Kayla Wengerd

“Today, I commit to live as loved. I choose to believe I am fully and wholeheartedly loved by God for exactly who I am. I don’t have to be more, do more, or achieve more to be loved by Him. When I am tempted to believe the lies that have held me back for so many years, I will replace those lies with the truth that I am fully loved by God. Jesus loves me unconditionally and doesn’t judge me based upon my kids’ behaviors or choices. I will put my hope in Him, not in my child’s choices. I choose to be okay with my children making mistakes and messing up because I know this is why Jesus came. I will focus on pointing my kids to Jesus and will no longer spend my days trying to be my children’s rescuer and Holy Spirit. I choose to open my tightly clenched fists trying to control all of life, and hold out my hands to accept the gift of God’s love for me. I refuse to believe the lies that tell me I’m not measuring up and am missing the mark of perfection as a parent. Instead, I choose to rest in the truth that I am created in the image of God and He sees me as His masterpiece. I don’t have to beat myself up when I feel like I don’t have what it takes but will remember that I am enough in Christ. I was made for more than living a life stifled by lies and suffocated by false beliefs. I will replace those lies with the truth of who I am in Christ. I am loved. I am forgiven. I am enough in Christ. Jesus, thank You for loving me exactly as I am. Thank You for not expecting me to parent perfectly, but for being the Ultimate Example of a Love-Centered Parent to me. I rest in Your amazing love for me. Let me be a conduit of God’s love to others. May it pour through me and spill out to everyone I come into contact with.”
― Crystal Paine, Love-Centered Parenting: The No-Fail Guide to Launching Your Kids

“We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it’s our life or our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“they want their children to believe in God, to go to church, and to do what is right, but the primary focus of their parental energy is on producing children who are mannerly, do well at school, and succeed in sports and music. So they try to control all of the behaviors that will get in the way of these goals. Because of this they do not focus on the heart and what rules the heart. And because they fail to think about the heart, they miss those wonderful moments of grace where God is revealing the heart of the child so that his parents can be God’s tools of rescue, leading our children to insight, confession, and repentance. They are left with trying to get their children to do what is right without addressing the heart, failing to understand that if they could do that, Jesus wouldn’t have had to invade earth on his mission of rescue.”
― Paul David Tripp, Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family

“hear a lot of people say that the fear of death and the fear of public speaking are two of the main fears in my generation, but I disagree. I think it’s the fear of silence. We refuse to turn off our computers, turn off our phones, log off Facebook, and just sit in silence, because in those moments we might actually have to face up to who we really are. We fear silence like it’s an invisible monster, gnawing at us, ripping us open, and showing us our dissatisfaction. Silence is terrifying.”
― Jefferson Bethke, Jesus > Religion: Why He Is So Much Better Than Trying Harder, Doing More, and Being Good Enough