Praying

Don’t forget how vital a few moments can be.

We stand in the gap for our children. We need to be diligent, and ready to pray at all times!

May the Lord bless you and protect you and your families!

 

Tara

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Blurry Blessings

The other day my youngest daughter found an old point and click digital camera and was taking pictures left and right. Asking everyone to pose for her. (At odd times I might add!)

I was trying to give her tips and hints to help her take better pictures.

1. Hold still. When you are moving, the picture will be blurry
2. Take a breath before pressing the button
3. If it’s dark, and you don’t have the flash on, your picture will not turn out well
4. When you are taking a picture of the sunset, it never turns out as beautiful as the real thing

Just a few things I learned over the years whilst taking pictures.  I suggested those things more than once and she probably got tired of hearing me.  She just wanted to explore with the camera and take pictures.  To experience life through the camera lens. Here I am trying to guide her and help her, and she doesn’t want to learn.

Is that not like us with God?

1. We just want to go through life just running and He just wants us to be still and know that He is God. Psalm 46:10
2. Not everything has to be spoken. Take a breath before speaking. Words aren’t always required. If they are, let’s make them safe.  “The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.”  Proverbs 15:4, “Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity.” Proverbs 21:23
3. How often do we listen to what He is saying when He is trying to help us and shine His light to show us the best picture of love? Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
4. I am so concerned about how I think things should look for others to see, that I forget that He has laid that plan already. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

My picture of the “Sunset” doesn’t look like His!

I don’t have to know everything that is going on to live.  I just need to rest in Him.  He has this!

There is a flip side to that for the parent in me… Sometimes it is OK for a picture to blurry.  It is a reminder to me to just let her experience life.  Not to be worried so much about a perfect picture, but just to let her have fun. Be a kid who is playing with an old camera trying to figure it out.

It’s really ok to have blurry photos.

There is a lesson (blessing) here as well.

How often do I overlook what she is trying to tell me because I am in such hurry to get to where we are going?  Maybe I am working on something that doesn’t really have a deadline, but I just want it done now. I need to show her love in the every day things. The things that seem like they aren’t as important as what I am doing, are just as important to her. I need to hold still for her. Look through her lens and enjoy the blurry blessings that unfold daily.

So let’s take a breath, hold still, and remember the Son is right there holding us. Painting the sunset or sunrise.  His pictures are just more beautiful than we can comprehend, yet He is ever so patient!

This photo I took while on a fishing trip with my husband. It is nowhere near as beautiful as it was in person. 🙂

Am I Truly Thankful

Am I truly thankful for all that you have done. How often through my day do I ungraciously run. Allowing pessimistic thoughts to flow through my veins expecting productivity when what I speak comes out in negativity. Criticism first to my tongue, It should be dripping peace to each and every Young.

Am I truly thankful for all that You have done? The puppies that lay squirming from that little stray. You have given them to us to brighten up our day. Even if there are 8 your timing is never late!

Am I truly thankful for all that you have done? For my spouse after 6 months we were married, through years of coaching life was harried. Now a calm You have placed upon us. His being home is a bonus and a plus.

Am I truly thankful for all that you have done? The messes all around me Lord are so frustrating! Where is this peace that You afford? That is when you plainly say, “I answered your prayer for a family that day.”

Am I truly thankful for all that you have done? If I took the time to write all of the things You have done for me, I would be here all day long. You have blessed me with the gift of song. Yet another gift you gave. God help me daily to behave.

Am I truly thankful for all that you have done? My being at times a challenge can be, but yet again, you placed me exactly where you want me. Encouraging, loving, shepherding and listening. I can see your brow on the cross was glistening. With the love You poured out, your very life. Help me to see life as a blessing not just filled with strife.

Am I truly thankful for all that you have done?Let this day be in me which was also in Christ. Let me be last and You be first. Let my heart beam and with Your love, let it burst. Let it overflow. Let words of peace around me glow.

God, go before me this I pray. Go before me this new day. Let me see Your hand of power, reach every one of us this very hour.

I am truly thankful for all that you have done.

Roller skating at 5:30 a.m. Why not?

This picture is a bit blurry, but I had my zoom lens still on from the moon picture I took the other day.

If you have children, you know that there isn’t much time for candid photos! She has been zooming about since about 5:30 this morning with her backpack and has stated that she loves roller skating and needs some “honey mooners”. I had just finished my first cup of coffee when I came to realize she wants some cereal 😉 Communication with a 4 year old is always fun!Have a wonderful day friends. Zoom around with joy!~

Thursday Thought

You know, waiting for a chicken to lay an egg is a lot like waiting for your first child to crawl. You know it is going to happen, you just have no idea when. 🙂

My Shadow

My Shadow

By Tara Young

I have a little shadow. She follows me around.

She does everything that I do. She mimics every sound.

Each word, each sound, and every move I make

Her little eyes inside do take.

She stores them in her memory and sometimes they come out,

In ways that are embarrassing and humbly I will pout.

From the Bible I did stray and chose that day to swerve.

Not following your will, your Word I did not observe.

You see my little shadow is a tiny girl.

A 3-year-old with years untold watching my life as it unfurled.

What do my words teach her? Are they training her in truth?

Or am I teaching her to tell a lie in her formidable youth.

Do my actions, which I show,

Send her to the cross where I pray for her to go?

Today as my shadow follows me, help me Lord I pray.

To take each tender moment to show her You today.

A miraculous family tree.

Beneath my heart where my womb would be, is an empty space.

 No child, no babe, no wee one, will ever inhabit that place.

 I am unable to bear a child, a lament my heart did face.

 In God’s arrangement and in His manner He provided by His grace.

 He took my three and replaced with theirs, three little ones in need.

I recognize that He has blessed me with richness indeed.

He grew them in another’s womb another mother did bear.

 My valued cherished daughters to me you gave to care.

Three little faces greet me each new day.

Wild and passionate in their extraordinary way.

 Their joy replaces my grief.

I thought that through birth they would come to me but adoption was a relief.

 I understand though no babes will come I do unmistakably see.

You enriched our lives by planting a miraculous family tree.