Retreat!

Rhoen Schneetreiben Photo by Mg-k

Good evening, friends,

Well, the snow has given way to COLD! 🙂 Now we are in a cold snap. And genius me decides today is the day to go shopping. Yep. Everyone else in Northern Illinois had the same idea. However, here’s the deal with shopping, grateful to be able to GO shopping. To have money to get food, a car to get me there, gas in the tank, I’m not kidding you, there have been times…so today, today is a good day. And I’ll take the crowds and the need for turn lanes in the grocery store and turn signals on the carts and courtesy lessons for my fellow shoppers. And my kids! I’m grateful. They are healthy and so it is all good.

We put our second on a bus this night for his very first retreat as a junior higher. Yikes. He is so very excited. I, however, hold on very tightly and worry and get teary. I’m waiting to check in and get to the front of the line with my boy..and bam! He’s done. He’s checked in and he runs off. Oy. Last night, he came up, tucked me in (I had a migraine), prayed over me and reassured me that he would be just fine. (Who is the parent here?) I don’t know, friends, I think all the health issues over the course of his life, all our time together in hospitals, doctor’s offices, speech therapists, have made me a little more clingy. Maybe the allergies that have come to surface as of late. Maybe just the emotional issues…I don’t know. I am WAY over protective of this little guy. And I feel the Lord’s gentle touch of my white knuckle grip on my son, and His asking of me, Daughter, am I enough for him as well?

I mean, if….

Your love never fails, never gives up
Never runs out on me

Higher than the mountains that I face
Stronger than the power of the grave
Constant in the trial and the change
One thing remains

On and on and on and on it goes
It overwhelms and satisfies my soul
And I never, ever, have to be afraid
One thing remains

Then, can God not do that for my children? When I cannot be there for them? When he sits in a bus with a bunch of kids, I can be confident that Jesus is with him. When he is figuring out where he is sleeping tonight, Jesus is there. If he is lonely, Jesus is there. When he is joyful, Jesus is there. When he is worshipping, Jesus is there. When he is sleeping, Jesus is there.

Actually, some good reminders for us all, right?

Friends, I don’t know if you need this reminder tonight, but…let’s put our eyes on…

12 I turned to see who was talking to me. When I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands 13 and someone among the lampstands who was “like a Son of Man [C referring to Jesus; the title he most often used to refer to himself; Dan. 7:13–14].” He was dressed in a long robe and had a gold ·band[sash] around his chest [C the clothes of a dignitary; Dan. 10:5]. 14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow [Dan. 7:9], and his eyes were like ·flames of [blazing] fire [Dan. 10:6]. 15 His feet were like bronze ·that glows hot [refined; fired] in a furnace [Dan. 10:6], and his voice was like the noise of ·flooding water [rushing water; L many waters; Ezek. 43:2]. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword came out of his mouth. ·He [L His face] looked like the sun shining ·at its brightest time [or with full power/force; L in its strength]. Revelation 1 EXB

So we fix our eyes on…

 2 Let us ·look only to [keep our eyes on] Jesus, the ·One who began[Pioneer/Founder of; or Leader/Prince of] our faith and who ·makes it perfect [completes it]. He ·suffered death on [L endured] the cross, ·accepting the shame as if it were nothing[L disregarding/despising the shame] because of the joy that ·God put before [lay ahead for] him. And now he is sitting at the right ·side [L hand] of God’s throne [1:3; 13; Ps. 110:1]. Hebrews 12

God is enough. And I’m going to have to keep putting my boy back in His lap, but I will. As I do with each of my kids, my God loves them so much more than I do. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus, for the sweet gift of You.  Thank You for being in me, yet being in, being with each of us. You are the gift. Thank You.