The family came into the restaurant just before closing and they were sat in my oldest daughter Sarah’s area to serve. She looked at the clock and said good-bye to getting out on time, put a smile on her face and went out to take their orders. This is her story

When I think of God’s love being showered over me I think of His grace and How He died so that I could have relationship with Him. I think of His gift of forgiveness. But what came first…forgiveness or repentance?

It was a magical toy when I was a little girl, broken little pieces of glass trapped in a cardboard cylinder that tumbled and rolled and changed how the world looked with every twist and turn. I would spend hours looking into the sun, marveling at the explosions of color that reflected off the mirrors inside.

I remember the first time, I was at a dinner and was talking with a friend and my daughter Sarah. My friend asked a question that if answered honestly would make me vulnerable…I took the plunge. A few minutes into my answer my friend either didn’t sense the importance of my sharing or needed to say something and began to talk over me. I stopped talking, swallowed my words and focused on my friend. My daughter slid her hand over and squeezed my hand and mouthed the words, “I see you.”

My daughter Sarah did a wonderful presentation in her nursing class that showed 5 ways you can find greater joy in your life. And they only take 8 minutes a day. The amazing thing is her report focused on proven studies but the Bible says the exact same thing. We can make changes every day that will make us more grateful in our lives.

It feels like when you go out deep in the ocean and a huge wave rolls over you and churns you around and around. I had suspected one of my four daughters, Allena, was drawn to girls when she was younger but when we sat across from her on the couch and theory became fact, I felt tossed in the waves.

I live a life full of tension and I don’t want to change it. Pulled one way by grace that covers all of my sins and pulled the other way by judgment, which reminds me my actions make a difference. Like a tightrope walker, at times I find myself leaning more to one side than the other, seeking balance in the midst of imbalance. I keep working at is because my life is best when I balance them both…because I need them both.

Before the girls it was us, choosing each other in the midst of love, immaturity and optimism…in a moment Vicky and John became an us.