Until that moment, our house had been relatively quiet; our boys were in their room pushing their little wooden trains down an elaborate and expertly designed wooden track. They were pretty young, and while their conflict resolution skills were lacking, their wooden-train-layout skills were quite impressive. As you can probably imagine, in a house with two toddlers, relative quiet was remarkably rare, and I was enjoying a brief reprieve while Amanda was in town running errands.

But then, without warning, that beautiful, peaceful quiet shattered.

Jolted into action, I leapt out of my chair—I did not like what I was hearing and knew from experience that an argument could escalate to blows quickly. My older son’s tone was decidedly harsh toward his little brother, not the kind words that we’d been encouraging in our children. Anger started to rise in my chest, and as I bounded down the hall, my mind raced with everything I was going to say as soon as I got there: You know better than this. How many times do I have to tell you? This isn’t the way we treat others! You need to apologize right now!

The truth hit me as soon as I got to the doorway.

The tone I heard coming from Ezra’s tiny lips? It was my own. The words he’d just said? They were mine. The harsh words I’d just heard were remarkably similar to the words I was about to speak—and had spoken plenty of times before. How could I tell my kids to treat each other with kindness and respect if I was seemingly incapable of doing the same?

Standing in their bedroom doorway, I watched my two boisterous little boys with blond hair and blue eyes look up from their wooden trains to each other and then to me. I was reminded once again that if I wanted my children to navigate disagreements and disputes with kindness, respect, honor, and calm clarity, I first had to change how I spoke to them in the midst of chaos and conflict.

In Matthew 7:12, Jesus gives the crowning principle, the gold standard of how we should be in the world as His followers: We are to treat others as we want to be treated.

Our children don’t arrive in this world treating us (their life-giving, good-gift-bearing parents) the way we want to be treated. From toddlerhood to the teenage years, kids generally don’t show their parents all the respect, love, and appreciation we would hope for. Even though we know children learn honor, obedience, and wisdom slowly, it can be tempting to decide that we’re going to demand deference from children while not showing any consideration to them. Jesus firmly rejects such parental hypocrisy.

Whatever we want our children to do and be starts with us. We have to do to our children the things we want them to do to us and others. We have to speak to our children the words we want them to speak to us and others. We must model to our children the ways we want them to listen to and be mindful of us and others. If that feels counterintuitive to you, you’re not alone! After all, we are bigger and wiser. Why shouldn’t we leverage that power over our children while we still have it? But is that how we want others to treat us? Is that how Jesus teaches us to use authority when we have it?

It isn’t. Fundamentally, our children are people. And Christ’s commands about how to treat people apply to them just as much as to anyone else.

It’s simple to say but sometimes so very hard to do.

Consider what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount:

Who among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him. Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 7:9-12

And God’s greatest gift to us? Jesus. When we think about the messianic hope that is fulfilled in Jesus, we often narrow in on the eternal salvation provided through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. But the good news of Jesus cannot be confined to a hope for a heavenly future. Jesus was sent by God not only to save His people from condemnation but also to establish a Kingdom of those whose hearts have been renewed by His grace and to transform our way of living. And that includes our parenting.

I wish I could tell you that, after the Toy Train Kerfuffle, I never spoke harshly to either of my sons again. I wish I could tell you that I have succeeded in treating them with honor and dignity and the love of Christ a full 100 percent of the time. But I can’t.

God intends for parents to meet the needs of their children, yet even the most devoted parents fail their children sometimes. It is natural and normal to grieve and lament past choices and actions. Guilt, regret, and remorse are not only typical and healthy responses; they also serve to direct us toward progress and maturity.

You are a great parent. And, just like every other great parent, you’ve made mistakes. As you continue on this journey, resist the urge to fall into negative self-talk (I’m a horrible parent!), make absolute statements (I’ve ruined my relationship with my child), or try to shame yourself into being a better parent (If I don’t get this right from now on, I’m probably not going to have a good relationship with my kids as adults). Remember, your children don’t need a perfect parent in order to flourish and thrive. They need you. They need a parent who is present, who is always learning and growing, and who diligently works to repair, restore, and strengthen the trust-based parent-child relationship.

You haven’t failed, and you are not failing. You are, and always have been, becoming the parent Christ has called you to be.

Adapted from The Flourishing Family: A Jesus-Centered Guide to Parenting with Peace and Purpose by Dr. David and Amanda Erickson, releasing in September 2024.

The post Transformed Parenting first appeared on Live Original.

