Manna For Moms

Devotions for Moms Like You!

2013

Freely Give

Megan Breedlove 2Comments

My son Kenny loves his Nintendo 3DS. In fact, playing games on it is one of his favorite things in the world to do. He’s even willing to do extra housework in order to earn more media time so he can play with it.

That’s why my husband knew it would be a difficult conversation when he had to sit down with Kenny and tell him what we think might have happened to his beloved DS, which had been lost for days.

Sure enough, when I walked into the room, Kenny was crying. My husband had explained to him that it was possible Timmy threw it away (Kenny had left it somewhere Timmy could reach it), but that whether or not that was the case, Kenny would have to earn money for another DS. So Kenny was not only grieving the loss of his prized possession, he was grieving the possibility of not having it replaced for a really long time.

At that point, Jessica came into the room. She had heard the discussion about Kenny’s having to earn money for another DS, and she went to stand in front of him. She opened her hands to show him a dollar and a quarter—all the money she had. “Here, Kenny,” she said.

That’s the kind of sweet, giving heart Jessica has. She’ll give even when it means she has nothing left for herself. But that’s not the end of the story.

Later that day, after returning home from a party, the kids each had some candy. The three older ones all had plenty, but Jessica had gotten only one piece. “It just seemed like it was too fast,” she said, the tears running down her face. She was referring to the fact that an adult at the party had been tossing candy into the air for the kids to grab, and Jessica had felt intimidated by all the other kids’ (including mine’s) diving to get the candy.

While I consoled her, Phil leaned down and whispered in Kenny’s ear. I found out later that he reminded Kenny how generous Jessica had been in offering him her money, and he suggested that Kenny offer her some of his candy. Phil said that Kenny froze, and Phil could almost see the thoughts passing through Kenny’s mind: thoughts of Jessica’s generosity warring with thoughts of wanting to keep all his candy for himself.

In case you’re wondering, generosity and love for his sister won out, and Kenny gave Jessica some candy. As he had freely received, he freely gave, just as Jesus commands us in Matthew 10:8.

It’s a good lesson for all of us, because we’ve all had blessings given to us. In fact, every blessing we’ve ever received has come from the free outpouring of God’s generosity to us. Yet too often, when we’re called upon to give freely in return, we don’t do it.

It doesn’t even necessarily have to be money or material goods, though there will be times when those things are appropriate. In the Matthew passage, Jesus was reminding His disciples that they had received abundant spiritual blessings from Him. Because of that, He said, they were to freely bestow blessings upon others, which He gave them the ability to do.

You and I have the ability to bless others too. We might not have much money, but again, that’s not what we’re talking about. (It wasn’t what Jesus was talking about either.) We can all bless others with kindness, with an encouraging word, with a smile or a hug or a look of understanding. We can offer as blessings our own experiences. We can identify with others and empathize with them. Best of all, of course, we can introduce them to the One who made all this possible for us.

When Jesus commanded the disciples to give freely, He knew they would have to take conscious action to do so, and his other words in the passage reflect that fact. Likewise, you and I need to be purposeful about giving freely to others. Otherwise, it just ain’t gonna happen on a regular basis.

Why not start by thinking about some of the blessings you have received, whether material, spiritual, emotional, or some other kind? Then take inventory of what you have that could be used to bless someone else. Finally, determine that you will use those things to bless others. Ask God to show you opportunities you might otherwise miss.

You see, giving freely isn’t just a nice thing to do. Remember that it’s also a command.

Matthew 10:8—“Freely you have received, freely give.” (NIV)

Nothin’ to Say

Megan Breedlove 2Comments

Yesterday morning, I had the pleasure of speaking to a neat group of Christians about what children need from their parents’ marriage. Afterward, the ladies (and some of the husbands and children) all went out to lunch. One first-time mom named Kelly had brought her infant daughter. She was in the process of sharing cute stories about the little girl when she suddenly stopped. “I’m sorry for talking so much about my daughter,” she said.

We all assured her there was nothing to be sorry about, and Bethany agreed. “I talk about my daughter all the time,” Bethany said, laughing. “If you don’t want to talk about my daughter, we got nothin’ to say to each other.”

