"that they may know that you alone, whose name is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth."
-Psalm 83:18
__________________________________
This morning at 8:30am, Evelyn said "hello" followed by "Mommy can we go swimming?" The amount of time we spend outside leads me to believe that they have inherited their father's love of swimming! We said goodbye to daddy, and packed up snacks before heading out to the backyard. The new house has a pool, which could admittedly be a large source of stress, but Jonathan and I spent time in prayer about it before we purchased the home, and we use our brains to make good decisions about pool safety.After putting the oldest three in their puddle jumpers I got Jack in his suit and lathered up that fair skin of his, before setting him down to monkey crawl, his newest form of movement that surely will just proceed the inevitable walking. Jack wants to be big SO BADLY. Can you blame him? I'm sure he must want to do everything the older three do. They always look like they are having such a blast! Today I watched as he monkeyed over to his shallow end and saw as he stopped just short of it to turn himself around and lower himself down into it. The problem is, he had spotted the first row of diamond tiles, not the top row which make up the boundary of the shallow end. I saw him thinking he had made it to his pool, so I yelled "Not there, Jack! No no no!" but he had already determined in his mind that it was safe and let go. I snatched him out of the water a split second after he was completely submerged. I think he actually found it fun. Sigh.
Vivien said "Mommy, did Jack die?" I explained to her that he could have died because he was in water and he didn't know how to swim yet. We talked about the rules of our pool again (I'm sure they are so tired of it!), and we touched on how sad mommy would be if one of the kiddos went to be with Jesus and left us, how much we would miss them.
Shortly thereafter, I put Jack down for his morning nap and sent Jonathan a text to tell him the story. He sent me back this:
These situations are WHY I trust the Lord implicitly with our children. Nothing happens apart from Him knowing it and allowing it.
Jonathan admitted that he thought to tell me beforehand, but thought he might sound worrisome and that he wanted to trust the Lord. And look at this beautiful testimony we got out of not worrying, just waiting. Jonathan joined in with the Lord in prayer instead of saying something to me, and I experienced that prompting of the Lord in the situation and the PEACE that comes with knowing He will alert us to what we need to know.
This is the most powerful testimony of a person who walks with God: the ability to put full trust in the hands that hold the world. All I must do is use wisdom, trust Him, and LISTEN as He prompts us. To listen, I must be quiet in my heart. I must shut out the things that drown His still small voice, and receive with an open heart.
Elisabeth Elliot writes in "Be Still My Soul":
"The longer I live, the more fully I become convinced that the Lord is in charge of everything on this complicated Earth and that nothing happens without His permission. It's one of the great advantages of old age to be so completely sure of that. God Almighty is sovereign. He is the One who is paramount, autonomous, unlimited, supreme, all-loving, the absolute ruler of everything.
It seems to me to me that our modern church life, with its emphasis on cozy friendship with God, has deprived us somewhat of an awe-filled appreciation for His sovereignty. It's not that we take issue with it exactly. We recognize His hand at work at startling or spectacular moments...However, as we plod through the ordinary middle ground of our lives, the long distances between the punctuations marks of exultation and desolation, we fail to appreciate God's sovereignty."
But we don't have to fail to appreciate it. Choose to trust and obey, to listen and be obedient, and see how the Lord will walk in close friendship with you, how He will prompt your spirit to be sensitive to His leading. In our family, He is leading us to pray. We may not have the resources or the abilities to go out and do, but we certainly can stay in and pray. Jesus did nothing apart from the Father's leading in prayer. Why should we be any different?
Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to be apart of what you are doing in our family by joining you in prayer. Thank you for speaking to us as we take the steps to make you the loudest voice we hear. Thank you for entrusting us with so much, and giving us strength to steward it all everyday. We love you Jesus. Apart from you, we are nothing.
All my love,
Sarah
