God creates everyone, so He has many children. Can you imagine His turning to one of His angels and saying, “That’s my kid!” I can, because I know how much He loves each of us, even those of us who have gone astray. Today, I want to tell you about our children, the three that we have that participated in our constant military moves and all of the changes that came to their lives as a result.
This is our lovely daughter Hope Ellen. She is beautiful inside and out. She is the mom of five of our grandchildren and she manages to homeschool all of them and keep her sanity. She is also a gracious lady who serves the Lord in her local church and throughout her community. I am so happy to say that she is a Christian through and through and is raising her children to serve the Lord. She is the one who rushed to my side when I had a stroke, leaving her husband in charge of the then four children and all of their activities. Unselfish to the core, this is Hope.
This is Scott James, our second born who has faced a lot of obstacles in his life. Told by a math teacher that he admired during his high school years that he needed to take a lower level of math, he just wasn’t suited for the difficult course that he was enrolled in, Scott persevered, passed that class and became a math teacher himself. I think that encounter with his teacher has given him a lot of empathy for those who do not understand math at all. Scott also has a ton of patience! He is pictured here with darling Iris, his “baby” who is autistic and non-verbal. Although we have prayed for years for total healing for her, that has not happened, yet she is still a joy to be around and I think part of that is the unconditional acceptance that her father offers her. He is also the father of a teen boy who has a lot of extracurricular activities that his father encourages and participates in.
This is our youngest, Steven Caleb, with his youngest. Like Scott, he is an amazing father. He is a stay-at-home dad who works from home and manages to spend a lot of quality time with his two children, Penny and Evie. He is an Associate Editor for Gamespot online and works hard daily reviewing games, editing stories, pitching stories and soothing Evie and Penny. It always amazes me how he lifts Penny into his arms in the middle of a meltdown and reasons with her. Cuddling her close, he continues to say softly, “Let me know when you are ready to talk.” Sniffling dramatically the three year old eventually responds to her father’s calm, loving actions and calms down.
So, why am I sharing these personal stories with you? Don’t you see yourself in each one? Hectic and rushed Hope, unselfishly rushing to the side of her very ill mother. Compassionate Scott taking the time to show others how competent they really are. And patient Steven calming down the child who is determined to have her way. Maybe you can also see the Heavenly Father in each of them. He is unselfish. After all, He gave us His Only Son to die for us. He is compassionate, seeing how weak we are and becoming our strength. And, oh, how patient God is, waiting for us to turn to Him and rejoicing with Heaven when we do! I am blessed to have three children to demonstrate to me the qualities of God.
What is really important to you is shown in your life. My sister, who has not really spoken to me for months and basically told me not to call her, sent me a text to call her, so I did. When I called, she was noticeably upset, so we talked about what was going on in her life. She had gotten back some test results on her health and they could mean bad news. She didn’t know yet and still doesn’t because her doctor hasn’t called to interpret them for her. Nevertheless, she feared going to sleep because she fears death. She wanted me to come into town and stay with her for a few days, so here I am. Remember what I said: J-O-Y. She is one of the “others” even though she treated me as an outcast for so long. We have to love others, even when they don’t seem to love us. And I very well understood her fear since I have had the same fear myself, right after my stroke and again recently. But God continues to show Himself faithful to me, showing up in the wee hours of the morning and whispering gently to me of His love and faithfulness, telling me that He is with me no matter what I am going through. Likewise, He is with my sister, even though she says she doesn’t believe in my “religion.” I ate lunch on Sunday with a friend from church and she reminded me that I don’t have a religion; I have a relationship! That is what I will try to share with my sister as I stay with her during these days. I want the opportunity to comfort her as God as comforted me so that she, too, can have that same relationship with the one that holds to you in the darkest night and tells you morning is coming, whether on this side of earth or in Heaven. It’s all going to be okay. Those very words are what my husband used to tell me each time he got new orders and I was distraught about moving yet again. (25 times in 22 years of service). He always told me, “It’s going to be okay.” And it was, eventually. I got used to the next new place, and then it would be time to move on again and Harry would tell me the same thing again. That is also what God tells me when I pray about friends who are dying of cancer or even about my own health. “It’s all going to be okay.” So, how does God know that? Because He is faithful and He is the One who will make sure it’s okay because He will be walking the steps of that trial with me. I covet your prayers, my friends, because I really need to share this message during this visit and I need to do it without being pushy or causing offense. I am believing that the results of the health tests won’t be as bad as my sister expects, but even if they are, God will still be faithful to take her through it. God doesn’t care for me any more than He does her, so my belief is that He can and will be there with her.
