Tag: celebrations

Before We Even Finish Speaking: God’s Daily Delightful, Abundant & Exciting Provision

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I was reading in Genesis this week about Abraham sending his servant to fetch a wife for his beloved son, Isaac. The servant seemed apprehensive about this project and when he arrived at Abraham’s hometown, he got off his camel and started to pray. He asked God for his help and provision in finding a wife for his master’s son. Genesis 24:15 says that before he had even finished speaking, God had already in an amazing string of events, brought Rebekah to the exact location where he was waiting.

God is beyond amazing like that! I love watching for the ways he blesses us precisely, sometimes before we even finish praying.

I’ll be the first to admit that I may not always be as persistent in my prayers as God has called me to be. I might be lazy or distracted and shamefully may even “forget” to ask him for his provision for myself or those I love. He has been so patient with me in this and consistently sends me reminders of his love and care. I, in my unworthiness do not deserve any of his goodness or lavish gifts. But, He is faithful. I have been deeply convicted lately about one of our biggest jobs being to share his faithfulness with the generations around us. Our stories of His faithful provision shine a light brightly on His desire for relationship with us and the lost world around us.

I was thinking about one of my earliest adult memories of His provision that showed his care for even the smallest desire in my heart. I was newly graduated from high school and had just entered the work force. It was time to purchase a car of my own, so in the way my parents had taught me, I began to pray. I remember distinctly as I ended one of the first prayers about this, asking God if He wouldn’t mind looking our for a car in my very favorite color – burgundy. Soon after, an ad showed up in the local paper. I eagerly called the number which ended up being a local youth pastor who I knew, and could trust! As I asked questions about the car, everything fell into place. At the end of the conversation, I suddenly remembered to ask about the color. There was a pause, then the answer came. “Well it’s kind of reddish like maybe burgundy….” God, in his generosity saw fit to answer not only the prayers for a dependable car, but gifted it to me in my very favorite color as well.

Now as the middle aged me, He has been showing up in fresh ways that are catching my attention pretty much daily. I am on a path to financial freedom and have been seeing Him intentionally answer in this journey as well. A few weeks ago, I felt a nudge to get busy on my fall lotion stock. (yup I did not intend to be the lotion lady, but here I am.) I analyzed my budget and didn’t think I was quite ready to make the needed supplies purchases when I felt a quiet prompting in my heart. “Dorothy, don’t you think I can sell the needed lotions so you have the funds you need to make more? Can you trust me with this?” I remember feeling a little embarrassed and sheepishly answered “of course!” and named a needed dollar amount. Would you know, with in 3 days God had sold almost double what was needed!

These are just two examples of God’s faithfulness to me, but His daily gifts to each of us are innumerable really. As I have been more mindful in listening, I celebrate his faithful appearances in the lives of my loved ones as well. In the not to distant past, he provided a tree branch to grab onto for someone who was falling down a cliff (literally). His provision for another friend whose need for physical help for projects around her home was miraculous in that HE provided before she even asked out loud. HE provided the exact kind of medical staff in a third world country (not just general but precise) for a missionary friend’s health needs. While these are not my stories to share, HE gets the credit. God is beyond amazing and deserves every ounce of praise we can muster! He is good!

Psalm 89:1 “I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever. With my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.

Finding Rest in a Restless World

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Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 NIV

Those who know me well will tell you I don’t rest well. I may be a great sleeper, but sitting at rest is challenging for my ever wandering mind. There are always chores to do, people to feed or loved ones needing time and attention. Over the past years, however, God has shown me over and over that he desires my resting time as much as he needs me to do the busy things he has created me to do. So, I am making efforts to carve out times to just sit and be still.

For me, being restless hasn’t just been the actual physical busy I find myself consumed with, but also the busy in my soul and mind. Last week after Kali left, I found myself in a new and very unknown stage where I was not familiar with the emotions or the ways my mind would run. I couldn’t understand the tightening in my chest, or the way that tears would constantly show up in unexpected spaces. I know some of that is indeed the changing of seasons but I found something else tucked quietly behind one of those walls in my brain that provided a big ah-ha moment.

One day as I was putting something away in Kali’s room, it was as if I heard a quiet voice saying “she’s not dead…she just grew up.” Duh! All of a sudden it hit me. My body was processing and equating this season with Abby’s leaving. Now the way my chest constricted made sense. I had felt these things in very real and painful ways before. My brain knew about those and so that is the path it took. I was able to verbalize my realization with a dear praying friend who validated what I was feeling. It felt good just saying it out loud and God used those moments to bring my heart to peace. I am so thankful for our sweet Father, who blesses us with all the parts and pieces we need to find true rest in Him. He is good.

**Completely on a side note here! Not a paid promotion! If you need God honoring Biblical based help in this area of the power of the brain, my friend, Iva has been a great resource to me personally in this area!

**Photo compliments of my Kali from her Costa Rican travels.

The Best Prize

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“The days are long but the years are short “- Gretchen Rubin

Nobody ever mentioned to me when I was in the thick of exhaustion in the jungles of diaper changing, wiping 4 snotty noses and toting a million pound diaper bag on my hip that while those days were busy and hard, how equally hard it would be to be standing at the brink of new phases in my children’s lives like the one I am currently in.

