I'm sure having a hard time getting back into my routine!! Illness has now come to our house! I'm praying it stays contained to Noah and doesn't take turns through us all. I will be calling the doctor's office when they open. He has huge enflamed tonsils with red and white spots so we'll get him seen today. He's got a cough to go a long with it. No fevers to speak of though. I expected it to spike in the night but he slept all night long w/o one. Perhaps he'll be our first kiddo to get strep throat... It's hard to believe that my kids have never had strep throat ... or ear infections for that matter either... looking back we have much to be thankful for in the health department!!
Anyway... here are some verses to think about today... I had to open 3 today. Two of them applied to the heart...
"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
Proverbs 4:23"
"Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
II Timothy 2:22"
Our hearts can be fickle. Our hearts can be deceived and fooled. Our hearts have immense capacities to bring emotions out in us .... joy, fear, hope, defeat, failure, success, pride, love, hate, anger, affection, kindness... the list goes on... If our hearts are not focused on the right and true things, those attributes are not going to flow from us. What goes in, must come out. When we pour into our lives and hearts sin - whether in thought or deed ... eventually that will come out... Likewise, when we pour into our hearts God's word and his love... it can't help but also flow from us.
"May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your heart, and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
II Thessalonians 2:16-17"
This verse made me think about how I get my satisfaction and my "kudos" in my day to day life. God's promise to us as written above is that he can give us eternal encouragement and hope! Not only that he can strengthen us! Remind me to read this on a day when I'm exhausted, feel overwhelmed with motherhood, and want to hide away in the bathroom just to get some alone time!
So often I find myself looking to those around me to build me up. To reassure me of my successes and my abilities. I can easily start finding my worth and my value in what others think of me. The downside of that - as it isn't the way God ordained it to be - is that people will fail us. We are human and it was never meant to be our responsibility to be someone elses' "all". In the secular world there is a lot of talk about when "boy meets girl" and they "complete" one another. While I do think men and women - specifically husband and wife - can and often DO compliment each other's strengths and weaknesses.... we were never meant to fulfill all the needs of the other. God our Father is the one we should be looking to for our reflection. For our definition. For our worth. He loved us enough to send his son, Jesus. I don't know why we sometimes get trapped in the idea that he's an overly demanding judge... waiting to slap us on the hands when we come into his presence, head hung low, with timid eyes.
Recently I've been studying the prodigal son story. It's come about in several avenues of teaching and I find it interesting how God orchestrates ideas in various ways!! I read an illustration last week that used the idea of God as our judge. Satan is vying for our spirits. Jesus is our defense attorney. He reminds God of how his blood bought me. How he covered me and I am His. God rules in my favor ... then comes down off this judge seat... walks over to me, looks into my eyes and says, "I love you. You are mine. I still can't get over how much you look like my son, Jesus. When I look at you, He's all I see!"
WOW. Maybe you need to reread that .... "When I look at you, He's all I see!"
Did you get goosebumps? Tears popped into my eyes the first time I read that. It still floors me as I read it and write it out here. I have my own thoughts of what kind of person I am... I have my own judgements on myself - some that I've carried a long time... some that come and go... I have my own ideas of what I should really be like.... and I have my own list of faults that some days seem to haunt me.... and yet when the Father sees me.. He's delighted. He's overjoyed. He's sees his beloved ....
Now that's a Love I choose to hold on to.... How about you?
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