When Easter Sunday feels like every other day.....

I'll spare you the details but our Easter Sunday morning was not the peaceful, serene, and reflective morning you might expect from your pastor's family. The day started with tempers, disobedience, throw up, and the list could go on… I'm really hoping I'm not alone in this but I'm guessing that there were disappointments and failures not only in the morning but all throughout your Easter Sunday. 

We all desire perfection and beauty. We somehow hope that because the date on the calendar says it's a special day that the people and events of the day will follow suit. But Scripture tells us otherwise. Our lives, our world, our souls are hopelessly broken. Even our Easter Sunday mornings are tainted with the ugliness of sin. 

I enjoyed our Easter Sunday morning service so much this year. It wasn't because there was some major change in the service itself. There definitely wasn't gorgeous weather (it snowed super hard all morning). It wasn't even because the kids were amazingly well behaved (they weren't). It was because I had been confronted head-on with the desperation of my own soul that morning. 

I gravely need the resurrection. I need the hope that is offered me through Christ not because I have any potential in myself to succeed, but because Christ turned the cross from a symbol of guilt to one of unwavering love. 

Easter IS like every other day of our existence because we live in the confidence that death has been defeated on our behalf. Our biggest failures and shortcomings point to the One who crushed the serpent's head at the cross!

He is risen, indeed!!

Motivated exercise.....

I'm currently 1/3 of the way through a 90-day fitness challenge called Bikini Mommy Body Challenge! I certainly don't plan to wear a bikini this summer (or ever), but my muscles can definitely use some toning after two pregnancies!

While it's been great to see my body change during the last four weeks, I've struggled a little with my motivation. You see, I HATE exercising. I can think of so many things I rather be doing instead of my 45 minute cardio. A few minutes more of my beauty sleep would feel so much better than 20 mountain climbers. If it wasn't for the accountability from the others in the group and the fact that I really DO want to be healthy and fit at my 30th birthday, I would have given up long ago.

When I keep my goal in mind, I'm properly motivated to endure the pain of working out!

Take that to a spiritual level. My old nature HATES to love, forgive, serve, etc. I'd rather do so many other self-focused things. Simply trying hard to be a good Christian will never work. I'll fail or give up in no time.

I John 4:19 says, "We love because He first loved us." If you've spent any time in Christian circles, it can be easy to gloss over this verse. It's not until we grasp the vastness of His initial love that we can start to be motivated in the right way. I may look like a relatively good person to those around me, but my heart is desperately wicked. I have no hope to reach God's perfect standards before OR after salvation.

Christ's sacrifice is the essential daily motivation for every aspect of my life. When I'm overwhelmed by His undeserved grace, I look at "good works" as a desire rather than a duty.
Applying the gospel to everyday is a spiritual exercise motivated by Christ's unbelievable love for me!

Grace and a blog re-launch....

Grace. 
It's a word that has been a part of my vocabulary for a very long time. After all, I had a small understanding of God's gift of grace for me when I accepted Him at 5 years old. I used the word grace when explaining salvation to others. I knew I couldn't be a Christian without grace!

It's only been in the past year or so that this word has been transforming my life! The gospel of Christ has been gripping my heart in ways I've never experienced!

How could I have been so deceived to think that I needed a merciful God's favor to gain eternal life, but the rest of my Christian walk was up to me and my hard work?

I served our church alongside my pastor husband. I tried to raise our children to love God and be "good kids". I attempted to forgive those who hurt me. I struggled to resist Satan's daily temptations.
I wanted to be a godly woman, but I was missing something.......

I finally found that something when I realized that all the good works I do are worth NOTHING to God when done in my own strength. My identity as a wife, mom, woman are already sealed through Christ's sacrifice for me. My Father can smile on my life, not because of me, but because of His Perfect Son.

As one of my favorite pastors/authors, Tullian Tchvijian says, "In Christ, I am free to fail!"

Starting to grasp the deepness of God's grace has been so special! I have fallen in love with my Jesus again. I am learning to apply grace in the mundane aspects of each day!

I want Him to be EVERYTHING to me!

My relationship with Him has been revived!

I find that each day leads me to new ways to apply the gospel in my life and I want to document it because my heart so easily forgets and wanders. That's why I decided to revive this old blog of mine with a new meaning!

When I initially started A Steady Rain, it was to document the daily blessings God pours on our lives each day. Coming up with blessings and blog posts had become a little stale after 3+ years and I decided I should come up with a new blog! However, the next two blogging ventures felt just as forced. What was the problem??

I was trying to force a passion for Him! After a year of looking back on what He's done for little me, I have a renewed desire to write about that steady rain. Those blessings look a little different to me now. Just as I can do nothing to "make" the skies open up and water the earth, I can do NOTHING to earn God's favor on me or my family. I'm not entitled to anything! It is His gift on my undeserving life.
True grace.

Will you join me as I continue to search for His daily grace?

 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him....

Colossians 2:6

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