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Persevering in Purity…and Grace and Truth Link Up

August 14, 2020 by Lauren 18 Comments

I wrote this devotional I wrote a couple of years ago for a book called Perseverance:  30 Devotions for Faith that Moves Mountains.  In the midst of this marathon we are all running called Covid-19, I wanted to remind you of this resource.  At the time of this writing, Amazon has it for $7.99 in paperback and $2.99 on Kindle.  And if you use these links, I will receive a small commission.  Hang in there, friends.

 

When the Lord saw that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time, the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.  Genesis 6:5-6 HCSB

 

 

 

My 13 year old daughter schooled me.  I didn’t expect it.  I didn’t ask for it.  But that’s what happened.  One summer evening my family selected a film for movie night from an online streaming service, and God taught me a lesson.  He used my little girl to do it.

 

Here’s the low-down.  The plot of the film we chose centered on a country singer who fell in love and married; then he skyrocketed to fame when a song he wrote for his wife caught fire.  As he and his music grew in popularity, the sweet story turned sinister.   He spent more and more time on the road away from his wife and young child, and as it turns out, absence didn’t make his heart grow fonder.  The more he distanced himself, the more he exposed himself to booze and drugs.  He sank deeper and deeper into this lifestyle until a drunken night led to an infidelity.   That infidelity eventually advanced to a full-blown affair.

 

Having seen similar movies a time or two, I knew that this character would eventually come to his senses and return to his “roots” of God and family.  But my daughter, either unsure of the outcome or unwilling to experience the heartache the film caused her, ran from the room crying each time the singer strapped on a new sin habit.  Several times my husband and I paused the movie to coax her back out to join us again with promises of coming redemption in the storyline.

 

It wasn’t an easy sell to get her to finish watching the show with us.  Through tears and anger she told us repeatedly, “I HATE this” as she watched the family man turn his back on his family, dissolve his faith and obliterate his resolve.

 

In those moments I admired the tender, uncalloused heart beating in the chest of my last-born.  At the ripe old age of plenty-nine, I’ve seen too much and heard too much to be so broken over sin.  At least I told myself that lie.  But the truth is, I want to be more like my daughter.  And I don’t think it’s too late for me.  I think I just need to spend MORE time with God (prayer, praise, Bible reading and meditation) and in Kingdom pursuits and LESS time consuming what the world has to offer.  Cynicism and hard-heartedness make poor servants of our Heavenly Father, nor do me any personal favors.  I believe God is revealing that, for me, a sifting is in order.  What about for you?

 

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable – if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise – dwell on these things.  Philippians 4:8 HCSB

 

Father, thank you for the example of childlike faith and purity.  Give us the strength to make hard decisions in this sin-saturated world. Guide us toward pursuits that honor you and bring you glory and away from those with no redeeming value.  Help us to persevere in purity and sanctify us toward ever-increasing holiness.

 

Is a purge of your consumption in order?  Are you filling your mind with movies, books, podcasts , music or other things that could be desensitizing you to sin and its destructive power?

 

Do you need to repent of any unconfessed sin in your own life to restore you to right standing with God?

 

And now for this week’s featured post!

 

Bettie Gilbert of BettieGsRASeasons wrote transparently about her physical pain in Sharing:  Praise in the Midst of Our Pain.  Although my current pain is emotional, she encouraged me to remember to praise our Sustainer through it all.  Thank you for blessing us, Bettie.

 

Now for this week’s link-up! Let’s bless and encourage one another in our walk with the Lord.

Grace & Truth : A Weekly Christian Link Up

Grace & Truth exists to point people to Jesus! We hope this link-up will be a source of encouragement every week. If you’re a blogger, we hope you’ll use this space as a way to meet new friends within the Christian blogging community. If you’re a reader, we hope that you’ll encounter new bloggers that love Jesus as much as you do! Most of all, we hope you’ll meet Jesus here.

Join us each Friday for the Grace and Truth Link-Up!

To receive a weekly reminder of when the link-up goes live subscribe to laurensparks.net in the right hand column of this page.

Heather Hart & Valerie Riese

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Maree Dee

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest
 

Lauren Sparks

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Lisa Burgess

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1.)  Following your hosts via their blog and social media channels is not mandatory, but appreciated!

