Everything Falls

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Seeing God in the Little things

There are things throughout each day that reveal to me how much He looks out for me, and cares for my needs.
Things that my heart desires that no-one really could know except for Him. Now, those who do not give credit to God for these things often call them, "good luck" or "chance.." they may say, "well, what a coincidence.."
Not me Friends. I look at these things and say, "there is a little promise from my Father." It makes me pay attention more when I am looking for His fingerprints all over my daily life.
A small example is this. Today, I skipped my morning run, (which, for those of you who know me, it pretty earth-shattering.) due to a sore throat and just feeling worn down. So, what do i do? Naturally i go to the most relaxing place i can think of. Walmart. HA!
Of course, it's chaos there, and i almost got hit a few times by carts, cars and people. :)
However, with my now two delightfully crabby screaming children, (who are sent by God to bring joy to my life and love very very much) hhehhe.
we exit the store. I dream of a late'. However, due to respecting my Husbands wishes of not spending to much $ on coffee, i politely decline my great desire, and head home, screaming children intact.
Did i mention it's quite cold out? ( i lost my mittens)
*for the sake of randomness, you may now say, "you naughty kitten."
ANYWAYS....
I arrive home, feeling not any more relaxed then when i left, and actually a little frazzled. I just get in and get coats off when I hear a knock at my door. Instantly my eyes well up with tears as i open the door to find my "Jesus with skin on friend," Katie who hands me my Vente Starbucks double shot, just the way i like it.
Do you know how this feels? to be so blessed by someones kindness? when they, the giver, are just being obedient to God's prompting? I always said it's better to give then to receive, but let me tell you, at times my friends, it feels good to receive as well. So let this be a lesson to those of you who think your acts of kindness go un-noticed. Not only do they most definitely NOT go un-noticed, they may change the course of someones day, week or life.
So don't hesitate when God lays someone on your heart to be kind too...JUMP...ACT and you will bless someone abundantly, and how amazing that God allows YOU to be apart of someone else's "God moment" for the day.
SO, Thank you sweet, friend of mine, for being my Jesus with skin on, and reminding me that yes indeed, God cares for even my most tiny needs.

"SO IN EVERYTHING, DO TO OTHERS WHAT YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO TO YOU, FOR THIS SUMS UP THE LAW OF THE PROPHETS." Matt. 7:12

From The Inside Out

"For in you my soul takes refuge, I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings, until the disaster has passed. I CRY OUT TO GOD MOST HIGH TO GOD WHO FULFILLS "HIS PURPOSE" FOR ME. He sends from Heaven to save me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me. God sends His love and His faithfulness." Psalm 57:1b-3
Why these verses? They hit me so hard this morning..
Doing battle by ones self is exhausting and actually, pointless, doing a battle where Christ is fighting for you? Now that is what i want.
I relate to David's cry to the Lord for his life to be of "His purposes". I have been wrestling with idea of contentment and allowing my life to BE fully His really for quite some time, and most days, i felt like i was there, but i realized, i was only partly there. The desire to be fully His is not something that I can do only half-way. It must be just that, "FULLY." No room for, "oh God, this part i think i will hold on to..." Or, "No, now Father, I'd like that thing to stay as mine."
Oh friends, i cannot be this way with God. I have found..
SO once again, i lept, i gave in and WOW. PEACE LIKE A RIVER FLOODS IN.
" My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and make music, AWAKE MY SOUL!" Psalm 57:7
and also..
"For Great is your love, reaching to the heavens, your faithfulness reaches to the skies." vs 10

Why this sudden revelation to hand over more to Him? Because doing it on my own is exhausting. I want Him from the inside all the way to the outside of me. I want MINE to be HIS, fully and completely.
I just cannot do these battles of life on my own. They are not mine.
I'm reading a book called, "Let God be God" by Ray stedman. It's a book on the life of Job. At first i was skeptical to read it because it felt like another book of "suck it up and deal with it for the Lord" type book, but that is so not true.
I found such great hope in the promise of God for our lives. Not only does the book describe the fleets and fleets of angels surround us in our battles to protect and fight for us, it shows what God promises to us in the this life and the next when we are faithful to Him. So, today, and from hopefully this day on forevermore I am going to Let God be God. For Him to complete His purposes within my life and that my friends, is enough for me. Inside out, song

Driving Baby Jesus

Yesterday Joshua and I had quite an exciting "car ride". And let me explain, by car I mean, all of my couch pillows stacked up (about 15 of them) in a box like fashion. Then my driver (Joshua) jumps into our "car." Mommy gets in next, ( i play myself)
and were off. Driving all around to different places, "gassing up the car.." and stopping for food. Then we have to pick up all our "friends." So our first stop, is to stop at "church" and pick up Baby Jesus, this is what Joshua tells me.
SO we do. Baby Jesus climbs in the car, what's nice about that is that He is small and doesn't take up alot of room. (our car is fairly small) Then we have another stop Joshua explains to me, and our new passenger, Baby Jesus.
We have to stop by heaven and pick up God. This car ride just got very holy.
So we do, and in my car I now have, My favorite boy in the whole world, my favorite Baby in the whole world (and in heaven) and also, My Father.
The only unfortunate thing, is that we hit a wall and we crashed. But, I felt good with the company I was sharing during this crash, so it was really OK.

