He Walks with Me

lotsakids@windstream.net (Leah Adams) — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0500

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39 TNIV).

Today I write with a saddened heart. But my sadness is really a bit selfish. My dear friend, Mrs. Julie, passed away. And although I rejoiced at her celebration of returning home to the Father, I miss her so dearly.

I am thankful that I did get a chance to visit her in the hospital before she died. I cannot adequately describe what those few moments meant to me. She was a precious friend that I was not ready to let go.

At her going home celebration, the minister talked about some good times that we had all experienced with Mrs. Julie. Then my father sang Julie's request, “In the Garden.” I don't know about you, but to me this old hymn is so powerful. It talks about how God speaks to us and his voice is so sweet, that even the birds stop singing to listen. He shares how God walks with us and talks with us, and tells us that we are His own. It speaks about the joy we share as we spend time with Him.

I can't really comprehend the depth of meaning of all that at one time. I know it all to be true, but to walk with that kind of focus with God, is rare and precious. Mrs. Julie demonstrated that kind of focus in her relationship with others.

My question for us today is this: if God walks with us and talks with us, and tells us we are His own, then why is life so hard sometimes?

Is it because we get so caught up in the “real world” that we forget about the big picture, the presence of our Father, the one that says we are His? I do!

Let's stop and meditate on what it really means when God tells us we are His own. To me, it means that when I can't seem to get out of bed that morning, He is there ... Or when I fail my children, He is there ... Or when my finances are bad, He is there ... even when we feel like the whole world is on our shoulders, He is there ... He is there!

When we realize we are not alone -- that we are His, that he claims us and walks with us -- there will be nothing in our day that we cannot handle and nothing that we cannot face or go through. We will be able to handle any situation knowing that He is there.

Father, we come in Jesus' name and bow humbly before You to ask for a deeper sense of Your presence in our lives. Forgive us for ever doubting that you are with us, or that you love us, or that you have forgiven us through Jesus' Cross. Lord give us just a glimpse this day of how much you really do love us by personalizing something special in our day. Share your presence with us as individuals to help us better understand the depths of your love for us and that you walk with us. We love you Lord with all our hearts. Keep us pure before you and help us to forgive ourselves, just as Christ did. We love you so much Lord. Amen.

May you walk in peace from this day forward, knowing that He walks with you, and talks with you, and that you are His own!

Leah Adams lives in Canton, Georgia with her husband and seven children. She is part of the creative drama team, children's stories and poetry.

The Little Things

lotsakids@windstream.net (Leah Adams) — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0500

You, Lord, give true peace to those who depend on you, because they trust you.
So, trust in the Lord always, because He is our rock forever. (Isaiah 26:3-4)

Hello to all you moms out there. I am writing to you this evening in hopes that somehow this will touch someone right where that touch is needed the most. I, too, am a mom ... of seven. And I don't know about you guys, but between being a mom -- cooking, cleaning, and homeschooling -- my day really doesn't have time for a potty break, at least not one alone anyway.

I want to share with you something I learned a couple of months ago ... We had just moved in December and the house we bought had been sitting empty for quite some time. Needless to say, the yard was not a pretty sight! Well, my husband, being Mr. True-Green himself, wanted to try and clean the lawn in one afternoon. Now this was an insurmountable task in most circumstances, but we live on a mountain. Everything had to be drug to the road so the guys could come load it and haul it off. It took us about four days -- and the last three days the "us" was just my 14 year old son and myself ... my husband works about 80 hours a week.

Finally, everything was ready for the handy hauler to come and get it. Long story short, the "gentlemen" that arrived at my door, tried to tell me it was going to cost about $300 more than they had quoted me on the phone. If your family is like ours on a TIGHT budget, you know what I did! I told the "gentlemen" to go on down the road.

With an old house, there are all sorts of surprises. For us, there are squirrels in the attic that won't go away, the floor is rotted all along the dining room window, a wall will have to be replaced, and the septic tank pump is broken. On top of this, a dear friend of our family is in the hospital with cancer and is not expected to live and we have all the other nine million things that go on with running our family. And now, I have this HUGE mound at the bottom of my driveway that my neighbors will only look at so long!

In the midst of all this craziness, I stopped and prayed out loud, "Lord, you are going to have to deal with this, I just can't do it!"

So after I said this short little prayer, I forgot about it. The next night was Wednesday night church, and I just happened to run into a friend that lives on a farm. I asked her, "You wouldn't happen to know of anywhere to haul off yard debris, would you?" She said she wasn't sure, but she would ask her hubby. That next morning, she called me and said her hubby would bring over their hay trailer and if we would load it, he would take it to the farm and burn it.

WOW! Not only did my God handle everything to where I never had to leave the house, it also did not even cost us a penny. What a sweet blessing.

Moms, I know we get very busy during our days and things sometimes get so out of hand, and so overwhelming, we don't know what to do. But, if we would just learn to ask ... ask God to take care of even the littlest of things, and trust that He will. And you know what is even more awesome: He wants to be in our lives and help us through those overwhelming spots!

Let's hold each other accountable and make it a point to trust God with every detail of our days, because being a mom is no small or easy task for us. But to God, it is nothing that He cannot handle!!!

Let me pray with you ... Father, we love you and come to you this moment just to stand before your presence in awe! Help us to trust in you for every little detail of our lives and know that you are in complete and ultimate control. May we not depend on ourselves, but completely in you Father, and know that you always have our best interest in mind. We love you Lord.

Until next time, I pray you have many little blessings in each day as a result of trusting in God to take care of things.

Leah Adams lives in Canton, Georgia with her husband and seven children. She is part of the creative drama team, children's stories and poetry.

Articles by Leah Adams at Heartlight

He Walks with Me

The Little Things