Families Where Grace Is in Place: Building a Home Free of Manipulation, Legalism, and Shame

Top Highlights

“In this scenario, the children are made to feel that their reason for being is to fill and fulfill Mom and Dad—a job that is not theirs, and a job at which they can only fail. And now, more than a marriage relationship has been affected and infected. The curse has been passed to another generation.” (source)

“God’s job is to fix and to change. Our job is to depend, serve, and equip. This is the work of grace. And it is more restful than you can imagine.” (source)

“There are many ways in which people commit marital unfaithfulness that is not in the form of sexual adultery. Some people vanish into TV watching or Internet surfing: For some people it is a much less painful alternative than trying to have a relationship in which you never feel good enough. Some people vanish into making money: For them, having a big bank account serves as tangible (and false) evidence of their personal value, and it salves the pain of a not-good-enough marriage.” (source)

“Second, a person who leaves is still under the illusion that people can fill people. They have simply chosen to exchange one false god, who has not been able to fill them, for another that promises to.” (source)

“The only imperative in this text is, ‘Be filled with the Spirit.’ All of these other things are what result when we allow ourselves to be filled by God.” (source)