Competitive by nature, I wanted to win probably more than I cared to admit. There was one problem: my stubborn self refused to wear goggles, giving my sister an obvious advantage over me. As much as I desired to win and find all the pennies, without the proper eyewear, I would just drift around picking up any blurry speck I could find.

Without the proper equipment for the game, my vision would always be impaired, impacting my ability to see clearly and participate well.

But the penny game isn’t the only area of life where seeing well matters. In our spiritual lives, we need a clear view of God to start to let Him into our lives to love us, care for us, and redeem us as His daughters. And a clear view of God starts with knowing more about who he is and what He’s like.

1. W. Tozer clearly explains these qualities, or attributes of God as things about God that are not only true, but also ones that we can know because He has revealed them to us:

“What is God like? What kind of God is He? How may we expect Him to act toward us and toward all created things? Such questions are not merely academic. They touch the far-in reaches of the human spirit, and their answers affect life and character and destiny.”

Today, I’d love to look at God’s love together.

The word love is often one that we neglect and misuse. I don’t know about you, but I’ve actually had my heart broken by people who said they really loved me. In a sense, love has been dragged through the mud at times in my life. My guess is that in one way or another, you can relate. That is why it is absolutely crucial that we understand what it means when we say God is the root and the essence of the true version of love.

One of the greatest metaphors in all of Scripture for the Father’s love is found in Luke 15. In short, a father has two sons. One son demands his inheritance. He runs away, uses it, and squanders everything he’s been given. Ashamed and downcast, he musters up enough courage to return home and try and convince his dad to at least let him back into the home, even if as a servant. Let’s pick up at the moment of his return:

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” And they began to celebrate. (Luke 15:20–24)

So many people read this and focus only on the prodigal son. But this story is about so much more. A major theme in it is the father and how he demonstrates God’s love.

The father would have been wearing a long, heavy robe with multiple layers. Not only that, but it was seen as disgraceful for a man of status to run like we see in this parable. But this father wasn’t just any father. He was one who had abundant grace and love toward those who were his own. He deeply desired his son to return, even if the son didn’t believe his father wanted him to. This is love.

Let’s look at the end of the story when his older brother finds out the younger brother has returned.

“He was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, “Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!” And he said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.” (Luke 15:28–32)

What does this show us about God the Father’s love?

God’s love is not contingent on what we do or don’t do. For the son who returned home full of shame and regret, everything the father had was his. For the son who never departed from him, everything the father had was also his. This is the Father’s love—filled with reckless abandon for those He calls His own.

After my dad died at 15 years old to liver cancer, there was a shame that haunted me. At fifteen, I had no idea how to watch someone I love die or how to even be around him. I found myself being completely emotionally shut off toward him out of a place of deep sadness and fear of losing him. On top of all that, because I wasn’t able to make it to him in time before he went into a coma, I never got to tell him how much I loved him and that he was a good dad.

With him gone, the daunting reality that I would never get to tell him these truths caused pain in the deepest parts of my being. To the point where I didn’t know if I would be able to live the rest of my life knowing that I had blown it in his last days. The enemy attacked me hard with this lie and I lived every day in despair and regret.

About a month went by as I walked in this specific pain. One morning around that time, I woke up and found myself physically unable to get out of bed. The grief was attacking every part of my body and I had no strength to go on another day. My mom allowed me to stay home that day from school and I quickly drifted back to sleep. I woke up around noon, figured I should try and get up and eat something, and stumbled to the door. I opened the door, looked down, and saw a letter sealed with an envelope with my name on it. I immediately recognized the handwriting—my dad’s. Unknown to me that he even wrote me a letter, I was met with nerves, excitement, and fear. What will he say? Will he be disappointed in me as a daughter over how I handled the months leading up to his death? I made my way downstairs and slowly opened the letter and braced myself for whatever it might say.

The letter read: “Morgan, if you are reading this, I have died and am now in Heaven with God.” What followed shook me to my core:

I want you to know that I know how much you truly loved me.

Did I read that right? I read it again. And again. And again. Did he really just say that he knew how much I loved him? What I was expecting was for him to say that he loved me. But he knew I already knew that. What he somehow knew was what I would truly struggle with: the fear of him not knowing my love for him. In that moment, chains broke. God freed me from the one lie that I would have believed for the rest of my life.

A lie that could have broken me.
A lie that could have made me take my life.
A lie that would have held me back from freedom.

That day, just like the prodigal son and the older brother, I learned that God’s love for us will never be contingent on our performance or perfection. It was in our inability to perform or be perfect that Christ died for us.

