Posts tagged Marriage and Family

I am always the first to miss the obvious. It just escapes me. Sometimes, I am so taken by the little things that the great big elephant standing in front of me just goes unnoticed. For example, I never see the seasons changing. They take me by surprise every time mainly because like many of you I don’t like change. The seasons of change in my children’s lives, the seasons of growth in my marriage, the seasons of maturity in my walk with the Lord all tend to sneak up on me like a ninja, and I feel unprepared.

My youngest is changing by the second. His world is blossoming and much too quickly. To be honest, I would much rather run from it than face the changes that lie ahead. I know; I hear you. How bad could it be? Changes like complete sentences that tell me what he needs, big boy underwear, and a regular bed. Those things are all coming within the next year. Good things. Still, I cannot bring myself to even ponder taking the crib down for the last time.  Ever.  My first response is always to see what I will be missing and not the blessings that lie ahead. Ecclesiastes 3:1 states, “there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” Still, transitioning from one season to another for me tends to look like a fit throwing toddler rather than anything resembling grace.

As I walk through the rest of my summer adventure, around every turn I yearn for a time out. I beg God for it. Please Lord, just stop time from marching forward, especially in the lives of my children and in the life of my father. I just want to stop and enjoy this season right now without the threat of the next season clouding my vision. Thankfully, I hear the gentle, firm voice of the Holy Spirit coming through the pages of Ecclesiastes.

“I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God,” (12-13). 

I can not hold either of them back, my children or my parent. There is a time for them to be born and a time for them to die. Finding satisfaction in each and every season is a gift from God. A gift intended for each of us. A gift I intend to embrace and accept.

There is a promise that comes in Ecclesiastes as well as the lesson that it is pointless to try and change the created order of life. The promise is this:

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart,” (3:11).

Through this season of growth for every child and parent, I know God Almighty has made it intentionally beautiful and purposeful. There is a purpose that glorifies God in each season. He has also set eternity through Christ Jesus in the heart of all of us, including my children and my parents. We will enjoy this life for as long as He gives us and eternity in His presence. This enables me to take the next step forward in our life cycle whether it be to scatter stones or gather them, mourn or dance. We are not alone in any season for He stands with us.

As my summer adventure takes on the final cycle, I ask you to be patient with me here at P31Wife as I take every moment captive, take a detour, from my regular schedule of postings, and enjoy the beauty that God has intended for me and my precious family. I pray that you are as taken with the beauty of the season that you are in at this very moment as I am. I pray that you are seeing beauty and appreciating the gifts that God has given you as well in this season of your lives. I pray that you can loosen the grip you have on the ticking clock and love every moment independently and collectively as a season. Whether that be weeping or laughing, I pray that you see and hear God in every step.

P31Wife

“She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. 
She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness,” (Proverbs 31: 26-27).

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PS. For those of you taking the Facebook Challenge, I applaud your efforts and success. I have learned much and continue to learn as I go. I am doing well in some aspects and terrible in others. One thing I noticed almost immediately was how absent-mindedly I check FB. Sometimes, it is completely without thought. I deleted the FB icon from my smart phone, and that allowed me a second or two to think about it.

Overall, I feel like the Challenge has been a success for me, even though I have failed it miserably. I am more self aware of how much time I am on FB, and my time is more purpose full. I also have noticed how much I don’t need to post on FB. It does get in the way of how I communicate with the Lord. Because of the challenge, I have refrained from posting many things that normally I would have. Those things were communicated elsewhere, and many to the Lord. This has blessed me richly.

The Challenge ends August 11th. I am praying for you and that you are blessed through it. P31Wife

I knew he was right, and I knew I had to do what he asked of me. And, I did. But, it wasn’t pretty.

We had to move from our friends, our church, and the home we had started. My husband’s job was dwindling and we were out of money and almost out of food. With another baby coming soon, it was time for a change. He said to me, “God is providing a new life for us, and we are going to take it.” Still, I argued.

I pleaded for weeks. I cried for months. Six months of pleading and crying. They were not my finest hours. 

In Genesis 12, God calls Abram to leave his country. God says, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing,” (Genesis 12:2). This is a lot like the conversation that my husband and I had in the kitchen of our rented farmhouse. My husband knew God was calling him to great things. He knew he had to answer that calling. In the end, I knew I had to follow him. 

Like Sarai (Abrams wife), I am made to follow my husband no matter the outcome. Sarai followed Abram where ever he led her, even when that led her into Egypt. Ephesians 5: 22-23 states” wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” I was following my husband to California, not Egypt, though you would have thought I was headed to the home of the Pharoah himself. 

God blessed my husband exponentially. Our family was blessed. I was blessed. While painful, we did what God had asked of us, and our life reflected that obedience. I am grateful for my husband’s commitment to the Lord and his guidance over our family. While we sit side by side, I know without a doubt he is the head of our home. Where he leads, I follow. And like Sarai, I would have followed, even if it were to Egypt. 

P31Wife

“Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.” Proverbs 31: 23

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