Grace and Love When Parenting is Really Hard

Jaime Wiebel — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 11:00:28 +0000

Grace and Love when Parenting is Really Hard

When I was in college my roommate and I always joked that being school teachers was going to be our backup plan. We were working at getting degrees until we were able to do what we really wanted to do. What we really wanted to be stay-at-home-moms.

But then my plans didn’t go as I thought and when I finally did become a mom it was harder than I could have ever imagined.

My little kids who I thought were just perfect, weren’t. The parenting skills that I thought I was born with, lacked love, compassion, patience, kindness and on lots of days, much-needed grace.

False Illusions

One of the hardest things I have ever done is parent. In parenting, some of the hardest things I have had to overcome were the false illusions that everything would turn out the way I had imagined, wanted, or dreamt up as a child.

The reality of parenting has often been my most shattering moments. I have experienced great joys but also great losses and hardships.

Growing up I had the false illusion parenting was going to be an easy job.
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I always assumed that I was going to be great at it all the time. After all, I love kids.

In reality, not trusting God through parenting also left me with the illusion that it was more than I could bear. When I first became a parent I wasn’t walking with the Lord. I found myself not trusting anyone to have my child, even my own husband.

The burdens and fears overtook me and left me with sleepless nights.

The gap I had created between God and myself, left me feeling alone and overwhelmed.

The overwhelming weight of kids getting hurt, becoming ill, or even not surviving their own childhood, terrified me. So I took to the unrealistic assumption that I could control everything myself.

For more encouragement and to finish this post on parenting, hop over to Kelly Baker’s site for 15 days of Walking with God. There you will find other great articles and some giveaways including the Parenting Kit that I created to encourage to Grace and Love when Parenting is Really Hard.

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The post Grace and Love When Parenting is Really Hard appeared first on Seeking God with Jaime Wiebel.

Grace and Mercy

Jaime Wiebel — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 14:02:00 +0000

I recently posted this picture.

It sparked quite a bit of interest and so I thought
we would dive into this topic a little more.

John 1:14 says The Word became flesh and made his
dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son,
who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

I just love this verse. It actually kind of makes me
envious to be quite honest of the men and women that were able to witness this.
I would have loved to live there and walk with Christ, hold His hand, and hear
Him speak of His Heavenly Father. What an amazing thought. Amen.

As believers
we often times long for the coming of Christ or just for the moment that we
will be in His presence and sitting at His feet. I love the pictures that are depicted
of Christ with little children surrounding Him. What a perfect portrait of a
God who loves His children so much that He is sitting among them.

John 1:1 tells us leading information for verse 14
it says: In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The Word was God.
Both of these verses use the same Greek word. Logos which means Word. Verse 14
says the Word became flesh. So God became flesh. And made His dwelling among
us. John was a witness to His glory. He was a witness to the glory of the One
and Only Son.

What makes my heart melt about this verse is just
the comfort of knowing that my God is not unreachable. He loved us so much that
He came down and made His dwelling among us. He is not some far out unreachable
deity that I can never attain. He came here to die for my sins and for yours.

The thought of one day being able to be in the
presence of my Lord is not unreachable. It is not unattainable. Why? Because of
His Grace and Mercy.

I like the NLT version of this verse. Isaiah 59:12
says: For our sins are piled up before God and testify against us. Yes, we know
what sinners we are.

I think that we can all be honest about sin. It is
the things we think, say or do against God. Most of us are aware of our
imperfections. No I don’t mean crooked noses or teeth. I’m talking about things such as anger, hate, greed, malice,
lying, and deceit. We’ve all been there.

Isaiah 59:12 explains my sin as it really is. Before
a God that is perfect they are piled up. Like my dirty laundry it is just piled
before me. They testify to the person
that I am without Christ.

Because of my sins, I deserve a consequence, a
penalty. The penalty before me is death.

On the cross God extended His Grace to me. He looked
at my pile of dirty laundry and He said I will make it white as snow. And He
laid it upon His Son. What do I deserve
for the choices that I have made? What do I deserve for all that has piled up
before my Lord?

I certainly don’t deserve God’s forgiveness. This is
God’s Amazing Grace! Because God is merciful (He doesn’t give me what I do
deserve, which is death) He sent His Son to die on the cross for my sins, to
take my place. Because God is graceful (Grace
is when God gives us what we don’t deserve) I can live in eternity with Him in
Heaven.

Mercy = God doesn’t give me what I deserve. Grace =
God gives me what I don’t deserve

He doesn’t give me death even though I deserve it
(Mercy). He offers me life eternally with Him (Grace). That my friends is a
gift.

We experience Mercy and Grace from others so we can
see these two things played out in our everyday lives.

Mercy may look like this. You go speeding through town 10 mph over the
speed limit, police officer pulls you over, and because he is merciful (doesn’t
give you what you deserve) the police officer doesn’t give you a ticket.
Instead he smiles at you and lets you drive off with a warning.

Grace may look like this. You show up late for work,
you sit and text your friends all day long, and you take extra-long breaks.
Because your boss is graceful (gives you what you don’t deserve) you get a
raise even though you are not receiving any “Worker of the Year” awards.

Grace and Mercy. Both rely on a God that loves you
more than your sin. He did what it took to stand in your place. You see when
Christ came to dwell among us He was full of grace but not at the cost of not
speaking truth.

Truth is, we are sinners but grace wins because
Christ died on the cross in our place.

What a glorious day!

Comment below. Tell us your story of mercy and grace
from your loving Father or share with us how you have experienced grace and
mercy from those around you.