I have heard it said that salvation is free, but surrender is costly. Will you surrender even the darkest places to the Father who is eager to pour out His goodness, immanence, and love onto you as His beloved?

All you have to do is allow the Father to love you and respond with loving Him back. When we learn to be loved, everything else will follow.

As I think back to that nostalgic summertime pool game, I like to think of those pennies as attributes of God. All around us, clear for us to see, and ready for discovering if we have the proper equipment. But instead of goggles, God pours out His Word, His Spirit, and His Son—all helping us to see the truth that He is full of love, He pours out His love, and He is love.

Morgan Krueger is a Jesus follower, wife, mother, and author who found her voice connecting with women seeking freedom from the brokenness of past shame. Her first book, Goodbye Hiding, Hello Freedom: Trading Your Shame for Redemption in Jesus, is out now. In her downtime, you can find Morgan enjoying the significance of the mundane, including spending time with her two sons, encouraging women through words and watching British baking shows with her husband, Ryan, in Franklin, TN. You can connect with her on Instagram @morganwkrueger and at morgankrueger.com.

The post A Father’s Love Letter first appeared on Live Original.

When my husband accepted his new job and we decided to move, we were both feeling a deep stirring in our hearts to simplify our lives. When I say simplify I mean, finding a smaller house, getting rid of all car payments, less eating out and less commitments all together. At the beginning of this move I thought the desire came from our dream of buying some land and building a house again one day. We knew if we wanted this dream to become a reality sooner rather than later we needed to take a step back for a season to save. What I’ve realized a few months into this move is the desire to simplify our lives wasn’t just to prepare ourselves for our dream but for spiritual growth too. As we simplify our lives, it reveals what truly matters most in our hearts.

I don’t know about you but I’ve heard the phrase “less is more” many times throughout my life. However, I can’t say I’ve really ever applied it to my life or understood the impact it can have if we follow the philosophy. Throughout my younger twenties I believed creating a successful and fulfilling life meant I needed to have things to show for it like having a bigger house, nicer car and more money. The problem with that mindset is as trends faded, discontentment would eventually arise within my heart. This was a pattern I began to notice within myself from year to year.

What I’ve discovered is there is a difference between making a mistake versus a reoccurring pattern in our lives. Mistakes need grace and mercy. Patterns need healing. Patterns reveal there is something beneath the surface that we need to bring to Jesus. What I’ve grown to love about God is that when he exposes something, like a negative pattern, it’s not to make us feel bad or shameful about ourselves. Rather it’s to reveal our need for Him and to draw our hearts closer to His. God wants to heal what he reveals and sanctify our hearts in the process. Every day and season is a chance to be developed. Sometimes he wants to develop our character and other times He wants to heal the deep wounds and misconceptions within. For me, I learned my need to have the next best thing was rooted in feeling like I needed to prove myself. Can you relate?

The question I’ve been prompted to ask myself in this season is: “ Am I truly satisfied with Jesus alone or am I only satisfied when I have Jesus plus something else?” Make no mistake– I love having nice things too! I enjoy my hair extensions, getting my nails done and dreaming of the house and land we will one day raise a family on! We love traveling and trying out the newest restaurant in our area too. None of these things are bad. In fact, they are all part of what makes life fun! Yet, I’ve discovered that in the midst of pursuing all these things, we can still be checking the purity of our motives by coming before Jesus and asking him to search our hearts. Have we caught ourselves in a round of keeping up with the joneses? Are we pursuing these things to prove our worth to a world that will never meet our deepest need to be seen? Are we trying to one up that family member or friend who upset us by getting something we know they can’t have? Are we trying to find value in things that will one day disappear forever?

Matthew 6:19-21 says, “Don’t store up treasures here on Earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”

Friend, I don’t know where you have found yourself today. Maybe you’re overwhelmed with keeping up with all the latest trends and your bank account is hurting because of it. Maybe you’ve over committed yourself to others that you can’t remember the last time you sat down and ate dinner with your family. Perhaps you feel spiritually dry and want to experience God’s presence in your life again. I see you. I was there just a few months ago.

What if the key to a more meaningful life is a simpler life? What if decluttering our lives is what leads us into a deeper relationship with Jesus and the people in our lives? Perhaps it’s in the season’s where we let go of the stuff we think we need most that we will discover the life God has in store is actually so much better than we could ask or think. Maybe it’s in the process of letting all striving cease that we will realize that we all have access to a simple life worth living. One that is full of joy, gratitude and contentment. A life that is deeply rooted in Jesus satisfying our every need to be known, loved and seen. We might even discover a deeper peace within our hearts that God has us right where He wants us and has provided us with all that we could ever need.

