As a little girl I would listen to Donnie Osmond and Shawn Cassidy for hours at a time, on my Holly Hobbie record player. Paper dolls and connecting the dots were lots of fun too. I was thrilled when I got my first pair of metal roller skates, overjoyed with my very own pogo stick, but hands down one of my favorite things of all were those magical paper books. You know the ones I’m talking about. When you picked up one of these books and flipped through its pages, they were blank. Not very impressive at all. But, when you moved the yellow felt tipped pen that came with the book, back and forth, back and forth, over the blank pages, beautiful pictures would be revealed!

While sharing a scripture from the Bible with my children and one of God’s many promises to us, I couldn’t help but think again of those fun little books, and the treasures that would be revealed after I’d move my pen over the crisp white paper. I went on to tell my four children that the Bible is filled with promises that have been made just for them from God, their loving Father, their creator. I went on to share that when they asked God into their hearts, they became His children. His promises were theirs now too. Every single one of them.

I reminded them of the fun little books that I loved as a child, that they too have now played with. I asked them to imagine God’s word as the blank paper and to take their imaginary yellow pen and move across His word and His promises, back and forth, back and forth, until they could clearly see their faces, and their own precious names written with God’s own hand, in each verse. They needed to know that it was each one of them, His children he was thinking of, when He made those promises.

Friends, your face and your name is there on each page and each promise too. God loves you so very much. His word and His promises are infallible, unbreakable and irrevocable. He longs to hold you close and whisper these life giving promises in your ear.

So what are you waiting for? Get out your yellow pen and start moving it back and forth across the pages of His word. Don’t waste another second, start revealing the treasures He has for you, today!

“God is not a man, that he should lie. He is not a human, that he should change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?” Numbers 23:19 NLT

In His Love,

Joanne

Today’s devotional is written by one of our readers, Tanja Moody. You can find Tanja at her personal blog “Three Moody Cuties“. If you have never visited Tanja, I hope you will stop by after you read her devotional….

“Mommy lets me unload the dishwasher,” my five-year-old daughter told her
grandmother during a recent sleepover.

And at home when I ask her twin brother to sweep the kitchen floor, he is
glad that he “gets” to help me.

My eight-year-old son sees things differently. He doesn’t feel like he
“gets” to help. he feels he’s in a “have to” situation. Somewhere in those
few years between the ages of five and eight, he grew to view helping out
mom as an effort and not a ministry.

He’s not alone. Recently, I realized that I often cop the same attitude with
my Lord.

“I have to prepare a meal for the family that just had a newborn.” “I have
to organize a fellowship for Sunday school class.” “I have to take my turn
in the preschool children’s church class.”

The list of things I have to do often grows so long that what I really “have
to do” is question who put me in those ministry positions. me or the Lord?

I recalled a challenged issued by my Bible study leader one day a few months
ago. She said to those who were listening that we should change the way we
speak (and think) about our ministry opportunities.

“Don’t say ‘I have to teach Sunday school this week,’” she said. “Instead,
replace that thought with ‘I get to teach Sunday school this week.’”

We are privileged to serve our Lord. He’s not some irate taskmaster who is
piling on one thing after another, trying to break us down with stress.
Most often, we do that to ourselves.

No, He’s our Father. Our Daddy. We need to come to Him as His children and
do what He asks of us.

Because we “get” to.

“The people brought children to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. The
disciples shooed them off. But Jesus was irate and let them know it: ‘Don’t
push these children away. Don’t ever get between them and me. These children
are at the very center of life in the kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept
God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.’ Then,
gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on
them.” (Mark 10:13-16, The Message)

Copyright: Tanja

As I laid my head on the pillow at night, the tears began to flow. Did I even tell my children that I love them today? Did they hear anything but yelling from me throughout the day? Sure they were acting up and pulling on my last nerve, but do they know I love them?

“Father please raise the boys I have into Godly men despite my efforts” became the prayer I prayed more times than I care to admit. So many times I wanted to tell the Lord ‘here is my mommy badge, I am messing these kids up.’ There are so many mothers who are better, more patient, smarter, and have well behaved kids. Father what were you thinking when you gave blessed me with three boys? I am a girly girl who likes girl stuff. And not only did you give me all boys but you moved me clear across the United States from all my support. Father you are making me do all this on my own!!

Why do you give your sons more honor than you give me? God asked in 1 Samuel 2:29.

Yes I was without my support and truth be told if I was near my family I fear I would have relied on my parents more than I should have. Each day I “served” my husband and boys until I had nothing left of me, no identity of who I was. I woke up each morning and served them again; poured out all I had.

The Lord had to remove me from all that was familiar and I had to come to the end of myself where I knew I was not the wife I should be, and not the mother I thought I would be. Despite all I did, all the serving I poured out, I was failing.

Why do we as mothers choose to be exhausted rather than allow God to refresh us? It was not until I cried out to God yelling ‘I can’t do this anymore, you are asking too much of me’ then God showed up and said….”EXACTLY!”

God spoke to me and said:

Why are you putting others first?
Why do you labor for your family and give them all you have and I have nothing?
Why do you turn to everyone else for help before you turn to me?
Why have I only become your SOS God?

It was then that I broke down in sobs, with my face to the floor and said I can not do this anymore….without you. I am not a good Mom without you Lord. I am not a good wife without you Lord. Sure I can exist on autopilot and serve my family, do what needs to be done, but that is not the way Christ has called me to live.

I say this gently but anything you put before God is your idol, even your family. This mother’s day I pray you can rest and reflect. So many of us give and give and give until we have nothing left inside of us.

The secret is that God keeps us filled up as long as we place him first in our life.

As my boys are now teens and we are getting into a very busy season in our lives I am still constantly reminded that God needs to come before all I do for my family! Sure I still struggle being a ‘do-er,’ but God only has to remind me of what it feels like when he is not first above all….even my family.

Heavenly Father, thank you teaching this mother that I am nothing without you. I have often felt like I failed this job called “motherhood” more times than I care to admit, but in the end you were actually teaching me, stretching me, and molding me into the Godly mother/wife you have called me to be. I don’t have everything figured out, I still fail in this area, but I know you are there to pick me up, dust me off and refresh me once again. Father I lift up all the single mothers today may you give them an extra dose of patience, may you pour down your comfort and blessings upon them today. Amen!