I Was A Guilty Mom

When our children were young, I honestly think I spent half my time feeling guilty about something.  If they were sick, I was sure it was my fault.  If they misbehaved, it was my fault.  Was I disciplining them correctly or was I ruining them?  If I finally ran out of patience and yelled at them, would they be forever damaged?  I pretty much felt a constant weight of “I’m probably doing this all wrong”.   

The weight of condemnation.

*satan's job description is the “accuser of the brethren”. {Revelation 12:10}  He accuses us of, well… just about anything we allow him to whisper in our ear.  And as moms, we seem to be prime real estate for his accusations…

You're failing as a mom.

You’re ruining your children.

I can’t believe you did that.

You’ll never be any different.
I can't believe your husband puts up with you.
I can’t believe you said that to your daughter.
I can’t believe you yelled at your son like that.
You’ll never be any better than you are… a loser.

satan is the father of lies and is expert at weaving 
a good story of shame and hopelessness.

“...He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

John 8:44 NLT

satan condemns.  And it’s awful.
Condemnation is like a heavy black weight

that sits on our shoulders and in our hearts.

It focuses on the sin.
It says you’re alone in this mess.
It says you don’t deserve forgiveness.
It says your sin’s too big and dirty to be forgiven.
It causes you to hide yourself from God in fear and shame.
It says God is an angry judge just waiting for you to mess up.
It says you’ll never change and you’re not worthy of God’s love.
It causes you to focus so much on yourself that you lose sight of God. 

To those who have been redeemed by the 
precious blood of Jesus, condemnation is an impossible lie. 

satan condemns.  God's grace convicts.

I'm so thankful that somewhere along the way,

 our Abba Father (and my sweet husband)

helped me realize this life-altering truth!

   

    Because we are in Christ Jesus, 

we. are. different!

"There is no condemnation to them,

 which are in Christ Jesus, who walk 

not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

Romans 8:1
 

Conviction reveals our sin. It brings Godly sorrow and leads us to repentance.

"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads 
to  salvation and leaves no regret, 
but worldly sorrow brings death."

2 Corinthians 7:10 NLT

              
Conviction always shows us the problem.... and the solution.

Conviction reminds us that we are loved, even when we mess up. 
 

Conviction is life-giving!

Conviction stings.  But it also soothes. 

Conviction always points us to God, His forgiveness, His discipline, and His love.

"If we confess our sins, He is 

faithful and just to forgive us our sins, 

and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

1 John 1:9 

Yes, as moms, we mess up... sometimes badly.  When we confess our sin with sincere sorrow, we receive His beautiful, redeeming forgiveness.  Do we bear the consequences of our actions and words?  You bet we do.  
But in Christ Jesus, the consequence is never condemnation!
We don't have to allow satan to bind us up
in a prison of shame, despair and guilt.  

The door has been thrown open.

We've been set free!
Hallelujah!

"The Lord sets prisoners free..."

Psalm 146:7 

*I don't believe satan deserves a capital s!

   Have you ever felt the weight and guilt of condemnation?

Do you find it easy or hard to tell the difference between condemnation and conviction?

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Leave a comment!

 Living in His grace,

  Mary  
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My Secret Sin

One of satan’s subtle deceptions is convincing us that 
we can do things in secret and they will never be revealed or discovered.   
The word of God says that everything done in darkness will one day be exposed to the light.

 "For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor 

anything hidden that will  not be known and come to light."  Luke 8:17 

Last summer I stripped off over 120 years of bubbled-up stain and paint from our front door.  It was a time-consuming, sloppy, gooey, messy, yucky job.  The paint stripper that I used was so strong that it ate through four pair of thick rubber gloves and then started on my fingers!

It took me a week of bending over that door, slathering on the solution, waiting for it to curl up, and then scraping off the gook.  Layer after messy layer was revealed. So many colors of paint... white, dark green, light green, brown, black, burgundy, pink, and several layers of dark stain.  Layers that hadn't seen the light of day in decades!
 

