Earnest Parenting » Growing toward God

I Want Treasures for My Children

Amy LeForge — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 07:54:53 +0000

I was listening to a Christian radio station the other day and they were celebrating the life of Billy Graham. One mom called in to say that her family had been at one of his evangelistic outreaches when her daughter (now 14) was 5 years old. When the call to come to the altar and commit your life to Christ came, the little girl looked at her parents and said, “I want that.”

That just floored me. And it got me thinking. All of the boys have given their hearts to God, and according to my understanding of salvation, that gets them to heaven. What it doesn’t get them is closer to God after they arrive.

The way I understand it, there are rewards in heaven in addition to just getting there. Some folks believe that those rewards are things like mansions, streets of gold, wealth beyond imagining, that sort of thing. Those may indeed be waiting for us, but I like to think that the biggest reward of all is getting to stand closer to Him. The Creator of the Universe. How amazing would that be?

Matthew 6:20 says “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal,”. I believe we store up treasures by doing our best here on earth to be like Christ; treating other people with love and respect. We earn treasure when we serve others, and when we please our Heavenly Father.

I’m not saying that I can earn my salvation. That’s a gift that I can only accept or reject.

Once the gift is accepted, that’s where the storing (or earning) begins. I store up rewards and treasures with my service and faithfulness; with my efforts to develop the fruits of the spirit (love, peace, joy, patience, faithfulness, kindness, etc.). I personally have such a long way to go with this process…I’ll be blessed just to be able to see God from the furthest reaches of Heaven. That’s partly why I am anxious for the boys to do better than I have.

At the tender ages of 12 and 8 though, it’s understandable that the boys wouldn’t have a truly mature desire to serve God with all their hearts, minds, and souls. And yet, I long for the days that each of them look heavenward and say, “I want that.”

photo credit: LadyDragonflyCC

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Thankfulness

Amy LeForge — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:12:29 +0000

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the US, a time that we use to be with family and think about our blessings. I’m thankful of course for God’s amazing blessings, our family, a home that’s safe and dry, food to eat, and an income that meets our needs and then some.

“Count your blessings” someone said on the radio the other day. “Count your blessings, and your problems will seem smaller. Count your problems, and your blessings will seem smaller.” I like that.

So. What else am I thankful for? It may seem strange, but I’m really thankful for my appliances.

Are you done giggling yet?

Think about it: you put dirty dishes into a box, close the door and push a button, and when you open it an hour later, the dishes are clean. The same is true with the washer and dryer. It’s amazing, really. What would someone from a hundred years ago think if they saw modern housekeeping? How about two hundred years ago?

We’re studying the Middle Ages this year in history, and I’m just struck again and again how amazingly blessed I am to have so many machines to do my work for me. Dishwasher, washing machine and dryer, coffeemaker, microwave, stove…what do I have to complain about, really? Back in medieval times, women had servants to help with running the castle. When I first began my quest to be more like the Proverbs 31 woman, I was a little jealous about that. How come they get servants and I don’t?

We were doing a study of the book A Woman After God’s Own Heart, and the author Elizabeth George had the answer to that question. Our appliances are our servants. Well, hey then! I can be the queen of my castle, no sweat.

Well, maybe just a little sweat. Keeping the house running and organized is a bit of a job.

But I’m still thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving, Internets.

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Bring The Rain

Amy LeForge — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:57:22 +0000

photo credit: Cubbie_n_Vegas

We all have those moments in life where reality pierces our hearts. I had a moment like that yesterday. Okay….well…I had an afternoon like that yesterday. Heather from OhMyStinkinHeck linked through to a post from Bring The Rain, which is a blog written by Angie Smith. Friends, I can’t encourage you strongly enough to go read this blog. If you had to choose between mine and hers, I’m telling you: PICK HERS.

Bring The Rain is the story of Audrey Caroline, the baby that Angie was carrying earlier this year. In January Angie and her husband Josh got terrible news about Audrey’s condition. The story from that point is Angie’s walk through the end of the pregnancy, Audrey’s birth and subsequent passing. Miraculously, the baby lived for a few hours after birth, allowing the family time to get to know her and say goodbye. The photos from that day are filled with more peace and joy than I have ever seen, given the sadness of the occasion.

Why do I want you to read such a sad story? Well, for a couple of reasons. Angie’s writing is so vivid and speaks so directly to your heart. I’m telling you, when she wrote about being up at 3 am praying and asking God, “Why?” I was right there with her.

Some would say that Angie is deeply religious. I disagree. It’s more accurate to say that Angie is deeply faithful to a God who allowed a terrible tragedy to play out in her life. As I write this, we’re about 2 months past Audrey’s birth and death and Angie is still grieving. She is sharing the experience as she lives it.

If you’ve ever experienced a terrible tragedy in your life, this blog is for you. Angie has so much love to share with her readers and she’s so honest about how hard this all has been. At the same time, she’s able to hang on to her faith and keep putting one foot in front of the other.

If you’ve never experienced a terrible tragedy in your life, this blog is for you. Angie’s experience is a deeply moving reminder of what’s really important in life.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to hug my kids.

