I love how God gives us words when we need them. The other night our family sat doing devotions before the kids went to bed. They were not short ones that night and all the kids participated and were very attentive. I felt the Holy Spirit move in our home that night for sure.
I was able to share a couple of different verses with our kids that night. One was Psalm 133:1~
"How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!" I want our children to understand what blessings come when we can live together in unity. The chapter continues and shares that the place of unity is where the "Lord bestows his blessing even life forevermore." What a beautiful picture! I want that in my life and in my home!!! Our home is full of chaos and strife right now....with noone feeling well and tons of appointments and meds, life is busy and stressful. Two of our children in particular have a difficult time getting along(which I realize can be normal in most homes), but it causes tension in all of us!
I then went on to share the verse in Psalm 50:14~ "Sacrifice thank offerings to God...." I asked them what a sacrifice was and what would sacrificing a thank offering look like? I shared with them how even in the most difficult times and circumstances we need to be thanking God. Later in bed Dylan asked me "we should thank God for our lyme disease?" I told him, no, but we should thank Him for the opportunities it brings in our life. I shared how the doctor we see doesn't know Jesus and we can be Jesus to him in our actions and our words. And how friends and AWANA leaders that he knows have cancer and they use it as an opportunity to share Jesus with all of the nurses and doctors they come in contact with. What opportunity God brings through our suffering if we are just focused on thanking Him for the growth it brings in our life instead of dwelling on the difficulties it brings.
Also, I shared with the kids that we need to learn to be content with what God has allowed in our lives, where He has placed us. I can remember Brian not being content with not being a pastor when we left Bible school. It wasn't until he became content with where God had placed us that a church called and wanted him to pastor. I shared with the kids that I felt strongly that until we are content where God has placed us in the now and can offer thanks in the situations we face today, that He won't "rescue" us from those spots until we are in that place of contentment, joy, and thanks.
I showed the kids a "blanket" that would be similar to a tapestry. I showed them the back of the blanket and asked them what they saw. They came to the same conclusion that it was not pretty, it was messy and not brightly colored. And then when we turned it around the picture made sense and the colors were vibrant. That is like our lives. We can only see the mess on the back of a cross-stitched picture or the back of a blanket. It is full of knots(pain and confusion) and dull colors. We can only see what is today. We don't see tomorrow, much less what the end of our lives will look like. However, God can see the finished product. He was in the beginning and He will be in the end. He sees it as a beautiful tapestry, woven out of the pain and sorrow in our lives, the joyful moments too!
Peter started to sink when he took his eyes off his Lord and Savior. He was too focused on the storm and waves and not on the goal which is Jesus. If we can only keep our eyes fixed on Him "the author and finisher of our faith." He is God, he will never let us go. Let's call on Him to hold us through the storms of life.
I love how God just gives you the words and breathes through you when your family or friend or even yourself needs His word spoken to your very soul. It is a cool thing to be a part of God's beautiful tapestry. Keep your eyes fixed on Him! :)