He calls us His children, and that is what I want my life to reflect—always, every day, in every way, not just when I am visiting my sister. I am a child of the King, the Creator of the Universe, and I can hold on to his promises that it’s all going to be okay.
Q is for quietness, the peace that God gives me in my spirit.
God could have brushed my grief and resulting anger aside and disciplined me for being so disrespectful to Him. Instead, He patiently waited for me to stop ranting and to listen for His voice. He offered me grace and then mercy. I repented and He forgave. He knew my heart better than I did myself. Since that time of darkness, I have continued to go to God’s throne room with love and awe for who He is and who He is always becoming for me. I read His Word daily, with the expectation that He will speak to me through it. ]
While Abraham waited, he also got off track, much like many of us do. He accepted Sarah’s offer of her servant girl Hagar, impregnated her and had a son Ishmael. His impatience has led to a lot of wars in the Middle East since Ishmael’s decendants are the Arab nations, whereas the true heir that God promised, Isaac, beget the Hebrew nation. But I am getting off of my topic. Just so you know, God did not just abandon Abraham since Abraham decided to “do his own thing.” No, God blessed Ishmael too but He clearly told Abraham that he would be the “father or many nations” through a son that he would have with Sarah. Abraham was one hundred years old when Isaac was born! But, he waited and he received.
I I love this Scripture verse in Hebrews! I know that I have read it many times before since I read through the Bible annually. But this time during my devotions, this verse jumped off the page at me. I have taken my refuge in the Lord, the One who cannot lie. Since He told me that He will take care of me, my hope lies in Him. After all, He sent His Only Son to die for me, so I can rest in His great love for me. Do I sometimes make poor choices? Yes, of course I do. But I always return to my rock and fortress, my refuge through all the storms of my life. I reflect on my life and I can see God at work during each stressful move to a new place. He provided friends, a church, activities for me to be involved in, and in most places a job for me to do that used the skills that He has blessed me with. In Arkansas, I was unemployed for a year, but I got involved with the other officers’ wives and ended up learning how to crochet. I made blankets for newborns at the military hospital. And I used that skill to make blankets for several of my grandchildren. In Maine, during that first winter when I was unemployed and feeling very bitter about being in the coldest place I have ever lived, I sat in front of my window, watched it snow and poured out my dismay to the Lord as I crocheted a blanket that would fit a king-sized bed. I call it the “blanket of the winter of my discontent.” I was not a happy camper there! But God showed me His favor my giving me the only Spanish teaching job in the county. The teacher there retired the year I arrived, so I got the job the following fall. But that was not all God did for me. As I told him in my complaints to Him, I did not think that I could drive on those icy, snowy roads in the far north, so getting a job would have its own challenges. God sent Joanne, a chaplain’s wife who taught math at the same school and who lived very close to me on the base. Joanne offered to take me to school each day. Unexpected blessings came into my life many times! I would be willing to guess that many of you have unexpected blessings from your Heavenly Father who is your refuge and strength. Many times, God blessed me when I felt totally unworthy because all I had been doing was complaining. But God loves me enough to listen to my whining and then bless me beyond what I could ever hope! And you know what is amazing? God loves you the same way…enough to bless you and give you hope.
