Skip to main content

#ValentinesFromAbove

Even though I started this journey of hunting for #ValentinesFromAbove during Lent two years ago, I still find it the most impactful, enriching and encouraging way for me to observe Lent. I already relate to the sacrifice of Christ more in this season of parenting two littles and working outside the home full-time, as well as being the only parent in our home with paid time off to cover all of the sick days, school early releases and days off from school. A lot sits on my shoulders, and that's okay, but I don't need to add to that unnecessarily. 

What I need every year during Lent is a reconnection to God's amazing, beautiful, personal
love for me; which is what fueled Christ to sacrifice Himself in our place on the cross to pay for our sins, in the first place. I need to be reminded of how well God knows me, loves me and wants to show me that He's with me all the time. I need to be shown the beauty of His creation and presence and perfect timing and plans and looking and waiting and watching helps me do that.

Looking for and recording #ValentinesFromAbove make me feel loved and seen and cherished by my loving Father in heaven. Sometimes the things that come make me laugh and sometimes they make me cry and mostly they just move me closer to my Daddy's heart. It's there I can hear and feel the rhythm of His heartbeat, feel his warm and peaceful breath on my head as I lay on His chest, and it's here that I can best hear when He whispers.

I want to invite and encourage you to try this as part of your participation in Lent, as we anticipate with hope for the return of our King and celebrate and share the Good News of all He did when He was here on earth.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

You're not alone...

We received a little book of bedtime prayers to read to our little guy when we were pregnant, and one of the prayers is titled, "You're never, ever alone." It is a little cheesy and even rhymes, but it teaches that no matter what, no matter where, God is with you. It is so basic, but it's a reminder that I've needed a lot, and so have many of my friends. In the last several months, God has brought me conversations with other women, where God has used me to assure them that they are not alone in various circumstances. One friend was dealing with family and friends who kept telling her "how small" she was in her pregnancy, and some family members even told her to her face that they didn't think she could accomplish a natural childbirth as she desired (for those who did not get comments about being "so small," it often made me feel as though people thought I wasn't eating enough or doing pregnancy well, which this momma was feeling too)....

Campus Crusade Update

As the school year is up and running and staff and students are finding their grooves, we continue to wait on the Lord. We have found the last year of raising support to be the source of a lot of growth for us. God has been teaching us so much and helping us to understand that He is in control, which means we don’t have to be. And we can’t be. That has been a very challenging lesson to learn. That being said, we would like to let you know where we are at in raising support and what our situation is at the time. We are currently in a place of great difficulty in making consistent progress on a weekly and monthly basis. Due to the economy, among other factors, we are not raising support at a level with which is projecting a reasonable finish date. Our support coach has helped us to look at our progress objectively, and in the last several months, despite hundreds of phone calls every month, we are having a hard time connecting with people. Taking all of that into con...

Don't Worry About the Small Stuff

.... And most of it is small stuff. Lately I've been thinking about how much other people have the potential to either make you smile or get under your skin. I've recently encountered several situations in which I had been struggling to not let other people completely ruin my experience with something or my attitude about things. Through a lot of processing, I realized that I was trying to micro-manage and control other people's responses, thoughts, actions and words in my own strange way. I was giving them the power to dictate whether or not I enjoy myself and enjoy life. How strange of me! Then I realized that a lot of people tend to do that (although usually subconsciously) and end up being so frustrated by everyone else's junk or bad attitudes that they themselves become junk-carrying crabby people. So I figured, hey, I have enough stuff to carry around on my own. Why on earth would I try to also figure out your issues? (unless of course you ask for help) Plus, ...