Bethany’s point was one we moms all know well: we like to talk about our children, and we talk about them a lot. If someone isn’t interested in hearing about our children, there probably won’t be much of a connection between the two of us.

It’s the same point God wants us to understand. He has a Son who is very important to Him. And if someone isn’t interested in His Son, there’s no connection between that person and God.

The Bible tells us that because of our sin, the relationship between God and us was broken. We could no longer come close to Him because of the huge moral chasm between us. So God, because of His immense and perfect love for us, sent His Son Jesus to take the punishment for our sins so that we didn’t have to. So that we could be reconciled to Him, back into a loving, intimate daily relationship.

If someone isn’t interested in that—if someone doesn’t care about Jesus and what He’s done for them—there’s no connection with God. “You’re not interested in my Son?” God asks. “Then we have nothing to say to each other.”

Fortunately, the reverse is also true. When someone does care about what Jesus did for her, when she loves Jesus and accepts His rule over her life, that connection with God is repaired, and she and God have everything in the world to say to each other.

God doesn’t just save us from our sins and then ignore us for the rest of our lives. He has so many things He wants to say to us. He wants to speak love and joy into our lives, instruction and correction, strength and comfort. But He only says those things to those with whom He has a relationship. And the only way to have a relationship with Him is through His Son Jesus.

Interested in Jesus? A fantastically incredible relationship with the God of the universe is yours for the asking.

Not interested? That’s your choice. But it’s the most tragic choice you’ll ever make.

John 14:6— Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (NIV)

“Toe” the Line

Megan Breedlove 0Comment

The way my husband Phil tells it, it went something like this: Phil and the kids were at his parents’ house in Houston for a visit (I was teaching at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference in, well, Colorado). Phil and his dad were sitting on the couch talking while Phil’s mom got dinner ready in the kitchen. Timmy, wanting to be where Grandma was, was getting underfoot. So Phil removed him from the kitchen to the adjoining living room.

Before I finish the story, I should also tell you that we have been working on teaching Timmy the meaning of the word “no”. It had been going well that weekend, right up until Timmy got removed to the living room. He toddled back toward the kitchen.

“No, Timmy!” my husband instructed.

Timmy paused right there at the dividing line between the carpet of the living room and the linoleum of the kitchen floor. He stood there rocking back and forth from one foot to the other. And then, ever so slowly, he extended one toe and touched the linoleum with it.

At that point, my husband jumped up, hauled Timmy back to the couch, and said, “Time out, Timmy.”

Timmy had disobeyed.

But it was only one toe, we might be tempted to protest. It’s not like he went all the way into the kitchen.

That’s the problem. We excuse our children’s disobedience by saying that it’s not that big a deal. Worse yet is the fact that we do the same thing regarding our disobedience to God. We act like sticking a toe over the line ought to be okay with Him.

I didn’t have an affair; I just flirted a little, we rationalize.

Yes, I was impatient. But look at all I have to put up with!

So I don’t ever read my Bible regularly. At least I know what it says.

We look at our disobedience and say that one toe over the line shouldn’t be that big a deal, when in reality, God doesn’t want us to be anywhere close to the line. Jesus had lots to say to those who thought their sin was no big deal. He told them that even those who are guilty of “little” sins are in fact guilty of the “big” ones as well.

Flirting is already being unfaithful. Being impatient is being selfish. Neglecting God’s Word is disrespect and disobedience.

Is there something in your life right now that’s sin, for which you have been making excuses? Have you sinned in a way that you’re trying to pretend is no big deal?

Lest you say “no” too quickly, remember that we have all sinned, and if you’re not in this situation right now, you’ll be tempted to excuse or minimize your sin in the future. But instead of doing that—instead of acting like one toe over God’s line is no problem—let’s fall on our knees before God and repent. Let’s be sorry. Let’s turn from our sin.

No more excuses or minimizing, mom. No more.

John 15:22—“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.” (ESV)

Wildflower Love

Megan Breedlove 0Comment

wildflowers in a white vaseOn top of my piano sits a bouquet of beautiful wildflowers in a variety of shapes and colors. This bouquet was carefully gathered for me not by a florist, but by my four older children on a recent overnight at their friends’ country home. Knowing that there were lovely flowers in the area, the kids decided to go walking and pick several for me.

