Apr
21This is what’s going on inside my head right now:
Well, technically it’s a picture of our back porch that Gabe took tonight with his iPhone.
No, he didn’t use a paint app. Those are window crayon marks on our sliding glass door.
I’ve been asking God to still the swirl so I can hear Him speak.
So far, I’m hearing, “Quit fighting the stillness.”
We’re getting there.
We went to a fundraiser at Rita’s tonight for sweet Faith. (Faith is a 6yo girl at Ava’s school who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor 2 months ago and given 6 months to live.) This was the first time we had met Faith (except for Ava) and her mom.
Faith was sitting in her wheelchair, signing gorgeous black-and-white photos of herself. My heart just ached for her. You could tell how hard it was for her to get the Sharpie to write how she wanted it to, and she looked so sad. She was a stunningly beautiful little girl just a few short weeks ago, and she looks completely different now. (She is still beautiful–she’s just put on a lot of weight from the steroids and her face is puffy. This is so hard for her.) I just can’t imagine being in her shoes. Or her sweet mama’s.
Please pray for her family and take a minute to encourage them if you would.
We got to chat with the World’s Best Teacher–Livi and Ava’s kindergarten teacher–whose name happens to start with K, the letter of the day. She loves Jesus and loves kids, and I love her to death.
Tomorrow Nina and I get to spend the day at COSI with Ava’s class. And then watch Livi and Ava each play a soccer game.
I’m blessed. And life is short. And I want to spend it doing the most important things.
I sometimes feel like I don’t know what those are. Or I feel like there are too many important things to fit in my day. But I know that’s not true. I know I often confuse urgent with important. Or what I want to do with what God wants me to do.
I think I need to spend some time with Him, asking Him to show me what’s most important and how that should play out in my day-to-day life.
Question for you: What’s most important in your life? And how do your actions reflect that?
And a special thank-you to Jennifer (all 4 of you), Joyce, Joanne, Joslyn, Jenna, Jess (both of you), Jennie, Jonna, Jane, Jenny and Josiah for playing the Name Game yesterday! You squeaked past the M’s but didn’t catch the A’s.
And if your name starts with K, here’s your chance to win the whole Kit and Kaboodle. Give me a K!
Have a great weekend! Remember what’s most important!
Apr
02Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, and each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilty offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied, by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
–Isaiah 53
I have to be honest (even though it’s no fun), but I’ve mostly let this Lenten season sail right on by without giving it much thought. I’m still reading my Bible and praying, but I haven’t really even taken a moment to think about Christ’s death, let it truly sink in, and then praise Him for His sacrifice and love. I know that life as a Christ-follower isn’t about a bunch of things I need to do, but still.
Jesus, forgive me for my indifference to your suffering.
Last year, my friend Joanne did this with her girls, and I LOVED the idea. This is a pic of us from last year, but I plan on doing it again today.
Isaiah 49:16–I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.
Thank you, Jesus. Even when I forget you, you never forget me. When I’m not faithful, you still are. You never change, and you will always love me. You proved it once and for all, yet you keep proving it over and over again. I’m thrilled to be yours.
Mar
23And just for the record, when we Northerners say, “bless her heart,” we really mean it. Like in a nice way. Correct me if I’m wrong, but when you darling Southerners say, “bless her heart,” you’re usually about to insult someone. Or you just have. No?
When I say it, I mean, “oh, that sweet little thing! She was just trying her best!” It’s like a happy little mixture of love and pity. But pity in a good way.
Am I making any ever-loving sense? Maybe there’s really no distinction.
So, tonight was a little rough around the edges. Gabe had a wonderful first day of work (and my day at home was fairly okay too), but like any First Day, it can drain you. So, he was tired, I was tired, and the girls were pretty tired too (Livi got 3 hours of sleep at a sleepover Saturday night).
Anyway, I might have maybe yelled at them while they were getting ready for bed. I had bills and taxes on the brain, and Livi has this thing about money–”When can you pay me the money you owe me? When can we get this? When will we have enough money for this?” So, when she said, “When can we get new toothbrushes? We’ve had these since right after Christmas.” I’d had it.
I DO NOT HAVE ANY MONEY RIGHT NOW! DO NOT ASK ME AGAIN FOR ONE SINGLE THING THAT COSTS MONEY! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
Yes, she understood.
So, they’re all in bed (together), and I’m reading Acts 2. Lest you think I’m this amazing mom who (besides never yelling at her children) reads Scripture every night to her brood, please know that I started this nightly “tradition” last night with Acts 1, after a long, long drought of no reading before bed.
Anyway, it’s going swimmingly. They’re asking questions about the Holy Spirit. Nina’s questions are a combination of comical and heartbreaking. I read about the people being baptized in the Holy Spirit and Ava says:
“When can I get baptized?”
“You want to get baptized?”
“Yes.”
“That’s awesome, sweetie.”
We start to talk about it, and Livi pipes up, “Does it cost money to get baptized?”
Bless her heart.
“No sweetie. Jesus already paid for it. Isn’t that awesome?”
And it cost a lot more than money. It cost his blood. Thank you, Jesus.
Mar
20Girls (and guys), you don’t want to miss this. If you’ve heard me talk about little Faith (6 years old, goes to school w/my Ava, just diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor), if you’ve been praying for her–and even if you haven’t!–you’ve got to take a look at this AMAZING photo shoot. An incredible photographer, along with a team of people, captured what Faith’s life is like right now. It will absolutely break your heart.
I can’t even imagine what sweet, darling Faith is going through, what her mama is going through, the whole family, and everyone who loves her.
Please pray with me that God will heal this beautiful little girl.
