Unchanging Love

This has been a month of struggles. I am not the kind of person that hides my problems and puts on an "everything is great" facade...that is impossible for me. Just when I was learning so much about being joyful in all circumstances I feel like I have been put to test to see if this is something I can really grasp. A few weeks ago the kids got really sick and it was a good 2 weeks before they were completely back to normal...then it took me an additional 2 weeks to get their attitudes back to normal after being so whiny and needy...and 3 days ago was the first day they all woke up with smiles. I was getting the house back in order and we were back in the swing of our home school routine...and the very next day 3 of my kids had a fever and then I got it and now we are back to square one. I have to admit that I have been a little bummed. I just want my happy kids back and now they are grumpy and sad again.

There have been moments when all 3 of the little ones have been piled in my lap on the couch just crying and all I can do is hold them. They all want me and sometimes I feel as if there isn't enough of me to go around. In the midst of all of this I can feel that I am being stretched in the areas of patience, service and joy. So 2 nights ago I cried out to the Father for strength and when I was reading in Micah these words jumped out at me:

"Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He DELIGHTS IN UNCHANGING LOVE. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins into the depth of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob and unchanging love to Abraham, which you swore to our forefathers from the days of old"- Micah 7:18-20

He delights in unchanging love. We are part of the promise given to Abraham. We are His whiny, unhappy, sinful children and He loves us with an unchanging, forever kind of love. If He can show me compassion, can't I show compassion to my own whiny, grumpy kids? So I CAN be thankful for the lesson learned in the midst of this struggle and I am so grateful for a Father who DELIGHTS IN UNCHANGING LOVE and is teaching me how to live this out in my own life.

This is the day

"The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life." - Robert Louis Stevenson

This is a lesson I am continually learning...to open my eyes to this life right in front of me and see it as a blessing... to keep my eyes wide open in deep gratitude for these precious moments and days.
"This is the day that the Lord hath made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it" - Psalm 118:24 I have heard these words so many times in my life... my mom used to sing this song a lot when I was a kid; but I feel like I am just now really "hearing" those words for the first time. THIS IS THE DAY. This day. We are to rejoice and be glad in it. But am I really glad? and do I really rejoice? I think I have moments of joy and gladness, but if I am being completely honest it is usually conditional... I will be glad when the house is in order, when I get more sleep, when I lose weight, when the kids have better attitudes, when all the kids are potty trained, when the sun is shining, when, when, when. The list could go on and on. But what about right now? What about this day with all of it's flaws, and me with all of my failures? These moments are fleeting and our lives here on earth are a mere breath. I want to spend my days adding up joy, not adding up mistakes and beating myself up over the things I didn't accomplish.
"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" - 1 Thess.5:16-18 This is God's will for me and all believers- right now, this day....rejoice, pray, give thanks.