Yesterday I reposted on Facebook a blog I had written years ago about being tired. (A different kind of tired...) and I had no idea how appropriate it would be for that day.
It was just a day of....disappointment.
We all have those days. Life just doesn't seem to be going according to our plan. (Does it ever?) Or perhaps it IS going according to our plan, but the dreams that looked so shiny from the outside now seem a little less "perfect" now that we are living them.
Perhaps you have had one of those days recently and you know what I mean. Those days are hard when they happen to us, but when they happen to our children - well, that is an ache that goes deep. It's an ache that just weighs on your heart like a lead blanket. You want to kick it off like a heavy quilt, but you have no idea how.
Just this week I'd been having a conversation with a friend about a disappointment her son was facing. I reminded her of the promises God has given us - that He uses all things for His glory and for the good of those who love Him. I reminded her that God loves her son more than she does, which to a mom seems to be an impossible statement. I even found a familiar quote that spoke to me: "God has a plan for you that's good....so if it's not good yet, He's not finished." The cake is still baking, the picture is still developing, the quilt is still being sewn..... He's not finished yet.
Then I think of times when I need to call someone and ask them to repeat my own words back to me.
I think of those nights whenI lay awake underneath that "lead blanket" and pray, asking God to please show me how to help my child deal with "life" that doesn't always go the way we thought it would. How could I help them see that God truly does work all things for our good?
I have to admit, I had to examine my own life and things that were a little difficult...make that, things that were HARD! How do I get my heart to believe that God will work those hard things not only for His glory but for my GOOD? How could I look at what lay in front of me as a blessing? How could I thank God in all things, apart from simply an act of will? I'm a little older (make that a LOT older) than my children and even I have a hard time doing this at times despite YEARS of experience seeing this to be true.
Then this morning, I had a verse come across my screen that gave me a way I could pray for my children (and myself.) A way I could help them see and understand that God is up to something that will eventually work out for them that is GOOD!
2 Corinthians 2:16 - Isaiah’s question, “Is there anyone around who knows God’s Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?” has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ’s Spirit. (Emphasis mine.)
There it is. I can pray that my children understand what is happening because THEY HAVE CHRIST'S SPIRIT in them. I can pray that Christ's spirit will greatly increase in them so that no matter what disappointment crosses their path in life, they can trust that God has got this. He has a plan for them that was written before their first moment of life, and it is a GOOD plan.
Now I have something I CAN do. I won't lie and say it's easy - it's never easy seeing the hurt in your child's eyes...but I know that even in that, God is working to draw them closer to Him and the plan HE has for their life - that GOOD plan. He is teaching THEM the lessons He taught me through the years - that He can be trusted even with their dreams.
I love my babies - but God loves them even more. Thank you, Lord, for that and Your good, good plans even when life gets hard.
Footnote: After posting, I thought of something I saw just this week. A gecko was after a moth and the one he "wanted" got away...then shortly after another moth, a much BIGGER moth, settled right in front of this gecko. You can figure the rest. (Yes, I realize it wasn't so good for the moth, but still, it started me thinking.)
The gecko was on my mind that day and I remembered the verse about God seeing even a sparrow that falls. So here's my "adaptation" of that verse. "If God sees and cares for a tiny gecko, will He not also take care of you?"
John 15:15
I don’t call you servants any longer; servants don’t know what the master is doing, but I have told you everything the Father has said to Me. I call you friends.
Matthew 10:29-31The Voice (VOICE)
29 Look, if you sold a few sparrows, how much money would you get? A copper coin apiece, perhaps? And yet your Father in heaven knows when those small sparrows fall to the ground. 30-31 You, beloved, are worth so much more than a whole flock of sparrows. God knows everything about you, even the number of hairs on your head. So do not fear.
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