by Stacey | Jan 3, 2013 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
A new year stretches before me. 365 days of opportunity. The blank page full of possibilities. Will this be the year my agent circulates my book among publishing houses? Will my one year contract with the MB Herald be renewed for another year? Will we install new windows in our drafty home?
God willing, it will be a year of hugs, kisses, smiles and laughter.
On days like this, as I ponder the joy of maybe, the awesome responsibility of the absolutes hit home.
I am blessed to have three soft and pliable souls under my care. I don’t wonder if I will mother this year – I know. But the catch is, these kids don’t really belong to me. They are on loan from God. And He really cares about how I raise His kids.
That thought overwhelms. My knees buckle. No knows better than I how unworthy and ill-equipped I am for this task.
God entrusts five additional children to me as their parents work. Five more souls shaped by my responses. My tone of voice. My ability extend grace and love.
My knees ache but I remain. Bowed at His feet. Confessing my need. My lack. Dependent on Him.
This year, this blank page waiting to be written doesn’t need a book, a contract, or windows to be a success. It won’t be limited to kisses, hugs and happiness. There will be tears.
But hopefully, when I sit here next year writing a post at the beginning of 2014, I will not think in terms of achievement. I will think in terms of relationship. Am I closer to God? Do I trust Him more fully? Did I praise Him in the good and bad? Did my example illustrate to my children what it looks like to walk with Him?
You might remember my Thanksliving list – 1000 reasons to be thankful. This year my list is about possibilities. 365 positive choices I can make that God might use to change me or to change those around me. Today is the 3rd day of the year so we start with the top three:
- Instead of housework, I spent some time with my youngest playing trains. I pray this time together enforces how much I love him, cherish him and value these short but precious days.
- I responded with gentleness. I pray this is how my children remember their childhood. Gentle tones. Loving looks. Peaceful home. Patience. Fruit I desire for them.
- We turned off the T.V. and invented. Marble runs. Lego. Snow forts. Snacks. We engaged our imaginations where anything is possible. I pray for the energy to remain involved with my children in a joyful and encouraging way.
by Stacey | Dec 24, 2012 | The Weekend Visitor
December 14, 2012
Dear Jesus,
It’s a good thing you were born at night. This world sure seems dark. I have a good eye for silver linings. But they seem dimmer lately.
These killings, Lord. These children, Lord. Innocence violated. Raw evil demonstrated.
The whole world seems on edge. Trigger-happy. Ticked off. We hear threats of chemical weapons and nuclear bombs. Are we one button-push away from annihilation?
Your world seems a bit darker this Christmas. But you were born in the dark, right? You came at night. The shepherds were nightshift workers. The Wise Men followed a star. Your first cries were heard in the shadows. To see your face, Mary and Joseph needed a candle flame. It was dark. Dark with Herod’s jealousy. Dark with Roman oppression. Dark with poverty. Dark with violence.
Herod went on a rampage, killing babies. Joseph took you and your mom into Egypt. You were an immigrant before you were a Nazarene.
Oh, Lord Jesus, you entered the dark world of your day. Won’t you enter ours? We are weary of bloodshed. We, like the wise men, are looking for a star. We, like the shepherds, are kneeling at a manger.
This Christmas, we ask you, heal us, help us, be born anew in us.
Hopefully,
Your Children
© 2012 Max Lucado
[A Christmas Prayer] Max Lucado
Copyright [UpWords Ministries, 2012]
Used by permission
Visit Max Lucado’s blog here
by Stacey | Nov 8, 2012 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
Have you ever known someone who lives in the past? It could be the guy who peaked on his high school football team. It could be a mother who constantly dresses like her teenage daughter. It could be a leader or politician who served God faithfully in the beginning but eventually strayed.
It could be a person like King Rehobam. You can read about his family in 2 Chronicles 11 and his depart from truth in 2 Chronicles 12. Rehobam began faithful. He started strong. But by his fifth year as King he had become unfaithful choosing to rely on his own strength instead of God. His days of pleasing God were history.
No one can depend on former correct actions to ensure a future relationship with God. God is concerned with the choices I make today. He is concerned with the current state of my heart.
