Follow Faithfully

Today I had one of those days where I worked all day on the house, but you can’t walk in any room and tell I’ve done a thing. I was on the go most all day and yet things look pretty much the same as they did this morning. How can that be?! I did laundry, ironed clothes and put them away, washed dishes, changed linens, put away laundry, straightened up the girls’ rooms and just picked up clutter in general. And, I never got finished. It was one of those days.

As I was sitting here thinking about that this evening, I wondered if that is how God must sometimes feel too. He works and works and works on me and I shamefully admit that I don’t show His work nearly as much as I should. That realization hit me this evening and really made me think. God is so good to just never give up on us, isn’t He? All the love and work He puts into me doesn’t yield much many times, but He is faithful and true. Amazing love. I will never come close to earning it, but I am so blessed to know God gives of that love so freely. So, realizing that made me feel a little bit better about my day and made me realize yet again how I need for my works to reflect His works. Sometimes we all need some humbling and I got a dose tonight.

Psalm 66
Verse 5 - Come and see what God has done,
how awesome his works in man’s behalf!

Verse 20 - Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld his love from me!

Our church just had a mission team depart for Kwambekenya, Kenya yesterday. They will be there performing God’s outreach until April 26th. It is my honor and privilege to be a Prayer Partner here at home for those who are serving in Africa. I had hoped to go on a mission trip to Africa this year as I feel God is laying a calling on my heart for me to serve there. But, for me, this is not the year. Still, I can do my part here at home by remembering the mission team and those they are serving in prayer. If you feel so lead, please join me as I pray over them all.

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
Mark 16:15 (NIV)

Is there anything more peaceful than a sleeping baby or child? Oh, I just love watching my girls when they sleep. I just love the peace that washes over them. It’s such a sweet thing to witness.

This morning Mariana was tired and wanted me to hold her, so I did. She fell asleep in my arms. It was just incredible to feel her sink into me a little bit closer and to feel her breathing get into that steady sleeping rhythm. I almost hated to put her into her bed, but I knew she’d never get a decent nap if I didn’t.  Once in awhile I tiptoe by her room now just to see her sleeping all peaceful and snug in her bed. I really can’t describe it, but it’s just special to me. I thank God for our girls and my heart is blessed to know that they are filled with such a peace.

The LORD bless you
and keep you;

the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;

the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26

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It’s a gray, rainy day here in metro Atlanta and we are so grateful for that! Our area is in a severe drought right now and every drop of rain is a blessing. Praise God for these showers!!

As I looked out and saw the rain this morning, I was also struck by how clean and renewed everything looked outside. Our neighborhood has been a lot greener since spring started to arrive a few weeks ago, but today everything just looks brighter and happier. It’s like the earth just smiles on days when rain comes.

I decided to look up some Biblical passages about rain this morning. Here a few of the ones I found that blessed my heart on this rainy Saturday morning.

Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?
Job 38:28 (NIV)

He will be like rain falling on a mown field,
like showers watering the earth.
Psalm 72:6 (NIV)

He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground,
and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful.
Isaiah 30:23

Those verses reminded me, yet again, that God is the Father of all creation. He is our Provider, our Renewer and our Constant in a world of change. God never fails. Just as He brings to rain to refresh and renew the earth, His promises should be ever renewed upon our thirsty souls. If we are faithful to receive it, His grace is always there and plentiful for those who will receive it. We will never perish so long as we accept and believe. Praise God!!

So, as the rain falls today, I thank God for His faithfulness and His provision once again. Amen.

God isn’t through talking to me about His grace. Yesterday, he laid Ephesians 2 on my heart. That was powerful and just so needed. Well, He knew how much I needed that reminder because today when I signed onto MySpace, look what verse came up on my daily Bible verse application:

Some might call that coincidence. Some might say it was random. I say it’s a God thing. He’s working on me all the time and today He gave me yet another blessed reassurance that His grace is what saves me.  I am forever grateful for that beautiful grace and for the subtle and not-so-subtle reminders God gives me.

I’ve been really struggling lately. It’s a hard thing to admit, but it’s true. I have been down and just feeling completely uncomfortable in my own skin and overwhelmed at life lately. It’s not even something I can put into accurate words, but I’ve been in what I’d call “a funk” for awhile now. I realized today that I haven’t been praying this through. I haven’t gotten into prayer and given this to God. And, that hit me like a ton of bricks today when things seemed to all come down on me all at once again.

As I was cleaning up the kitchen after lunch, I kept having a thought to go to my Bible. I’m thinking “Okay, but let me finish these kitchen counters because they really need cleaning.” The thought just kept recurring to me over and over to go to my Bible. So, I took off my cleaning gloves and went down to the garage to get my Bible out of the van. On the way back up to the kitchen it occurs to me that I don’t know which passage to even turn to, but I know something is supposed to come to my attention. As I get ready to enter the kitchen again, I have Ephesians on my heart. Okay, so Ephesians…got it. But, where? I open the Bible to Ephesians and immediately my eyes go to Ephesians 2. This chapter is all about being made alive in Christ. Alive, truly alive. Not ever condemned to eternal death, but given the gift of salvation and life. Life, the very thing I’ve been finding stressful and hard lately. But, to see it like that - to be promised once again that life is a gift and will be eternal through faith in Jesus…wow. I needed that. I truly needed it. I also needed that blessed reassurance of being saved by God’s amazing grace. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 states this - For it is by grace you have been saved through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. I know that God lead me to that verse. He laid it on my heart that He has saved me and it’s not because of me, but because of His graciousness. There is nothing I can do to earn the grace He so freely gives. Nothing could come close to being worthy of His outpouring. Amazing, isn’t it? And, I so needed that on my heart today. Although I have felt so broken and so down, God hasn’t seen me that way. He hasn’t seen me as unworthy of His graciousness. Instead, He is continually faithful even when I am down and don’t remember to look up.

I prayed after I read and I asked God to help me, help me and guide me. I want to give this to Him because without Him, I have no way to rise above. But, with Him and thanks to His ever-present Grace, I know I’ll be okay. Forever.

One of my goals for this year is to read my Bible daily. Initially, I had planned to read the Bible through in a year using a study Bible of Mickey’s. I will admit that I had a hard time with getting into it at first. Genesis is not exactly the easiest or most comforting read in the Bible, after all. I made it through Genesis and most of the way through Exodus and I’m sort of a place now where I feel like I need to do more. So, I am working on still doing daily readings, but going about them in a different way. I am reading a book called The Bathtub is Overflowing, but I feel Drained: How to Defeat Mommy Stress which is a nice Bible study for Moms. It’s not that I am feeling overwhelmed or stressed out constantly by motherhood, but how many of us moms haven’t had times when we felt like we were in a pressure cooker, right? My mom had gotten this book for me several months ago and I just picked it up to read it. I am really enjoying it. I love the real looks it gives into mothering and how it brings a calming message from the Bible for mothers. So far, so good. I’m enjoying it. I’m getting my daily Bible readings in and getting some Christian mothering advice in the process.
Win/Win!!

So, back to the “reading the Bible through” plan I mentioned above. I’d still like to do that. I really would. I am going to do my best to get back into that as well. I hope it doesn’t sound awful to say, but I do have a hard time getting through the difficult parts of the Old Testament. I keep on wanting to skip ahead to the New Testament, but I know I need to read it all for the full picture. So, I will keep reading and pray that God continues to open my heart to what He wants me to glean from His word daily.