2014

Created by God

Megan Breedlove August 4, 2014 No Comments

My 9-year-old son Kenny has recently developed an interest in origami. He loves checking out how-to books from the library and spending hours at home folding square papers into intricate creations. He’s really good at looking at the instructions and then producing the desired outcome.

I, on the other hand, am not. Recently, Kenny tried to teach me to make an origami crane. I tried—really, I did—but I kept getting lost or doing something wrong. “Well, that’s okay. It’s only your first try,” Kenny would say. Or, “Well, that’s one way to do it. But how about you do it like this?”

I admire his abilities, especially since they are in an area in which I am not skilled. I also admire the amount of effort and persistence it takes to produce a whole dining room table full of creations, and then some.

But as impressive as Kenny’s abilities are in creating his works of art, God’s abilities in creating you and me are even more impressive.

After all, God started with nothing. No instructions, no raw materials. He uses the process of two tiny cells coming together, but it is ultimately He who grants life to the combination of cells, thereby forming a person. And He is the One who arranges for the exact combination of DNA to occur in order to produce the human being He wants to create.

Your life was not an accident.

Your particular combination of genetics, skills, and personality is not an accident.

Nor were they determined by your earthly mother and Father.

They were ordained—chosen, appointed—by God.

Just as Kenny sets out to create something he has in mind, God set out to create you. In fact, He had you in mind since before the world began. Then, at just the right time, He caused just the right DNA to combine to create the you He wanted you to be, and He breathed life into that teeny, tiny one-celled human being.

Some of you may have grown up being told that you are nothing special. Maybe you were rejected not by your parents, but by a friend, family member, or even spouse. But God didn’t think of you before the foundation of the world, and then go to all the trouble to make you just as He did, because He was creating junk. He created you according to the design of His infinite creativity and declared you to be a marvelous creation.

You, precious mom, were designed and brought to life by God. You have the particular qualities and characteristics that you do because He made you that way. Why? Two reasons. First, He has a plan for you and your life, and He made you according to the exact specifications necessary to enable you to fulfill that plan. And second—and I hope this touches you deep in your heart, just as it touches me—He wanted an intimate relationship with a person like you.

Have you ever thought about that? That God wanted a relationship with someone just like you? It’s true. No one else in this world will relate to God in exactly the same way you will, and that’s by His design.

What an incredible thought—that Almighty God, who doesn’t need anybody, wanted you and me.

Think about that this week. Let it sink into your soul.

Psalm 139:14—I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

What God Says to You

Megan Breedlove July 28, 2014 No Comments

Bible heart Every night, when I put my kids to bed, I pray for them. I make sure they’re all settled in, and then, as I leave the room, I say, “Hey, you know what? You’re a great kid, and I love you, and God loves you!” (I want those words to be the last they hear from me at the end of each day. Plus, it’s a great reminder as they go off to sleep.)

The other night, I had put Timmy in his crib, made sure he had his sport cup tucked in with him, and covered him with his blanket. I stroked his head, preparing to begin my prayer for him, which I usually begin the same way (and which I’ve heard him quote before). “What does Mommy say?” I asked him.

“’No, Timmy! No!’” Timmy responded matter-of-factly.

I couldn’t help but laugh. As an active two-year-old, Timmy does indeed hear some variation of those words several times a day. He loves exploring and getting into things, and sometimes, he wants to mix into things that aren’t good for him. When that happens, I have to tell him no.

Nonetheless, his answer made me laugh, because it wasn’t the answer I was expecting (accurate though it was). It also made me think.

You and I both know that what we say to our children on a regular basis is going to get stuck in their heads. God understands this principle, too (of course), and He uses it in a positive way to try to get His words into our minds and hearts.

Just look at the Bible. Over and over in the Bible, God tells us how much He loves us. He tells us repeatedly how special we are to Him.

Why does He do this? Because He forgot He said it before? Hardly. He repeats Himself because He knows that if He only says it once, we’re not going to get it. We need to hear it time after time in order to even begin to absorb it.

If God were to ask us, “What do I say to you?” He would want us to respond, “You say, ‘I love you!’” He wants this knowledge of His love so to pervade our minds and hearts that we’re always thinking about it—and so that when those other voices come, telling us that we’re worthless, we’ll realize they are not His voice.

As if it weren’t enough for God to tell us over and over in the Old Testament that He loves us, He also sent His Son down here to show us. Then, in the New Testament, He tells us some more. “I love you! I love you! I love you!”

This is the message He wants us to hear playing in our heads when we think of Him. So He tells us over and over in Scripture, He sends His Son to show us, and He continues to tell us throughout our days, in thousands of ordinary ways.

If God tries to communicate this message to you so many times and in so many different ways, don’t you think it must be pretty important to Him? The reason it’s so important is that He wants you to know what He is like, to feel deeply, passionately loved, and to therefore desire a relationship with Him.

