Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, in a land far away, there was a queen who was very homesick, so she blogged. What started out as a way to stay connected to the royal family back in her home land ended up being a very therapeutic outlet for life & stuff, which brings us to today...

It's me, I'm the queen...

I've been feeling a nudge to blog again. Is that The Good Lord above telling me I have a message to get out...even if it's just to get it out of me so I stop stewin/worryin/stressin/frettin? Yall read it earlier...life & stuff.

It's a lot right? Life is like whoa! Don't hear me complaining cause this aint that!

I've been thinking a lot lately about Home...I LOVE my home. I love making my house a home. I want you to feel right at home when you come visit us. Home literally is where the heart is, right? Like if your heart isn't in it, then it can't be a home.

Crowder has an amazing song that has really been resonating with me. It's called "In The House" . Part of the reason this song is hittin different lately is because I haven't been home all summer. We've been a band of traveling gypsies with our baseball life, and not really able to enjoy the comforts of home.

Not just the home we live in, but also our church home! There was a time I couldn't even talk about The Rock of KC without crying...this was our home church while we were stationed in Ft. Leavenworth, and...in my heart, even when we came back to AL. There was just nothing like it. We hadn't seen Jesus celebrated and honored in any other churches we'd visited since being back home...then everything changed when we found our new HOME CHURCH! (yall come visit us)

Let me just tell you, if you aint plugged in to a church home...you are truly missing out! And since we'd took up our gypsy wagons and travelled all over the Southeast this summer, we hadn't seen, or enjoyed either home in a hot minute.

"Good morning Has it been a long night? Maybe been a long year, maybe been a hard life Maybe you're not alright

If you got a little red in your eyes You've come to the right place People like you, people like me This is where we all find grace..."

(lyrics from "In The House")

Yes Lord, it's been a long night wrestling demons trying to attack as we struggle with raising teenagers. Yes Lord, it's been a long year...basically since March 2020. And yes Lord, of course You know its been a hard life, and a lot of the time, I'm not alright. But every time I step into Your House, I do find grace. I always need it, have the hardest time giving it, and am always grateful when I see it.

Y'all...raising teenagers aint no joke! Everyone involved requires an endless amount of grace. We, as the parents though, we're held to a little higher standard in that we're supposed to know better, supposed to do the right thing, blah...blah...blah! It's hard! When your heart is broken with disappointment and you're overcome with a mixture of fear and anger, and then the dreaded anxiety takes hold...its like "huh? what? grace? what the??!" But yall...I've had the chance over the last few months to extend that same grace that I'm always in need of, to my children. Do they even realize what's happening? No, of course not. But it's a sweet reminder that I don't get to decide who gets it...if God is giving it to me, so undeserving....then why not these creatures known as teenagers?

I can't control what everyone else is doing in their home, I can barely handle what's happening in my own, but I can sure fire do my best, as many time as I'm given the chance, to show my family what grace looks like. I wouldn't know what this looks like if it weren't for Jesus, and the grace I receive from Him. 2 Corinthians 12:9

I will always be weak. I mean, yea I can sling a heavy barbell around from time to time, but ultimately I'm weak and I'm ok with that. These are hard thing to put into practice: grace, empathy, compassion, all the stuff that mamas are supposed to be, scratch that, all the stuff that believers are supposed to be...none of it can be done without the power of Christ.

No, I don't look like a believer everyday...did you not just read that last paragraph? WEAK! But you can bet your bottom dollar that I am. I know who Jesus is and I know that through His grace and His power I can get by. And hopefully one day, I'll be better than I am right now.

I remember before when I blogged, in many ways I felt it was a tribute to Him and, of course, a way to capture those moments in time. I don't know if I'll keep this up, or how often I'll do it...but I do want to pay tribute and honor God with all I do. For those that have cut me off in traffic...yea, I'm working on that. The potty mouth? Yep, I know....working on that too...LISTEN! I have a lot to work on, I know! And knowing that God is going to grant me grace upon grace upon grace, I'll work!

Grace be with you all. Hebrews 13:25