Adonai

Father, I know the calling you have given me- a calling to tell Your story. To tell anyone who will listen, about Your story of redemption, and love and forgiveness and beauty and truth and light. I see that so clearly in this moment. And believe it with all my heart.

But the darkness is everywhere. And it is suffocating. And there are times when I believe it’s lies.

Please set me free, Father. Quiet me so I can hear Your whisper. Please Lord, rescue me from myself. I want to be a vessel of Truth. You have called me to be. How can I be so blind sometimes?

I am beginning to recognize Your voice, Papa. Thank you for that. Like a newborn is drawn to his mother’s voice before he is able to clearly see her face, you have been drawing me to Your voice, Your word, Your breath. I am longing for You, Father.

And thank you for dealing with me. For not allowing me to be at peace until I surrender to Your Truth. Forgive my arrogance, my ungraciousness, my bitterness.

Use me, Father. I want to be used.

“What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.” -John 1:4-5

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One Moment, One Thank You, One I Love You at a Time

My husband is not a crier. He cried at our wedding, at the births of our children, when his grandfather died and on a handful of occasions in between. And that’s about it. In general- not a crier. So when the Father’s Day card, that I gave him on Sunday, caused his eyes to well up, it caught me pretty off guard. And of course, when I saw his emotion, my eyes welled up too.

His emotion moved me. So I wanted to share…

The card I picked said “For My Husband” on the cover and “My favorite place to be is next to you. Happy Father’s Day” on the inside.

My words were:

Babe-

There were so many cards to choose from- some funny, some sappy, some sweet, most of them with lots of words and/or pictures and/or dialogue. But I loved the simplicity of this one. I love that so few words can say so much. I love the idea that amidst all of the chaos and noise and busyness of our life, one thing remains the same, unchanging and simple- our love. You are so very precious to me. It is an honor and my privilege to be the mother of your children. Thank you for being my first love, my best friend, my rock and the most amazing daddy to our two adorable, hilarious, crazy!, precious children. I will love you forever.

And on the other side:

You are an amazing daddy for how you…

– love and forgive.

– make our children smile and giggle.

– read them stories and teach them new games.

– patiently teach and explain and remind again and again until they understand.

– are always here, loving and serving and listening and adoring.

When I asked him what made him emotional he said, “I don’t know. All of it.”

And so this moment, sitting beside my sweet husband, was a reminder for me- of the power of words, the power of expression and the power of giving a simple “Thank you and I love you” to the ones that we love.

I hope you are seeing this power in your own life, one shared moment, one “thank you”, one “I love you” at a time.

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