I’m sitting in my favorite chair, drinking hot tea, looking out my window at the CO mountains. This is a beautiful day – in more ways than one. Today marks the beginning of Lent. I love this time of year.

I feel like the Lord has been preparing me for this season of Lent for several days now. Last week, I read through the book of John. My breath was taken away several times as I was reminded that Christ came for one purpose…to save the world. To save me! Our service on Sunday included coming to the Lord’s table and participating in Communion. As I held the elements in my hand, I whisper-prayed in three Shultz kids’ ears (Brian did the same for the others), remembering what Christ did for my children. Powerful…moving…humbling. Sunday service ended with one of my favorite songs by Casting Crowns – Glorious Day.

“Living He loved me, dying He saved me. Buried He carried my sins far away. Rising He justified freely forever. One day He’s coming. Oh, glorious day.”

In His living, in His dying, in His being buried, in His rising, in all of these things He did something for me. Something I could not do for myself. Because of my sin, I cannot reconcile myself to God. Only Christ could do that for me.

Last week, our reading for Sunday School was a chapter in The Good and Beautiful God called “God is Self-Sacrificing.” The cross was the focus and the question asked had me highlighting and Amen-ing and praising my Savior – “What more could He have done for you?” There is no more He could have done. He paid the ultimate price out of His love for a wretched, unfaithful sinner. And because of the price He paid, I have been justified. I am righteous. Wow. Wow. Wow! Can I get an Amen up in here?

One of my favorite verses says it clearly – But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).

There is nothing more He could have done for you. There is nothing more He could have done for your children.

There is nothing more He could have done for the Shultz family!

So I encourage you. More than that – I urge you. Share this great news with your children. Shout this great news in your families. Come…this season of Lent…and remember together what Christ has done for you. Remember together and praise Him together. After all, what more could He have done for you and for your children and for your children’s children? May we remember His sacrifice for generations to come.

This was not the greatest of weekends for me. Sickness reigned supreme in my body. I don’t get sick very often and usually when I do, I’m able to lick it pretty quickly. Not this time. All I wanted to do was to lie in bed sleeping the hours away, while someone else did the cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, chauffeuring, training, listening, and my favorite, refereeing. I would have been able to spread around the duties, but my excellent-at-cooking-chauffeuring-listening-refereeing husband was out of town with my excellent-at-cleaning-grocery shopping-chauffeuring daughter. Our oldest son was also out of town, and our other daughter, who happens to be excellent at cleaning, training and listening, had an event and sleepover (one that had been planned for a couple of weeks – otherwise, there may have been a “Mama needs help” cancellation) to be at.

Our weekends are normally spent together. This was out of the ordinary. And, of course, I would get sick on a weekend when it was just me and the three youngers. But, thanks to Tangled, The Cosby Show, Little Caesars pizza and my sweet 10-year-old who tried his best to dust and vacuum, I did have some help.

Needless to say, the boys and I stayed home from church on Sunday morning. I absolutely love worshiping with my family and the body of Christ on Sunday mornings, so now you know…this was no drama sickness. I. Was. Seriously. Ill. Staying home, although restful, was a bit of a bummer for me.

But…God is good. He reminded me that no matter how I feel, we have a tradition in our home, one that He wanted me to follow through on.

You see, it started with my parents. We were a tent camping family. Several weekends of the summer were spent at a Tennessee campground. That meant several Sunday mornings were spent at a Tennessee campground. And there you’d find us, Bibles and hymnals open. We always had Sunday School first. I remember Dad teaching us about the Maccabees and the prophets. We’d take a little break, get a snack, then come back to our lawn chairs, ready for worship. As we got older, I became the song leader. Sometimes I’d choose all the hymns and praise songs for the morning, sometimes I’d take requests. Mom and my sister, JoAnna, would read the Call to Worship or lead us in prayer. Then Dad would share with us from God’s Word. A short sermon.

I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am that my parents did this for our family. I may have grumbled about it a time or two, recognizing that other campers stared at us, wishing I could just be like everyone else, getting ready to swim at the lake or go on a hike, but these are some great memories for me!

Camping and worship with the family (2008)

Fast forward 20+ years and the tradition is still alive. If we are out of town or snowed in or even sick, we still gather together for worship. Now, on camping trips, we might sit around the campfire praising the Lord or we find an amphitheater to gather in and do the same. If we happen to be on a road trip, we might share some of our favorite verses or read a specific Psalm or pick out a passage from the New Testament. We crank up a Selah worship CD and belt out the praise as we pass other drivers on the road. When Brian and I get away for a weekend, we get up Sunday morning, sing together, read the Word together and pray together.  Oh, just writing about this and remembering these times together as a family brings such joy to my heart.

