As women we tend to be harder on ourselves than anyone else could ever be. We look around and feel that we don't quite measure up. We compare ourselves to others; we fall short. I'm not just talking how we feel about ourselves, but also how we feel about our families. You know what I'm talking about. You seem to always run into "them" on the days when you're the most disheveled, the most at-your-wit's-end, the least patient. Hello! There they are, and there you are. Them looking "family photo shoot" ready, and your family looking as though y'all just rolled out of bed. Sigh.
Many times in the Christian world we are told that the "perfect family" doesn't exist - that there's no such thing. But I don't think that's true. I believe that the perfect family does truly exist.
I have the perfect family. And so do you.
Our families are perfectly made up of imperfect people.
When you look around and compare your family to someone else's - you are comparing yourself to other imperfect people. No person is perfect. But families were created perfectly.
The Bible tells us that children are a heritage and a reward from the Lord. I don't know about you, but when I hear the word "reward" I think of something good. Something meant as a specific blessing. And that is what I believe our children are. They were specifically - perfectly - placed in your arms as a blessing from the Lord. That imperfect little baby placed in your imperfect loving arms. Whether naturally born or welcomed through adoption, God knows what He's doing. Those children you have - they were made just for you. Circumstances may be different, challenges unique, but our families are perfect.
God knew that we would look outside of our little worlds and compare "ours" with "theirs." He knew that we would go buy bigger and better and more possessions to keep up with the ideals of this world. But we can't do that with children, can we? We simply take what He gives us. He could not give your family anything greater than what he already has. Those children who drive you bonkers? They were made specifically for you. Those kiddos who are so different than you? They were made specifically for you. Those kids who call only you Mom? They were made perfectly for you.
Don't waste time wishing you could have the perfect family. You already do. Don't compare your family to another based on any worldly standard. If we simply look through the eyes of our Father, we see that He only gives good gifts. Our families were made by our loving God who took imperfectly people and had them create the perfect families. Not perfect in talents or appearance or performance, but perfectly made for us.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Monday, October 28, 2013
Multitudes on Monday
2022. family portraits that turn out beautifully
2023. an overcast sky so no one is squinting in our pictures
2024. laughs and smiles captured to enjoy forever
2025. pine cones to throw when the tiny fella gets grumpy
2026. fall candles and warmers to make the house smell cozy
2027. extra vitamin C to help chase colds away
2028. warm coffee and tea and hot cocoa to sooth sore throats
2029. the tiny fella fitting into 12 month clothes!!
2030. breaking out the kiddos' fall/winter clothes and enjoying their cozy looks
2031. fun finds on sale for the Mama - who hasn't been shopping in a very.long.time
2032. printing sweet pictures to send to Wayua in Kenya with letters from our family
2033. kiddos getting school things out and doing lessons for fun together
2034. the kiddos enjoying learning...even when they think they are just playing
2035. breaking out the manipulatives to do math with Buddy-Ro
2036. Birdie picking flowers for her bouquet
Psalm 109:30, "But I will give repeated thanks to the Lord, praising him to everyone."
2023. an overcast sky so no one is squinting in our pictures
2024. laughs and smiles captured to enjoy forever
2025. pine cones to throw when the tiny fella gets grumpy
2026. fall candles and warmers to make the house smell cozy
2027. extra vitamin C to help chase colds away
2028. warm coffee and tea and hot cocoa to sooth sore throats
2029. the tiny fella fitting into 12 month clothes!!
2030. breaking out the kiddos' fall/winter clothes and enjoying their cozy looks
2031. fun finds on sale for the Mama - who hasn't been shopping in a very.long.time
2032. printing sweet pictures to send to Wayua in Kenya with letters from our family
2033. kiddos getting school things out and doing lessons for fun together
2034. the kiddos enjoying learning...even when they think they are just playing
2035. breaking out the manipulatives to do math with Buddy-Ro
2036. Birdie picking flowers for her bouquet
Psalm 109:30, "But I will give repeated thanks to the Lord, praising him to everyone."
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Have Your Way
Music speaks to me in ways so deeply that I can't explain it. So many times I have heard the Spirit speak to me through music - especially those times when I've been unable (or unwilling) to hear from God.
This song speaks out the deepest prayer of my heart. A prayer that I want so desperately to pray - but I've been scared. My fear holds me back from the unknown, the what ifs, the how will it work out?
