Loving Means Letting Go

I found this past year to be one of the most difficult as a Mom, as we sent our oldest, Micayla, off to college for the first time.  We were excited and proud of her and all that God was going to do in her life, yet we knew this was the beginning of many more changes.  In a little over a month we will be sending off our second oldest, Madelyn, to college.  How is this even possible, I seem to be asking myself more often than not…

We have been blessed with 6 children, that God has given us to care for and raise for Him.  We love them all dearly and are blessed to be a part of their lives.  Yet as each year quickly passes we know that we have to let go of them more and more.  That is the hard part.  We have always been a pretty close family, our kids tended to stay close to him rather than always at friends’ houses.  I always tried to make our home a place where other kids could come to and hang out.  Kind of safe haven for others to know they are always welcome to.  

However, when they all begin to go their different directions, all of a sudden it seemed like a pretty big empty house.  This summer that has become more of the reality.  Two of our kids chose to serve in different ministries this summer.  My oldest son, Nathaniel, has been working at Twin Pines camp this summer in the kitchen.  He is just about half way through his weeks there. And our second oldest daughter, Madelyn, is working with Christian Endeavor Summer Mission Weeks as part of the summer staff.  She has been gone for two weeks already and has about 3 more to go.  What an adjustment it has been to go from 6 down to 4.   Well yesterday, our oldest, Micayla left too. She also has a heart to serve.  Most of the summer she has worked full time, saving for school, but two weeks this summer, she is able to serve at two different camps. One, serving at a camp as a motivator/mentor “M&M” at C.E.’s Summer Assembly Summer Conference and then in a couple of weeks she will be a youth advisor for our youth groups summer camp.  Evan and Kienan will join Micayla at Summer Assembly this week.  They are so looking forward to being fed God’s Word and being with friends.  However, I have a feeling they will also be feeding others with their servant hearts. 

God has been so good to us in allowing our kids to all have a servant’s heart.  They want to go and do His calling in their lives.  It’s exciting as parents to see that, yet hard at the same time. Hard because they aren’t home. Rewarding because we know they are being obedient to the calling God has placed on their heart. That’s why I chose the title; “Loving means letting go”.  As much as we want to keep our kids close to us, we have to let them go.  We have to let them be free to do whatever it is God is calling them to do.  Whether it be a summer camp, a short or long term missions trip, the military, or even teaching half way across the country.  We have done what God has empowered us to do, maybe not perfectly but as best we could.  We have trained, taught and led them to listen to His calling, His direction, His plan for their life.  Wherever that might be and whatever that might be.   Now we watch and see all that He will do in and through them.  And at the end of the summer, we can sit and talk and reflect how God used each one of them differently.  That’s what I look forward to most.  Hearing about all of the “God Sightings” they each experienced. 

So keep loving on your kids, and when it’s time, let them go and let God do His thing.  

 ^{Proverbs 22:5}  "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

"Be Still"

"Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10.

God has been using this verse a lot in my life lately.  I keep trying to figure things out, things that seem so complicated to me and He just says- "Wait, Be Still, and wait..."  But that really is not an easy thing to do when you have 5 children and another little one that you are busy with.  I want to Be still, I want to sit at His feet and listen intently to all that He has to say to me. But I get the busy's going and can't seem to stop.

I am often reminded of the story of Martha and Mary and how Jesus used that moment as a teachable moment for Martha.  She just didn't get it.  Things needed to be done, and she really wanted help doing them.  To her the importance was to get the meal prepared and things done in the right way.
But to Mary, being still at Jesus' feet was the better choice.

Luke 10:38-42 (NIV)

³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

⁴¹ “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one.^[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

That’s the key… “Few things are needed…Indeed only one is”- Him.  But as Martha we get so “distracted” with the things of this world that we keep putting the Lord off. 

So He waits, so patiently He waits.  Sometimes He uses situations to get our attention so that we have to see that He is in full control and He can get our attention if He really really wants to.

A recent example of this in my life, was when I was helping to lead a camp at Refreshing Mountain (www.refreshingmountain.com) this past summer, for our CE Summer Assembly Conference.  The theme for the week was Surrendering to Him.  I think God not only wanted the teens to understand what that fully meant but me as well.  It was mid-week and our speaker had already felt earlier in the day the Lord was speaking to him about switching up what He was going to talk about that evening.  It would still be about surrender but in a different perspective than what He had originally planned.  As he spoke the lights flickered a few times, and then poof they were gone.  We lost all power.  No lights, no audio visual help, nothing.  This was actually a good thing, for many of us were probably distracted with other things and this sudden power outage got all of our attention.  I was able to give our speaker my phone so he had a flashlight to follow along in his notes.  But the students listened intently.  I think God had all of our attention, including me.  Just prior to that, I had been distracted with the printer in trying to print some items off for the speaker, and it just wouldn't work.  God shut that down too.  He knew what we needed for that evening and what we didn't.  Just as the speaker was wrapping up someone from the camp came down to our meeting room and was able to get us on the generator.  We had a different plan in mind, originally for the evening.  But God had something different all together in mind.  We stayed in our meeting room after the session and enjoyed playing some really fun games, that we may never had played as a whole group.  It was a really neat time of connecting with all of the students together as one.  

