Hold You, Mommy

In the early weeks of our adoption of sweet Zoey Faith (age 3), she wasn't big on affection.  She loved to be held and hugged if we were playing...but she was completely uncomfortable with nurturing affection.  I am pretty sure she was never rocked, cradled, held or lovingly caressed during her time in the orphanage.  Most orphans are not.

Recently, however, after 3 months home, she has become increasingly clingy to mommy.  The hugs and kisses come freely now.  She has tasted the warmth of a mother's embrace.  She has felt the comfort of momma's rocking in the middle of the night.  She has been bathed and lotioned and cuddled before bed.  We have read countless books in the rocking chair (we have both memorized every word of Good Night Moon).  She has received food every time she is hungry.  She has received undivided attention and giggled and played with her very own mommy.  And guess what?  She is hooked!

Zoey cannot get enough mommy these days.  She is everywhere I am...trailing me like a shadow.  If I ask for privacy in the bathroom (how dare I?), she is waiting at the door.  I have nearly tripped over her countless times preparing meals as she is always underfoot.  Literally twenty times a day she will run over, look up at me with those adorable almond-shaped brown eyes, and raise her tiny arms up to be held.  Instead of just picking her up, I stoop down and meet her gaze..."Tell me what you need, sweetheart.  Use words."  Then it comes like music to my ears..."Hold you, mommy."

Obviously, I know what she wants...to be picked up.  But I want her to learn to communicate her needs and desires to me.  I want her to believe that she can trust me with the longings of her broken heart, so that she can begin to truly heal.  No one has ever cared what she wanted.  She was one of many mouths to feed and bodies to clothe.  She was cared for, but she wasn't nurtured.  

The other day, as she reached up to me for the zillionth time, I admit I was exasperated and frustrated.  I just wanted a break...a minute to breathe and just "be" without being crawled on.  Now I know good mothers aren't supposed to feel this way, right?  How many times have we heard from empty-nesters, "Enjoy this stage.  It will be gone before you know it."  Well, in theory that's great; but in reality, I needed a minute!  

As I took several deep breaths and tried to keep it together, the Lord moved in my heart.  All of a sudden, I could see the lesson.  It was as if the fog cleared and I got a clear picture.  What makes me different from every other caregiver my daughter has known is not the meals I cook or the clothes I wash.  It is the love and affection I give to her.  That is what she craves most.  Now that she has gotten a taste, she keeps coming back to me for more.  In my arms she feels, for the first time, cherished and adored.

This is how it should be in our relationship with our heavenly Father, but often we have it backwards.  We seek His hands instead of His heart.  We come to Him demanding answers.  We beg Him to give us what we want.  But do we come to Him just because we have tasted His love and it is so good?  Have we forgotten what it felt like to be orphaned and alone?  Do we take His tender mercies and steadfast love for granted?

He is what we need most.  Not the gifts He gives, just Him - God our Father.  He is the only true nourishment for our weary, broken souls.  He sees all, knows all, and He loves anyway.  Whatever happens, battered and bruised we can reach up our feeble arms to Him and He will graciously meet our gaze.  "Tell me what you need, sweetheart."  He knows the answer, doesn't He?  But, like every mommy, it thrills His heart to hear His child answer, "Hold You, Daddy."  

I believe it blesses our Creator when we desire to just be with Him.  No requests, no agenda, just the desire to be held by the One who knows us best.       

Dear Lord, Here I am - Send Me!

January 22, 2013

Scripture Reading:  Exodus 3-5, Luke 22

Scripture:

Exodus 4:10- Moses said to the Lord, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant.  I am slow of speech and tongue.”

Observation:

God has asked Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.  In order to do this, first he will speak to the Israelite elders than to Pharaoh.  When God told him what he needed to do, Moses immediately said – “send someone else!”  Immediately Moses looked at himself and his weakness instead of looking to God.

Application: 

When God ask me to do something – I am quick to think of my short-comings.  My thought process goes something like this, I can’t fill those shoes, this is a huge job, what will others think of me when I mess up and the list goes on.  My attitude is not a humble one – it is one of pride and unbelief. The problem is my heart attitude - I look at myself instead of God. Truly, there is no reason to tell God all my weaknesses – He already knows them!  In humility, I should say – the God who made me – is able to use my gifts and abilities He has given me  - to accomplish the tasks He gives me. I must remember who I serve – I serve I AM!  God will never lead me where His power can’t enable me – I must walk in faith, so that others can see His glory.