But if I truly surrender myself to my Savior, I have no fear. My whole life is His. And I want Him to have His way. I don't know what His way looks like. I don't know what plans He has in store for me. I have been scared out of my mind because I am a neat and tidy and box-it-up-and-put-a-bow-on-it kind of gal. But I can't let fear keep me from living a surrendered life. Jesus has so much more in store for me than I can imagine. It might not be what I have expected or anticipated - in fact, it probably won't be those things. And that's OK. The Bible tells us that His ways are perfect because He is good and that He loves us. If I truly believe that, then surrendering my life to Him should not feel like a burden. It should feel like a breath of fresh air. I can take the burden off myself of working out my own life and allow my Savior to do it for me.
There have been a couple of areas that I have clung so tightly to that they have started to become burdens to me. Areas that are so close to my heart that for them to become burdens is absurd. One of those is my children and their safety. I can become wound up in fear that I miss the opportunity to watch them bloom. And that's not how God created a parent to be.
Another is all that I have seen throughout my travels to Haiti and Africa. Before we start arguing about serving the poor here in America...let me just lay it out there that this is my burden. If your burden is for the poor and homeless in America, then I encourage you to get out there in your community and serve. But for me, my burden is for all the wretchedness I have seen. My eyes have seen, my heart has hurt, and my life has been changed. But what do I do with that change? Is fear holding me back?
The greatest desire of my heart is to lay my life down at the cross and give all I have to God. It's all His anyway. I want to walk in all He has for me. Good, bad, ugly, dirty, beautiful, wretched. Because what He has for me is so much better than anything I have for me. I don't want to be great by the western world's definition. I want to be great because I lived a surrendered life.
My whole life is Yours.
I give it all surrendered to Your name
And forever I will pray Have Your Way.
Have Your Way.
http://youtu.be/bvNdybdyeOc
This song speaks out the deepest prayer of my heart. A prayer that I want so desperately to pray - but I've been scared. My fear holds me back from the unknown, the what ifs, the how will it work out?
But if I truly surrender myself to my Savior, I have no fear. My whole life is His. And I want Him to have His way. I don't know what His way looks like. I don't know what plans He has in store for me. I have been scared out of my mind because I am a neat and tidy and box-it-up-and-put-a-bow-on-it kind of gal. But I can't let fear keep me from living a surrendered life. Jesus has so much more in store for me than I can imagine. It might not be what I have expected or anticipated - in fact, it probably won't be those things. And that's OK. The Bible tells us that His ways are perfect because He is good and that He loves us. If I truly believe that, then surrendering my life to Him should not feel like a burden. It should feel like a breath of fresh air. I can take the burden off myself of working out my own life and allow my Savior to do it for me.
There have been a couple of areas that I have clung so tightly to that they have started to become burdens to me. Areas that are so close to my heart that for them to become burdens is absurd. One of those is my children and their safety. I can become wound up in fear that I miss the opportunity to watch them bloom. And that's not how God created a parent to be.
Another is all that I have seen throughout my travels to Haiti and Africa. Before we start arguing about serving the poor here in America...let me just lay it out there that this is my burden. If your burden is for the poor and homeless in America, then I encourage you to get out there in your community and serve. But for me, my burden is for all the wretchedness I have seen. My eyes have seen, my heart has hurt, and my life has been changed. But what do I do with that change? Is fear holding me back?
The greatest desire of my heart is to lay my life down at the cross and give all I have to God. It's all His anyway. I want to walk in all He has for me. Good, bad, ugly, dirty, beautiful, wretched. Because what He has for me is so much better than anything I have for me. I don't want to be great by the western world's definition. I want to be great because I lived a surrendered life.
My whole life is Yours.
I give it all surrendered to Your name
And forever I will pray Have Your Way.
Have Your Way.
http://youtu.be/bvNdybdyeOc
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Monday, October 21, 2013
Multitudes on Monday
2011. cool weather that keeps the house temperature just right
2012. jeans and long sleeve shirts and socks
2013. snuggling up under a blanket at night
2014. comfortable temperatures for playing outside
2015. the blue skies of October
2016. crisp mornings and cool evenings
2017. a successful camping trip - despite the rain during the night
2018. Buddy-Ro camping with his Daddy for the first time
2019. new footed PJs to keep the little fella snuggly all day
2020. pictures from Scott of Buddy-Ro bundled up on chilly hunting mornings
2021. Birdie-girl reading me a bed time book while Daddy and Buddy-Ro are away
1 Chronicles 16:34, "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; His love and his kindness go on forever."
2012. jeans and long sleeve shirts and socks
2013. snuggling up under a blanket at night
2014. comfortable temperatures for playing outside
2015. the blue skies of October
2016. crisp mornings and cool evenings
2017. a successful camping trip - despite the rain during the night
2018. Buddy-Ro camping with his Daddy for the first time
2019. new footed PJs to keep the little fella snuggly all day
2020. pictures from Scott of Buddy-Ro bundled up on chilly hunting mornings
2021. Birdie-girl reading me a bed time book while Daddy and Buddy-Ro are away
1 Chronicles 16:34, "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; His love and his kindness go on forever."
Friday, October 18, 2013
Laundry
Laundry. It's 10:35 and I have already done three loads of laundry this morning because there was half of a dark blue crayon left in a pocket.
