Even in the mundane...

Last I was making out my grocery list, as I do most weeks and was in search for a notebook.  Having two little girls, there's always a notebook close by.  I looked on our ottoman and spotted one of Bella's, so I flipped through the pages and grabbed the first one available.  She doesn't write in her notebook from start to finish, she just whips it open and whatever page it opens to, if vacant, is where her pen falls.  Side note- that's  pretty much how she lives her life.  Carefree and in no order!:)

I found a sheet of paper and was about to close the book when I decided to see what all she has composed in this book.  She is one who loves to share her thoughts and speak her heart so you never know what you are going to find.

This the little gem that I found.

  It blessed my heart to no end.  Not only was I so excited to see her love for Jesus written on paper, but It made me feel so loved and cherished from my sweet Jesus.  That he cares and delights in me so much that he bent down to speak to my heart to simply, Wait.  To stop...and To take a moment to see a glimpse into the heart of my daughter.  To see the work of Jesus in her life, and to encourage me as a momma that the love of Christ we have poured into her has not been missed.  

You see, Jesus meets us every day in our mundane.  In the moments we do over and over through the day,  throughout the week, and throughout our lives.  He's there.  When laundry seems never ending, because lets face it...it's never ending... he's there to tender our hearts to the love we have for the little people we get to call family and get to wash clothes for.  He's there to remind us that we are Blessed.  That out lives are full.  Full of love, laughter, pain, and full of LIFE.  Because in HIM, we have life abundant and life everlasting.  

Too often I get caught in the daily tasks of life and I miss the bending down of my Savior to be near to me.  Because He's always there.  It's a shame I allow miss Him far too often.  

I wonder how many blessings I have missed by simply doing ordinary things?

I have been challenged and convicted to stop more.  To seek him in everything and Find him in every moment.  Because  He never leaves or forsakes me.

The Storm

Living “Intentional” in the storm.

As a child I hated storms.  They brought so much anxiety and fear in my life.  I can remember anytime there was a threat of severe weather I often made a pallet on my parents floor.  There was something about being in their room, near them that brought comfort.  

My parents did not have the ability to protect me any more than I could have protected myself, but my heart could rest being near the familiar and the comfort of those whom I found love and trust.  

Because my room was in the front of the house and my window was elevated, the rain would hit my window so hard.  It was loud and often times it was intense.  I would take my pillow and place it over my head and try to drown out the noise of the storm.  Sometimes that worked, but other times I ended up on my parents floor.  

Now that I am married, and have children of my own, severe weather does not bother me like it used to, but I have discovered that other storms in my life can often cause me the same anxiety and fear that I had as a child when the rain would pound on my window and fear would rattle my heart.  

I have heard many times that you are either in a storm, coming out of a storm, or getting ready to be in a storm.  

That has never been more real in my life than in the past 4 months.

 We have been challenged and hurt.  Confused and frustrated.  We have forgiven and loved.  We have been fearful and peaceful.  We have had to answer questions from our children when confusion and misunderstanding rattled their hearts.  We have had to stand up for our family.  We experienced health scares in our precious newborn niece, parents heath, and a loss of words in unknown steps.

We have loved each other through tears and pain and Praise Jesus, he has never left us and we have come out on the other side.  The other side of this storm.  This storm called life.  

The problem isn’t the storm, but our resistance to it.

Our standing firm, holding fast, unwilling to move. Our refusal to change.

Perhaps in order to have the life we truly desire, some things need to be uprooted. Just maybe, our seemingly perfect order of life needs to be twisted and torn from our tightly clenched fist. You see, I think we’re so afraid of the storm that we hold on to things not meant for us. We stay contained inside the person we have grown out of and limit God the ability to work in a life He created for more.

The storm is not our greatest danger.  The danger in the storm comes from not allowing God to move through you during the storm.  

I am learning storms are not meant to cause fear, but they ARE meant to bring change.  Change is hard at times.  It’s hard when God calls you from the familiar and takes you to the unfamiliar.   When He strips all you know as normal,  to make His plan more known in your life.  

Peace doesn’t usually come in ease and quiet. It comes when we are forced to expand our boundaries, step outside our comfort zone, and challenge deeply held and long-standing beliefs.

May we be intentional in and out of the storms.  May our hearts desire for the Lord to move in and around us no matter what he has to take us through to make that happen.  

May our family love more and grow in grace in 2015.  And may we be more intentional to serve him, seek him and serve others this year.  

Lord use our family in a magnitude beyond anything we can reach within ourselves.

Wherever you are are…be all there.

-Jim Elliot

I will walk by faith even when I cannot see.

2 Corinthians 5:1