Prayer: 

The next time I have the privilege to serve you – I pray my heart attitude is “Here I am – send me!

The Time is Near!

Jan. 21, 2013

Exodus 1, 2 - Psalm 88 - Luke 21

As I was reading all these great scriptures with so much hope and promise, it was really hard to narrow it down. Excellent read on Moses mother - what a Godly woman with so much faith. You have to give Miriam credit - she just walked right up to Pharaoh's daughter.  Psalm 88 was a little depressing but through it all - the author knew God was his Salvation.

Please share your journal entry from today - you can do it thru the comments or send it to me so I can post it.  Your insights could be a blessing to someone else today.

Scripture: Luke 21:31

Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

Observation: When you read this chapter, it is obvious we have seen these things take place.  Today, we live in a time of war, earthquakes, hurricanes, famines and sickness.  Christians are being persecuted and killed for their faith.  We have two options: live in fear and be terrified of what is to come next or we wait with anticipation for the return of our Lord.

Application: Today, I chose to live like my Lord is coming back tomorrow or even today.  I chose to live for eternity and not for the temporary.  No matter what my circumstances are today – I will sing praises to my Lord because I know where I will spend eternity. I look so forward to being at the banquet table with my Lord and my Christian friends. Even though the world around me looks dark – I chose to look vertical and worship my Savior.

Prayer: 

Thank you Lord for your Word that is full of promises and hope.

Don't miss the Presence of God.

Divine Mentor:  Today's Reading - Genesis 47, 48; Psalm 10; Luke 19

This morning it is early and there is nothing sweeter than spending time with Jesus.
I don't even think the birds are up yet, but I know my Savior is ready to talk to me.
No matter what time it is - He is available to me!!!

I read a scripture this morning - I have never realized this before.
I know that Jesus wept over the sadness around Lazarus's death
 but this morning I read again where he wept on a different situation.
I love how God speaks to me and He did this morning.

Scripture:  Luke 19:41 - As he (Jesus) approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it.

 Jesus is riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.  The people are cheering and praising Him.
They thought of Jesus as a national leader who would restore their nation to its former glory.  They were blind to his real mission.

As the crowd rejoiced the Lord wept. His heart was broken by what He saw everywhere.  As he looked on the city of Jerusalem, He knew she had missed her day.  Had the people been studying the prophecy, they would have known that this was the exact day of His arrival.  What a tragedy!!!

For me, I don't want to miss any moment of Jesus.  I want to be so close to Him that I can see His daily blessings in my life. I strive daily, to be in His Word and listen to His voice.  There is nothing better than hearing from Jesus throughout the day and talking to Him.

Weeping for the Lost : by Amanda Watts

Hi Ladies! I’m so excited to walk through this year in God’s word. What an amazing way to begin a fresh, new year than walking with Jesus.  This is officially my first blog post and I’m excited to share what The Lord laid on my heart as I was reading through today’s scriptures. 

Today’s scriptures come from Genesis 42, 43; Psalm 5; and Luke 17.  I love learning more and more about Joseph’s character through these bible truths.  Here we pick up and Joseph has been elevated to the highest position in pharaoh’s kingdom in Egypt.  And at this same time there is a famine in the land and everybody had to come to buy grain and supplies from Egypt. Joseph’s main job is to oversee the selling of Egypt’s supplies. If you’ve been reading along in previous chapters, we know that Joseph’s brothers have been sent to Egypt by their father to gather supplies and grains.  I love how God allows Joseph to recognize his brothers, but they are blinded to recognizing Joseph.  This would be a great time for some pay-back for how Joseph’s brothers treated him, but instead he ends up getting emotional! I wonder what those true emotions were like did he ever feel angry, sad, forgiveness, love??? In the portion of scripture that I chose to write about today it says that Joseph had to go into the inner room to weep while he was in the presence of his brothers because he was overwhelmed with emotion.

Had anyone ever been overwhelmed with emotion…I think every man and woman reading this can relate.  Just that feeling of uncontrollable emotion, you feeling crying and killing someone all at the same time!  I can’t imagine that he didn’t want to just come out and say, “It’s me, your brother, I’m Joseph, remember the one you sold and left for dead! Yeah, now who’s going to be left for dead!?” But he didn’t, Joseph brought his entire family back together, fed them, clothed them, and supplied them with whatever they needed.

