On Thursdays I go to this moms group at my church. After years and years of wanting to be a mom – like since I was five, no joke – I have surprisingly found that I don’t fit in well at moms groups. I don’t know if they think I don’t fit in as much as on the inside I don’t feel like I fit in.

The first moms group I tried out we did crafts. There is nothing at all wrong with crafts. Sometimes I get in a crafty mood. But after being with my baby all day the last thing I want to do is crafts. Instead I want to go in, plop down, veg out and talk – to real, live adult women about real life things.

I’m not sure if this is a result of my longer-than-desired season of singleness, and now being an older mom, but my perspective is just a little different. It’s almost like I’m now a single woman trapped in a married woman’s body. Does that sound crazy?

Regardless, the moms group I go to now I really like. There’s a speaker who gives a Bible lesson. Then, we sit around a table and talk about it. Today’s lesson was about the adulterous woman who the Pharisees brought to Jesus and asked Him whether she should be stoned as stated in the law of Moses. Jesus soon after replied, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And then He said to the woman, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” (John 8:1-11)

At my table, I commented that I know many people who are living under the bondage of condemnation. They live believing that their sin is too great for God to forgive. They think they are too bad, too crazy, too messed up. So instead of running to God, they run away from Him because they figure they’ll never be good enough, so why even try.

A Lot of Prayer

I have several friends who do not have a relationship with Jesus. I think they probably see me, someone who is seeking maturity in her faith, and figure they could never be that “good”. But what they don’t see is that without Jesus, I’m not good. I’m nothing. I’m sinful and broken and hurting. I’m messed up, and I’m crazy if I can get away with it.

But through the power of Jesus I am able to overcome all of this. And here’s the thing, the power of Jesus is not a one-time shot in the arm. No, it’s a daily, moment-by-moment grace that gets me to the next moment and the next moment.

When I do mess-up, and yes, I do mess-up, I know that forgiveness is available, and I can walk in the truth that I no longer live in bondage to my sin. Through the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, there is another way.

This weekend I want you to walk in that freedom, too. If you feel like you are just too sinful for God to ever forgive or ever love, remember that is the purpose of the Cross – to take away the deepest depths of sin. Jesus is your replacement. He died for you. You will never be good enough. How could you ever be anyway? But through Jesus’ power you can walk in freedom from sin.

This weekend may this be our prayer: to know that we are so loved that Jesus died for us and every jaw-dropping sin we’ve ever committed.  And that we walk in that freedom only available through the power of the Holy Spirit within us. 

 This weekend I am praying for you. Please leave your requests in the comments or on the Facebook page.

And a Little Encouragement

Here are the interesting reads I found around the web this week:

Praying for a Spiritual Family  by Amy at Modern{ish} Life – This post tells one young single woman’s pursuit of strong community – including older mentors. I love this post because I agree with it wholeheartedly.

The Complementary Natures of Beauty and Melancholy by Parker J. Palmer at On Being – As a melancholic, I appreciated this post so much.

Look at the Book by John Piper at Desiring God – This is an upcoming tutorial on how to study the Bible. Looking forward to this.

Is Everybody Single? More Than Half the U.S. Now, Up From 37% in ’76 from Bloomberg.com This is interesting and why I do what I do here.

To Substitute Another Thirst from First Things – Another interesting read.

How My Singleness Became My Ministry  – This is where I shared some of my story this past week at Single Roots

And finally this!! Which I am so excited about and cannot wait to tell you the names of the participants! You’re going to be blown away by these stories!

Be looking for 31 Days of Interviews with Single Women coming in October for the 31 Days Writing Challenge.

And Even Some Fun

This week’s Cents of Style Fashion Friday Deal: It’s a jewelry sale! All items $5.95 & FREE SHIPPING with the code SEPTEMBER.

There are 100’s of pieces and colors to choose from. Necklaces, earrings, bracelets and more.

 Praying for you this weekend! Leave your requests below! 

**This post has my affiliate links.