My Easter Devo for you, The Bleeding Parent

 We pray on Saturdays for those who have lost loved ones to death, it seems to hit close to home for many. The most unnatural thing in the world they say is burying your child , although Jesus was an adult at the time of His death, to Mary, He was her baby, yet also her Savior.

 Lord, send your strong Father arms of comfort to those who are grieving.

Though they are worn, give them new strength and vision for life. Give them the hope to press on and the ability to have joy again.

The Bleeding Parent

“Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, His mother, for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also) that the hearts of many may be revealed.” Luke 2:34-35

            Mary was a young girl at the time she conceived.  She learned early what it meant to be a bleeding parent.  One of the first prophecies spoken to her was Luke 2:34-35.  As a mother, her natural impulse would have been to shelter, nurture and protect her son.  We cannot forget that although Jesus was God in human form, He was bone of her bone and flesh of her flesh.  Her womb was the first home for the king of kings.  Her body pushed him out.  With each contraction, His destiny and our salvation drew nearer.  She bore pain for Him, that He would bear our pain and sins.

             She watched and pondered, not even knowing fully it was He of whom was spoken, “He is a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.  And we hid as it were, our faces from Him.  He was despised and we did not esteem Him.”(Isaiah 53:3)

He went from son to Savior as she watched Him dying for her at the cross.  We forget sometimes that He was born for the cross.  She went from being His mother to being His child as He became a bleeding parent for her.

Prayer: Lord, you know how much we would like to hide at times from the pain of life, especially when it involves our children. Help us instead to help steer them to the blessings that are in our daily lives and the Season before us.

Thought for the Day: Sometimes as parents we bleed for our children when we see them go through painful situations.

Prayer Focus: Families in pain during the holidays.

Donna Collins Tinsley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQan9L3yXjc

Reading Between the Lines

Thank you, Eddie Jones and Christian Devotions for posting me today on Amber's birthday!

I edited an old devo to make it more like I was talking to someone:

http://www.christiandevotions.us/viewblogentry/314

Hope y'all like it! Praying every day in every way:)

If you don't feel like clicking the link, here it is:

I wept as I read the words on the closed Facebook page. I felt like they were so searing hot that if they were etched on paper it would be scorched. The mom wrote about soul torture, family chaos, and hopelessness over the way her children have turned out. The thief of addiction had ripped another family to shreds, and I could relate. I had walked in her shoes for way too many years. To say our children had gone astray was an understatement.

Moms who read this, I write to you. I write to the storm-tossed one who cannot sleep because of worry about the son or daughter on the streets. I know tears soak your pillow. You’re devastated by the abuse your child has done to themselves through addiction. You want to die.

I write to you as you pray they will call, yet at the same time you dread the next phone call. One mother cries, “Oh no, he’s in jail.” Another says, “I wish my child were in jail. At least I’d know where he was.” Stories are similar with one common thread—the mother’s love. The enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy, and it hurts to be in the midst of his attacks.

Mom, I write to you so you will know you’re not alone in your pain and sorrow. Although the thief of addiction has killed your hopes, stolen your child, and destroyed your dreams, hang on to the last part of this verse: I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

Lord, I ask that You help us read between the lines of the words from hurting mothers and reach out to them in a comforting way. My child’s life changed just when I was about to give up.

Hold on to the hope that can be yours through Christ.

Donna Collins Tinsley