A Broken and Aching Heart

"God is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

Psalm 34:18

It seems like there is a lot of people that are hurting these days. I'm one of them and maybe you are too. In the last year I have known so many people who are suffering, who are hurting and who have even died. I have been brought to tears and crying on more than one occasion in the last year. This last week I've known of two young people that have passed into eternity. One of them was very dear to my heart. 

The Lord has been so gracious to remind me of Psalm 34:18... Not only does God care about each and every heartbreak that we face; He is also CLOSE. Close to you, close to me, close to everyone that is hurting; close to everyone that feels crushed. 

I love that. 

I love that God truly, really cares. 

The Bible says in  

Psalm 56:8,

"You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in Your bottle. You have recorded each one in Your book."

God cares so much that He keeps each and every one of our tears. WOW! That is truly amazing. Some of us may have more than a bottle... maybe its a lake or an ocean of tears. And yet, God has them; each and every one. 

God is not cold-hearted, He is not far away, He is not unfamiliar with your pain. I know that some days it seems as if no one on earth, no one anywhere is feeling what we are feeling. That  no one could possibly understand our hurt. But God does. 

Isaiah 53:4 says,

"Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrow, ..."

I want to encourage anyone who reads this that GOD LOVES YOU and that GOD CARES about the situation you are in or you are facing right now. He says He does.

Please know that God is with you and He will carry you through. He is close to you right now and He will dry your tears and give you His hope, His strength and His peace. Don't give up or lose heart!

Psalm 55:22 says,

"Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you, He will never allow the righteous to be moved."

Casting our burdens on the Lord literally means to THROW your burdens to God. Let God handle them. He wants to help you, support you and give you His joy in the midst of whatever is going on in your life.

And most of all He wants to give you His HOPE! Hope for today, Hope for tomorrow and Hope for everything you face! He has a great plan for your life no matter what has happened!

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11

Talk to God today and pour out your heart! He's listening, He loves you and He will give you His joy and strength right now! Don't give up or despair!

ABC's, Milestones and Missing the Mark...

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

Proverbs 22:6

From the day my baby boy was born I have received a TON of emails. Emails about portrait packages at Sears, emails from Pampers, Emails from Huggies and emails about what milestones he should and shouldn't be hitting for his age. Every month I get the "milestone" email from one of the top baby sites. And let me tell you; it has sent me into a panic on more than one occasion. I'm not saying these emails are all bad but they consist a lot of information about where you're child "should" be at in their skills at different things. The biggest things are language skills, motor skills and social skills. While these emails can be quite helpful from time to time in assessing your child's healthy growth and development; they can also be a little discouraging and downright anxiety inducing. Every article seemed to tell me that I was way behind in teaching my son certain things and that if he wasn't done with the bottle, eating solids, walking and saying words by one year of age we were "in trouble Houston". Then the toddler milestone emails hit and seemed to hint that if he wasn't saying his ABC's, counting to 100, sleeping in a "big boy" bed and cutting his own steak by age 2; I was hopeless and his future was dim. (yes, there is a bit of exaggeration here :) But you get the idea! I have felt totally hopeless on more than one occasion and have gone on a few crash course attempts to get my little guy to sing his ABC's and talk with the vocab of a 5 year old. (Picture my two year old sitting in his highchair with me 6 inches from his face singing the alphabet song over and over and....) 

Now, please do not misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm not saying that education, behavioral or social skills are not important. I think they are very important and we as mothers should be encouraging and helping our children in those areas as well but I think that sometimes I can get so worried and so focused on those issues alone that I'm not teaching and encouraging my son in what is most important; and what is most important is leading Him to Jesus and nuturing his spiritual education.

For a while now the Lord has been gently nudging me to see His focus and His purpose for my toddler. And it's a whole lot different then what the world has been telling me. I have been reading through the Proverbs and among other things, the Lord has really been convicting me about being a better mother; better at disciplining my son and most importantly raising him to love God with all his heart. I mentioned a while back that I had been reading through the amazing book, "A Mom After God's Own Heart" by Elizabeth George. It's awesome and if you're a mommy you should get it! It is so encouraging and so helpful! I've decided to read through it again with a friend as a refresher course. I read the first chapter this week and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I have not been focused on my son's spiritual development. It was a real wake up call. I've been so consumed in focusing on other things; not just in his life but in my crazy schedule.

Proverbs 22:6 says,

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

I know that if you are a mom who loves Jesus; this is the desire of your heart right? We want our children to grow up in the right "way". And that "way" is to follow Jesus and follow Him with all their heart. That is what is most important. I want my son (and future children, Lord willing) to follow Jesus, to love Jesus, to be able to defend their faith and to always remember God's Word as they face the day to day struggles and sins that we are all faced with. But I as a mom have a huge calling from God to be a very vital part of that mission. Whether you have a husband who loves the Lord, an unbelieving husband or you are a single mom; God is calling all of us to this. 

As I was reading Proverbs 22 there was a bit of commentary on religious education in Bible times and one of the sentences really stood out to me; it read... "...mothers also played a crucial role, especially until a child reached the age of five. During those formative years she was expected to shape the future of her sons and daughters."

WHOA! That's a heavy responsibilty and a crazy calling! We definitely need God's strength to accomplish that! 

I realize through God's Word and Him using that book in my life, that I need to actively be changing into the woman God wants me to be in order to become the mom He desires me to be. That means getting up early and spending time alone with the Lord, getting back to regular scripture memorization and trying to focus more of my conversation and time with my little one on God's Word. It's not easy but WOW what a difference it makes! Just in the week that I have been really working on this, in God's strength and help, I've already seen a difference in my attitude and a new found desire in my toddler to get to know who Jesus is! I love it!


I want my little one to love Jesus with all His heart and it has to start at home; teaching him God's Word and showing him how wonderful loving Jesus is! If you are a Christian mommy who has been doing these things already... you go girl! And don't give up! :) And if you need a boost in this area, like I did, let's work on it together in God's strength to become all He wants us to be as mommy's!    

If you don't have the book I mentioned it is called: "A Mom After God's Own Heart" written by Elizabeth George
It is available online and in local Christian Bookstores.