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When Christian Love Needs to be Tough
By Vanessa Rasanen There is much about this life in faith that seems confusing to those who live outside it. This shouldn’t shock us, of course, since God tells us quite clearly that His word is folly to those who don’t believe. They won’t understand why we give so much of our income to the church — even before putting any into our own savings. They don’t get why we wake up early every Sunday to get to church even when there’s a foot of snow outside. And they certainly cannot fathom why we would dare to share something as personal as our faith with those who have no interest…
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Withholding Forgiveness
By Allison Hull I’m sort of a free-range mom. I let my kids play outside in the front yard. And in the street of our cul-de-sac. Drives some of my family insane that I’d let them ride their bikes around our house without me watching them. But both they and I need the space to run free. The neighborhood kids from the block do the same. They all meet in the street to play, joke and chase each other around. And during this time at least once if not three times a day one of my kids comes in crying. I can handle it if it was because of…
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Speaking Forgiveness to Kids
By Allison Hull My eldest son is amazing. He is always looking to do more to help others. He pushes to go to church, not once, but at least twice on Sunday. He guilts me if he has to miss. He begs to go on shut-in visits and sing to everyone. He talks to anyone he meets about Christ and church, and invites strangers to come to church all the time. I routinely get told that we are raising him right, that he’s a joy to be around, how wonderful he is when asked to do something, and how selfless he is. We have been told that he truly shows…
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Unmerciful Servants: in Marriage and Life
By Mary Abrahamson Peter asked Jesus, “How many times do I have to forgive my brother?” Remember Jesus’ reply? Jesus answered with what is often called The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, which we can read in Matthew 18:21-35. A servant owed his master a great debt. In the parable, these represent God (master), and us (servant), and the debt of sin under which we live and which separates us from God (the debt). The master forgave the great debt. God, of course, forgives us our very great debt of sin, every one of our sins, and even the innate sin of our natures. For Jesus’ sake. Continuing on in the parable,…
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Offering Forgiveness When You Would Rather Not
By Vanessa Rasanen This Spring was hard. Well, about 6 months of this year was hard. I’d like to say that was solely due to our losing three babies early into the pregnancies, but to be honest, peace for our lost little ones came somewhat quickly. Much quicker than I expected. Yes, even after the first loss. Instead, I traded grief and mourning for bitterness and frustration. Okay, frustration is a lie. I was pissed. Hurt, angry, enraged. Seething, might be a good word. Someone’s words regarding that first miscarriage had hit hard and cut deep just a day or two after we found out. The initial shock and disbelief soon…
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Loving Your Neighbor When You Don’t Like People
By Vanessa Rasanen People are idiots. There, I said it. There are the morons who couldn’t be bothered to actually read my writing before commenting……. you have the time to write a scathing comment accusing me of taking my children to dive bars where they aren’t allowed, but you couldn’t take the five minutes to read where I specifically say we don’t do that? Awesome. Then there are the people who take your position on one thing and twist it into meaning something completely psycho — because of course, my wanting a big family must mean I look down on people who don’t have children or don’t want a big family, too… obviously my desire…
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A Mother’s Confession
By Vanessa Rasanen This morning I failed. Despite every effort to tackle those few hours of solo-parenting with grace and love and patience, I was running around like a banshee. The kids — though dressed, fed, and happy — weren’t listening. They were outright ignoring me, disobeying, and breaking the fourth left and right. And I was flipping out. The playroom was a pit. The roast needed to get in the slow cooker. The dogs needed to be kenneled. One kid needed water. One needed help opening the sippy cup. Another needed a diaper change. And my coffee — my poor, sad, neglected coffee — was cold. I was running…
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Thoughts on the Giving and Taking of Offense, and the Waxing Old of Bones
By Mary Abrahamson To most things in life there are two sides. So too with the issue of offense. Is it given or taken? (As a little disclaimer, I’m not talking here about Biblical giving of offense, as in causing another to sin or to stumble in his or her faith.) I’m writing here about the word offense as we use it today, in regular English. Most often when we say, “I’m offended,” we mean, “Someone made me mad or uncomfortable.” Mostly when we say, “I don’t want to cause offense,” we mean, “I don’t want anyone to be mad at me or uncomfortable because of what we say.” If…
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Our Pet Sins
By Holly Scheer The name “pet sins” has always made me uncomfortable. When I think of pets I think of cute, warm, cuddly animals– the kind of thing you nuture and like to keep around. That’s not how I like to think about my sins. It’s fitting, though, isn’t it? The sins we take in, hold close, and nuture through our lives. The ones we hold close. The ones that we excuse as just part of us. Pet sins. Having a predisposition to something doesn’t make it something that’s good for us, though. Sometimes the sins that come easiest to us are the hardest to really call sin– because that’s…
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On the Loss no one wants to discuss
Editor’s note. Because of the very sensitive nature of this post, comments will be watched carefully. Please remember your compassion before commenting. By Anonymous I am a mother but I have no child. I don’t tell people about my loss and I don’t know if I ever really will. When I think about my baby my feelings are deeply sorrowful and guilty. And ashamed. You see, I had an abortion. I am a mother with no child because my child is dead… and I bear the guilt for it. I’ve repented and been absolved. I’ve grown up more and gotten married. And yet I’ve never gotten over or moved…
