Kristin Hill Taylor

Seeking God as the Author of Every Story

How to hear the truth on a hard day

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We’re six weeks into this year and, truthfully, I’m a little worn out. I’m (barely) an extrovert, but the beginning of 2019 has required a lot from me relationally while parenting has sucked my mental capacity.

I found an empty package of gummy bears in the van the other night after a long day that had us going well past bedtime. Now, my van is far from perfectly clean, but the trash was evidence one of my kids didn’t obey an earlier request to stop eating candy. I’m not strict when it comes to food around here, but disobedience is disappointing.

The small moment was a breaking point for my emotions in the midst of lots of other things going on. I yelled and cried and doubted myself. I overreacted and then later regretted doing so.

I wanted to make plans to restore order, but
what I really needed was to draw nearer to God.

{Tweet that.}

The next morning while still processing one act of disobedience that led to a flood of emotions about many other moments, Greg told me I was believing lies about my role as a mom and my identity in Christ. He reminded me I was forgetting what I knew to be true about our values, our kids, and our purpose. He helped me regain perspective in the midst of the weariness.

“By progressive transforming grace, he is enabling you to live the brand-new life he calls all of his children to live – the Godward life for which you were created. You don’t have to hide in guilt when weak faith gets you off the path, because your hope in life isn’t your faithfulness, but his.”

– Paul David Tripp in “New Morning Mercies”

My human heart and mind are prone to wander. I believe lies, try to control situations, and expect too much from myself and others. But then the light seeps through the cracks and I remember what God has for me.

Here are four ways to bring the truth to light on a hard day:

1. Read God’s word. Our circumstances change, even relationships have seasons, but God’s word and character don’t change.

2. Talk to someone you trust who knows you. My husband has seen me at my worst but believes in my best. He knows my tendencies and weaknesses. I have other friends who are in similar seasons of me that can also speak truth into my days.

3. Stop scrolling. When I’m emotionally drained, I tend to absent-mindedly scroll on my phone. But then I get frustrated about things that don’t matter. I’ve been trying to read a book instead of scroll when I have pockets of time when I’d like my mind to be engaged in something that isn’t my life.

4. Remember God’s faithfulness. Literally list what God has done for you – today and yesterday. And know he’ll do it again tomorrow.

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If you’ve had a hard day, one when the truth is blurry, I have a gift for you: Here’s a playlist I created. It’s labeled FAITHFUL in my iTunes, mostly because God is faithful. We can believe what he says about who we are and be confident that he will continue the work he’s already begun in us.

{LISTEN TO PLAYLIST HERE.}

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Kristin Hill Taylor - Porch Stories

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How an actual fire helped refine my faith

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Almost two years ago, my son, who was seven at the time, sustained second-degree burns to his face and hands. His wounds needed about two weeks to heal, which truly amazed me. But I’m still being refined by what I learned of community during that time.

To be refined means to have unwanted elements removed by a process. In other words, when we refined, we are purified, clarified, cleansed, developed, and improved.

Ben was helping Greg with a burn pile of brush when a flame flared up and my boy was standing too close. He put his hands in front of his face, probably actually protecting his eyes, but the vapors of the flames still got him. He spent two nights at Vanderbilt Medical Center’s burn unit. We come home with a bag of wound care supplies and painkillers and a faith that was being proven pure.

Maybe it hasn’t been an actual fire in your life. Maybe you’ve walked through a broken relationship, expectations that haven’t been met, disappointment caused by someone you love, dreams that haven’t come true, grief from losing someone near, or another physical-impairing experience. Maybe you’ve been sick or anxious or worried or lost.

Whatever the figurative fire that’s burned our lives,
we can be refined and the people around us can help.

{Tweet that.}

Read more of how this fire and our community helped refine my faith at Lyli Dunbar’s blog. I’m happy to be part of her Refined series. {CONTINUE READING …}

Let’s live with heaven in mind

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After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

– Revelation 7:9-12 (ESV)

I thought of heaven when I listened to my Kenyan friend pray last week at small group. I remembered the prayers in Spanish when we blessed the home we built for a family near Tecpan, Guatemala in June. I am drawn to worship music that lets me hear accents of people’s homes, whether that’s Ireland or Georgia.

All the tongues, even the ones I can’t understand with my American ears, are praising the same God, the one who sent his son for us. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us and the tapestry of accents is going to be beautiful when we get there.

“The fact is that you cannot make sense out of life unless you look at it from the vantage point of eternity. If all God’s grace gives us is a little better here and now, if it doesn’t finally fix all that sin had broken, then perhaps we have believed in vain. … There has to be more to God’s plan than this world of sin, sickness, sorrow, and death. There has to be more than the temporary pleasures of this physical world. Yes, there is more, and when you live like there’s more to come, you live in a radically different way.”

– Paul David Tripp in “New Morning Mercies”

As I shuttle kids around and navigate all the conversations required, I don’t think about heaven as much as I should. I think about what it’s like to live here in our self-absorbed culture, how I should best raise my kids to be believers here, and whether I’m doing enough to point them to Jesus. But I don’t parent with heaven in mind.

I want to change that.

I want to point them to Jesus because he’s preparing a place for them too, not just because his example is the right way to live here in our temporary homes.

I want to teach them about living with an eternal perspective because then so few things will matter like we think they do. I want to love and learn alongside them.

I want to believe what Jesus says. I want to live with a gaze toward heaven, where all the tribes and nations will be one. I’m guessing I’ll understand those prayers from the Guatemalans when we get there.

*****

Extra, extra!

PODCAST: In honor of Valentine’s Day, I got to chat with my friend Mary Carver about TV marriages for her podcast, The Couch. Be sure to tune in to our episode plus the other recent episodes. {LISTEN HERE or HERE.}

LOVE STORY: Plus the story of #TeamTaylor began 21 years ago when Greg and I went on our first date on Valentine’s Day after we’d met a week earlier. {READ HERE.}

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Kristin Hill Taylor - Porch Stories

#PorchStories Party