Grace for the Day, May 19th, 2014

I am catching small glimpses of prayers being answered in ways that I would have never contemplated. The Lord is so much wiser than all of our ways of figuring things out, planning or controlling. He will not, He will not, He will not at all, He will not, no never, forget those things we have prayed. He will not forsake our children, He sees into their futures, He sees their hearts down deep. He will send help and He will send journey-mates. He sees and He does not forget the labor of love. Philip Yancey gives us the metaphor of a hearing aid: "pain gives us the opportunity to turn up the volume and pay attention to things that we might otherwise overlook." Listen to the whole interview go to Focus on the Family.

Parts of Psalm 30 sound great for today, as I remember last week just praying to be back safe from Oklahoma by today. The Lord has been so good to me and to you:

"I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up,
And have not let my enemies rejoice over me.

² 

O Lord my God,
I cried to You for help, and You healed me.

³ 

O Lord, You have brought up my soul from Sheol;
You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit.

⁴ 

Sing praise to the Lord, you His godly ones,
And give thanks to His holy name.

⁵ 

For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for a lifetime;
Weeping may last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning...“Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me;
O Lord, be my helper.”

¹¹ 

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,

¹² 

That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever." Psalms 30

I am so grateful to my Lord, my family, my friends and will ever live to praise His name. Thanks to all for the birthday wishes.Bill gave me a gift early knowing it would be cold in Oklahoma and I could use a new coat. My girls were ready to bless me when I got home with cookies from Ashley, Regina sent a cake, macaroni salad and flowers, Amber worked on a 3-pasta sampler for me and Shiloh and Brian want to take me to lunch today. As you can see we eat for comfort around here, that's how my family rolls, I guess. Mama didn't live to be 63, she nearly made it though, and she used to say we have food on the brain:). I guess the Lord isn't quite through with me yet:) I didn't realize how rough and old a 19-hour car trip could make you feel but we have the Rhema graduates back in Port Orange now:)

Mother's Day Musings 2014 a Little of This and That

"What you look at the longest is what will become strongest in your life. Whatever captures your attention, masters you. Choose to put your focus on the good things God has done for you, is doing for you and will do for you." Paula White

Sunday a day to praise the Lord. Many will celebrate Mother's day, many will be unable to celebrate and for those we pray that the Lord will minister to them today. He is available 24/7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hzYKovRsJ8

Psalm 31:3 "For Thou art my rock and my fortress; for Thy name's sake Thou wilt lead me and guide me. 

 I think it was Joyce Meyers who said, "When I knew better, I did better." I am grateful to the Lord that I have learned and am still learning how to parent in different ways than I did when I was a teenage mother. By God's grace and forgiveness I am a different woman than when I started out and He gets the credit for it. But if I could turn the clock back and do it over with no mistakes or pain to loved ones, you can bet I would. I would love to be able to have a do-over in the mothering department. There is a quote in the book, "Her Daughter's Dream" by Francine Rivers that sums up, I think, how many mothers feel. ‎"I love every one of my children and I did the best I knew in raising them. I just wasn't always the mother they wanted."

Yet, we claim Romans 8:28 and know that God will use the pain and irritations of life to bring about the destiny of our children. As Mothers it is hard to watch and times and even harder to endure when we want to jump in and take that pain for them. But we must leave our children, grandchildren and problems in the hands of the One who created them for His purpose and glory. He will bring to life that which was dead and barren. Only the Lord can mend the broken, take pieces of clay and make beautiful vessels of His glory. Sometimes the pain of life seems more than we can endure, but we must press on, for His glory and purpose.

"Now therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning (my paraphrase) your family: "Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety. "They shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me. "I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul. Jeremiah 32:17, 36-41Amp:

“All your children will be taught by the Lord. And they will have much peace”

(Isaiah 54:13, International Children’s Bible)

An interesting bit of Mother's Day trivia I read this week:

Anna Jarvis, the woman whose efforts resulted in Mother's Day becoming a national holiday in 1914, filed a lawsuit to stop a Mother's Day festival in 1923 because she was so troubled that the day had become commercialized. "I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit," she protested. The commercialization so disturbed her that she said she was sorry she had worked to establish the holiday, and she spent all of her inheritance trying to return Mother's Day to the simple, loving time she had intended. 

I can understand her becoming disheartened. May the Lord bring back the simplicity of just spending time together or thinking about happy memories for those who are sad.

Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/Love-Family/Holidays/Mothers-Day/When-Mothers-Day-Is-Hard.aspx?p=1