Tell Them the Truth, They Can Handle It

Just a quick word.

In this unplanned, un-welcomed, extended season of a lot of unknown, I just want to say, don't miss the opportunity. Its a really great one...one that has the potential for eternal impact.

Don't miss the opportunity in your own home to live out your faith before you kids. 

So few of us ever even get the chance to really trust God. 

We are Americans. We fix things. We invent things. We have awesome doctors. Our hospitals are clean and state of the art. We can make (or print-ha!) more money. We have credit cards. We buy insurance. We have guns. We have cameras on our doorbells, for heaven's sake.

You see, when a thing rolls in...a thing that is bigger than us, and seems undeterred by our defiance and our unwillingness to accept it, we have a chance to remember, talk about, and demonstrate that our hope is in the Lord. 
Like, we REALLY, LITERALLY are trusting in the Lord.

Yesterday, for the first time, Emma cried about all this Corona virus, social distancing, and home school stuff that is ironically accompanied by seemingly eternal, literal clouds and rain.

The kids and I were on the tennis courts, and out of nowhere, fear hit her precious heart and rolled down her sweet little cheeks. 
I scooped her up and reassured her once again, that God has us in the palm of His hand.

If you are a Believer, BE a Believer today, and tomorrow. 
In the grocery store, in your work place, and for goodness sake, in your home.

Of course, there is a basic, elemental, human need for security our kids have and are supposed to have. They're children...it isn't their job to worry about provision. 
So speak to that. 
Tell them, "Hey! We are good! We've got food, we have some medicine, and this will all get better in no time."

But more than that, there is a much deeper need for us humans to understand that there is a Being, bigger than anything on earth, bigger than what I can see or imagine that I am trusting in. 
One who promises to meet my needs.

tell your kids WHY we are good. 
We are good because God has His hand in and on our lives. 
that nothing happens without His knowledge and allowance
that we serve the same God who split the sea to give His children a way out of certain death. 
(That's not a made up story.)
The God who did that, who also provided manna every single day when there was no Publix freezer section, is the same God we serve today. 
We serve a God who takes hard things and makes them and uses them for our good! 

And in a little different vein:
All these things that we do, that we think we just have to have, we actually don't. 

Let that settle in your mind and take the time to accept it. 

Of course, I want to have my selection of beef, chicken, AND pork.
of course, I want prom to happen.
yes, for the love, I WANT my son's graduation ceremony to take place. 
and yes, I wish we could watch March Madness.

But again, don't miss the opportunity to do a little to combat our American idea of comfort and convenience, fun and frills. 
Our kids (and we) need to have our faith, trust, hope, and JOY in the eternal.
That's really possible, you know. 
We actually can live in a way that we celebrate life because God is the giver of it and He promises eternity beyond what we see. 
That is mind-blowingly exciting.

Let's be real Christians today. Lets actually invest in eternity and not fleeting, temporal nonsense. Let's speak and live in complete trust and abandonment to God's way and working. 
Surrender to Him.

He is God, and we are not. 
He is GOOD.
He is worthy of our trust, even when the wheels fall off.

Tell your kids the truth. They can handle it.

~stacey