Category: Blessings

To Encourage Dads

by ObtainingMercy, posted in A Door of Hope, Blessings, Household

Daddies, never underestimate the power of your influence in the lives of your children.

Over the past 20 months since my dad passed, I have been REPEATEDLY blessed by him:

His wise choices, his financial decisions, his friendships, his prayer life, his stand on Scripture, his ethical business practices, his charitable giving, his believing the best instead of the worst, even his sense of humor.

These things keep blessing me over and over again.

Proverbs 19:20-21 – Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.

You may think you are just doing your job today, like always, trying to make the best decisions you can with God’s help.

But those choices will be the stone dropped into the middle of the pond of your children’s lives and the ripples will go on and on and on forever.

Be sure those ripples come from Godly counsel and they will bless your children for generations to come.

In Him,

Alesha Kay

It Came to Pass

by ObtainingMercy, posted in A Door of Hope, Blessings, How Great is Our God, KJV Graphics, Thoughtful Thursday

Sometimes, I think the end result is all that matters.

  • Getting out of debt
  • Losing weight
  • Graduating a child from homeschool
  • Attaining a large number of “followers”
  • Beating cancer
  • Getting the promotion
  • Breaking the attendance record
  • Being chosen for the solo in the production
  • Winning the trophy
  • Earning the bonus

But God is clearly concerned about the process of reaching those goals. The final outcome is always determined by the steps we took to reach the goal.

I want to rush things along. I get tired of the waiting. I grow discouraged that it is Taking. So. Long.

I forget that God sees the big picture. He’s in it for the long haul, if you will.

This quote from evangelist Bro. Brian McBride puts it beautifully:

May God give me grace for the journey. May I keep my focus on knowing Him in a more intimate way while I’m pressing forward toward the prize.

And Lord, help us not to be discouraged when the finish line seems oh-so-far away.

I pray that you will be encouraged to use your time wisely, getting to know Him, while you’re on your way to your final goal.

Father’s Day 2015

by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, How Great is Our God

I keep starting to write something about Doug for Father's Day, & words fail me. But I feel like he deserves something because Isaac will never be able to tell him "Happy Father's Day" or buy him a goofy tie or a cool t-shirt or a mushy card.

I feel that Doug is the most perfect picture of what God the Father does for us when He adopts us into His family. We bring nothing with us, we come with lots of problems & don't even understand all that is being done on our behalf.

Ikeanddaddy

But He chooses us before we even meet Him. He sits us at His table & never asks us to do anything to earn that position. He soothes us, wipes our tears, rejoices over us, clothes us, holds us when we hurt, works over us, disciplines us and loves us unconditionally.

This is what God did for me. This is what Doug does for Isaac on a daily basis. And I am just the grateful daughter of the King who gets to be a part of this great adventure.

Happy Father's Day, Doug. Isaac & I love you so much!

Fruit Salad, Yummy, Yummy

by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings

This past weekend we were able to pick up some gorgeous melons at our local Publix.  They had honeydews, cantaloupes and watermelon.

We'd also been given a homegrown pineapple by a friend at church.

Last night, everything was perfectly ripe ~ all at the same time!

So, I spent my evening slicing and dicing and spilling cantaloupe seeds all.over.the.floor.  Sigh…I know!

But the result is well worth the effort:  a lovely bowl of fruit salad.

Fruitsalad

 

(…and bonus points if you sang the title of the blog!  Yes, we are Wiggles fans here.) 😉
Alesha

Encouragement from an Unlikely Source

by ObtainingMercy, posted in Blessings, Isaac Update, Just My Thoughts, Thoughtful Thursday

I was changing Isaac today, getting him a dry diaper and clean clothes (and if you need to know why I am helping my 14-year-old son do these things, you can read his story here).

I was saying the usual things I say to him as I go through our routine.  On most days it's a running one-sided dialogue:

 

"Alright, here we go!
"Wet pants off. Wash, wash….ooooo, it's cold.  Brrrrrr. 
"Ok.  Rolly-Olly, dry diaper on.  Rolly back.
"Don't pinch Mommy!  No!  Ouch!  Stop it, Isaac! 
"Here, this foot in.  Other foot.  Now rolly again.  Pants up.  
"Are you ready to change your shirt?  This arm out first, good job, over the head now.  Whoop!  And the other arm.  All right!"

 

And then from the living room I heard our African Gray parrot, Poppet, talking.

"Very nice.  Very niiiiiiiice.
"Good job, Isaac!  Good joooooob!
"Here we go!  Here we go!
"Verrry nice!  Good work!

It's nice to know that I've said the right things often enough that the bird has memorized them. 

I've been encouraging in the past.  I've sounded sweet and kind to Isaac many times.  I've talked him through dressing and eating and therapy many, many times.

So, on that one day when I feel like a failure, when I know *for a fact* that I'm the world's worst mom, I'm going to remember the day I was encouraged by the bird – a bird who only learned the things that it heard.

Do you have a bird who talks?  If you did, what kinds of things would it be learning to say???