June 2014

When You’ve Been with Jesus

Megan Breedlove June 30, 2014 No Comments

Early that morning, my husband dressed Timmy, our two-year-old, in shorts and a short-sleeved, navy blue polo shirt. Timmy looked neat and clean (and handsome, I might add). But only a few hours later—by midmorning—the front of Timmy’s shirt was no longer pristine.

Brightly-colored flecks of Play-Doh dotted the blue cotton, visible reminders of our playtime. There were also spots of oatmeal from Timmy’s breakfast that somehow got rubbed deeper into his shirt as I was trying to clean them off. And there was dirt from our front yard because (in my experience, at least) little boys can’t play outside without getting dirty.

As I looked at those specks and splotches, I realized that it would have been obvious even to a stranger what Timmy had been involved with that day. And the thought hit me—do you and I as moms have equally clear evidence in our lives that we have been with Jesus?

Peter and John—the disciples of our Lord—had lives that clearly bore that evidence. Oh, it took them time to grow in their faith, just as it takes us. But by the time they stood before Jewish leaders and answered the leaders’ questions, their courage had become so great that it was astonishingly obvious to those men that Peter and John had been with Jesus (see the complete story in Acts 4).

What evidence do you and I bear in our lives that we have been with Jesus?

Or maybe even before that, we need to ask ourselves, Have we been with Jesus?

If you’re not a Christian, then no, you don’t have a personal relationship with Him. (Please contact me; I’d love to introduce you to my Best Friend.) But if you are a Christian, you should be spending time with Him on a regular basis. Things like prayer, Bible study, and Christian fellowship should be a regular, vital part of your life, because in these ways, you encounter Jesus.

When you do—when you spend regular time with the Lord—it will be obvious in your life. There will be evidence.

One of the ways I’ve matured as I’ve grown in my relationship with Jesus is in my compassion and love for others. Perhaps you will grow the same way as you spend time with Him. Or maybe you’ll grow in other character qualities—patience or joy, for example. Maybe, like Peter and John, you will develop a divinely inspired courage. Maybe you’ll learn to control your tongue better and speak only what is helpful for building others up and benefiting those who listen (see Eph. 4:29).

Christ shining through you might look different in some ways from the way he shines through me, your best friend, or anybody else. That’s fine. One reason God made us all different is to that we can reflect different facets of His glory. But be assured that when you spend time with Jesus, He will shine through.

You won’t be able to help but be changed as you grow in your relationship with Him. That’s because no one who truly encounters Jesus can ever be the same. And to the extent that you encounter Him, the evidence will show forth in your life.

Have you been with Jesus enough that the evidence is clear?

Acts 4:13—When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. (NIV)

God’s Heart for You

Megan Breedlove June 23, 2014 No Comments

I have been blessed with wonderful in-laws. They love me deeply, and they show it. They also pour out their love on my children.

One of the ways in which they do this is to invite the kids to come stay with them each summer during the week their church holds Vacation Bible School. The kids not only get to attend a quality VBS program, but they get a special week on their own with Grandma and Pampa. During the week, they get to do all kinds of things with their grandparents—make cookies, play the Wii (we don’t have one, so this is an extra treat), go on day trips to places they’ve never been.

This year, when VBS week rolled around, I drove the children to their grandparents’ home to drop them off. I planned on staying overnight (they live 4.5 hours away, non-stop) and leaving the next morning.

As I was getting my few things packed up that next day, I paused for a moment, thinking about what else needed to be done. Kenny, who was standing near me, said, “You know, Mom, that even though I won’t be with you this week, my heart will always be with you.”

My heart was touched. I thanked him, hugged him, and told him how much I would miss him. I reminded him that he is a great kid, and that every day, because I wouldn’t be there to say it, I wanted him to imagine me telling him, “Kenny, you’re a great boy.”

Kenny grinned and hugged me back.

It was a sweet, precious moment—Kenny wanting to make sure I knew that he loved me, even though he wouldn’t be there in person to express it.

God did something very similar in sending the Holy Spirit to His disciples. Jesus knew—and He explained to them—that He was going back to heaven, back to the right hand of the Father. He knew they wouldn’t be able to see Him anymore, yet would still need to hold onto the things He had said to them. He told them the Holy Spirit, whom the Father would send, would remind them of everything—including the fact that He loved them deeply.

In other words, God the Father made provision for the disciples to continue to feel Jesus’ love for them even when He was no longer physically present.

As Christians, you and I have the same Holy Spirit today. The Holy Spirit is not some nebulous Being—He is a very real Person who lives in the heart of each Christian, of you and me. And part of the reason why He lives there is to remind us how much God loves us.

One day, we will see God face to face, and we will believe His love and begin the eternity-long process of comprehending it. But until then, we need to hear about God’s love over and over.