Now, I enjoy the bouquet in my dining room. But what I enjoy most about it isn’t the beauty I can see. It’s the beauty I can’t see.

Those flowers represent love. Pure, sweet love that was strong enough to motivate my children to expend their energy and effort to do something that would bring me pleasure. And as I look at the flowers, I find that I’m motivated in return—to spend my time and energy on searching out things that will bring them pleasure.

Sometimes, those things might be as simple as making their PBJ sandwich (instead of requiring them to make it for themselves) and then cutting it into shapes. Other times, it might mean reading to them, playing a game with them, or seizing a few free moments on a beautiful day to take them to the park.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be something huge in order to delight our kids; it just needs to be something designed to make them happy.

After all, it’s the same way God treats us.

Every day, God pours blessings into our lives. Every day, He does things designed to delight us. He does them on our good days; He sometimes does even more special things on our bad days. He knows our hearts, and He knows how much we long to be delighted. So He showers us with good things, both big and small.

You and I both can think of lots of things that would bring delight to our kids’ hearts. If we spend some time thinking about it, we could probably come up with even more. We don’t have to be especially creative. We can just do the things we know to do and ask God to open our eyes to see other, special things that would make our children happy.

I’m going to have that bouquet of flowers to look at for days. Maybe even a week. And every time I look at it, I will remember not only my children’s love for me, but God’s love for me. He sent me a bouquet of flowers through my children. So I’ll be thankful—to Him and to them. And I’ll spend time this week thinking about ways to delight my children—not just because I love them, but because their heavenly Father wants to give them gifts through me.

Will you do the same?

James 1:17— Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

While You Can

Megan Breedlove 0Comment

This past week, I attended the Colorado Christian Writers Conference in beautiful Estes Park. I spent three days on the campus of the YMCA of the Rockies, which is surrounded by mountains (some of which were still snow-capped). My spirit was refreshed by the worship sessions there, and I loved getting to reconnect with old friends as well as make new ones. I especially enjoyed teaching my clinic and getting to know my students.

wildflowers growing in rocky groundEven walking in between the buildings to get where I needed to be was a pleasure as I soaked in the beautiful scenery. Once, on my way to one particular building, I happened to notice two dandelions poking their heads up between some rocks. I thought they were pretty, so I stopped and took their picture, then continued into the building to teach my clinic.

When I came out an hour later, I looked for the dandelions again. They were still there, but one had closed up its beautiful yellow head. I realized that if I hadn’t taken the picture when I first saw them, I would have missed my chance.

Our children, too, are flowers that are only open some of the time. We can’t count on being able to connect with them or teach them any time we want. We have to do it when they’re open.

For example, our children tend to be most open to learning to love Jesus when they’re young. If we don’t make it a priority to introduce them to Him and teach them about Him while we can, we might miss the opportunity. That’s not to say that missing one opportunity will doom our children to a life without Christ. But when we consistently fail to make spiritual instruction a priority, we’re missing the chance to teach them while they’re open.

Likewise, there are moments in each day when we have the chance to connect with our children’s hearts. Yet often we’re too busy on Facebook or with some other pursuit to really stop and connect. Again, missing one opportunity won’t doom us to a bad relationship with our children or cause them to grow up feeling unloved. But missing those opportunities on a consistent basis means failing to pour love into their lives while we have the chance.

Precious mom, watch carefully for the times when your children are open. Ask God to open your eyes to see those times you might have missed otherwise. And then take action. Don’t miss the opportunity.

Do it while you can.

Ephesians 5:15-16—Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. (NIV)

Back to Normal

Megan Breedlove 0Comment

Yesterday was Mother’s Day. Time for breakfast in bed, flowers, and gifts. Time for artwork with your child’s handprint, carefully printed cards saying “You’re the greatest”, and everybody’s best behavior.

Today is the day after Mother’s Day. Time for…well, for the same ol’, same ol’. No breakfast in bed. No gifts. No special treatment. Everything’s back to normal.

