Just One Thing - Dinner # 68

     

There have been so very many, many times that I have wanted to sit down and write another post on my blog again . . . I have wanted to “fill you in”, “bring you up to date”, and share with you where we are now in our journey of life!  We did make that move to the beautiful state of Virginia, three years ago . . . Brandon’s job fell through, shortly after the move, but we saw God provide for our family’s needs, over and over again.  The four of us lived together in one room at my in-law’s house for 6 months, but every diaper, every jar of baby food, every medical bill . . . God provided!  It was 6 of the darkest, most difficult months of my life, but GOD WAS THERE!  And in HIS perfect timing, He provided for us a new job for my husband and a lovely house to live in, and He gave us two more babies!  Yes, we are now blessed with FOUR beautiful little girls!  We certainly serve an amazing God!  We have been busy with our little ones and with the children, teen, and music ministries at our church, and are more burdened for the mission field than ever before – so incredibly excited to see what God has in store for our family, in the future!  

     Is all of life easy-going and smooth-sailing for me, now? No, it is not . . . You can ask my “Shoulder-To-Cry-On” Husband!  The overwhelming “Mommy Days” do come . . . The dishes and the laundry do pile up endlessly . . . The homeschooling does often feel like it is falling apart . . . The children do scream, and fight with each other, and throw food on the floor . . . My life is normal . . . But do you know what has been DIFFERENT for me, this year?  I have TIME!  What?! You have four children under the age of 5, and you have TIME?!  Yes, it has taken until this point in my motherhood, but I finally have TIME to SPEND TIME with My Lord every day!  I am MAKING TIME, like I haven’t during any other year of my married life . . . God had to make my children sick with everything from eye infections to pneumonia, this past winter - keeping me home every Sunday, for quite nearly 2 months straight.  Then, in March, He allowed me to have a convicting conversation with a missionary wife, to receive a book on prayer for my birthday, and to be more sick with the rotavirus than I think I have ever been with anything in my whole life.  That was the turning point . . . Psalm 143, Psalm 144, Psalm 145, and then Psalm 119 – some days only a paragraph or two at a time – but that was the start of it.  The start of getting “back on track” with the Lord; of renewing my relationship with Him.  Over these past few months, time and time again, I’ve thought of the words of that precious hymn: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love . . .”  I don’t want to go back, Ladies!  It may seem simple, but do you know what a DIFFERENCE it makes, just having a set TIME in your daily schedule, where you can GET ALONE WITH GOD?!  Yes, even with four Little Ones!  Will Satan fight you in it? Of course he will! But he doesn’t have to win!  It isn’t about marking chapters off on a chart, at this busy stage of my life. It isn’t about reading the Bible through in a year, or participating in an awesome Bible study group with other ladies.  It is about GETTING ALONE WITH GOD!  Some days, it may be just that paragraph or two!  But writing down verses, writing down prayers, meditating on God’s Word, and PRAYING SCRIPTURE . . . There is POWER in that, My Friends!  No, you aren’t going to get to all the dishes some nights.  No, you may not mark everything off on your “to do list” for the day.  “But one thing is needful . . .” (Luke 10:42)  Just ONE THING! I used to crave the little bit of “me time” I could carve out to watch a show on television, or to read a book from the library, or to write a letter to a friend . . . but nothing compares to this.  Nothing is MORE HELPFUL than this, Tearful, Weary Mama!  Three-and-a-half years have gone by since my last blog post, and the greatest thing I can share with you is that one simple truth – TAKE THE TIME TO GET ALONE WITH GOD.  He CREATED you, He SAVED you, He GAVE you your LIFE, and He can HELP YOU through every single thing you face!  “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.” (Psalm 28:7)