From the archives.
I was reminded of this piece when a friend text me this morning how happy her heart is to be with her children (who live out of state.) Many of you have walked with us long enough to read this and know that the pregnancy of our “first grandchild” mentioned is our sweet precious Blake. This piece was written in April, we could have never known what July would bring, with the premature birth of our little guy. Reading this piece back now through that lens is all the more profound. The Lord is good.
“Oh, if we could only bottle up this moment!”
My husband @BiblicalMan and I are in Florida this week visiting our oldest two children—now grown and living their own beautiful stories.
It’s been many years since the two of us traveled alone, just husband and wife, which makes this trip even more precious.
We’re staying with our oldest son and his lovely new bride in their cozy home, where a happy pup with ears far too big for her body begs for me to throw her favorite rope toy just one more time.
My sweet daughter-in-law is carrying our first grandbaby, and every glance in her direction stirs a gentle awe in my heart.
Sitting at my son’s table as a guest is a tender reversal of roles—a humbling, beautiful transition I never anticipated would touch my heart so deeply.
Our daughter, too, is here in Florida with her beau.
Watching her now—radiant, joyful, and filled with peace—warms my heart more profoundly than I can explain.
Last year had its share of growing pains for her—nothing unusual, just the normal bumps that most young adults encounter—but to see her today, thriving and deeply happy, brings a peace to my heart that only a parent could truly understand.
Before leaving home for this visit, I found myself thinking often about a phrase shared recently by Heather at To Sow A Seed:
“It’s better to have an imperfect something than nothing.”
I tucked this wisdom close to my heart as we left our three youngest children up north.
Of course, in my ideal world, all five of our children would be together for every holiday, under one roof, around one table.
But that’s simply not our current season, and if I’d let that longing consume me, I would have missed the gift God had prepared in this very moment.
Right here, right now, my heart echoes the beautiful truth found in the Scriptures:
“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” (3 John 1:4 KJV)
This is the joy my heart feels right now: my grown children walking faithfully with the Lord.
Serving Him in their Bible college studies, in ministry, in soul-winning. Passionate about God’s Word and striving toward purity, humility, and faithfulness.
It fills me with a gratitude that nearly breaks my heart wide open.
When I look back, I see how earnestly my husband and I tried to raise them right, to teach them truth, to model grace—but oh, I also see clearly how often we fell short.
We stumbled.
We failed.
But through those shortcomings, God showed us the depths of His mercy.
He stepped in, filled the gaps, mended the cracks, and took our imperfect efforts and made something beautiful from them.
He restored what we thought we had broken and gave grace we could never deserve.
And now, sitting here quietly, drinking in this imperfectly perfect weekend, my heart wishes I could bottle up every moment—every laugh shared, every story retold, every hug received—and hold onto it forever.
But life isn’t meant to be held in bottles or kept on shelves. It’s a mosaic of beautiful shards, pieced together from joy and sorrow, victory and defeat, ashes and beauty.
I know enough of life to know this calm, sunny season won’t always be ours. Storms come, and trials arise.
But without the storms, would we ever truly know the sweetness of sunshine? Without valleys, could we appreciate the mountain tops?
It’s in this sacred blend of pain and pleasure, joy and heartache, peace and turbulence that God creates His greatest masterpieces.
And today, in this sunlit moment of peace, I’m profoundly thankful—for every scar and every struggle that taught me to treasure this day all the more.
I’m grateful for the One who restores what the cankerworm has eaten (Joel 2:25 KJV).
Grateful for the God who gently holds our fragile lives and transforms our brokenness into something lasting and beautiful.
Today, as the sun sets over this precious moment, I will carefully bottle it up—not on a shelf, but in my heart—and offer it back to God in quiet thanksgiving.
For today, for this perfectly imperfect weekend, and for every breath of grace He’s granted, I say simply:
Thank You, Lord, for another day
Biblical Womanhood
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“When You Can’t Control It: A 6-Week Bible Study for Those Who Are Tired of Worrying, Overthinking, and Carrying Everything” for the friend whose mind has been working three shifts while the rest of the house sleeps.
You love your people, take your duties seriously, and have slowly begun carrying outcomes, hearts, decisions, and futures that God never placed under your authority.
This study keeps the Bible open.
Each week remains inside one primary passage long enough to see what is actually happening there before rushing toward a comforting application.
We sit with Moses while Jethro tells him the load will wear him away, listen to Christ speak about the tomorrow we keep trying to live today, watch Sarah reach for an outcome after years of waiting, walk beside Jairus through an interruption, separate the spies’ facts from the report fear wrote around them, and finish with Hannah pouring out her soul before anything visible changes.
There are questions to answer honestly, passages to mark, and one practical act of release for each week.
This is meant to be worked through with a Bible and a notebook, because worry grows vague and enormous when it is never required to finish a sentence.
If you are tired of carrying what was never yours to govern, this study is the right next step.
I also want to explain why I am releasing it differently.
I am making this a fundraiser-style purchase for this ministry.
The minimum is $5.25, and anyone who wants the study at that amount can take it at that amount.
