HELP ME HELP YOU

My interaction with God the last few weeks has felt eerily similar to this scene out of "Jerry Maguire."

Have you ever felt like you are walking through an "up at dawn, pride-swallowing siege" in hopes of advancing the Kingdom? I'm there.

I. Am. So. There.

I have done all I know to do. Been on my face in prayer. Been still before Him. Purified my heart and even my body to be consecrated for His purposes. Hustled. Run up against brick walls. Been rejected.

And all I am trying to do is to put on an event to inspire people to open their Bibles.

I find myself begging God to help me serve Him. To let His favor rest on me as I run this race He has marked out for me.

But it seems quiet. A kind of "quiet" that is maddening to a girl who is working her butt off.

I wouldn't be surprised if God was up there saying, "You are hanging on by a very thin thread. And I DIG that about you!" I want to hang it up. Been tempted to do so several times this last week alone. But something tells me He will be glorified in my hanging on.

LORD God, let this be the quiet before the glory-filled storm! Break forth and come through in Your might and power. Make a way where there really seems to be no way! I am just trying to serve You faithfully. Please, please strengthen me to do so!

SO MUCH FOR THAT

I took a pregnancy test 7 years ago today.

It was negative.

I tossed it in the trash can, fought back tears and thought, "So much for that." My dream of being a mom wasn't going to be realized. Not this month, anyway.

Or so I thought.

The next morning was Valentine's Day. I jumped in the car to head out to work, but remembered I'd left something upstairs in my room. I ran back into the house and was headed for my bedroom, but I suddenly stopped in my tracks. And, for no particular reason at all, I turned back toward the hall bathroom where my hopes had been dashed the night before. I walked into the bathroom, picked up the trash can, looked inside, and saw it.

A positive pregnancy test.

To this day I don't really know how to explain it. I just know there was one line the night before (I waited plenty long enough before checking the test, trust me), and the next day there were two lines.

And eight months later, I was the mother of a beautiful baby boy.

How often do we discount what God is doing, assuming things just aren't going to happen--even if we have pretty legitimate reasons for thinking so? We think things are dead in the water, throw our hands up in the air and say, "So much for that." In our minds and hearts we put up headstones over the hopes and dreams we assume aren't going to be realized.

BUT GOD.

God moves even in our lack of perception of Him moving. When it appears something's dead in the water, He is often breathing life into the situation.

Even Lazarus' family, who had a pretty legitimate reason to believe all hope was lost for their brother (seeing as how he was dead and all), should instead have been preparing to celebrate his restoration to life. The story was far from over, and the glory of God had yet to be seen in that situation.

Be encouraged. Some of the very things you and I are tempted to write off as dead in the water are far from it.

I know. Because the proof of it is running around the house playing with trains right now.

Thank You, Gracious Heavenly Father.

I AM A MOTHER OF FIVE

I have five children.
1. My firstborn, "T." My understanding of love blew wide open when I first held him. I've lost count of the times I have stooped over my sleeping son and begged the LORD for my son's life to SHOUT of the greatness of our God.

2.My daughter, "Liley," who is essentially a bunch of joy crammed into one tiny person. I am desperate to see her walk in the safe and good ways of God all the days of her life.

3.My second son, whose name I know in my heart but I don't share. Stitched into my heart though never in my arms. It's okay. I will know him in Heaven.

4. __________________. I haven't met her yet, but I pray for her. Right now she's only someone else's daughter, but I am covering her with prayer as though she is my own. And when my son marries her, I will gain her as my daughter. I don't know where she is right now. But I am already crying out for the hand of God to preserve her and protect her for the life she'll share with our son.

5. _________________. I haven't met him yet, but I pray for him. Right now he's only someone else's son, but I am covering him in prayer as though he is my own. And when my daughter marries him, I will gain him as my son. I don't know where he is right now, nor his name that my daughter will one day take. But I am already crying out for the hand of God to preserve him and protect him for the life he'll share with our Liley.

Father, please keep us praying for the ones our children will marry! Bring this to mind often so we will persistently pray over our future sons and daughters!

MISSING LETTERS

A B C __ E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Guess what's missing from my keyboar*?

Turns out, not having that one letter really hin*ers my ability to easily communicate.

*o you ever feel like there are people in your life who are just annoying or *ifficult enough to make you wish you *i*n't even have to *eal with them at all?

The bo*y is not ma*e up of one part, but of many. If the whole bo*y were an eye, where woul* the sense of hearing be? If the whole bo*y were an ear, where woul* the sense of smell be? But in fact Go* has place* the parts in the bo*y -- every one of them -- just as He wante* them to be. The eye cannot say to the han*, "I *on't nee* you!" nor can the hea* say to the feet, "I *on't nee* you!" (1 Corinthians 12)

Sometimes you can't see how much you nee* a part of you until it's no longer at your *isposal. I once broke the thumb on my *ominant han*, and it was nearly impossible to accomplish anything that use* to come so easily. I also broke my baby toe a while back--It was amazing how that one teeny, tiny part of me ha* the capability to re*uce me to a pathetic heap on the floor when I caught it on a *oorway! An* the simple task of walking with a broken toe? Forget it. Even though the other 99% of my bo*y was fine, when that one tiny part was broken, the whole thing suffere*.

We nee* every part. Every part! Even those people who annoy the ever-lovin' heck out of you. Even the ones who aren't easy to love. Even the ones who stir the pot, say the wrong thing, and try to make everything about themselves.

True--maybe she nee*s to get over herself. And maybe it's an un*erstatement to say he's a work in progress. But so am I! I myself am in *esperate nee* of grace and un*erstan*ing. I certainly have no business *iscounting someone else's contribution to the King*om simply because they're *ifficult. Every part is important. The Bo*y just woul*n't be as effective without them.

Father, I nee* grace to see people as You see them. When I feel like a situation woul* be better without someone, allow me to see their great value in the King*om. Forgive me for sometimes writing people off or missing their great worth.