My prayer for y’all and myself is that we would become so overwhelmed with emotion for those that are lost, hurting, and just flat out don’t know Jesus that we would have to excuse ourselves to weep. 

There is a time for everything right? I believe in allowing to Holy Spirit to work this way in our lives will allow a deeper, more intimate relationship with our Lord and allow us to know His heart more. 

So open up your hearts today to allow that emotion to flow freely, this may be difficult for some. Some of you may have a lot of emotion bottled up inside from Lord knows what. 

Well my prayer for you is that you allow God to soften your heart to healing. I’m so expectant to see how this blog will be used to reach women and men and how He’s going to use each of you!

Corruption or Preservation?

Okay...I'll admit it...I'm a little late to the party, but I'm here!  If you are reading through God's Word using the plan in The Divine Mentor book, then you are ahead of me.  I just started my official reading plan this week.  And actually, I am choosing to read using a chronological plan this year.  Instead of reading the Bible in the order it is printed, I am reading it in the order the events actually occurred historically.  Since I homeschool my second-grader, I thought it would be interesting to see how history coincides with God's Word.

Truth is, it doesn't matter if you are on the right day, or which plan you use.  What matters is that we are seeking the Lord through His Word with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.  So come on, be a rebel like me...just start today...better late than never!

As I was reading Genesis 4-7 this morning, one glaring fact jumped off the pages:  Sin corrupts.  God entrusted His perfect creation to Adam and Eve.  He placed them in the Garden to keep and cultivate what He had made.  It was His gift to them...a reflection of His beauty, majesty and provision. He had given them all they would need to live and thrive.  He created a world with such detail and intricacy...all they had to do was trust and obey Him.  And yet, they doubted.  Their eyes turned from the Giver to the gifts...from the Creator to the created.  And sin was there, crouching and waiting to devour, kill, steal and corrupt.

In Genesis 5:11 God told Noah that the earth was corrupt because of man's sinfulness upon it.  Sin's effects are far-reaching and devastating.  One wrong choice, if left alone, can spiral into generations of sinfulness.  And yet Noah stood as a righteous man in his generation.  Thanks be to God that repentance has always been, and will always be, a choice we can make.  Just as Noah chose to trust and obey God, so can we.

His great faith led to God preserving his life and the lives of his wife and children.  God Almighty slammed the door of that ark shut because Noah believed and obeyed.  What a contrast to Adam and Eve.  One shut out, one shut in.  One who doubted, one who believed.  One's paradise the perfect creation of God, one's an ark of escape and refuge from the wrath of God as He destroyed that perfect creation.  The choice of the first led to the circumstances of the second.  And the choice of the second led to the existence of you and I.  All was not lost.  There was one righteous.

Ladies, it only takes one life to change the course of generations.  It has nothing to do with the greatness of man, but the greatness of God.  He is willing and able to use anyone who will simply believe and obey.  We have been given a choice...corruption or preservation?  The choice is yours, but the effects of this choice will extend far beyond your one life.

Closer to Christ in 2013

Closer to Christ in 2013:  Plan

Last night at our Women's Event - we were challenged to grow closer to God in 2013.  In order to carry this out, I must come up with a plan. For Noah to build the ark and complete the project God gave him a plan. As I prayed, God showed me areas in my life that I need to change.

1.  Gratitude: this year I plan on thanking God for the things I already have.  Each morning I wake up, I will look at each day as a gift and another day to serve Christ.

2.  Forgive:  I must let go of the past.  I will forgive those who have hurt or angered me. Not forgiving someone is like carrying a poison around with me everyday.

3.  Love:  To tell the people in my life who mean so much to me that I love them and appreciate them.

4.  Praise: Make time to praise - To Praise my Savior for all the blessings He has given me. Also, to look for and recognize the good in others.

5. Care:  If you were to ask me to name the five wealthiest people in the world or the last five Miss America pageant winners I couldn't. Neither could I identify the last 10 people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize or the last half dozen Academy Award Winners.

But I can name at least 5 people who have made a difference in my life. They do not have a lot of credentials, money or awards but the one thing they had in common - they cared. They took the time to invest in my life because they cared. Take the time to reach out and encourage others.

6. Communication - The most obvious is to spend time at the feet of my savior daily. To have daily communication with my Savior thru spending time in His Word.

What is your plan to draw closer to Christ in 2013?