Caity Neub

Catching their moments is like magic. I feel like my own magic is all dried up these days; my steps are plodding and my mental state looks a lot like abstract art. But coming around the corner and seeing my kids all reading together, with Cedar in Roxy's lap (even though he's almost as big as her), was just ❤️

Like all those who have walked the road of faith, I must remember: not all who wander are lost ✨

"No one can take your joy from you."

My son, he immediately rejected this statement. Point-blank, no questions asked, simply, "No." He's the one who feels daily that we all "steal away" his joy. He's the one who (like me) is concerned with what will happen, and feels that other people get in the way of his happiness. He's the one who has the hardest time holding on to anything good.

And I want to squash that in him -- because I am the same way. Sometimes it's mere minutes into the day when my joy turns leaf-like and blows away in the wind, or turns candle-flame-tiny and is puffed out by somebody else's carelessness 🍂🕯️

My joy feels insecure, infinitesimal, and utterly dependent on me.

But Jesus declares (with no clauses or stipulations): "I will see you again [after I die], and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you." John 16:22

No one can take our joy from us because the fruit of the Holy Spirit IS joy, and the Holy Spirit takes up permanent residence within us -- He isn't a passing guest or an easily-offended family member or an oft-disappointed mentor.

No one and nothing can take away my joy in Christ today unless I give in to the temptation to give ground to Satan and listen to his lies.

May you be strengthened & encouraged this Sunday to fight the good fight and stand your ground! 🛡️

The Art of Setting Aside

After a day of being gone, my house was in need of many things, and I wanted to get straight to washing dishes and making dinner and controlling the chaos. But afternoon "tea" was begging to be served, so (thanks to my mother's and Sally Clarkson's examples), I grabbed a tray and some tea cups and we sat down on the living room floor. The conversation was far from poetic and the enjoyment was broken up by some spills and maybe no one else would have seen magic here that afternoon...but I did.

I am a person who can totally go full steam ahead -- even if I regret it later 😵‍💫😴 I can power through, stay on task, and keep the goal in mind. But what is full-body-shocking to me is PRESSING PAUSE in the middle of my sprint. Yet graciously, God has continued to train me in the joy & peace that is found when I set aside a task in order to connect with a heart ❤️

👉🏻 How do you find ways to pause in your day, even when things aren't finished? Is there something you and your family delight in together?

There are no easy roads through life. If you find yourself on a hard or empty or dissatisfying or confusing road, it doesn't mean you're in the wrong place. It just means that you live on earth.

Whether you're the mushroom uprooted too soon, tipped upside-down by the turn of events...

The milkw**d seed caught halfway between the pod and the sky, longing to just let go and float on the breeze...

The evergreen branch, overlooked all summer but now suddenly seeming so special and bright in the midst of all the brown...

The milkw**d pod, empty and bare and exposed, wondering what life could possibly hold next...

🌾 Whatever your place and position, you are exactly where you're supposed to be, doing exactly what you're meant to be doing.🌾

The "what if" questions are not for you, dear one. Don't let those doubts steal a minute of your peace & trust in the Savior.

This morning I witnessed a sunrise with a sunflare like a signal fire, pointing straight upward. I didn't just see it, or notice it, or marvel at it...I was a witness to it. Do you know what that means? I didn't, until just now:

A witness is someone who doesn't just know things; a witness is someone who must hold the truth and then share it with others, playing a significant role in justice taking place.

Everything that happens in my life is an opportunity to

👍🏻 accept
🎙️ confess
🙏🏻 trust
💃🏻and rejoice

But it can also be a temptation to

reject
deny
doubt
and complain.

Isn't there a middle ground? Aren't there some grey areas? Can't I spend some time being uncertain, undecided, on the fence about that bathroom accident or broken furnace or thyroid fatigue? Of course I can -- but all uncertainty opens the door to lies & temptations, and doubt itself is a sneaky sort of sin 😞

Either I praise God, or I complain about what He's done. Either I willingly accept His plan for my day, or I reject it and find my own ways to cope or escape or control.

