God-Given Gumption®

ReShare: Rushing the Field

Young player wearing a MUSTANGS jersey numbered 7 runs onto a football field

Coming back to school after the Labor Day weekend always seems to be a point in the school year where motivation stalls for students, teachers, and parents alike. On the days when we don’t feel like giving our best or just giving up altogether on the never ending to-do list, it’s important to remember to keep going. Even when we are in a season of exhaustion, God always provides the energy needed for each day and each task before us. Your work on earth has an eternal impact and it is a privilege to labor for the Lord. He will always lift us up to 100% when we are working with a willing heart.

“The bolts of your gates will be iron and bronze, and your strength will equal your days.”

-Deuteronomy 33:25

Last week, we celebrated Lola’s 8th birthday and kicked off a new football season. As I watched my kids run around the stadium, I was reminded of a home game four years ago when Lola gave me a real scare, and I wanted to reshare a post I wrote detailing the incident. She has been keeping me on my toes since before she was born, with each day bringing a new experience, a new limit to test, and more questions than I could ever keep up with. I’ve been fielding her questions and witnessing her daredevil stunts as a solo parent since she was a toddler, and it can be exhausting. On the mornings I struggle with the mental energy to approach motherhood, work, relationships, etc.. with everything that I want to pour into them, I’m so grateful the Lord sustains us with enough energy and strength for what each day brings.

Love, Molly

A young girl dressed in a cheerleading uniform is joyfully held up by older cheerleaders, holding pom-poms, against a nighttime stadium backdrop. — Friday Night Lights

Rushing the Field

(originally published 2022)

Have you ever witnessed a young child do something adorably naughty? It may have brought a smile to others observing or even a full on belly laugh, but I can assure you that the parent of the misbehaving child will initially have a different reaction. My youngest, Lola, learned from a very young age that she can bring joy to others. Our family has been through more than our fair share of tragedy and, even as a baby, I think Lola knew that she possessed an ability to comfort others by sharing her joy, giving a hug or making someone laugh, even if it means toeing a line she knows not to cross.

I most recently experienced this adorable naughtiness at a varsity high school football game. Lola has appointed herself one of the cheerleaders and before kickoff likes to greet the crowd on the bleachers with a loud, “Thank you so much for coming, everyone.” Her big sister, Margot, is doing junior cheer this year and Lola has quickly picked up all the routines. They are both blessed to to have a precious high school squad that loves on all the little ones and serve as Christ-centered role models.

During Friday night’s game, Lola had the privilege of going down on the track with the varsity cheerleaders. She couldn’t have been more excited. Never one to shy away from an audience, my four year old was all smiles when she was lifted up to wave her pom poms in front of the entire home crowd. Lola was basking in the attention and then, right at the beginning of the third quarter, she made a run for it. As the teams moved down to the east end zone, a tiny cheerleader ran to the west. The cheer coach went racing after her in wedged heels and I let a curse slip out of my mouth as I sprang from my seat in the bleachers and quickly made my way down. She was caught and scooped up just as she stepped foot onto the field around the 10 yard line as the game played on.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”Hebrews 12:1-2a

I heard from several people after the fact how funny this incident was. However, as the mother of the little runaway, I was mortified and had all the “what-if” scenarios running through my head the rest of the night as I thanked God that the game action was happening on the other end of the field. The next day as the girls and I watched the end of the TCU vs OSU game together, I talked to them about how much their daddy loved college football, especially his alma mater. As we celebrated a TCU win in our living room, I couldn’t help but laugh to myself as I saw the footage of everyone rushing the field of Amon Carter Stadium. I was brought back to post game celebrations on that same field with Taylor. The thought of breaking rules gives me stomach ulcers, but Taylor could always talk me into jumping a fence in the name of a horned frog victory. I had to laugh as I thought to myself, “I guess Lola comes by her field rushing honestly.“

There are passages in the Bible that refer to life as a race. One of the biggest challenges in our earthly race is ensuring that we and our fellow runners can see the finish line clearly. We will certainly experience fatigue and hit the wall from time to time, but scripture has given us plenty of motivation to keep on going. In Hebrews we are reminded of our faithful predecessors like Enoch, Noah and Abraham, who stayed the course and finished strong. When Christ died for all of us, he freed us of our sins and lightened our loads immensely. This freedom allows us to run as carefree as a child or enthusiastic fan rushing the field at the end of a football game. Almost three years ago I lost my running partner. Taylor completed his race and is celebrating in the eternal winner’s circle. Knowing what awaits the Christian when we cross our earthly finish line should be all the motivation we need to keep up our endurance and cheer on our fellow runners until it is our time to be welcomed into the loving arms of the one who freed us.