Katie Dietz is a born and raised Oklahoma girl who has a heart for sharing the light & hope of Jesus. She recently moved to NW Oklahoma with her husband Kory where they enjoy evening walks after work and finding new places to explore near OKC! She is a part time dental hygienist and is currently writing her first book with Our Daily Bread. She is the founder of Back Porch Devotionals- a community focused on encouraging women on their walk with Jesus through daily devotionals & faith- filled truth. Her 1st book is set to come out in 2026! In the meantime you can keep up with her on Instagram @katie.dietz & @back.porch.devos

The post A Simple Life Worth Living first appeared on Live Original.

Way before we were “that Duck Dynasty family,” we were just Phil and Miss Kay, a couple of teenagers in love. Then came 10 years of Phil doing almost every terrible thing under the sun. He drank like a fish, he didn’t come home at night, and I was left to raise our three boys and keep a roof over our heads. Everyone I knew told me to leave him.

But our story didn’t end there. 

After a decade of living inside a nightmare, Phil finally let God into his heart, and our lives changed forever. We always joked about what a good movie it would make, but we never thought it might really happen. 

If you know the Robertson family, you may have heard some of the story. In our movie, The Blind, we didn’t hold anything back about how we fell in love and how hard those early years of marriage were. Phil was drinking all the time and mean as a snake most days. He didn’t care much for me or the boys. He even thought running a bar would be a great business opportunity for our family. That right there shows you how out of his mind he was back then!

I know a lot of women will see parts of their stories in this movie. I pray that when they see The Blind, they see hope for themselves. 

When the Lord gives us a story, he gives us the strength to tell it. Jesus tells us that when we’re healed, we should tell others “how much God has done for you” (Luke 8:39), so that’s what I did.  I hope my story will show everyone that things can get better. People really can change. 

I’ve seen firsthand the way God can turn lives around. I want the women out there who are hurting because their husbands are hurting to know that there’s always hope in Jesus. I want the men to know they can become the husband, the father, and the man God made them to be.

Phil was the worst of the worst back then. He was well on his way to jail or an early grave. I knew that for him to change, it would take a miracle. I know The Blind embarrasses him a little because he doesn’t like to remember that part of his life. Would you want to watch a movie about all the rotten things you’ve ever done? But Phil also wants people to see his story, to see that no one is too far gone for God. 

When Phil made Jesus the Lord of his life, it was like night and day. He went from chasing his next high to chasing God’s truth. And it didn’t just change our day-to-day lives — it changed our entire future as a family, and it changed thousands of other lives too. Phil’s sister Jan told our pastor, “If you turn Phil toward Jesus, he’ll bring thousands along with him.” And that’s exactly what happened.

When it comes down to it, The Blind isn’t a movie about Phil or our family origins, not really. It’s a story about the grace God offers us and the power he has to transform the hearts of men and women. 

If you’re a woman who loves a man in need of a miracle, The Blind is for you. If you’re a man who loves a woman in need of a miracle, The Blind is for you too. All of us can be healed. All of us can be put back together again. It’s not too late.

The Blind is streaming now on Great American Pure Flix and available on digital, DVD, and Blu-ray. My prayer is that our story will help everyone see that hope, redemption, and restoration aren’t ever out of reach — not for any of us.

Miss Kay Robertson is the beloved backbone and funny bone of the Robertson family and star of the hit TV series “Duck Dynasty.” She married her pioneer man, Phil Robertson, and has four sons, one daughter, and more than 25 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Kay is the New York Times best-selling author of several books and frequently appears on the “Duck Call Room” and “Unashamed” podcasts. She loves to cook for her family, feed her neighbors, and care for women in need.

The post It’s Not Too Late to Heal Your Brokenness first appeared on Live Original.

I stood there for a moment and watched her in awe. She was everything I thought I would be as a mom. She was happy, energetic, playful, all while whipping up a great meal. I had planned to be that mom–happy, calm, doing all the things. I just knew I’d be a modern-day Mary Poppins. I’d take care of business with a smile on my face, and then we’d have adventures and make memories.

“I don’t know how you do it. I saw this whole mom-life thing going way differently than it is. I always wanted to be a mom like you are. But I’m not. I’m tired, I’m grumpy, and I yell all the time. I’m not a happy, carefree mom. I’m not Mary Poppins at all!”