This past Sunday, sickness and all, the Lord met me where I was at. The three younger boys and I ended up having a beautiful time of worship together. I still had to referee and, believe me, on more than one occasion had to open my eyes while one boy was praying, just so I could snap loudly at another boy to make him stop poking the 3rd boy during the prayer. When I say “beautiful” time of worship, I in no way mean “perfect” time of worship. In fact, many of our worship times have included melt-downs, potty breaks, gritted teeth, tears and moments of repentance and forgiveness. So, maybe I should say we ended up having a “messy” time of worship. But those messy times of worship are beautiful to our Lord.

In a day and age in which we fill our weekends with sports, camping, skiing, boating, work, leisure, may we recognize the importance of corporate worship. Let me encourage you. If you miss going to church over the weekend as a family, make a priority of gathering together to worship. Open His Word and read it together, lift your voices in song and prayer before Him. Worship…together…as a family. He is worthy of our time and our praise!

Praising the Lord in the Colorado mountains (2004)

This precious gift is nearly 18-years-old.

Eighteen years ago tomorrow, our first baby was due. The first grandchild on both sides was about to enter the world. The excitement and anticipation were overwhelming. All sorts of emotions were emanating from the parents-to-be – joy, fear, wonder, love, nervousness, hope, weariness, expectation. I was told I was glowing, although, I think that was just code for you are gargantuan! But, I’m pretty sure our tiny little apartment above Mrs. Mullins’ house was glowing.

It sounds beautiful, doesn’t it? It wasn’t always. Let me just take you back.

It was no crush!

I had known my husband-to-be for 1 ½ years before we began dating. During that time of friendship, we worked together in the King College bookstore and got to know each other pretty well. We ran in completely different circles, so the thought of being more than friends was laughable. Of course, our ways are not His ways (Isaiah 55:8). The closer our friendship became, the more the Lord was knitting our hearts together – something neither of us recognized until January of 1993. Once we had gone out on a few dates, it didn’t take long before both of us realized that we were in love. This was no crush, no passing phase. This was the real deal. By April, I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, Brian (Paco, as everyone then knew him) was the man I was purposed to marry, to spend the rest of my days with.

Summer came and we had to separate. Saying goodbye to him nearly tore my heart out. You’d think I was saying goodbye forever. Anyways, he went home to Virginia, I went home to Missouri. We each had summer plans that would carry us until we’d reunite again in the fall. Young love…so dramatic!

It was mid-June when the unimaginable was discovered. The well-raised and well-loved daughter of a well-loved pastor was pregnant.

So you see, quite the opposite of beautiful. It was ugly and messy.

Gratefully, that is not the end of the story.

She's still my baby girl.

We had been unfaithful to the One who deserves so much more than we could ever give. Brian & I, my parents, his parents – we all knew there were options. And, yes, because of an absolutely horrific law, abortion could be considered as an option. After all, we hadn’t planned this. Having a child was going to mess everything up. Right?

Gratefully, the Lord kept us from considering abortion as an option.

Since sinful, fallen, broken people are in need of mercy and grace, we cried out to the Lord. We messed up! We beg for forgiveness! Lord, help us! What do we do now?

God is so good...

There were consequences for our choice to give in to our passion outside the parameters the Lord has set up. There was also immediate forgiveness! God’s love knows no bounds. He led us. We followed. We got married, went back to King College, continued with school and started a family.

As we prepare for Laura’s 18^th birthday, I realize I did nothing to deserve what God has done over the past 18 years. I can shout with every fiber of my being that God is good! God is faithful! God loves me without condition!

He is a faithful God!

We told Laura about her beginnings very early on. In fact, we’ve told all of our children the story. Because this story – her story, our story – is beautiful, after all. It’s a story of His faithfulness, His forgiveness, His mercy, His grace, His unfailing love. We will tell this story to the generations to come!

It's true. These cute, adorable, wonderful, crazy kids can suck the sanity right out of me.

We’ve all heard it said a thousand times before, when Mama’s happy, everyone’s happy. But, as I was going about my day yesterday – making lunches, writing notes, praying for children, breaking up fights, listening to complaining, rinsing dishes, loading the washing machine, folding laundry, checking Math papers, putting away cream cheese, stepping over books, putting away peanut butter, dust busting crumbs off the floor, teaching about World War I, reading aloud, walking across a sticky floor, turning off lights that had been left on, fixing supper, contemplating my to-do list – I started to feel my sanity slipping away. Let’s face it, most days I feel my sanity slipping away. While I’m being honest, who am I kidding? I only threw in contemplating my to-do list for good measure. I stopped making a to-do list years ago because I was tired of being reminded of all the things I don’t get accomplished in a day. That. Was. Brilliant. One of the other things of brilliance in my life: I succeeded in training my husband. He no longer walks through the door of our home, looks around and says, “Honey, did you actually do anything today?” Those words, or even a look that hinted those words, seemed to always be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Thank God my husband meant for better or for worse. I can’t tell you how many times he’s come home from a long day at work looking forward to spending time with his wife, only to find that the calm, sweet, doting wife he left that morning has been replaced by some crazed lunatic.

