Thursday, March 24, 2011

He cares

I am so thankful for God.  I'm thankful for His Word and thankful that it is true.  This morning, while I was reading, I felt comforted by How real He is and how much He cares.
You see, this past week or two, my family has been spending lots of time at home.  Everyone except for me has had a fever, cough and terrible headache.  Jeff was even prescribed medicine because he had walking pneumonia.  Not fun. 
Yesterday, after days and days at home, I could tell that my girls were feeling better.  Whew!  What a relief.  Everyone was no longer just contentedly lying around reading or watching movies.  They were up and moving and doing better.  However, you have to remember that besides Jeff, this is a house full of girls.  Girls whose feelings can get hurt, who tend to cry when over-tired and who sometimes don't even know why they are so sad.  (Sounds like I'm just describing myself.) 
Last night, one of my girls went to bed feeling quite unhappy.  I didn't know what to do for her, except give her lots of hugs and tell her that she'd feel better after a good night's sleep.  Things truly do tend to seem better in the morning.
This morning, as I was reading the Bible, I read a very familiar story.  It was about Jesus and Lazarus.  (John 11:1-11:57)  As I was reading, I noticed that Jesus didn't seem too bothered that his buddy was about to die.  He even told his disciples that Lazarus was already asleep (v.12-13), meaning dead.  He didn't seem to show emotion about it...but, isn't this the part of the Bible where the verse, "Jesus wept" is found?  Hmmm....  I kept reading, thinking it was strange.  I always thought Jesus wept because his friend died.  Then, I got to verse 33 and I understood.  It says, "When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled."......He was moved and troubled by Mary's broken heart.  THEN Jesus wept. 
When I read that, I thought of the sad little girl I tucked into bed last night.  When I left her room, I wanted to cry.  I felt for her, but nothing I could say would really change the way she was feeling.  It brought me such comfort to read about Jesus' heart.  He was feeling for Mary and the Jews who were mourning.  It made him deeply troubled to see their sadness.  He feels the same way about us when we are sad.  I will most definitely be sharing this with my daughter today.  I know that there are times when you want someone to just change the subject, cheer you up and help you move on to think about other things. There are also times when you simply need to know that someone cares and feels for you and gets you right where you are.  Something about THAT helps you "snap out of it" sometimes, too.
I'm so glad we have such a loving and compassionate God!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Grace

If a woman learns to embrace the challenges of life head on and is determined to bring light into darkness, celebration into the mundane, forgiveness to the offenses, grace to the ugly, she can help to determine the way all who are in her home see and learn to love God.
Sally Clarkson