This time we were in the car.  Sometimes my phone rings and it’s her on the other end and the words are the same.

Pray for me mom!

From her soul to mine the beauty of

God, Present!

God blessing!

She sees

Her need to invite Him to walk alongside.

Let’s Pray!  

Those two words are rich and beautiful,  invoking praise in me.

Babies, cradling arms, first smiles and squeals, bath times and stories and tricycles and training wheels and two wheelers and school plays and hockey and swimming and friendships and tears.

Christmas and Easter and chocolate and candy and stockings and turkey and cinnamon buns and movies and trips and

Granville Island and laughter and oceans and beauty and car repairs and more tears.

School and books and projects and more projects and MORE projects and hearts broken and friends and brothers and a sister and love and university and distance and more tears and broken dreams and determination and laughter and more laughter and lots of laughter and joy and difficult conversations and success and hard work and recognition and more hard work and

Through it all and in the midst of it all

We pray!

We Trust!

We Believe that God is who He says He is.  That He does hold the entire world in the palm of His hand, even when we don’t get it.

Grownup children are still little ones.  We never completely release them and tell them to manage on their own.  We hold them close when they are gone and when they live  life as they decide

And we pray and God holds them and watches over them.

I look at them, these little ones who are each taller and perhaps of greater wisdom than me.  I watch them live and I pray and I watch more and pray and wonder at God’s faithfulness to me.

Broken is what I am, in every way.  Wondering, at God’s provision for my life but more, His listening ear at my heart’s cry.  He sees my brokenness and gives me rest.  Sees, my all too often desert wandering and He is there with me.    He reminds me that Joy is a choice and  that He hears me, He answers prayer and

these little ones are requesting that we pray 

and I am blessed.  He entrusted them to us and we stood at the front of the church three times and held those little ones tightly and loosely and said we would bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord

And there was that day that seems so recent and yet they all still lived at home so it couldn’t be.  The blue van had dropped them off at school and made it’s way back up the winding country driveway to it’s stop by the garage.  I found myself in a quiet house and was compelled to walk from one bedroom to another.  Stood in the quietness of the rooms where they had been and would be.  Looked at each bed and thought of the people represented.   Those little ones who had been taught about Jesus and knew of His greatness.  They were all taller than me now.

Not even a moment of ‘this is strange’ or ‘what would they say’ I laid myself on the beds in those three rooms.

No one needed to know except now I share it with you.

I poured out my heart on behalf of each of those little ones.  I reminded God that they were His and He was theirs.   I told Him that I expected Him to hold on tightly, even if they didn’t want Him to.  I asked Him to give light to their paths no matter where those paths might lead.  I opened my hands yet again and said He could take them, each one and do what He wanted.  Most sacred of all, I gave Him their lives.  I said, because they were His, He had my permission and not that He needed it, to give them life or take their lives for the sake of His Glory and their Good.

And then, my one multi faceted condition and yes I came and come boldly before Him with bowed knee.

That He would open their eyes to their lostness.  Their need for Him.  Their need of the Savior.  That they would grasp in some small way, the magnitude of His sacrifice for them.  And as a result of that seeing, that they would bow before Him and submit to His Holiness.     All of this, while there was time.  Before this life ended and they found themselves bowed at His feet when time was over.  My prayer That day, continues to be my prayer on This day.  Oh yes, I will keep praying that prayer, never stopping.

You see,

as those three little ones grew and learned and made mistakes along with me, we had so many conversations while we drove in that van, back and forth to school and church and everywhere.  We talked about life and where they were headed and what they might do and where they might go and how life is full of all kinds of great and sad and good and evil and  none of us, not one, knows how long we will live.  Life could end today and

over and over again I said and as clearly as I could

It just doesn’t matter what we do,

famous or rich or healthy or not

If we don’t want Jesus.  

He is our purpose for living and He knew that when He made us.  We have an empty place inside of us that is designed for Him and if  we look for something other than Him, to fill it up,  we will never stop looking.  That spot will never be filled.  Nothing else, nobody else, fits.

I’m never surprised when the request leaves her lips.  Today, right there, in the lineup of cars, stopped haphazardly at the curb, we both reached out.  It is expected now.  She rarely opens that door when I pull up to the terminal

She rarely gets into her car at the cottage

before this final detail.

My hands enmeshed in hers and hers in mine  Heads bowed we prayed

Together.

I said the words out loud and she listened and knew that the One we spoke to, Heard us.

He doesn’t sleep and is never too busy.  when the righteous cry out to Him He hears them and delivers them from all their troubles.

I know!

Sure could fool me!  Sometimes!  He and I see trouble differently!  For Sure!

For sure though, He is faithful.  He doesn’t lie.  He is who He says He is and He does what He says He will do.  That delivery He promises, it sometimes takes a while.  I like it when He delivers quickly.  Immediately actually.  Time means nothing to Him.  Making us more like Jesus is what matters, to Him.  I pray that it will matter to these little ones.

Truth

This littlest of our little ones knows He, God of everything, is faithful.

When she can’t see it clearly she still believes.  

Her biggest brother reminded me of a verse a few days ago.  It was about training children, teaching them the things that are important.   The verse is a statement with a promise

When they are old they will not depart from it.

We may have a lot of years yet to live.  We may not.  There are mistakes to be made, wrong turns to be taken.  Repentance poured out and forgiveness offered.  Weeping to be done and laughter to be shared.

Through all of it

we Pray

Because We have a maker who knows us well

As much as I Love, His love is greater than…