I'm so thankful to see God work in my life and the lives of my children. I look back on the events of the past week in our lives, and I am still overwhelmed at the things that happened. I still feel somewhat frightened, but more importantly, I still get chills because I saw my God come down and touch our home and our lives right in front of my eyes. And that gives me a renewed desire to have my God in EVERY part of my adoption, foster care process. Without Him, we are nothing and potentially we would have nothing. God is good, all the time. No matter what. Hard to swallow sometimes. But good to see in action.
I am also learning this week to pray specifically. God answered a prayer I had about a child this week, and He answered it the way I prayed. Now, I am praying for something more specific. It is nice to realize that we have a God who cares even about small details that may not matter to others.
Having a relationship with God as a mother has become more and more important to me as time goes. A good friend ran across the following devotional for mothers. It really hit a cord with me. Please read it. For me, it helped me to realize that my relationship with God isn't a check box. It is a process, one that goes throughout each day - in small moments of intimacy with my God. Wow, a huge thought especially after my unique experience of seeing Him work so dramatically this week. Intimacy with God while changing diapers, cleaning the floor, doing laundry. It's possible and unique for a mom and makes life so much richer!
Good morning, God, I’m so gra– (excuse me, God).
“You can have a snack after lunch.”
I’m so grateful for th– (just a second, God).
“Your shoes are in the laundry room.”
I’m so grateful for this time we ha– (sorry for the interruption, God).
“They’re there. Moooove things.”
I’m so grateful for the time we have together to– (God, I think we’ll have to continue this lat–).
“No, you are not old enough to change baby’s poopy diaper. I’M COMING!”
Complete sentences. What a luxury.
This was one of the first things my friends commented on when I suddenly became a mother through the miracle of adoption at the age of thirty-one. We used to spend hours talking each week about the great mysteries of life. I was a highly focused conversationalist - a sincere listener who was rarely distracted.
Now? Well, I am still a sincere listener – I am continually listening for the sounds and (of greater concern) the non-sounds of my three children whenever I am on the phone. Frankly, I think I miss half of what my friends say and it can take minutes to complete a single sentence if I do not forget what it was we were talking about in the first place.
In addition to giving me more empathy for those who live with attention-deficit disorders, this new chronically interrupted era of life has provided an opportunity for me to reconsider how I nurture relationships – with my husband, with my children, with my friends, and especially with my God.
Specifically, the new era revealed a weakness: I was too dependent on shared words, on well-formed sentences, on neat and tidy blocks of time.
The last dozen years have affirmed an encouraging reality: intimacy with God is not on hold, waiting for me to control my environment and carve out serene aromatic spaces. Intimacy with God is not on pause until I can complete sentences and listen without interruptions.
Each minute of every loud, distracting day is pregnant with potential for intimacy if I can simply and intentionally live it with God.
Being with God was – and still is – the first priority of a disciple’s job description:
Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve – designating them apostles – that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. Mark 3:13-15
The Gospels record Jesus’ conversations and teachings. However, the printed page cannot convey what a 24/7 camera would have captured. Most of Jesus’ three years with the disciples was spent not in deep ponderings but in daily proximity. They simply experienced life side by side, walking together, sitting together, working together, and consciously being near one another.
Right now, this same Jesus is with us. With or without interruptions. With or without words.
As we awaken each morning, God issues us a personal invitation to intimacy.
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