Faith Archives - Page 15 of 28

October 28, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

The Wait (#28)

PROMISE #28 ~ WAIT

Can you sometimes sense a change coming?

As if the sky cracks open… just one small sliver. A thought thrown to the heavens and God answers by allowing the thought to chip the sky just enough to begin the hairline fracture.

This glimmering fracture stretches just enough to allow a glowing ray of light from the other side. The light of some sort of purpose. Just enough to feed the thrill of anticipation.

Sitting on the edge of… something… wondering just what it may be.

Peering hard into the horizon… searching for… purpose.

Asking Him for the answer… and He answers…

wait.

When I don’t know what to do… the answer…

do nothing…

wait.

He has much in store.

PROMISE #28 ~ God has gifts in store for us… sometimes we must wait.

Acts 1:3-5

After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

October 27, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

When Your Skin Just Doesn’t Fit (#27)

PROMISE #27 ~ YOU ARE A WONDERFUL CREATION

So, I thought I had outgrown this feeling.

This feeling of not quite fitting in, of sticking out like a sore thumb, or worse… of not being noticed at all.

I thought this was the rite of passage for a teenager. When you finally leap beyond those teen years, shouldn’t you be good to go? Confidence should come with age, right… and be evident in every situation. I am an adult, after all. I have a husband, six kids, dear friends… life is comfortable.

Then why does this old discomfort of not quite fitting in to my own skin rear its head again?

Maybe God is trying to tell me something. Maybe it’s not at all about being comfortable in my own skin. Maybe it’s quite the opposite. Maybe I should feel painfully uncomfortable in my own skin, in order to fit better into His. Maybe my skin is just in the way ~ a barrier to the soul underneath. The soul in need of growth.

This soul that needs to rip at the seams to allow Light from an infinite source to shine through the torn edges.

All this to say, I am surrounded by people… I don’t know one soul and the feeling is making me squirm. Like a Cinderella arriving at the ball, only to discover, the ball is really not a ball. It’s t-shirts and jeans night… and I wore a gown. Cringe.

Maybe it’s simply this… a nudge to remember the ones in the corner, the ones feeling awkward and alone… a reminder to mama what it feels like when my own kids want to crawl into a hole.

This reminder carries with it another message… one of awareness.

Awareness of who we really are… Whom we really matter to the most.

A reminder to embrace the place we are, ill-fitting skin and all. Remembering that He knit us together precisely for this place, and the next. With great care. Beautifully me. Beautifully you.

A reflection of His light.

PROMISE #27 ~ You are a wonderful work of God.

Psalm 139:11-14

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

October 26, 2012 by Karin 8 Comments

His Voice (#26) ~ for five minutes this Friday

PROMISE #26 – HIS VOICE

My voice… I have used it to calm, to soothe, to rebuke and reprimand.

My voice… I have used it to chastise, to love, to embrace with just a sound.

It’s when I find myself speechless that I wonder what my voice really says.

I wonder whom my voice really represents?

I have spoken the spectrum from love to hate and I wonder why I use the beautiful gift so recklessly at times.

I hear the Voice now.

The only One that matters.

Not in a scream, a shout… but in a whisper.

Use it for Me.

Use the words I speak to you.

V eering from my own voice to His

O nly speaking the words that please His ears

I gnoring the ugly prompts from the darkest corners

C hoosing to whisper… or shout ~ only words of affirmation, of encouragement

E choing the sounds that began with His own voice…

Let there be light…

PROMISE #26 ~ His voice will shake the earth.

Hebrews 12:26-29

At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken – that is, created things – so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”

October 25, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

The thing about discipline (#25)

PROMISE #25 ~ DISCIPLINE

Ever feel like a fraud?

Like the perfect-mama act is a cover for the true story. The story that plays itself out in the mess of dishes, school books strewn wide, toys scattered, tempers boiling in the pressure cooker of a kitchen.

Maybe not even the perfect-mama story, but the I’m-doing-great-getting-along-just-fine-no-issues-here story. The kind comments of others, complimenting a well-behaved child, and you wonder how in the world that kid got to be that way? There is no way I could have had that effect on a young one with the irritation that brews under my skin too often.

As I write, I just bit the head off of an unsuspecting little one, who grabbed at mommy just one too many times. A frustrating feeling of failure, or impending failure at every turn.

Tears wiped away. Kisses planted.

I have a friend who said that the happiness of your kids is evidence of how you raise them. Well, what about when they are less than happy? Am I stamped with the bad-mommy logo if there is less than happiness?

A mother is only as happy as her saddest child.

Is this truth? Is is about happiness anyway?

We long for the happy. Shouldn’t the joy matter more?

I certainly don’t feel particularly happy while barking at a child, scrubbing a pot, turning another filthy sock right side out, digging through a textbook with a resistant fun-time seeker. Not so happy. Not at times like these.

The joy? Perhaps is something quite different. Something eluding definition. Something attainable in all places, all situations between happiness… and misery. Joy, from another place entirely.

The joy in the stretching, in the taming of the tongue, in the service to Him… while serving the ungrateful, the unaware. Maybe it’s the joy that glows from their eyes, despite a mama who rebukes… the joy evident, most probably because of the discipline from this mom.

The discipline itself, the most loving act.

Maybe it’s in the discipline we give… the discipline we get… maybe that’s where the greatest joy lives.

The scalding discipline might just be what leads us to the joy… the love… the peace.

Happiness is not necessary at every turn. Joy, however… joy can exist… breathe easy… just because we are loved.

Discipline. Sometimes the most loving act of all.

PROMISE #25 ~ God disciplines those He loves.

Job 5:17

“Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

October 24, 2012 by Karin 2 Comments

Mine are Yours (#24)

PROMISE #24 ~ RAISE THEM FOR HIM, AND THEY WILL NOT TURN FROM HIM

When did it happen?

I remember turning around to a tiny toddler grabbing onto my sweats and pulling.

Big blue eyes, plump cheeks, perfect bow-shaped lips smiling up at me…

I remember the sleepless nights (actually, those have carried on for years, by no fault of his).

I remember the small basket of brand new baby toys, new cups, only one or two strollers parked in the garage.

I remember the way he touched my face as he nursed.

I remember him running down the sidewalk, mama chasing after him with baby sister jiggling along in the stroller.

I remember his itchy skin, victim to eczema and food allergies.

I remember the giggles, the shrieks, the temper tantrums of a little baby growing into a boy body.

When did it happen?

I look over and see a boy, whose height has grown to my chin.

I see a boy whose humor makes me laugh… really laugh.

I see a boy who snuggles little siblings.

I see a boy who races with a sister grown from the bouncing baby in the stroller.

I see a boy who chases and tackles and knows more about football stats than any adult I know.

I see a boy who reads novels, writes poetry, wrestles with daddy.

I see a boy who is adored by five younger than he.

I see a boy, whose eyes look at weary parents, and begins prayers for sleepy children.

I see a boy whose arms wrap around mama every morning.

I see this baby grown to boy… this boy growing toward manhood…

and I wonder…

When did this happen?

Kissing the top of the burrowing blonde head….

I cling just a little longer…

Happy birthday to my first-born… the small soul growing older, bigger… growing towards Him.

Branded to mama’s heart…

PROMISE #24 ~ Raise them for Him and when they grow they will not turn from Him.

Proverbs 22:6

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

The Wait (#28)

When Your Skin Just Doesn’t Fit (#27)

His Voice (#26) ~ for five minutes this Friday

The thing about discipline (#25)

Mine are Yours (#24)

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