Which means that you probably won’t get as many expressions of appreciation as you do on Mother’s Day itself. You probably won’t get the same pampering. You’ll get the same thing you get 364 days of the year—whatever that looks like at your house.

Getting back to normal can be a bit of a let-down.

That’s because inside of each mom is a longing to feel valued and appreciated. Often, this longing is pretty well satisfied on Mother’s Day. But the other 364 days per year? Not so much.

It’s normal and natural to desire to feel appreciated. It’s a part of being human that God purposely crafted into us. But often, it goes unfulfilled.

Why? Because we’re looking to the wrong people.

Yes, our husband (if we’re married) should show us appreciation. But he may not completely understand what we need. Besides, he has his own appreciation cup that needs filling.

Yes, our children should show appreciation to us. But they can’t fully grasp the magnitude of what we do for them, so they don’t fully appreciate us. (And that’s fine; they’re children!)

Friends, family, and society won’t fully appreciate us either. They all have their own appreciation cups to fill.

So what do we do with this God-given need that the people around us can’t totally meet?

We bring it to Him. Every time we long for more appreciation, instead of trying to force those around us to give it to us, we go to God. He is always ready and willing to pour His appreciation into our souls, and He knows how to do it way better than any human being possibly could.

So when Mother’s Day turns into “Regular, Ordinary Monday”, remember this: you are still appreciated. True, you might not get as many tangible expressions of appreciation from your family. But there is One who longs to pour into your spirit all those intangibles that are so much more fulfilling than what we demand from others anyway.

Why not take Him up on His offer?

Psalm 62:8—Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

One Blade

Megan Breedlove 3Comments

green lawn mowerRecently, I was having a stressful day. I had some things on my mind, and I was tired of doing child care. I told my husband I needed a break. He went outside and came back in a half hour later. “I weed-eated around the fence line, the shed, the swing set, and everything else out there,” he said, referring to the back yard. “Why don’t you go mow the rest?”

Lest you think my husband was being particularly insensitive, I must tell you that I actually enjoy mowing (except the detail work, which he had just taken care of). Phil knows I like the simple mindlessness of the work, the basic-labor kind of joy in pushing the mower up and down our quarter-acre back yard. I also like doing a task that’s going to stay done and looking nice for longer than 30 seconds after I complete it.

So I jumped at the chance to go mow. The kids followed me outside and played on the swing set while I mowed. Up and down. Back and forth. Watching the patch yet to be mowed growing smaller and smaller. I felt like I was truly accomplishing something.

At one point, I looked back over an area I had just mowed to make sure I got it all. I saw one long blade of grass sticking up in the midst of an otherwise-well-mowed section of lawn. I knew that one blade didn’t matter all that much, but I went back and mowed it down anyway. Why? Because I wanted to do the job right.

We’d all do well to take the same approach when uprooting sin from our lives. Yet too often, we leave one blade of sin sticking up, and we say to ourselves, Well, that’s good enough. But it isn’t. It’s not doing the job right.

Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that we could be forgiven of some of our sins, or even most of them. He sacrificed Himself so all our sins could be forgiven. He did the job right. And aren’t we glad? Aren’t we grateful that everything we’ve done is forgiven, not just the things that wanted to lie down and die easily on the first pass over them?

Why, then, do we only take some of the sins in our life seriously enough to make sure they are mowed down? God has commanded us to be holy. Not “kind of” holy, not “sort of” holy, but completely holy. He even gives us a promise, through the apostle Paul, that if we don’t put sin to death in our lives, we will die, but if we do, we will live.

I want to live abundantly, and I bet you do too. But we can only do so to the extent we are willing to give up known sin. To put it to death. To mow it down. To the extent that we tolerate sin in our lives, we won’t fully live.

What sins are sticking up in your life right now? What sins have you been tolerating because you think they aren’t that big a deal, or because hey, at least you mowed the rest of them down?

Precious mom, mow the whole yard. Put to death every sin that you find in your life. If you think you’re done, ask God to point out anything else to put to death, and see what He shows you.

Your life may still look pretty good even with that one sin sticking up in the middle. But you won’t be as fully alive as you could be.

Go mow it down.

