered them,
    but they were bent on rebellion
    and they wasted away in their sin.
Yet he took note of their distress
    when he heard their cry;
for their sake he remembered his covenant
    and out of his great love he relented.

Psalm 106:43-46

We're bent on rebellion, wasting away in our sins.  God hears our cry and sees our distress.  We forget (that's what most of the Psalm is about, Israel forgetting God.)  We forget.  But God remembers His covenant and relents out of love.

 And so we find ourselves interrupted by grace.

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Tomorrow we enter the final week of the series.  Crazy how fast this month has gone by!  Do you have any stories to tell?  Have you shared them with anyone?  Let's not be like Israel, forgetting and not telling about the wonderful things God had done!