If God had done nothing more than allow Jesus to be put to death on the cross for us, even that would have been a far greater expression of love than we deserve. But He also gave us the written Word to remind us of His love, and He gave us the spoken Word (spoken Spirit-to-spirit) to remind us as well. “I will not leave you comfortless”, Jesus says in John 14:18 (KJV). “I will come to you.” And He does, in the Person of His Spirit.

He’s there anytime you need Him. When you feel unloved, when you’re rejected or feeling unwanted, He’s there to minister to you. Pour out your feelings to Him. Then listen for His Spirit within you replying, “My precious child, you are loved far more than you know.”

John 14:25-26—”All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (NIV)

Making Memories

Megan Breedlove June 16, 2014 No Comments

This past week, my oldest three children attended summer camp. Timmy, at 2 years old, wasn’t really old enough to understand what he was missing out on. But 6-year-old Jessica was. And she was bummed.

In order to make the week special for her, too, I decided that each day the older kids were at camp, Jessica, Timmy, and I would do something Jessica considered special. On the first four days, we did things like riding a miniature train through the largest city park (and stopping to buy popcorn halfway through); going out to eat; going to Bath & Body Works, smelling the different scented products, and buying Jessica some hand sanitizer; playing games; and going to one of our favorite parks that has a sandbox.

On Friday, the last day of camp, Jessica wanted to go to our smaller, neighborhood park—“our” park, as we call it. So I let Timmy and Jessica climb into the wagon, and I pulled them the two-and-a-half blocks to the park. Once there, I let them play on whatever they wanted, and I pushed them on the merry-go-round and the swings. I also took a few pictures to remember the day by.

But it wasn’t until later, as I was looking at one of those pictures on my computer, that I thought, We moms take plenty of pictures of the special times in our children’s and family’s lives. We want to make sure we remember those days. But what do we do to make sure we remember the special times with God? What do we put in place to guarantee that we won’t forget the things He’s done for us or the special memories we’ve made with Him?

If you’re like me, the answer is that you don’t do all that much to remember. Oh, sure, when God supplies us or our husband with a new job or rescues us from some difficulty (such as illness or financial disaster), we post about it on Facebook so everyone can “like” it and congratulate us. But what do we do to make sure that God’s mighty act doesn’t get lost in the general busyness of life, but gets passed down to our children (and maybe even grandchildren) so that it becomes part of the fabric of their memories and spiritual lives?

Many times in the Bible, the children of Israel are commanded to remember God and His deeds in some very real and tangible way. For example, in Joshua 4, when they are about to cross the Jordan River, God commands Joshua to choose 12 men (one for each of the tribes of Israel) and to command them to take up stones from the middle of the Jordan, and then to set them up on the other side of the river as a memorial to God’s mighty act in cutting off the flow of the Jordan before the Ark of the Covenant so that the people could cross. These stones were to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.

All throughout Scripture, God commands observances to be made in order to remember His great acts on behalf of His children. There are many festivals instituted for this purpose (Passover and The Lord’s Supper are only two examples). It was obviously quite important to God that we remember what He has done for us.

It still is.

So how can we make it a point to remember? There are many ways. We could record instances of His love and deliverance in a journal and make it a point to get out the journal and read it periodically. We could institute our own family festival to commemorate the day God did something very special in our family’s life. We could make up songs about the event and teach them to our children.

These are only a few examples. You can probably think of many more. The point isn’t so much what you do, as that you do something.

Thank God for the evidences of His mighty love and care toward you. Find a way to teach them to your children and make them a part of your family’s spiritual heritage. Remember them—not just once, or as long as it takes for your Facebook post to get buried in people’s news feeds—but forever.

We all know we’re supposed to celebrate God and what He has done. But we can’t do it if we don’t remember.

1 Samuel 17:12—Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far has the LORD helped us.”

Psalm 107:8—Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.

Being Fully Human

Megan Breedlove June 9, 2014 No Comments

At twenty-seven months of age, Timmy has begun to tell jokes. For quite some time now, he’s loved to do things that make us laugh. He still does. But now, he’s added a new skill to his repertoire: joke-telling.

The other day, Timmy told his first knock-knock joke. It went like this:

Timmy: “Knock-knock.”

Me: “Who’s there?”

Timmy: (silence)

Within days, however, he’d gotten the idea that when someone said “Who’s there?” he was supposed to say something back. So here’s his second joke:

Timmy: “Knock-knock.”

Me: “Who’s there?”

Timmy: “I don’t know.”

Okay, so he’s not quite there yet. But the point is, he’s getting there. Slowly but surely, he is learning the social rules for interaction with others, and he’s increasing in his ability to relate the way he wants to.

I wonder whether Jesus, when He was a little boy on this earth, liked to tell jokes.

I bet He did. I bet He loved to have fun, just like any other little boy. After all, He was fully human. Yes, even in His infancy and childhood, He was fully God. But He was also fully human.

Sometimes we forget that one of the implications of that is that Jesus had to learn things as He grew up. He had to learn to tell jokes. He had to learn to relate with others. He had to learn what to say and not to say. He had to learn to work hard. He had to learn the Scriptures.

