Manna For Moms

Devotions for Moms Like You!

July 2010

Never Sleeps

Megan Breedlove 0Comment

It was the time of night that all moms look forward to, when the kids are in bed and the house is quiet. The other night, my husband and I had gotten the kids to bed a few minutes before. We’d had just enough time to sigh and begin to relax when we heard Jessica calling, “Lindsey! Lindsey!”

As my husband later related it to me, he went into the girls’ room to see what the matter was. “Lindsey’s not listening to me,” Jessica said.

My husband looked up into Lindsey’s top bunk, where Lindsey lay amidst all her stuffed animals and blankets. She was sacked out. “Jessica, she’s asleep,” Phil said.

“But she’s not listening to me!” Jessica insisted.

“Lindsey can’t hear you,” Phil repeated. “She’s asleep.”

“Oh. Okay,” Jessica said agreeably as what Daddy was saying finally clicked. “Lindsey’s tired.”

Phil settled her back down in bed, covered her up, and left the room. He came and told me about their conversation, and we both had a good laugh. Lindsey hadn’t been ignoring Jessica at all. She’d been asleep.

In fact, that was what Elijah suggested was going on when the prophets of Baal couldn’t elicit the desired response from their god on Mount Carmel. “Oh, Baal, answer us!” they begged.

“Hey,” Elijah said (I’m paraphrasing here), “maybe he’s busy. Or maybe he’s on a business trip. No, wait! I’ve got it. Maybe he’s asleep!”

Obviously, their god wasn’t asleep, because he was no god at all. He wasn’t real. But when it came time for Elijah’s God to respond, God sent fire from heaven to consume the sacrifices, the altar, and even the water around it. He wasn’t asleep. He was listening to what was going on the whole time.

Aren’t you glad God never sleeps? He never gets tired and has to check out of humanity’s concerns for a little siesta. He’s always listening to the prayers of His beloved children and watching what goes on with us. Unlike Jessica, we’ll never cry out for His attention, only to find out later that He didn’t hear us because He was sleeping.

There may be times when we cry out repeatedly, and it seems like God doesn’t respond. But it’s not because He’s sleeping. He’s not unaware of what goes on in our lives, and He’s not unconcerned. Just because we don’t get the response we want, when we want it, doesn’t mean He’s oblivious.

Over and over in the Bible, we’re told that God always watches over us and never grows weary. To me, that’s amazing. I try to be a vigilant mom, paying careful attention to my children and taking good care of them, but I can’t even approach God’s level of watchful care—especially considering that I need sleep, and He doesn’t.

He’s always awake and always attentive. He’s always concerned about everything we do, and everything that happens to us. Even while we sleep, He remains awake to watch over us and all His beloved children. So before we go to bed tonight, let’s take a minute to stop and thank God for staying awake so that we can go to sleep—for handling things for us so that we can check out for some rest when we need to. What an amazing God we have!

Psalm 121:4—Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

Beautiful

Megan Breedlove 0Comment

When Ellie was born, she weighed just over six pounds. She was tiny and perfect. I thought she was the most beautiful baby I’d ever seen.

I still think she’s beautiful. At seven years old, her hair’s a lot longer now, and she likes to wear it down. Her eyes are a clear blue. She has a porcelain complexion and a slender build. But though I think Ellie is beautiful, her physical attributes are not the primary reason I think so.

Even more beautiful to me than Ellie’s outward appearance is her heart. From very early on, I could see that Ellie had (and still has) a heart of gold, filled with a level of compassion and tenderness found in few people. When other toddlers cried, Ellie gently patted them and tried to make them feel better. When other children fell down, Ellie tried to help them up. If Ellie could tell I was having a bad day, she drew me a picture to bring a smile to my face. As she grew older, when she could tell someone was sick or just needed encouragement, she suggested that they lie in bed and let her take care of him or her. When other people hurt her, she forgave them and remained loyal.

I truly believe that Ellie is one of the most tender, beautiful souls God ever put on this earth. Not because she’s physically beautiful…but because she loves beautifully.

Ellie loves others the way God means for us to love. No, she’s not perfect. She sins, just like the rest of us, even when it comes to people. But when the chips are down, you want Ellie in your corner. And you’ll have her, because she wants to be there and help you through it.

As a matter of fact, she’s a lot like another Person I know. She looks like Him and acts like Him. It’s no wonder there’s a family resemblance, because He’s her Father. And just like the moon reflects the light of the sun, her spirit reflects the beauty of His. She loves, because He loves.

We’re often amazed when others love us well. We marvel at the depth of their love. But do we ever wonder at the immensity of God’s love for us? The most compassionate person we’ve known on earth demonstrates but a fraction of God’s compassion. The most tenderhearted is only a dim reflection of the Son. The most loving person on earth gives us a mere glimpse of the amazing, overflowing reality of God’s love.

Yet we don’t often stop to contemplate the beauty of Someone Who’s the very fullness of beauty. We know God has all these great qualities, but we don’t spend much time contemplating His beauty. Why not? Think how much pleasure you and I receive from observing and adoring our beautiful, wonderful children. How much more delight would there be in adoring our beautiful, wonderful God?

So will you try something with me this week? The next time we find ourselves thinking about how amazing our child is, or how beautiful and compassionate, let’s let that be a reminder to us to think about God’s infinitely greater beauty. And then, let’s not forget to tell Him how beautiful He is. He longs to hear our response.

Psalm 27:4—One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.

It’s A Girl!

Megan Breedlove 2Comments

When I became pregnant with my first child, I couldn’t wait for THE ultrasound—the one that would tell me if my baby was a boy or a girl. It seemed like forever before I lay on the exam table, my belly exposed, and the technician squirted some gel on it (which they must have been keeping in the refrigerator, because it was cold). She began spreading the gel around with the ultrasound sensor, taking various pictures and measurements as she first made sure my baby was healthy and growing normally.

