following God

Travel Light

/ Sara Lynn Payne / Leave a comment

Travel Light

A few months ago, something incredible happened. Some dear friends of mine have stepped out on faith and developed a brand new social media that is focused on generosity. They asked if I would be able to volunteer with its needs as it launched and I said yes. It isn’t often that things align like they did so God’s hand was clearly in it. My skill set, background as a foster parent, and passion for making a difference for Christ were exactly what was needed. I’ve been doing some writing for the Givefinity blog and want to share one of my posts there. Please check out the new social media platform here. Here is my post:

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Kicking the Fridge

/ Sara Lynn Payne / 1 Comment

Kicking the Fridge

A friend emailed me this week and invited me to an online event on Friday night. I told her that I would love to be there, but Brian was going to be a men’s camping retreat with church so I was going to be on my own with the four kids. I said that I would be there, barring any unforeseen chaos.

I actually used the word “chaos” in my email to her. I learned a lesson this week.

Don’t use “chaos” in reference to something you are hoping doesn’t happen with three boys and a foster daughter. I also shouldn’t play the song “I Lived” by OneRepublic as it has the line “With every broken bone I swear I lived.” It’s only setting myself up for failure.

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Thoughtful Reads: The Jesus Creed, Loving God and Loving Others

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Thoughful Reads The Jesus Creed

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I’m sorry for the absence of a post last week. My computer had other plans. I actually had everything written out and ready to go when my computer turned off. I turned it on again. It decided it didn’t like the position of the power cord and shut down again. And again.

And I gave up.

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Between a Rock and a Hard Place: the Dark Truth Why CPS is So “Ugly”

/ Sara Lynn Payne / 12 Comments

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

It seems like it has become trendy to complain about CPS. You’ve probably seen the stories of parents ending up in the crosshairs of CPS because their 11-year-old was playing outside by himself for an hour and a half while his parents were caught in traffic. Or the mom who was on Dr. Phil insisting that CPS had wrongly taken her baby and the truth was that he was just sick…

I made the mistake of reading the comments on these articles and it was…well, ugly.

People were bashing Child Protective Services, saying they are just causing trauma by removing kids, and they shouldn’t be allowed to do it anymore. People ask why CPS wouldn’t comment and why aren’t they answerable for cases gone wrong and insisting that the whole system needs to be done away with.

“The system is broken.”

I’m sure you’ve heard the sentiment – or even felt it yourself.

There are two competing narratives going on regarding CPS and foster care.

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Choosing to Stay

/ Sara Lynn Payne / 10 Comments

Choosing to Stay

Last summer, of course at the very beginning, Luke had an accident and broke his foot. We went from, “I really hope that isn’t broken,” to “I think that might be broken,” and then finally, “I’ll be surprised if it isn’t broken” over the course of hours as it started to bruise and swell up. The x-rays the next morning were sickening. It is definitely bad when even I can tell that it’s broken since my expertise in radiology is limited to, “yep, that’s a foot”- it was really broken.

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The Easy Way

/ Sara Lynn Payne / 20 Comments

The Easy Way

I adore my three-year old. Jackson is hilarious, loving, and preciously protective of his siblings. He is still three, though, and doesn’t like going to bed.

He really doesn’t like being put to bed for the eighth time (per evening, and all of these times in the course of writing this post) and spontaneously appears around the house several hours after bedtime has commenced. I’m considering making a suit of pajamas out of Velcro and constructing special Velcro sheets to match: he is officially a night person.

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I Won

/ Sara Lynn Payne / 27 Comments

 

I Won

Last night I told Brian that I had seen a list of things parents never thought they would have to say… until they had a boy. The list was funny, but most were pretty mild. I mean, “Why is there pee on the floor?” is amongst our weekly refrains which usually ends in all three boys pointing immediately at another brother…

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Grafted In

/ Sara Lynn Payne / 6 Comments

UG Grafted In

I had a completely unexpected and hilarious conversation with my seven-year old this week. For some reason, he was really interested in the photos that are on our refrigerator.

Luke was looking at them and asking questions about when they were taken and he came to the photo of Ethan and him holding Jackson about two weeks after I had him.

Luke looked at me in utter surprise:

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Thoughtful Reads: Grudem’s Systematic Theology

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Please note this post uses affiliate links. For more information please see the disclosure policy.

For the Love of God...For the Love of God…

I started writing this series on influential books a few months ago because I believe whole heartedly that we need to understand why we believe what we believe. This is why these aren’t book reviews, but rather exhortations to think deeper, be challenged, inspired, convicted, and encouraged much along the lines of “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” in Proverbs 27:17.

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