Romans 8:13—For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

Eagle Ears

Megan Breedlove 0Comment

Bald eagleYou’ve heard the phrase “eagle eyes”. It refers to a person who can see things from far away or spot things in a crowd of other things. My husband recently coined the phrase “eagle ears”. It means, as you would imagine, a person who can hear faint noises or hear things from far away.

Timmy has a spectacular set of eagle ears. When the front door opens, he hears it, even if he’s at the back of the house and the person opening the door is quiet about it. The other day, my husband was holding Timmy on his lap and cuddling him. Suddenly, Timmy began twisting forcefully out of my husband’s arms, trying to get down. Phil set him down, and Timmy made a beeline toward the front of the house. Then my husband heard the front door open. That time, Timmy had heard me before I even opened the door.

True, there are times I wish Timmy weren’t quite so clingy. But I love it how he’s absolutely delighted whenever I come home. I love seeing him run into the living room to greet me, wanting to be picked up immediately. I love hearing his little voice as he “talks” to me, telling me in his own way that he’s glad I’m home.

I bet God would love it too if we were that attentive to Him. How often does God show up, figuratively speaking, and we don’t even hear Him coming because the sound of His coming makes no difference to us? How often does He arrive, and we stay in the back of the house because we figure being in the same house with Him is close enough—or because we don’t care that He’s home? How often does God make His presence known, and we don’t bother getting down to see Him because we’re more interested in what we were doing before He showed up?

Granted, God’s Holy Spirit lives within each person who believes in Jesus Christ. So in a sense, God is always with us. But I’m talking here about the times when God shows up in a special way, such as when He wants to show us something or tell us something, and we’re oblivious.

If we had eagle ears for God’s voice, I bet we’d hear Him a lot more than we do now. That’s because God doesn’t just show up once in a while. He’s constantly coming to us to commune with us, and we don’t care or don’t know it.

Maybe the problem is that we don’t recognize the sounds of His arrival. We’re so caught up with what we’re doing that we don’t realize what we’ve just heard. It’s not that we don’t want to hear Him or don’t care; it’s that we don’t know how. We’d love to hear Him all day long, in the midst of this often chaotic craziness that is motherhood. But we don’t hear Him because we don’t recognize His daily voice. If He sounded like Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments, we’d get it. But He usually doesn’t, so we miss Him.

What can we do to fix the problem? It depends on what the problem is. If you aren’t interested in hearing from Him, you repent. You bow before God (literally or figuratively) and you ask Him to forgive you for your hard or apathetic heart. You ask Him to replace your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

If you want to hear Him but don’t know how, you ask Him to teach you. Ask Him to open the eyes of your heart so that you can see the blessed richness of His heart toward you and His desire to communicate with you—and so that you can then respond!

I long for the day in heaven when communication between me and God won’t be hard anymore. When my sin or lack of understanding won’t get in the way. When I’ll be able to see Him face to face and know Him fully, even as I am fully known.

But until then…until it’s obvious when God arrives, and until our hearts always long for His appearing…until then, let’s pray, and ask Him to fix our heart. Because I don’t want to miss out on even one second of when God wants to be with me.

I know you don’t either.

Ezekiel 36:26—“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (NIV)

Ephesians 1:18—I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. (NIV)

1 Corinthians 13:12—Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

2 Timothy 4:8—Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day–and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Dropping Crumbs

Megan Breedlove 4Comments

My youngest son Timmy loves to be played with physically. He loves to be spun, tossed, bounced, and flipped. The other day I was standing in the kitchen, and Timmy walked up to me wanting “up”. I picked him up and let him wrap his legs around my waist. Then I leaned him back into my arms and began swooshing him back and forth.

Timmy immediately began to giggle in that infectious way that makes everyone around him want to laugh too. His mouth dropped open, and crumbs from something-or-the-other he’d been eating fell out as he giggled. He was enjoying life and having a blast.

That’s the kind of enjoyment I want to get from life too. I don’t necessarily want my food to fall out of my mouth, but I want to enjoy life wholeheartedly, in a way that makes others want to join in.

