A Life of Gratitude

  Today marks twenty-four years since I had my abortion. Most of those years I desperately avoided even thinking about what I had done, and I never acknowledged my baby. Four years ago, everything changed when I finally surrendered my story to God. Instead of running away from my past mistakes, I knew God wanted me to face them head on. On the twentieth anniversary of my abortion, I went inside the former abortion clinic for the first time. It was the scariest thing I had ever done but also brought me so much healing. Since then, every June 19th, I do something special in honor of the baby I aborted. This year I decided to do something permanent. I’ve had a tattoo with the names of my living children for several years but today, I added two butterflies to represent Taylor, the baby I aborted, and Micah, the baby I miscarried. I also had the word “Victorious” tattooed on my wrist. This word has meant a lot to me for many years. Romans 8:37 says, “But in all these things we are completel

Yesterday my mom underwent her first chemotherapy treatment to fight against breast cancer. As I sat in the room with her, the thought crossed my mind, "Maybe faith isn't even really faith until life isn't going the way we planned and we still choose to believe and trust." The more I've thought about that, the more I think perhaps people tend to consider faith to be just a feeling. We can say we have faith but we don't really know what faith is until life isn't going our way. That's when we learn what faith looks and feels like.  Without those difficult times, would we ever really need faith?  When we can walk through a difficult situation, one that may even feel hopeless, and we're still able to trust that God is in control and has good plans for us and move forward accordingly, that's true faith.  2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "For we walk by faith, not by sight." That verse doesn't say, "We think or feel by faith." It says,

If you're like me, you've probably struggled with the idea that we must act the right way, say the right things, and be "good little Christians" in order to earn God's favor. Many of us have spent our entire lives trying to earn the favor of other humans, so it's no surprise that we would believe God's favor must be earned as well. There is nothing the enemy wants more than for us to question God's goodness, doubt His love for us, and rely on our own strength. Believing we must earn God's favor is a lie straight from the pit of hell! God's favor isn't something we must earn, it's something we already have! Ephesians 2:8 tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” God's willingness to sacrifice His only Son for us, save us, and fill us with His Holy Spirit, is a beautiful gift that we could never earn. Today, I pray we will rest in the favor God has already blessed