Lately, God’s been showing me that, oh yes; I closely resemble our old door.  I’ve had secret sins layered deep in my heart.  No one sees them; they’re nicely painted over with a pleasant color/smile.  Our Abba’s been busy pouring, slathering, waiting, pealing, and stripping... it’s been a painful process.  
Scrape!  There goes a layer revealing unbelief.   
Swipe!  There goes a layer revealing stubbornness.  
Scrape!  There goes another layer revealing pride and  self-reliance.

I’ve found that choosing to live life with secret sin has kept me bound in fear of man and God.  
The process of bringing light to the darkness has been painful, humbling, 
revelatory and oh so liberating.

Here are a few additional areas of sin that are easy to keep secret. Perhaps some are layered deep in your heart...

"But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin.  You are guilty of breaking the law."  James 2:9 {NLT}

"When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ."  1 Corinthians 8:12 {NIV}
 
"It's criminal to ignore a neighbor in need, but compassion for the poor-what a blessing!"  
Proverbs 14:21 {Message}

Add to those: bitterness, jealousy, pornography, unforgiveness, hypocrisy, and thinking ourselves above another.  We're capable and perhaps quite skilled at keeping our sin a secret from others... but never from Christ.

I’m so thankful that even the “intention of our heart” is forgiven when we repent!

“Repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you” Acts 8:22

Isn’t it awesome that as we confess our sins to the Lord, He forgives us and strips away our false righteousness?  

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous 

to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. 1 John 1:9

Thank you Lord for the peace, joy, and freedom that comes with secret sin revealed, repentance, and cleanse-me-white-as-snow forgiveness.  
I'm so grateful...

Has God been making some changes in you?
I'd love to hear about them.
Leave a comment!

 Living in His grace, 

Mary

A Pretty Little Sin

Before beginning each post, I spend time in prayer asking God what He would have me share. I always ask that He would, in some way, show me what would draw our hearts closer to Jesus and bring glory to Him. Well, some posts are easier to write than others. This is definitely an 'other'. I pray today that you will hear my heart, for I write not out of judgement but out of woeful self-discovery and a great love for you, my sister. So, here goes...

Sin...

Sin can be so...sneaky.  It clothes itself in  I just made a mistake,  it's just a bad habit,  it's harmless,  I deserve it,  it's understandable, or I have a right.   

Sin is a liar. It would have you believe that it is little and innocent and... pretty.

It sometimes looks like resentment all dressed up as understandable because...
The kids are driving you crazy, your husband didn't help with the housework, 
and your friend hasn't returned your texts. 

It sometimes looks like helping to set up for the Women's Banquet at church, 
then coming home to criticize and bash the other ladies because  
You had to do all the work.

It sometimes begins with a little harmless conversation about your husband 
to your best friend, and turns into a lunch filled with husband-bashing. 

It sometimes looks so pretty dressed up as humility.  When in reality,
you self-deprecate so that others will compliment you and build you up.  

Sin can blind us to its presence and can even convince us that we’re in the Light, even as we set up housekeeping in darkness.  It may not be loud and obvious, but it subtly and persuasively draws us away from The One who is Light and Life. 

So, what do we do with this thing called SIN? 
•We pray. 
•We search ourselves. 
•We ask our father to take  off the pretty dress that our sin is wearing and reveal that which seduces us away from Him. 
•We recognize that sin always seeks to destroy our relationship with our Father.
•We go before our Lord, and confess... telling Him everything.
•We, with broken heart, ask for and receive His forgiveness, turning away from the sin.  
And then... 
•We rejoice because He has paid the ultimate price for our sins with His very life.
•We rejoice because He has forgiven the sin that was quietly, yet surely, strangling us to death.  
•We thank Him.
•We praise His holy name.
And then we go on, only and always... with Him.  

"Finally, I confessed all my sins to You and

stopped trying to hide my guilt.  I said to myself,

"I will confess my rebellion to the LORD."

And You forgave me!  All my guilt is gone.

 Psalm 32:5 NLT

Where are you with this today?

Have you overcome a sin struggle?

Is God taking the 'pretty dress' off of a sin in your life?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Leave a comment!  

 Living in His grace, 

Mary