Just for Laughs…
Hey there, I’ve been recovering from getting my gallbladder out last week, and a friend sent me this link.
It made me smile (and laugh… but not too hard because it hurts!!)
If you need a good laugh, and especially if you are a dog lover, check this out!
(I’ve always wanted a pug, too. Maybe someday…)
Music to my ears!
Derek (4 yrs) was sitting at the table next to Allison (11 mos.) in her highchair. I think the following “conversation” started after Derek finished a song he’d been singing earlier this week at church.
Derek: “Ally, do you know God?”
Ally: “bababa”
Derek: “He’s up there.” (points upward)
Ally: (no response… she can’t talk yet!)
Derek: “Jesus is up there too, Do you know Him?”
Derek: “Ally, do you know Jesus?”
It was so precious… music to a mom’s ears! I pray regularly that my kids will know Jesus as their savior. It was so cute to see Derek “sharing” his love for Jesus with his baby sister.
Jesus told us that we need to have childlike hearts in order to come to God. (Matthew 18:3) Perhaps he partially meant that we need to be willing, like a child is, to share Jesus’ love with others. Perhaps we need to be more willing to ask the question, “Do you know Jesus?”
Do you know Jesus? What does a relationship with Him mean to you?
Out of the comfort zone…
This morning as I drove home from dropping my daughter off at school, I saw a teenage girl with two young children walking up State Street. None of them was wearing a hat or gloves. The young boy did not have a coat. IT’S FOUR DEGREES OUT!
I went up to the next intersection, praying for them. Then it hit me – why don’t I DO something about it?? So I drove around the block and when I came back they were still walking. I stopped the van, opened my door (the window was frozen shut) and asked if I could please give them a ride. To my surprise she said yes immediately. I didn’t have enough seats (yes, so they rode illegally!). I asked where they were going… she said to JK Elementary. That would have been at least a 15 minute walk, if not more, and I’d just heard on the news that with the current conditions it would only take 10 minutes to get frostbite. (In my head I thanked God for nudging me to stop!)
I drove them to school. The girl was a teenager and the children were her niece and nephew. Mom was sick and their car broke down a few weeks ago. Then I drove the girl to Northside Deli to buy some food for the kids’ parents.
Before she left the car I asked her if she needed a hat, scarf, or mittens. She accepted a scarf – an extra one I had in the car. She told me they all had mittens & hats at home, but they couldn’t find them and they’d been running late. I wished I’d had some more extras in the van for them.
This was outside my comfort zone. I’ve considered stopping for people before, but I think only once have I ever done it, and the girl didn’t accept the ride. But today I could not leave these kids out there in the cold.
I am so blessed. When I think about the three of them, it makes me want to cry. I told her that if I saw them out tomorrow morning I’d stop for them again. I want to do more for them if I can. I’m going to put some extra mittens, hats, and scarves in the van for tomorrow. I’m praying that someone gives them a ride home this afternoon. I’m also praying that I can be God’s light to them in a dark world.
Would you pray for them as well, and for all the others out there who are in similar situations? How dare I feel sorry for myself about not having new clothes or a new house. I have what I need and way more than that, because God has provided for me.
Please pray with me for Levi, Jasmine, and Jasmine’s brother. Pray that I can share God’s love with them. At the same time, praise God for providing all you need.
Hungry Anyone?
I read this passage a couple of months ago and I keep having to come back to this one verse…
Isaiah 30:20 – “Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them.”
This verse falls in the midst of Isaiah telling us that when we cry for help, God hears us and answers us right away (v. 19) and that God will give us guidance as to what path we should take (v. 21). This passage is one of my favorites.
Except for verse 20.
Bread and water are life-sustaining. Without them we would physically die. Is it possible that God views adversity and affliction equally as life-sustaining and necessary to our spiritual selves?
Bread and water fill us up, help us grow, and sustain our lives. Obviously they are used in the Bible as a metaphor for Jesus’ – whose death on the cross allows us to live eternally. In John 6:35, Jesus says, “…I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
It seems to me that adversity and affliction certainly help us grow spiritually. Maybe this is why they are referred to as bread and water. I know that the tough times in my life have resulted in deeper faith, closer relationship to God, and a deeper reliance on Him.
But are they essential to our spiritual lives? Do we have to experience the adversity and affliction? Can’t the by-products of such experiences come easier?
And I guess the answer is no. So in the midst of difficulty I tell myself to hunker down. To give thanks in all circumstances. To remember how good and faithful God has been to me and praise Him for it. To remember that He can use all things for the good of those who love Him (including bad circumstances maybe meant to teach me something).
So although I may never be hungry for the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, I can still praise God that He can use them to make me more like Jesus.
Would you like to share how you’ve grown from bread of adversity and water of affliction?
Not Guilty…
OK, fellow moms, this one’s for you!
In my last post I touched on an example of mommy guilt. One thing I’ve learned from being a mom is that it can be fraught with guilt. Being a true Type-A personality (overachiever / perfectionist), when I make mistakes, I tend to feel like a failure. And failing at parenting is something that would weigh heavily on anyone. Hence, a condition I call “mommy guilt”.
I read a fabulous book recently called Motherhood: The Guilt That Keeps on Giving by Julie Barnhill. It is such a great book – I’d recommend it to all moms.
Anyways, in the preface to the book, she suggests that the reader sit down and make a list of all the things you do not feel guilty about as a mom. WOW. This was way harder than I thought it was going to be! My mind is so programmed to focus on the negatives and possible solutions that I had a hard time (at first) thinking of the things I do right. But in the end, it was so worth it!
So I’m challenging you, fellow moms, to sit down and write out your own list. What do you NOT feel guilty about? What are you doing right?
I wanted to share a couple of items from my list in order to help you get started (I won’t bore you with the explanations behind them). I don’t feel guilty for:
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being ruthless about “schedule” when my kids were infants
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leaving my career to be at home with them
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letting them “cry it out” and thus helping to train them to fall asleep on their own
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taking them to church every week
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enforcing an 8:00 pm bedtime
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leaving them with Dad to go to MOPS
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limiting what they watch on TV (i.e. saying no to SpongeBob Squarepants!)
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not sending my kids to preschool
Go to it, ladies! And if you have a minute, come back and share with me at least one of the items from your list! Let’s learn about each other and from each other!
