Our Inspired Journey

Our whole family has been fighting random symptoms of sickness all week. When 5 people live in the same house, it tends to go around! All that to say, the process of "getting better" seems to be stretched out as long as possible as each little body seems to rid itself of the "sickies" by passing it on to the next. With various symptoms raising their ugly head at different parts of the past few weeks, we've been home a lot more often than normal....(sadly, that means I also missed the last 3 weeks of my last Beth Moore study at church, but I'm planning on catching up with the videos online!)

With us all feeling yucky and the temperatures outside flirting with winter-like conditions in the 40s and low 50s all week, we've had a lot more time inside! Normally I would've bundled the kids up and gone to the park anyway, soaking up as much "sun" as we could get before snow hits, but with runny noses and occasional fevers, I decided against it :) I have to give props to Amy Anderson, the creator of this blog, Let's Explore that I check often...she posts GREAT ideas to try with your kids at home!!! Ryder and I wrote a list poem today about Fall, played Autumn Bingo and Counting the House and I can't wait to get some of the materials I need to try some of the other Fall activities she has listed here! We had a blast while Cole and Cora were napping :)

This morning, however, was my favorite. Ryder has begun showing more and more interest in worshipping God through song lately. It's not uncommon for me to break out into song while spreading peanut butter on our sandwiches for lunch, or to play our friend Derek's CD in the car (per Ryder's request...it's his FAVORITE!) and be singing along with hands raised as he joins me from the back seat. This morning, I was getting Cole dressed, and Ry wanted me to sing the "Oh no, you never let go" song while he sang along, pretending his plastic knight's sword was a guitar. Apparently I was singing it a little differently than I did the last time we sang it and when things are different than he expects them to be, this is VERY hard for Ryder...to say the least. Again...I'm not sure who he's picked this up from, but it's got to stop :) (I'm working on it!!!)

I decided to go to YouTube to find the song so we could sing along with a neutral 3rd party...the songwriter himself, Matt Redman. Here's clip so you can get a flavor for the sweet time of worship our little house had this morning, as we sang alongside Matt Redman via YouTube...

I started singing this song to Ryder a year back when he seemed to be prone to fear. It's been over a year now that he had his appendix removed. Before this happened, he was rolled out of the emergency room and into an operating room within hours of entering the ER. We look back at this time and recount God's faithfulness to heal him, relieving him of his pain...to be near him when John and I couldn't be present...to give him courage when we was going into an unknown. If God was faithful then, He can, will and promises to be again...whenever we call on His name. My son is starting to understand this on a very deep level.

He stopped me after every stanza of this song last time we were singing, asking me what it meant. When I sang...

"I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on,"

He said, "Wait, mom...stop. What is the light that is coming?"

"The light is Jesus, babe," I responded. Remember how after He died on the cross, God made Him alive again and brought Him up to heaven with Him?"

"Yeah..." he said with a slight little smile.

"Well, Jesus is coming back someday...when He left, He promised He'd come back someday," I said as he looked at me in a way I knew that he understood.

"When?" he asked.

"Nobody knows! It's going to be a big surprise, but it's going to be amazing."

At that moment, the most beautiful smile grew over my 4 year old boy's face, and I immediately knew...he can't wait to see His Savior.

Seeing Ryder grow to love Jesus reminds me more and more each day that it doesn't matter how long you've known Him...when we say, "Yes" to God and open our hearts to all he is waiting to bless us with, we receive the most amazing gift we could ever be given...the constant, life-giving presence of God in us, all the time. Once the Holy Spirit lives in us He never leaves, and brings us purpose beyond what his world can give us. All of the sudden, every moment of every day has purpose...even the days when everyone in the house is sick and not another person in the world sees you...even the days when nothing seems to go right, but the Holy Spirit in a still, small voice reminds you that where the world sees failure, God sees a work in progress...and one He's willing to give His life for.

Tears are pouring down my face as I write this, but what a beautiful picture the Lord has just given me as I sit, thinking on the day we meet face to face...Ry and I are going to dance in heaven together someday. He loves to dance and I know Jesus can see him now, but I can't wait to see His face as Ryder dances for Him before his throne...I want to see how Jesus' eyes light up in perfect love for my son...the one he made. I want to hear Cole's voice in perfect pitch and with clear intonation sing out praises to the One who made him...I want to watch his face and read his beautiful expression as he hears without hindrance the heartbeat of God for him. I want to see Cora run with wild abandon into the arms of her Savior and watch His face light up in delight as she squeezes Him tightly around His neck...How do I know this is possible? Because when Jesus walked the earth and everyone was trying to keep the children from bothering Jesus, he stopped them and said, "Let the little children come to me..." He wants more than anything in the world, for us to come...

He longs for the day when He will return for the ones who call Him King, Savior and friend. Who is Jesus to you today? I'll leave you with this video that encompasses so much of who He is to me...know that He is all of this for you too...watch this video and let me introduce you to my King...