So, as I was teetering on the edge, I realized that in our home, Mama don’t even need to be happy for everyone to be happy. As long as Mama’s sane, everyone’s happy.

Two moms who know how to encourage my Mom-heart.

Last night, I did something great for my sanity. I met with a group of moms who get together monthly to share, pray and encourage one another in one of the greatest roles ever – the role of Mom. As I sat listening, talking and laughing, I felt my sanity quickly return. Aside from the fact that we all love the Lord, we all love our families and we all desire to be faithful to the call to pass on a heritage of faith, what struck me most about my night out was the fact that I am not alone. Whatever I have felt, whatever I have done, whatever I have yelled about, whatever I have laughed about, whatever I have cried about, other moms have also felt, done, yelled about, laughed about and cried about. Whatever my kids have done, no matter how cool, exciting, bizarre, mean or downright sinful, other kids have done the same things. This gives me great encouragement. 

When I was single, I never, in my wildest dreams, imagined I would hear things like: Mom, he’s threatening us with a lighter! Mom, he’s licking Ms. Guinea! Mom, I got poop on the wall! Yes, I have heard things and seen things that I believe just might scar me for life.

We ended our time together as moms last night and I was ready to break into a little High School Musical dance number. “We’re all in this Together” was playing in my mind. I needed a reminder last night…a reminder that the Lord created us to share our burdens with one another. He created us to share our joys with one another. He created us to encourage one another and build each other up. And, for the sake of your sanity, I wanted to do that today. You. Are. Not. Alone! You have a big God and you have other moms who have gone before you who can say, “Been there. Done that.” May your Mom-heart be encouraged today and may you be an encouragement to other moms.

Ben could very well be a pastor.

My grandma (Nana, as we lovingly called her) used to say my Ben (now 10) was her little preacher boy. He’s always had a knack for memorizing Scripture and Nana just felt like he would be a preacher of God’s Word someday.

Knowing that any one of our four boys could be a preacher, I encourage them to read God’s Word aloud to us, practicing enunciation and projection. The other week I said something like, “Even if the Lord doesn’t call any of you to be a pastor, at the very least you’ll read His Word aloud in your homes, so it’s important to practice.”

Aaron and the guitar!

For Christmas, we bought Aaron (13) an acoustic guitar with plans for lessons in the near future. He is a musical boy. God has blessed him with a beautiful voice and gifted hands. Voice? He sings all the time and you’ll often hear some 3-part harmony going on in our kitchen or on a car ride. Hands? Aaron is on Team USA for Sport Stacking and can solve a Rubik’s Cube in 35 seconds flat. Being blessed with such a lovely singing voice and hands that pick up new, unusual things at the drop of a hat, I’ve wondered if the Lord might use him to lead worship sometime…somewhere…somehow.

Drew still loves all things ball-throwing.

Drew (8) is quite athletic. When Drew was just 18-months-old, I remember the surprise of many a church nursery worker. He’d pick up a ball – any ball, every ball – and launch it across the room to someone with amazing accuracy. He did this over…and over…and over again. The boy didn’t want to do anything other than play ball.

Jake crunching those numbers.

Jake (6) is a numbers’ kid. He is flying through Math and grasps concepts few 6-year-olds are able to grasp. An engineer? A Math teacher? Not according to Jake. He has one goal in mind – to be a goalie in the World Cup. With his competitive nature, determination and absolute lack of fear, I’d say he’s halfway there.

For those of you who are counting, I still have two more children (thank God they are girls ), but my idea for this blog was not to chronicle the gifts of my children. It was to ask this question:

Have you ever thought about what your children will be when they grow up? As you can see, I’ve thought about it. I may have even worried about it and obsessed over it a time or two. As a parent, that’s easy to do.

What if we aren’t doing enough? What if we don’t give our kids the right opportunities? What if they’re not at the right school? What if we don’t homeschool the right way? What if we don’t sign them up for soccer this year? What if they’re not involved in Scouts? Or Awanas? Or piano lessons?

AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Several years ago, I received a clear response to all of the what ifs. The Lord – the Creator of everything (including my children), the Almighty One who is completely sovereign, completely in control – lovingly spoke to my heart. He reminded me that these are His children and He has plans for each one of them – plans to prosper them and not to harm them, plans to give them hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV). My lack of doing enough is not going to thwart His plans. Wow! Those words from the Lord got a big Hallelujah and thank you from me. Good grief…what a relief.

