4 Year Old Reminder

Worship music playing.

My bible laid open upon my lap.

I was simply sitting, reflecting, meditating.

My heart is still a bit broken and scarred from this past weekend. Yet, I knew today would be a good day and I would not let the pain or hurt affect today. Silently I sat asking Papa God to heal the pain. Put a bandaid across my heart. 

There was a tiny knock on my bedroom door.

It was my 4 year old Elijah. My kids know I have quiet time and spend time with The Lord early every morning before starting my day, and that unless it is an emergency they should try to not bother me…well I reckon this was a Holy Spirit emergency!

“Mommy I know you are busy but I have something to say. Can I come in?” 

I nodded my head, and of course he also carried in hand his Nabi and needed me to turn it on for him. As I held the power button down I couldn’t help but just smile at him and thank the Lord for what a blessing he is. Then it happened…

I handed him his Nabi. 

Before walking away he looked at me and smiled and then said “Mommy, I know you did not win the competition we went to this weekend, but God doesn’t love you any less. He still loves you a lot. So do me and Cadia (his 2 year old sister).” 

Then he smiled that sheepishly adorable cheek to cheek, ear to ear, smile and walked out of my room. 

I couldn’t even respond……I got face palmed by the Holy Spirit through my 4 year old…..

Tears began to flow and I just thanked my Daddy for never leaving or forsaking me. And for reminding me, I may not have won the crown, but I am an even better winner because of how I am raising my children…..

So today, look for God to speak to you even in the most unexpected ways. He did to me…through my 4 year old, all while His word laid wide open in my lap…but those weren’t what I needed to hear this morning. I needed to hear what He had my son speak….

Be reminded today, NOTHING we do, makes God love us any less. No great achievement, no failure or mistake….He still loves us unconditionally and is still jealous for us! Go and melt in His love today! Be blessed above all!

Blessings!

 

(my little 4 year old blessing Elijah)

 

 

The One You Need

Recently I heard I song by Shane and Shane called “The One You Need” and it struck something deep inside me.

It’s a father singing to his daughter about his love for her, her life, and Jesus. He explains how much he loves her and wishes he could give her everything she needs. He explains that life will have some hard times. She may fall down and even scrape her knees, but no matter what she faces Jesus is the only one she needs…

That is so powerful. I look back at my life growing up.  I was raised in church and I knew the bible and right from wrong. However, my Dad wasn’t in my life as much as I wish he had been. Because of that I searched for acceptance and love most of my life. I learned to manipulate my way into getting what I wanted. I learned to lie to make myself feel better and happy. I tried the drug scene, the party scene, the promiscuous scene, and even the church scene…

Nothing could satisfy what I was truly longing for. Except someone could. Someone did.

Jesus…

He died on that cross with his arms wide open. Arms wide open with no judgment of my past mistakes or failures. No stipulations that I had to do in order to receive his love. He simply loved me for me. And he awaited me, arms open wide to realize that he was all I needed and run into his loving embrace. Eventually after getting pregnant at 20, Jesus came to my rescue and truly embraced the love he had for me and finally found my identity and acceptance in him and not in worldly things or other people…

Oh how I wish it hadn’t taken almost 20 years for me to suffer and come to terms with this. Life would have been so different…

Whether you are a mom or dad reading this, I ask you, do your children know that Jesus is all they need? Or do they think they need to please you, satisfy you, and make you proud? Do they think that their identity is in what they do or who they are instead of who they want to become and who they are following?

This is the most precious and important time in their lives. Teach your daughters and sons that Jesus is ALL they need, no matter what. That sometimes even we as parents will fail them but he never will! Imagine how much pain and suffering we can possibly save them from having to endure if they start with this knowledge as a toddler.

No matter how old your children are it is never too late to teach them this simple fact. It is a life changing fact.

I pray today for all parents out there that they are striving to raise their children to know Jesus is all they need in life and that success and acceptance are not what makes them who they are. I pray today you make your children know, no matter their age, that nothing they could do or say can make you love them any more or any less. That your one desire for their life is to see them seek after God with all their heart, mind, and soul!

Blessings to you all!

 

–I’ve included the YouTube link to the song below 🙂 Enjoy…

Teach me Daddy

Last night after we went to dinner and were heading to the grocery store, my four year old had yet another profound moment. He has such a special and unique bond with his Daddy. It’s one like I have never seen before and it is so special for me to see, because my husband adopted him when he was barely 6 months old. Elijah from the back seat said

“Daddy can you teach me to follow God and the Holy Spirit like you do?”

 

My husband and I both looked at each other astounded. 4 years old, and because he watched everything his daddy does and says this is what he wanted to learn.

My husband replied, “Yes of course I can buddy.” To which Elijah said, “Good can you teach me when we get home?” ……He literally wanted to learn the minute we got home.

 

So when we got home we proceeded to sit down and talk to him about how it is not something we can teach overnight. It is something you are taught daily and continue learning about through out life.

 

This of course got me thinking…

 

How often do we as believers say out loud “Daddy can you teach me to follow you?”

Maybe not often enough…

 

Jesus throughout the New Testament is referred to as our teacher, as is the Holy Spirit. God is our father. He gave us the bible, HIS word, to teach us.  It is our guide, our handbook, to living life and how to follow Him. Yet do we get into it enough?

 

My son watches everything we say and do. He hears us pray as a family, my husband and I pray as a couple, sees us pray over people. He sees us get up early and spend time in the word and having quiet time with the Lord. To him, this is us following God, and he wanted nothing more than to be taught how to do it…

 

Oh if only we had child like innocence and faith like this…

To run open arms, excitedly, to our Papa God and say “Daddy please teach me to follow you right now!”