No matter how I failed yesterday, today is a chance to start over. I do need to address yesterday’s failures and confess and repent as scripture directs, but they do not hold me back from restoring a broken fellowship with my Father. Furthermore, a former spiritual high or walking closely with God for years past means little if I chose to ignore Him today. God is concerned about the current state of our relationship.
Ouch! I know I’m guilty of coasting through days without picking up my bible depending on last week’s prayer to get me through today’s trial. The big question is: What am I going to do about it? How did Rehobam move from a faithful beginning to becoming a King who abandoned the law of his Lord? Did it start with a short stretch of depending on last week’s prayer? Did he stop listening to sound teaching and start listening to his own voice instead?
King Rehobam’s story contains a warning I intend to heed. I’ve started meeting regularly with three other woman. We all attend different churches, we all have slightly different opinions on various topics. But there are many things we have in common.
We want to be found faithful.
We want to glorify God in our actions, thoughts, and words EACH day.
We want to live without regrets.
We want to give sacrificially, love unconditionally, and deepen our walk with God.
We want to be held accountable.
That’s why we meet. That’s why we bring our prayer journals and share from them. That why we confess the ugly truth about our fears, doubts, and trials.
That’s why we hold up one another in prayer.
Proverbs 27:17 “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”
by Stacey | Sep 13, 2012 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
“It’s not about whether I can do this but about whether I am willing to surrender and fall into my Saviour’s arms. It’s about whether I’m willing to let Him carry me through this moment and every moment from here on.”
There are days I feel like a complete and total failure. There are days I think I can’t do it anymore. There are days when the next step feels too huge to even try to take it. These days beg one question:
Will I trust God to carry me through this moment and every future moment?
When the job feels unproductive, when I run like crazy but get nowhere, when the diagnosis is grim. Will I trust God? Not just with my future, but for the strength required for each step?
You see, it’s not about whether I can handle any of these things, it’s about believing that God can handle them.
It’s not about doing my best. It’s about surrendering to God’s will and trusting Him for His best.
It’s not about getting stronger. It’s about knowing God is stronger and depending on Him.
It’s not about pushing through the difficulty on my own strength. It’s about trusting God to provide for each step, one step at a time.
Picture by Morgan Falk Photography
First posted Nov 15th, 2010
by Stacey | Sep 6, 2012 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
Rainy days breed insanity. Maybe it’s being cooped up in the house. Maybe it’s change in the atmosphere. Maybe it’s the crazy mom banging her head against the wall. Who knows?
All I know is the odd rainy day is okay. But string a few together and add three to eight stir-crazy kids and I’m ready to jump onto the back of the loony wagon and hitch a ride to the funny farm.
All it takes for a dreary grey day to dampen my spirit is a few crying kids hanging off my leg, dinner burning in the oven, and endless phone calls.
These crazy moments always seems to coincide with my children wanting extra cuddle time or needing to engage in serious conversation. Some days two hands, two ears, and 24 hours feel dreadfully inadequate!
I regret missed opportunities. I lose my cool when asked the same question for the millionth time. I wonder if I’m expecting too much or settling for too little.
Misgivings like these send me to my knees grateful for grace. Grace that covers all my sins. I know I need to take every opportunity to prepare my children for tomorrow. I know I need to use every moment to reinforce how much God loves them and how He has a plan for their future, a plan only they can fulfill. I also know I accomplish this through His strength alone.
Large decisions loom ahead. Friends. Education. Dating. Spouse. Career. Our kids need self-confidence, faith, and wisdom to navigate through middle school, high school, college, university, and marriage. I will not guide them perfectly because I am not a perfect parent. But I serve a God who is perfect, a God who promises to never leave me nor forsake me, a God who promises wisdom when I ask and delights in my request. God loves my children even more than I do and He longs for me to I bring them before His throne in prayer confessing my inadequacies and claiming His sufficiency.
In chaos of the moment may I never forget God is with me. That doesn’t mean dinner will never burn or my patience won’t run thin. Trust me, it has and it does. It means I have someone to turn too in those hairy moments of life. I have the opportunity model what a real dependence on God looks like.
Based on Sept 27th 2010 post.
A new year stretches before me. 365 days of opportunity. The blank page full of possibilities. Will this be the year my agent circulates my book among publishing houses? Will my one year contract with the MB Herald be renewed for another year? Will we install new windows in our drafty home?