God's got great plans for the Shultz kids!

I don’t worry and I don’t obsess, but I still think about what my children will be when they grow up. To help prepare them, I teach them as much as I can about our Savior. And, honestly, I’m okay with whatever they’ll be. I’m okay with whatever they’ll do. Just as long as they put the Lord first and seek to do everything for Him and Him alone!

Little brother, Mark, hanging out with B in Boston.

This past weekend, Brian (B to me) and I got to enjoy a special privilege – traveling to Boston to witness B’s baby brother get married. A small gathering of family and friends turned into a very festive weekend. After all, we were there to celebrate – celebrate one of the greatest joys in life.

The rehearsal dinner was held at a quaint little pizza place. Baba Louie’s back room had a pool table on one side, darts on the other. We were served delicious gourmet pizza, the likes of which I’ve never tasted before. It was here, thanks to a cousin, that I began thinking about this blog.

Sealing those vows with a kiss...

Although I’ve written about marriage before, the next day, while listening to my sweet brother-in-law and new sister-in-law make vows and covenant before the Lord, I knew I would write about it again.

My heart is grieved over the divorce rate in our nation. My heart is deeply grieved over the divorce rate amongst believers in our nation.

Marriage is not easy. I don’t pretend it is. There have been moments (honestly, even seasons) in my own marriage when all I can do is remember one line from the vows I made. ‘Til death do us part. I don’t even remember what I’m supposed to do ‘til death do us part. I simply go through those moments knowing that this marriage is for life. That nothing short of death will end it. Those are the bad times. I much prefer the good times. The times when to have and to hold, to love and to cherish are easier to do.

Mark ready for his bride. These are the good times. May he remember his vows and remain true to them. Always.

Here’s my encouragement: Marriage is not easy, but it is absolutely beautiful! The good times are worth the bad times. When we stand before our family, friends and God Almighty making promises, we are to mean them. Marriage vows are not to be taken lightly. Marriage vows are meant for life!

May we learn that marriage is not about our happiness, but rather, about our holiness. May we take our marriage vows seriously and may we feel His pleasure as we do.

Joy…sorrow.

Joy…sorrow.

Joy…sorrow.

Is it just me or does life feel like one giant pendulum swinging back and forth?

I’m sitting poolside in Arizona, book in one hand, ice cold soda in the other, listening to the boy laughter in the pool, sharing conversation with the girls. Ahhhh…this is the life! I jump in the water to join in the fun. Not a care in the world.

Pick up a map, trace a line SW to the island of Maui and there’s another family celebrating a birthday, enjoying life together. Not a care in the world.

That was Friday.

On Monday, I pop onto Facebook and see that there’s a message in my inbox. Yes, I giggled as I opened it. I love getting FB messages. Quickly, I discovered this was not the kind of message I was hoping for – not the kind of message I love getting. Confusion set in as I clicked on the link to a news story about a St. Louis woman vacationing in Maui…

Susan…accident…waterfall…fatal. The words hit like a ton of bricks. Tears streaming down my face. Kids questioning, “Mom, what’s wrong?”

My heart screamed, No, God – this can’t be right! There must be some mistake!

There was no mistake. That family vacationing in Maui went from celebrating the joys of life on Friday to experiencing the deepest kind of sorrow on Sunday.

As I tossed, turned and prayed Monday night into Tuesday morning, I was reminded of a man from long ago who was blessed immeasurably by God. Great wealth, a large family, unprecedented renown. In fact, Satan asked this of the Lord – “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land” (Job 1:10 NIV). Job was “the greatest man among all the people of the East” (Job 1:3 NIV).

In a matter of minutes, this blessed-beyond-belief man went from celebrating the joys of life to experiencing unimaginable sorrow. If you’ve never read the Book of Job, read it. It’s moving and powerful.

For now, I simply want to point out Job’s reaction to the giant pendulum swing of life. After losing virtually everything, including all ten of his children (this one hurts my Mama heart the most), we are told that “Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.’”

Wow! Really? Is that how I respond to the sorrows of life – both great and small? Or do I shake my fist at a sovereign God and tell him that this can’t be right, that He must have made a mistake? That a good God wouldn’t allow a wonderful, caring, godly woman to die at such a young age and in such a tragic way?

Here me in this – weeping, wailing, mourning, grieving…these things are right responses. One of my boys prayed that Mrs. Susan’s daughters would not be sad. Oh, they will be sad. It is right for them to sad. They loved their mom very much. They will miss her very much.

Job felt overwhelming sadness. He mourned. He grieved. But while he grieved, he also worshiped. Job remembered to worship the One who is worthy of our praise, in times of joy and in times of sorrow.

May we raise a next generation who are able to worship in times of sorrow. May we be a people who remember to worship while we grieve.