I encourage you to spend some time this week—today, even—meditating on God’s love for you. Get your Bible out, and look up some passages that talk about how much God loves you. (If you’re not sure how to do that, there are some great topical concordances online that can help.) No matter where you are in your understanding of God’s love, this practice of meditating on what He has said to you will help you record these words in your mind and heart so that they’ll play back when you need them, and sometimes even for no particular occasion except that God wants to send you a “love note” right then.

The Bible is all about God’s love for you and desire for an intimate relationship with you. Shouldn’t you spend some time thinking about what it says?

Romans 5:5b—God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (ESV)

Are You Ready to Get Going?

Megan Breedlove July 21, 2014 No Comments

When you have an almost-two-and-a-half-year-old who is very aware of what is going on around him, there’s no such thing as leaving the house by yourself. Not unless you possess military-level skills for avoiding detection, that is.

Timmy loves to go o-u-t-s-i-d-e. If he sees me gathering up my purse, or even putting on shoes, he asks, “Where going, Mommy?”

If he hears me and my husband talking about my running out to do some errands, and one of us mistakenly says the word “go” loud enough that Timmy can hear it, he says, “Wanna go too!”

Sometimes, even when told he can’t go, Timmy will go find his sandals and struggle to put them on. Or if someone else’s shoes are handy (like one of his sisters’ pairs of dress shoes), he will put those shoes on instead. Whatever. He’s flexible. All he cares about is showing that he’s ready to go because he has shoes.

Timmy doesn’t even need to know where I’m going. Anywhere is good enough. The mere knowledge that I’m going places—anywhere at all—is enough for him. If I’m going, he wants to go too. And if I invite him to go with me, he gets even more excited.

I bet God would love it if we as moms were always equally ready to go where He is going in our lives.

Too often, when we realize that God wants to take us somewhere, we demand to know all the details before setting out so we can decide whether we want to go. If the details meet with our approval, then sure, we’ll accompany Him. If not—or if He won’t give us all the details in advance—we’re reluctant to follow Him out the door. We might even refuse.

But when God is moving in our lives, we should be excited to go with Him—not reluctant or fearful, and certainly not unwilling. True, sometimes God takes us through circumstances that are not pleasant. But if we’re only willing to follow when we know in advance that the road ahead is going to be smooth, what kind of relationship do we really have with Him? Certainly not one of trust in His care and provision for us on the way, and definitely not one that recognizes Him as the supreme authority to decide what’s good or necessary for our lives.

When we insist upon knowing all the details in advance, or when we’re reluctant to go with Him because it might involve something unpleasant, that’s equivalent to making our own desires and comfort a higher priority than His desires. And that’s completely, 100%, wrong.

Not just because we’re wrong to put ourselves before God (though certainly that). But also because going with Him, even through less-than-pleasing circumstances, is far better than staying behind. We would never say that we believe living distant from God is better than being with Him, but our actions and attitudes show it to be true.

What matters most to you in life? Is it your own comfort and ease? Or is it an intimate relationship with your Creator and Savior?

If it’s the former, let me tell you this: by seeking your own joy, you’re going to lose it. But if it’s the latter, let me assure you that you will never go on any greater, more fantastic adventure than accompanying God somewhere.

Are you ready to get going?

Isaiah 6:8—And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” (NIV)

Luke 17:33—Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. (ESV)

When You’re Tempted to Be Discontent

Megan Breedlove July 14, 2014 No Comments

no broccoli You can’t please everyone.

This is especially true when you are serving dinner to your children. With each child you have, the odds increase that somebody isn’t going to like what’s served. Even if you only have one child, it’s entirely possible that what he or she liked the last time you served it may get a very different approval rating this time.

So, if you’re like our family, you have had to try to teach your children how to be polite about something they don’t like. Of course, your kids will put their own spin on your instructions, and you will wind up hearing comments like this recent one from Ellie, when I had prepared a ham-yam-pineapple dish: “I really like it. Except for the ham. And the yams. And, well, the pineapple.”

Or this one from Jessica: “Can I have a cheese rollup too? Except without any cheese, but with peanut butter.”

Kids in general (though there are certainly exceptions) seem to have a relatively narrow range of likes and dislikes related to food. If what you serve falls between those parameters (which, by the way, change frequently and without warning), all is well. But if not?

To paraphrase a slogan I recently read on Facebook, “There is no fury like that of a toddler whose sandwich you cut into squares when he wanted triangles.”

Kids can be pretty picky sometimes. If your children aren’t, and will actually eat things like onions and mushrooms without implying that you are trying to kill them, then you are truly blessed. But for most of us, the truism “Children are picky eaters” will, indeed, ring true.