How will you fight today? As a witness who knows the truth and must proclaim it all the time? Or as a bystander, uninvolved in the spiritual battle? We've all got some sunrises to testify to 🙌🏻

2 Corinthians‬ ‭10:3‭-‬4‬: "For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds."

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:1‭-‬2‬ : "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside EVERY WEIGHT and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

One of the best things I've done recently is to set some alarms ---> on my phone that literally play calming music and remind me of something that is true ❤️ it has been soooo incredibly comforting to hear my phone making a noise that alerts me to something good, godly, and just for me! (Rather than emails, texts, and calls that just remind me of my to do lists...and how many other people I am failing...haha)

Thought I'd share in case someone else could use this gem of an idea. Don't thank me, thank the Holy Spirit! 😘

So my daughter, she creates a tree, gluing and coloring and just enjoying what she's making. At the end, there's no question in her mind: this is hers, and it's beautiful. So what does she do? She takes a pencil in her hand and with careful precision writes "by Roxy" over and over again ALL OVER her paper 😂

But I thought, "Isn't this what God did with us?"

God created us in His image. Many people have waxed poetic about what that means, but perhaps it is as simple as my daughter putting her name all over her picture. God has written His signature, "by God," all over His image-bearers! ✍️

This beautiful imagery of God signing His name to me and all the details of who I am collides with a quote I stumbled upon in a middle-grade novel:

"I'm just looking at you. Exactly as you are right now," says the dad, looking at his little girl. "And not because you'll change, though you will, of course...If I could have built a human being, I would have built you. Just so."

Could God be saying the same thing over you & me just now? Signing His name, sealing us with His approval, wrapping us in a love He has that is bursting with joy at what He has created 🍁🍂 He built YOU. And He isn't afraid to say so.

My parenting has been, well, flaky lately 😬 and I have responded by trying to whip myself (and my kids) into shape again 😬😬 but God truly does "lead those with young" and directed me to this passage in James, ultimately meant for church elders, but wholly applicable to motherhood:

"...Shepherd the flock of God that is among you...not under compulsion, but WILLINGLY...not for shameful (personal) gain, but EAGERLY...not domineering over those in your charge, but BEING EXAMPLES to the flock."

Willing. Eager. An example. Such a grace-filles description, isn't it? Such a Christlike way to parent and lead.

Can you think of a time where you were an EXAMPLE for your kids, rather than a correcting voice? 📣 I'd love to hear! Leading by example shouldn't be news to me, but it is! 🙈😂

(Passage taken from James 5:1-5.)

"Sometimes, it feels so good to be limited."

I am small and inefficient and deficient and invisibly fracture-broken in a thousand ways, but when my insignificance meets God's limitlessness, there are fireworks and miracles and shooting stars and hallelujahs and red seas split in two!

To be limited in who you are, what you can do, and the time and space you have to do it? That is a gift; the gift of humanity. But that world-rocking sense of fragility is meant to push us straight towards God Himself.

As Tim Keller said, "The first step towards intimacy with God is not holiness...it's helplessness."

We'll always be reaching and searching and seeking...but not for something here on Earth. Just like Eve and that fateful, exotic fruit, I am always looking towards what's just outside of my reach. I'm daily tempted to look over THERE at what I can envision or imagine or chase after that I don't have yet. But my reach is meant to turn me towards the only One who can reach me, no matter where I am.

If it's not within your fence, girl, then it's not yours for the taking.

What limitation has been tripping you up lately? How might that boundary/limit/weakness/deficiency be an invitation to rest or return or re-direct?

A mediocre fire, the cheapest of hot dogs, and a messy backyard 🔥👌🏻I keep thinking that my kids need more exciting events, interesting ideas, and well-exexuted plans from me (when really they keep getting Last-Minute Mom 🙄). But it turns out, they just want more of ME. There. Smiling. Peaceful.

I keep thinking I want more exciting + new + EXACT plans from God...when really all I need and want is more of HIM.

It's hard to let go of the 🎉🎁🍔✈️ fanfare the world constantly flashes at us. It's hard to stop thinking, "I need something else." But if I'm honest, it sounds more beautiful than anything to just be

Here. Smiling. And peaceful.

