As I stood in the kitchen, my mind was mush.

Each of my children vied for my attention at once asking me questions about what there is to eat, what we will be doing next and when we will be going here and there. The words bouncing off my fragile mind, unable to respond or focus. It was too much to take in all at once.

Much like this moment, my mind is always twirling and ping ponging through all the activities of our busy blended family. There are to-do lists, appointments, and activities. Questions, requests, and constant needs. I am hoping that I don’t drop one of the articulately placed balls that I always have in the air. I fear that I will forget something. What if I do it wrong? What if I don’t spend my time where the Lord wants me? What if I am not all my kids need?

As a mom, I am the one who keeps the boat afloat. I just can't let it sink.

It takes sweet intentionality to sit in the presence of Christ and relinquish all my cares, praising Him in the messiness of life.

In Ephesians 1:6 Paul reminds us that that Lord lavishes us with “grace and favor”. We don’t earn it, but it is a gift.

So why do I get caught up in my desire to live the life that God has called me to and forget about leaning on the ultimate source that created my life?

I don’t need to do this all in my own power, draining myself of all stored energy. I can rely on the greatest source of power giving me an endless supply of all that I will ever need. He won’t let it sink.

God is the great orchestrator. He is the ultimate timekeeper. He is the sovereign Lord that sees and hears and knows all things.

As Easter is approaching, I am gently reminded that as Jesus hung on the cross, He graciously took on the sins of all mankind. That means mine. That means yours. He loved us enough to take all our mistakes, our misgivings and our constant need of control and He nailed them to the cross, through His weary hands and feet.

He laid His life down to give us access to Him and His everlasting forgiveness and power. He did it only because He loves us.

We don’t deserve it all. We mess up. But let's not forget that in all our sin, in all our mistakes that we are freely given grace, favor and strength to walk through whatever God has before us.

The Lord can work more extravagantly in our surrender than in all our seemingly mighty strength.

Our constant serving and giving will be much more fruitful when backed up by the power of the Holy Spirit working through us. The spirit wants us to stop, surrender and take a deep breath before clamoring onto the next thing.

This Easter let us remember:

God has called us to live our life in constant praise of our creator.

The grace of Jesus is bigger than all our faults.

God has given us an endless supply of grace, forgiveness, and strength for the life that He has given us.

Because of Jesus we don’t have to go at this alone.

'How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.'

Ephesians 1:3-6 The Message