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October 30, 2012 by Karin 2 Comments

Grace Dance (#30)

PROMISE #30 ~ GRACE

The storm outside blows furiously.  Her name is Sandy.

Sandy… a benign name for a massive force of nature, which may be why she has been nicknamed “Frankenstorm.”

I busy myself with laundry, cleaning, preparing.  Filling water bottles, bathtubs, flashlights.  Cooking pizzas, popcorn, chicken.

The preparation for a possible power outage.  

Who knows if we’ll lose power?  Who knows if trees will fall?  Who knows what food will remain edible?  Who knows how hard, how long, how furiously the winds will blow?  How high the waters will rise?

I busy myself with the preparation… while my warrior prepares the things of warriors.  Protection of the masses.  The waiting game… waiting for word to assist the ones who may fall victim to damage from ferocious winds… rains.

I’ve watched the spectacular fall-tinted leaves… as they are ripped from their home base.

Flung wide.

Here’s a funny thing.  I have been chasing God’s promises for 29 days.  I vowed to complete 31.  I suppose I made the vow to myself… my own self-promise.  So, I am bound and determined to finish it.  I am so close.  I promised God that I would go for 31 days.

The 31 day promise seeking… a promise to myself… to God.  And now, I face a possible power outage.  Now, of course, this is not the greatest tragedy facing millions at this moment.  This is nothing of fear.  This really is no big deal in the big picture.  It is simply something I wanted to finish.  For me.  For God.

Then, the words… the words from a dear sister ring in my mind.

It’s all in the prepositions.

It has nothing to do with “for”

It has everything to do with… “with”

I paraphrase the beautiful wisdom from a dear soul, so eloquently spoken to hundreds.

This thought… burying itself deep.

He doesn’t need us to do FOR Him.  He wants us WITH Him.

He’s got it.  He, after all, is God. 

My fingers dance across the keyboard as the wind gusts ebb and flow outside the barriers of these four walls.

This dancing of fingers, for Him… change to a dancing ~ with Him.

I may or may not finish the 31 days.  We may or may not lose power, trees, food, water…

We dance with Him, in this swirling world.  Once again, opening hands to the Father… hands taken for the dance.

With Him.

This grace… His grace… a gift.

Not one thing I ever do, we ever do… will deserve it.

His grace.  His grace is sufficient.

As we dance.

 

PROMISE #30 ~ God gives grace… His grace is sufficient.

 

2 Corinthians 12:9

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Filed Under: Faith, God's Promises, Grace Tagged With: faith, God's promises, grace, in the storm

October 29, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

Missed Mercy (#29)

PROMISE #29 ~ MERCY

I just rocked my sleepy, sniffly baby back to sleep.

Her blue eyes glistened, peering into mama’s face… and then closed to sweet slumber.

A memory.  Recent.

Blue eyes.  A pair of blue eyes, only briefly noticed…

The photographer’s shutter furiously snapping.  I stood in contorted positions in the attempt to appear… natural.  Feeling awkward on the city street, a glance tossed over my shoulder.

A man.  Gruff, appearing older than his unrecognizable years… under the gray, worn stubble, weathered skin.

He stumbled in our direction… blue eyes.  The blue glazed by years, pain, alcohol, homelessness.

what’s that do?

His gruff, garbled voice questioned, pointing to the white circular disk above my head.

It makes light.

The photographer answered uneasily.

But, it’s a cloudy day.

He murmured, intrigued by the scene before him.

That’s why we need the light.

He gazed for a moment, gathered his tattered clothes closely to him, and slid away.

Camera calmed its clicking.  I collected my bag and returned to my busy day.

He left my mind for a while… then, the blue eyes.  They pierced my thoughts.

I did nothing.  

All this talk of love, and hope, and grace, and hands, and feet… and mercy…

And I did.  Nothing.

I remembered the money in my pocket.

Why didn’t I give him the money?

Would it have made a difference?

Would he have spent it on food?  More alcohol? 

Does it matter?  

All the thoughts of showing love to this body of Christ… and nothing… when a broken body part slips quietly away.

He had wanted to know what we were doing.  Making light.  Reflecting light.  Being light.

My light had dimmed… for a moment.  The moment a soul needed light on his cloudiest day.

His eyes, just as blue a baby-eye to his mama, many years ago.

What happens when the eyes fade, the body breaks, the soul dims… searching for light?

A confession to God, to me, to you.  I hid His light.  Cloaked mercy behind my own discomfort, uncertainty, fear.

What good is it to shine spotlights across oceans, to distant lands so desperately in need of light…

when we dim the light on our own streets?

This light… made to be far-reaching… and near.  At the same time.

My remorse of my inaction, an offering, a prayer that I would shine His light brighter the next time.

