Grandparenting With Grace: Protecting the mind

As 2014 rolls over and offers up a new beginning, I am thankful for God's grace and merciful forgiveness. You see, I am working on the sin of selfishness. In Nov. of 2010 our not yet 2 year-old grand-daughter came to live with my husband and me. I had plans. I had gone back to college. I was going to. . . Today there are still struggles within, giving it all over to Him- MY. Plans. In exchange for His better plan. However, I am extremely grateful that I am able; that I have been chosen, to love this child for Him. I do not know what the entirety of His plan holds for me, for us. I only know He holds all my days and that is enough.


I am protecting my mind in my old age with scripture memorization.

Psalm 37:1-10 (NIV) I have found a site that will recite it to me so I can check my accuracy in memorization.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2037&version=NIV 

Psalm 37 (NIV)

Of David

Do not fret because of those who are evil,
or be envious of those who do wrong.
For like the grass they will soon wither,
like the green plants they will soon die away.

Trust in the Lord and do good,
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Take delight in the Lord,
and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord,
trust in Him and He will do this:
He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
and your vindication like the noon day sun.

Be still before the Lord,
and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Refrain from anger and turn away from wrath;
do not fret- it leads only to evil
For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

Fret, Fret, Fret. All. Day. Long.

I am done with this fretting. It steals my joy. Robs me of peace. Holds me back from being content with what I have.

Envy. Envy. Envy. Who me? Yes, me. Not because I want to do as they do, but rather, I want to do. . . I want the time to do. To carry out MY plans. I never thought I was an envious sort of person. Yet, I envy the freedom to do. To shower. To sleep. To just go where, and when I want. To finish what I started and put on hold for my children.  I am GREEN with envy.

God says, the evil will not prosper. They will wither and die. Yet, I envy their freedom-but know a better way. It is my choice. I can choose the here and now --or for all eternity. I will choose Eternity.

Trust, Can I trust? (I don’t know.)

Do I trust? (Definitely not.)

I need to work on this. If I trust, if I do what GOD has set before me, I am promised safety in Him. And, I am promised the desires of my heart if my delight is in HIM.

I am giving my life away to the Lord. I WILL trust in HIM. Why? Because only then will my life be a light, only then will it give glory to HIM.

I will be rewarded,and my desire is to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful ” (Mathew 25:21).

Be still. How difficult this is for me. My time is not His time. I long for this whole situation to be resolved. I long to be content, happy, finished. I am tired of not being who He wants me to be. Yet I know I am in progress. Awaiting completion, for, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:1-6, NIV).

Do not Fret. There it is again, Fret. Fret. Fret. This is meant for me. I Fret. Oh, do I Fret. 

Anger? I have been/am angry. 

Wrath?

The Random House Dictionary defines wrath as:  fiercely resentful anger; vengeance motivated by anger. 

Yup, that’s me.

 Anger, Wrath, and Fretting leads to evil. . . the evil will be destroyed.   

Am I evil?

 My heart is evil. The things I have thought. Desired. Hoped for. I am evil.                         

 My only Hope? 

Is definitely only found in the Lord.  

Grandparenting with Grace: The isolation of age with a young child

Thursday, September 8, 2011

I am so glad I am raising this precious grand-child. She is the sunshine in my life, yes, occasionally we have a cloudy, or stormy day. But, all in all we have a fun time loving one another's company and chattering all day long. I am once again used to non-stop questions and requests and truly am enjoying it. 

Today I am addressing the isolation faced by Grand-parents parenting their grand-children. The truth is, people my age just don't want to expend the energy it takes to be in the same room as small children. Oh they love their grand-children, but they send them home after awhile and can rest up for the next visit. You see, the constant chatter, activity, and physical and mental energy expended can be quite overwhelming for most people if it is ongoing. It takes conditioning and stamina to withstand the whirlwind kicked up by these young ones. Over and over I have heard, and I feel it, the isolation of standing in this gap alone. So, that is what this blog is for. Let's stand in it together. I plan on excitedly and happily facing life with my little sweetie. I am just going to eat my "Wheaties", get new running shoes, and stay in condition so I can run the race God has set before me, for however long He blesses me to do so.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (Hebrews 12:1) "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.." (1 Corinthians 9:24). So I will be the only 52 year old at the parent child classes, and the only ancient lady standing on the sidelines cheering and jumping up and down as this child takes part in activities. So what, I can always claim dementia as my excuse for being odd. Who will argue? In reality, it is a difficult spot.  I am glad I chose to go back to school. It gives me a focus, broadens my frame of reference, will keep my mind sharp, and has given me a support system of people I have grown to trust and love. Everyone has struggles and often we cannot be right next to that person to help them through, so thank God for email, texting, the old-fashioned phone call, skype (which I do not know how to do yet) and most of all-prayer cover. I know I have been covered in prayer often and I thank those who love me enough to STOP and pray. Oh we get so busy and life is so filled with noise, but we must stop and pray.
James 5:13-16
"Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective".

 God hears, but we must pray, we must ask in faith. We must spend time with the One Who so graciously provides us with the very breath we so unconsciously take in and breathe out every moment of every day. Amazing. Impossible to do on our own. If He can cause me to breathe, I know He cares about my inner needs and the isolation I feel at times.  I know He is honing me for something; I just must patiently wait and see. So, I will embrace it with excitement knowing my God IS amazing and can DO amazing things for those who patiently wait and believe.

I believe God places each of us in situations that grow us into what He has created us to be. If we are willing and listening we can have the time of our life in that place, even amidst the pain it brings. I am in this for the long haul, I've jumped in with both feet and whether I remain along the shoreline wading safely, am neck deep paddling frantically to keep my head up, or being pulled under by the rip tide, I will cling to the promises of God.
Jeremiah 29:11-12  For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you