Being Emptied

It comes whether we find ourselves ready for it or not.

 It happens slowly but it's as though we don't notice.

Until suddenly, something in us awakens and we see it bursting forth and we find things all different.

Life sprinkles steadily to the ground to be absorbed, all rotten.

There is beauty in even this-the shedding of the old to make way for the new.

 It's shedding means life is full of promise.

It requires a stillness and a time of emptiness but life will come again. 

We are only emptied so new life can come forth in it's due season.

October....Really?

I am finding it hard to believe that it is already October. Although the weather is cooling down and the leaves are changing into beautiful colors and even beginning to fall. Time passes so quickly. In a month my first born baby boy will be turning 14. AHHHHH.....not so fast.

What My Boys are Made of...

Grass stained jeans.
Dirty fingernails.
Constant hunger.
Cardboard guns.
Saturday morning cartoons.
Bruises and scrapes.

Tossing footballs.
Dirty, bare feet.
Lego creations.
Peanut butter and jelly.
Nerf gun wars.
Wrestling.
Bicycles and skateboards.
Newfound acne.
Tree climbing.
Stinky socks.
Adventure books.
And GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL HEARTS!

Spilling Sin

Again. Really, AGAIN?

The ugliness of my own sin makes me cringe to admit that it happens not so often

FAR. TOO. OFTEN.

I watched them, those words of sin,
spilling from my wretched mouth.

Nearly as soon as they came tumbling out
 I longed to shove them back in.

To swallow them hard and to choke on them
if that's what it takes.
Lord, help me be a women of few words.
Help me season them with mercy and grace.

^"Words from the mouth of a wise man are gracious,

while the lips of a fool consume him."

Ecclesiastes 10:12

Romans...The Depth of His Great Love

If you had asked me a couple of weeks ago what my favorite book of the Bible was I would have said James. I don't know why...I am weird I guess. Not that James is so uplifting, really it is disturbingly challenging. BUT lately I have been dwelling and soaking in the book of Romans and I am falling in LOVE. I've read it many times before but isn't it like GOD to put you right where you need to be for a moment or a season.

I need Romans and I find it filling the depths of my heart with HIS great love. We, so undeserving, so sinful, so full of our own selfish, prideful flesh. Yet, He, so full of GRACE and immense love that He purposefully lavishes upon us. I know nothing sweeter and I am in awe of such a wonderful savior.

Getting Older

Today is my 38th birthday. Weird. When you are a kid you think 38 is SO old. Although I am "feeling" 38 more than previous birthdays (it seems so close to 40) many days I still feel like a kid myself. Honestly, there are those days that I look at my husband and boys and wonder how did I get here? How is it possible that I have been married to this man of mine for nearly 15 years? How is it possible that I have two sons in Junior High this year? Funny how life just sneaks by and you find yourself looking back wondering where have so many hours, days, months, years gone.

After Africa

You may have noticed that I changed the name of my blog from After Africa to Grace"FULL" Moments. I felt it was time. After Africa hung almost like a question in the air. Me wondering Lord now what? What is after Africa? I am not sure what the answer is honestly other then living in the moment which I am finding FULL of HIS GRACE which helps me be present with Him here, now.