Getting out of God's Way

I often feel like this blog is a hodge-podge of subjects.  I write inspirational posts, but then again, I also have many posts on homemaking, child-rearing, marriage and other subjects.  There are times when I think I should stick with one genre but then I realize these are the subjects of which my life consists.

The title of my blog is Hearts in Service and that title was chosen by my children back in 2008 when I first started the blog.  Our theme verses were Philippians 2:3-4 and it seemed a fitting theme for our lives.  But I find that my service isn't just to the Lord or people in our churches, but also to my family.  So I will continue to blog on all the different things going on in my life and hope that some find encouragement in my musings about God, my life, and my family.

Yesterday afternoon, a friend went to pick up her grandson from the same college that Stephen goes to, and she offered to get him for us so we wouldn't have to drive the 5 hours to pick him up for spring break.  I was able to spend that time getting things done around here, including making some treats for Steve.  We met her about an hour and a half from here to do the exchange and it was wonderful not having to drive all that way. 

On the way home, we had a wonderful chat with Stephen.  It's nice to see how the Lord is working in his life despite the many times I've worried, cried and stressed over him.  I'm learning that I need to leave my children's lives in the Lord's hands and let him work.  I often get in the way with my desire to make everything perfect for them. 

In fact, I find it amusing that sometimes my children will remind me of this!  Emily was dealing with some frustration over a teacher and I said that perhaps I needed to talk to the teacher for her.  She piped up with, "Mom, I need to deal with this myself!"  Last night, as we drove Stephen home, he had wonderful insights about his brother.  It was so sweet to hear him understand some of Nathan's quirks because of his autism and still say, "I love Nathan."  "He has such a good heart."

Nathan has struggled tremendously since we moved here and yet, because of those struggles, I can see some maturity happening in his life that probably wouldn't have occurred if we stayed where he felt comfortable. 

Since my children have been born, Dan and I have entrusted them to the care of the Lord, but often I want to protect them from the hard things.  I want to snatch them back out of God's hands and make sure nothing ever goes wrong for them.  But they won't grow if I do that.  They won't learn to trust the Lord for their needs.  They'll never stand on their own two feet if I keep them safe from every hardship.

Being a mom is hard.  Because it means daily letting go and trusting God for my children.  It means that my children's hurt becomes my own.  It means spending a lot of time on my knees, in prayer for my kids. 

I am thankful for the times that God shows me how He is working.  I'm thankful that He loves my children more than I ever can.  My prayer for them is that wherever the Lord leads them that they will grow in their faith and trust.  And that will only happen as they walk the hard roads, which means I have to get out of the way!