Snurr's Lessons

As Snurr settled down for bed we reviewed lessons he had learned that day:

• Liquid soap is awesome at getting copper pipe to slide off your finger that didn't belong there in the first place.
• Messes take seconds to make and hours to clean up.
• Locking someone in the pump house or a room is just like kidnapping.
• Obey Mom the first time.
• Sometimes lost dogs come home on their own; and only God knows of their adventures.

As I left his room, I encouraged him to talk to God about things he did wrong that day and share about what he learned. A little while later, I heard the mumbled voice cry out, "Why? God, Why?"  As I listened, my youngest was pouring out his heart to Jesus about his daddy.......I walked in his room and just held him as he sobbed.  My tears joined him as he said, "It never hurt like this before." I have walked this road with his brothers; it isn't an easy one.  He has grown more in understanding so it is natural for the grief to go to a deeper level.

We talked about many things, I then shared with him how I used to pray for the Great Comforter to come and hold me all night when I hurt so much missing Daddy.  I told him how God was faithful and He did it, many, many times.  We hugged and I prayed over him, gave him a Daddy pillow to hug and wrapped him up in my favorite blanket.  Soon sleep came for Snurr.

My heart was heavy and my ache was raw again.  This is the hardest part of being a widow, feeling helpless as your children grieve their father.   I know the LORD loves Snurr more than I do and I know He promised to heal him.  But us moms get used to being able to fix all the hurts or shield our children from them to begin with.  Grief is a hurt that is so deep and so personal, all I can do is try to help him express his grief in a healthy ways and pray intensely for healing.

Burdens like this are too heavy for one woman.  I poured out my own heart to the LORD.  Then I shared my aching heart with some late-night praying sisters. Their prayers, words, and understanding were comforting.  One encouraged me to pray Jeremiah 29:11-13 with and for Snurr.  What sweet verses:   

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 

This morning Snurr was in the same position he was when I last checked on him the night before.  He slept soundly all night.  Thank You, Jesus!  I told him about wanting to share some verses that a friend had shared with me.  I flipped to Jeremiah 49 by mistake and read verse 11: Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me.

Isn't that a widow's fear?  That the grief will destroy the children.  That the enemy will use it to pull them from God.  The Lord will preserve the fatherless children.....AMEN!!!  Let thy widows trust in GOD.....isn't that what we learn to do with these grieving children?  Carry them to the altar and lay them in His arms, then pray and wait for healing to come. And it will come.  The Lord promised:
 Psalms 147:3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.

After I read Jeremiah 49:11, we smiled how God can use a mistake of mine to be exactly what we both needed to hear.  Then I went back to Jeremiah 29:11-13.  We discussed what it meant then I prayed it over him.  Later, I heard Snurr tell his brothers that the verses in Jeremiah brought him comfort and peace.  AMEN!!  God's Word is very much alive and at work.

Another lesson for Snurr.  A very, very important one.

 

Mathematics for the Heart

Forgiveness + Gratitude = A Change in Attitude

The Rescuers

The other day when we were at my folks, Snipp, Snapp, and Snurr came shouting at me to come outside there was a kitten.  The little fellow was meowing loudly hiding in a busyh.  He was hungry, scared, and not really excited about being rescued. Snapp finally caught him.  We had to be wrapped the poor fellow in a towel to keep Snipp from being scratched.  Snurr got to close and got bit.  After much discussion and inquiring, we discovered he didn't belong to any neighbors and we delivered him to a farm up the road.  There he would have food and companionship with other felines.

After we headed home, Snipp held out his hand and said, "Smell, Mom!"  Phew!  He stank.  It was the same dead smell we smelled near the woodpile where the kitten was finally rescued.  We concluded that who ever he was traveling with must have gotten injured and crawled in the woodpile to die.  The faithful kitten must have stayed with his companion quite awhile after it died.  The little fellow stank like death even though he was a healthy kitten.

Isn't like just like us??
We don't recognize sin as sin.  It is our travel companion.  James tells us when sin is finished it bringeth forth death.  We hang around it until we reek of it.  Even after we are rescued, we stink and rebel.  Not realizing the wonderful blessings we have been given.  He gives a new life!  The Lord lovingly holds us, not minding the stink, as He gives us comfort. 

I can learn a few things from a cute, stinky kitty:

• Hanging around sin will make me stink.  Call sin sin and depart from it.
• Reaching out to help others may be a stinky job. Jesus did it for me, I can do it for HIM.
• Don't lash out at Christ when life doesn't seem to be going so well. (Don't lash out at other loved ones either.)
• When life seems to go from bad to worse, the LORD might be in the middle of rescuing me from something I didn't know I needed rescuing from.
• When I feel afraid, lonely, stinky or hungry (spiritually), Jesus will hear my cry and come to me.