It is Monday, the first day of the first full
week of school. The start of a new
school year always brings mixed emotions for parents and children alike. It can be scary, exciting, confusing and
happy and the list could go on; but this year started different for us. All three of my children are now in school
and all three of them hit a big school milestone on the same day. My oldest went off to high school for the
first time, my oldest daughter started middle school and my youngest daughter,
the last one, the baby started kindergarten!!
Typing that sentence just stopped my breathing once more. :O
Normally
I would push back the tears and sweep the feelings underneath the rug that
sometimes covers my heart in order to be “strong” or “tough enough.” This time
though, I couldn’t fight it. I was not
prepared for the deep, intense, painful feelings that presented themselves, but
God was. My heart ached so deeply and it
felt as if it were being torn in three different directions. It seemed the heart ache consumed my whole
body. I cried and cried some more and then I finally
began to laugh at myself because if I was this much of a wreck about school
then what am I going to do when they leave home to make their own lives?! Still, there was an aching emptiness that
consumed me. So instead of sweeping the
aching emptiness under the rug, I began to talk with God about what I was
feeling. Joyce Meyer once said, “You’ve
got to feel it so He can heal it.”
The Lord reminded me that the intense emotions
that I was feeling for my kids were only a drop in the bucket compared to how
much love He has for them, or me, or anyone who wants a relationship with
Jesus. Oh, what JOY this brings to my
heart and soul!! In Ephesians 3:18 it
says, “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should,
how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.” This is my prayer for you who read this: that
you would come to know His majestic, vast love and come to believe that His love was given, is given and will always be given
for you. The Lord really means you, His
LOVE is for you, and it is for all. We
cannot fully love others until we receive His vast love for ourselves. I encourage you to go on a “love hunt” with
me, a love hunt through His word. The
challenge is to look up one verse per day which pertains to love and after
meditating on it, post it here to the blog.
Please look at other postings and be sure that your verse is not one
someone already posted so that after a few weeks or so we can review what we
have learned about love through the blog posts, but most importantly through
His word. Happy Hunting!! J
S.M.P*