 

I’m not saying we’re the perfect family, parents, or believers by any means…my son knows that. He sees us make mistakes but he also sees and hears us pray and ask forgiveness…

 

So today, have you stopped and asked God to teach you? It doesn’t mean you have to run and open your bible, or spend hours in prayer. Maybe God just wants you to simply ask and then just spend time in His Presence. You don’t know until you ask. But I know personally I want to wake up every morning and enthusiastically run to my Papa God and ask him to teach me daily!

 

Blessings!

A father and son’s bond

 

Say Cheese

“Cadia say cheese.” “Cheeeeeeeeeeeese.” This has become a comedy with our family. My one year old daughter is so use to having people take her picture that anytime you pull out your phone, even for something not related to pictures, she stops what she is doing and smiles and says “Cheese.” Its probably one of the cutest things I have ever seen. The other day I was having a rough day. As moms we all have them. Nothing seemed to be going right and my self esteem was running low. My energy level was majorly running on empty. I was in my office, working on our taxes, when my daughter came riding in on her older brothers police scooter. I turned and smiled at her, thinking to my self how lucky children are. They have no worries in the world. They are so innocent and so precious. As I returned to my work, my daughter yelled. “Mommy.” I turned and said “Cadia.” She giggled. I turned back to my computer, and she again yelled “Mommy.” So I turned to her, and this time she stopped, posed, smiled as big as she could and said “Mommy, cheeeeeeeeeeeese.” As a huge smile lit up my entire face, she giggled and peddled her way back into their play room. I was suddenly reminded of a verse in Proverbs. “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22 (NIV) Wow – did this ever relate to me. On this day in particular I was so encompassed with a “crushed spirit.” I was overwhelmed with our finances, our taxes, household work. The list just goes on. I literally could feel my “bones drying up.” The whole day was just full of negativity and I was in a “funk.” Although throughout the day I had prayed for God to help me get out of it, I wasn’t making it easy on him. So what did he do? He used my innocent precious daughter to smack me in the face. Her heart is SO cheerful. She is full of love, and laughter. Yes she has her normal toddler moments but nine times out of ten she is the sweetest little girl. Did she know mommy was having a bad day? Not at all. She was being her normal goofy self. But it was through that “cheerful heart” and her coming in to make me laugh and brighten my day, that my “dry bone” received just the exact medicine I needed and had been asking for all day. Now every time we have a “say cheese” moment with her we can’t help but be blessed and smile. When your day seems to be going bad, or nothing is going right, look to your children. If you don’t have any yet, look to your family members or friends around you. FIND someone with a cheerful heart and spend even just minutes with them. Before you get to where my spirit was that day, and play the “woe is me” role, stop and allow a dose of “cheerful heart” so brighten your day and spirit. Never take those moments for granted. In fact, now I personally look for those moments each day. I receive them as a special gift from my  heavenly daddy reminding me of what his word says. We ALL need daily doses of biblical medicine. And its amazing when we don’t know ourselves which one to choose or the amount to take, and he steps in and provides the perfect prescription. For me, it usually through scripture and later with en event at pertains to that scripture. Thats just how our relationship works. It may be different for others. Nonetheless, I am now thankful for my “say cheese” moments daily and strive to keep a cheerful heart around me if not in myself daily. And if you’re a parent, keep your phone or camera handy and ready to take a physical snap shot of those “say cheese” moments when you can. Its an amazing blessing to be able to look back on when you need a special dose of that medicine! Blessings all!!!

(the picture posted is of my two children, on one of those “say cheese” moments. Cadia jumped on the back of her brothers scooter with him while I was reading and said “mommy cheeeeeeeese” I looked up and luckily snapped the photo at the right time!)  **for a look into my daily life of “say cheese” moments feel free to follow me on instagram 🙂 my sn is: megraines

Sprays of Joy

“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” -Proverbs 22:6-

As mom’s we’ve all been there, or some of you soon may be. The days of potty training. My son is 3, and is finally getting the hang of it. He has been going for a week straight, with no accidents! My husband and I are so proud of him. Based off advice, we decided not to push him to become potty trained. Instead we spoke gently to him about it, and knew when he decided it was time, it would be time. Sure enough, he just one day decided it was time and started using the “big boy potty.” Today for us was filled with humor and a new experience. He started doing “the potty dance” and asked to go. We make it habit to go with him, and just make sure no accidents happen. He got so over excited today because he pooped in the toilet, he didn’t realize he was also peeing. The end result was because he had his hands in the air cheering, and not holding “it” down…Mommy got sprayed. I couldn’t help but laugh. It was a moment in the life of raising a little boy. What does this have to do with the verse above? I strive so hard to raise my children by God’s word. I so desire for them to grow into the man and woman of God he created them to be. We pray with them, worship with them, discipline them, read the bible with them, and today I was reminded that even “potty training” is a time to unknowingly “train” my son in God’s word. How so? I could have so easily gotten angry with him. And based off his reaction I assume he expected to get in trouble. But it was just an accident. He had not purposely sprayed me. He was so happy to see me laugh. In times like these, our children wait and watch our reactions. And they in turn mimic our actions later on. They repeat the words you say in similar situations, even as toddlers. Today was small but humorous lesson in remembering to laugh at the small things and keep going. Not crying over a glass of spilt milk. In turn, my son may one day experience the same thing with his children, and he will remember to just laugh instead of getting angry. Embrace moments like this with your kids. Laugh about it. Talk about it later on and laugh again. Train them in ALL they do in Godly ways and they will remember it daily. And they will not stray from it as they grow older. Maybe this gave you as good as a laugh as it still does me as I write this! I hope so! Blessings!