Our second example of this was on our last evening, we had "planned" in our schedule a campfire.  At the campfire, the students were going to be challenged to throw in the fire masks that they had made earlier that day.  On the masks were written different areas of their life in which they were struggling to surrender to God completely.  Just as we were dismissing the students to go to their rooms and prepare for the campfire it began to pour.  So... we came up with a plan B- or as I would like to think, God said, "Okay this is how it's going to be...".  We gathered in a circle in our meeting room with a box in the middle of the room.  We placed a couple of glow sticks in the box to symbolize the fire and then we allowed opportunities for the students to share, if they would like and then tear up their mask and throw it in the box.  Some students just tore it up and threw it away, others shared all that God was stirring withing them.  This "campfire" went on for over 2 hours.  It was such a moving time for many.  Students were bold and were embraced by God's love and grace of others.  It was so awesome to see other students uplift one another in prayer and embrace them with grace and love.

I was also thankful for the opportunity that our group had to break up in to 3 small groups on Wednesday and do the Fun Team Building Activities, that the camp had prepared for us, to go along well with our theme for the week.  This really challenged them, to think, and work together as a team.  That every move they made would have an impact on another.  One of the challenges even helped them see how each one of us has a talent and a gift and how we can use those talents and gifts to help one another or try and manipulate others with our own "gifts". They were challenged to work together to build each other up, by each one given 2 blocks of wood, all different shapes and sizes to form a tower of wood, as we should in the body of Christ.  This is a key in surrendering as well.  We need to often surrender our own needs or wants for the benefit of those around us.

It all came together as the week went on, from beginning to end, for me.  This week wasn't at all about me or what "I had planned".  This was God's week from start to finish and He not only wanted the students to see that, but me as well.  He was the one in charge, not me.  He wanted me to "Be Still and know that He is God."  And as I stepped back and watched all that He was doing, I was in awe.  It was His moment to shine, His moment to "Be"  and to help all of those who were there to know who He is. The God of the Universe.  The one who still has control of the weather, and all of the things that surround us on a daily basis.  

He also helped me see that I can't get upset when things aren't going as I may have had planned, because He already has it all figured out.  I just have to trust Him and all that He has and is going to do.

My challenge for you is wherever you are in life,  don't forget to just "Be Still"  to allow Him, to be the God He was created to be.  He wants all of us and He wants us to want all of Him.  He is God, and He does have it all figured out, even when we think we do, we don't.  Trust in Him and believe in the plan He has set before you.  Sometimes that may mean waiting awhile, a long while.  But be patient and think about how extremely patient He has been with you, with us.  But He is willing to wait because that's the kind of God He is.  He loves us and wants us to just rest at His feet, just like Mary did that night. 

Be- Just Be, not do, but Be.
Still- Wait on His leading
Know- He is there, He has not abandoned you, nor will He.
I Am- God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelite's: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”  Exodus 3:14
God- He is and always will be God, the one who holds the master plan

 Reflect and think about what this means to you... Are you being still?  Are you waiting at His feet?  are you allowing Him to be in the center, in full control of your life?

 My prayer for you, is that you will desire to do that.  That you will want to know Him more intimately and realize what an incredible gift it truly is to sit at His feet and be in His presence.

 <refreshing mountain>

 <team building activities>

I have been struggling a bit lately with feeling overwhelmed with all of the extra responsibilities I have had.  Many of the things are good things, and I am glad to be a part of each and every one of them but at the same time it can be a bit taxing...

Then I was looking through some devo's that I wrote last year- & was reminded once again that I don't have to try and do this thing called life on my own.  For God has so graciously given us a helper- the Holy Spirit.

I wanted to share with you some of those thoughts:

Helper

(One that helps; to give assistance or support to)

God is our helper; He is there to help give us the strength and support we need to get through what lies ahead.  We will face valleys that are too deep to go down alone and we will need to conquer mountains that are too high to dare climb ourselves.  Yet there is one we can call when we hit the places of uncertainty.  God has blessed us with a tool that we often forget to use and that is the Holy Spirit.  John 14:16 says that when Jesus was preparing for His departure from His time here on earth he told His disciples; “I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever… the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

                So in the darkest of hours in the loneliest of places we need to just call out for the Holy Spirit to comfort us, to give us peace and to give us strength.  The Holy Spirit can guide us when we aren’t sure which way to go.  When we need wisdom, it can intercede for us to God.  It is an awesome resource that we need to tap into.

                God loves us so much.  He is with us now and always- as long as we call out to Him.  We need to take the initiative.  God is always waiting with open arms to help us, but we first need to go.

Have you discovered the power you can have through the Holy Spirit?

How can the Holy Spirit help you every day?

Was there a time that you can remember, that you didn’t ask the Holy Spirit for help and you should have?

Additional scripture reading: Psalm 54:4 and Psalm 118:6

I am so incredibly thankful for that "Helper".  The days that I feel the loneliest I know God is right by my side.  His Holy Spirit dwells within me and gives me the direction and certainty I need.  

Thank you God for always loving us and always being with us.