Heartfelt Thoughts From A Mother To Her Daughters

Conviction Verses Shame

Conviction verses shame, I though I should write to you girls a little something about the subject. I mean what is the difference ? First let me say, I do not think shame comes from God. Both carry a heavy feeling in your stomach and heart. A feeling calling you to change, a feeling of repentance. But conviction to me has a joy to it, a feeling that “yes, now I see how wrong I was and now I can move forward, now I can do better“. Where shame is just that heavy feeling. There is never a release, it is all encompassing. I find when I feel shame, all the sudden nothing about me is good. All my past failures come back and haunt me. Things I have asked forgive for and moved forward, seem to pull me back, making me feel I have never changed. More importantly shame makes me feel I do not deserve forgiveness, I do not deserve change.

But this is a lie. Nobody is perfect, everyone struggles everyday to die to ones selfish self. But everyday also offers hope, change, growth, forgiveness is just around the corner. God tell us in His word

Romans 14:22

The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.

and

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

and

1 Corinthians 4: 14-16

I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. So I urge you to imitate me.

Yes, there is conviction, guilt, consequence for our actions when we sin. But the only thing holding us back, is ourselves. Forgiveness, redemption, growth, freedom, it always right there. It is God grace and gift to us, all we have to do is ask. So remember when you have repented and asked Gods forgiveness, it is done. Do not look back xoxoxox

Psalm 103:12

As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us

Gentle Kindness And Tender Mercies

 

I want to thank dear Tracey, for letting me share her post on my blog. I have all of Tracey's books and I remember when I first read this story and was soo touched by it. I read it to the girls this morning and they were touched by it too. Thank you so much Tracey for being so generous with all of us xoxo

 

 

 

Gentle Kindnesses and Tender Mercies

"I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessing on this house...."
--John Adams

I once heard a story about an immigrant family who, after arriving in this country, owned virtually nothing but the clothes on their backs. They were living in a tiny shack that had stood empty for years. When a group of charity workers came by with food for this family, they were startled by what they found inside the shack.

The first thing they noticed when the door was opened to them was the old wooden floor--it was scrubbed clean and gleaming from a wood wax. The smell of apples and cinnamon wafted through the air from a simmering pot set upon a circle of coals on the hearth. A gentle fire crackled in the river-rock fireplace.

A large round table, in the center of the one room, was covered with a floor-length cloth of dark-green-and-white-checked gingham. (They later discovered the table was an over sized spool discarded by a cable company.) The windows were clean and framed by simple curtains, made from the same green-and-white-check fabric as the tablecloth. They hung, not from metal rods, but from thin branches of a willow tree.


"....let us face the tasks of living with joy and embellish ordinary days with comfort, beauty, and a renewed faith in the fact that the most precious things in this life are those things that no amount of money can buy."


The most amazing thing of all was an evergreen garland that graced the chipped plaster walls. It was composed of ordinary items from the local woods. Boughs of evergreen and pine cones were tied onto a length of heavy twine with torn strips of the same gingham fabric. it was looped into swags and hung just under the ceiling. It looked for all the world like an expensive wallpaper border. The ladies from the aid society were asked to sit down on what looked like a small backless sofa with bright red cushions. In truth, it was a series of wooden fruit crates, draped in a loosely fitted slipcover made of the same green-and-white gingham. The lady of the house graciously offered a drink of fresh water to her visitors, while thanking them for their generous gifts to her family.

Perhaps this is an extreme example, yet it beautifully illustrates the philosophy of frugal luxuries. With this attitude in mind, let us face the tasks of living with joy and embellish ordinary days with comfort, beauty, and a renewed faith in the fact that the most precious things in this life are those things that no amount of money can buy.


Excerpt Above From: Frugal Luxuries: Simple Pleasures to Enhance Your Life and Comfort Your Soul, by Tracey McBride, 1996
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