Easy Baby

1 Corinthians 10:13

"...and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it."

Our daughter is our second child, and I have found her to be much more easy-going than our son was. She's not as quick to wail, doesn't fuss as often, and - with the exception of riding in the car - is just all-around an easy baby. For this, I give thanks to God for His grace. 

I'm not a kid person by nature. I love my children, but I just don't understand how they work. They cannot be reasoned with; logic is not a concept in their magical little three-year-old and three-month-old worlds. There are new things every day, many of which must be taken on faith that they simply do what they do - or even exist. 

("Why, Mommy?" 

"Because that's the way it is," I flounder after the fourth successive why. 

"Peekaboo!" 

My daughter stares up at me with those big cute eyes, wondering where I went.

"I'm still here, Sweet Pea," I explain with a smile.)

My world is so much broader than theirs, and I think that I have lost my sense of simplicity. One thing, however, is simple in my world: God is powerful enough to be sovereign over my life so that anything I face is under His care. I am under His care. 

He knows that I'm not best with kids and has given me the grace of an easy baby alongside the blessing of a not-so-easy three-year-old. The true grace? Even if He had given me a difficult baby, He would also have given me the resources (spiritual or otherwise) to deal with it.

If that truth doesn't comfort an anxious heart, I don't know what would. May I live content in the knowledge of God's sovereignty and grace in my every situation.

To Approach Your Throne

Hebrews 4:16

"Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Thank You, Lord, that I can approach Your throne with confidence, that I may make my requests known to You without the guilt of my sins looming or keeping me from You.

You lost Your Son to agony for a time so that my sins would be erased - and even such a weight of sin was no match for Your power. Your Son rose again to advocate for me and allow me in Your presence. Your comforting, loving, humbling, majestic and awesome presence. Thank You for that amazing grace.

I often forget what a privilege it is to approach Your throne, or even that my prayers and requests are presented to the Almighty God, Maker of Heaven and Earth. You gave me Your relationship, and its worth is beyond all my imagining. Make me mindful of the privilege, but also the confidence of Your welcome, as well as the power of Your love to grant our requests according to Your will, which is simultaneously Your glory and our good.

Common Temptations

1 Corinthians 10:13

"No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it."

This verse is special to me because it means that I am not alone. So often, we think that our unique circumstances bar us from anyone who can understand. The truth is, though those around you might not have been through exactly the same situations, the temptations that you face because of them are common.

The best news? Christ doesn't leave His children to deal with our circumstances on our own. Christ will always give us the strength to follow Him. No matter what you're going through, Christ is with you, and has given you the other Christ followers in your life to identity with and support you. (This is, of course, a two-way street!) 

Do you surround yourself with Christians who will exhort you? Those who will "...restore one another in a spirit of gentleness..." and "bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:1b, 2)? It's paramount as a christian to "...encourage one another and build one another up..." (1 Thessalonians 5:11), because we all need to be reminded of our Joy and Hope in Christ, even during the "good" times. Else, not only do we become discouraged, but we lose sight of our devotion to Christ - the One who gave us eternal life!

I thank the Lord and praise Him for common temptations. In His grace, He has reached out to us sinners, and provided a way for us to shore up against temptations. (Beyond that, even if we don't have others to help, He still promises to provide a way of escape!) May I recall this truth when loneliness next threatens.