And now everything is covered in dark blue spots. That won't come out.
Laundry is ironic like that sometimes. You go to clean clothes, and they come out stained. Ahh, life with children. I checked the pockets, but this tiny crayon piece hid from me and melted in the dryer and turned some good clothes into play clothes.
But I am still thankful for the laundry. The laundry that I had to re-do and is still stained. Because it is my reminder that I have a family to care for and children to love. Was it annoying to find nice church pants covered in dark blue spots that won't come out? Yes. Was my first reaction to sigh and call my son's name? Yes.
But as I looked into his sweet blue eyes with the innocence of a five year old boy, I couldn't be mad at him. He's five. The crayon piece got away from him. It got away from the Mama, too.
Laundry is a never-ending chore. Sometimes it doesn't produce the results we were expecting, but it's a constant reminder that there are five of us in this family. Five people who make messes, who need clean clothes, who need new clothes to replace a few "nice" items. Five people who make our family filled to the brim with blessings and grace.
--
Linked up at http://lisajobaker.com/five-minute-friday/
And now everything is covered in dark blue spots. That won't come out.
Laundry is ironic like that sometimes. You go to clean clothes, and they come out stained. Ahh, life with children. I checked the pockets, but this tiny crayon piece hid from me and melted in the dryer and turned some good clothes into play clothes.
But I am still thankful for the laundry. The laundry that I had to re-do and is still stained. Because it is my reminder that I have a family to care for and children to love. Was it annoying to find nice church pants covered in dark blue spots that won't come out? Yes. Was my first reaction to sigh and call my son's name? Yes.
But as I looked into his sweet blue eyes with the innocence of a five year old boy, I couldn't be mad at him. He's five. The crayon piece got away from him. It got away from the Mama, too.
Laundry is a never-ending chore. Sometimes it doesn't produce the results we were expecting, but it's a constant reminder that there are five of us in this family. Five people who make messes, who need clean clothes, who need new clothes to replace a few "nice" items. Five people who make our family filled to the brim with blessings and grace.
--
Linked up at http://lisajobaker.com/five-minute-friday/
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
the Best is yet to come
My heart has been so heavy this week with unspeakable loss and tragedy. It's so easy to ask "Why, God?" in the midst of it all, but that question won't be answered in this life. We don't understand - can't understand - but that's not really our task. Our task is to live in trust and allow His Glory through our messy lives.
I am reading the book Shattered Dreams by Larry Crabb. Actually, I am reading it and re-reading it at the same time. It has been such a profound book for me and "where I've been" that I find that I can't read it like a typical book. I have read each chapter at least 3 times, and I am only on Chapter 8. Basically, the book is based on the idea that:
"Shattered dreams are never random. They are always a piece in a larger puzzle, a chapter in a larger story. The Holy Spirit uses the pain of shattered dreams to help us discover our desire for God, to help us begin dreaming the highest dream. They are ordained opportunities for the Spirit first to awaken, then to satisfy our highest dream."
Chapter One is titled, "My Problem With God." I knew that I was going to find this book enlightening just by that title. You see, I have had my fair share of "problems with God." Call me a brat (and it's OK if you do...nicely please...because I have called myself one before) - but in the past I've really been fed up with God because I simply haven't gotten my way.
Wow. Talk about cold reality.
I haven't been getting my way. And I've been bitter about it. You see, in my worldly opinion there's nothing wrong with My Way.
As Crabb asks, "How do we trust a sometimes disappointing, seemingly fickle God who fails to do for us what good friends, if they could, would do?"
And then he answers.
"The problem sincere Christians have with God often comes down to a wrong understanding of what this life is meant to provide. We naturally and wrongly assume we're here to experience something God has never promised...Both good hopes and best hopes are guaranteed in heaven. But fulfillment of the best hopes is not yet promised in this life."
The highest dream we can ever experience is being in the presence of God. We will not suffer in heaven; there will be no loss. Every imaginable dream will come true.
But this life is not meant to provide the fulfillment of the highest dream. This life is meant to "stir an appetite for a higher purpose -- the better hope of knowing God well enough to love Him above everything else...and trusting Him no matter what happens."
Trusting God above our shattered dreams.
Trusting God when we don't get our way.
Trusting God through overwhelming circumstances and loss.
