This semester, I hope to post here, on our family blog, some things we are talking about in Her Hands each week.

One of my favorite things about teaching this class, is taking time, every year hearing again, God's heart for me as a woman.

It's good for me, once a year, to spend a few months thanking God for His grace and for the gospel as it relates to my life as a wife and mother.

God's grace, and the gospel are good things to think about every day, but I have found it very healthy, therapeutic and productive for me to think of those things in relation to my family, and how what God has done in me and the fruit He has grown in my life specifically affects the people living in my home, and generations of homes yet to come.

God has truly rescued me from darkness. He really has changed me. I'm not the same person I was prior to coming to know the Lord. I still have so far to go (and the longer I'm saved, the longer the road from me to perfection looks), but what God has already done is miraculous, and I'm so very thankful.

What He has done in my life also means so much for Aaron, Anson, Hayden, Ashton and Hudson.
Apart from the Lord, Aaron's wife would be terribly scary, and probably not his wife anymore. Anson and Hayden would have been raised by an angry, bitter, selfish, single mother. Ashton would have never been born. Hudson would have never been a Hendrick.

God is good.

I am forever grateful.

I know the idea of salvation is vast. It can be controversial.

People get their panties in all sorts of wads about it.

I'm certainly not claiming to be an expert on the ins and outs of this subject.

But the main ideas, I've found in scripture are these...

It's easy to know if you're a believer or not.

It's not easy to admit...but it's easy to know.

I went a long time, claiming to be a believer, when nothing...and I mean nothing, about my life proved that claim to be true.

There was no fruit.

Not one of the fruits of the Spirit would have been an adjective to describe me.

No one would have ever said I was loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle or self-controlled.

I knew I was none of those things. I saw no evidence of those fruits in my life.

When the Bible says, those who love God, obey Him, when I was honest...I knew that wasn't true for me.

I didn't even care to obey God. I honestly didn't really care what He had to say about things.

I wanted to be a good person. I wanted some people to like me (only some), but I didn't care what the Bible said.

I was angry all the time.

I had no joy.

I was divisive and caused problems, constantly.

I was mean.

I loved conflict.

My love for others was contingent on many, many things.

I actually hardly liked people at all.

I could only convince myself I was saved if I ignored the Bible.

And then...one day...because God is gracious...I looked at the Bible, and all the simple examples it gives to know whether or not we belong to God and I couldn't deny it anymore.

I was lost.

Those simple examples like...an orange tree can't produce apples. Good trees produce good fruit. Bad trees don't. This isn't rocket science.

I had no fruit. There was no denying that.

Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks?

Based on what came out of my mouth all day, every day, I could only draw one conclusion...

My heart was wicked, dark and in need, desperately of the Lord.

Here's a great video I love. Aaron made it using our Pastor's wife's testimony.

She too was deceived into thinking she belonged to God.



At one point, I would have read verses about salvation and gotten a little uncomfortable.

I would have maybe even gotten a little irked.

The difference today is, I can read verses like this, and although I know I HAVE SO FAR TO GO...I can clearly see how far God has brought me. He has changed me. He is changing me. He has grown me. He is growing me. I can praise Him now...watch Michele's testimony and say, "Thank you, God. Thank you for what you've done. Thank you that even on the hard days, on the days when I feel like I blow it all day long, when I was ugly and awful...my worst days now would have been unreachable when I was lost. Thank you that even on the yuck days, I feel you camping on my soul."

Maybe the Lord is speaking to you.

Maybe you feel all weird inside.

Maybe a little defensive.

Don't ignore Him.

Maybe you don't need to be saved.

Maybe you do.

But it's always okay to go to the Lord, after reading His Word, asking Him to search our hearts.

Are they right with Him?

If not...there's no reason they can't be.