Katie Huff

02/07/2025

01/31/2025

What does your prayer life look like?

Throughout the Bible, we see various types of prayers that serve as great examples for us. These include prayers of adoration, lament, thanksgiving, petition (asking for things for ourselves or others), deliverance (asking God to save or protect us or others), and contrition (a prayer of repentance when we recognize our need to turn away from sin). Honestly, contrition should take up a large part of our prayer life.

For instance, in Psalm 51:1-4, David offers a powerful prayer of repentance after his sin with Bathsheba. He cries out for God’s forgiveness:

“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.”

Lastly, there is the prayer for guidance. In praying for guidance, we acknowledge God’s sovereignty and express our trust that He knows best. We can surrender our own understanding and ask Him to direct our lives. Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts, not leaning on our own understanding, but allowing Him to make our paths straight.

Jesus also offers the perfect example of prayer. In Luke 11:1-4, after Jesus finished praying, one of His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray. Jesus responded:

“When you pray, say:
‘Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”

If your prayer life feels weak or you feel distant from God, remember His promises. Come to Him in repentance and praise, asking for a soft heart and for whatever might be going on in your life. He is unchanging, even when we change constantly. He knows us better than we know ourselves—He even knows the number of hairs on our heads.

“But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.” (Luke 12:7)

01/30/2025

As a mom, it’s often hard to show grace to your kids in the midst of frustration and exhaustion, it is a constant battle, but it’s through that grace that we teach them love, patience, and the strength of forgiveness—lessons that shape their hearts and ours.

So What is Grace?

The word “grace” in the New Testament comes from the Greek charis, meaning “favor, blessing, or kindness.” While we can all extend grace, when it relates to God, it refers to His choosing to bless us instead of curse us, despite our sin.

Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

Definition
Gift – a thing given willingly to someone without payment; a present.

Grace is the only way we can have a relationship with God. It began in the Garden of Eden when God covered Adam and Eve’s sin by killing an animal (Genesis 3:21). He could have destroyed them for their disobedience, but chose to make a way for them to be right with Him. This pattern continued through the Old Testament sacrifices, where it was not the blood of animals that cleansed, but God’s grace for those who trusted Him.
• Hebrews 10:4: “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
• Genesis 15:6: “And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”

God shows both mercy and grace, but they are different. Mercy withholds the punishment we deserve; grace gives us what we don’t deserve. Through mercy, God canceled our sin debt by sacrificing His Son.
• Titus 3:5: “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”
• 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Grace is God giving the greatest treasure to the least deserving—each one of us.

Showing grace to our children mirrors God’s grace toward us, as both reflect the heart of a loving Father who chooses to bless, forgive, and guide His children, even when they don’t deserve it.

01/27/2025

Increase our faith, the apostles asked Jesus in Luke 17:5-10. Surely we either have faith or we don’t have faith? Or does it come in different sizes? Jesus did speak about little faith and great faith. A very wise man, Sinclair Ferguson, says: “Don’t misunderstand, because it may help, but there is no such thing as faith! Faith is not a thing, a commodity, that is given to you or a substance infused into you so that once you receive it, you have ‘got’ it. It is not a spiritual kryptonite that you can get in small, medium, large, or X-large doses.” No, there is no such thing as faith. There are only believers—people who trust in Christ.

What then is meant by great or little faith, or mustard seed-sized faith? There are ways of describing the extent to which our trust in the Lord is commensurate with the greatness of His person and the certainty of His promises. For the strength of faith is not found in my trusting but in His trustworthiness. Faith takes its character and strength not from its subject (the believer) but from its object (the Lord and His promises). This is why our spiritual forefathers used to say that little faith gets the same Savior as great faith, but it may not get His greatness.

Jesus’ statement about throwing mulberry trees around is a hyperbole (He never did that Himself). It is like His language in Matthew 17:20, where He says that faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains. Both He and the apostles either climbed or walked around mountains—they didn’t remove them, even momentarily, for the convenience and speed of travel. Jesus knows our tendencies to become so impressed by what God does through our faith that we begin to think of that faith as a personal contribution we have made that deserves a reward.

But the truth is that while faith actively engages in the service of God, it contributes nothing to what He accomplishes but only benefits from it. It is always the empty hand that receives. Faith is always receptive of God’s promises and never a contributor to His actions. The man or woman of faith contributes nothing to Christ, receives everything from Christ, and does everything for Christ. Faith is always a servant, never the master. One day Christ will say to His servants, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21, 23).

On that day, you will not likely respond, “Yes, it was rather well done, wasn’t it?” No, you will say, perhaps through tears of joy, “Lord, what did I do to deserve Your commendation?” And He will say, “My child, even My ‘well done’ is all of My grace.”

When I see by faith that I am nothing and Christ is everything, then I can receive by faith everything He has for me. If Christ were to say to you, “Well done,” what do you think your response would be?

01/26/2025

01/26/2025

Most mornings are tough! Don’t let me fool you. We drag ourselves out of bed, we get sick, and life just happens. We’re constantly fighting our flesh—at least I know I am. Church can be hard, but it’s also beautiful.

Why go to church?

Bible tells us that attending church is essential for worshiping God with fellow believers and for spiritual growth through the teaching of His Word. In Acts 2:42, we read that the early church “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” We are called to follow this example of devotion.

Though the early Christians didn’t have a designated church building, they met regularly in the temple courts and gathered in homes to break bread together, “with glad and sincere hearts” (Acts 2:46). Whether in a formal church building or in homes, believers flourish through fellowship with one another and the teaching of God’s Word.
We don't merely go to church for others. We go to worship our Holy God. Many people will say I can worship God anywhere, although that's true your forsaking the body of Christ. When a person trusts Jesus Christ for salvation, he or she is made a member of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). For a church body to function properly, all of its “body parts” need to be present and working (1 Corinthians 12:14–20). It’s not enough to just attend a church; we should be involved in some type of ministry to others, using the spiritual gifts God has given us (Ephesians 4:11–13). A believer will never reach full spiritual maturity without having that outlet for his gifts, and we all need the assistance and encouragement of other believers.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
(1 Corinthians 12:21-26)

01/25/2025

My cute shopping buds ❤️ Check out antiques in Moore!

01/25/2025

What does it mean that God is Holy? God’s holiness is one of His hardest qualities to explain, partly because it’s something that humans don’t naturally share. While we are made in God’s image and can reflect many of His qualities, like love, mercy, and faithfulness, there are some things we can’t share, such as His power, knowledge, and presence. Holiness is one of those things. We don’t have holiness as part of our nature. We only become holy through our relationship with Christ. It’s a holiness that is given to us, not earned. In Christ, we are made right with God after being enemies and separated from Him by sin from the moment of birth.

For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.
— Romans 5:10

For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
— 2 Corinthians 5:21

God’s holiness is what sets Him apart from everything and everyone else. It’s more than just being perfect or free from sin. It's the heart of His “other-ness” and greatness. His holiness is full of mystery, and as we begin to understand it, it leaves us in awe of His majesty.

01/24/2025

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09/16/2024

“🏡 Just finished a cleaning at this super cute Airbnb in Norman! ✨ Whether you’re visiting for football season or just need a cozy spot to stay, this place is perfect! 🏈 If you’re an Airbnb owner or guest in need of cleaning or trash services, send us a message—we’ve got you covered! 🚮 ”