Meet My Perfect Children

HAHA. Life can be so funny sometimes. It seems as though everywhere you look you see everyone out with their well behaved, do as I say, never-mis-behave PERFECT children.
And then of course, their are your own children, screaming, fighting, wiping their boogers on the restaurant table, and saying "POOP" really loudly for all to hear.
YES my friends, children are not always perfect. And so then of course, as mom's we come to the conclusion that our children are the only children in the world who act like this. Ours are the only ones who EVER misbehave, and ours are the only ones who ever scream/kick/throw themselves on the floor in public.
So then, as mom's we hang our heads, walk around in shame because lets face it, "we have failed." STOP RIGHT THERE.
That is what the enemy, the prince of DARKNESS wants you to believe.
Your child is human. So are you. Your child makes selfish choices, we all do. Your child ACTS on their frustrations. (so do Mommies) and Your child is created in God's image. And so are you Mommy friend. (and Daddy's)
Listen here... we are to train a child up in the way they should go, (says Proverbs) but also, children still choose to go their own way, even when they know the "way they SHOULD G0". Grown ups do that too...
What I mean to say is this: We all have in mind the way we WANT to go, act and be. And at times, it's different than the way she SHOULD go, act or be. YOU adult, are HIS child. Do you think that for even one second, the God and Father of YOU says about Himself, "I failed. I made bad work. I screwed up with that child" when YOU do something disruptive or disobedient to the Maker? NO. He does not. He looks at you with LOVE in His eyes, and says, "I forgive you. I love you. Seek me. Walk in my ways, pursue holiness. And of course, next time, ask me for help and it won't be so difficult." Yes. This is the Father we have. If we are to learn from Him, be like Him and parent like HE does, than this is what we ought to do also for our unruly children. Sometimes however, unruly children need a bit of discipline. And then we do as we must, just as HE does as He must in order to perfect us. We must be consistent as HE is consistent. We must turn to one who is higher than us to help us in this...but we also know that His plans for us are not to harm us but to give us a hope and future. So we are with our children. So the next time you find yourself in the grocery store with a child, kicking and screaming, and the "perfect" family of children walk by, know this: no-one is perfect, not even one. We set our rules in place, we stick to them, and we deal with new situations as they arise. Just as HE does. We have His laws. We write them on our hearts. We follow this with His direction. We are respectful to His decrees, and we succeed in life. ( In the Kingdom sense) Right? Don't we want little children of the kingdom? But we must not equate that therefore we have failed, if in fact our children act in their own selfish will from time to time. After all, they are sons of Adam. And daughters of Eve. It all goes back to the garden of Eden. We are not ever going to be perfect until we attain our heavenly bodies upon the second coming, the arrival of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior, and on that day, you can look at your child, and say, "Your perfect." But until that day, you can look at your booger wiping, poop talking, floor kicking, show-stopping child and say, "Someday you'll be perfect,(and so will Mommy) and I love you now in your imperfections," (Just as He loves us in our imperfections) (and then ask the Lord for strengthen so you don't have a tantrum too) deal with the imperfections with the wisdom HE supplies, and move on...knowing that tomorrow, is a new day, and HIS mercies are new EVERY MORNING. THANK YOU LORD. :)
"This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24

Compelled

Like a jubilant song bursting forth from the lips of one who has just received a second chance, life anew, and freedom, comes these words as the Lord inspires inside of me a heavenly theme to glorify His name.
He tells me, in this life, you will have trials, but to take heart, for He has overcome the world. John 16:33
But also tells me that with the JOY set before Him, He endured the cross and all its sufferings. He did this for me. He had an eternal perspective. He recognized the certainty of death, and the certainty of eternity for those who are sealed, chosen, and received by Christ. Thus, having endured the cross, conquering sin and death, winning the victory through that death, He made a way for us to have a life of fullness, abundant joy, and life without end. He is the conquering King. The ONE. The reason. The source. Our ability. Our anchor.
I have had one of those weeks that begs the question, "Jesus, could you come back soon...this life is very hard." Anyone else having a week like that? I assumed I was not alone.
God is not a God who cannot identify with us in our suffering. He was fully man, and now, as is, fully God. He came in the lowliest state so that He could identify with us. We are a miserable lot at times. Wandering around in the dark, without the lights turned on, bumping into things, and breaking our noses because we don't want to stop long enough and ask the one who can SEE AND GIVES SIGHT for directions. "Jesus!!!" I said..." I give up. I wave my white flag. I surrender RIGHT NOW." You are the one I want, You are the ONE I need. You are my only necessity.
The only thing necessary for living life the way I ought. I open your word. I read your words. I get life...and sustenance for the journey set before me. My feet are set on a solid rock. One that does not shake, move or shift. "You LORD...are SOLID." And I will not question His sovereignty. He sees, what I never will. He holds what I could never bear. He creates what I never would have thought of. He is bigger on all levels, and "Jesus, for that I am thankful." Take my life and let it be, ever only Lord for thee.
No more of this wayward heart "prone to wander..." I asked you Lord, what is my Ebeneezer? The thing that saved me? Truth about who I was and who I wasn't. Before He came and rescued me in my lowly estate, I was desolate, depressed, cold, sad and alone. Obsessed with the things of the world...lost without a map...and hungry with no real way of feeding myself full. Empty for all of eternity, but because He cast His gaze upon me, lifted me up out of the mud and mire...and am now who I am today...a work in progress, saved by grace...perfected by His truth and saved for all eternity. "THANK YOU JESUS, I STAND AMAZED." SO this is why you endured hell, death, and the grave? For my freedom? O Lord, your beautiful! You face is all I see...and all I long to see. With you alone is my soul satisfied, and my soul longs for more and more of you. Take me to the rock who is higher than I. You are the ONE. For you, daily I'm compelled to BE. And thy GOODNESS like a fetter, draws my wandering heart to thee. What is my Ebeneezer? A picture of who I used to be. That is what reminds me. The darkness in my eyes. The pain in my heart. One day lost, the next day alive. One day dead..the next living in the abundance of His grace. Thank you Jesus. Do you know what it is I speak of? Do you relate? Or does this sound like another language you have never heard? If these words are like another dialect to you, say this, "Open the eyes of my heart Lord..." And then ask the Maker of Heaven and earth to speak to YOU! He is the reason you are here. Ask Him. Be compelled by something greater than your own little world. Don't you ever wonder, stop and think that perhaps, just maybe, there is something out there that is greater than your own little world? Well friends, I have news for you. And it's good news. The best news you will ever hear once He translates it to your heart. There is MORE!!!! And for the joy set before us, He endured death on cross so that you could have life now, and for eternity. All He asks is that we come to Him with a broken and contrite Spirit. TO lay down our selfish pride, and admit there has to be something greater than US. He is greater. He made you. He is your MAKER. SAVIOR. CREATOR. REDEEMER. LIFE. SOURCE. AND FATHER. Call on Him and He will answer you, and teach you great and unsearchable things THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW. that is why I call Him the source. Before Christ, we were dead in our sins, so dead we didn't even know how dead we were. Do you feel alive right now? If not, consider the fact, you might be missing something. That something could be Christ. Ask Him friend...COMPELLED I speak. COMPELLED, I live. COMPELLED...I walk this life out in faith knowing that my eternal HOME awaits. And there is not a day that goes by that I DO NOT LONG FOR IT WITH ALL MY HEART. Jesus is there. Better is one day in your courts, then thousands elsewhere. Thank you Holy Father for making a way for a sinner like me.