How To Abide

How would you feel if your child or grand child never came and asked you to hold them? What if they never climbed in your lap for even a story? It is a precious time when they come, carrying their blanket or favorite stuffed animal, and climb in your lap for a few moments.

I truly believe that is exactly how our Heavenly Father views us. He wants us to come and crawl up in His lap for a few moments each day. He wants us to ABIDE in Him. Our children and grandchildren are comforted when they come and spend some one on one time with us; so it is for us in the Father's lap. We can find comfort for the storms in our lives. We can find peace in His presence. But.... we have to go to Him. He isn't going to make us come sit with Him.

And what if the only time our children came to us was when they needed something? How would that make you feel as a parent/grandparent? Be honest. I want my kids to want to know me and I want to know them. Again, this is just like our Heavenly Father. In order to get to know our Heavenly Father, we must read the letter He gave us. We must spend time listening, reading, and studying the things He left for us.

We live in a military community. We have stood by, helped, and encouraged many military families during deployments. I really have no idea what it is like to have my husband be away for more than 8 weeks, but there are many great friends that do know what that is like. I was thinking about the love that these couples share and how important every piece of mail is to them, as they try to keep the relationship at it's best during separation. For those that know what it's like to be away from the love of your life for long periods of time, how do you treat the letters that come from them? the emails? Every line, every word is meaningful to you and sometimes, when you miss them you reread the letter to help you pass the time and maybe make the separation easier.

The Bible is our love letter. It is a love letter from a Heavenly Father that loves us so much. These words are not just words by meer men, as some may say. These words are His words, words to guide us, teach us, lead us into knowing Him more and more. The definition of the word abide means to remain; continue; stay. Or to continue in a particular condition, attitude, relationship, etc. If we want to keep our relationship at it's best (continue), we must read and learn more and more about this Heavenly Father, Creator of everything.

I wish I had a magic formula to help you abide. I don't. I think the best any of us can do is just to make the time to spend with the Lord. What happens during that time is up to you and the Lord. How long you read/study the letter He left to you is up to you. Give yourself a goal and then ask a fellow Christ follower to hold you accountable for making that goal. You must write it down. I want you to write on a piece of paper if you need to, I write in my Bible tons. Go to John 15:4-5 and write in the margin of your page there what your goal is and the date. Then call someone and tell them what the goal is. You may need to write what you are going to do to make the time. My personal goal is that I will not check my fb or emails til I have had my time with the Lord. At one time in my life, I had to get up at 5am to have some peace and quiet with the Lord. I even spent my time by a lighted lantern so I wouldn't accidentally wake babies up with the light!! See what I mean?? What are you willing to do to make time?? Think about it....

Written in love,
Theresa