http://www.aholyexperience.com/2013/07/caring-for-the-right-thing-at-the-right-time/
Just something worth reading.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=D7X3iGI-KBE Jason Gray, Fade with our voices.
A song that made me think.
http://everybitterthingissweet.com/2013/07/those-years-when-her-body-knew-no-embrace-and-he-loved-her/
The following story came from this site. My words added in Purple/pinkish
When she pulls back and her body stiffens as I lean in, compassion comes
when I understand her history. And when I bristle at toddler-like
behavior in her big-girl body, it’s obvious I’ve forgotten where her
feet have walked.
How many times do I read my stubborn little daughters reactions all wrong? How much is fear of failure, lack of trust that I have the best intentions for her, feelings of hurt that she can't communicate like her sister does, jealousy because Iley understands where she doesn't and she feels ilsolated. I react sometimes in a way that shows I have forgotten where her feet have walked...... Forgive me Lord.
He knew the years when her body knew no embrace and He celebrates her still, small movements towards love as great victories.
I am humbled that he chose and trusted such an imperfect mother for this small beautiful treasure of mine.
The timeless God who is able to both cast a perspective on our life
and growth over decades, and see, deep, into the minutes of our day,
wants to share His celebration with me.
I am learning to celebrate each new word understood, each time she listens a little longer, each time she initiates communication....each time she hears a new sound...Thank you LORD
Though I am tempted with her, just like with myself, to see all that
she’s missed and the gaps so obviously there, He celebrates what is
barely detectable to the human eye.
He remembers she didn’t know an embrace until she nearly hit double-digits. He remembers she had NO language 14 months ago.
The still, small is stunning to Him.
He doesn’t measure her by who she is not, but by the room she
has inside of her for Him to be all that He is against her weakness. If I look back at where we started, and compare it to where we are today......If I get out of the "forest" and look back I can see the amazing progress and resilience these little girls have. How well I remember walking out of this office with two children I had just met. I felt a little panicky like oh my word what have we done........Can you even imagine as a small child what that day would have felt like?? Totally helpless with NO control over your future. Handed off to complete strangers by the only people you have known. Brave Brave babies.
I
am trying to capture every thought and think only positive things, not
the negitive that drive me crazy. So many good traits to see when I choose to
look.
When I climb right into that perspective all of my home life looks
different. I see Nate according to his strengths, not the areas where he
may have failed me. I see the places where the littles have
grown,
not the stumblings they had that day. I see the God-prints all over
circumstances — the ones I want to avoid and the best of them — not the
ways they are making me want to leave my life and run.
I see the paintings on the walls, not the dust in the corners.
The dust is a little harder to miss in KS;)
And I begin to understand how He sees me. I’m not the one who missed
intentional moments with four littles in one day, or who is failing to
teach them order; I’m the one who spent hours in preparing for a picnic.
Just for them. I loved
big that day — according to Him.
Or taking a walk with them, or helping build a blanket fort, or fixing their favorite snack and letting them eat it under the table, swimming with them........
It will never get old to be reminded of this perspective of His, on
me — because nearly every place I feel like I’m all stopped-up for
growth goes right back to the faulty understandings I have on how He
sees me.
We can’t love with a love we don’t know. We’re at risk of
spending a lifetime passing out appetizers — bite-sized perspectives on
God — when He wants us to feast on a love that goes well beyond what our
human perspective can make of it. I can’t convince anyone to come to a
feast I haven’t partaken of myself.
He
qualifies me to partake in something way too big for my understanding to fully grasp, and far beyond what my actions allow me to deserve.
Wondering why you’re stale, stuck? Could it be that you have misconstrued His perspective on the very composition of yourself?
Friends, is it time to fall in *this* kind of love? It can start with one, simple prayer:
Father, I barely know You. Awaken me to who You really are and how You truly see me. Only His Holy Spirit can take us there.
We can say it a
thousand times — “Jesus loves me” — but until we are so starved for an
encounter with this kind of love that we make our life a desperate cry
to experience it– to know it for ourselves– we will live stagnant.
One encounter with the kind eyes of the Lord could make a
radical out of anyone.
