"Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you."
- 1 Chronicles 28:20
These were David's words to his son Solomon as he was handing over the plans for the temple he had wanted to build but instead Solomon was given charge by God to do. This is the devotional in today's Our Daily Bread. Joe Stowell used the imagery of negotiating whitewater rapids for how it often feels when we have transitions in our lives. This is the time of year for many people to experience a transition--graduations from school that leave empty nests for parents and college or new jobs for young people. It has been 20 years since I began my empty-nest transition when my first-born graduated from high school. The last graduated from college just seven years ago. The transition for me has been a whitewater experience as I have had a great deal of discouragement trying to move on. I'd planned my whole life around having children, but did not plan for when they'd leave home. I thought the only thing that would change would be their address......so I was not prepared for the reality of having adult sons. The youngest will be the last to be married later this year. The adage that daughters are daughters for life but sons are sons only until they take a wife has proven to be true for me.
But praise God! This week I started reading a new-to-me children's novel written in 1962--the year I was 12 and was of the age to have read it then--in which the young teenager and her little brother walk into a mysterious mirror that allows them to see their many possible future selves. The girl sees her artist-self, then poet-self, then teacher and doctor, and lastly her mother-self with children. At that point I had an emotional reaction and realized I would still have chosen to be a mother even knowing what I know now--that it has an expiration date. In that moment I realized I'd been clinging to my idealized-motherhood dream because to do anything else would mean I'd made a mistake in my choice. But NO--God was showing me it was not a mistake and that now I was free to make ANOTHER choice of what I want to be! That was then. This is now. He will not fail me or forsake me as I move forward through the next set of whitewater rapids.
I am grateful that I have choices and that God is in them.
I hope you remember the title of that book.. it rings a bell for me too, Please post it but yes, I often thing would I change anything I have done in my life. ?
ReplyDeleteWhen I am in a dark mood I start blaming things, then people then of course I am hurting God in this ... so now I stop and see more clearly the entire sweep of the life.. the LIFE GOD gave me to learn more about the fact that the children we have are not ours.... ever. We are NOT responsible for them or their outcome. but only give them good grounding in the CHRIST and HIS love.. his word. That is the best gift we can give them...Then we are free to fit into THEIR LIVES the way THEY are doing it.. It might not be the way we would like it to be or we would want it.. or choose it... WE being mortal sin in thought as when WE turns to GOD WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME Do and leave o ur selfish ways... our selves... and only have God as US and GOD as our BEING... we then see the glory of our lessons.. and more Love than we can imagine flows into our experience........ love this post , it is right on for me this very minute. xx