Hey Mom

Hey Mom.
My nails are green.
This ones for you, for all the years of "why can't I wear that.." and "black is cool on your toe-nails!!!"
Well, now your baby girl is (mostly) all grown up and yes, she has green nails.
( I will most likely take it off by tonight because I sort of think I look like halloween)
But the girl at the store said this color is really "big" now.
Anyways, here's to you Mom for putting up with a daughter always in search of the latest trend, no matter the cost. HAHAHHA. I LOVE YOU!

Faithful

In lieu of thanksgiving, I have been thinking about thankfulness, what it looks like, and how I view it.
I am thankful for the small things that the Lord places in my life each day, good days, smiles from my sweet babies, gifts of good rest, and time to be with my children like I have..
Those are the small scale, but am I thankful for the unseen? Thankful for the things He protects me from, provides for me and the things that are so normal, I simply forget to count them as blessings? (and so being unseen to me)
Things like, my Husband for one..or the gift of the little lives and I am blessed to mother every single day?
All morning I was just trying to "sit down for 2 seconds" and read my devotions, but my children were not going to have it. And it was as if He said, "Glorify me, and praise me with the time you spend with children." so I took that in human terms as "Stop yelling at your babies to be quiet and go make a joyful noise with them."
SO I did. And we still got the gym on time. Imagine that.
Which made me realize on a very small scale, just how faithful my Father is..

"Father I can't explain this kind of love, this kind of grace
I know, I still break your heart and yet you run to welcome me.
This is my song of praise to you
For who you are and all that you do
from the moment my life began, you have been faithful"

Lyrics from a song I just love called suitably, "Faithful Father."
Now, back to the things I cannot see, or fail to see. Things like, "His timing." And "His Plans." Many things in this life do not make sense, and I often fail to reflect upon the things that are not happening, or how much worse things could be.
His blessing, His faithful hands are always on those who call Him "Abba, Father." Which in my mind translates to "Daddy."
"Daddy" on my lips by my own definition means, "The man you look up to as the earthly representation of who Christ is to us spiritually."
And when I think of my own earthly "Daddy." I can think only of a man who spent countless hours working so hard to provide things for his children, so many things that I will never even know to be thankful for. Big things, like "how much did that bike cost.." or "why we always had enough food on our table."
If times were hard, he never let us know. He just faithfully provided.
So it is with our heavenly Father. Now, times are not hard for Christ like they may be for our earthly fathers, but He provides just the same. Being able to see the grander picture, much like when we are small children, unable to see beyond today, our parents provide what we need, not always what we want. So it is with Christ.
So this time of my life I am trying to wrap my mind around one thing, "thankful for the unseen."
This is my song of praise to you
for who you are and all that you do
From the moment the world began
You have been faithful...

Thank you Jesus. Amen...

The way God speaks

Every day, I feel as though He tells me something new that I need to work on. I say that not because I discouraged, but because it feels so amazing that the things I am so blinded to, Christ gently, carefully, handles and shows me.
He holds me like a broken egg shell..I just love that picture, He's so gentle as not to break me more, but gently helps and puts the pieces back together. Kinda like humpty dumpty. Only this time, He can fix me, and make me whole again.
We were by nature brought into this world, broken and seemingly unfixable. But God knows our brokenness and delights in any soul who desires to approach the throne, looking for fixing.
So here i stand, at the feet of the great physic an and each day, he helps put me back together and little bit more, until the day He finally takes me home and I can be completely whole.
"Surely, you desire truth in the inner parts, you teach me wisdom in the inmost place." Psalm 51:6

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." Psalm 51:17

I was just reminded today of how much better it is to be in His hands that the hands of comforts that the world offers us. The world can sell us all kinds of beauty, and things that look like peace, but in they end, they bite like a snake. Trusting in humans for our safety will never amount to an end full of joy.
People do not mean to hurt, (for the most part) but in the end we are all selfish and looking out for our own best interests. Somber, but true. And a world where it's "every man for himself.." i long for something different.
I long for something safe, eternal and whole.
And i discovered a couple of years ago, If he's not allowed into every area of our lives, than we are just living halfway. half of the joy, half of the peace and half of the contentment, which means, we feel it from time to time, but then those same old feelings creep back in. Discontentment and not being at peace with oneself is as bad as being in a cutthroat battle, because we truly are our own worst enemies. We stack the odds up against ourselves so high that no human could ever know down or break through. Back to humpty dumpty.
This is where my Savior came in, He stopped in front of my broken spirit, heart and body and picked up each piece gently, placing them one by one, back where they belong. He put my goals, motives, and desires where they belong, showed me how to fix them. Put my thoughts back in order..and most of all, He fixed my heart. He sewed in back together in such a way that it longed more for Christ than it longed for anything else. And that is exactly how i want it to stay, and until He brings me HOME, i pray i can stay open to His gentle, physicians hands.
May you have peace today, know that you are in the best Dr. hands that has ever been.
All you have to do is accept the invitation to be fixed...I did accept that invite, and i am so glad i did.