Life with Sally

I wondered if it might be fun to have you join me with a cuppa something wonderful and warm, (tea, chai, coffee, cider) and sit for just a few minutes over calm, comfort, friendship and encouragement.

Love settles the heart, offering warmth and light that encourages giftings and talents to grow strong and straight.

Patience leads to all sorts of strength — spiritual, mental, physical, skill acquisition, musical accomplishment, athletic strength, academic prowess, financial security — so many blessings come through learning to be patient.

Too often, we compare ourselves to others we think have it more together. But the truth is we are all broken in some way, but family can be the healing place—the place where we see God's grace grow and flourish.

What if each of us determined to leave light to everyone we came across, to our children, to our friends and husband? But to do that, we must be in an intimate relationship to the true source of light, Christ.

Whether in the setting of marriage, friendship, family, with colleagues, or as parents, peacemaking—the act of choosing to reach out in the work of restoration—comes from a heart that worships God.

Today, sweet mama, you are building a gift of love for yourself that will bless you your whole life. Cherish this season with your precious ones and watch it grow into something beautiful.

When we have tribulation of any kind, Jesus admonishes us to "take courage." Have courage, change your attitude from hurt to brave, from overwhelmed to "I can move through this with God's grace."

What you feed your mind determines what thoughts will direct your life. Today, my wonderful team and I are reviewing some of the books I have written and how they have transformed our lives.

Today on my podcast, Joy and I speak of other brilliant and outstanding women throughout history who have made a difference in their world, their time in history.

No one becomes excellent of character automatically from lectures, but rather from practicing skills, responsibilities, and chores together with contented spirits. Wisdom and skill require time, instruction and practice — modeling combined with gentle and patient instruction.

God created us for companionship with real people. We were born for community, love, help, encouragement, and the blessing and intimacy that comes from close friendship with others.

To dream wildly and find that some dreams really do come true is to taste the goodness that began us and the grace that aids us and the kindness that draws us on toward the healing of all things.

Giving your child a self-image of perceiving that God wants to use them in their world, will shape their work and service the rest of their lives. Giving them practice to serve each other will build strong relationships between siblings when they grow up.

So many times, we are stopped by fear of failure, or criticism, or just lack of a work ethic. But even as God is excellent, so we who are made to be like Him and to exhibit His light into a dark world, must determine to engage in the possibilities.

Building our children into godly human beings is also so much messier and costlier than we ever expected, as well as taking longer than we anticipated. But the end result will be so worthwhile.

What is accomplished in the little moments that require waiting or acting in patience is where the real legacy of relationships and passing on truth takes place.

Today, Sarah shares with me some of her "survival techniques" that have kept her going in the midst of an incredibly challenging, exhausting season. I hope you will be made to feel you aren't alone as we share our struggles, and encouraged that you, too, can bring beauty into ordinary days.

Since I was a young woman, I have been captivated by the concept of mentoring through loving, close relationships. Where did I learn all about it? From pondering the life of Christ. His way of reaching the world was by developing personal relationships, serving, and teaching the truths that came straight from the heart of God.

As I look back on the years of my life, it was not perfection that was needed, but an authentic faith, a humility, a choice to trust when the feelings weren't there.

Today, I shared on my podcast 6 Ways that I deal with the storms in my life with the scripture that keeps me fast. I hope it will be of great encouragement to you. I pray it gives you a grid to follow, to practice when you need anchors to keep you strong. And it's in the back of my book: I call it my Storm Care Kit.

I am beyond blessed to have Angela Perritt as a beloved friend, who shared her story on my podcast today. We have been the kind of friends that see each other seldom, but I know when I am with her, I will leave wanting to be my best self, being motivated to take His light into the world.

Storms have come out of the blue, invaded my life, caused destruction and devastation at times. Yet, one of the ways I learned to anchor myself was by establishing rhythms that kept me sane. I learned to take responsibility for my soul that it might continue to become more beautiful.

I'm so happy that this day has finally come — where I can move these words from my heart and into your hands. This book was born out of the thousands and thousands of women around the world who've expressed to me their own stories of dealing with life storms, and out of my personal journey as a young, idealistic woman and mother — I so often found myself in the same places as you are today.

Perspective is a wisdom that comes through experience. We see things differently because of the long view of life and what transpires over decades. Today, I was so blessed to have the opportunity to talk to Kate Battistelli, as a seasoned woman, who adds so much grace to her words and gives so much wisdom and hope.

The world can be hostile to adults who seek to live morally excellent lives, and who attempt to live lives for the glory of God. And so even now, loving, listening, encouraging, supporting, and giving my adult children a home where they will be circled in love and commitment of friendship is one of the pulls in their lives to uphold their ideals in a very challenging time.

