Grateful Acres

I've been talking with my kids about how sin destroys relationship. God's list of "do-not"s aren't for us to have religious rules to follow, but to guide us into hurting others less. If we skim over the 10 Commandments, the heart behind each of them is to protect the hearts of others: do not steal, do not envy, do not murder... I've been teaching my kids that when they are selfish or mean with each other that it damages their "buddy-ness", and when they are disobedient or disrespectful to me, it damages our relationship too. I've been guiding them into going back and repairing relationships when they realize that they have damaged them. A week or so ago I had a particularly rough morning with one of them, and the yuck piled up. As we clashed, worked it out, clashed, worked it out, each time a little remnant of "yuck" was left behind. I began to get discouraged, feeling the strain that all that discipline was putting on our relations...

When I was 18 I traveled half way across the world with my Uncle and his family to their home and mission field, Papua New Guinea. I was excited to experience such simple, beautiful, tribal life. I had arrangements to help teach a missionary family homeschool co-op, to help my cousins with their school work, to teach piano lessons, and to bring a handful of worship music to teach to the church. One of the nights that we gathered portions of the church together to learn the new songs is burned vividly into my memory. I was SO green and young (and probably sunburned), standing up front with my keyboard and small, shaky voice. My God was with me, and with a deep breath of courage I taught them: Here I am to worship Here I am to bow down Here I am to say that You're my God  It was so, so incredible to look out into their black, black open faces. The children sat in front, and their eyes were wide and receptive. As soon as they could pick up the tune, they sang out with their...

Her body was broken, but far worse her heart had been aching for far too long. She had felt waves of weariness, despair, unworthiness. She tired of praying for relief, and she faded into the crowd- unimportant, unseen, her beauty and value passed over. The deeper she fell into isolation, the deeper the enemy's lies penetrated into her heart. A Healer passed through the crowd that had swallowed her up. He weaved through the throng of people, and she watched Him. She knew He carried hope and power. She knew He was gentle and magnificent. As unworthiness washed over her again, she held her tongue and quieted the urge to call out to Him. Her hope had not completely died. Desperation pressed her to reach out her hand as He passed. She was desperate to simply feel His passing. She yanked back her hand and hid among the crowd again. She was tingling and warm, and assumed it was embarrassment for her bold move. Then the Healer stopped. He turned and called out to find the one that...