God At Work In The Silence

This has blog has been quiet for six weeks. I got many reasons, but it boils down to life. Life has a way of keeping us busy.

But God has been working on me and in our lives. Randomly I want to acknowledge His handiwork:

• Providing food and helpers when I was down with a miserable flu
• Protecting Snurr when he dumped hot tea on himself; he never got burned
• Leading me to the right counsel on a matter
• Healing the boys when they had the flu
• Giving me strength and stamina to parent them as they woke up alternately in the night
• Using me to recycle His blessings
• Giving me loving family to encourage and support me
• Giving me friends who listen
• Giving us a church that prays for us, the sweetest words spoken to me after our absence from church due to illness was not "we miss you" or even "how are you", but were excitedly said to me by a 1st grader who said "I have been praying for you!!"
• Having other widows touch my life who understand me in ways others simply cannot
• Teaching me the truth about anger and the power of words
• Growing my children in the areas of repentance, helpfulness, and obedience
• Giving me opportunities to grow in firmness and patience
• Being silent on a matter to teach me to learn to wait on Him and learn to quiet and still my mind from fears
• Reminding me that having my hands full (with 3 boys) is a wonderful blessing, not a burden. A handful of boys is more joy than a handful of gold!!

So you see, life has been very busy and full. Sometimes full of fevers, runny noses, and tears and other times full of laughter, smiles, and joys. But continually full of God's presence on and in our lives.

Big Shadows

Tonight as I tucked Snapp into bed, he exclaimed, "What is that???" On the wall was a huge, scary shadow. We investigated and the huge, scary monster was really a little, tiny fly walking around the nightlight:) As we watched his shadowy legs move and then disappear, we chatted about how sometimes little things can seem like big, scary things. As I left his room, I reflected on how once again God used my children to teach me a lesson. There has been some big, scary shadows on the wall of my mind. And God wanted to remind me that they really are tiny compared to Him. I recently received an email that said "Don't tell God how big your troubles are, tell your troubles how BIG your GOD is!!" I guess I better go have a talk with those big shadows:)

Precious in His Sight

"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." Psalm 116:15

We had an interesting conversation on our way home one night this past month. I had said "The worst day in heaven is better than the best day on earth." My oldest son flipped it around and said, "So that means the worst day on earth is the best day in heaven."



WOW--there is a deep thought. Nothing hurts like a loved one dying and it truly feels like the worst day on earth. But thinking on my son's comment, it is the best day for those we love dearly who are in Christ.



The boys and I are at that emotional time of year, when Daddy died and went to Glory---our worst day and his best. My mind goes back to the morning after Jim's death. I had looked up at the dining room ceiling and realized that the streamers the boys and I had decorated with for his birthday were still hanging there. How thought provoking and my mind imagined another party in heaven ........


As these dates come, I am determined to let myself grieve, three years is long, but not that long compared to the depth of love we shared. AND yet I am going to also focus on Jim's best day the day my Lord put His arms around him and said "Welcome Home!!" And I will smile through the tears....

Mean Mommy Award

Proverbs 29:17 tells us, "Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul." My father-in-law calls this the Mean Mommy Award verse. You know, when you are being a tough mom instead of a pushover. I like to think of it as a reward for consistant training. Either way it reminds me to not give up and stay focused. And I will "reap if I faint not."

The other night after finishing his consquences for certain actions, Snipp gave me a gift. It was a BEST MOM award complete with various handdrawn colored balloons. I often feel like I am struggling as a mom, but I guess the Lord chose to use my "corrected son" to encourage me to keep striving to be the best mom I can be.

The Right Hand

First a comment to all you left handers: I have nothing against any of you. As I was told once "If your right hand uses the left side of your brain, then only left handers are in their right mind" :) I love left handers. My dearly loved MIL, my maternal grandmother, and even my preacher are left handed. I think even a judge in the Bible is mentioned as a left hander. And maybe after this I will do a study on the left hand, but for now I just want to share what was impressed upon my heart concerning the right hand.

A verse that has been a source of comfort and encouragement on this walk of single motherhood is "For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee." Isaiah 41:13

So I began to research in God's Word about the right hand and here are my notes:

RIGHT HAND----power, can save, holds up, full of righteousness, made strong, gotten victory, special place in God's right hand, does valiantly and is exalted, right hand a place of effectiveness and protection, God's right hand spands the heavens, Jesus is seated at God's right hand, Jesus was seen by Stephen standing at the right hand of God right before he was martyred, the right hand of God is place of intercession.

After this study, I feel God is saying more than just "I am here, don't be scared, you aren't alone." I believe the Lord was telling me He is holding me up from complete failure. With His hand in mine, He is giving me strength to be victorious. My LORD is sharing with me that I am protected and can be effective. And that Christ is ever interceeding on behalf of me and mine.
Those words have begun to soak into my soul and empowered me and endured me to my Saviour all the more.

P.S. Days later this thought came to me: Jim liked me to be on his right side. Whether we were sitting in a pew or driving some where or sleeping in bed. I was to his right and it was with his right hand that he reached out to me. And once again I stand in loving awe of how my Saviour used my husband and his ways to illustrate to me more of His heart and His ways.

Update: As a reminder to this promise of God, I have had my wedding ring resized. And now wear it on my right hand:)

Being a Keeper

In my Bible reading recently, the Lord has had me doing word studies. Mercy, petition, keeper. And I felt the Lord impressing on me to share about my study on being a keeper.

The first use of keeper is from the mouth of Cain "Am I my brother's keeper?" So to be a keeper I need to know where my children are. Not just physically, but also emotionally and most importantly spiritually.

Next I looked at Psalm 121 where we are told "The LORD is thy keeper." Looking at the surrounding verses I learned more about keeping. Keeping is being on guard, protecting from evil, bringing comfort, watching over comings and goings.

In Ecclesiastes 12:3 it speaks of the keeper of the house. These verses are describing the aged body. The keepers of the house are a picture of the arms and hands. It immediately made me think of Proverbs 31 where the virtuous woman "she gireth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.....She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy." So being a keeper is manual work like dishes and laundry and bandaging knees and changing diapers. But it is also ministering to others like helping a struggling child and sharing a scriptural truth and giving a hug to one who is hurting and sharing my blessings with another family.

In the New Testament, the soldiers guarding Jesus' tomb are called keepers in Matthew 28:4 when they shake with fear and become as dead men. Why were they sent to guard a tomb?? To keep thieves out. As a keeper of my home, I am to guard my home and the hearts of my children from the thief Satan, the father of lies.

And lastly, I studied the famous verse on keepers at home in Titus 2:5. The aged women are instructed to teach the younger to be "keepers at home.......that the word of God be not blasphemed." I understand this to be AT home. Busy at home, working at home. Home is to be my priority. Failure to do this and the other matters mentioned would expose the Word of God to contempt by the world. Blaspheme could be another word study, but I understand it to mean to put myself above God either by what I do or what I say. And when God tells me my place is to be a keeper and I leave my command post, His Word is blashemed.

Well, there you have it. Five little verses with amazing insight as to the significance of being a keeper. And now I must go and turn my attention to keeping:)

Update: I thank my Lord that He loves me and mine enough to expose our sin. Just days after this post, a little Achan was discovered and sin was found in the camp (Joshua 7) . Trust was shattered and deceit was confessed. The Lord lead me to this study because He knew I had let my guard down in some areas. We are working on rebuilding trust and I am trying diligently to apply the above truths about being a keeper. We welcome your prayers.