This human heart is quick to make idols out of things that will only disappoint me. Like carved images of old, they are man-made without any real power.

But unlike the wooden and golden pieces shaped into ridiculous images lining the walls of a home, if I am not careful fill the walls of my heart with my own wants and my own sins.

I place pride next to attention, polishing these golden images nearly as often as I polish the picture-perfect life I present to the world.

I stick entertainment next to apathy, justifying my lack of motivation as easily as I justify my screen time.

They’re not all inherently sinful things. They can be a career, money, a hobby, or a desire. Anything that consumes me becomes an idol.

And no matter what idol I find myself bowing to, they all stare blankly back. For they have only the ability to take – my time, my joy, my peace, my purpose – but they can never give anything really worth receiving.

Like those old golden images, they only take up space and draw my attention away from the One that lives.

The only One with power is no mere man-made trinket who can sit on the shelves of my life alongside these weak idols. No, He is Creator, not created and He longs to sit alone on the throne of my heart.

And so I rip the petty idols off the walls of my heart as my eyes to my Creator.

He sits on the throne, and unlike the idols I built, He sees me. He hears me. He lives, and He fills my heart with joy and peace, and grace and mercy, that only He, the Creator, has the ability to give.

Lessons I’m learning in this season of motherhood:

1. The day I end feeling like a complete failure as a mother don’t define me as long as I choose to learn from them instead of repeat them.
2. Comparing my day to day to someone else’s highlight reel on social media doesn’t help anyone, especially me.
3. The life I live in front of and the way I treat my children will teach them more than my ability (or lack thereof) to keep the laundry caught up.
4. Floors covered in toys, windows with fingerprints, and sinks full of tiny dishes are signs of a home full of happy girls, not that I’m a failure.
5. The memories of late night giggles are worth staying up past bedtime some nights.
6. The people you let have influence in your heart and life matter. Iron sharpens iron. Friends will either enable you or encourage you. Find ones that help you grow and be the friend that strengthens others.
7. Sometimes I need to take a deep breath just as much as my toddler does.
8. Most importantly, Jesus is with me in this because Jesus values mothers and their children. He is in the dirty dishes, silly songs, bandaids, snuggles, late night clean ups, early morning wake-ups, and laundry. He is with me in all of it because He has given me charge of the little souls that drive me crazy and make my world go round all at the same time. He is with me in the weariness, the laughs, the tears, the joys, and the boring things. Motherhood is not a burden. It is a God-given calling with the promise that Jesus will be with me every step of the way.

There are days when worship comes easy. Days when the prayers are answered, the sickness healed, the broken ones restored, the victory won. There are days when my worship becomes a natural byproduct of the joys I see unfolding around me.

But there are other days where worship isn’t quite so easy. When the prayer isn’t answered the way I wanted. When I’m still broken. When it feels like I’m losing the battle. There are days when the lies of the enemy are louder than ever before.

There are days when I have to choose to worship, where I have to choose to bring glory to the One who deserves every praise no matter what my life looks like.

Sometimes the worship starts as a whisper, a soft acknowledgment of the faithfulness of the God I serve. I have found, however, that as I continue, it grows louder and louder, loud enough to make the devil flee in the face of the truth my praise proclaims.

There are days when worship is instinctive, but on the days when it’s not, it is just as important to glorify the One who carries me through. For on those days when I choose to worship in spite of everything around me, there is power in my worship.

On those days when I choose to let my worship be louder than the lies of the enemy, my praise declares that my God is worthy because of who He is, not just what He does. And while the devil can fight us with trials and storms, creating circumstances around us that we don’t understand, the devil can never change the truth of who our God is.

So worship. Worship in the good and the bad. Worship when it’s easy and when it’s hard. Worship because of what He’s done and worship because of who He is. Worship loud enough that you can’t hear the lies the enemy shouts at you.

In the beginning, God

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning, the earth was dark, there was nothing except chaos, and there was God.

He was the God who spoke and created light, and stars, and trees, and flowers, and animals, and people. He was the One who made beauty from the nothing, beauty from the chaos.