A prayer for the man with the faded blue in his eyes. That God would show mercy to the grown baby of another mother…

even when I didn’t.

 

PROMISE #29 ~ God is merciful.

 

Titus 3:4-6

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,

Filed Under: Community, Compassion, Faith, God's Promises, Mercy Tagged With: compassion, faith, God's promises, mercy for the broken

October 28, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

The Wait (#28)

PROMISE #28 ~ WAIT

Can you sometimes sense a change coming?

As if the sky cracks open… just one small sliver.  A thought thrown to the heavens and God answers by allowing the thought to chip the sky just enough to begin the hairline fracture.

This glimmering fracture stretches just enough to allow a glowing ray of light from the other side.  The light of some sort of purpose.  Just enough to feed the thrill of anticipation.

Sitting on the edge of… something… wondering just what it may be.

Peering hard into the horizon… searching for… purpose.

Asking Him for the answer… and He answers…

wait.

When I don’t know what to do… the answer…

do nothing…

wait.

He has much in store.

 

PROMISE #28 ~ God has gifts in store for us… sometimes we must wait.

 

Acts 1:3-5

After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.  On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Filed Under: Faith, God's Promises, Patience, Trust Tagged With: faith, God's promises, Patience, waiting on God

October 27, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

When Your Skin Just Doesn’t Fit (#27)

PROMISE #27 ~ YOU ARE A WONDERFUL CREATION

So, I thought I had outgrown this feeling.

This feeling of not quite fitting in, of sticking out like a sore thumb, or worse… of not being noticed at all.

I thought this was the rite of passage for a teenager.  When you finally leap beyond those teen years, shouldn’t you be good to go?  Confidence should come with age, right… and be evident in every situation.  I am an adult, after all.  I have a husband, six kids, dear friends… life is comfortable.

Then why does this old discomfort of not quite fitting in to my own skin rear its head again?

Maybe God is trying to tell me something.  Maybe it’s not at all about being comfortable in my own skin.  Maybe it’s quite the opposite.  Maybe I should feel painfully uncomfortable in my own skin, in order to fit better into His.  Maybe my skin is just in the way ~ a barrier to the soul underneath.  The soul in need of growth.

This soul that needs to rip at the seams to allow Light from an infinite source to shine through the torn edges.

All this to say, I am surrounded by people… I don’t know one soul and the feeling is making me squirm.  Like a Cinderella arriving at the ball, only to discover, the ball is really not a ball.  It’s t-shirts and jeans night… and I wore a gown.  Cringe.

Maybe it’s simply this… a nudge to remember the ones in the corner, the ones feeling awkward and alone… a reminder to mama what it feels like when my own kids want to crawl into a hole.

This reminder carries with it another message… one of awareness.

Awareness of who we really are… Whom we really matter to the most.

A reminder to embrace the place we are, ill-fitting skin and all.  Remembering that He knit us together precisely for this place, and the next.  With great care.  Beautifully me.  Beautifully you. 

A reflection of His light.

 

PROMISE #27 ~ You are a wonderful work of God.

 

Psalm 139:11-14

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.  For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Filed Under: Community, Faith, God's Promises Tagged With: community, faith, God's promises, when you feel out of place

October 26, 2012 by Karin 8 Comments

His Voice (#26) ~ for five minutes this Friday

PROMISE #26 – HIS VOICE

My voice… I have used it to calm, to soothe, to rebuke and reprimand.

My voice… I have used it to chastise, to love, to embrace with just a sound.

It’s when I find myself speechless that I wonder what my voice really says. 

I wonder whom my voice really represents?

I have spoken the spectrum from love to hate and I wonder why I use the beautiful gift so recklessly at times.

I hear the Voice now.

The only One that matters.

Not in a scream, a shout… but in a whisper.

Use it for Me.

Use the words I speak to you.

 

V eering from my own voice to His

O nly speaking the words that please His ears

I gnoring the ugly prompts from the darkest corners

C hoosing to whisper… or shout ~ only words of affirmation, of encouragement

E choing the sounds that began with His own voice…

Let there be light…

PROMISE #26 ~ His voice will shake the earth.

Hebrews 12:26-29

At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”  The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken – that is, created things – so that what cannot be shaken may remain.  Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”

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Filed Under: Community, Faith, God's Promises, Mercy Tagged With: faith, God's promises, use your voice ~ for Him

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Meet Karin

Hi! My name is Karin Madden. Writer. Warrior wife. Mom of six pack. Homeschooler. German-blooded southerner. Welcome to the place where I explore what it means to grow stronger - spirit, soul, and body. I write to inspire and encourage - to remind you we are not alone. By being bold with grace and speaking truth in love, we can become who we are meant to be. I'm glad you are here.

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