If you have ever been pregnant yourself, or are close to anyone who has been, you probably know that a pregnant women is full of hormones and emotions! There are things I worried about, thought about, etc. when I was pregnant that seem so silly now! I remember when I was pregnant with our first baby, Peyton, there were times when I’d think that once that baby was born, Randy wouldn’t love me as much! It turned out that when Peyton arrived, not only did we each fill with love for that little baby boy, we also filled with more love for one another! Then I became pregnant with our second baby…all the more worries…
I would tuck Peyton into bed then, after he fell asleep, I’d pray for him and then I’d lay there and watch him sleep. He was so peaceful and I’d think of how fast he was growing and how much I loved him and I’m sure every mother does this or has done this, I still do. On this particular night though (when I was very pregnant with Jayden) I remember thinking “Oh no…how can I love another baby as much as I love him? I love this little boy to the ends of the earth, how will I ever find more love to give to another baby? …..oh no…” and the tears came. I was so upset! I pulled myself together, went downstairs, and ran this thought by Randy… he thought I was crazy!! Well I did not appreciate this because I was truly concerned! Then she came along…
A sweet baby girl, so tiny and new! I thought “How could I have ever questioned my love for her?! I was crazy!”. Our hearts filled with more love than ever before. I loved her so much, I loved Randy so much more, and I loved Peyton even more as well! Our family was growing and so was our love.
The Lord has been leading me to learn about love. In Sunday school this week we talked about relationships and love. A lady in our group had actually said “when I was pregnant with my second baby I worried I wouldn’t be able to love it enough…” I could not believe it! I was not the only one! Her story was exactly the same as mine! Since she had said that I’ve been thinking about it and how important it is with what I’m learning about love.
It is by God that we grow in love. He gives us the ability to love and find love for anyone who is part of our life. Love is the most important thing we can have because without love, all other gifts are useless (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
God is love and he commands us to love one another (John 13:34). I’m sure you can think of someone in your life who you struggle with loving. In our human minds we think some people are just impossible to love. They’ve hurt us too much, too many times. Our human minds can not grasp the concept of “love your neighbor as you love yourself.” As humans we are incapable of perfect love, our love is empty and will fall short. The good news is when we accept Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells in us, and we can call on God to help us love others.
We need to find the full depth of Gods love and love others through it. God sent His only Son to die to save us from our sins. Think about how important that is. I think we hear that so much that we don’t take the time to really think upon it and realize what it truly means. God sent His only Son to die to save you from your sins - God loves you! If God has sacrificed so much for us, who are we to not walk in love? Think about that person who you have a hard time loving, God sent His son to die for his/her sins as well as yours, so who are you to judge them and not love them?
God knows we are human, He knows we are not perfect, all He wants is for us to call upon Him for help. If you’re lacking love in your life, if you find it hard to love others, call upon Him. Open your heart to him in prayer and ask Him to show you what love really is and how to love others. Our God is faithful and he will guide your steps as you learn to walk in love. There is so much to learn about love, love is not this thing we think it is, love is far beyond us, love is only something we can do and know through God. If you’re unsure where to start, start by reading 1 Corinthians 13. It tell us what love is and what love is not. Here’s a simple prayer you can pray to get you started “Lord Heavenly Father I humble myself before you and ask you to show me how to love. Show me what I’ve been doing wrong and lead me to walk in Your love. Thank you for the love you’ve given me. In Jesus name, Amen.”
Monday, November 29, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Thanks at the Lake
Our life has been rather hectic lately. We’re getting ready for winter, Randy’s busy with the jobs he has to finish before the snow comes, and any small amount of extra time we have has gone to remodeling the bedrooms. The fact that we have family not only near but also far away makes things harder. We’re also trying to follow God’s path for us that is taking us through some big changes. Every weekend we have to purposely make time to spend together and it’s not always easy and it’s never for very long. It often seems as life is blowing right by us and we’re just trying to keep up. This past weekend was looking the same. My aunt was coming to visit Friday afternoon, then that evening my Mom and Chad were coming for dinner. Saturday we had to get coal and drywall, both before noon, then try to make progress on the room. Not to mention all the little chores and things that needed done as well. We started the weekend off in a rush trying to fit everything in.
While Randy was loading drywall, I ordered a Papa Johns pizza because that would be quick and I’ll use just about any excuse for Papa Johns! We picked up our pizza and away we went. But Randy had an idea which took us to the lake!
“We’ll eat lunch here and enjoy this nice day, there won’t be many left” he said.
We found a nice spot, sat in the grass, and spread out our pizza box! The sky was beautiful, the sun was shining, we both agreed it was a perfect day. We sat together and watched the kids play…until Peyton got stuck! There was muck where they had recently drained some water, Peyton was determined to fish but his boots sunk and he could not move! Randy stood on a small rock and tried to pull him out, it was a sight to see! Then they made a fishing pole together out of a stick, some old line, and a big hook. We walked down the lake to a rock bed and let Peyton cast his line. No fish but we did find a clam! We spent about an hour there, just enjoying the day.
There was something special about it because it was unplanned, it required no thought, no getting ready or making plans. We just went, ate our lunch, enjoyed the beauty of God’s works, enjoyed each other, and had fun. I think we’d all be better off if we did this more often. We all get so busy and caught up in life that we forget to stop and simply breathe. We get our minds set on what lies ahead and forget to thank God for all we have now. Take time to stop. To simply look around at all you have and thank God for it. Let your heart fill with praise to the God who has given you so much.
