Now Let's Pray.

"MY FAIR LADY!!"

The sound of two two-year old singing London Bridges at the top of their lungs in a tune which, (if it could be called a tune) was certainly not London Bridges, threatened to drown out the words I was reading in my book.

Abruptly, Emily interrupted the song and announced, "Now let's pray."

There was silence behind my chair for a moment before she began to say, "Thank you for my God. Thank you for my Jesus. Please help Mama to feel better..." (that part was echoed by Louisa, "Please help Mama to feel better.") "Amen."

I immediately wondered if they understood the power of the words they had just said, or rather, the power of the One they said them to. How much did they understand of what they had just done?

Probably not a lot.

When Jesus calls us to "childlike faith..."

But Jesus called them to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” 

...does He mean the kind of strong, unwavering faith we think of when we think of a child's dependency, or does He perhaps just mean that we come with what we know?

My dad has used this analogy before, that a newborn does not think about trusting his parents. He doesn't consciously depend on them, he just does what he knows, which, at that point in his life, is very little.

Emily and Louisa did what they knew. Does God require more from them?

I can pray for a lot longer than they did. I know a lot of things that God hates that I can pray against, I know a lot of people that God loves who I can pray for, I am aware of a lot of blessings I can thank Him for, but did He want that from my nieces?

Or was He happy with the three things they said? "Thank you for my God. Thank you for my Jesus. Please help Mama to feel better. Amen."

That was what they understood, and that is what they came with.

I confess that sometimes I hesitate to come to Jesus because I feel my lack. My lack of knowledge, lack of love, lack of _____. (you fill in the blank)

It's true that I am lacking, and there is more He wants me to know. He has promised to teach me...

However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. (John 16:13)

...but before He teaches me, I must come to Him to listen. I must come with what I know, and though it is not perfect faith, He is pleased with it.

Another thing that struck me about Emily's prayer was that she made everything hers.

God wasn't just God, He was "My God."

Jesus wasn't just Jesus, He was "My Jesus."

Is that part of what it means to have childlike faith? Her faith said, "I know this, therefore it's mine."

I can do that too! I know Jesus, therefore He's mine.

I know that God made a way for salvation, therefore it's mine.

It's Not About Me

I sometimes think about the end of my life. I am sure all of us do, it is something inevitable to happen, unless of course Jesus were to return sooner.

But that thought used to depress me. Not just to think about the end of my life, but the near end of it. My grandfather, who is a wonderful man, has alzheimer's. I love him a lot, and it is hard sometimes to give him a hug and see on his face that he is struggling to remember who I am.

If I were to develop alzheimer's as I get older, I don't want to go through that pain. I don't want to go through the pain of losing my own parents. The future, as it holds so much end of life, used to scare me a lot.

Not only that but, this is something not everyone will be able to relate to I'm sure, I'm a little weird. But I used to not want to grow older simply because what if I were to get married, and have children, they would begin the prime of their life, and I would have to face the end of mine slowly closing in on me.

I say "used to," because seven months ago, my twin nieces were born.

After they were born, I thought about them a lot, about how they will get older and play together, they'll play on our swingset, and make mud pies in the yard, they'll learn things that I learned when I was younger, and they will have a lot of fun. As they get even older, they will have dreams and aspirations, they'll grow to be teeneagers and start to have bigger responsibilities, the list of things that they will do goes on and on.

Through thinking about them, and then about my own kids if I ever have them, God began to show me that my life really is not about me.

It isn't about others either, since we all will pass away at some time. We may seem to be the centre of our life but we really are not, we can't even control it.

My life, truly, is all about God.

This is so freeing to realize, and I continue to realize it more and more each day. I am relieved of the burden of having a life be all about me, and I am given the freedom to live for someone greater, to be a part of something greater.

If all of our lives were about us, we'd go around doing our thing for however many years we have, and the end of it would truly be a depressing thing.

But since our lives are about Jesus, when we die we can know that it is not the end. His plan will continue to go on, helped by other people who realize that their lives are not about them, and we get to have the satisfation of knowing that we are done our part.

Two Bundles of Blessing

Hello everyone,

I am sorry, I have not posted in a very long time. I know, I say this practically every other post. :P

Anyways, the truth of the reason for this long pause is nothing good, all I have is the confession that I have had nothing to post. It is a confession because it is not that God has not been blessing me, but that I have not made an effort recently to look in my life for the little blessings that I am supposed to be writing about.

So yeah, that's my whole reason. I will try to look harder now, so starting today hopefully I will be able to see more clearly the ways that God is showing up around me, and I would encourage you to pray for eyes to see Him too.

My first post after my little break is about two blessings that are kinda hard to ignore...

My nieces!

I wrote about them in one of my last posts, the latter half of All The Things!!!!, and now they are here! They were born a few days ago and we were all surprised with two little girls. They are adorable.

 I am loving being an aunt, and I look forward to watching them grow.

I feel...incredibly blessed. As I look at their parents, my sister and brother in law, I know that they will be good parents and good examples, and the reason is because of their parents, being good parents and good examples to them. I have to praise God as I look around me at my family, my parents, my grandparents, and my siblings, (including my brother in law) and now at the newest additions to our family. God is good, He has been blessing us all our lives through the amazing legacy of people in our family who have sought after Him.

This inspires me to seek Him too, because I know that I can continue to live out this legacy, continue to be a part of the blessing that is my family, and continue to pass that blessing down to future generations.

Exodus 20:6 says, "...but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."

Have a great day!