The 3 Levels of You

Every believer is walking their journey of faith. I've been reflecting on the 3 versions of me. When I'm selfish, when I'm struggling, and when I'm surrendered. God is always calling us deeper in our heart. I hope this helps fellow parents out there.

1. Casual Christian
This stage is more about a label than a relationship. It’s when we say we’re Christians, but our lives don’t look much different than the world’s.

2. Complaining Christian
Here, we believe in Jesus, but everything feels like a burden. Our thoughts sound like: “Woe is me. I have so much to do. Life is just too hard.” The focus is on how heavy things are, and we miss the joy God wants to pour into us.

3. Celebrating Christian
This is where transformation happens. The same chores, the same responsibilities, the same busy days...but a whole new heart. Instead of “I have to,” it becomes “I get to.” We see that every moment is a gift from God. We are full of praise only because our eyes are fixed on His goodness in every detail.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters* (Col 3:23) *sometimes our toddlers can feel like our masters!

Lord, help me see my day through Your eyes. Because when I see them through mine, I just make more a mess out of things. Forgive me when I complain or forget the blessings right in front of me. Give me a heart full of gratitude, so that every task, every responsibility, and every interaction becomes an offering of praise to You. Amen.

Did Charlie Kirk "deserve" to die? Yes. And he deserved much worse, eternal hell. In fact, we all do.

The Bible is clear that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and because of this, "the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). But this is exactly why "Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).

God does not "owe" us anything, and none of us can stand before our holy and perfect God to demand anything from Him. Having said that, Charlie was a genuine Christian who is with Jesus now, and whether a Christian liked or disliked his political views, we will see our brother in Christ again someday. This is because he trusted in Jesus' death and resurrection. Jesus took the punishment we deserved so that “whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

As Christians we are not afraid to engage politics, because the lamb that was slain transcends donkeys and elephants. Whenever conversations like these take place, especially among atheists, we are called to re-direct people to Jesus, the highest truth, making disciples among all nations.

An Introduction to (this) Community

“This is the highlight of my month.” Without fail, someone in our mom crew utters this phrase at least once during our monthly gathering. To be fair, our gatherings are nothing fancy or official: just a handful of young moms who met through church getting together for dinner and talking (always for much longer than we anticipate). I guess the fun made our husbands jealous because now the dads have a monthly(ish) gathering, too (though I doubt they talk as much or laugh as hard, and I can assure you they don’t stay out as late). 

Why is this time so valuable to all of us? Because in this season of raising little people (and honestly in every season), we need a place where others understand the struggles we’re going through: lack of sleep, temper tantrums, and (for the ladies) our own hormones. Our gatherings provide a place where we can openly talk about the most intimate parts of our lives that even our husbands or best non-mom friends sometimes don’t get (they can’t understand or probably want to know about pelvic floor therapy or potty training woes). The truth is, parenting is hard and we can’t do it alone. 

God created us to need one another from the very beginning. The only thing that God says is “not good” in the pre-fall sinless Garden of Eden is Adam being alone. That fact should drive home to us the importance of community. In a world without sin, where Adam had perfect intimacy with God, he still needed other people.

Community is essential for a healthy human life, a healthy Christian life, and a healthy parenting life. Parenting can be lonely work (who knew it was possible to feel alone when you can’t even go to the bathroom by yourself?),and we parents need people in our lives walking beside us and keeping us sane.

But let’s be honest, community is sometimes tough to find, especially when you have little people in your life. That’s where this forum comes in. The goal of this forum is to give you that “parent’s night out” experience on your own time, wherever you are, in those little moments when your kids are napping or watching some Wonderful Works videos or trying very hard for long periods of time to take the cap off of an empty water bottle (my youngest child’s current obsession). It’s a place where you can post questions, learn from other moms, share a funny parenting story and just have some adult time in the midst of kid life.

You get out of a community what you give, so don’t hold back. Community involves conversation, so here’s a few questions to get the conversation flowing:

Do you feel connected to a community right now? Why or Why not? If not, what are your biggest barriers to finding community? If yes, what does community look like for you in your current season? 

• Weekly Topics We want to share with you and your family a weekly topic on family discipleship. We would love for you to post and comment. The goal is to be a place to grow our spiritual formations. We know the best way for our littles to become disciples of Jesus is for them to see us model for them!