It's so much easier to judge & complain from the sidelines, but it's a whole lot more worth it to put on the uniform & get on the field 🏉🏁 Whenever I go to an event, I feel insecure (hello introverts, or maybe it's just anxiety talking 👋). This insecurity always makes me feel as though I'm on the edges of things, unable to belong. And you know the easiest thing to do on the sidelines? Point and laugh. Making fun of or belittling what others are doing can feel soooo good, because it lets me keep my pride.

But that same pride keeps me from being kind, attentive, interactive, accepted, and engaged.

It's incredibly easy to scoff or critique from the sidelines of a football game, a church event, a neighborhood, a relationship -- any time or place where people are attempting to do something good...until I'm the one doing the work alongside them.

As soon as I step into the fray and get busy, put my hands and feet to work, I have no choice but to admit to being a very small player on the field, doing a very mediocre job...as all of us really are. We're just doing what we were created to do, and it is God who works the miracles in our midst 🌈

"Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.' "

Luke 17:9‭-‬10

I can see this morning what I couldn't last night.

There are times where God intentionally keeps us from being able to see clearly...and that's okay. Good, even.

My prayer this morning, whispering up from the Holy Spirit's leading:

I want Your will to be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven, because here on Earth we are Your body, and of course the goal is for the whole body of Christ to be benefitted -- not just me.

And please give me, O Lord, my DAILY bread today, and not the future bread of security that I am so badly craving 🍞🍞🍞

When the sky is big and blue, and your bike feels like it can take you anywhere, so it doesn't matter how far you go or what your destination is ❤️🚲 but me, the grown-up, is clinging tightly to road maps and finish lines and arrivals 🏁

I'm wondering if maybe the things we think are clogging up our lives are actually rescuing us from a fate we can't imagine? Maybe the chores, the troubles, the unknowns, the dizzying amount for housework, the sick kids, the car making that noise again -- maybe all of it is keeping you & me from something worse: loneliness. Isolation. Addiction. Apathy.

The things keeping me from chasing a destination may just be saving me from the path of destruction 🧭🗺️✝️

"You will be most happy when you trust My plan, and release your hold on what you THINK will make you most happy." 🌊 (taken from Let the Earth Spin)

God's plan doesn't always show up in our lives as one big overarching theme or mission. Usually, His will and plan show up in our lives in daily interruptions, struggles, misunderstandings, and detours 🚧 God's plan is in effect right now...
..as I'm waiting for that thing. As I'm feeling tired. As I'm wondering why. As I'm perplexed about this season.

His work is happening, not to steal away my happiness, but to teach me a new way to find it: in Him. In other words, I will be the most happy when I stop trying to make myself the most happy 🙏

What's something that you hoped would make you happy, but either disappointed you or never happened? 🤔

"When the fallenness of the world closes in on us and makes us want to throw in the towel -- there, right there, we have a Friend who knows exactly what such testing feels like and sits close to us, embraces us...

"If you are in Christ, you have a friend who, in your sorrow, will never lob down a pep talk from heaven. He cannot bear to hold himself at a distance...His heart is too bound up with yours."

- Gentle and Lovely by Dave Ortlund

Did you catch that? The beauty exposed in these sentences, the closeness of Christ wrapped up in all our mess?

I see it like a sign, as my tears flow and my hands grip the wheel with an anger and anxiety that I cannot seem to tame:

🚗 BOW2GOD 🚗

The timely, if cheesy, license plate title is staring me in the face, and I wonder: Is this why I am angry & anxious these days -- I'm bending over backwards for something other than God? Could the solution really be as simple as bowing down on my knees in front of the God who COULD do xyz for me right now, but has chosen not to?

