It’s time for a family chat. You know, those times when you just have to pull everyone into a huddle and update them on certain things? Yep. Consider yourself pulled into this huddle.

Sometimes people stop by this blog just to get a recipe or tutorial – they’re like the guests. Always welcome, of course, but they don’t know all the weird quirks of the family. And they never see the inner workings of my laundry department. But most of you have been around here for a while. You know some of my weirdness and you’re either okay with it or you just close your eyes to it and move on. This chat is for you. Let’s talk about life lately.

So. Summer’s coming. Our summers are normally a little weird-o due to the fact that my husband is a youth pastor. It’s not a bad weird-o; it’s just your general run of the mill weird-o. I think I wrote about some of my summer rehab last year. This summer our schedule kicks off a bit earlier than normal because Jonathan has 2 weeks of classes in Kentucky beginning mid-May. The first week of June is our teen missions trip, then we’ll be home for 3 weeks before taking our kids/teens to camp. You know what? Now that I think about it, that means we’ll be gone for 4 out of 7 weeks.

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[cough, cough, cough, sputter, gag, cough, cough, cough]

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Ahem. Excuse me. I lost myself for a few minutes there. Phew. I’m okay now. Just had to breathe into a paper bag for a minute.

Yeah. No. Not really. I mean, yes really. Wait what? There’s a reason this is a family chat. It’s because only my biological family is reading at this point in the game. Wait, Mom? Dad? Okay, I think I lost everyone.

Anyway, I spent some significant time being bummed by our summer schedule over the weekend. As in, yesterday. It may have involved tears + mascara narrowly missing Jonathan’s white dress shirt. Like thisclose. Phew.

After the mascara + white shirt narrow encounter, I went on a run. Which turned into more of a walk, think, & pray kinda thing. I had some music playing via my phone and this phrase leaped out at me:

“‘Tis grace that brought me safe thus far.
And grace will lead me home.”

Oh grace. Oh beautiful, wonderful, never-ending grace.

A couple weeks ago, I was telling my Mom about the details & decisions of the next months. After droning on and on about all of those things, I said, “You know, it’s funny. I guess we’re never free of needing God and His grace.”

Yeah. Like He planned it that way. Because He did. Oh, how I need it. Oh, how I need Him.

So if the struggles teach me to lean hard into God & His grace? Bring ’em on. Not in an arrogant, “I can take anything” sort of way. But in a “God, I so need you & desperately need this reminder that I cannot do this life-thing without you” sort of attitude.

Today. You will – & already have – faced something that you don’t like. Something that’s hard for you. Something you would change if you could. Instead of kicking against it, lean in. Lean in to God, His Word, and His never-ending grace. I’ll see you there.