Saturday, May 31, 2014

Isaiah 40:11

"He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young."
Isaiah 40:11
 


Day 348 Prayer Request

Please pray for my kids and I to grow through very dark days.

Annette (Momma to many)

Friday, May 30, 2014

Day 347 Prayer Request

Please pray for my girls as they adjust to a new schedule without school.

Reagan (Momma to 4)

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Day 346 Prayer Request

Please pray for our family as we deal with the aftermath of a special event.

Ann (Momma to 6)

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Day 345 Prayer Request

Please pray I will have the attitude of Christ.

Annette (Momma to many)

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Psalm 36:5-6

"God's love is meteoric,
his loyalty astronomic,
his purpose titanic,
his verdicts oceanic.
Yet in his largeness nothing
gets lost."
Psalm 36:5-6
(The Message)
 


Day 344 Prayer Request

Please pray for our daughter's adjustment back home for summer.

Danielle (Momma to 3)

Monday, May 26, 2014

We remember...

In this house, we remember you.

Because you chose to step into His will for your life, and fight bravely for us, we continue to live in freedom.

Freedom of religion.  Freedom of speech.  Freedom to vote.  Freedom to defend ourselves.  Freedom to choose life.

On simplier terms: freedom to have school at home, freedom to go to church, freedom to choose our home, freedom to walk on safe streets, freedom to pursue our talents, freedom to build our family, freedom to read our Bible.

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery."
Galatians 5:1
Thank you for your service. 

Yes, God is moving!  Hallelujah!

Day 343 Prayer Request

Please pray for summer fun and not summer bickering.

Marie (Momma to 4)

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Day 341 Prayer Request

Please pray He will help our family through much tension.

Annette (Momma to many)

Friday, May 23, 2014

Day 340 Prayer Request

Please pray that God will work on Memorial Day when we have more contact with our children's biological family.

Ann (Momma to 6)

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Day 339 Prayer Request

Please pray for our family to trust in His direction and faithfully walk in His ways.

Reagan (Momma to 4)

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Mercy Rain

Tonight I sat at a red light, eyes blurred from rain falling, body exhausted.  I rested my head back for a second, and felt myself falling backwards. 

My mind shook itself quick, back to reality, as I realized the light was green. 

I just imagined myself gliding backwards. In reality the car in front of me was moving forward.

And isn't that just how it seems sometimes.  We think and feel we are experiencing one thing, but the reality is we are really experiencing the opposite.

The mind is an amazing, complicated creation.

So is the spirit.

Sometimes it is hard to be the Momma to three sensory-seeking, attention-grabbing beauties and a teenage son.  Sometimes it's hard to be the wife of a warrior.

"Thus let all Your enemies perish, O LORD!
But let those who love Him be like the sun
When it comes out in full strength."
Judges 5:31

Tonight, God took an enemy. 

I am captured in emotion, grieving for the depravity of this world, and hurting so badly inside my stomach aches.

God is always good.  This I cling to with all my strength.  Sometimes it just takes time to see clearly through these foggy lenses.

I have been sad, tired from this long day.  My prayer is my love for Him will shine, shine bright like the sun when it glows brightly in all its glory at midday.

Shine bright upon their fragile little hearts that desperately want confirmation of love.

Shine bright upon a tall man-child who just wants to be understood.

Shine brightly upon a tired warrior, who put his life on the line freely again tonight for the protection and safety of this community.

He is near. 

He is the Mighty Protector.

He is the Light.

"Set up sign posts,
Make landmarks;
Set your heart toward the highway,
The way in which you went.
Turn back, O virgin of Israel,
Turn back to these your cities.
How long will you gad about,
O you backsliding daughter?
For the LORD has created a new thing in the earth-
A woman shall encompass a man."
Jeremiah 31:21-22

And I am that woman with my arms wrapped around Jesus.  He is turning us back.  We are on our way back home to our cities; His breathtaking, beautiful city.

My sign post...


