Walking In The Answer To Prayer

Just the other day...I walked out the side door and into the warm breezy air blowing in from the field across the road. Being with my kids 24/7, my walking time was much-needed time! As usual, my thoughts turned to life and the deeper subjects on my heart. I began to talk to the Lord.

Life in a rural area had been hard on this city-girl, but I had adjusted (if you have heard my talk, "Growth in the Shadows", you'll remember what a struggle it had been). While I was content and the Lord had changed my "move-me-now-or-I'm-going-to-die" attitude, there was an ache in my heart for my kids that never truly went away. When my husband and I would reminisce about playing with neighborhood kids as children or having huge birthday parties attended by tons of friends, our kids would just look at us with blank stares. Living off the beaten path, down a long, lonely highway was all they had ever really known.

Naturally, my heart ached for them to know some of the same joys I had known as a child. Yet, I knew if the Lord asked us to stay in that rural area for our whole lives, then we would do so, happy and peaceful in the center of His will. I needed to talk to God about the ache though.

I prayed something like this, "God, if it would ever be within Your will, would you let our kids experience a neighborhood...a community...lots of friends...the sort of thing we knew as kids? Would you, Lord, expand our territory and the influence of our family? We love it here, with all of our hearts, but if You want to do more with us, please lead us to the 'more'."

It wasn't very long after that that my husband got a phone call.

That phone call lead us to eventually move two and a half hours north...to the "more" that God had prepared for us.

There are few things about this particular move that have been easy, but I have to tell you...I have never in my life felt so much like I was walking around in the literal, tangible answer to my prayers!!!

When I stand in my den and look out the window to see tons of neighborhood kids playing with my girls in the backyard, I have to fight back the tears. Sometimes I don't even fight them...because letting them flow feels like worship...an overflow of a heart filled to the brim with gratitude. When I take my walks here and neighbors stop their cars to chat, or yell out the window, "Hey Becky!", it makes me thankful for a place where I have found community as well.  When friends stay late because "it's peaceful in your house" and kids don't want to leave here, I know it has absolutely nothing to do with me (or us), but everything to do with God...because that, too, is exactly what I prayed for, for this new home to be a place of refuge, peace, and the warmth of His presence.

So, I'm wondering what it is on your heart today?

Prayer works. Do you believe it? You should!! Because it does.

God absolutely hears each and every request you bring to Him. If what you are asking for is within His will, then He delights in giving you exactly what you asked for, plus more blessings on top to that! Why?

Because that is the heart of our Father.

Seek Him. You'll find Him.

Ask Him. He will answer.

Linking up at:

Woman to Woman

Raising Homemakers

For His glory,

Snuggle Time

Just the other day...my oldest daughter, Sydney, asked me to come and snuggle with her at bedtime. She told me one day, "Mommy, snuggle is sometimes 'code' for...'I really need to talk to you'" This time, "snuggle" was really "code"! But I never know, so...I end up snuggling a lot! :)

I climbed in bed with my precious girl, slid over next to her, and waited to see what was on her mind. It wasn't long before she started opening up.

For quite some time now, Sydney has been wanting to learn French. She found an old English to French dictionary I had in high school and, like she does with all books, she devoured it! She wanted more! So, I had started researching some French lessons for this coming school year (quick FYI, we have been homeschooling for over 4 years and absolutely love it). I hadn't yet made a decision on what to order.

Sometimes delaying is a good thing.

Sydney slowly, and with much reservation at first, started to let me know that she felt God was putting something big on her heart. My heart swelled at the realization that she was learning to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit!! I wanted to get up and dance around the room...but realizing that might be a little over the top, I bravely fought back tears instead, becoming misty-eyed pretty quickly.

As she talked on, I began to realize how much of an impact summer camp had had on her. At camp, she and other girls her age were given the opportunity to hear from different missionaries. One particular missionary couple made a strong impression on her. They had been called to serve deaf people and had even learned how to sign in three different languages! This couple had taught the girls how to sign the entire alphabet.

In the weeks following camp, Sydney went on to tell me that it seemed that she was constantly coming across something having to do with the hard of hearing, whether it was in books, on tv, or in real life. As she recounted the times, I also began to realize how often it was happening. Then she said the words that made me go..."Well, okay then, I guess you need to learn sign language!"

She said, "Mommy, this is not just something I want to do, but something I feel like ...ya know...I need to do. If I learned French, that would just be for fun, but learning sign language would be for God."

(Insert big, beaming smile...annnnnd just go ahead and throw in a happy dance, too!)

I don't care if she ever wins one race, paints one masterpiece, sings like an angel, breaks a world record, or earns a million dollars. I care that she knows how to hear the still, small voice of the Lord and obey it.

So, with that said...my nine year old is now whole-heartedly, one-hundred-percent sold out on learning sign language! She has been watching instructional videos on signing over and over, like it is her job. She is wanting me to find books on the subject. I'm looking for someone to teach her (in real life, not on youtube). We're doing this!!

Because, who am I to say that at the age of nine, my baby girl can't hear the voice of God?

My husband and I have prayed for her. We have instructed her. We have given her tools. Our job is far from over, of course...yet we are realizing that there comes a time to start actively trusting God that the seeds planted are growing up into full maturity.

Seeing wings sprout means it's time to start letting them fly.

Spiritually speaking, I pray Sydney learns to soar far beyond anything I could ever imagine for her. May her wings take her exactly where our Father bids...because, just as with all of us, I know that is the place of His greatest blessing (and consequently, her greatest contentment).

