Convict me Lord; in the Power of Love

I want to walk in love.  I want my spirit to decrease as the Lord’s Spirit within me increases.  Recently, I have been spending quiet time reflecting on my life, my faith, my love, and on my interaction with those whom I love.   

In church today, I came to God in worship and in praise.  As I prayed, worshiped, and was instructed in the Word; I asked God to cleanse me, purify me, and sanctify me.  God is my source.  His grace is sufficient.  God is in control.  I must practice “Letting go and letting God”.  It is Mother’s Day.  I am a wife, a mother, and a grandmother and I am so grateful for all of those titles.  Lord, I am yours; my family is yours.  As I prayed, I asked for wisdom and for God to use me as His vessel in the lives of others.  I asked Him to help me to know when to speak or to be silent.  I want the Holy Spirit to do His work through my life as I interact with those I love.  Our earthly lives are temporary and our children are on loan to us.  They belong to God first.  This is a lesson I learned many years ago.   Our first child, Elisa Lynn, was born on May 11, forty three years ago.  I went into labor on Mother’s Day.  Memories flood my mind.  She was given to us for nine years to love and to care for.  I treasure my children and my grandchildren.  I pray for and lift up a blessing for each one by name daily.  I know that God’s hand is upon them.  He knew them while yet in the womb (Jeremiah 1:5).  God has a plan for each of their lives and for my life (Jeremiah 29:11). 

When a family and children are young, God expects a mother to care for, guide, teach, and protect her children.  It is a role that has to change as children grow.  I am a protective mother but have tried not to be an over protective one.  I do believe in absolutes and accountability.  A parent’s role is to help mold a child into a meaningful adult of worth; a person able to care for himself and able to love and care for others.  I am so very proud of my adult daughters.  My mother taught me, by example, to be a mother.  My daughters have given me grandsons.  In the future my grandchildren will look back at the examples given to them by their parents as they pass on the values which they have learned to the next generation, to their children.  I marvel at the circle of life.  I do realize my significance in that circle but also realize that I shouldn't feel overly essential.  In young families, mothers try to keep things orderly and must have some kind of control.  Sometimes it is a hard thing to let that role diminish and realize that one has to let go of the once secure sense of control.  That is where “letting go and letting God” comes in.  I can let go because I do know that God is on the Throne and He is in control of my life and of theirs.  I pray a lot!

I must change as my needs and the circumstances of my life change.  I don’t have control over changing circumstances or have any control over how others react or act.  I can only take charge of my own actions and reactions; what I say, don’t say, do, or don’t do.  I ask the Lord to convict my heart so I choose to do what is right.  We all are, at times, ambushed by remarks that put us on the defensive.  Both Richie and I can be too sensitive to what we perceive to be the motive behind a remark, correction, or statement.  We also have the habit of finishing each others sentences.  My heart has been convicted.  I will work on being less emotionally sensitive and defensive.  I will be a better listener and let people finish their own sentences.  I do realize that after almost 49 years of marriage Richie and I know what each other are thinking and going to say.  I don’t want that to change but I ask the Lord to let me know how to choose when to speak, when to be silent, what to say, or what not to say.  

Lord, help me to be still, be calm, be present, be supportive, be accepting, be loving, and be forgiving.  The fruit seeds of God’s Holy Spirit are planted in us when we are born of the spirit; born again.  These seeds do not become fully ripe fruits immediately.  Seeds have to germinate and grow.  These seeds of the spirit mature as our faith matures.  Our faith matures as we study God’s Word.  “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God”. (Romans 10:17)  These fruits become mature when we start operating in the Gifts of the Spirit so that others can see these gifts in our lives.  I strive to live the way God wants me to live.  1Corinthians 13 tells us that now we know in part.  In our human bodies we cannot fully understand or be perfect as Christ was perfect.  Operating in the gifts of the spirit, as listed in Galatians 5:22, is living in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  It is a process which happens on our faith journey as we are cleansed, filled, and sanctified.  We are to live in faith, hope, and love.  Verse 13 from 1Corinthians 13 tells us that the greatest of these is love.  God is love and we must live in His love and let that love overflow from us into the lives of others.  Jesus told us in Luke 10:27 and Matthew 22:36-40 that loving God and loving others is the greatest commandment.

God has a good and perfect plan for me.  I choose to listen and be corrected so that I may grow in my faith and in the gifts of the spirit.  The greatest of these is love.  I love the Lord and I love my family.  Lord, help me to operate in love. 

