As our marriage turned around, our lives turned around. We turned to God, repented and asked for healing and he has delivered, over and over again. And he continues to forgive and heal and grow us daily as we seek him. Just the other day he gave me another miracle - a glimpse at just how our lives in this family have made an impression, the most impressionable one to be made, on our kids.
We own a gym. But it's not a gym. It's a mission field. It's a ministry. It's a place God has chosen, as we have said, 'Yes Lord, your servant is listening,' to bring his children who need sowing, watering or nurturing. In this place, God calls us to serve him by loving, encouraging and guiding his sheep that he brings through our doors. This is not a secret to anyone who comes through our doors, nor is it a secret to our kids. We pray for our gym family and with them at the gym, our brothers and sisters, and we invest in them, as they allow. And this is what our kids see. They are just as much a part of God's work at the gym as we are.
And so, the other night, when I was making dinner, my daughter (7) said, 'I don't know, I can't decide if I want to be an adult or a kid. I want to stay a kid because I like being a kid, but I want to be an adult too.' In my mind I was thinking, Oh, no you don't sweetheart. Don't wish your childhood away. But I knew in my heart, it wasn't an encouraging word that would benefit her. So I kept it in and began contemplating my adulthood, briefly. And then she said, 'I want to be an adult so I can get a job.' But again, my thought was, Jobs aren't all they're cracked up to be! 'I want a job,' she continued, 'so that I can worship God every day.'
Woah! What!!! This caught me so off guard; it took me a good thinkin'-minute to connect the dots. And then God revealed to me the Fruit. She knows our gym is all about God. And she connected our ministry at the gym with being an adult and that being an 'adult job'. Awesome God! So awesome. Praise you, Lord!
And I was reminded of that fruit again today, as we were eating lunch. I turned on some Barlow Girls, which the kids hadn't listened to before. During one of the songs, it was talking about being one-million strong and growing stronger in sharing the good news of the gospel with the world. She again commented, 'This sounds like a song daddy would play at the gym.' No hesitation that daddy would play a song about witnessing for Jesus, while we were holding classes at the gym. Because it's what we believe in and its what our hearts want to do.
John 15:8
This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Thank you Father, for your mercy. That you would want to remain in our lives, while we go on as miserable sinners, falling and getting up daily. That you would want to remain in us and work your goodness through all the turmoil we create for ourselves, because you love us that much! So that your glory may be revealed through us!
John 15:4
Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
Another answered prayer, from long ago. The wonderings if, as a mom, I was going to be able to teach my children how to live in God. And the answer he laid before me, I was not going to be able to do it.
But as I remain in him, he will do it with me and through me, for his glory.
