Fearless Faith: Lesson Learned from a 3 Year Old

Fearless Faith?

Isn't faith void of fear? Maybe for you, but for me, faith is more like looking down at a canyon bottom knowing the only way to cross is to jump, believing I can make it--if I can work up the courage, but so scared to try.

 

As I'm wrapping up my first novel, preparing for the final edits (if there really such a thing as final edits), and looking forward to publishing and all that entails, I find myself doing a lot of that whole fear thing again. It's pretty unattractive. I stand in the mirror, hair frazzled, coffee stains on my t-shirt, eyes wide. Can I do this? Who am I to write a novel? Why would God want to use me, and who in the world would ever read something I wrote? Then I start doing this weird deep breathing thing, and thank God my husband is at work so he doesn't have to see this. What if someone actually reads my novel, hates it, and writes a terrible amazon review? What if I completely fail and people use the pages of my book as toilet paper!? Or what if I succeed, and I can't respond to their emails in time, and tick off my readers, and they start badmouthing me all over the place? What if everyone starts thinking I'm like this super Christian that never messes up, and I completely blow it, fall off a pedestal they've put me on, and ruin the message of Christ for everyone!?

 

Wow. I really need to get it together. It's crazy how I'm afraid to fail and succeed!

 

My daughter, God bless that little free spirit, is fearless. She knows no bounds, and I deeply admire that characteristic. Just the other day, she was jumping from the swingset landing area--about 3 foot high--, and loving every minute of it.

 

I ran over to her. "Honey, don't do that. You'll get hurt."

 

She smiled, bobbing her head. "It's okay, Mommy. After I get hurt, I'll get better."

 

Her answer stunned me, cracked me up, and then hit me to the core. My child was speaking God's truth to me!

 

I've lost count of how many times God's Word says, "Don't be afraid," "Be courageous," "Do not fear." Apparently fear is a common theme throughout humanity. Ugh, it's tough being human. By the way, I still made my daughter get down from the landing--ain't got time for a trip the emergency room.

 

Here's the deal. It's okay if I fail, 'cause after I get hurt, I'll get better. And it's okay if I succeed; God will keep me...I'll ask Him to EVERY SINGLE DAY, pestering Him all of the time with my request to keep me from being a stumbling block to others in their Faith.

 

My conclusion?  This is what I will tell myself in the mirror when I start having a highly unattractive freak out moment:

1: I am a daughter of the King, and He says I have value no matter if a million people read my book or if no one reads it; no matter if people love it or hate.

2: God has given me a desire to write, and a story to share, so I'm gonna do just that.

3: I have faith, and even if I get hurt, it'll be okay 'cause I'll get better.

 

What about you? Ever had issues stepping out on Faith? I'd love to hear about it! :)

 

 

Fun Project Friday! Sea Salt Painting!

Sea Salt Sensations!

Getting Crafty with the kiddos!

It's been a consistent goal of mine to be more intentional with how I interact with my kiddos. It's so easy for me to stay busy with housework, writing and editing, and volunteering for one million things, that I sometimes...well...BIG CONFESSION here people, so no judging...I sometimes find myself saying "Mommy can't play right now," or "Just a few more minutes, and I'll be right there." I have to make myself wake up and realize my babies are growing up, so it's important for me to make the time to roll on the ground with them, do messy crafts, laugh and make silly faces. Being intentional works...setting mothering goals works, and so does this awesome craft below!!! LOVED doing this probably more than the kids.

Supplies:

• Construction Paper
• Glue (I'm an Elmer's gal)
• Sea Salt (Course works best, but I went with the find ground stuff we had on hand)
• Water Color Paints
• Paint Brushes
• Small Towel if your child is prone to beautiful messes like mine

Step 1: Use the glue to draw different designs and images on your construction paper. The kids had a great time helping to create their own designs. Yes, that's Yoda. I'm pretty proud of it. :)

Tip: Make SEVERAL images. I believe I made eight, four for each kiddo, thinking that would be plenty, BUT this craft goes fast, so if you want the fun to last, make more salty glue drawings.

Step 2: Shake salt over the glue, covering all of the glue image/design, and then shake off the excess salt over the trash can.

Step 3: Let the salty glue image dry. This typically takes 40mins to 1hr. If you're in a hurry, I suppose you could always use a hairdryer? We made cookies while we waited...well...more like, we ate the cookie dough, and made only a few cookies.

Step 4: Prep your water colors, and begin to paint the salty glue design! The salt absorbs the water, almost pulling the color from the tip of the paintbrush. Pretty magical. There were a lot of oooh's and aahh's.

 

Step 5: You're done!! The water color dries almost instantly! Hang those beauties' on the wall to show off to family and friends!

Tips:
Great idea for a Frozen themed Birthday Party
Excellent way to twist up crafts and drawings Military Children send to their deployed parent
Fun activity to use in a science class
Creative way to teach your preschooler to write his/her name, alphabet and numbers