The truth is that, even with our understanding that God walks through every moment with us, that we're never truly alone because of his unending faithfulness in our lives, we still so often feel utterly alone, unseen, and hidden beneath the dangerous waves of loneliness.

Jesus was a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief. When we experience tragedies and devastation, we can know He understands and sympathizes.

Eventually, with years of practice and determination, I learned the value of pushing through, taking just one more step when I thought it impossible. I am even shocked now to see that God was producing fruitfulness in my life beyond my imagination by helping me to keep going on His path. Endurance and perseverance by faith can lead to a treasure of blessings when the path is directed and companioned by God.

When our children learn to be diligent in one area, it spills into all areas of life. We do it through gentle, daily, little by little, consistent training during their time in our home.

I know you will absolutely treasure this Nathan and Joy's new book, The Clubhouse. It will provide hours of imagination and play for you. I hope you will get your own copy and enjoy it with your precious ones for many years to come.

Join me on my podcast today where I share more about our story of marriage, some content from Help, I'm Drowning about our marriage, and the ways we were able to live through the storms that came blowing through the many twists and turns of our lives.

What you teach, model, and practice for your children is what they are most likely to value when they grow up. Give them small ways to be faithful in your home, so they can become strong in exercising bigger stewardship muscles when they are adults.

Sometimes we carry difficult marriages, past scars, the tension of hard relationships that will never end, financial burdens, guilt for our failures. But God longs for us to rid ourselves of these performative works expectations that we carry inside.

Today on my podcast, I talk about the kind of friend that helped me make it through some of my darkest days. I hope you will share it, too, and be encouraged to be that kind of a friend for someone who needs your love today.

When we capture the reality of God's nature being extravagantly generous on our behalf, this character quality born in our lives and trained into the lives of our children, reflects a wordless picture of a love that will reach hearts.

Our faithfulness ensures that our children may be trained in spiritual strength, moral excellence, and the influence of righteousness. I pray that every day, you will have a vision for understanding how very much each day of your faithful serving as a mom matters to God and to His wonderful plan to create us for this role.

Cultivating a life filled with beautiful rhythms, life-giving rituals, attitudes of gratefulness, is what shapes our hearts and minds in the midst of the storms. The agency we have to believe forward in God's goodness and faithfulness will make every day meaningful, every day a gift, as we wait with hope.

As I have been praying about releasing Help, I'm Drowning into the World, I hoped that it would be a book where women would feel seen, understood, and validated. I'd love for you, my kindred spirits, to join me, be a part of a robust community, and help share my newest book with the world. So if you did not get in before, now is your chance!

Choosing to be satisfied with what we have, laying our desires and dreams in God's hands, learning to love and bring light into the broken places we inhabit is the beginning of learning to be content.

When we add up a life of faithfulness in serving God, grace, wisdom, failure, forgiveness, compassion -- it is thousands of moments of choosing to persevere, one moment at a time. But it is only in making those small choices, when no one else can see, that we find ourselves progressing on the path of the righteous.

Thankfulness requires us engaging in looking for ways we might worship God, and then verbalizing our gratefulness. This week, every day, notice things that God has provided, and thank Him for each way He has worked and blessed your life.

Have you ever felt you needed to hide your feelings from the Lord? He is not surprised, nor does He condemn you. Jesus is our advocate, our God, ready to comfort us with sympathy and understanding.

Do you wonder how you will ever get out from this place — the place of financial crisis, serious health problems, loss of job or relationship and are paralyzed to know what to do? There will always be life storms to overcome and survive — that is why I wrote Help, I'm Drowning.

If we want our children to be godly leaders in this world, they must see self-sacrificing, humble forgiveness in and through our words, our lives and our actions.

Little by little, we must strengthen our children's muscles of brining hope to their world by giving them the opportunity to be sources of hope and comfort and love to those in need.

Words have influence over who a human being becomes. That is why we must consider how to invest words of love, hope, truth, and encouragement, practice saying them regularly, and why we must teach children to ponder what words of life are and how to give them to others.

Through almost seven decades of life, I found myself tossed about in overwhelming life storms through many different seasons. In Help, I'm Drowning, I reflected on challenges that took me by surprise. Though there are no easy answers, I would like to help lead you to the One who is with us and will see us through.

At 68, I can see that somehow, as I literally cried through these life storms, as I begged God for help and wisdom, He was there, even when I could not feel or see him. This week, I am gently sending Help, I'm Drowning out into the world. I pray you will be encouraged.

If a child grows up serving, it will become natural to them. Making " I love you" cards, plates of cookies for neighbors, and serving meals at the homeless shelter helped our children to learn to give time and effort to ease someone else's life. We are called the serve one another, just as Jesus called his disciples to serve along beside him and in this practice.