He is Greater when I am less because it has never really been about me....all to the glory of Jesus.
Take Heart....
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John 16:33New International Version (NIV)
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Take heart. I heard this whisper in my spirit this morning, as I was driving to work, admiring the white fields, covered with snow. I was thinking about the people I know who love winter and snow.....and conversely, the people who cannot stand winter and are miserable until it is over. I like winter. I like it when winter is over. Take heart. Take heart, my beloved, because this is a season and it will pass.....and when the season of winter is finished, springtime comes. The snow melts. The rains start in the Midwest. Little green buds pop out of the Earth and hang from tree branches, promising to bloom into leaves and flowers and plants.......take heart. He tells us, in John 16 that he tells us these things (he gives us the seasons that we can expect and predict and understand) so that we can have peace. This world has trouble. We have trouble. We get coughs and colds in winter. We slip on the ice. We sometimes have a blizzard with 2 snow days in the middle of the week and the children take over the house.....and make me crazy.....and then they don't sleep well.....and I'm exhausted, frustrated, anxious about the workload piling up, the laundry, the messy bedrooms, toys everywhere........oh wait. I digress. Take heart. Take heart my beloved, in this world we will have trouble but He.......He has overcome the world. All of it. Blizzards, rainy seasons, summer fun, autumn beauty.......One Man who was equally human and God......overcame THE WORLD. Take heart, my sweet people who are aching to grow your families through birth or adoption....I am praying for you. The road seems impassible and impossible.....but take heart. He has this. Take heart, my friends who are struggling with marriage, finances, contentment, pride vs. humility. You are not alone. Take heart. He has overcome the world. Next week is Valentine's Day with lots of hearts and love and sweetness.....I like this verse from John 16. Have peace. Take Heart. He's got this.
Today Claire came home from work and we sat at the table for awhile. Oh boy, if my dining room table could talk......there are more memories soaked into this table that I can recount, and more tears and bursts of laughter than I can ever remember. There are more lists and memos and plans etched into it that I could ever save...... She is making her lists for moving to college. It's true that she is only moving a couple hundred feet away to the college in our town, but she is still moving out. She is taking all of the things she uses every day and she is setting up a life in a dorm on a college campus with a new roommate and a whole new world. In 4 days we will move her out. It is so weird. It is the weirdest thing ever. Adding children to our home is not weird at all. Figuring out how to send them out is. I'm less sad and more....conflicted, maybe. I am so excited for her. Moving to college is probab...
Father's Day weekend is here. It's a hard one for me. It always has been, actually. My dad and I were not close when I was growing up but in the last few years we came to a place of mutual understanding and respect....and then he got really sick really fast and now he is gone. This is my first Father's day without a father. I've talked to my older kids this week and mentioned Father's day. They asked "are we doing anything?" My answer was something like, well, I don't know. I don't have a dad anymore so I don't really feel like it's my job to plan something for Father's Day. I wish I could tell my kids we were going to my dad's to visit and grill and hang out at the lake for the day. I wish I could go shopping at the local greenhouse and buy something landscape-ish that he would like, or go to the bakery and get a bag full of Dutch treats.....that's what I have done the last few years for...
December 15. This morning I was driving to a meeting and thinking about generosity. I had just finished filling my car with gas because it always seems to be empty these days as I travel around the county for work....and gas prices continue to go up so I am either filling my gas tank or paying the gas bill. I remembered a time long ago, when I stood at a gas tank in California on a Sunday morning. I was dressed for work and on my way to my job at a department store. I needed gas to make it the rest of the way so I stopped but found out I didn't have any money to pay for the gas. Back then, in the 1990s, you could pump your gas before you paid for it, even in southern California. I was flustered, panicked and overwhelmed. Someone noticed. Someone generous noticed and paid for my gas. I remembered telling him if he wrote down his name and number I would pay him back but he said no thanks, it was fine, he would just help me ...
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