ITRSTGD

Can I be honest for a minute?

Great. Thanks.

Last night I, and several other people, decided to pray for Summer, for relief from pain and for much needed rest. The reason we did that is because we believe that prayer works.

Well, first thing this morning I see where Summer was awake in the wee hours of morning posting on Facebook that she was in pain. Later she posted this to Caring Bridge:

 " I have been up all night with the worst pain since this last pregnancy."

Here's the honesty part - I thought, what the heck? We pray, specifically, for relief and it gets worse. Worse than its been in almost a year. Hmmmmmm...

Dave and I talked about it for a few minutes, and he reminded me that it isn't circumstances that we look to in prayer. It's God. If you'll read my last post, you'll see that God has been showing me that. But still...it got worse?

The kids were very restless this morning so I decided to throw them in the car. We drove to Jack's in Opelika to get Caeley a biscuit for breakfast. I was still thinking about prayer, and it's effectiveness and wondering if God's "No," last night meant He was just saying no in general and I should change the way I am praying.

I was thinking on all of this in the drive-thru and after I got our food, I went to pull out of the parking lot. The license plate on the car right in front of me said, 

ITRSTGD

I thought okay, I hear you. He has been saying that to me lately from every place imaginable. I just keep seeing that message written different places, and it's because I really need to hear it.

A couple of minutes later I took this side street that I never take, and drove past a little church. The sign out front said,

PRAY UNTIL 

SOMETHING HAPPENS

As Madea says, "Hellerrr." That's "Hellooo" for those of you that don't speak Madea. I'm going to just go with what the sign said. I'm going to trust God, that He is good, that He knows what He is doing and that He is full of compassion. And I'm just going to pray until...

Something happens.

Summer, Lori and I are going to Birmingham tonight because Summer has a CT scan in the morning at 7:15. She has been experiencing a lot of pain and Dr. Straughn wants to see what's going on in there.

I am asking you to do two things:

1. Trust God.

2. Pray until something happens. 

Pray for rest, relief, peace of mind and healing. I am going to forego the whole "give the doctor's wisdom" prayer and ask God to do something that would baffle the doctors and go way beyond their wisdom.

Will you join me?

On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

I grew up singing this at church. I always liked the song but never really understood it. Short and sweet, what God is teaching me is that my hope cannot be in anything other than Him and the promise of heaven. 

We can hope for things, for circumstances to change, for healing. 

We don't ever hope in things, in changed circumstances, in healing.

It's a small difference in a sentence, but a huge difference in the way we live, think, feel, pray and believe. If our faith is in a particular outcome or answer, then what happens when it doesn't happen? Sometimes we get exactly what we pray and believe for, but other times we don't. 

If things don't go our way, then we are likely to cast aside the only solid One there is, the only Constant we have, if we have rested our hope anywhere else. As Paul showed us in Romans 5, the hope that doesn't disappoint is in eternal life through Jesus Christ.

"and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us...so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:5, 21 NASB)

And as for getting through today, while we still see dimly (I love this line in the song),

My anchor holds within the veil

Within the veil...within His presence. That's where my anchor holds, that's where I won't be tossed by waves, capsized, overtaken. Within the trustworthy embrace of God the Father. It's not just a good song, it's the truth. 

None But Jesus

This song is one of my all-time favorites and there are a couple of situations in my world that have brought it back to mind. One situation is mine (ours) and the other is mine by association. The lyrics are powerful and at times I don't feel I can even sing it honestly, but I want to. The lines that get me every time are,

"When you call I won't refuse, each new day again I choose" 

and

"When you call I won't delay, this my song through all my days"

That's hard to sing honestly when your personal desires don't line up with what He asks you to do. For me anyway, you might be really awesome and never struggle with that. But the other line that I love is this one...and this is whats important to remember,

"In the moment of my weakness you give me grace to do your will."

He is familiar with our weaknesses, He is mindful that we are but dust, and yet He calls us anyway to do hard, but amazing, things. The beautiful thing is that if we will choose to, at minimum, ask Him to change our desires to match His, then He is at work in us to will and to do His good pleasure. He gives us the grace (which here means empowerment) to do His will - which is why we can say, 

"When You call I won't refuse"

Discipleship Tested

"If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."

