My Mary, a kindergartner, gained ground these last few weeks in reading fluency. In her mind life will really change into something glorious, "when she's bigger and can read."
I explained, "Why, Honey, you're already reading."
But this tedious sounding out, this dragging on of the text? It doesn't feel like reading to her. Reading is what Mommy does with a picture book or a chapter book. It's what the boys do in their easy chairs for a few hours a day, silently.
Reading is effortless. That's the view from her perspective.
So imagine her surprise when a sentence rolled off her tongue this week, fluently, for once. The words seemed familiar and the sounds mingled without effort.
She turned that determined head toward me, smiling hesitantly as though asking, "Um...what just happened there?"
It's like that with faith, too.
Our neighborhood friend L, whom I've written about since last spring, walked into our lives one balmy April day. She rode by on her bike, staring at my girls in the yard. Mary waved at her and L turned around and rode right into the driveway, introducing herself.
A few minutes later she came to the door, seeing me there, and invited herself right in, asking for a pretzel rod, and then another and another. Right away she reminded me of Pippi Longstocking. Despite myself, I fell in love with her strangely hilarious ways.
These months flew by. I admit there were times I rolled my eyes when she'd saunter into the yard. Her presence doesn't come without stress and at times I wanted to take that scripture, "Go and make disciples" and shove it.
But God is faithful and He didn't let me shove it. Now, even though her life is still in shambles, with police still coming to break up domestic violence, L's soul is awake. The Holy Spirit is there, inside her heart.
Like that fluent sentence Mary read this week, it's miraculous.
In Romans 10:17, Paul says, ‘Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ’
Reflecting on these many months with L--the drives to AWANA, the pretzel rods that disappeared, the whopper lies she tortured us with, the love that grew in my heart, the turmoil she survived--I'm reminded that the miraculous doesn't come without effort, just like that first fluent sentence didn't come without practice.
Hours of it.
We had to share the Word with L and put ourselves out there. We couldn't just sit back and expect her to notice something different about our family, and eventually ask about Jesus.
As much as we'd like it to be that easy, it's not. We have to risk something. We have to claim Jesus.
Have you noticed that most people don't mind the word God, but Jesus incites riots in the heart? To claim Jesus comes with a price. We claimed Him when we passed Jesus Storybook Bibles around the neighborhood, and some don't come to our Children's Bible Study. A couple washed their hands of us, at least for now.
Only a remnant will believe and every soul matters to God. "Go and make disciples" is uncomfortable. It's isolating, even.
Why does any Christian do it? It isn't a requirement to get to heaven, after all.
We do it to give thanks to God. Having been filled up so graciously, to overflowing, we have something to give.
Claiming Christ is an obedience and an act of thanksgiving, both. When God's grace floods a heart and the change radiates lovely, it feels miraculous. So go, hand out pretzel rods. Listen to those whoppers. In the end the little things we do, though brave, pale against the all-powerful, transforming work of Grace that is God's alone.
It's a mystery why we must go and make disciples when it's His grace that saves. Sometimes claiming Christ seems futile and too costly. But when the seed takes root and the fruit appears in spring, the glory of God floods the whole picture. I don't understand any of it and why one receives His grace and another walks away, remains a mystery.
Don't wait to understand it, just share in it.
Giving thanks today:
~ a husband who shares in it with me.
~ providing a safe haven for L during a fight at home, between her mother and grandfather. The grandparents have their hands full dealing with the on-going irresponsibility of their adult daughter, L's mother. Their choices are grim. Either kick their daughter out and stop enabling her dysfunction, and hope she leaves the children behind, or continue to deal with her so they can also provide a safe home for her children. They all need Christ and hopefully L's faith will break bonds of hate and dysfunction Mental illness is there in the mix, but Christ is bigger than that; He has overcome that. Thank you for praying for L and her family!
~ my Lord to cling to and Scripture to wash me clean.
~ the furnace working well again. Another mystery of grace.
~ pumpkin pie on a bitterly cold, windy day.
~ dedicated authors who live humbly and work for next to nothing, writing transforming tales for my children and me to devour.
~ children who sleep in till 8:30 AM, most days.
~ the curriculum that comes with the Jesus Storybook Bible. I'm a hard sell when it comes to any curriculum, but this is awesome to use.
~ two precious girls to counter the testosterone around here.
~ this picture of Amy's new baby. (Amy from Raising Arrows)
I explained, "Why, Honey, you're already reading."