Trusting God even when He seems so distant we wonder if He even cares.
It's hard.
For many of us, we have wrongly equated God blessing us with God loving us. If God gives us what we want, He must love us. If God refuses to grant our requests, He must be with-holding His love from us.
But, we couldn't be more wrong.
God doesn't want us to settle for Good when He can only provide what's Best.
Shattered dreams open the door to this Best Dream, a dream that we do not properly understand until those "good dreams" are destroyed.
My good dreams have been destroyed. Over and over again.
Destruction of dreams is painful. It has been tear-wrenching, fist-waving, fightin' word screaming, door slamming (me, not God) - hard.
But suffering in this world still has a purpose. It's often long; it's hard; it's trying and frustrating. But it can also bring us to the place where we no longer want to settle.
To no longer demand what's good, but to desire what's best.
Crabb envisions Jesus speaking to us in the Garden of Gethsemane saying,
"Some of your fondest dreams will shatter, and you will be tempted to lose hope. I will seem to you callous or, worse, weak -- unresponsive to your pain. You will wonder if I cannot do anything or simply will not. I will seem to withdraw from you and do nothing. BUT, a plan is unfolding that you can not clearly see. If you could see it as I do, you would still hurt [shattered dreams], but you would not lose hope. You would gladly remain faithful to me in the middle of the worst suffering."
Why?
Because we have hope of the BEST that is to come.
I am reading the book Shattered Dreams by Larry Crabb. Actually, I am reading it and re-reading it at the same time. It has been such a profound book for me and "where I've been" that I find that I can't read it like a typical book. I have read each chapter at least 3 times, and I am only on Chapter 8. Basically, the book is based on the idea that:
"Shattered dreams are never random. They are always a piece in a larger puzzle, a chapter in a larger story. The Holy Spirit uses the pain of shattered dreams to help us discover our desire for God, to help us begin dreaming the highest dream. They are ordained opportunities for the Spirit first to awaken, then to satisfy our highest dream."
Chapter One is titled, "My Problem With God." I knew that I was going to find this book enlightening just by that title. You see, I have had my fair share of "problems with God." Call me a brat (and it's OK if you do...nicely please...because I have called myself one before) - but in the past I've really been fed up with God because I simply haven't gotten my way.
Wow. Talk about cold reality.
I haven't been getting my way. And I've been bitter about it. You see, in my worldly opinion there's nothing wrong with My Way.
As Crabb asks, "How do we trust a sometimes disappointing, seemingly fickle God who fails to do for us what good friends, if they could, would do?"
And then he answers.
"The problem sincere Christians have with God often comes down to a wrong understanding of what this life is meant to provide. We naturally and wrongly assume we're here to experience something God has never promised...Both good hopes and best hopes are guaranteed in heaven. But fulfillment of the best hopes is not yet promised in this life."
The highest dream we can ever experience is being in the presence of God. We will not suffer in heaven; there will be no loss. Every imaginable dream will come true.
But this life is not meant to provide the fulfillment of the highest dream. This life is meant to "stir an appetite for a higher purpose -- the better hope of knowing God well enough to love Him above everything else...and trusting Him no matter what happens."
Trusting God above our shattered dreams.
Trusting God when we don't get our way.
Trusting God through overwhelming circumstances and loss.
Trusting God even when He seems so distant we wonder if He even cares.
It's hard.
For many of us, we have wrongly equated God blessing us with God loving us. If God gives us what we want, He must love us. If God refuses to grant our requests, He must be with-holding His love from us.
But, we couldn't be more wrong.
God doesn't want us to settle for Good when He can only provide what's Best.
Shattered dreams open the door to this Best Dream, a dream that we do not properly understand until those "good dreams" are destroyed.
My good dreams have been destroyed. Over and over again.
Destruction of dreams is painful. It has been tear-wrenching, fist-waving, fightin' word screaming, door slamming (me, not God) - hard.
But suffering in this world still has a purpose. It's often long; it's hard; it's trying and frustrating. But it can also bring us to the place where we no longer want to settle.
To no longer demand what's good, but to desire what's best.
Crabb envisions Jesus speaking to us in the Garden of Gethsemane saying,
"Some of your fondest dreams will shatter, and you will be tempted to lose hope. I will seem to you callous or, worse, weak -- unresponsive to your pain. You will wonder if I cannot do anything or simply will not. I will seem to withdraw from you and do nothing. BUT, a plan is unfolding that you can not clearly see. If you could see it as I do, you would still hurt [shattered dreams], but you would not lose hope. You would gladly remain faithful to me in the middle of the worst suffering."
Why?
Because we have hope of the BEST that is to come.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)