Peter Paul Rubens
"There will always be giants in our land. There will always be circumstances, people and matters of life that could potentially threaten to overwhelm us.
Perhaps the icy cold fingers of fear squeezing out all of the hope in one's heart for what might happen
to a child, a job, a marriage, a life;
the darkness of depression hanging heavily as a cloud over all the moments of a day;
exhaustion and weariness dragging the body stumbling through foggy moments of day;
illness that threatens to overwhelm life;
a marriage that bruises and wounds deep where no one else sees;
bitterness or blame that steals each moment of thought into death and hate;
loneliness so palpable and sad, the obscurity of being unknown in life's burdens and ignored and uncared for;
All and more might be the Giant's names, and yet,
The grace and beauty of a mother, deciding to stand up to the threats of the giant,
to attack her would-be foe, with weapons of heaven's design,
This warrior mama, who understands civilizing her home, can make her giant story one of a memory of the power of God.
When she understand the import of the civilizing of our lands, our homes, our families,
these the foundations of a future adult generation that will exercise moral courage and fortitude.
and exhibit strength in places of leadership,
she understand that our children are watching us as we exhibit courage, so that some day, they will know how to be courageous.
And so, we mamas exhibit strength instead of fear, so that some day they will be strong.
We have to make the choice to believe in God, and in His ability to provide for us...
When we do, we will be freed to celebrate His goodness in front of our little audience who are learning how to live by faith in our presence...
It is natural to whine and complain or to be selfish and unloving,
It is natural to react to giants in all of their bigness and to withdraw in crumbling cowardess.
But it is supernatural to praise and be thankful and to choose to express love and faith,
and one foot in front of the other faithfulness that is a choice.
To look our giant in the face and say, "You come to me with sword and spear, so to speak,
But I come to you, my giant, in the name of the Lord of hosts and He will
protect me, provide for me and be with me
and all of His host of angels is on my side,"
this is the choice to be courageous, beyond our feelings.
Even when feelings don't agree, one can choose to live in obedience to what is known about His character being true-
supernaturally, walking in the power of His Holy Spirit...
saying with all one's heart, by faith and the conviction of planting a flag of belief, "He is good. He is faithful and true and He will save me, in His time--and all things will work together for good and I will see it when I am with Him looking at it from His eyeview."
So today, look for joy. Seek out beauty.
Look the giant in the eye and claim the victory that is there for the asking, Model to your children what it means to live in celebration of God's marvelous life. Look for the miracles that might otherwise go unnoticed each day.
And this will be your story--one of beauty, a legacy in the memories of your little ones, the heroic moments, burned lovingly, skillfully, poignantly
in the pathways of your children's hearts and minds, to be emulated in the future moments of their own lives."
So where is our victory over our future? It lays deep inside the potential of what each home can become,
when giants are brought to size, and righteousness and redemption of each precious moment prevails.
~
(Partially excerpted from The Mom Walk, the rest new thoughts.)
There will always be things that could potentially threaten to overwhelm us.
We have to make the choice to believe in God, and in His ability to provide for us...
When we do, we will be freed to celebrate His goodness...
It is natural to whine and complain or to be selfish and unloving,
but it is supernatural to praise and be thankful and to choose to express love and faith.
Even when my feelings don't agree, I can choose to live supernaturally...
So today, look for joy. Seek out beauty.
Model to your children what it means to live in celebration of God's marvelous life.
Look for the miracles that go unnoticed each day."
~ @[242157951372:274:Sally Clarkson] (The Mom Walk)"/>
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And today, another encouragement for Joy from Dancing with My Father.....
I might be a stay at home mom ... but I work hard.Sometimes, too hard. Oh, not at cooking and cleaning necessarily--those things I work at, and most of the time my work ... well, it works. If I clean something, it's clean ... at least for a few minutes. And if I cook a meal, we'll all be full ... at least until someone remembers I bought cookie dough ice cream at the grocery store.
It's the other kind of work that can wear me down, overwhelm me, make me want to hide under covers some mornings. The really tough work: the soul shaping, question-answering, discipling kind of work that has so much at riding on how well I do it. Or so I think...
Please join us for the rest of the post today from Misty Krasawski at MomHeart online, where we are wrapping up our final week of studying Dancing With My Father!