bible Archives - Mothering with a Purpose

Trouble | John 16:33

April 2, 2017 by Allie Leave a Comment

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33

If only Jesus had promised us an effortless existence free of trouble, but He didn’t. In fact, quite the opposite – He guarantees that we will have trouble. He promises trials, storms, and times of brokenness. We shouldn’t be surprised, really, as the Bible is stacked with repeated warnings like that of 1 John 2:17, which tells us that the world is passing away along with its desires.

Trouble comes with the territory.

Christ doesn’t displace hard times. He offers the way above them, and the promise of a future beyond them.

The post Trouble appeared first on Jeremy Mark Lane.

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Transformed by God: Lumps of Clay

February 5, 2017 by Allie Leave a Comment

This post is about being transformed by God. If you enjoyed this devotional, please consider supporting our guest author, Jeremy Mark Lane, by purchasing these other books from him — Everything Beautiful: And Other Stories and While I’m Still Myself (a personal favorite).

The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over. – Jeremiah 18:1-4

Becoming a “lump of clay” is a painful experience. It’s otherwise known as “rock bottom.” If we aren’t pursuing the good things God has for us, He will often allow things to filter through to us that get our attention, that rattle us, that bring us low. He loves us too much to let us avoid the consequences of poor choices. However, the never-ending hope is found in the final three words: “and started over.”

God will always allow us to start over. It’s not punishment…it’s a brand new start.

The post Lumps of Clay appeared first on Jeremy Mark Lane and is being republished here with permission.

Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links which means that if you click on a link and make a purchase I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

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Don’t Let Comparison Steal Your Joy

September 20, 2016 by Allie Leave a Comment

It’s a question you’ll ask yourself one day. You want to know how to be happy. Happiness is different things to different people. A truth in this life is that there is always someone to compare yourself to if you allow those thoughts to enter your mind. Her hair is prettier. His career is more lucrative. Her children are better behaved. His bigger house is in a better neighborhood.

The worse comparison we can make is against ourselves.

How to Be Happy

Perhaps your life has made a turn that wasn’t in your plans. You seemed to have everything going for you and then everything went against you. Life as you knew it fell apart. Our imperfect world sometimes works like that. Sometimes our circumstances change negatively because of others and sometimes it’s because of our own human, imperfect, and selfish choices.

We think to ourselves about how wonderful our life was before it fell apart. We think inwardly and begin a downward spiral that consumes us with envy or anger or depression. Sometimes we feel all of it. We covet our old life back.

Other times we question God’s divine design. We have done everything good we were taught to do. We have an internal notepad that we keep in our hearts with tally marks of our good deeds and mortal accomplishments. According to us, we should be well on our way to the paths of happiness, but instead you’re living in a 30 year old trailer that’s falling apart and you’re a single parent raising kids that depend on you.

You wonder to silently yourself how to be happy.

Then one day, and it’s on the day you least expect it, you wake up out of the fog you’ve been coveting in and you realize that you’ve been going about things the wrong way. Maybe it was a quote you read on the internet. Maybe a friend sent you a text. Perhaps it was this post you are reading right this moment.

What you have discovered is that with mortal life comes mortal tribulations. Trials. Problems. It’s part of the package of human life. You can’t escape it. However, you can face trials head on and prepare yourself to meet those challenges with patience and persevering through faith in a Power larger than yourself.

Then, in due time, standing firm with Hope and patience through our afflictions, we gain an understanding of that which had eluded us before and caused us so much suffering. We become a little more grateful and a little more faithful. This is not to say that we will know all the answers to why we suffer, as we may never know during this lifetime. But as we practice faith, we build persistent hope in things to come.

This is how to be happy:

Don’t let comparison steal your joy.

“Happiness is letting go of what you think your life is supposed to look like and celebrating it for everything that it is.” -Mandy Hale

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” (2 Cor. 4:8–10, 14, 16–17.)

This devotional is inspired by Smile Jar. Smile Jar is a way to bring hope and encouragement to women of all ages.

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Like the Seasons, We Too Must Change

September 14, 2016 by Allie 7 Comments

Change is coming–I can feel it in the air. The scents of crisper days–the blessings of cooler weather after a lovely, yet hot summer. September has to be one of my favorite times of the year. It’s a promise that soon the heat will dissipate, the days will become shorter, and the oaks will explode in a magnificent display of fiery hues.

Then, after a deep frost or the season’s first freeze, the wind will howl and snap the last remaining leaves from the trees. Winter has arrived. For the next several weeks the earth will be harsh like a merciless army, producing little and wiping out anything that raises it’s head to live. The fowls of the air, the beasts of the land, the fish in the waters, and you and I will take cover to find a respite from winter’s realities.

Then one day, the sun will rise gloriously in the sky, the flocks of birds will return to their nests, sprouts will form and buds will leaf out–spring has come. Spring is God’s assurance that life comes after death.

Spring is God’s assurance of lasting change.

Spring is like the prodigal child who returns after seasons of being lost. Children become lost for a variety of reasons in a variety of ways. What matters is that they have returned.

It was once explained to me how I could tell if someone had truly changed. People are like trees: in the various seasons of their lives they make choices for better or for worse. These decisions are their leaves and make up the characteristics of who they are. When a person has made the decision to change they become like autumn, changing their colors. When they put off the things holding them back from change they become like the tree in winter losing its leaves. In the springtime, if the changes they have made are real, lasting changes, then they come back to life with renewed growth and vigor. If not, then they are the tree that never comes out of winter’s dormancy or that struggles to live in the new year.

Like the Seasons, We Too Must Change

Fortunately, God is always ready for us to come back with open arms. He wants us to change so we can have a good relationship with Him. It is our sins, pride, and disobedience that keep us from having that close relationship with the Spirit. God wants us to change or repent. Repentance removes the obstacle that allows God to work in our lives.r

Repentance is lasting change.

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23

“For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” Luke 15:24

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