from my heart, plus the BEST news.
I've had quite a bit on my heart and mind lately that I want to share. Sometimes I convince myself not to because it's so easy to come to the place of well, who am I anyway and why does anyone care mentality. My posts have become less and less over the years and pretty much just stick to big events and the kids. But, I can see where God is opening my heart in a lot of ways and I'm just gonna trust that small instinct to just put it out there.
That being said, I feel like I need to quickly readdress the whole moving situation. I've had several people ask me lately about the big move {that don't see me on a day to day basis and know the story} that obviously didn't see my last post. The short of it is that we are not moving to Texas and the long of it I will share at a later time. Cool story. I cannot wait to share it.
Within this whole process, God has been so faithful and I'm learning so much about patience. And faith. You guys, God is in it all. Really think about that for a second. He. is. in. it. all. When I am truly seeking Him and His will and leaning into His promises, I see Him e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. The times where I am self absorbed, too busy, and allowing myself to get caught up in and stressed about every little detail in life, I tend to question everything. BUT, I keep coming back to this - Do I believe what I say I believe? Every time I ask myself that, I always say YES! Of course I do. I really, really do.
This morning I literally stumbled up this verse, "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them." Eva has pulled a devotional book off the boy's bookshelf about a hundred times the past few days. She keeps throwing it on the floor and I keep coming across it. I put it back again, kinda annoyed at this mundane task. Today I opened the book, saw this verse and casually read it. Honestly, I didn't think much of it in that moment. I got in the shower and was praying and when I got out, I went back to the book and opened it again. Why did I just gloss over it? Perfect example of how we so simply go about our day to day lives without much thought of the bigger picture, of eternity, or the things God desires to reveal to us. I reread the verse. Paul and Silas were in prison praying and singing hymns to God. If you look at the previous verse, they had just been beaten. "The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully." They had to have been physically exhausted - it was midnight and they had just been beaten. No doubt they were hungry and weary. And yet they prayed and sang praises to God.
Talk about faith. They had every reason to want to give up. To give in. Maybe even question God. But these men knew God. Their lives were not about themselves, but about furthering the Kingdom of God. That is why they could be in prison, literally in shackles, singing praises and praying to God.
Wow. Just, wow. I want that kind of faith.
So, back to my day to day life and the things that are on my heart. You guys, God cares about those too. Now it may seem small when I think about Paul and Silas and their situation, but God cares about it all. He is in it all. As I was in the shower, I was praying. I was praying in detail about the things that were on my heart and the things that concerned me. The other verse that God brought to me was "Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently or the Lord." Yes, it was the verse of the day from my Bible app. But, it was just what I needed to hear in that moment. If we SEEK Him, we will FIND Him. He will reveal Himself to us.
The last thing I want to share is so special to me. My sweet little JJ, my little bff, has been coming home from school this year with lots of stories and questions. He's been telling me all the cool things he's been learning in Bible. Which is awesome! Granted, he goes to church every week and he's also had a Bible lesson in school every single day of his life since he was 2. So it's been interesting to me that something has touched his little heart particularly this year. In this class. At this school. With this teacher. He has the same teacher this year as well - she was moved from Kinder A to Kinder B. Maybe he would have come to the same place somewhere else. But there's been something happening in his class that has stirred his sweet little heart. In any case, he's been talking to us a lot. On Friday night, he was up late talking to Dusty and asked him, "Dad? Do you ever sin?" So that brought up a whole conversation about sin, forgiveness, heaven, God - the whole story. At the end, JJ told Dusty that he wanted to ask God for forgiveness and pray to God. He came to me later and told me, "Mom, I prayed to the Lord to save me."
That's the one thing I have prayed for all my children and the best news I could ever receive. What a beautiful blessing. My heart leapt. What is also so sweet is this:
JJ draws me the same exact picture every single day. It is exact in the colors, the layout, everything. It always reads, "I love Mom and Dad, JJ 6". I noticed a BIG, small change on Monday. It read, "I love God, Mom and Dad, JJ 6". Also, he added an angel to the picture.
