Today, I am living my dreams.But it took a while to see the fulfillment of some of these dreams cherished over years.
I remember when I was 33 years old, I trudged through the snowy streets of Vienna where we lived, to a tiny little coffee shop down the street from our old home. The snow was a four foot wall on either side of the sidewalk where I slipped through the middle. Thirty-five days in a row of below 32 degree temperature necessitated me getting out of the house for a little while. I thought I might explode if I stayed there any longer. Sarah was almost 3 and Joel was barely 3 months old. My life was made up of nursing, changing diapers, trying to keep Sarah happy by playing with her inside our 100 year old, cold, 900 square foot home, and then the cooking, cleaning, getting up in the middle of the night and then doing it again. Somehow, this period of life seemed that it would never end, an endless merry-go-round of floating from one day after the other, but all very much the same.
Settling into my cushioned chair in the corner, I felt quite an adult. Ordering a melange, (cappucino), I got out my journal and started writing down how I felt about life. Someday, ..., I would like to....
Dreams, wishes, ideals, hopes spilled over from my heart to the lined pages.
"Some day, I would like to be a writer and be an author of books that encourage and inspire women."
I didn't know if God had seen my heart filled with hopes of faith, dreams, desire, but it was a sacred moment between me and Him that I will not forget.
Eleven years passed. Quiet times, teaching Bible studies, homeschooling my children, moving 5 more times, and making 1000 more meals, washing 2000 loads of clothes, and losing a fair amount of sleep, two miscarriages, and lots of life washed under the bridge. I prayed, worked, and built messages of life through seasons of years of putting one foot in front of the other.
My messages were not some "pie in the sky" out of touch with reality sort of messages. But, right in the messes of life, "God is here," "His beauty is in the moments," "His fingerprints are in my home, in the smiles of my little ones" sort of messages. He knew I needed years of authenticity in order to live through messages He was writing on my heart.
And then, my first book, Mom's conferences and speaking engagements began to bubble up. Eventually 11 books would spill out of my heart, but only when they had time to simmer right where I was living. I was writing the story of my life through the days I was living.
Faith, faithfulness and living and, ....., growing closer to God.
Each of us has a unique story to live and a unique story we are writing through the lives of our children. They will be the reflection of the story of the ways we invested our days, months, years.
I have always said that my children are the best book I have ever written.
And then I happened upon this scripture:
You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
II Cor. 3:2
We are writing a story of what we believe, value, love through the ways we serve, educate and train our children. We are called to love, serve, inspire, help, give and He will direct the works of our lives and the ways we may each bring light--if we are willing to follow Him and do His bidding by writing His messages on their hearts, through their lives.
Each of us has a work to do for Him in this world. It starts with a choice to love, serve, and grow in Him today, right where you are. Today your children are a part of the story you are writing.
What kind of story are you writing with your children today? They will be a living letter of what you believed to their world when they are adults.
Kristen and I are so excited to share with you today some of the vision and details of the podcast series that we will be doing over the summer. We plan to have many ways to fill your heart, refresh your vision and to inspire you to keep going during the summer months when you may be a little bit freer of commitments.
We will be following a newly edited and somewhat rewritten book called The Ten Gifts of Heart. Watch the Blog as we will be giving away 5 copies when they are ready on Amazon. We expect to be able to see them appear on Amazon this week and when we see them, we will announce them to you. Get your own copy and follow along and write your goals and thoughts in the journal page of each chapter to keep to refer to at a later date. Tell your friends to join us as we shall have a grand time together.
We at Mom Heart have been blown away by the many comments you all left this week. We will pick the winners later today. You are all amazing. We pray for you and can't wait to have a summer of inspiration with you. Thanks for participating.