I officially have a high school senior. And while I could be in much “older” phases and stages, here is where I am, thanks to 8 years of infertility. I love where we are. It is so much fun watching my children fashion themselves into the free thinking, unique, amazing almost adults that God has created them to be.

It’s really started sinking in that my birdies are so much closer to stretching their wings and flying from the nice safe nest we have provided for them. As I ponder that, part of me worries that I didn’t do enough to prepare them for life and that maybe they won’t be successful in their endeavors which will of course reflect my parenting. But, this! this time, this very age and stage is part of their own God given journey. As I reflect a little deeper, I know that our biggest goal has been to raise God honoring beautiful humans who will carry HIS love into our dark and often hopeless world.

Why haven’t I heard much about this stage? Maybe I wasn’t listening well? I realize that this stage is so much more “private” then the stages of posting the funny quotes of my 3 or 4 year old. Now mom’s Instagram is suddenly old school and I post more cautiously so as to protect and hopefully not embarrass my loves. Watching them navigate new relationships and praying more fervently then ever that God will bless them in their quests as they honor him is suddenly not really about me at all. The fun and sometimes outright amazing scoop on those relationships is not mine to spill.

I have one more school year with my oldest then she’s got plans that quite frankly terrify my on one hand and make me so proud I could burst on the other. I already set some boundaries on my calendar for the next year. I want to be more present, a lesson I never thought I’d need to relearn. I am looking for those memory making special opportunities like the one I happened upon this week. It’s so simple, it made me feel silly at its obviousness.

Recently I attended a party where we were invited to take a jar of homemade salsa for the birthday girl to judge. I used to be known for my salsa and really did enjoy making it! But I got busy. Low and behold out of the 8 entries, my salsa was picked by the birthday girl as “the winner”. I told my family as they hungrily watched me spoon the last spoonfuls into the jar that they could have the leftovers.

There really wasn’t any left and I heard my family muttering in the background about who was going to be the lucky one to finish the remaining bites of mom’s prize winning salsa. Over the next few days I made more to take to a dinner and again heard the wishes of those I love most who still were hungry for my salsa.

Tonight it hit me how simple it would be to make a batch for them, so I did. I chopped and diced and added all my secret ingredients because somehow like my mama before me, my recipes don’t always seem to turn out so well when I try to relay to my kiddos how to make them. I put it on the top shelf of the fridge with a note that said “because I love you…”

You should have heard the squeals when it was discovered.

The best things in life are like that. Simple. Mundane sometimes. Little. Not necessarily prize winning but important none the less.

When Mother’s Day Is Hard….

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I used to love celebrations of most any kind. Don’t get me wrong. I still do. Mostly.

But as I’ve gotten older, the empathy in me has sometimes trumped my love of celebrating. I have struggled with the verse in Romans where it says “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep”….

What does this mean for us as Christians on days like Mother’s Day?

I have lived in a constant state of ambivalence on how this plays out between the exuberance of new motherhood and the grief of a mom who has lost.

As a new, young wife, my mind was filled with all the ways I might celebrate with my own babies as I watched my friends have 1, 2 or even 3 babies. Where was my blessing? What was the hidden sin preventing God from answering my deepest prayer. For many long years, I avoided church on Mother’s day because no one knows what to do with a wanna be mom on a day that celebrates motherhood. Yet, when my dreams did come true, I felt such guilt and deep sadness, when some close to me shared how my vocal pain had dimmed the joys of their first years of motherhood.

Finally I had my prayers answered. God granted my deepest desire. Then He decided He needed one of my blessings back. Once again I struggled. Well meaning souls reminded me that I should cherish my remaining children. Of course I did/do! But that does not diminish the pain of loss.

I’ve also struggled watching friends struggle with other aspects of Mother’s day.

Maybe their mom was abusive or stood by in silence as their father did the unthinkable to them.

Maybe they only carried their baby a few months, to short a time for the world to even know of the sweet painful existence.

Maybe motherhood never came their way.

Maybe their only child is no longer in the picture, either due to death or estrangement.

These are tough places! Ones with no pat answers.

I found Betsy Childs Howard’s writing intriguing. She says it well in her blog entitled “The Struggle of Rejoicing With Those Who Rejoice”…. Apostle Paul gives a compelling reason for rejoicing on behalf of other Christians: We are members of the same body. “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together” (1 Cor. 12:26). If we are parts of the same body, then one Christian’s blessing is your blessing. What’s good for the foot is good for the leg and the hand and the eyes. Blessings are not a zero-sum game. There’s not a limited amount that God can bestow. If one part of the Body gets a blessing, it has not stolen it from another part of the Body or prevented that member from receiving the same good blessing in God’s perfect timing.

I have come to the conclusion that the secret to answering these tough questions is compassion. Compassion does not need to lessen the joy of celebration, but will seek God’s wisdom in how to bless those who struggle with kindness and empathy. It might mean instead of turning a confused blind eye, we take a moment to give a hug or send a note to the ones we know hurt on these special celebration days.

As time continues, I am indeed once again enjoying the celebrations of the day. So today I am relaxing with my 3 babies who are not so much babies anymore, while Hubby celebrates the day with his mom who turned 88 this week. I have loved watching their enthusiasm this week as we planned a totally leisure day that’ll probably involve homemade pie and seeing some pretty flowers and counting the blessings of togetherness! After all, It’s the Little Things.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you! May God’s peace be with you today!