To receive a weekly reminder of when the link-up goes live subscribe to laurensparks.net in the right hand column of this page.

2.) Leave 1-2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. Please do not link DIY, Crafts, Recipes, etc. We will delete these links. We also reserve the right to remove articles that don’t align with the theme or are deemed by the hostesses to be inappropriate.

3.) Visit 1-2 other links and leave a meaningful comment! We want to encourage community among us, so please don’t link and run!

4.) We sort all links randomly – feel free to link as early or as late as you’d like. The playing field is even!

Featured Post Requirements

5.) Grab a button or link back to encourage new linkers. It is not mandatory, but it is required to be featured.

6.) Each host will choose one link to emphasize and promote via their social media channels next week.

Grab a Badge and Link Back to this Post

And now let’s link up!

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

 

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Confessions of a Former Piano Student

July 4, 2019 by Lauren 24 Comments

Photo by Geert Pieters on Unsplash

I took piano lessons for 5 years.  From the 2nd grade through the 6th, I went for once a week instruction and practiced on an old upright as faithfully as my Mama made me.  I started with a teacher who was young and fun.  She let me help pick out the music I wanted to work on and lovingly encouraged me.  Once she, sadly, became ill with cancer, my parents found another instructor for my sister and me.  By this point (around age 11-12) I was less interested in the piano and much into my friends and what they were doing.  Combine this fact with the poor opinion I had of my new instructor (she was old with long yellow nails that clicked on the keys as SHE played and she sang off-key as I played), and I had less than 0% interest in continuing my music education.  It is really a shame, too.  I come from a very musically talented family.

 

My parents made me stick with piano through the remainder of my 6th grade year and then mercifully let me quit.  I was spending half of my lesson time in my teacher’s bathroom anyway to avoid the torture.  I only wish I was kidding.  When I finally walked out of my last lesson, I felt the shackles fall off my ankles and the prison gates open up.  Ok, maybe now I’m kidding.

 

Five years is a long time to conscientiously (welll…) practice something – anything.  And yet today I cannot play a note.  Okay, that might not be entirely true.  I can show you where middle C is on a keyboard and play a chord from there.  But I couldn’t accurately name the other notes in that chord.  Anyway.  My point is that the skill and knowledge I acquired learning and studying and practicing for 5 years was lost without perseverance and repetition.

 

I’m being reminded of late how important perseverance and repetition are where Bible study is concerned.  Because it is “living and active” God constantly reveals different things about Himself to me – often from the same passage.  I heard someone say recently (I wish I could remember who – see how much I need repetition?) that we need to have an open Bible and an open life.  I love that.  But I would take it a step further to say that our lives need to be open to the Bible.  The more time I spend in God’s word, the more conviction and correction I experience.  If that sounds like a big, fat bummer to you, let me encourage you that great freedom comes from confession and repentance.

 

I listened to an audio book (I wish I could remember which one – yes, it’s a theme) that referred to a believer’s regular time with God as “the daily office”.  I got fired up about this.  Time in God’s word and prayer is the real work of a Christ-follower.  Calling it my “daily office” makes so much for sense to me than “quiet time” (Mine’s not always quiet) or “daily devotion” (what does that mean?).

 

In my personal study recently, I’ve been more and more enlightened to the story of God’s rescue plan for us.  Spoiler alert:  it’s the Bible.  The whole thing tells this story.  Not just the Christmas story.  Not just the parts we read at Easter.  All of it.  Every verse, every story points to our need of a Savior and how God sent His Son Jesus to be just that.  I want to know a God who would do that for me, and the best way to get to know Him is spending time with Him.  In prayer.  And especially in His word.  Every day.  As much as possible.  The Bible is His story.  It’s our story.  It’s my story of rescue.  If there is anything about this rescue story that you are unsure of, please send me a private message to lauren@laurensparks.net.  Or pick up a Bible and start reading in the book of John.  God longs to rescue you too.

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About Me

I love Jesus, my husband and caffeine. The order of these can change depending on how tired I am. When my two daughters, stepson, and 4 grandchildren get to be too much, I practice yoga. God graciously allows me to share our adventures, victories and flub-ups from my laptop. May He be glorified here.
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