Never Cease to be Amazed

"Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the Nations!"
Revelation 15:3

It seems to me that I do not often pause to reflect on the amazing deeds the Lord has done in my life. When Jesus healed the sick, they were often amazed - why am I so slow to be amazed at his goodness all around me? So, I'd like to take some time to reflect on certain events in my life that truly were his amazing hands at work.

He has miraculously preserved my life and health through stupid teenage years, childbirth and highway driving. It has been his loving hand upon me that has protected me for his purposes.

He has transformed my heart of stone to a heart of flesh. Whenever I ponder this, I can't help but picture the breath of Aslan giving life to the statues in the witch's courts. He found me rebellious and in love with the world. And, he moved my heart toward seeking obedience and his glory.

Each one of my precious children is absolutely an amazing wonder. From the miracle of conception, to thriving in the womb, to entering the world safely, to growing into healthy little people. Each step of that is so intricate and complicated, yet my amazing God has done it all!

Out of all the billions of men in the world, he guided me to the one who was perfectly suited to be my husband. Each day I am more aware of how divinely arranged our marriage was.

I'll close with these and post more this week as they come to me. If you've read this and would like to also post some of the amazing things that He has done in your life, I'd love to hear about it!

Slacking

Not too many people check this blog, but those who do may have been wondering why I haven't been posting so much lately. Well, I suppose it's about time to tell you that I'm . . . pregnant! Yes, baby number four is due to arrive early this fall. And, yes - I'm feeling pretty lousy. My husband says that I'm "out of it." I suppose that about sums it up.
Constant nausea for me means too much TV/movies for my children and everyone wondering what's for dinner. For some reason, I can get the laundry washed, I just haven't been able to fold and put it away. I now truly have a mountain of clean laundry in my bedroom. I suppose that'll be our closet for awhile.
And, my brain is somewhat inaccessable right now, so it's a bit more difficult to come up with something to blog about. However, I will try to leave you with something funny:

My second daughter has taken to the habit of shouting out the words "ice" and "beans" quite frequently and for no apparent reason. I suppose she likes the sound of them. Anyway, the baby who is barely talking has begun copying his sister. He is often heard in his crib quitely cooing "ice, beans."

The Word

About a year and a half ago, I began formally teaching my oldest to read. When we began, I explained to her that reading was wonderful, and the main reason that I wanted for her to learn to read would be so that she could read the very words of God for herself. Well...
last week we opened a precious copy of the Young Reader's Bible, given to my grandparents by my great grandmother many years ago when their family was young. We opened to Genesis, and she read. As I reminded her that this was our whole goal in learning how to read, her pretty green eyes shone with pride.
Wow - I am so thankful that I was the one who got to see that. I just can't imagine letting someone else get those precious moments with my daughter.

True Love

Weak in the knees
Lightheaded
Butterflies

These are all things that we associate with this special feeling we sometimes get for a particular member of the opposite sex. This sometimes violent and spontaneous attraction is what people often refer to as 'being in love.' It seems that many of us have this Hollywoodesque picture in our heads of what love and marriage will be like, should be like. To our detriment, we fantasize about blissful years of being in love; when reality holds stinky socks and stretch marks.
I'm not saying that love doesn't exist in marriage, but it's different. I'm reminded of what our Lord himself said in the book of John:

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

There could not be a better picture of "true love." When we love someone, it's not about how they make us feel so much as what we do to make them comfortable. A wife loves her husband by cleaning his smelly socks and a husband loves his wife by getting up far earlier than he would like to go to work and provide for her. We love by letting go of what I want or I need and focusing on what the other needs from us.
It saddens me to see single people who are afraid to get married because they aren't sure if they will always feel 'in love' and that frightens them. Those weak knees do go away for most. But, through obedience, they're replaced with a much greater love. It seems to me that the more I lay down my life for my husband, the more deeply I love him. The Lord ingeniously designed this relationship to be reciprocal and ongoing:

the more we love, the more they love, the more we love, the more...

Broken dishes

We often hear of women 'spinning plates.' Well, I can't. I'm completely uncoordinated. Give me more than one, and I'll drop at least one. If our homeschool lessons are going well, then my husband has no clean pants to wear to work. And, if the house is perfectly neat and tidy, nobody knows what's for dinner.
I know that the Lord has promised not to give me more than I can handle. And, I trust that he is good. I've come to the realization that glorifying God during this season may look more like taking my toddler on my lab to cuddle and serving frozen pizza for dinner than having a model home and gourmet meals. I love to cook for my family, and I do believe that an orderly home brings a peacefulness that allows a family to rest. But, life is messy. Although we engage that mess, we will never be perfectly on top of it.
So, may our eyes look to heaven as we long for a time when nothing will break, or need maintaining. All will be right. I'll rest then.