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come before His presence with singing! Know that Lord is God! It is He Who has made us, not we ourselves! We are His people and the sheep of His pasture! Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name! For the Lord is good; His mercy and loving-kindness are everlasting. His faithfulness and truth endure to all generations.” Psalm 100
While Randy was loading drywall, I ordered a Papa Johns pizza because that would be quick and I’ll use just about any excuse for Papa Johns! We picked up our pizza and away we went. But Randy had an idea which took us to the lake!
“We’ll eat lunch here and enjoy this nice day, there won’t be many left” he said.
We found a nice spot, sat in the grass, and spread out our pizza box! The sky was beautiful, the sun was shining, we both agreed it was a perfect day. We sat together and watched the kids play…until Peyton got stuck! There was muck where they had recently drained some water, Peyton was determined to fish but his boots sunk and he could not move! Randy stood on a small rock and tried to pull him out, it was a sight to see! Then they made a fishing pole together out of a stick, some old line, and a big hook. We walked down the lake to a rock bed and let Peyton cast his line. No fish but we did find a clam! We spent about an hour there, just enjoying the day.
There was something special about it because it was unplanned, it required no thought, no getting ready or making plans. We just went, ate our lunch, enjoyed the beauty of God’s works, enjoyed each other, and had fun. I think we’d all be better off if we did this more often. We all get so busy and caught up in life that we forget to stop and simply breathe. We get our minds set on what lies ahead and forget to thank God for all we have now. Take time to stop. To simply look around at all you have and thank God for it. Let your heart fill with praise to the God who has given you so much.
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come before His presence with singing! Know that Lord is God! It is He Who has made us, not we ourselves! We are His people and the sheep of His pasture! Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name! For the Lord is good; His mercy and loving-kindness are everlasting. His faithfulness and truth endure to all generations.” Psalm 100
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
A Broken Daisy
Randy has been working on remodeling our bedroom with the help of Peyton! Peyton loves to help his Daddy work, he even has his own tool belt. A few days ago they worked all day together. The whole day they were going back and forth from inside to outside. Later in the day, I went to check in and see how things were coming along. Peyton was telling me, with all the details, everything they had done and how they had done it and what they still had planned to do. Mid-thought he stopped and the expression on his face changed from serious (as he was giving me his detailed descriptions) to complete joy! He got the biggest smile on his face, his eyes lit up...
"Mommy! Here I picked this for you!", as he pulled from his pocket a daisy that had obviously been in there for quite some time!
How sweet he is! I loved it and the fact it had been tucked away in his pocket all day made it even more special. I believe any mother would agree, some of the prettiest flowers we receive are the weeds our children pick for us!
A child's innocent and pure heart is one of life's great blessings and this little, broken, flower was a reminder of that.
God wants us to give Him our broken "flowers" we keep tucked away in our pockets. What in your life do you feel is broken, torn, bruised, beyond repair? Often times we think there is no way to fix it and we hide it in a pocket of shame, guilt, anger, blame, and fear. I know I have been guilty of this. Everyone's broken "flowers" are different, some are abuse, unforgiveness, divorce, low self-esteem, sin and the list goes on. Many of us have a broken boquet of flowers, having so many issues and problems along the way we think there is absolutely no way to fix them all. I have been there myself and God showed me a verse awhile back that has been my "life verse", it had given me such hope, full of the promise of God.
"O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in fair colors [in antimony to enhance their brilliance] and lay your foundations with sapphires." Isaiah 54:11
Stones of fair colors and sapphires are gems. The dictionary definition for gem is this: precious stone; something prized for its beauty or excellence. Now knowing this, read the verse again.
This is a promise from our Father in heaven! Let it sink into your heart! We are His children and in His eyes, our broken flowers are beautiful. We can (and need to) proudly pull our broken flowers out of our pockets and give them to our Father. He is the Mender of broken hearts. He will take our broken, torn, bruised, uncomforted hearts and make them beautiful again!
"He heals the broken hearted and bandages their wounds." Psalm 147:3
"Mommy! Here I picked this for you!", as he pulled from his pocket a daisy that had obviously been in there for quite some time!
How sweet he is! I loved it and the fact it had been tucked away in his pocket all day made it even more special. I believe any mother would agree, some of the prettiest flowers we receive are the weeds our children pick for us!
A child's innocent and pure heart is one of life's great blessings and this little, broken, flower was a reminder of that.
God wants us to give Him our broken "flowers" we keep tucked away in our pockets. What in your life do you feel is broken, torn, bruised, beyond repair? Often times we think there is no way to fix it and we hide it in a pocket of shame, guilt, anger, blame, and fear. I know I have been guilty of this. Everyone's broken "flowers" are different, some are abuse, unforgiveness, divorce, low self-esteem, sin and the list goes on. Many of us have a broken boquet of flowers, having so many issues and problems along the way we think there is absolutely no way to fix them all. I have been there myself and God showed me a verse awhile back that has been my "life verse", it had given me such hope, full of the promise of God.
"O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in fair colors [in antimony to enhance their brilliance] and lay your foundations with sapphires." Isaiah 54:11
Stones of fair colors and sapphires are gems. The dictionary definition for gem is this: precious stone; something prized for its beauty or excellence. Now knowing this, read the verse again.
This is a promise from our Father in heaven! Let it sink into your heart! We are His children and in His eyes, our broken flowers are beautiful. We can (and need to) proudly pull our broken flowers out of our pockets and give them to our Father. He is the Mender of broken hearts. He will take our broken, torn, bruised, uncomforted hearts and make them beautiful again!
"He heals the broken hearted and bandages their wounds." Psalm 147:3
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