Weariness tugs at me, but I'm reminded of what a therapist told me: "Anger is a secondary emotion." There is always, always another emotion hiding behind the anger; something smaller and more vulnerable that is more difficult to admit to. Anger feels strong, brash, and somewhat normal to display. But the things tucked underneath are the heart of the issue:

Fear
Sadness
Frustration
Self-hatred
Uncertainty
Worthlessness
Pain

Things like this often get masked by anger. As I let my true emotions unravel, a song on the radio steals into the conversation, shouting words of praise to God, and I catch this line: 🎶 "This season doesn't tell my story!" 🎶

Hadn't I just written something like that, a few weeks ago? Hadn't I penned the words, "This chapter doesn't tell your whole story"? And if I could write something like that to encourage someone else, couldn't I find a way to believe it for myself?

"Okay, God, I'm listening," I whisper. And in the wake of my listening, I find that the anxieties and pressures have dissipated. Listening to one voice means tuning out the others.

"What do you have to say, God?"

Lately, I've been honed in (aka worried about) all the negative things I may be passing on to my kids. But today, I paused to think about all the good that I'm passing down to them. Things like forgiveness when sin is messy, enjoying the outdoors, drawing close to each other, and seeing books as fantastical worlds 🌈✨🐲 oh, and buying used things rather than new💃

We can't avoid passing on some of inherent weaknesses and sin struggles. But we can also choose some good to pass on.

What are you passing down to your kids??

Could it be that the very shadows we are running from actually hold some of the sweetest blessings?

I gave the kids a few chocolate chips as a reward for taking a calm & restful naptime (which we ALL need so much more now 😴😴). As I doled out the treat, Terra asked, "Where are your chocolate chips, Mama?" I rather melodramatically shared how mama did not get fun rewards in life anymore. I was mostly teasing, but there may have been a few ounces of self-deprecation in there.

"But mama, God rewards you!" Roxy piped up.
"Of course, honey. But remind me...how does He reward me?"
"Well, the best and greatest one is, of course, HEAVEN!" she beamed. "But He gives you lots of other rewards, too, too many things to even COUNT!"

😭😭

I was so grateful & humbled. I needed that reminder that whatever I do for the Lord will have a reward -- it just doesn't fall under the heading of instant gratification or Super Mario bonus points 🍄🌈🍄 My day may not be sprinkled with chocolate chips or FlowerPower, but it IS heavily drenched in God's spiritual blessings, day in and day out.

In the shadows, God's ways begin to be revealed for what they truly are: flawless & enchanting & otherworldly ✨

"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he REWARDS those who seek him." // Hebrews 11:6

"Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great REWARD. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised." // Hebrews 10:35‭-‬36

"I just really wish I could be my 'old self' again."

"It's like fighting a dragon that isn't real."

"I don't know what's wrong with me."

Whatever you are going through right now, YOU are going through it, and it is hard for YOU. You have a very real struggle with a very real name (even if you don't know it yet).

But alongside that real, physical issue there is also spiritual warfare. The problem is not what is weighing you down; Satan is using shame, blame, and fear ABOUT the situation to keep you pinned.

This situation or circumstance is from God, and He will use it to bear fruit that blesses both you & others! It's not your job to fix it. All He is asking of YOU is that you trust Him, and take tiny steps of obedience. Find a window to look through, dear one! 🪟

TINY STEPS FORWARD:

1. You have a kilowatt smile. Keep sharing it with those around you 💡☺️

2. Pray persistently for what you need. (Yes, you need something right now.)

3. Do something you want to do. Light a candle🕯️Go for a walk. Dance💃. Sing. Rearrange the furniture 🛋️. Anything that reconnects you with the reality of your life.


" 'Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.' " // Isaiah 43:18‭-‬19

"And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, '[even the unrighteous judge will say] because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.' "// Luke 18:1‭-‬2‭, ‬5

"...to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." // Ephesians 4:22‭-‬24

If I'm honest, I want to be happy more than I want to follow God & please Him. As long as He seems to be my ticket to happiness, I'm on board! But as soon as the path takes a darker, more uncertain turn, I'm all set to pull out Plan B and take control of my life 📝🛫

But if my own personal happiness is my goal, I will spend my entire life chasing a place that does not exist.