Anna had my full attention. She explained that she wasn’t happy and calm when her kids were little. She was like this now only because she wasn’t parenting littles. It was easier to be a part-time grandma than a full-time mom. She promised me it would get easier.

Although I loved being a mom, I found mothering to be both physically overstimulating and intellectually boring. The constant stress of motherhood and the physical exhaustion of caring for young kids left me feeling lonely and miserable. I was emotionally burned out.

Motherhood was too much and yet, at the same time, not enough. That left me feeling like I was too much and yet somehow also not enough. It was a constant mental tug-of-war, and it was breaking me.

Tired, lazy, and grumpy were the words I used to describe myself. I wasn’t the magic-carpetbag-carrying, spoon-full-of-sugar mom I imagined I would be. I went through the motions, believing I was a lousy mom who was messing up her kids. I put myself, my needs, and my happiness on the shelf and trudged through life every day.

A few months later, I was visiting my friend Laura. As our seven kids destroyed her living room, I tearfully confessed, “Laura, I’m afraid I might be a terrible mother.”

She listened as I laid out the evidence I had against myself, then she told me what I needed to hear–the truth. She reminded me that Mary Poppins was the nanny, not the mama, so of course she was always singing and dancing and having fun and playing games. The woman was sleeping at night. And she probably had the weekends off. She wasn’t the mama, the wife, the budget maker, the grocery shopper, and the cook while also running a business.

I had to wrap my head around the truth that being a good mom isn’t based on some imaginary Disney-level happiness or all the things I do for my kids. If I were to take anything from Mary Poppins’s example, maybe I should be kind to myself. Get some rest. Take some time off. Discover what I enjoy doing with-out my kids.

What if being the best mother I could be meant I had to start by mothering myself?

Laura shared that we moms are often so focused on our kids’ well-being that we neglect our own. When we neglect ourselves long enough, we become emotionally unhealthy. And when we mother from an unhealthy place long enough, we raise emotionally unhealthy children. Mothering yourself means taking care of your needs just like you take care of the needs of your children.

I’m sure you have heard the saying “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” And while it’s a fun saying, it carries deep truth. If we want our children to be happy, confident, and emotionally steady with healthy boundaries, we must live that way ourselves. A mother’s emotional health (her spiritual, mental, and relational health) is the most important legacy she can give her children.

Our culture teaches us that for our kids to be well, we have to focus solely on their development and happiness. But in doing so, we push ourselves and our emotional health so far into the background that we lose ourselves.

The more a mother sacrifices and puts herself last, the more likely she is to teach her children to do the same. Her daughters believe the same myths, perpetuating the cycle of what we now know to be broken modern motherhood, and her sons grow up believing they’ll have that kind of wife and mother to their kids, for better or worse.

Motherhood changed me, not just physically and emotionally but also spiritually. The gospel of grace was an idea that sounded good in theory, but I could never fully grasp how God’s love for me was unconditional.

We are God’s creation, his beloved. He sacrificed everything for us and gave us such perfect love that nothing could separate us from him. It wasn’t until I became a mother that I fully grasped the gospel of grace, God’s perfect, unconditional love for me, his child.

I realized this truth: God has already written the future of every single one of my children. Sure, I have to do my part as their mom, but nothing I do can ruin the future God has for them. The weight of their future is on him, not on me. In today’s modern motherhood, we carry a weight that God never intended us to carry.

God extended his gospel of grace to my children as well. His love for them is also perfect. And according to his promise in Scripture, nothing – neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation (including any shortcomings I might have as a mom)–can separate my children from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39).

Even if nothing else takes the weight of motherhood off our shoulders, that promise alone should. Amen and hallelujah.

Alli Worthington is known for her straight-talking encouragement and practical tools that help women reach their dreams in business and life. Author of Remaining You While Raising Them, The Year of Living Happy, Fierce Faith, and Breaking Busy, she is a well-known speaker, podcaster, and life and business coach. Her no-nonsense, guilt-free take on business, family, and balance has led to multiple appearances on The TODAY Show and Good Morning America. Alli lives with her husband, Mark, and their five sons outside of Nashville with a pampered golden retriever. Keep up with her on Instagram @AlliWorthington or at alliworthington.com

Taken from Remaining You While Raising Them by Alli Worthington. Copyright © August 2023 by Zondervan. Used by permission of Zondervan, www.zondervan.com

The post The Motherhood Myth of Mary Poppins first appeared on Live Original.