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October 14, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

Sitting on the fence (#14)

PROMISE #14 ~ HE IS THE ROCK 

Sitting on the fence.

It’s a great way to see one side… and the other.  It’s a nice place to be.  Safely undecided.  Above the radar.

I can see the black pavement on one side.  Smooth for the most part, a few potholes, a blur of masses mingling in and out of life’s messes.

Sitting on the fence.  It’s pretty safe here.  If I just hold still.

The other side of the fence…the green pasture.  It beckons.  But, what if the grass gnarls under the blistering sun?  What if I go to the field and there is no one to greet me there?  What if I jump from my fence into the dewy grass… only to find I am alone and the field does not hold all that it promises.

I glance back to the pavement.  I know the pavement.  It is not particularly fulfilling.  It is not filled with immeasurable joy.  It is a bit humdrum.  Safe.  Comfortable.  But, there has to be more.  Is it possible that the answer might lie on the other side?

I have spent much of my life on the fence.  It has been said that no decision is a NO decision.

Is it perhaps time to say YES?

Yes to invisible promises… yes to gentle nudging… yes to a new place, a new direction, a new life.

What if I just say yes?  What if I leap, no matter how my soul trembles?  What if I jump from this safe fence that sits above indecision, clinging to fear of rejection, safe in the arms of obscurity?  What if I just jump?

I glimpse at the outlined souls in the field… arm in arm.  Strength in numbers.  The ones who have boldly gone there, beyond the fence, beyond the doubt… no matter the cost.  I recognize a few of the faces, some are not yet known to me… though they appear familiar ~ a family resemblance.  The smiles I know… an enveloping warmth… they draw me in, beckoning me… encouraging me.  This is what those in the field do… they do this for one another… they do this for ones lost on the pavement.  They call… I see sisters (and I thank God for them ~ you know who you are…), brothers… waiting.  Building the tribe… the family… strength in service to Him.

The truth is… the fence is temporary.  Eventually it will rot away… fade into a distant memory.  Passage of time will swallow the fence… and I will find myself here.  Somewhere in the middle of nowhere.  Missing the adventure… the journey.

The truth is… when the fence disappears, when there is no longer a divide… there will be only One place.  One place of Life.  The rest will all fade away…

The truth is… He has held true to every promise from the birth of promise itself.  The field awaits.  The ground is sure… The Rock is solid.

The fence is no place to stay.

Are you sitting on the fence?

What is keeping you there?

Will you take the leap of faith?  Just say…

Yes

 

PROMISE #14 ~ God is the rock.

 

Psalm 62:1-3

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.  How long will you assault a man?  Would all of you throw him down – this leaning wall, this tottering fence?

Filed Under: Brothers and Sisters, Community, Faith, Family, God's Promises, Hope, Together Tagged With: faith, God's promises, sitting on the fence in faith

October 10, 2012 by Karin 2 Comments

A step from the clouds (#10)

PROMISE #10 ~ LEAP OF FAITH

I am stuck in the clouds.

I am certain that one false move will take me careening toward the earth.

I prefer this envelope of false security… dependence on self… dependence on a chosen few that have my heart.

I trust the deceptive certainty of my own will, my own plans, my own heart.

I know I can count on me… after all

I can depend on my warrior…

There are a few close friends… some family…

I am fairly certain that my heart rests safely on the vapor of their humanness.

The truth is… I can trust them… I can trust me… as far as trusting a human soul holds water on its own…

Just like a cloud.

To step from the cloud… that is where the trust really lives… where the faith is born.

stepping out in faith

praying… praying

That He will catch me.

The God truth is… the One who bore me… all of us… into existence holds His hand under the billowy mist…

just waiting

waiting…

For me to leap.

 

PROMISE #10 ~ God will catch us in a leap of faith.

 

Psalm 28:7

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.  My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

Filed Under: Faith, Family, Friendship, God's Promises, Trust Tagged With: God's promises, leap of faith, trust

October 6, 2012 by Karin 2 Comments

Making room for the Light

PROMISE #6 ~ LIGHT

Do you ever feel overcome?  Just plain overwhelmed with all the duties, details, and demands of your life?

I do.

I feel like that today, and yesterday… and maybe tomorrow.

My mind is so cluttered with the pinball thoughts that run amuck… that I can not seem to focus on one piece… one person… at. a. time.

Frustrating.

I try to catch up in one area, only to find myself lagging behind in another lane.

Aggravating.

I start to chastise myself for not being able to do it better, quicker, more efficiently, more gracefully.

Defeating.

I feel like I am losing control.  Ah, the control thing again.  Again.

when will I learn?

This time… today… I decide to approach my death-grip on control in a new light.  His light.

please take this from me.  I am at it again.  I know.  

Self denial.  I want to remove the distractions today that cloud the words He has for me.  The light from Him can only shine in the places I have cleared for Him to enter.  His light and direction like a piercing flashlight through the dark, jumbled maze of my mind.  The beams of light pointing a new direction.