Love, Molly

Springing Into Alignment

A vibrant flower bed featuring a variety of colorful tulips and pansies in full bloom, surrounded by green foliage and mulch.

If you have been feeling crushed by the weight of too much stress from the first quarter of 2026, you are not alone. We tend to look at the new year as a time to get our lives in order and correct any mistakes from the year prior. We set intentions and goals, buy all the things to get organized and healthy, plan trips, etc… While the new year is a chance to start over and do better, human nature can trap us into thinking it’s a race to get all our ducks in a row as fast as we can as soon as the starting pistol is fired at midnight. Some of us might even think we get a head start if you can just kick the proverbial race off with a kiss from that special someone.

The problem with this mentality, while good intentioned, is that the Bible really only tells us to race in terms of submitting in obedience to the Lord. We should race to secure our salvation by accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We should race to share the gospel with others every chance we get that nudge from the Holy Spirit. We should race to live our lives in accordance with the scriptures, and God’s word continually tells us to slow down. In God’s perfect goodness, he designed our bodies, minds and souls and gave us the handbook to take care of them.

Recently, my body experienced something I never have before that was a real wake up call that I was living out of alignment with God’s desire for His children to live in peace. I began having a sore stiffness in my neck and shoulders that I chocked up to just sleeping funny as a 30-something. It really bothered me for a weekend and culminated with paralyzing pain that Monday morning that hurt so much it scared me. I saw a nurse practitioner and chiropractor that day who both said the same thing. My body couldn’t take any more stress and everything inside was so inflamed that it was causing pressure on my nerves. This really wasn’t too surprising because it seemed like everything had been on my nerves lately. My patience had been gone for a while and my capacity for handling any more stress was non existent.

“‘Woe to the obstinate children,’
    declares the Lord,
‘to those who carry out plans that are not mine,
    forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit,
    heaping sin upon sin;

-Isaiah 30:1

In February, I was invited to share the gospel at a Christian women’s conference whose target audience this year was non-believers. Leading up to the this event, I carried the emotional weight of the six year anniversary of my husband’s death and the intrusive thought that I have been a widow now for as long as I was a wife. I felt overwhelmed at work, behind at home, and like I was failing as a mother with this solo parenting gig. I felt like I didn’t even have a moment alone with the Lord to pray about what He wanted me to share or a chance to work on what I was going to say until the week of the event. That’s when my youngest daughter broke her wrist, my oldest daughter came down with the flu, and a burned bowl of ramen noodles caused extensive fire damage to our back patio. As I shared my misfortunes with friends and coworkers, I joked that since I was preparing to share the gospel, the devil was fighting me hard.

Pride had me considering the enemy attack to be a privilege-a sign that my testimony was a threat worth attacking. In reality, my body, with every single cell intricately coded by our Creator, was attacking itself because I was working overtime to manage everything my way instead of slowing down and fully trusting that God’s way is always better. The Lord will never bless what he did not align and since I had been rushing through my quiet prayer time, in God’s perfect design of creation, my body finally screamed at me that I was out of alignment. It also came as no surprise that when I paused to surrender everything I had been doing to His will, I was overcome with peace and my body was healed. The Lord desires for us to live in peace and to align ourselves to receive His greatest blessings.

I’m sure there are many of us who are starting to feel the stress of falling behind of where we thought we would by now. We haven’t met those resolutions from January or we are coming back from a spring break that didn’t feel like a break at all and are bracing ourselves to head into the next season already burned out. It’s possible we are competing with timelines we only set for ourselves or trying to balance things like work, relationships, or schedules that were never ours to steward. We are fighting to create and keep plans that aren’t God’s desire for us and are keeping us out of alignment for receiving His blessings and peace. I want to end with the encouragement that God certainly has good plans for you, but you need to align yourself with His will in order for them to unfold. If you are living in a season of high stress, it might be a sign that it is time to slow down to assess the cause of your worldly stressors and tune in to what the Lord is actually asking you to carry into the next season because His way will never fail to be better.

Love, Molly

Merry Christmas

A woman and two young girls stand in a park setting, surrounded by trees and autumn leaves. The woman wears a floral dress, while one girl in a dark dress holds a small dog, and the other girl, wearing glasses, holds a dog as well.

“For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

-Isaiah 9:6

Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas season as we celebrate the birth of our Prince of Peace!

Love, Molly, Margot (9), Charlotte (7), Peter and Penny.