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Here is the truth about when I was pregnant with o

Here is the truth about when I was pregnant with our first baby: I didn't feel all of the warm connections. I couldn't wrap my head around it. On the way to the hospital, where our lives were supposed to change forever, I remember saying to my husband, "I hope we like this kid or it's going to be a long eighteen years." ⠀
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Who says things like that? Let me tell you, only people without a clue. We had no clue. ⠀
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We didn't understand what it was like to love to that magnitude. We had heard about parenting; we had watched our friends parent. We had even read books and taken a class. But we didn't know that love, because we didn't know our Henry. ⠀
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When he was born, they handed Henry to me and as his sweet eyes gazed up, love was born. Intimacy was created beyond which words could describe. It was an unbreakable connection. The way love was created to be.⠀
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Before laying Henry in my arms, they didn't hand him my rules of expectations for his life in order to earn my love. That would have been ridiculous. By putting him in my arms, they were saying to Henry, "This is your mom...she loves you." And as we gazed into each other's eyes, that relationship began. It is similar to the way my heart longs for each of us to find rest in the arms of our loving Father and connect with His eyes, "This is your God...He loves you."⠀
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How can you feel that connection? How can you rest in God's arms and gaze into His eyes? It may be as simple as saying, "God, if You are real, I would want to know that." "God, I know some things about You, but I want to know You." ⠀
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Keep asking. ⠀
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Search for His love. ⠀
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I am confident that God will speak to you through the Bible. Let me gently whisper, "You can read it, I promise." If the language in your Bible seems complicated, try New Living Translation. If you need a place to start, try the book of John. Ask, "God, open my eyes." Look for love, for our God who loves you. ⠀
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My comment on the way to the hospital is the same way most of us initially feel about God: detached because we don't know each other yet. ⠀
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If God is calling your heart, say yes....⠀
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HLLF, @kirstinricketts⠀
full post in bio link

What if in this season of lent, we promised to liv

What if in this season of lent, we promised to live this verse? It's a beautiful command, and I want it to be the focus of this season for me. These months have been COLD yet overly busy, and I have noticed my praise and thankfulness have declined. When I lack recognition and awe of Jesus throughout the day, it leans into every aspect of my life. Right now, I could use a better rhythm of praise and appreciation. Maybe you could too? ⠀
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So this is my plan, and I would love for you to join in with me these upcoming weeks.⠀
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I am setting the alarm on my phone to go off at 9 am, 12 pm, and 3 pm each day to pause and praise God. Ensuring a time to stop the rhythm of the busy, of worry, to-do's, and interrupt in praise. Will my kids hear it? Yep. They can join in. Will it be inopportune at times? Probably, but it doesn't matter. ⠀
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What if from now until Easter, we all set our alarms? From the moment we rose to the moment we called it a day, we focused on thankfulness and conversations with Jesus?⠀
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I think these weeks could be beautiful. And in the end, I'm guessing we won't need the alarm anymore. I love that thought. 💛 HLLF

A few years ago, I tried to burn the house down, s

A few years ago, I tried to burn the house down, seriously. I was multitasking, watering plants, teaching kiddos math, and making Easy-Mac in the microwave. ⠀
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I emptied the bowl of uncooked noodles into the plastic dish, popped it into the microwave, and left the room. When I came back, I was welcomed by billowing black smoke and toxic fumes. My kids immediately went into “We are going to die!” mode and ran outside into the 20-degree weather while I removed the black melted dish of what was going to be lunch. Completely burned. Why? I forgot to add the water. Believe it or not, the words “Just add water” isn't just a tagline but an important fire-protecting instruction. So easy, and yet in my multitasking life, I just neglected it. ⠀
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We're also given one direction for pretty much all of life. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love others. It’s repeated several times in the bible. It's a clear instruction to keep our priorities in order. And yet, when we don’t follow it, we fail. We cause fires where they don’t belong. We multitask ourselves into a flurry and don’t realize the smoke signals until it’s too late. ⠀
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I love the story of Mary and Martha in the New Testament. Two women, sisters, who find that Jesus and His disciples are coming to their home. So immediately, the two go into action. Martha starts cleaning, cooking, preparing… multitasking it all. Mary, on the other hand, paused. She followed the command of “Love God, love others,” and when Jesus came, she stopped trying to have it all together and just sat at the feet of the One to who we are called to give attention. The one direction. Martha was so irritated because having guests is work, and there were tasks to do! Here's how it goes down in the book of Luke chapter 10...⠀
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Martha went to Jesus and asked, “Lord don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”⠀
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“Martha Martha,” Jesus answered, “You are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed" — or indeed only one. "Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”⠀
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Indeed, only one thing. Love God, love others. Let's do it.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. This is why I am in on

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. This is why I am in on putting ashes on our kids heads. ⠀
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As we approach Easter, I want to see Jesus like the characters in the old Bible stories who were climbing sycamore trees, reaching out through crowds to touch His robe, flocking to the hills to hear Him speak. Leading up to Easter, I long to see Him everywhere. ⠀⠀
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When these ashes are put on a person’s head one of two things is usually said: “Repent and believe in the Gospel” (the good news that Jesus’s death fills the gap between God and us for those who believe) or “Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return.” I am all in on both of these sweet, important, life-changing realities. ⠀⠀
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When my kids walk around with the ashes on their heads, it’s not to identify themselves as more righteous than the person next to them, but I want to help them see that this world is not their home, that they were created for eternity. I want them to look in the mirror with the ashes on their foreheads and see themselves as marked. Set apart. I want them to begin to identify as His. To visually see the gap that their lives would be forever marked with if it were not for Jesus’s death and resurrection. To realize what was about to happen to their Jesus. Their Savior. I want them to see the ashes as a big mark of “I’m sorry.” I want them to look in the mirror and know that they need a solution to remove the mark of sin in their lives and that God provided that for them in the Gospel, in His Son Jesus.⠀⠀
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As we enter into the season of chocolate bunnies and jellybeans, I want them to remember that their joy was bought with a price. A sacrifice. And that sacrifice cost something much more than the expense of an Easter basket and a ham. It cost the blood of God made man, Jesus. ⠀⠀
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That is a reality that I want to mark them for more than this season. I want it to mark them their whole lives. So that’s how we will start Lent today. Not because they are working something off, not because they are worthy, but because the One who died was most worthy...⠀
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You will find the remainder of the post in the bio link.⠀
HLLF, Kirstin

Instagram post 17862150833395855

Instagram post 17862150833395855