Today’s Mother’s Day celebration was a total blast. My dad and mom’s family all came over for one big long party from noon till bedtime. I love my family. We are hilarious, and I thoroughly enjoy taking time out of our normal schedules to just relax and hang out.

So much has happened between the families that were all here today. There were quite a few points in the day we all paused and just admired what God has done in our lives. There is one strongly woven thread through all of our hearts and that is God’s unmerited, immeasurable and unending love and grace which has restored a laundry list of brokenness including divorce, rape, molestation, abandonment, addiction, and death. Our family has faced ALOT of hard moments together in just the last decade, we have watched each other struggle to recover from blows from the enemy, and we have seen firsthand what someone ELSE’S sin can do to the innocent bystanders. But God, oh BUT GOD. He is faithful. He is good. And today it was so evident that what he does to restore what the enemy tries to kill is nothing short of a miracle.

The enemy has intensely pursued my family BUT today it was quite refreshing to stand back and see that God has had the final say IN EVERY SINGLE SITUATION. What the enemy has stolen God has redeemed. Where hurt, bitterness, anger, and pain resided he replaced them with joy, healing, wholeness and new life.

Today was alot of fun. It’s amazing seeing the other side of the mountain. Sometimes the road up the mountain is long. Some of my family members have been fighting, praying and believing for years for things. Results are not always instantaneous, but God is always faithful. He is always present and we are never alone. We can always be confident that our circumstance doesn’t define the character of who our God is and his plan for our life.

According to scripture the only plan that God has for us includes prospering, hope and a future (life) and it does NOT include harm.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Today, it was awesome and very timely to see that ring true for the Hall family. Sometimes I really need to be reminded how FAITHFUL and PRESENT God has been to us. I forget when new life moments seem overwhelming that God has never failed us- not even once. He has healed broken hearts in ways I’d never have imagined. He has replaced with overflow what the enemy ripped away. He has protected our hearts and shielded us from the plan of the enemy. He has reshaped, remolded and redefined what the enemy tried to confuse and misconstrue. He has provided for our every need and best of all he has blessed us so that our family can be free to love other people and life. We haven’t just survived life- we have loved life and the adventure he has us on.

I just don’t know how people do life without Jesus. I’d have died along time ago if I didn’t know him. Next to being thankful for Jesus, I’m pretty gosh darn thankful to be in my family. I’d take away the pain of the past if I could for my family members, but since I can’t I’m so glad I can be confident that God has proven himself (again!) to be all sufficient.

I hope you had FUN celebrating the people and mom’s in your world today.

I sure love mine!