Guided By Grace Life Coaching

It's been a few days since I last posted on here, but I've been thinking about what I wanted to say for a good week. I try to use this blog to sort out what I hear God revealing to me and hopefully in the process of posting those things, I encourage some of you as well. I've been thinking a lot lately about grace. And apparently so are lots of others, because between Facebook and the e-newsletters that I receive there has been a LOT said about grace in the last week or so. Do you struggle with receiving grace? I sure do. I realized that because I have such a hard time receiving God's grace in certain areas in my life, I then don't offer myself any grace in those areas either. Makes sense really. How can I give myself grace if I haven't first received the gift of grace that God offers me? Have you ever looked at it quite like that before? Refusing a gift from God? I mean, come on. Have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous? It reminds me of this story I hea...

I'm struggling today with finding time to do it all. You know...be a good friend, mother, wife, memory maker, etc. It seems like life is flying by, and I'm not living it so much as just making it through. We went today and celebrated the life of an amazing friend, Eric Fox. This last statement is definitely NOT something that can be said about Eric. He didn't just live his own life to the fullest, he touched as many lives along the way as possible and encouraged everyone he met to live their lives to the max too. Someone said today at his funeral that he probably touched more lives in his 40 years on this earth than most people do in 80. So very true. I'm a better person for having known him and am blessed to call he and Lori our friends. So, I guess, nothing like the death of an amazing man to make you think really hard about your own life. Dave and I talked about this some yesterday, and we're both feeling the same about this. Feeling like we're just going t...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdsXz6MtXkk

I'm sitting here right now, full of tears, thinking of a dear friend who went home to be with the Lord yesterday. If you know Eric, you are probably feeling much the same way. He fought the good fight with ALS , but at age 40 the horrible disease took him up to heaven. The fact that he's now in heaven, no longer in pain and laughing with Jesus is hard to imagine...yet a relief to know it's true. What stinks are the people left here on earth to live the rest of their lives without this amazing man. Particularly his wife and their two children. Their two young children. I think Zach is 13 and Maddie is 7 (or something close to that). Even though Lori and the kids had plenty of time to know this was coming and to try to prepare themselves for this day, I'm sure the reality of it is just unbearable. I mean, even I was tossing and turning most of the night, trying to process this. Then this morning as soon as I sat in front of the computer and started reading more Facebook ...

(This picture was taken by the kids when we all went to DeVos for the Hope College Musical Showcase. The kids thought it was the most boring thing ever...but at least Dave and I sort of got a date night out of it. The "mundane" was made fun to us...and how can you not enjoy our smiles.) I should be cleaning...but instead I'm in the mood to write. I think it's the cloudy weather. It takes away my ambition and makes me very contemplative all at the same time. It's just amazing what a difference the sun makes! And the "Son" makes. You know that feeling you get when you first fall in love? That butterflies in your stomach kind of excitement? Well, thankfully I still get that way when I think about my husband. Which I think is pretty awesome after almost 10 years of marriage. But, that's not what this post is about. No, lately I've felt that way about my relationship with the Lord! God has been so alive and real and present in my life lately, that He...

OK, so I'm feeling really guilty right now. The kids and I are playing an April Fools' joke on Dave...but he's so excited about what I told him that I can't bear to tell him it was just a joke!! He's a huge MSU fan, so I told him I got registered on a radio station's Final Four give-away. I think he's been thinking about how cool it would be to go ever since I e-mailed him. I'm going to let the kids shout "April Fools!" when he gets home. (Both so they can have the fun of saying it and so I don't have to feel so bad when he gets all bummed.) The kids enjoyed the one I pulled on them this morning: Jell-O posing as juice. Luke noticed his first and then couldn't contain his laughter as Mikayla sat down at the table in front of her glass. It was pretty hilarious to see all 3 of them react. Is this day "celebrated" in your house? My Mom was always pulling pranks on her friends growing up. And her Mom did too. I guess it's a fa...

Well, it's official: our vacation is actually coming to an end. I mean, yes we left Florida on Sunday morning and arrived home safely last night...but today was still vacation day for Dave, so if he's home it's still vacation. Oh well. The end was inevitable. We were blessed with amazing weather (Florida had cold/rainy weather before we got there and after we left, but was just about perfect every day we were there). And even though we didn't "do" a whole lot other than whatever we were in the mood for, we still managed to create lots of great memories and take lots of fun pictures. I've come home much more refreshed and energized to re-enter our busy schedule. I was going to put busy "routine", but I've decided there isn't much routine about my life. So, I have to share a story from our trip home. You know I'm always looking for the lesson in everything and wondering what God wants me to learn next. So, of course there was such a mom...