...my snapshot of the first iris of the season in full bloom in the Van Gogh garden.  A reminder of His faithfulness proven year after year.

My landmark...


...Faith's beautiful chalk rainbow, barely, but still visible after a rain shower.

I look outside and see the rain.  My heart feels the sorrow, the brokenness. 

But just maybe His mercy rain is cleaning the path, clearing my vision to take steps closer to Him.

Day 338 Prayer Request

Please pray that my boy and I will grow closer this summer.

Jane (Momma to 2)

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Mark 11:24

 
"So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."
Mark 11:24
 


Day 337 Prayer Request

Please pray for peace for my little one who seems out of sorts lately.

Marie (Momma to 4)

Monday, May 19, 2014

Day 336 Prayer Request

Please pray for wisdom as we encourage our child the last three days of school.

Ann (Momma to 5)

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Day 335 Prayer Request

Please pray for my family to trust God in all things.

Annette (Momma to many)

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Day 334 Prayer Request

Please pray that we can keep patience with our daughter.

Ann (Momma to 6)

Friday, May 16, 2014

Day 333 Prayer Request

Please pray for safety for my kids.

Annette (Momma to many)

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Day 332 Prayer Request

Please pray I will depend on Him for my strength.

Annette (Momma to many)

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Day 331 Prayer Request

Please pray I will be compassionate before judgmental.

Reagan (Momma to 4)

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Silent Screaming


I stood in the bathroom today and silent screamed.  I really screamed, threw my arms and fists around and shook my head.  I glanced at my immature self in the mirror and screamed some more.

Yes, it's been that sort of day.

I rose early this morn, sat long at the farm table, hoping to work through a little of all this trapped in emotion.  I scrawled it fast across the page, "please Lord, please be more for them today, especially when I have nothing to give worthy of You."   Because, honestly, I always have something to give.  I always have disdain, a hurting heart to share.  I can lash out in my shame of my own parenting failures - failing to speak kindness, failing to open up my arms in hurtful moments, failing to maintain my cool when accident after accident (or not really accident) incidents keep crashing into my schedule.

How long will I allow myself to be held captive by all this drama?

I am reading Jeremiah, and I am really somewhat amazed at God's people.  How Jeremiah takes one hit after another from his peers, because no one, not one of them, can sense or hear His truth anymore.  And God picks the one man who will listen, speak truth regardless of the outcome, and keep facing conflict day after day - year after year.  

To have determination like Jeremiah.  

And LORD God, who made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, by His great power and by His outstretched arm (Jer. 27:5), in His infinite justice cannot look upon sin, and must force the ones He still calls the dearly beloved of His soul into captivity (Jer. 12:7). 

I just want to scream out loud to His beloved, "Look!  You are His beloved!  Listen to Him!  Stop chasing the wind!  Look at your brother Jeremiah and listen for your own sake!" 

But, they don't, and are led away under King Nebuchadnezzer into captivity.

I understand captivity.  My enemy's goal is to keep me here.

I have been screaming at my beloveds, trying with all my strength to get them to see how much I love them, how I am willing to guide them, if they will just stop chasing after foolishness and listen.

And He whispers it quietly in my ear this morn:

"...After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive."
Jeremiah 29:10-14 
 
He never hides from me.  He always brings me back.  There is purpose, even in my captivity, because in His sovereignty He brought me to this exact place.
 
He knew I wouldn't be enough.  He knew I would fail.  He knew the enemy would taunt me and try to break me down.  He knew my heart had to fall completely in shattered pieces so He could rebuild a new heart willing to yield, a heart so in love with my Rescuer, it would surrender everything.
 
 
This is all so much, and there are words to process.  Words to repeat over and over to myself - my stubborn, captive self.  He calls me to freedom.  Freedom is found in His Word and His mighty, outstretched arms.
 
When my heart is hard chasing freedom, I will call upon Him, and go to pray to Him, and He will listen to me (Jer. 29:12).
 