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Sammy

Amy LeForge — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 06:44:23 +0000

I’ve known a beautiful young lady at my church for several years now. Her name is Samantha, but most of us call her Sam for short.

When so many families left the church two summers ago in the split, Sam lost some friends that she adored. I know it was pretty hard on her. Not to worry, she fell deeply in love with our new pastor and his wife shortly after they moved here last June.

Sam is a pretty talkative girl one on one, but she’s not been real expressive in front of a crowd. She has told me many times that she’s going to sing with us up front on Sunday mornings, but we rarely convince her to actually join us when the time actually arrives.

Before I continue with this story, I need to tell you something about Sam. She has Down’s Syndrome.

This past Saturday, the church held a benefit spaghetti dinner and Sam’s family was there helping out. While we were cleaning up afterward a teen turned on the microphones and somehow Sammy got up on stage and started singing her heart out. For probably 20 minutes, we were regaled with “I love Marrrrrrk” and “I love Robinnnnnnn”. Everyone there was smiling about her love songs. When I told Hubby about it later he was surprised at her boldness and bummed he’d missed it.

Pastor Mark looked up during the singing and told me that Sam also types pages and pages of notes to him, and that while a lot of it is indecipherable, every now and then you can pick out the words “mook” and “sam”. He said that he’s got one note in particular that he keeps in his Bible, and that on days when he’s feeling down he takes it out and looks at it and remembers “Sammy loves me.”

Two things really hit me.

1) The little expressions of love that we make can have great meaning to others.

2) There’s value in every life my friends.

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Facing a Parting, The Update

Amy LeForge — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 06:14:07 +0000

The only predictable thing about kids is they’re unpredictable.

We had a kids’ craft event at church yesterday afternoon, and my friend D was there. You know, the one who’s leaving. It was super hard watching her talk to a few of the other ladies, saying some goodbyes and crying a bit in the process. It was clear she hadn’t told her children yet, and I’d made sure not to say anything to mine, just in case. I did manage to distract her eldest son away once and I don’t think he saw the tears.

As soon as we got home we called a family meeting and sat down to tell the boys the bad news. I wanted them to have time to think about it and ask questions well before bedtime. They were not pleased, but we didn’t have the crying or sadness that I had anticipated. We had to answer some rather pointed questions, but then they were all “Okay. Can I go play outside now?”

Fast forward to this morning. Everyone was calm. I got choked up a bit during singing time (not the best thing to do when you’re holding the microphone so I got it under control). The pastor’s sermon couldn’t have been more timely; he talked about how God sometimes puts calls on our lives that don’t make sense to us, let alone to others. But that’s okay. God doesn’t need to explain Himself to anyone, and He is always right. Pastor talked about how Abraham answered God’s call to leave his homeland, even though he didn’t know where he was going to end up.

At the end of the service, Pastor called up D and her hubby so we could gather around them and pray. Then since Hubby and I have been so close to them, Pastor invited us to stand right next to them. That’s when D and I started hugging. And sobbing.

I’ve known this day was coming for a long time. See, D and her husband were deeply hurt in the church split last year. It took a long time for healing to even begin. But it has, and now they’re both sure that God is asking them to step away from the church family, even though they’re not sure what to do next.

Hubby told me a long time ago that they’d leave eventually. D and I have talked about it more than once, and her hubby talked to mine. So this isn’t a surprise. I don’t think anyone in the church family was surprised by the decision; anyone I spoke with about it was both sorry to see them go but so hopeful that they find a wonderful new church to attend. There’s even hope that someday they’ll return to us; maybe this is a test of their obedience the way Abraham was tested with Isaac. That door is still open.

I don’t feel like a wrong choice has been made. I trust that D and her husband are on the right path. At the same time, I feel so deeply sad today. And I don’t completely know why. We’re still going to see each other, for date nights and cooking days, and our accountability meetings. I haven’t lost my friend.

But still, I’m very sad.

D and I were pregnancy buddies (me for the younger boys, she for her middle child). I didn’t have that blessing for the first pregnancy, so it was a very special thing. Her son was born just 2 weeks after The Manager and Captain Earthquake came along. She and her husband signed on to help plant the church shortly after we did. I think they were the last people besides us that were in the founding group. We’ve been together through so much…crazy people and events….celebrations and partings….laughter and tears….what can I say? She is my friend.

There have been many many families that have come into my life via this church who have later moved on for one reason or another. Then we had the big split last year, with half the congregation choosing to leave. That hurt, but I just dealt with it and kept moving. This time, it just really hurts.

So. I’m planning to cry about it as long as I want, then when I’m all done I’ll take a deep breath and keep on rolling.

As for the boys, I caught D’s oldest son giving TechnoBoy a goodbye hug after service. It was adorable: one of those awkward man-hugs that they really meant but were embarrassed about at the same time. The Mercenary didn’t do any hugging, just said loudly “Well, I’ll see you in a few months”. Nut. We’ll see them in probably a couple of weeks.

Earnest Parenting: help and encouragement in sad times.

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