In whatever way He chooses to use it, may her knowledge of sign language and her overwhelming, growing compassion for the hard of hearing, be mightily used for His glory.

_____________________

"Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity." 1 Tim 4:12

Linking up at:

Growing Home
Raising Homemakers
Woman to Woman
Faith Filled Friday

With a heart overflowing, 

Covering the Real You

Just the other day...I was blessed to be able to go on vacation with some of my extended family. My girls and I stayed in a beach house with my sister-in-law, Laura, her three kids, plus my brother's two girls. More of my family members stayed in a condo nearby. We had a ton of fun together (!), but that's beside the point.

Shortly after we all arrived, Laura discovered that in the craziness of trying to get out of the house with said kids in tow, she had left a huge bag full of important items, the main items being, her makeup! Just minutes after she had discovered it, she remarked, "I'm going to die without my makeup!"

To that, my nine year old daughter who was standing nearby matter-of-factly said, "I don't wear makeup and I'm alive."

She is wise beyond her years...always has been. In that moment, I was proud of her non-conformity...happy that, all-in-all, she remains unaffected by our culture's impossible standards. Perhaps all the talks about inner beauty being most important are sinking in???

Yet, I cringe, because all talks aside, her present reality is not the world I live in. It's the world I want to live in, but I am a victim of my culture. I live very much in the "I'm-going-to-die-without-my-makeup" world that my sister-in-law and millions of others live in. If I'm going to see anyone besides my immediate family, I want to have makeup on. In fact, my husband-to-be had never seen me without makeup on until the day he proposed (and that was only because I didn't know he was coming over and I was cleaning)! He still went through with the proposal, so I guess that says something, but still, in 7 months of dating, I had never felt comfortable enough to be around him without "covering up". I guess you could say we started out pretty shallow. It takes time to peel back the layers on an onion, but that, too, is beside the point.

The point is, makeup and wearing makeup is not wrong in and of itself... it's thinking we have to wear it in order to gain value and be beautiful, THAT'S what's wrong!!

I got a lesson in this when we moved here back in January. The neighborhood we moved into is just awesome. There are friendly, smiling, waving faces everywhere you turn. It's my kind of place:) But, when we first moved in, I wasn't prepared to have people stopping by to meet us all the time. I was in find-a-place-for-all-this-mess-or-I'm-going-to-pull-my-hair-out mode. I literally met every single neighbor within close proximity to our house at a moment when I had not a stitch of makeup on. I know this because I remember the sense of shame I felt each time. I had wanted to make a good impression, not a bad one!

But you know what? My neighbors met the real me...the me that tries so hard to have it all together, but always fails, overweight, out-of-style, tired-momma me. And, you know what?! They still talk to me! :) They have become friends! We are doing life together! And to think it all started off with my absolute worst foot forward...the "uncovered" me.

I didn't know it then, but I know it now.

God has been teaching me a lesson and it is this:

Try as we may to cover up, what's real about us always shines through.

The Word says it so beautifully:

"Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." 1 Peter 3:3-4

This passage proves to me that, even in Biblical times, there were women trying to make a good impression, to put their best foot forward. They, too, needed to be reminded about the hidden person of the heart...the real person inside. Ladies, that is the only place our true beauty can be found! The real, uncovered, unpolished, unpowdered, uncut, unlasered, undone you...THAT you holds the potential for the most astonishing, imperishable beauty. By the world's standards, you might not be much to look at, but to God, THAT is the you He is in love with. The real you...the you you are deep down. And the ugliness found there that you run from, He runs towards!! (Amazing, huh?!)

Listen, God is not impressed when all your pimples are popped and your pores are minuscule. He's not impressed when you are looking all cute in the latest trendy outfit. He's not impressed when your grays are covered, your hair styled, and your nails manicured. His head is not turned by your impressive abs, toned thighs, and uplifted body parts. Does God want you to take care of your body? Yes. Does He want you running yourself ragged to look like the cover of a magazine or even the woman next door? Absolutely not. In doing so, if you're not careful, you make your own culturally-motivated image of perfection your idol.

Let me tell you what impresses God, sweet sisters. He is impressed when you love Him with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Luke 10:27). He is impressed when you love others like you love yourself (Matt 22:39). He is pleased when you take delight in giving (2 Cor 9:7), do good, and share what you have (Heb 13:16). God's heart swells when you exercise your faith and take Him at His Word (Heb 11:6). Want to turn God's head? If you live righteously, the Word of God literally says that the eyes of the Lord are upon you and His ears are turned towards you (Psalm 34:15).  

I'm ashamed that I have acted so much out of my cultural upbringing, out of this pervading, constant thought that my value comes partly from how good I can look on the outside. I'm ashamed that I have been saying one thing to my daughters about inner beauty, but in actuality living out another. I'm ashamed that the hidden person of the heart has meant less to me, at times, than the outer shell that contains it.

"Lord, help us, as your daughters, to start waking up to the lies we are consuming. Help us to concentrate on what really matters...on loving You and spending time with You. As we do, would You help us to grow hearts that will follow steadfastly after You, no matter which way the currents of our culture flow? Please do 'heart surgery' on us daily, removing those things that bear no weight in Your kingdom. Help us, Father, to remove any graven images we have in our minds. And help us, Lord, to diligently teach those who are coming behind us where their true value is found...only in You."

Linking up at:

Faith Filled Friday
Wise Woman Link Up

Raising Homemakers
The Better Mom

For His glory,