Out of the mouth of babes

Sorry it's been a few days since my last post. Things have been busy, busy, busy in the Hannah household! I think this weekend things are going to slow down a bit. Well, at least slow to me.

On Wednesday, we had our second children's church thing. We don't have a name for it yet. I have talked to the kids about it and we are going to come up with names and vote and decide what we are going call ourselves.

Our lesson was about Adam and Eve being deceived by the serpent and getting kicked out of Eden. You know what's great about leading this group? These are new and young believers. Some of them have grown up in Christian homes and know more about the Bible than I do. You see, I wasn't really raised in a church. We went to church until I was about 9 years old. After that I attended some youth events but nothing regular. I went to Awanas sometimes and memorized a few verses but I have never studied the Bible at all. I always knew and loved God. I accepted Christ as my Savior when I was 10 years old at Bible Camp. In my younger years, I tried my best to please Him, even though I didn't really know much about Him. I met my daughters father when I was 17, and I strayed. Even when I was doing the wrong things and in bad situations, I still prayed to Him. Just when I needed something though. For me, the best way to learn is to teach. Children's books are geared towards new and young Christians. That's me! Age doesn't have anything to do with being new to God.

After the lesson, I asked the kids some questions. I had been talking about how God is our Father and He loves us. That's why He sets some rules for us. Not because He doesn't want us to have any fun, but because He wants us to be safe. I compared it to relationships between them and their parents. Then I asked them what they thought the story we read was about. My favorite response was from a 4 year old little girl. "The story was about God loving his kids and getting to spend time with them. And then they disobeyed Him and that made Him very sad. It made His heart hurt very much." Right out of the mouth of babes! We hadn't even been discussing God's feelings on the matter. I said, "That is a great answer. It did make God very sad. He created Adam and Eve because He wanted a family. When they disobeyed Him, that meant they couldn't live with Him anymore." 10 little somber faces looked back at me. In today's society, children understand the sadness of not living with one, or even both parents. As a parent, foster parent, divorcee, and someone whose Mother has passed away, I do too.

The next day, there was a minor emergency in the my house. My 3 year old nephew had gotten a splinter in the bottom of his heel. It had been there for a while because it had developed a little caulous around it. Once it was discovered, it had to come out. After the kids went to school, my sister-in-law and I had to do minor surgery. Here's the thing, my nephew hates needles, hates pain, and has a very high pitched scream. Oh, and he is also very strong.

When he saw that safety pin, he freaked out. I thought his head was going to spin! We talked about it to him, explained what was going on and what would happen if we didn't get it out. He agreed that it needed to come out. It took his Mom and I both to hold him down. After 20 minutes with 2 breaks we weren't even able to get that safety pin close to his foot. At one point, I was looking at his face while I was holding him down and I almost lost it. I was having to hold down my precious nephew when he was so scared and was pleading for help. I wanted to scoop him up and cuddle him. My instinct was to protect him, but I knew for his own good that he needed to endure this. We stopped holding him down for a moment and I prayed out loud..."God, my nephew is scared. We need to get this splinter out of his foot. Please help it come out quickly and help this little guy not be scared. Amen."

I was finally able to reach that splinter with the safety pin. All I had to do was poke it. It didn't even bleed. I grabbed it with my fingernails and it came right out. Whew! He felt so much better! He hugged both of us and off he went. He did need a band-aid though. Those make everything better.

They left and I started to get ready for work. About the time I was putting my shoes on, it hit me. That must be how God feels about us. He has a plan for us. He wants the best for us. Doing what is right is not always easy. It is easy to feed into the illusion that we are in control and not Him. Then, we go our own way. We take the wrong road instead of the one He made for us. He sees what is going to happen. He knows we are going to get hurt. There is nothing He can do. God loves us so much that he gives us a choice to follow and worship him, or not. It is completely up to us. The enemy doesn't want us to be devil worshipers, he just doesn't want us to be God worshipers. Because then it is all over. Once we have tasted the fullness of the Lord's grace, we belong to Him.

I know for me, it is an incredibly painful thing to see my children in physical or emotional pain. I would do anything in my power to make life easier for them, to spare them the hurt and fear of this world. I can't save them from everything though. There are some things they are just going to have to go through. If they don't follow the rules or are jumping around and get hurt, it makes me very sad and disappointed. If they had just followed the rules I laid out for their safety, they would never have been in that situation. I comfort them, but they also have to suffer some consequences for their actions. I do not enjoy the punishment that has to take place. But, I know it's necessary to their emotional growth that they understand that if they choose to do something, whether it be good or bad, there are direct and equal consequences. That is probably one of the hardest parts of being a parent, isn't it?

God doesn't force us to do His will. He doesn't force us to hand over our problems to Him. He wants to take care of us but He can't if we don't let Him. It is even more painful for him to see us spinning our wheels, because He loves us way more than we could ever imagine! That puts a whole new spin on things for me. Is what I do every day causing my heavenly Father pain? That is the last thing I want to do. After all, He sent His one and only Son to die for my sins.

Can you even begin to wrap your head around that? God had His Son all safe and happy up in heaven with Him. He saw that we were all going to have to die for our sins and that hurt Him so bad, He sent His own Son so that we wouldn't have to die. We can live forever with Him in Heaven. He sent Jesus as a sacrifice. He knew when He sent Him to Earth that He would be beaten and hung on that cross. As a parent, that's a true shot to my heart. Now that, my dear friends, is true love!! There is nothing I can or will do to deserve that. However, I plan on spending the rest of my life trying to show Him just how much I love my God and Savior for giving me life. I thought I was alive all this time but I was just walking dead. For the past year, I have been fully ALIVE!! Thank you Father for sending Your Son. Thank you for helping me truly live my life for the first time!