Bristol Palin Talking Grace & Forgiveness

It is no secret that I was and am a fan of Sarah Palin, former Governor of Alaska. Now I am becoming a fan of her daughter Bristol also.

You may only know Bristol Palin from all the coverage of her very public unplanned pregnancy and conflicted relationship with the father of her child. Or you may know her from her time on the reality TV show Dancing with the Stars. But now, she is a blogger! Miss Palin has a blog at the Patheos site. One of her earliest posts was called How I Got Over My Very Public Mistakes. She says:

Most of the comments were wonderful and supportive. (I’ve addressed some of the not-so-nice comments here.)  But there’s one constant criticism I didn’t talk about:  some of you insist on calling me a hypocrite. After all, I became a mother before I walked down the aisle – how can I talk about waiting until marriage for sex?

I find it strange that the culture rightfully applauds former drug addicts who warn children of the dangers of drug use. They are happy to listen to former alcoholics talk about how they finally are living a clean life. But when it comes to me talking about waiting until marriage for sex, it’s almost like people want me to slink away in shame… unable to show my face in public again because of my past mistakes.

I want this blog to be a place where we can all be honest, so let me start. I’ve struggled with feelings of guilt and shame. I know (judging from my inbox) many of you have too.

She then quotes from Christian Counselor Ed Welch:

It feels so right – so spiritual – to live with regrets. It means you feel bad for the wrong things you have done or think you have done, and that sounds like a good thing. If you forget those wrongs, you are acting like they were no big deal.
…
We live with regrets because we think we should. We think it’s the right thing to do—that it is our duty before God. But…

The Kingdom of Heaven is regret-free. The truth is that the triune God liberates us from past regrets. His will is being done. Bank on it. Neither your human limitations nor your sins hinder the good plans of your sovereign Father.

Let’s go one important step further. It is God’s will that you jettison past regrets.

In a more recent post she talked about the message of Easter that "it’s not about what you’ve done, it’s about what’s been done for you." She embedded a video of the song You Are More by Christian band Tenth Avenue North which contains those words, and which I featured on my blog last year.

Way to go, Bristol. I look forward to reading more of your stuff.

All I Want for Christmas....

Hellish Days

Okay, I laughed (and I bet you did too!)

From: Cartoon of the Month | Christianity Today:

Affecting Lives

Found a new little blog site called Affecting Lives.  Their stated purpose is :

AffectingLives is a multimedia blog aimed at helping people with their relationship with Jesus Christ.  Whether you are a mature Christian, new believer, or investigating Christianity, this blog will provide value to your spiritual journey.  Our goal is to provide information in a variety of different formats to keep you inspired, impacted, and informed.  We at AffectingLives believe strongly in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) and we keep this as our central focus when creating content.

The word affect literally means to influence.  That is our goal… to influence people to surrender their lives fully to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

And lo and behold, one of the first posts there was by an old friend of my daughter's (and my friend too),

LauraKatherine Logan, who moved off to California a few years ago.LK says:

A reasonable person doesn’t call a plumber on the phone and knowing that a pipe has ruptured in the basement, simply mentions that there is a faucet that leaks in the bathroom. When something in our house is need of repairs, we call an expert. We expect them to fix it completely. And if they don’t, we expect them to come back until it’s fixed. Well God is the ultimate repair man but He’s also a gentleman. He’s not going to bust down your door to make you seek His help. Often times He allows us to let water fill our basements to the point of drowning, in order for us to finally ask Him for help. And when and if we finally do express to Him how bad it really is, and how bad we really feel inside, each and every time He will meet us with toolbox in tow and arms wide open.

God knows where we’re broken. He knows the pain we’ve gone through and the pain we never want to go through again. And He has a solution for all of them. The only requirement is that we run towards Him and not away from Him. And even in that we don’t have to be perfect. We just have to try to be near Him and He will meet us the rest of the way every single time.

Laura Katherine is a gifted writer, as demonstrated on her own blog. Good job, Sister!