The care and keeping of our children's hearts
It was after they had gone. The small crowd who loved us through their serving dispersed to the places they call home, and we travelled the 3 miles back to the one we were moving from. The rooms were empty of tangible memories, and only our voices decorated the walls, calling back to us in echoes.
I was walking halls and checking closets before I peaked into the room with the sea foam walls. There sat the child who had been the most excited to leave this home, head buried in arms and knees pulled up under the chin. Those slight shoulders were shaking, and I sat down beside the small gasping sounds that were too strong to keep hidden. They held no regard for the owner's wishes.
It had caught her off guard, the emptiness of the house, the finality of the move. So we sat there in the stillness, and embraced this necessary sadness. And all the while my heart whispered to heaven, a desperate cry that God would take care of my children.
I don't know what is in store for our future, but I know God's hands are holding us. I know how deeply I love each one of my children, and I know how our Father loves them so much more. He sees their hurt as I do, but he knows perfectly well how to help them heal.
I suppose it seems crazy to take my children away from a life that is going good to walk into a future that is uncertain, but that's what faith is. I believe God honors the prayers of those who seek him, and he has asked us to look for him in Nicaragua.
And the prayers on our lips are praise to a good God. A God we are asking to pursue the lives of our children. We pray that their hearts would be stretched wide open to the needs of earth, and that they would be tender to the voice of God in heaven. We pray that they would experience and know the intimacy of His love, so that they can learn to love as deeply and fully as he does. We aren't trying to raise our kids to be the first and the best, we are trying to raise them to be the last and the least. This is the secret to greatness. This is the secret to love.
The road to this is not easy, but we are not walking it alone. We have with us, and our children have with them, a good, good Father.
I was walking halls and checking closets before I peaked into the room with the sea foam walls. There sat the child who had been the most excited to leave this home, head buried in arms and knees pulled up under the chin. Those slight shoulders were shaking, and I sat down beside the small gasping sounds that were too strong to keep hidden. They held no regard for the owner's wishes.
It had caught her off guard, the emptiness of the house, the finality of the move. So we sat there in the stillness, and embraced this necessary sadness. And all the while my heart whispered to heaven, a desperate cry that God would take care of my children.
I don't know what is in store for our future, but I know God's hands are holding us. I know how deeply I love each one of my children, and I know how our Father loves them so much more. He sees their hurt as I do, but he knows perfectly well how to help them heal.
I suppose it seems crazy to take my children away from a life that is going good to walk into a future that is uncertain, but that's what faith is. I believe God honors the prayers of those who seek him, and he has asked us to look for him in Nicaragua.
And the prayers on our lips are praise to a good God. A God we are asking to pursue the lives of our children. We pray that their hearts would be stretched wide open to the needs of earth, and that they would be tender to the voice of God in heaven. We pray that they would experience and know the intimacy of His love, so that they can learn to love as deeply and fully as he does. We aren't trying to raise our kids to be the first and the best, we are trying to raise them to be the last and the least. This is the secret to greatness. This is the secret to love.
The road to this is not easy, but we are not walking it alone. We have with us, and our children have with them, a good, good Father.
When we are certain of God's leading it enables us to maneuver through uncharted territories. Perhaps not at full speed but knowing we will have no regrets. Prayers and blessings as you follow Him.
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