Unfortunately, you and I as moms are sometimes equally picky in terms of what we want out of life, and even out of God. God offers us something that is perfectly good for us, and we want to modify it or refuse it entirely. It’s one thing to make our own choice when God lets us choose, which He does sometimes do. It’s another thing entirely to act as if God must fashion our circumstances according to our demands.

We are not the ones in authority—the ones with perfect knowledge of everything, past, present, and future. We are not the ones capable of determining what’s best for us, or what’s necessary for God’s plan for our lives to work out right. Yet we act as if God has done us a disservice by allowing some unpleasant circumstance into our lives.

I’m not suggesting that we should never pray and ask God to change our circumstances. Even Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, beseeching God to stop what was going to happen if it was at all possible. The Apostle Paul prayed three times, asking God to remove some unnamed thing that was tormenting him. At various places in Scripture, we are commanded to pray or to bring our requests before God.

The problem is not in asking God to heal us from sickness or to provide for our financial needs. The problem comes when we act like God is required to please us and conform our circumstances to our liking, and if He doesn’t, we’re not going to accept them.

But who are we to determine what is best for us? Is it not rather Almighty God, who is our Creator and Sustainer?

Is there something in your life right now that you’re refusing to accept from God’s hand? Something where God has told you, “This is the way it has to be for now”?

Don’t fight Him. Nothing good can come of striving against the Almighty. You will lose—and you will miss out on the blessings you could have had along the way.

Job 38:18—Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this. (NIV)

Isaiah 55:9—As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (NIV)

Isaiah 29:16—You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

When You’re Tempted to Complain

Megan Breedlove July 7, 2014 No Comments

Sometimes, having a good attitude is hard.

At least, it was hard for Ellie on a day not long ago. Several things didn’t go her way, and as each one happened, she complained. I could understand how she felt (I’m often tempted to complain, too, when things don’t go as I would like), but I knew I needed to say something to her.

Of course, I thought later of better and more articulate ways I could have handled the situation. But what I said at the time was, “Ellie, you need to stop complaining. If you’re really having a bad day, you can come talk to me about it. But don’t just go around being negative.” (I got it sort of right.)

Fast forward to yesterday morning, when Ellie said to me, “Mom, the last few days haven’t been going right at all for me. Can we talk about them? You told me to come to you instead of just complaining.”

I was pleased that she was making the effort to properly handle the temptation to complain. Of course, I made time to talk to her and let her voice her concerns. We talked about what she could do about them, as well as things I could do that would be helpful to her. Instead of spreading a cloud of negativity over our home because of her feelings about the past few days, Ellie did the right thing and chose to bring her concerns to someone (me) who would listen to her and help her with them.

It’s the same thing you and I need to do when we’re tempted to complain. We need to bring our concerns to someone who loves us and will help us deal with them. And while it’s marvelous to have human friends, family, or clergy who will listen to us when we have a need, it’s even better to have God.

The only problem is, you and I don’t take advantage of His willingness to listen as often as we should (which is every time). Instead of taking our concerns to God and asking Him to help us deal with them, we too often resort to complaining— venting our frustrations into the air, to whomever happens to be listening.

Now please don’t misunderstand me: I’m not suggesting that we should never tell anyone what’s bothering us, or pretend like everything’s fine when it isn’t. Far from it. In fact, one reason God gives us friends and family, as well as a community of Christian believers, is so we can help bear one another’s burdens. But there’s a difference between the kind of complaining the Bible forbids, and talking out what’s bothering us, in the way God meant for us to do, with someone we trust.

It’s okay to talk about our concerns with someone when we need help dealing with what’s going on. When we’re stressed or overloaded (and every mom experiences this at times), we need someone to hear us and help us figure out how to handle it. That’s fine. What isn’t fine is when we complain, finding fault with the circumstances God has allowed into our lives, with no real goal in mind other than just spewing out our negativity and (we think) relieving some of our tension for now.

In the first case, even if we have another human being to walk through our troubles with us, we still need to take them before God and talk to Him about them. After all, He’s the One who can give us the best help. He allowed those circumstances into our lives and intends to walk through them with us and bring a particular kind of good out of them.

In the second case—when really, all we want to do is be negative—it’s far better to take our complaints to God than to vent them on other people. He alone can change our heart in regard to the circumstances He’s allowed and grant us His perspective. Not only that, but He can provide stress relief for us that’s far better than the small and temporary relief we get by spewing out negativity.

The next time you’re tempted to complain, think about it this way: Do you have some things going on in your life that you need help dealing with? Fine. Talk to God about them, and find a human being you love and trust to talk to. Or do you not really want help, but just want to complain about the unfairness of it all? Take that to God too. Ask Him to change your heart and perspective.

He can, and He will, in ways that mere complaining will never do.

Philippians 2:14—Do everything without complaining or arguing. (NIV)

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.”

Created by God

What God Says to You

Are You Ready to Get Going?

When You’re Tempted to Be Discontent

When You’re Tempted to Complain

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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