Here’s to starting a new discipline. Writing each day 450 words per day. Wishing there was a way to publish the struggles of being a mom to adults. One on one, people talk to me about the hard in parenting.Parenting kids, teens, adults each has its phase. Yet, the comparison game found on social media, the pictures, the writings all seem to point to perfection is rough. It’s just rough. When i meet someone’s eyes, someone who posts these pictures, cute quotes, I see the real. The real is tears, ups and downs, exhaustion. Nobody wants to talk about it. 

What does obedience in this mean? Obedience to God when circumstances are dark and feel hopeless.

“So we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. In fac we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 2Corinthians 5:6-10

In faith, when our children were little, we dedicated them to the Lord. Asking the Lord, on behalf of their little hearts, that they would walk with the Lord all the days of their lives. GAze on the beauty of the Lord. No matter what I feel today, no matter what is before my eyes, God tells me to keep on praying. Keep on hoping. He asks us to walk by faith. 

“Though an army deploys against me, my heart will not be afraid; though a war breaks out against me, I will still be confident. I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire; to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the LORD and seeking him in his temple. Psalm 27:3-4

What gave David his heart, his confidence? His prayer in the next verse really have no mention of the army or the war. His desire was dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of his life. Gaze on the beauty of the LORD, seeking him in his temple. I don’t remember who told/taught me this, but this prayer may have been the reason God always referred to David as a man after his own heart. 

Keeping his face turned towards the LORD. Yes, there was so much around him to capture his fear, so much. What’s here for me? When our loved ones are in the hospital or sick or fill in the blank, when our health is not good, when we have needs that seemingly cannot be filled, when the dishwasher stops working…you get my drift..the easiest response is why? (And there are plenty of psalms that cover this: Psalm 88 is one). 

But what if there is something to be found in changing that question to a statement. Show me your glory. I want to gaze on your beauty. I want to think highly, even though what is before me hurts or has no solution in site. 

This is faith, right?

Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.  Hebrews 11:1. 

Does my Father in heaven know my hopes and dreams? Faith is the reality. What I see before me, this is the temporary. How do I train my heart to move towards the pray like Moses. 

Show me your glory. Exodus 33:18