It’s easy to throw clothes in a bag to donate without our kids.
It’s easier if we don’t have to hear our kids complain or argue about missing certain things.
But that defeats the point of giving.
When we get our kids involved with the giving, they can experience the joy of opening their grip, giving, & loving others.
It’s helpful to research the place where you’re donating with your kids so they get an idea of who it helps.
This makes it easier to open our grips on what we’re giving.
It’s great for our kids to join us when we drop the clothes off so they can see where the clothes go.
A lot of these places can also use volunteers to help organize the clothes – an easy way for our kids to help out.
When we did this together, I played music to make it more fun, and several times afterward we had treats to make it even more enjoyable. 
Reading a verse about serving beforehand also gets our hearts and minds in the right spirit, reminding us that serving and the little things, is a way to love the Lord & love others.
I love when the new year begins. Regardless of whether or not we follow through on certain goals, what I love, is the newness.
I love how it reminds us of what it feels like to have a new chance, to start again. To refresh.
I love how it reminds me of the great forgiveness the Lord gives us when he tells us that the old has gone, the new has come.
We are new in the Lord, not because of our “perfection”, but because of Jesus.
What freedom. What freedom we have in Jesus.
There is so much hope in the Lord.
No matter where you’ve been or where you are now, there is ALWAYS hope in the Lord.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
Accomplishing goals is great, but knowing Jesus – his love, his peace, his joy, his presence – is where true freedom and victory are found.
Why do we always want to run to the comfortable?
I sometimes have this false notion that I should constantly feel at peace and completely happy.
That’s just not reality. I know this, yet my mind still wanders to that place.
It’s okay to feel sad in a season.
It’s okay to feel uncomfortable in a season.
It’s okay to “not feel like yourself” for a season.
It’s okay. Seasons won’t last forever.
We just moved to a new state. It will take time to build community and feel that sense of belonging and at peace in this new place.
It’s easy for me to run from that feeling – to long for the comfortable.
Even though I know the world doesn’t satisfy, my mind and heart can linger to the place of thinking it will.
But, the Lord subtly reminded me that it’s okay to be in the season I’m in. Just to be.
Not to fix it, because
He’s my steady.
He’s the one who is unchanging.
Some seasons are harder than others, but there will be beauty.
When we look to him, the Lord will bring beauty from emptiness.
The Lord will, if we seek him.
Jesus, help us gain our contentment not from approval, affirmations and perfection, but from you. Help us to look for peace in you, not this world. Help us to find joy in you, not in what’s around us. Thank you for giving your life for us – for experiencing so much pain and sadness so you could give us the greatest joy this world has ever known – life with you now and forever. Jesus, I love you so much. Thank you for loving us. no. matter. what. In Jesus’ name, amen.
“But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.” Psalm 39:7
Here’s my article about not saving our kids from their emotions, but walking with them in it:
https://linseydriskill.com/2019/05/11/sometimes-kids-have-bad-days-too/
Linsey Driskill 