when is Jesus coming again?

My daughter asked me about the return of Jesus yesterday. She brings this up alot and has lots of questions. She is, by nature, a planner and wants to be prepared. (Lord bless her!) I told her what I thought, but that noone knows for sure, etc. "Why do you ask, hun", I said. "Well, so we can be ready. If we know when he's coming back we can plan a party for him." Wow. So, how is it that my nine-year-old in her simple, genuine love for Jesus, is hungry for his return so that she can walk and talk with him and throw a party for her savior? How is it that the grown-ups around me don't want to talk about Jesus' return, want to avoid thinking about an end to this world, and hope (secretly) that they can just die a natural death and deal with it all post-mordem? How can I keep Claire from turning into those grown-ups? Come soon, Jesus, before the things of the world lure her away from loving you first and best!

If anyone out there has any suggestions for teaching End Times truths to children, I'd love some references. I'm not really interested in a pre-trib vs. post-trib debate here, just some sound info would be great.

my second cup

I have a routine in the morning that suits me very well. I get up, usually well before 6am. I make my pot of coffee and try not to move too fast or say too much. As I sit with my first cup of coffee, I settle into the quietness of morning. I open my bible, my journal, the prayer room webstream I watch from IHOP-KC and I study or worship or pray. Sometimes I just sit before God. I try not to interceede for others, but just do business with my Father for myself and for Him. By my second cup, my mind and heart are stirring and I think of the needs of others, I think of my day and what needs to happen, I think of my kids and when to start waking them up. As I sit with this second cup I can intercede and plan and lay out my day before God. If I get to a third cup it's usually on the run, as I am rousing children, fixing breakfast, starting laundry, scheduling home visits, doing last night's chores that did not get done...

I have a dear friend who prays for me steadily. This friend asked me to be in prayer for a specific issue in her life. I cherish this prayer request from this prayer warrior friend and do not take it lightly. I offered her a promise that my second cup of coffee would be my reminder to pray for her and her situation. I will give her my second cup in prayer until the status of the request changes or God calls my prayers elsewhere. I am still sipping my first cup but am already anticipating my second. :)

Someone donated money for our adoption yesterday. I don't know who they are but I am moved, stirred, encouraged and blessed. It feels like affirmation from God and like I am a part of an amazing body of Christ. I have seldom been on the receiving end and it feels strange and tingly. If you are reading, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Lord, bless this giver with an abundance of grace, mercy and favor. Let your mighty, warm, loving hand rest uppon this giver and magnify holiness in their lives.

Isaiah55

I'm still reading this chapter. There is so much here that i just can't move on, yet. Today I am looking at verses 12-13. "For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of a thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

I pray often for joy and peace. God says "Go out in" not wait for me to send your way...I need to purpose myself with a mindset of joy and peace. Maybe its like love. If you act lovingly the warm fuzzies follow, they don't come first. Hhhmmmm. I'm picturing the mountains and hills bursting into song and the trees clapping their hands. The mountains and hills and trees are not doing a new thing or a forced worship thing...they are doing what God created them to do. They just choose to worship in their duty. Hhhmmmmm. So I don't have to wait to worship until I feel cleaned up, prepared, in the right mood.....God is reminding me that His creation worships, just doing their jobs. The last verse holds the promise that instead of thorns will be cypress, instead of brier shall be myrtle. (I don't even know exactly what myrtle is but you can bet I'd rather have it than a brier.) If I choose to see the good, set my mind on the useful and holy and blessed and not on the pokey, yucky, painful stuff of my day, then it could just be to the Lord, a memorial. Hhhmmmmm.

Lord, let me worship you in the mundane of the mundane of my day today and let me go out in joy and be led back in peace. Let me see and honor the beauty of your created world and the usefulness of it, not just the flip side, the yuck side. Thank you for caring about my moods, my disposition, my attitude and pruning me so that I can see you clearly and worship you truly in this life on Earth. You are the most amazing, most loving, most wise and wonderful God. I will have no other gods before you. Amen.

adoption

We learned today that our finger print inquiries came back and the social worker is finishing up our home study. We need to start getting ready for a baby. Wow, it's so surreal! I've dreamed of adoption as far back as I can remember. I've thought of it at least once every day for so many years I've lost track. It looks like its actually going to happen. What will this child be like? How will life look in 2 weeks, 2 months, 2 years? I'm so excited to see what God is doing, what he has planned for us. If I think of the things of the world, I'm overwhelmed. If I think of God's ideas, God's wishes, His will, then I get excited and I am so grateful to be given an opportunity to experience adoption. I know that He has our family in his hands and he is making the way straight for us. I pray that we will be in tune with whatever he is offering us and willing to trust Him and to find our way to our fourth child. We will have some big decisions to make very soon.

