Grace in Daily Life

  • Grace in Daily Life,  Perfectionism & Shame

    Spiritual Mothering? Mentoring? How can we possibly let someone into the muck and mire of our lives if we won’t even let them into the piles of chaos behind our closed doors?

    Discipleship? Spiritual mentoring? How can we possibly let someone into the muck and mire of our lives if we won’t even let them into the PILES OF CHAOS behind closed doors? (Yes. Yes. That is a photo from MY real house. It’s been a booger of a year. How ‘bout you?) Of course, some of us do try the whole discipleship thing. Spiritual sisters. Brothers in Christ. Etc. We tiptoe out a tiny bit and risk. We share of a habitual sin or temptation in our lives. We whisper a sincere question or doubt. AND THEN BAM! Rebuke without hope. Judgment without deliverance. Gossip in the name of prayer. Silence…

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  • Eulogy for a Bad Mother,  Grace in Daily Life

    Let me tell you just a SMIDGEN of the wonderful things about my mom …

    (I meant to have this done and posted by last week in honor of her birthday in 2011. But I found that as I remembered more and more happy memories—and as I was laid flat in bed all week feeling terrible—I just never got to the end of the first draft. So, here is a repost of the 2011 THANK YOU that I wrote for my beloved Mother and friend …) Happy (belated) Birthday, Mom! I love you! By God’s grace, and only because of my mom’s permission, I have shared pieces of our story with thousands of women at events (plus thousands more via my video series, books, radio…

  • Grace in Daily Life,  Perfectionism & Shame

    The Cross Propitiated God

    On Good Friday, I would like to share with you some of my notes from studying Romans 2 & 3 in my ESV Reformation Study Bible. I have been particularly blessed by a number of the study notes in this fine resource … In a Romans study note entitled, “Mankind’s Guilty Knowledge of God,” the editors write: “God will not allow human beings to suppress entirely their sense of God and of His judgment. Some sense of right and wrong, as well as of accountability to God, always remains. Even in the fallen world everyone is endowed with a conscience that from time to time condemns them, telling them that…

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  • Grace in Daily Life

    Let’s try hard to be discerning and grounded without always looking for the next theological misstep in our friends, our family, or the songs we sing …

    Loved this post by Kevin DeYoung:   The Crust and the Core But be sure to follow his advice and read to the end. If you only cheer at the first few paragraphs, you may miss some important insights about yourself in the last few paragraphs. 

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  • Grace in Daily Life,  Perfectionism & Shame,  Redemptive Relationships

    I can move forward in love for others and not be so devastated by others’ (de)valuation of me because of Christ.

    I take absolutely no pleasure in the suffering of my friends—so I was brought to my knees this past week when I learned how deeply and terribly my dearest sister in Christ was being hurt, not by unbelievers, but by Christians. Christians in her own church. Her own church leaders for whom she has faithfully prayed and submitted to (with joy) for years and years! How is it possible that   It made me mad. It made me sick. It drove me to pray—so that’s one good thing. Plus! I’m getting to email more with my friend, which I love. Although the topics are still making me pretty sick to…

  • Fear Not!,  Grace in Daily Life

    Just Tell Them You’re Not a Christian. Nothing is Worth Dying For.

    If you have ever listened to my testimony, you know that when God saved me way back in 1984 (my freshman year of high school), I was a bonafide Christian jerk. Yes, I had heard the distinct call of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. Yes, I wanted to be forgiven all my sins; have a new heart; be the daughter of God, etc. That was all fine and well and remains the defining moment of my life and the most important thing to me, bar none. But, unfortunately, along with the true gospel, I also heard the distinct call to be a “good person” and I tried, in…

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  • Grace in Daily Life

    God’s sanctifying grace clawing deeper and deeper into my heart is bloody, painful, and embarrassing—but so, so good

    This week’s friend-prayer group was off the chart SO convicting, edifying, BLESSED that I’m just not even sure I can describe it for you. (Oh, and OF COURSE, I did NOT want to go. The alarm went off and I said to Fred, “I don’t want to go.” He said: “Go!” I whined, “It’s cold. I’m too tired.” He said: “Go! You’ll be glad you went.” And he was SO right.) Let me try to capture just a portion of the conversation for you … We had been discussing the worship music at our church and how, at the end of even the best of the best of pieces, we…

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  • Grace in Daily Life

    Growth in Grace Measured over YEARS …

    Eleven years ago, a woman in my church quoted Peacemaking Women to me: “Tara? People don’t need fixing, they need growing. And growth is measured in terms of years, not projects.” What a kind thing to say. What a gracious way to live. Six months later, this woman’s sister wrote me an email that was similarly kind: “Tara? We all struggle. Sometimes we struggle with the same thing over and over again and it seems like we are not making progress. But herein lies the truth: God is at work. His will is to sanctify his children. And nothing can thwart God’s will. God IS working in us, Tara – because He…

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  • Grace in Daily Life,  Redemptive Relationships

    Uncharitable Presumptions & Being Really, Really TIRED

    Today would have been a very easy day to think some extremely uncharitable presumptions about me. I didn’t make it home from my event until midnight (which was around 1AM for my body because of the time zone differentials. Getting ready for church felt like I was lifting arms and legs made of 300 pounds of concrete. But I did it—I was eager to be at corporate worship and happy to be together as a family. Still. If you were one of the 500 people past whom I walked without a cheerfully greeting? (I tried! Believe me, I tried! But it got to the point where a migraine started in…

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