The things that make me happy, or that I THINK will make me happy? They pretty much change on a minute-by-minute basis. Of course I'm never satisfied. Of course it looks like I'm chasing the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow 🌈💰

God has to undo this in me. I can't rip out my own selfishness (though I wish I could). I can't pretend that that part of me doesn't exist, either; at least not anymore.

I now understand a teensy but clearer what Paul meant when he said that the good he does can only come from God, and the evil he does clearly comes from a sinful nature that at times he seems unable to control. Praise God we are HIS workmanship, and not a product of our own works!! ✨

What do you often follow instead of God's plan?

❤️"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." // Ephesians 2:8‭, ‬10❤️

As you cook meals, hug toddlers, lay in bed at night, pick pretty flowers, cry over losses, and yell out of frustration, where do you glimpse your reflection? What sort of person do you find yourself looking at in the mirror?🪞

It has come to my attention that I do not see myself clearly. I don't mean in the basic, physical way of critiquing my size and shape, or wishing for a different nose. I mean, I do not see my whole self in a clear, right perspective.

I tend to think that I am generally a good person who tries hard and ought to be rewarded for it. Then, when I mess up, I feel inordinate amounts of shame and frustration and even anger. Maybe I am NOT a good person -- and if that's the case, how can I live with myself?

And so on it goes 🔁😵‍💫

What the flowers accept as they bloom vibrantly, and the stars know as they glow brightly, is something I can barely grasp: we were all made beautifully & purposefully and yet...whatever we have can be taken away. Whoever we are can be shaped and transformed. Wherever we go we are still ourselves 🌌

Described below is a version of me, the one who is sinful and selfish. Also detailed is God, who is faithful and perfect. Every time I attempt to untangle my choices, I bump not into myself but into God. Whenever I won't, HE WILL. Whenever I falter, HE FULFILLS:

"She listens to no voice; she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the Lord; she does not draw near to her God...

"The Lord within her is righteous; he does no injustice; every morning he shows forth his justice; each dawn he does not fail; but the unjust knows no shame...

"But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord...

"The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."

Zephaniah 3:2‭, ‬5‭, ‬12‭, ‬17 ESV

Every time I reach out for help or try to take one TINY step in the right direction, I immediately have this thought: "This isn't going to change anything. This isn't going to work. How can one conversation/meal/phone call/or w**d pulled up out of the dirt solve ANYTHING?"

That thought that I have every time I ask for help? The one of hopelessness and despair? That's straight from Satan. He wants us to believe that if something is small or imperfect, it's meaningless. That if we've failed & fallen before, anything good we could possibly manage is already DOA. That God isn't going to use this.

Today was the first day in a week that I've managed to do anything other than take Roxy to and from school and set meals on the table. And I firmly believe it's because I asked for help.

Obviously, we can do nothing good on our own, and certainly, we need God's help more than anyone else's, but He calls us to a life of community & sharing & vulnerability & using our gifts, and we can't do any of that if we're not willing to be honest and work together 😶‍🌫️

"Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Selah."

Psalm 68:19

Just wondering if anyone else bakes lopsided birthday cakes, runs errands with untied shoes, has a dirty bathroom, can't remember what's for dinner, and wishes more than anything for a 2-day nap? 🤯😶‍🌫️ I don't want to glorify the mess, or unnecessarily vent, but also...I don't know how to feel like a whole person when I'm operating at my lowest. Can anyone else relate? 🙋🏼‍♀️

There's also been rainbow sprinkles and the cutest moments between siblings and laughter when I thought I was going to cry and God's word holding me fast like gold threads in the dark.

Feeling kinda like I'm on the I-70, traveling at super-speed through Kansas, but the terrain isn't changing. No matter how fast or slow I go, the view is the same. The road stretches ahead of me the same. And my point on the map seems to stay the same, too. It feels like I'm Nowhere. But everywhere is Somewhere, isn't it?

Everywhere I go has a location, a physical reference point; everywhere we stand today has an earthly reality and a spiritual zone. We can always find out where we are. We can always be found. But where we're going to end up and when...that's a complete and utter mystery.

