God gives us dreams. This dream of helping families heal and providing perspectives on how to create structures that support today’s families in programming has been in my heart since I was little. Truth is, I was the peacemaker even on the playground as a child. My Lord God brought that reference to my mind from a long ago playground in Gurdon, Arkansas, where the children often divided into two large groups. He reminded me that I was the one who would try to think of a game that we could ALL play together. After remembering what God was showing me, what I remembered was the only time those two competing cliques were united was against me! This is not a foreign concept to me as the mom of children who are blended in a step family…..there is never a time they are so united except when the target to take down is me!
Peace is not something I knew much about as a child and adult. There was always a yearning to be “enough”, to “be loved” and to perform at an ever higher expectation. I was a pleaser by personality in the ultimate household of “you’re never enough”….so discontent and failure were words I understood and had been defined by….and that shaped much of my life.
Home from a week with Christian authors, publishers, and an amazing love by God in my life, I am now holding the bag that says…”It’s time for your dream to grow” by the way, that’s code word for “Girl, you’ve got a huge amount of work to do” and let.me.tell.you. Working for the Lord is exhausting, yet my joy has never been fuller, nor higher, than when I am doing the simple next thing that the opportunities to help us have brought this week. You see, we hoped to have A Joyful Place Called Church site functional by September, but God wanted it up this week, and good thing it was, even in its baby state, at least we were able to get the word out, share with them the logo’s, and to caste the vision of who we are and where we want to take the ministries who are working with us. A bit like showing up to a grand Dallas ball in a square dance costume…..but the dance begins!
What a week! I am overwhelmed with this new song that God is singing in my life. With all new songs, you must learn a new beat, learn to lean into the words you’re singing and let God’s comprehension overtake you, and then find your own harmony within God’s movements. I am delighted, overwhelmed, encouraged, and amazed at our Creator God’s methods of beginning our long prayed for chance….and so it begins.
There was nothing sweeter than the sight of my dear husband and two younger children at the airport….oh what a wonderful night we had, lots of love, hugs, and tales to share! In typical teenager fashion, my son was much more excitedly telling me of plans for a beach trip this summer than hearing anything I might have wanted to share. My tween locked from moment one into the books I brought home for her….with a visually different child….it was Christmas and a new birth of what God has done in her while I was gone….when I arrived home, my husband had planted flats of white pansies all around my front gardens to welcome me home AND surprised me with painting the house wide back deck in a beautiful pewter color, wow how the roses pop against it! God is good….Dirty Dishes Mountain chain awaits me and Mt Washmore has not blown its stack, but the trail to it has shown me that my job as mom is secure!
God is good and He loves us!