{Insert all the heart emoji's here!!!!!!}
Best. I'll leave it at that, because that is pure joy!
That being said, I feel like I need to quickly readdress the whole moving situation. I've had several people ask me lately about the big move {that don't see me on a day to day basis and know the story} that obviously didn't see my last post. The short of it is that we are not moving to Texas and the long of it I will share at a later time. Cool story. I cannot wait to share it.
Within this whole process, God has been so faithful and I'm learning so much about patience. And faith. You guys, God is in it all. Really think about that for a second. He. is. in. it. all. When I am truly seeking Him and His will and leaning into His promises, I see Him e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. The times where I am self absorbed, too busy, and allowing myself to get caught up in and stressed about every little detail in life, I tend to question everything. BUT, I keep coming back to this - Do I believe what I say I believe? Every time I ask myself that, I always say YES! Of course I do. I really, really do.
This morning I literally stumbled up this verse, "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them." Eva has pulled a devotional book off the boy's bookshelf about a hundred times the past few days. She keeps throwing it on the floor and I keep coming across it. I put it back again, kinda annoyed at this mundane task. Today I opened the book, saw this verse and casually read it. Honestly, I didn't think much of it in that moment. I got in the shower and was praying and when I got out, I went back to the book and opened it again. Why did I just gloss over it? Perfect example of how we so simply go about our day to day lives without much thought of the bigger picture, of eternity, or the things God desires to reveal to us. I reread the verse. Paul and Silas were in prison praying and singing hymns to God. If you look at the previous verse, they had just been beaten. "The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully." They had to have been physically exhausted - it was midnight and they had just been beaten. No doubt they were hungry and weary. And yet they prayed and sang praises to God.
Talk about faith. They had every reason to want to give up. To give in. Maybe even question God. But these men knew God. Their lives were not about themselves, but about furthering the Kingdom of God. That is why they could be in prison, literally in shackles, singing praises and praying to God.
Wow. Just, wow. I want that kind of faith.
So, back to my day to day life and the things that are on my heart. You guys, God cares about those too. Now it may seem small when I think about Paul and Silas and their situation, but God cares about it all. He is in it all. As I was in the shower, I was praying. I was praying in detail about the things that were on my heart and the things that concerned me. The other verse that God brought to me was "Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently or the Lord." Yes, it was the verse of the day from my Bible app. But, it was just what I needed to hear in that moment. If we SEEK Him, we will FIND Him. He will reveal Himself to us.
The last thing I want to share is so special to me. My sweet little JJ, my little bff, has been coming home from school this year with lots of stories and questions. He's been telling me all the cool things he's been learning in Bible. Which is awesome! Granted, he goes to church every week and he's also had a Bible lesson in school every single day of his life since he was 2. So it's been interesting to me that something has touched his little heart particularly this year. In this class. At this school. With this teacher. He has the same teacher this year as well - she was moved from Kinder A to Kinder B. Maybe he would have come to the same place somewhere else. But there's been something happening in his class that has stirred his sweet little heart. In any case, he's been talking to us a lot. On Friday night, he was up late talking to Dusty and asked him, "Dad? Do you ever sin?" So that brought up a whole conversation about sin, forgiveness, heaven, God - the whole story. At the end, JJ told Dusty that he wanted to ask God for forgiveness and pray to God. He came to me later and told me, "Mom, I prayed to the Lord to save me."
That's the one thing I have prayed for all my children and the best news I could ever receive. What a beautiful blessing. My heart leapt. What is also so sweet is this:
JJ draws me the same exact picture every single day. It is exact in the colors, the layout, everything. It always reads, "I love Mom and Dad, JJ 6". I noticed a BIG, small change on Monday. It read, "I love God, Mom and Dad, JJ 6". Also, he added an angel to the picture.
{Insert all the heart emoji's here!!!!!!}
Best. I'll leave it at that, because that is pure joy!
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