Irresistible Love

I woke up Saturday morning with a simple idea, and it should have only taken a half hour. I was going to move the linens out of the hall closet, and use the space to store all of our board games and puzzles instead. I was then going to combine all the sheets and towels into the linen closet of our master bedroom. (I've mentioned it before, but a massive number of closets is one reason that I fell in love with this house.) Once I got started, though, I couldn't stop. Ten hours and several closets, drawers, and cabinets later, I'd purged our home of three bags of trash, three bags of donation items, and numerous kitchen appliances that no longer needed to take up useful space. It felt great, and I learned a couple things about myself. One: I really need a way to organize my kids' drawings and school papers. Two: I'm a greeting card hoarder. If you sent us a "congrats on the new baby" card, chances are I still have it. I found lots of treasures along the way though- old love notes, notes between Amy and I in school, old pamphlets about childbirth and breastfeeding, and then most importantly- a prayer of salvation I'd written out four years ago for my children. I adapted it from a book my mom bought me called Praying the Scriptures for Your Children by Jodie Berndt. It's a prayer that I've spoken in some form or another even as a child and teen myself, before I was ever ready to start a family of my own. It's a prayer that's already been fulfilled in my older two children, and yet to be filled in Isaac and Lydia. It's the most important prayer I could ever pray in my lifetime, and so I wanted to share it here. I wrote it out for each one of my three children four years ago, and plan to write it out for Lydia now as well. While I have been praying for Isaac and Lydia's salvation since my pregnancies with them, I think it helps to have the words spelled out using Scripture interwoven throughout the prayer, and to pray His promises word for word.

Here it goes:

Thank you for loving Isaac so much that You gave Your one and only Son, that when Isaac believes in Him, he will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) We pray that Isaac will trust in You and never be shaken. (Psalm 125:1) We pray that he will repent of his sin and confess with his mouth that Jesus is Lord. We pray that he will believe in his heart that You have raised Christ from the dead. Guide Isaac to call on Your name Lord, and save him. (Romans 10: 9,13.) We pray that Isaac, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how long and how wide and how high and how deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses all understanding, that Isaac may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3: 18-19)

I believe two things that may seem incompatible. I know that each one of us comes to God of our own free will and choice, and we cannot pray another person into Heaven ourselves. I also believe what God has promised in 1 John- that whatever we ask according to His will, we will have what we have asked. My children's salvation is well within the will of God. I pray that God's love will be so overwhelming to my children that He will be found irresistible. I have no idea what it would feel like to have an adult child living outside the will of God, but in Jodie Berndt's book, she states, "God wants our children to be saved. When you pray for your children's salvation, you can be confident that you are praying in accordance with God's will." She references 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

I John 5:14-15 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of Him.

Tis the Season

I love Christmas time- the tree, decorations, wrapped presents, music- everything about it. It's one time out of the year that my husband and I give our children gifts without much restraint. I have wonderful memories of Christmas as a child, and feel so blessed to now do the same for my own children. But it's funny- I am a strong believer in Christ, yet I feel like I view Christmas a little differently than most born-again Christians.

I grew up hearing the saying "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" and that the meaning of Christmas was not in presents, or decorations, but in a baby born one night long ago. Today many Christians are offfended by the greeting "Happy Holidays!" because it doesn't specifically acknowledge Christmas. This time of year has become very commercialized, with advertisements for the holiday starting in early October. This materialism in society has led many Christians to limit the amount of gifts they give- not based on finances, but based on a desire to emphasize the Savior's birth rather than materialism. Another part of the season rejected by many is Santa. He is considered evil by many because he is viewed as trying to take the place of Christ this time of year.

So, I'm taking a brave step here and, in numerical fashion, revealing my own take on Christmas. I say brave because I don't think these are views widely held among Christians. Ok, here it goes...

1. I'm not offended by the phrase Happy Holidays.
It doesn't even annoy me. I'm not afraid to say Merry Christmas back, by any means. To me- the great part about this country is that no one is forced to celebrate Christmas, or even to be merry about it.

2. I don't believe Santa is evil.
I think he can be pretty fun- there are lots of great movies out about him- Polar Express and Arthur Christmas are two of my current favorites. That said, I don't believe in lying to my children either, so when my older girls bluntly asked if he was real, I didn't shake in my boots and break out in a sweat wondering what to tell them. And they weren't devastated by my answer, because there hadn't been an elaborate display beforehand to keep the dream alive. We still leave out reindeer food and cookies, and visit him at the mall. But I don't glare at his image every time I see him, or fear that he is trying to take the place of Jesus. He doesn't have that much power, at least in our house.