I scrawl it next fast, "You are changing me.  I find giving grace so difficult.  Please work in me and give me a heart that is so in love, so willing to keep fighting for love.  Please listen to me, even when I am in chains."
 
And I know He did, when not even a sound uttered from these lips, and I acted the fool in front of the bathroom mirror this afternoon.  And maybe He chuckled a bit at the sight of me flailing, but I know He listened.
 

I silent screamed with my whole heart.



Day 330 Prayer Request

Please pray for wisdom in disciplining and separating the way I feel about the behavior from evaluating the action itself.

Marie (Momma to 4)

Monday, May 12, 2014

Day 329 Prayer Request

Please pray that I can show my son God's love when mine runs dry.

Ann (Momma to 6)

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Happy Momma Day

How appropriate!  I type in a word search, "Mom", seeking an appropriate verse to share, and 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 pops up.

"So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."
 
 
 
 
Yes, do not lose heart.  Yes, our outer self is wasting away, but our inner self is blossoming in renewal showered in His grace and love. 
 
 
Happy Mother's Day!
 
 
 
You are important, so special and needed.  Love to you on this precious day.
 
 
 


Day 328 Prayer Request

Please pray for the end of the school year for all 3 kids.  This time of year is hard with inconsistent schedules.

Danielle (Momma to 3)

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Friday, May 9, 2014

Meekia Joy Dance

 

I sat in darkness, waiting still in the theater seat, feeling His grip squeezing tight around my heart.  

All my breath trapped within.

Joy never stopped smiling.  Large, beautiful smiling.

Air finally escaped, and silent tears spilled over.  I strained to focus, not wanting to miss a single step, a single movement.

And Joy danced.  She danced with her whole body, her whole spirit, her whole heart.

And she never stopped smiling.

Even now as I type, I have to stop to refocus these blurred over eyes, wipe this sniffling nose.

My Joy.  My beautiful, amazing Joy danced.

If you were blessed as I to be present in that theater at 2:25 this afternoon, you witnessed a true miracle today. 

You saw a girl whose moves were not as graceful as the rest.  She missed about half of the arm gestures, and her body didn't ever really align with the others on that stage.  Her smile constant, she didn't once glance into the audience.  She kept her focus fixed upon her peers, carefully mimicking each movement, a second delay with each gesture.

And if you don't have the pleasure of the acquaitance of wonderful Joy, you might have felt a twinge of sorrow, embarrassment for her perceived ackwardness.

But if you share in the cherished company of mine, and you know my wonderful Meekia Joy's journey, you remember there was a time when dancing was only in her imagination, motions her brain could dream up, yet her body could not physically accomplish. 

And if you know me, you know why He was constricting my heart, taking all my breath away. 

There are moments, beautifully orchestrated moments, uniquely designed to never forget. 

Grace kiss moments that elicit streams of elation as His wonderful glory is revealed.

Meekia Joy dancing.  My cup overflowing.


Thank You Jesus.



Day 326 Prayer Request

Please pray for dedication and motivation to finish the school year well. 

Marie (Momma to 4)

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Day 325 Prayer Request

Please pray for us to make the best decision for school next year for our child.

Jane (Momma to 2)

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Day 324 Prayer Request

Please pray we will be intentional about positively motivating our child.

Ann (Momma to 5)

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Day 323 Prayer Request

Please pray that my child would have strength to hold it together these last 13 days of school.

Ann (Momma to 5)

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Day 322 Prayer Request

Please pray for good attitudes and finishing up our school year well.

Reagan (Momma to 4)


Saturday, May 3, 2014

Day 321 Prayer Request

Please pray for a little girl's scalp to heal. 

Reagan (Momma to 4)

Friday, May 2, 2014

Day 320 Prayer Request

Please pray for my next little ones to grow safely and be wrapped in His arms.

Jane (Momma to 2)

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Day 319 Prayer Request

Please pray for more peace and less stress.

Marie (Momma to 4)