Our writer today is an “empty nester” wife and mom. Her precious heart for God and for others is most evident as she engages with children, working part time with special needs children and also in the children’s ministry at church.
Who is God? Matthew 1:23 says this, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God with us.’”
Growing up I learned to be a “togetherness” person. I was raised by my Dad and my Mom, a full time homemaker who spoke her love with the gift of quality time. She sat on the side of the bed and tickled my back to wake me in the morning. She sat with me at breakfast while I ate. She walked me out and stood at the garage door to wave good-bye to me on the bus as a young child. This didn’t stop at my car leaving as I became a young adult. We worked together as a family on the week-ends doing home chores or any other activity. But at 18 years of age I no longer lived at home.
When I went to college some of my roommates didn’t appreciate the level of accountability I tried to have with them. They didn’t care where I was going and what I was doing nor did they want to tell me about their plans. This was God’s first training for me to “wean” from people and “lean” on Him.
Once married, my husband also didn’t desire the deep level of togetherness that I was accustomed to. He wanted to go outside, walk the back woods or run errands in the afternoon sometimes without me or without telling me about it on the spot. To talk about it at dinner was sometimes the way we communicated but sometimes not. Again, the Lord was weaning me from people to an awareness of Himself being with me, knowing my every thought and everything about me (Psalm 139).
My children were with me in concentration at the beginning of their lives but again I had to learn the process of letting them become independent. I watched them transfer their dependence from parents to a blanket and stuffed animal. Eventually we were privileged to teach them about God desiring a relationship with them; God who would never leave them or forsake them (Hebrews 13:5) I not only had to trust that God was with me but also that He was with them! It has given me a whole level of peace as a parent that I would not otherwise have.
Our God is omnipresent. He is with everyone and everything all at the same time. He knows all and is fully capable to take care of all. Sometimes He calls us to help Him minster to others or others to minister to us. Sometimes He asks us to let them be and trust His ways of handling them or us to be dependent on Him and not look to people.
Working with children in my job I see the pattern again. I have one student in particular who asks if I can “please just stand by me” while she works. She comes from a recently broken home and understandably has the need for security and consistency. Unfortunately I am with her only a short amount of her day. However we all know I am not the one to totally fill her void. Please join me in praying that the soil of her heart is preparing for her to learn, as I did and am, about the one true God who is Immanuel, “God with us.”