3. I don't limit Christmas presents, unless you're talking in terms of a preset financial budget.
I hear lots of people say that if three gifts were good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for their kids. If that works for their family and it is their conviction to do so, I completely respect that. But that philosphy is not in this house. We don't buy our kids a lot of extras throughout the year, so this is one time of a sort of unbridled restraint. Watching their joy build up to Christmas day, anticipating the gifts they will receive- I have more fun than they do! Remember that joy you felt as a kid Christmas Eve?! This is the part of parenthood where it's ok to live vicariously through your kids! I remember myself being a compassionate, caring child who wanted to help others. Receiving Christmas gifts once a year didn't dilute me for the upcoming year and turn me into a selfish person only concerned with materialism. We are raising our children to be compassionate, and are serving their community by feeding the homeless and donating toys to underprivelaged children. Buying them Christmas presents once a year does not take those values away.

4. Jesus is not the reason for the season. (Sort of.)
Now, before you begin questioning my salvation, let me explain. First of all, Christmas itself was originally a pagan holiday. I am not intending to start a history debate-I'm not in the least interested, actually- but in my humble opinion, if one is to consider Halloween an evil holiday, one must consider that both Christmas and Easter once were pagan holidays, more so than Halloween in my view since at least that holiday was originally All Saints Day. Christmas and Easter in modern day is like making lemonade out of lemons, and is a wonderful way for Christians to unite in remembering our Savior. But celebrating and recognizing the literal Christmas season  is not a commandment from the Bible! He most likely wasn't even born this time of year. What the Bible does command, however, is to remember Jesus all the time. We won't be held accountable for how we celebrated December 25 and the surrounding days. We WILL be held accountable for how we celebrated God's Holy Son January 1st through December 31st. I want to be thankful for my Jesus every single day, and rejoice in His birth so often that when the day of his real birth rolls around unbeknownst to me, I've already given thanks that morning. I want to live out a life that acts as if it is Christmas every day.

So, as I sit here admiring my Christmas decorations, I am thanking my God in Heaven that He loved me so much that He sacrificed His own Son for me. Tell me, what more could He give?? Let's celebrate. Merry Christmas!

Into His Arms

Every night Madeline ends up in our bed around 5am or so. Bill eventually takes her back to her own bed, but not before they get their snuggles in. It reminds me of when I used to sneak into my own parents' bed at night, and my dad was too big of a softy to say no. I ended up in their room so often because I used to have recurring nightmares all the time- nightmares so vivid I can replay them in my mind even to this day. In one of the dreams, it felt as if I was awake laying in bed, and I could hear my name being whispered over and over again, the volume increasing each time until it was so loud and evil-sounding I would jolt awake. Another dream involved Bill Cosby (I used to love watching The Cosby Show) sitting in a department store with a group of children. I wander away from my mom and decide to sit with them. Suddenly I realize that I can't physically move and I'm trapped there.

Then there was another dream- one that seemed to recur the most. I'm running for dear life, and a man is chasing me, trying to grab me. It's as if I'm in a dark hallway with nowhere to go but forward or backward- there is no scenery, just blackness.

When I was five years old, I realized that Jesus died on the cross to take my sin away. I sat on the floor of my bedroom and asked Jesus to come into my life and be my friend forever. (I actually ended up asking Him to save me umpteen million times until the concept of His saving grace sunk in and I realized that once He came into my life, He would never leave. But hey, I was five years old- give a kid a doctrinal break.) I was witnessing to my friends when I was as young as six years old, even being bold enough to raise my hand in the middle of class to talk about Him. If you knew me at this age and remember my crippling shyness, you can grasp how amazing it is to me that I was so bold. I miss the fearlessness that has faded over the years.

The last time I had the dream of the man chasing me, it wasn't a nightmare anymore. As I was running, I suddenly stopped. I turned around and held my arms up high. The Man ran up to me, picked me up, and held me tight. I was no longer scared, and felt completely safe.

If you are still running, stop. Turn around, and hold your hands up high. He's waiting to hold you, and He'll never let you go.