He is the Creator, the God who sees beginnings where anyone else would only see darkness, chaos, and an end.

And He is still the same today.

Where we are chaos, darkness, and no chance for anything else, He sees a beginning, a chance for redemption, a blank canvas to create something beautiful.

Your life may look dark. Your circumstance may be in complete chaos. Maybe you’ve prayed the same prayer so many times that you see no chance for change.

God is the Alpha and Omega. He’s the God of the ending, yes, but He’s also the God of the beginning.

No matter how dark it gets. No matter how chaotic it feels. Keep waiting. Keep praying. Keep listening for the God of the beginning to speak light and life into the place you thought was hopeless.

A life lived for Christ is full of riches that I don’t deserve. It is full of joy, peace, and grace. It grants me access to my Heavenly Father, my Provider, and the one who fights for me. It gives me a family, a body of believers to lean on and grow with. It gives me a confidence that God is working all things together for my good and a hope for my future.

But none of this is the reason that I serve Jesus. I don’t serve Jesus because of what He gives me or how He makes me feel, though I praise Him for both. It is not His provision that motivates me either. I follow Jesus because I was dead in my sin, buried under the shame, regret, and chains of it all, and Jesus redeemed me from the consequences of my own choices. I follow Jesus because He alone gave me life where death ruled.

So while my Savior gives me abundant life that overflows with His goodness, I worship Him with the knowledge that He alone gives life. Often the world will offer cheap substitutes, fleeting feelings that only mimic the abundant life that Christ gives.

It offers happiness in place of joy. Distraction in place of peace. Wealth in place of God’s provision. Attention or fame in place of the fellowship of believers. But really it’s only offering chains in place of God’s freedom. It’s only offering death in place of the life Christ gives.

And as hard as the world tries, it can never mimic the life that Jesus gives in place of death. The world may “support” you when you look successful by their standards, but only Jesus will find you when you’re broken, lying dead in your sin, and pay the price to give you life.

So as for me and my house, we follow Jesus. We follow the one who gave us life when we were dead.

My quiet time isn’t always quiet and my prayer time isn’t always on my knees. Often, I find myself spending church services in the foyer wrangling toddlers instead of taking notes like I used. My relationship with Jesus looks different than it did before my girls were born, and if I’m not careful, I’ll make it more about checking one more thing off my to do list.

I let it feel rushed. I let it feel like a chore. In checking off the boxes I relieve the guilt of “being a good christian” without actually trying to grow closer to Christ. I feel like I have to do it, but I’m not sure that it is enough when it doesn’t look like the insta-worthy moments I see on others’ pages.

To be honest, however, I find I need Jesus in more places than my kitchen table with my worship music at the right volume and my highlighters neatly arranged by my Bible. I need Him in the grocery store, rushing through the aisles. I need Him in the car. I need Him in my living room, looking for wisdom in teaching my girls. I need Him as I wash the dishes and prep dinner, when I scrub the toilets and mop the floor. I need Him so many places and in so many ways, and I need more than just to check off the box. I need His presence.

So I guess it’s a good thing that Jesus has a habit of meeting people where they are. He met Zaccheus in a tree, the woman at the well, Nicodemus in the middle of the night, and Peter in a boat. He wanted a relationship with them, and He was less concerned with it being picture perfect and more concerned with making sure they knew He was there for them.

He still does the same today. He meets mamas in the business of breakfasts served before school. He meets us in the late night clean ups after the kiddos are in bed and the house is still. He meets us with toddlers at our feet and babies in our arms. He meets us in the weary moments and the joyful ones. He meets us when the prayers are cried in quiet rooms and when they’re whispered with hands full of clothes to fold. He comes to where we are when we feel like the circumstances are less than ideal and teaches us as much in those moments as He does in the more “ideal” ones.

I can come to Jesus in those picture perfect moments, and I know He’ll be there, but I’m so thankful that He comes to me, too, wherever I find myself and whenever I need Him.

It is difficult to both use my life to serve the Lord and spend my days comparing it to others’.

