Wishful Thinking...

Sometimes I wish I could take my kids to a store without being embarrassed.

Like last week when Nolan found a bottle of acrylic paint in the craft aisle, opened it, squeezed it on the floor, and then walked through it to create a trail of lime green footprints leading straight to me.

I wish I didn’t have to frantically dig through my purse to find something to wipe down said aisle before the paint dried.

Thankfully, I got to it in time and it only cost me one little boy sock.

I wish my kids had some kind of spatial awareness. Then maybe I wouldn’t have had to clean up SIX drinks in the past 24 hours… oh, and 2 jars of finger paint.

I also wish I was one of those moms that can do crafty projects with her kids and it not be a total disaster.

Sometimes I wish my son Nolan wasn’t such a sneak. Like when I uploaded my pictures from my camera and found that he had somehow gotten a hold of it and taken about 45 pictures in his room…

He must have thought it was time to take inventory of all his toys:

:

then there were like 15 of his feet:

and of course about 10 face shots… I mean he is my kid after all:

I wish I had thought to wear sunscreen when we played in our volleyball tournament last weekend… that might have kept me from having a wicked bad sunburn for 3 days and killer cool tan lines for the rest of the summer.

I wish I had taken more pics of my hubby playing with his rockin long hair (which I think is as long as it’s been since I have known him)

what a nerd…

(Stone Mountain for the Laser Show)

I can’t believe the year is half over,

I wish time would slow down just a little bit…

What do you wish had (or hadn’t) happened this week?

Happiness is...

Story time with daddy =)

Spiritual Freedom

What comes to mind when you think of freedom?


Is it living in a free country? the privilege of voting?

Is it being able to stay home with your kids? Being able to raise your children how you see fit?

Is it the dream of going to college? owning your own business? the idea of marrying for love? or living wherever you choose?

Or is it simply getting to chose what you wear? what you eat? what you read?

Freedom can mean so many different things to different people… some freedoms we enjoy change day to day. Someone loses a job and suddenly they might not have the freedom to go out to eat 2x a week or pay their bills on time. We could lose the freedom to walk or talk after a bad accident. Even the rights and freedoms we share today as citizens of the US might not be the same tomorrow.

There is only one freedom that I have that I know without a doubt, a hundred percent, I will never be without…

and that is the liberty I have in Christ.

Even though I live in a free country, I have been bound and broken many times.

Like many others, I was enslaved to a life that didn’t fit, a life that made me bitter and angry. I pretended to be confident and happy, but I was really self-loathing and irresponsible. I acted like a arrogant, pessimistic child who believed generational curses would forever determine my future… so why bother trying for anything better?

I was going down a sad, slippery slope a hundred miles an hour until God stopped me dead in my tracks.

Trusting Him, I began a new life, without excuses, without the burden of my past. I was free from what the world’s statistics said I should be and began to experience a life full of more love than I ever imagined.


I’m sure Americans were pretty ecstatic when they first won their freedom… they were pumped up with big ideas, ready to move forward, live life to the fullest, and try to make this country better than all the rest.

When we feel that first rush of freedom in Christ, we are fired up, excited about where God is taking us… spiritual highs are so powerful…

Then the world’s excesses start squeezing back in; physical circumstances, family, jobs, and internal struggles start to take over. We allow ourselves to be forced back into the bondage of discontent, busyness, and our “to-do” lists.

God is put on a back-burner and faith becomes boring, stagnant religion… completely lacking passion and joy.

It doesn’t make sense to let fleeting circumstances steal my joy because I know what God’s true Love feels like… I have never felt more alive, more inspired, and more free than when I am walking with Him. It just takes the effort of ridding my head of the garbage that is constantly thrown in it, and allowing Him to fill my life with all that is good… sometimes all it takes is a quiet room and a few honest words to get back there.


Christ came so that we could be free: free from the pain of our past, free from the burden of our present circumstances, and free from fear of the future.


His is a freedom that I don’t ever want to take for granted.


So during this Independence Day weekend, along with being incredibly thankful for all of those who fought and died to free this country,

I will also remember to thank the One who came to free the world.

Galatians 5:1
1: Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

I have to thank my pastor for inspiring this post with his message on freedom =) I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe weekend!

Find more Spiritual Sunday posts here :)