Clearly, He isn't calling us to literally hate our families and friends. It's hyperbole, to go back to junior high grammar. Basically, he is using exaggeration to drive home the point. Clearly, he doesn't promote the dishonoring of parents or neglect of children.

It's so much easier to quote this, and discuss it, than to be asked to live it. This section in my Bible is called "Discipleship Tested." This would probably be one of the easiest tests to fail, because we're such relational creatures, don't you think?

An eternal perspective is essential. What we see and know here isn't all there is. And the end is not the end.

Rinse, lather and repeat.

You Revive Me

You revive me
You revive me Lord
And all my deserts are rivers of joy
You are the treasure I could not afford
So I'll spend myself til I'm empty and poor
All for You
You revive me, Lord

These are lines from a fabulous song by Christy Nockels, called, appropriately, "You Revive Me."

Raise your hand if you've ever felt like you needed to be revived.  I think all of us at one point or another, feel worn out, run down, beat up - by life, by people, by circumstances. I love that God can take what feels like a desert and turn it into a river of joy.

This song touches me on many different levels right now, but when I was listening to it this morning, the line that really jumped out at me was:

So I'll spend myself til I'm empty and poor, All for You, You revive me, Lord.

After getting home late last night and then getting to bed even later, all three of my kids ended up awake before 6:00 this morning. Not the way I prefer my day to begin. I pray for the grace to get through the day, with potentially irritable kids and a potentially irritable mommy.

But, guess what. That's part of mommy life. Mommy life is, things not going as planned sometimes. Kids arguing and fighting. Kids whining. Kids that get hungry (really, you need to eat? Again?). Kids whining. There are plenty of wonderful things about mommy life, too, but that's not the point of this post.

The point is that I think there's a mindset in our culture that can totally steal the joy from us, and that is this:

I DESERVE "ME" TIME!

It has certainly caused me a lot of frustration and anger, at times. I'm not saying we don't need rest. We have to rest and a break now and then is a good thing. No doubt.

But, am I called to go to bed well-rested at night? Am I called to die well-rested? I don't think so. There are kids that need me, a husband that needs me. There are relationships to build. Memories to make. Friends to serve and care for. Families in need.

There are other people in this world besides me. Shocking revelation, I know. People that really matter to God. That should really matter to me. And that means I should spend my energy and time on them. I should "spend myself til I'm empty and poor," because, "You revive me, Lord."

This is a long-overdue, huge, shift in thinking for me. I have been blessed to be surrounded by some amazing friends that live their lives for others. For a wife and/or mom it has to start at home. I'm thankful for friends who have taught me so much, who have lived beautiful lives in front of me. I'm not the same.

If we do what we are called to do, I know we can trust Him to revive our tired souls and tired bodies. All of us - mommies, daddies, wives, husbands, friends. We all have a call that sometimes feels like a burden. But, He breathes life back into us and makes us feel alive again. He's pretty good at that.

Secret Admirerer

Neat title huh? Well that's me! I am Ashley's super secret admirerer! She is like omg super dooper oober amazing and a great person! She loves everybody she meets, amnd loves Jesus. She has an awesome sense of style (I mustve rubbed off on her) and shares all her stuff with me! You should totes tell her how amazing she is next time you see her cause its sooooooooooo true! I dont even know why on earth she deals with me, but she still does! The Urchin Chronicles are a cool story anbout a certain little urchins life, and, if i do say so myself, is a hawwwtt name for a blog! Soo yeah. Cool story bro. ttyl dudes(and dudettes) <3 :) ;) :D :P :*

How I Really Feel

The next time someone implies that my being "just a mom," i.e. not working outside the home, is no big deal or not real work, I think I might slap them. In love, of course. Being "just a mom," is the hardest thing I have ever done.

This sums up the way I feel this morning.

Notwithstanding, I know God has given me everything I need for life and godliness. I'm trusting Him to keep me within the bounds of love today.