But this tedious sounding out, this dragging on of the text? It doesn't feel like reading to her. Reading is what Mommy does with a picture book or a chapter book. It's what the boys do in their easy chairs for a few hours a day, silently.
Reading is effortless. That's the view from her perspective.
So imagine her surprise when a sentence rolled off her tongue this week, fluently, for once. The words seemed familiar and the sounds mingled without effort.
She turned that determined head toward me, smiling hesitantly as though asking, "Um...what just happened there?"
It's like that with faith, too.
Our neighborhood friend L, whom I've written about since last spring, walked into our lives one balmy April day. She rode by on her bike, staring at my girls in the yard. Mary waved at her and L turned around and rode right into the driveway, introducing herself.
A few minutes later she came to the door, seeing me there, and invited herself right in, asking for a pretzel rod, and then another and another. Right away she reminded me of Pippi Longstocking. Despite myself, I fell in love with her strangely hilarious ways.
These months flew by. I admit there were times I rolled my eyes when she'd saunter into the yard. Her presence doesn't come without stress and at times I wanted to take that scripture, "Go and make disciples" and shove it.
But God is faithful and He didn't let me shove it. Now, even though her life is still in shambles, with police still coming to break up domestic violence, L's soul is awake. The Holy Spirit is there, inside her heart.
Like that fluent sentence Mary read this week, it's miraculous.
In Romans 10:17, Paul says, ‘Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ’
Reflecting on these many months with L--the drives to AWANA, the pretzel rods that disappeared, the whopper lies she tortured us with, the love that grew in my heart, the turmoil she survived--I'm reminded that the miraculous doesn't come without effort, just like that first fluent sentence didn't come without practice.
Hours of it.
We had to share the Word with L and put ourselves out there. We couldn't just sit back and expect her to notice something different about our family, and eventually ask about Jesus.
As much as we'd like it to be that easy, it's not. We have to risk something. We have to claim Jesus.
Have you noticed that most people don't mind the word God, but Jesus incites riots in the heart? To claim Jesus comes with a price. We claimed Him when we passed Jesus Storybook Bibles around the neighborhood, and some don't come to our Children's Bible Study. A couple washed their hands of us, at least for now.
Only a remnant will believe and every soul matters to God. "Go and make disciples" is uncomfortable. It's isolating, even.
Why does any Christian do it? It isn't a requirement to get to heaven, after all.
We do it to give thanks to God. Having been filled up so graciously, to overflowing, we have something to give.
Claiming Christ is an obedience and an act of thanksgiving, both. When God's grace floods a heart and the change radiates lovely, it feels miraculous. So go, hand out pretzel rods. Listen to those whoppers. In the end the little things we do, though brave, pale against the all-powerful, transforming work of Grace that is God's alone.
It's a mystery why we must go and make disciples when it's His grace that saves. Sometimes claiming Christ seems futile and too costly. But when the seed takes root and the fruit appears in spring, the glory of God floods the whole picture. I don't understand any of it and why one receives His grace and another walks away, remains a mystery.
Don't wait to understand it, just share in it.
Giving thanks today:
~ a husband who shares in it with me.
~ providing a safe haven for L during a fight at home, between her mother and grandfather. The grandparents have their hands full dealing with the on-going irresponsibility of their adult daughter, L's mother. Their choices are grim. Either kick their daughter out and stop enabling her dysfunction, and hope she leaves the children behind, or continue to deal with her so they can also provide a safe home for her children. They all need Christ and hopefully L's faith will break bonds of hate and dysfunction Mental illness is there in the mix, but Christ is bigger than that; He has overcome that. Thank you for praying for L and her family!
~ my Lord to cling to and Scripture to wash me clean.
~ the furnace working well again. Another mystery of grace.
~ pumpkin pie on a bitterly cold, windy day.
~ dedicated authors who live humbly and work for next to nothing, writing transforming tales for my children and me to devour.
~ children who sleep in till 8:30 AM, most days.
~ the curriculum that comes with the Jesus Storybook Bible. I'm a hard sell when it comes to any curriculum, but this is awesome to use.
~ two precious girls to counter the testosterone around here.
~ this picture of Amy's new baby. (Amy from Raising Arrows)
2 comments:
Visiting from Ann's... praying with you for L. Rejoicing at the presence you are in her life. Your post today echos what was spoken in the sermon I heard this Sunday. I feel God speaking to me here today.
Thank you for praying with us and visiting today!
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