Isaiah 55...

Sunday morning I woke up to snow. In March. I knew it was coming cause I watch the weather. Still, snow in March. I know, I know, in like a lion, out like a lamb or whatever...so I'm in the Word and I land on Isaiah 55, by some prompting of the Holy Spirit that I cannot explain. Verse 10-12 says, "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace;"-the rest of the verse is amazing so go ahead and read it yourselves.

We can all interpret this however we please. This is my take home message for now. Surface level, it's about Spring. I cannot complain about snow in March. God sent the snow and rain and sleet and drizzle and ice and....oops, I'm on a tangent (:))...God sent precipitation to water the earth, to bring forth and sprout, to give us sustenance. Feel free to make any allegory the Holy Spirit gives you for that one! It will accomplish what the Lord wants, which is to change the seasons, to bring into fruition the next part of His plan, his purpose, his Glory. Seasons change. Thank goodness!

One level deeper: Its about my prayer life. God revealed to me a few weeks ago that my prayers were like seeds being sown in a garden. He was not ignoring them or washing them away, he was planting them. I didn't need to wallow in self-pity over "unanswered prayer" b/c I was sowing seeds in His garden. I thanked him for that encouragement, and got back to the work of prayer after my tantrum and "time-out". This scripture showed me that He is in charge of what feeds prayers, what delivers bounty, what does its job. Not me.

Deeper still: God's Word is sovereign. It is Holy. It is purposeful. It is beyond reproach and it is living. Still. God's word will go out from His mouth and not return to Him empty. It shall accomplish His will and succeed. We will go out in joy and be led back in peace; like snow. The mountains and the hills shall sing and the trees of the field will clap their hands...by abiding in God's word, not my words.

The deepest place I can go right now: To forsake my words, my thoughts, my ideas and cleave and cling to God's Words. Immutable, unshakable, Holy words. We still get to have bibles and we are still encouraged to read them and to learn what they mean. Wow.

a prayer, of course

Dear God, you know my thoughts, my dreams, my hopes my fears. You know the deepest part of me and when you see me, you hem me in, you draw me in, you hold me close. You are not disgusted or repelled by me. Your love for me is perfect and flawless and infinite. I cannot begin to grasp how you love. Let me try to love more like you love. Let me be willing to see all the good, the bad and the ugly in people and love them all the more for it, just like you do. I want to love others knowing they will not always love me back. I want to honor and bless those who do that very thing. Lord, teach us that there is more to life, to love, than feeling happy. Who ever said we deserve to be happy all the time? I am so glad that I do not get exactly what I deserve, by the blood of Jesus and salvation's cup. I'm ok with not being happy all the time if I can be more loving.

Today I am actually very happy. :) My son Isaac turned 7 today. We wanted to give him a special day to celebrate our special boy and tonight he told me it was the "best birthday ever"...he actually says that every year. I love who he is and who God is creating him to be. The world will always be better with Isaac in it. His teacher at Christian school asked his class this week to give an example of the best gift they ever got. Isaac raised his hand and said, "That Jesus died on the cross to save us." He gets it. The Holy Spirit lives in this kid and he gets it already. Why is it so hard for grown-ups to get it?

I offer a prayer here for my new friend Sarah with Sarah's Covenant Homes. God, give her and her beautiful kids what they stand in need of. Rain down on them healing, blessing, a release of finances and the peace that passes understanding in your Presence.

Life is a prayer, today is just one more day in it.

sunday

Today is Sunday. I have just shown my nine-year old daughter Claire my blog. I think she thinks it's cool that I have a blog. Finally, I've done something cool. I am still learning how to do this all so I don't have much on my site yet. I spent this weekend visiting my friend in Kansas who recently lost her nineteen-year-old daughter. Since we could not love on her the way we wanted to after the funeral, we waited a few months, then travelled to her home. Four friends who have not seen much of eachother for 20 years spent the weekend laughing, crying, catching up and making new memories. We got to experience God's goodness as a fellowship of believers. It's good to have friends. My friend's daughter knew about the abundant life, the joy of life, the gift of making people smile. She loved the Proverbs 3:5,6 verse: " Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and He will make your paths straight. " One thing God has shown me through her death is that we do not get to keep people. We can keep dishes, pictures, etc. but not people. What we can do is love em while we got em. I've been away from my husband and kids for 3 days. I'm grateful for the chance to love them and kiss and hug them and read them bedtime stories and hear their prayers and thank God for each one as I lay down to sleep. I wish you all the same. God bless...