I could go on, but you get the point. Even Jesus, who was Almighty God, had to learn things that any other human child has to learn. True, all other human children are sinful, and Jesus wasn’t. But there are many things children have to learn that have nothing to do with sin, so Jesus would have had to learn them too.

He wasn’t born as a fully functioning adult who, by the way, knew everything. He was born as a tiny, helpless infant. He had to learn to nurse. He had to learn to walk. He had to learn to be potty-trained. He had to learn to dress Himself. He had to learn to read and write. He had to learn to relate to others. He even had to learn to obey (see Hebrews 5:8).

There are two reasons why we’re talking about this today. One is that it’s always good to remember what Jesus did for us—how He humbled Himself to take on human form and had to learn and grow as a human (though one unmarked by sin).

The other is this: if even Jesus had to learn things and probably made mistakes along the way (not sins; I’m talking about mistakes like cutting a piece of lumber too short), then you and I need to give our children grace while they are still in the process of learning—which will be for their whole lives.

We need to give ourselves grace, too. Sometimes we moms expect too much of ourselves. Yes, we should do the very best we can with everything we have. But too often, we expect ourselves to somehow know and be able to do everything right now. If Jesus had to grow and change, we must realize that we ourselves will have to do the same thing.

So the next time you make a mistake, remember this: even Jesus probably made (non-sinful) mistakes. He went through a learning process just as you are going through one. And that’s okay. It’s the way He made you—to need to grow and learn. (In fact, we’ll spend all eternity in heaven continuing to do so.)

Yes, you need to ask forgiveness when you sin—both from God and from the one you have wronged. But when it’s a simple mistake…give yourself some grace. Be willing to be on the journey, and not yet fully there.

Let God work the same process in you that He once worked in His Son.

Luke 2:52—And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. (NIV)

When You’re Struggling

Megan Breedlove June 2, 2014 No Comments

This has been a difficult season for me.

I don’t mean spring, which went by in a blur. Nor do I mean summer, which is just now starting to heat up.

I mean the season of life I am currently in, and have been for awhile. Over the past several months, I’ve been struggling. The details of my struggle aren’t what’s important. Suffice it to say that it’s been long enough now that I am convinced God is not going to miraculously take this season away and make everything all right.

And so, because I am in the same place many of you are, I wanted to reach out to you today, to those of us who are struggling. If you’re not struggling with anything—if life is great right now—I’m glad for you. But you may want to read on anyway, because all of us will struggle at some point in our lives, and you may find yourself doing so in the future.

When we’re going through difficulties in life, our first reaction is usually to try to change our circumstances. To make the difficulties go away. We pray. We beg God. We read books. We talk to our pastor, priest, or friends. We do everything we can think of to make things better.

All of those things are good things to do. But sometimes, even they don’t seem to help much. Our circumstances don’t change. We continue to feel stressed, discouraged, or depressed. And we realize that God has said “no” to all our requests to change things and make the problems go away.

What then? What do we do then when it looks like our suffering is going to be going on for a long time? When every day is a struggle? When there’s no relief in sight?

The Apostle Paul would have understood our dilemma. Scripture tells us that three times, he asked the Lord to remove some unnamed problem or difficulty from him, but the Lord said no.

What then?

I don’t have all the answers. I can’t tell you when your difficult season will end, or why God won’t make it better right now. But I can tell you this—what will make the most difference to you during this time isn’t knowing exactly how many more days, weeks or years you have to go, or even knowing why God chose to permit your suffering.

What will make the most difference is knowing two things: first, God loves you deeply and passionately, and He cares about what is happening to you. You are His beloved child, and when you hurt, He hurts. God does not stand idly by, unmoved by your distress. Just as you long to comfort your children when they hurt, so God longs to comfort you. He loves you. In fact, He’s crazy about you. And when you suffer, He cares. Psalm 56:8 says, ”You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle.” In other words, when you are writhing in pain, whether physical or emotional, God cares about what is happening to you. When you cry, He cares. Why? Because He loves you.

The second thing you need to know is that this, too, shall pass. I know it’s a cliché, but it’s true. It hurts now, and it might hurt for a really long time. But eventually—whether here on earth or someday in heaven—the hurt will be over. In the meantime, we won’t drown in the pain, even if it feels like it. The stress will not overcome us. God has promised that He can, and will, bring us through. So yes, right now every day might be one more day of hurt. But it’s also one day closer to your deliverance.

While you still suffer, crawl up into God’s lap and let Him love on you. Let Him comfort your soul as only He can. And remember that He does indeed have plans for your suffering to be over, plans He’s already put in motion. Until then…you’ll make it.

He’ll be right beside you, holding your hand, all the way.

Isaiah 43:1-3a—But now, this is what the LORD says—he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

When You’ve Been with Jesus

God’s Heart for You

Making Memories

Being Fully Human

When You’re Struggling

You Missed

Priorities

I Wouldn’t Do That

Little Things

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