Granted, there are some things in life that aren’t any fun. Timmy would acknowledge that. Getting told “no” doesn’t make him laugh. Neither does getting his nose sucked out with the bulb syringe. In fact, he cries. Screams, is more like it. And there will be times in our lives, too, when we wail in protest.

But the rest of the time…oh, the rest of the time, I want to laugh like crazy! I want to squeeze every bit of enjoyment out of life that I can. I don’t want to miss the moments of laughter because I’m too busy thinking about the unpleasant times; I don’t want to enjoy them any less because I’m so stressed out about the other stuff of life that I just don’t have it in me to laugh when “laugh time” comes around.

Even Jesus laughed. The Bible doesn’t say so specifically, but it does show examples of His enjoying life. Jesus was invited to a wedding, and He went. He was invited to more than one banquet, and He accepted the invitation. He embraced children. And these are only some of the examples.

The Bible doesn’t tell us Jesus ever enjoyed the warmth of the sun on a beautiful spring day, or the peacefulness of being out on the water on the Sea of Galilee. But He must have. He made those things! And if we, being human, enjoy them, how much more must He enjoy His own creation?

There must have been times He laughed till He cried. There must have been times, when He was a child, that He enjoyed His mother or father’s embrace. Maybe He even enjoyed playing with them in the same way I played with Timmy, giggling until everybody else joined in, crumbs falling from His lips.

Maybe you and I should take a lesson from Jesus. And from Timmy. Let’s deal with the unpleasant parts of life when they have to be dealt with. But when life brings out the giggles in us, let’s enjoy it to the fullest.

Psalm 118:24—This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (NIV)

Someday Heroes

Megan Breedlove 0Comment

Before I became a parent, I was pretty sure that training and disciplining a child would be easy. My child would do A, I would calmly respond with a well-thought-out and right-on-target B, and I would get result C—cheerful obedience or successful completion of the task. For the more stubborn issues, the process might repeat itself once or twice.

I didn’t realize that my kids wouldn’t always “get it” as soon as I thought they should.

Your kids probably don’t always understand or comply with your instructions the first time either. You know how frustrating it can be to remind a child to do a task he’s already forgotten (or resisted doing) several times, or to have to repeatedly explain something before your child says, “Ohhhhhh, I get it.”

Jesus understands the need to explain yourself over and over because, although He didn’t have children, He had the disciples. And they required plenty of explanations and repetition for what they should have been able to understand sooner.

Check out what Jesus says in Luke 24:44. “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” (ESV) He had already told them that He would be put to death then raised on the third day. But they didn’t really understand until Jesus said, “See? This is what I was talking about all those other times” (my paraphrase).

These twelve guys, Jesus’ chosen ones, didn’t always understand their Master the first time He said something. They couldn’t always do something the first time they tried (see Matthew 17:14-23). Yet despite the fact they were adults and might have been expected to know better, Jesus didn’t give up on them. He was willing to invest His life in them and even repeat Himself a few, or a million, times, so that He could build men who would one day become the pillars of His church. Men who would become heroes of the faith.

Precious mom, as you rear your children, you, too, are building men or women who will one day become the pillars of Christ’s church.

That little boy who won’t stop throwing expensive things into the toilet? Someday, he may be a pillar of the church.

The little girl who still has to be reminded to wash her hands after she uses the potty? A beautiful pillar in the house of her God.

The older boy who can’t keep his room clean to save his life? One day, a hero of the faith.

Even little Peter, James, and John probably had to be told a million times to shut that door. Even the Apostle Paul, when he was a child, had to be taught to strap on his sandals. And yet these same kids who didn’t “get it” the first time or the tenth or the fiftieth, went on to become heroes.

It doesn’t matter if your kids don’t look much like heroes today. God can make them heroes, mighty men and women who contend fearlessly for their faith and their God in the marketplace, in their homes, and in their churches. He can take that child you devoutly hope won’t pick his or her nose during the school play and embarrass you, and turn him or her into a mighty warrior for His cause.

So when it seems like you’ve already told your children something a million times…when it seems like a particular discipline problem will never get resolved…when you wonder why your children just don’t get it, remember that someday, they probably will.

Someday, they just might be heroes.

Matthew 17:14-23— When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” “O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. ” When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.

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