We know comparison is the thief of joy, but it also the thief of our labor for the Master.

When my eyes are focused on others lives and abilities, I can’t see what needs to be done in front of me and I can’t hear the voice of the Lord directing my steps.

The Lord gives us each talents and abilities. He puts specific people in our paths, people only we can reach. He equips us for the plans He has for us.

Our gifts, our lives, and our stories will not be the same as those around us because His plan is different for each of us.

So we must strive to use what we have been given for our Jesus. Are you a singer? Sing for Jesus. Are you an encourager? Encourage others for Jesus. Do you have a talent for organizing, cooking, cleaning, writing, childcare, teaching, or business? Use that talent for Jesus.

Because He is the one that gave you that talent and He did it for a reason. Don’t waste it by comparing it to what He gave others.

Trust that He knows what you need to fulfill the plan He has for you. Walk in the confidence that your steps are ordered by your Creator. Keep your eyes on Him and your heart fixed on serving and let Him take care of the rest.

If all you did today was rock babies, change diapers, fix lunches, and play with your kids.

If it feels like life gets repetitive and mundane.

If it feels like it takes everything you have to take care of the “small” things, the dishes and the laundry, the house and the meals.

If you are in a season where the faces you see most are the little ones that you are raising and you wonder if you’ll ever really make a difference.

Please know that the small things are not as small as you think. You serve God and your babies best by being faithful in the mundane.

Consistency in love for God and love for their little hearts will teach them more about who Jesus is than anything else.

People notice out of the ordinary moments, but our kids notice our day to day life.

Don’t be weary in the season that seems repetitive and unnoticed. Be encouraged that the faithfulness of your life today matters because the little eyes watching you are learning more from it than you know.

A quick reminder that

Happiness is not the same thing as joy.

Distraction is not peace.

Lust can never be love.

Choice is not freedom.

Surviving is not living.

The enemy likes to offer us cheap substitutes disguised as equivalents to the fruits of a life lived for Christ.

Happiness is fleeting and dependent upon our circumstance, but the joy of the Lord depends only on the faithful character of our God. Distraction only keeps up from thinking about the problems we have, but it can never give us the strength to make it through. Lust runs out and leaves emptiness. God’s love never fails and it never runs dry. A choice that wraps you in chains isn’t freedom. It’s a trap. Freedom comes from Jesus, the one who breaks the chains that we find ourselves in from our own choices.

The devil will tell you that surviving is enough, that the chains are not that heavy, the fleeting moments of happiness are worth chasing and that when lust leaves you broken and in chains, distraction will get you through. But surviving is not living and there is only One who can give us abundant life, and His name is Jesus. He is life. He is love. He is joy and peace and everything the devil tries to say we can find in this world. He is the promise maker and the promise keeper. He is enough.

There are moments in this life when prayer is the only thing left to do.

When the doctor sends you home without an answer or any hope. When the bills go unpaid and the fridge stays empty. When the marriage falls apart and your family feels broken beyond repair. When anxiety, depression, or anger overwhelm your every waking thoughts despite all you try. When addiction takes the one you love to places you can’t save them from. When there’s nothing our humanity can do to change the facts.

And so you step into the place where tears and words flow freely. You step into the place where humanity touches the eternal.

Where one who is sick meets the Healer. Where the one who is riddled with fear meets the Prince of Peace. Where the one wrapped in chains of addiction or bitterness or depression meets the Deliverer. Where the broken meets the Redeemer, the Restorer. Where the sinner meets the Savior.

You step into the place where your heart is transformed just as much as the needs you bring to your God. You step into the throne room of grace where your Jesus ever intercedes for you. And suddenly prayer is not the only thing you have, because now you have Him.

Prayer is not a waste, a last resort, or a time filler. It is not a magic lamp that grants your wishes if you ask. Prayer is divine communication between our fragile human hearts and our infinite Creator. Prayer is the opportunity to listen as much as it is to speak.

Prayer is not simply the only thing. Prayer is the greatest thing.