This self-denial a permission from me to Him… deny self ~ allow God.

I think I must drive You crazy…

These times when my mind gets cluttered with the burdens of this world, the busyness of motherhood, the beastly selfishness of my natural wants… these times

I long for His light

I long for the light… all the time, but…  I snuff out the light and plod along in darkness and wonder where the exit sign is.  Then, the Light.  His radiant glow… His brilliant beauty… shows up.  In a friend.  In a phone call.  In a knock at the door.

Over and over He reaches and pulls me back… into the light.  He answers the pleading call from a worn out sinner.  Every.  Time.

Our sinful nature He does not hold against us.  His open hands, His redemption… His light… He gives again and again.  It is ours to accept the invitation out of the darkness…

into His light.

PROMISE #6 ~ God will give us light.

 

2 Corinthians 4:6

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Filed Under: Faith, Family, God's Promises, Joy, Mercy, Motherhood, Perseverance Tagged With: faith, God's promises, His light, mercy

October 4, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

The truth (it will set you free) (#4)

#4 ~ FREEDOM

How hard is it to speak the truth?

The truth as we know it and believe it?

The most difficult place to tell the truth… the place of our own birth.  The most uncomfortable home for truth, the Truth given by Him, is the home of our own flesh and blood.

I used to be one of those who believed, on the periphery… the outskirts.  I believed quietly in the capsule of my mind.  I did not feel the need, understand the need, actually… believe the need to share this belief with anyone else.  

it’s a private, personal thing

belief

Personal, that it is.  Private, there are times for that.  Passing the belief on… well, it’s not only important… it’s the most important.  When I finally, completely, believed… that’s when my sleep walking eyes opened to this most important need of all.

Speak the Truth.

In love.

Sharing what I learn about our Savior is probably the most uncomfortable experience in my life.  It does not come naturally to me… I was not raised in this vocal faith.

A dear sister, under attack…

I just spoke the Truth

We can expect such attacks… His beauty is not always welcomed with open arms in this place.  As He does, He whispered to me a word for her…

If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you (1 Peter 4:14)

The conversation made me think… about truth.  About speaking the Truth.  No matter the places it brings us in our earthly skin.

Why are we afraid to share the Truth?  Why do I hesitate to share what my newly born eyes have seen?  It does, after all, sound just a little bit, well, nuts.  To someone whose eyes remain covered.  This, not a judgement, but a recollection of my own blind eyes.

Truth.  

Why don’t we share it?

  1. Someone will not like me… the Truth… or both
  2. I will be cast out (of a crowd that has been so comfortable)
  3. I will look like a fool
  4. They will not believe it anyway, so what’s the point?
  5. I will be vulnerable to self-doubts, and worse… God-doubts

The thoughts that sweep through my mind… when I just want to sweep them away (and not just under a rug for re-surfacing tomorrow)

My questions, my reasons, beg for answers.

Reasons to tell the Truth:

  1. There will always be someone who doesn’t like me… the Truth… or both.  There will others who do… and there will always be One who loves.
  2. When I am cast out of one place… I am cast into another.  Just the place He wants me to be.
  3. I may look like a fool here.  To be a fool for Him… is the only kind of fool to be.
  4. They may not believe… yet.  It’s God’s job to change the heart.  It’s our job to speak His truth.
  5. …Stop doubting and believe (John 20:27).  Enough said.

What is God’s promise?  

PROMISE #4 ~ He will set you free.

John 8:31-32

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Filed Under: Brothers and Sisters, Faith, Family, God's Promises, Love Tagged With: faith, family, God's promises, the freedom in truth

September 28, 2012 by Karin 8 Comments

grasping at straws (for five minutes this Friday)

Grasp

Grasping at straws.  Don’t you sometimes feel like you are grasping at straws?

Grasping at straws… it is trying to find reasons to be hopeful about a bad situation… it is to make a desperate and almost certainly futile effort to save oneself.  This is grasping at straws defined.

I read that it comes from an analogy of someone floating… drowning… in a river… and reaching… with desperation for the reeds growing on the river bank.  Grasping for something… anything… to hold on to.

I look into my aging mother’s eyes.  I see her confusion flicker.  My father’s frustration.  I… grasp at straws… try to bless.  Grasping with desperation to save.  Them.  Me. 

Then the voice… a whisper

I have this

you don’t have to save them… or yourself…

I have already done that.  

Let the water… the water of life… let it carry all of you.

Stop grasping.

Let go.

Grasp for Him…

 

G o to Him for the saving

R emember that He has already finished the battle

A cknowledge that He has taken the straws and built a bridge right to Himself… for all of us

S top.  Listen.  He is whispering to you right now.

P raise Him that you are free… free to breathe.

 

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Filed Under: Faith, Family, Love Tagged With: aging parents, faith, love

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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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