ENGAGE THE WORD!
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
First of all, I want to say Happy Mother’s Day to every woman out there who has poured out her heart to the next generation! Thank you so much for your selfless love and incredible devotion to those whom the Lord has entrusted to you! The journey of Motherhood never ends, and it is truly the epitome of following Jesus in laying down your life for those you love! I am praying for increasing boldness and courage and faith in raising these kids to follow Jesus! May the fruit you are bearing in their lives be eternal fruit...fruit that will last!
Now, in the spirit of Mother’s Day, I want to tell you that even when raising kids who are almost adults, the day in and day out teaching and training never stops! I am speaking of training your kids and through that our Heavenly Father training us! It is always ongoing and I feel like, even through all the challenges, it moves from blessing to blessing! I want to share with you one such lesson that the Lord just shared with me while having one of those “teaching moments” with my son.
I don’t know if you have ever had the pleasure of taking your kids through the process of braces, but that, in itself, is a journey! We have successfully, and by the Grace of God, made it through the braces stage with our son, but like I said, it never stops! We are now in the forever stage of the “retainer.” Our son is charged with wearing his retainers at ALL times, except for when he eats. If you were to see how often they were found to NOT be in his mouth, you would think he must eat non-stop. The truth is, it has become a never ending battle of wills between us and him. He does not Love wearing his retainers...he thinks of it as a chore! We do not love the thought of wasting all those years and money on teeth that could go back to being crooked without constant attention to wearing his retainers! Thus the source of tension in our home!
Now, one recent morning, my son came downstairs and began looking around the kitchen counters while mumbling that he couldn’t find his retainers...another source of frustration...the lost retainer! I knew exactly where they were and was looking right at them. They were, of course, in the place he had set them the previous day without wearing them since. I just looked at the retainers and then at my son and said, “They are right there where you left them!” Now, I kid you not, this is what he did. He walked over and stared at the retainers for several seconds then nodded his head as if his quest was ended and he approved of how it had turned out, and then he turned right around and headed out of the kitchen!! I just sat there stunned! I finally allowed myself to believe what I had just witnessed, and once I found my voice, I called him right back into the kitchen and said to him, “Jay, do you honestly think that just looking at your retainers and knowing where they are is good enough? Do you think that Just looking at them and nodding your approval is going to help your teeth stay straight? You have to actually PUT them inside your mouth! You have to actively take them into your mouth, engaging with them, in order for there to be any results that will last!” Now even as those last words exited my mouth I could already hear the Holy Spirit speaking truth to me!
How often do we just look for our Bible, just to know where it is, or we see it sitting there beside our bed or on a bookshelf and once we see it, we nod our approval and then walk away? How readily do we hear a sermon, give nods of acceptance, and then walk away and leave the message right there. The Lord began reminding me that we cannot believe the lie that we can see or hear His message to us, agree with it and then walk away without engaging it! We have to actually PUT the Word of God inside of us, take it In, and engage in the work it was sent to do! Only as we actively participate in God’s message to us will we begin to see results in our lives that will last! I was instantly convicted! Let’s be people who do not see what The Lord is teaching us and simply walk away, but let’s actively take it in and let The Word of God do it’s work!
James 1:23-27, Ezekiel 2:8-3:4, Matt. 4:4, John 6:63