Legacy of Faith and Thanksgiving

In the Old Testament, the Lord instructed His children, the Israelites saying, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord, our God is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6: 4-7).  I am an imperfect person and an imperfect parent.  I serve a perfect God who can work through me to teach my children and others when I am obedient.  He lives within me.  He teaches me.  He fills me with His spirit and gives me wisdom.  He is the Living Water in my life.  In order to be filled with His Living Water I must learn more about Him, study the Word, talk to Him in prayer, praise Him, worship Him, and be still so I can hear Him in my heart.  I trust Him for direction, guidance, and wisdom in times of joy and in times of pain.  He is always with me.

I recently came across a devotional which our church compiled prior to Easter in 1990.  Both of my children wrote a page in the devotional.  It was a daily Lenten booklet given to everyone in our St. Luke Lutheran Church congregation.  I would like to share their stories with you today, twenty three years later.

Christa was 7 years old.  She loved to read and write.  Her first grade teacher told me that she was either going to be a journalist or be the President of the United States.  Christa’s story was entered in the devotional to be read on April 10, 1990.  The reading started out with the Bible verse from John 3:16.  It is one of the first Bible verses which the children learned in Sunday School.

Her story is as follows:

“Jesus was a man who helped all men.  He died for our sins.  He was crucified and put on the cross.  He arose on a Sunday and this Sunday is now called Easter.

God created the earth, the animals and everything on earth.  God loved the earth and us so that He gave His only Son for our Salvation.

We talk to God by praying.  I remember a time when God answered my prayer when I asked for a puppy.  I prayed and prayed.  Finally I got an answer.  My sister found my dog at a campsite in Florida.

My Dad said I could keep her.  She was black and only a few weeks old.  We brought her home with us in my camper.

I call her Penny because she is my ‘Penny from Heaven’

I talk to God every day.  Jesus takes care of me.  He loves me and I love Him”.

Erica was 17 years old.  Her writing was entered into the Devotional Booklet to be read on March 11, 1990.  She started her entry with the Bible verse from 1 John 5: 13-15.     

Her story is as follows:

“Jesus is the pearl of great price, but He considers us His pearls of great price.  He cares about the large and small concerns in our lives.  I became more aware of these truths this past summer after a St. Luke’s Woman’s League Softball game.  At the end of the game I discovered that my pearl earring was missing.  The entire team searched the field from first base to home without any luck.  My Mom continued to search when everyone else gave up.  As she walked from third to home, something in the dirt struck her eye.  It was my earring!  She asked me, ‘Had you prayed about it?’  I had to confess I hadn’t.  I knew she had. 

As we got into the car to go home, I dropped the earring again.  I couldn’t find it.  Then she asked me, ‘Did you say a prayer of thanks when it was found?’  Again, I had to answer ‘no’.  She said no more.  When we arrived home, I searched the car and found it again.  This time I prayed about it before and after I found it I offered a prayer of thanks to God for being concerned about the little things in my life.

Lord, help me to pray my way through each day and help me never to forget to come back and say ‘Thank You’.    Amen”

I love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, and mind.  Love is a verb, an action word.  I love God and my family.  I cannot only spend my time thinking about my love for them; I want to show them my love.  I show God how much I love Him by learning more about Him, obeying Him, and by coming to Him in worship, praise, and thanksgiving.  I thank Him for my children and my grandchildren.  They are my legacy.  I show my children and grandchildren how much I love them by caring for their needs, being available to them, kissing and hugging them, and by sharing my faith with them.  I want to share the knowledge and wisdom which God has given to me over the years.  I want the gift of faith which I have received to be contagious.  I cannot give them my faith but I can spark the desire within each of them to seek for their own truth.  I want them to know that faith isn’t a religion, a denomination, or an intangible hope.  The Truth, the Way, and the Life is a person.  It is Jesus, God’s promise of reconciliation in each of our lives.  Believing and receiving the gift of faith will be a personal decision in each person’s life.  I pray for every member of my immediate and extended family daily.  God hears me.  The work being done in their lives is His.  I pray; the Holy Spirit convicts.

Thank you, dear Lord, for your love.  Thank you for your plan in my life.  Thank you for the gift of faith which you have given me.  Thank you for the physical and spiritual legacy of my family.   I am encouraged by the words in Psalm 100:5, “For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations”.