Then, she paused. “Okay,” she said, “now let’s see if we can find out whether this baby is a boy or a girl.” Please, God, I prayed. Show us.

But Baby kept sticking a foot in the way. Finally, the tech said she thought she knew, but she wanted to get a second opinion from another tech because she hadn’t been able to get an entirely clear view. The second tech agreed with her. “Do you want to know if it’s a boy or a girl?” the first tech asked.

“Oh, yes,” we answered.

“It’s a girl,” she said. We were thrilled.

Over the course of the next five months, I made preparations for the arrival of our precious new daughter. I decorated the nursery in beautiful pastel butterflies and flowers. I stored up tiny pink clothes in her dresser and closet. I bought her toys.

But the anticipation of Ellie’s arrival was nothing compared to what I felt upon seeing her for the first time. “It’s a girl!” the doctor announced, and I cried with happiness. When I held her, all neatly swaddled, and looked into her tiny, perfect face, my joy grew even deeper. I could hardly believe such a beautiful, complete little person was mine.

My husband and I were beyond proud. We called everyone we knew so they could celebrate with us. We wanted the world to know about our beloved daughter, Ellie. It’s a girl!

You know the same joy if you were blessed with a beautiful experience for the arrival of your first child (whether by birth or adoption). You know how it feels to rejoice at God’s marvelous gift to you, far beyond what you ever thought you were capable of. You’ve probably thought, as I have, about how the angels in heaven, and God Himself, rejoiced with you when your baby was born.

But have you ever realized that God rejoiced the same way when you were born?

It’s easy to imagine all heaven rejoicing over the birth of our children. It’s harder to imagine that same level of celebration when we were born. But it’s true. The Bible clearly and emphatically states that God rejoices over us with singing. When did that begin?

When you and I took our first breath, heaven rejoiced. When we cried our first cry, the morning stars sang together. When our mother held us for the first time, the angels shouted for joy. It’s a girl!

And God Himself took us in His arms and whirled around with us, laughing and singing with joy. I have a daughter!

What’s absolutely, incredibly amazing is that He still feels the same way about us today. Yes, He knows we’ve sinned, and will sin again in the future. But His delight in us isn’t based upon our actions, but upon the fact that He created us. We are magnificent examples of His handiwork, and that will never change. He may be less than pleased with some of our actions, but He delights in us.

And just as we wanted everyone around us to rejoice with us in the arrival of our child, God wants everyone around us to rejoice in the fact that we are here. We are far more precious to Him even than our children are to us. When we feel pleasure in our children, or delight, what we feel is only a shadow of what God feels not only for them, but for us.

The next time you find yourself delighting in your child, remember that God delights even more in you. The next time you say, marveling, “That’s my child!” remember that God is even more proud of you. She’s mine, He says, pointing you out to His Son and Spirit and all the angels. That’s my girl!

His words are the echoes of what He said when you were born. When the time came for your arrival, He was the ultimate proud Father waiting to announce you to the world. He couldn’t wait for you to be born so you could begin your life under His watchful care, and one day, grow to love Him. And when you left your mother’s body and entered this life, He rejoiced with all the joy Almighty God is capable of—and maybe even with tears of happiness in His eyes.

Look! He shouted joyfully. It’s a girl!

Job 38:4-7—”Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”

Zephaniah 3:17—He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.

Daddy, I Can’t See!

Megan Breedlove 0Comment

It seems that Jessica’s personality develops a little more every day. At almost two-and-a-half, she’s delightful, funny, and creative. She often thinks up new things to do and new games to play that I never would have thought of, partly because I’m…well…a lot older than two. She’s also gotten to the stage where she gets bored sitting in her car seat for very long. Combine these two factors, and you get some interesting games.

For example, the other day, my husband was taking the kids somewhere in the minivan so I could work on my contracted book. The way he describes it, it was a run-of-the-mill trip until Jessica cried out, “Daddy, I can’t see! I can’t see!”

He said her voice didn’t seem panicked, but he immediately glanced back at her anyway. And when he did, the cause of her “blindness” became obvious. She was covering her eyes with her hands.

“Silly girl,” he responded, and she grinned and uncovered her eyes.

Apparently, she loves this game, because she played it several more times during that trip and has played it many times since. She loves “fooling” us into thinking there’s a problem when there really isn’t.

Because she’s only two, the game is cute. But it isn’t so cute in the adult version, which we sometimes play.

We may not cover our eyes with our hands and pretend we’re blind. But, like Jessica, we sometimes cause our own problems and then complain about them. Instead of recognizing the part we’ve played in our circumstances and doing what we can to rectify it, we wait for God—or at least another human being—to rescue us.

Sometimes, it’s not a matter of creating our own mess, but of sustaining it beyond the point where it would have resolved naturally. When bad things happen to us, many of us feel more comfortable with continuing to receive sympathy than with moving on. But staying stuck isn’t going to bring us the emotional fulfillment we need.

Granted, there are situations in life that are hard—really hard—to move on from. There are times when needing long-term support is absolutely legitimate. But even during those times, it’s to our benefit not only to receive others’ support, but also to do all we can to help ourselves along the road to healing—even if all we can do is weep before the Lord with grief too deep for words.

Life can be hard. We’ve all suffered. But our suffering will be much less if we don’t cause it ourselves, and don’t prolong it any longer than necessary. When we’re in pain, it’s hard to face the possibility that maybe, we’re partly at fault. Not always, not even usually, but sometimes. And if we examine ourselves and find that there is something more we can do to help lessen our pain than what we’re doing, let’s do it. God will meet us there, and He’ll multiply our efforts toward healing.

Exodus 14:13-16—Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.”

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