Everywhere is Somewhere. In the dark or the desert, the beach or the wilderness, the trail or the highway, where you are is a real place. Even if it's not the one you had in mind.

I'm trying to get through metaphorical Kansas, certain there's a mountaintop experience on the other side, but what if there isn't? What if my road turns towards the desert instead? What if the map I'm holding doesn't match the course God is charting for me -- I've only drawn up the lines myself?

Maybe it doesn't matter so much which road I'm walking or where it leads, so much as if I'm walking with Him. Walking "in Him," as Colossians puts it. Are my steps light with thanksgiving, or heavy with complaints? Are my eyes trained by the lenses of love, or are they twisted by doubts and fears?

"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."

Colossians 2:6‭-‬7

There's nothing glamorous about sending your child to school -- or keeping them at home. There's no path you can choose that will give you that magical glow some people seem to have hovering about their lives ✨💁🏻‍♀️✨ The only glow you can get is the one that comes from:

Having confidence that God (not you) is at work in your life.

"I'll go anywhere you want to take us," I told my husband, and I meant it. I said almost verbatim the same thing to God once upon a time, while I was a teen in my attic-style bedroom with cereal-box-sized windows. "I'll go," I promised. I literally lived off the energy that came from possibilities.

But what about when God, or your husband, or your school system, is keeping you HERE? What about when "wherever you want me" isn't some far-away, new adventure, but a quiet digging deeper into the same soil year after year? 🌱

Adventure isn't about where you go or how glamorous the story ends up being; adventure is about WHO YOU'RE WITH. The risks & challenges are present in every location, but God's locator on you doesn't change. He promises the same things for your soul -- here, or somewhere else.

Which is harder for you? Staying put, or starting over??

"We stand on holy ground, surrounded by an impenetrable love that no fears can get through."

How often do I let things into my life that God has protected me from?

Unless I entertain the worry, the fear, and the lies, my mind and heart are protected by God's peace and rooted in His love and even Satan cannot touch me without God's express permission. We live untouchable, unoffendable...and yet every wave of life disrupts our trust.

As I was sharing my troubles with a kindred heart, she looked at me and said, "There's this book I think you should read. It's called Let the Earth Spin." 😭😭 The quote up there? That's from my book. The same book my friend was telling me to read. She could see how far my mind had spiraled, and she wanted to remind me: you found a way to think this way once, and you can do it again.

Return. Remember. Will we ever not need to hear those words?

Basically, I'm over here reading my own book and staring in awe at a God who somehow delights in us 🌊📚

Surprises are everywhere -- the good kind, and the bad kind. So many things that would be ordinary or inconvenient to others are an absolute BLAST for my kids (breakfast being interrupted by road construction, the trash truck appearing just in time to redirect a meltdown, deer parading across front lawns to eat our neighbor's flowers, blueberry muffins for dinner, a simple "I love you" note in the morning).

Where I see trouble, they see treasure.
Where I see disappointment, they see opportunity.
Where I see the need to over-plan & control the situation, God sees the new thing He's about to do.

He is moving. He will act. Step back, and watch the miracles unfold, in uncertain but beautiful ways. Can't tell you how many times what's outside our windows has been the key to resetting our frazzled nerves 🪟

"Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way..."

Psalm 37:5‭, ‬7

I've always pushed my kids to be independent. Or maybe "self-determining" is a better description: the ability to make choices for oneself without needing others to give input. But for some reason, watching my kids do new things helps me see how fragile they really are. How much they need love and crave protection. How their ability to be resilient and responsible and ready for all life throws at them MUST stem from an inner confidence that they are accepted. That they belong, and that they have a place to turn to. That my love doesn't just push them onward; my love also welcomes them into rest.

Are you confident that you are accepted? Do you trust that God's love over you is not dependent on your efforts today?

I'm only seeing that my kids need this because God is showing me how much I need this. I need to know that before God asks me to do anything, He welcomes my soul (if not my body 🙄😂) into His rest & acceptance & love. Then, and only then, am I able to work alongside Him with freedom and joy ✨☀️

"Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you."

Psalm 116:7