But no worries my friends, spring is here, I can go outside now and take in a deep breath of air without it hurting my lungs, I can actually feel the sunshine on my cheeks! These last few days God has not only given me a new season but also a fresh outlook on life. He showed me that my life is not only good...but amazing and he continues to bless me daily.
My reality check came a few nights ago. With a husband who works nights I find a lot of free time on my hands late at night when I don't have the energy to do anything else but mindlessly surf the web for something of sustenance to read. In a desperate attempt to entertain myself I discovered the "next blog" button on the blogger website and have spent hours amusing myself by viewing the blogs of random strangers. This particular night the "next" button led me to the blog of a young mother who lost her baby after only two weeks to a heart defect. I spent over an hour pouring over her words, tears running down my face the entire time. Here she was describing how lucky she was to have those few precious days with her terribly sick and broken baby and then there was me, cranky and ungrateful, when my beautiful healthy baby boy was sleeping upstairs in his crib.
There is so much in life I take for granted! my husband who works so hard to support us, my beautiful baby boy with a smile that melts my heart, the fact that we both have steady jobs, families who love us and a support system of friends who would drop everything to help us.
Thank you Lord for reminding me of what you've given me!
Thank you for sharing this, Lis. I am SO THERE with you.
ReplyDeleteAs mothers (and as human beings) we often lose sight of what's important. It's tremendously easy to gripe (yesterday was one of those days for me!) at every crappy diaper, every spit-up glob, every mess in the kitchen, every cry and whine, etc.... but this is it, man: the world thinks all this is simply gross and hard and not worth the time and effort, and while mothering IS extremely hard, it IS worth it. Every second, to be pouring into our children the love of God, showing them His grace despite our imperfection.
Parenting is a journey. It illuminates what parts of our lives we need to work on, which parts are better burnt away. Parenting gets us ready for eternity; it's sanctifying, and God is present, encouraging and offering grace. All of life's woes (jobs, crap weather, parenthood) hurt and are difficult. But God is faithful.
I just read this passage this morning: Hebrew 4:14-16: "Since then we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need."
Bottom line: God will give us grace in those valleys.
ReplyDelete(Sorry, one of my blessings knocked over a vase in the living room while I was typing the above comment, so I was unable to fully conclude. LOL!)
Love you, hang in there! Spring is on the horizon, and believe me, it does the spirit good to get outside and breathe clean air. AMEN.
Call if you wanna chat!