Doubt

Doubt. We all doubt things. I doubt myself....often.

I doubt I am right for this place, this time.
I doubt I am the best Mum I could be.

I doubt I am the best wife I could be.

I doubt I did it right today.

I doubt I'll do it right tomorrow.

But then the words to this song that my girls learned at school come belting in my ear :
In my wrestling and in my doubts, 
In my failures you won't walk out.
Your great love will see me through.
You are the peace in my troubled sea.

It's from a song called My Lighthouse by Rend Collective and I urge you to listen to it. (Click here!) It sounds great and the lyrics are fabulous.

But knowing that even in my doubts, God won't walk out. He doesn't doubt me, even when I doubt myself. He put me here for this time, this place. I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139 verse 14)....so why should I doubt?

I know why I do, and why I shouldn't, but it doesn't stop me.

I just need to make sure it doesn't overcome me. That lighthouse stands firm even in the fiercest winds and storm and God will hold me safe if I let Him. I need to let Him be my peace.

So today I encourage you to let God be your peace. Let Him stand beside you in whatever you are facing. He doesn't doubt that you can do it, He knows you are right for here and now.

In honesty, I doubt I'll remember this later when things are hard, or I'm feeling fed up, but today if you have doubts about God, speak to someone. Ask those questions and He will allay those doubts.

Celebrate

Celebrate. Well it's nearly Esther's birthday. That'll be a celebration, with cake, candles and a sleepover. Yikes!

But really there are so many things to celebrate. We should celebrate the small things.

The sunshine (in the North West, in September....well, we'll try!).

The sunrises and the sunsets, so pretty.

The times we have together.

The tasty lunches, the giggles, the cuddles.

We should celebrate it all.  It's a shame we're often too busy to celebrate the small things. Maybe it's time to make an effort to celebrate them.

Its easy to get bogged down in the day to day. In the hum-drum. In the normal. But let's celebrate the normal. Celebrate that we can do the dull stuff as well. Plenty of people would love the dull stuff.

So tomorrow I shall try to celebrate something good, something small. And I challenge you to do the same.

Same

Same. No two people are the same. But you, God are the same yesterday, today and forever.

My girls look very similar. But gosh they are not the same. Total individuals, with a love for each other that is the same in its fierceness. Long may that continue. I hope they're free to grow up as individuals too. All too often, especially in education, there is pressure to be the same. To like the same things, to look the same.  I don't know how to parent them through that pressure, but I hope our love and the love of God helps and supports them through that.

Also, they are similar to me. Especially Esther maybe. We were talking today about her finding the change to Juniors hard. Things don't stay the same. I guess that's one truth in life. Things change.

E likes things to stay the same. She gets that from me. Sorry lovely! Chris today compared her move to Juniors and the unknown, to the way I am responding to starting a new college course. That's not the same, and I have the same fears of the unknown and worries that she has moving upstairs in school to a new classroom, new class group, new keystage.

But hey. If everything stayed the same, we would miss all kinds of adventures, opportunities and chances to change. Nothing stays the same. Not the water in the sea, not the air we breathe.

But the love of God stays the same. He continues to love us and work for the best in us in all situations. We need to rememeber that.  And I don't want to stay the same, no matter how safe it feels. I want to grow, to change and to reach my potential. (Remind me of that will you, when I'm cowering in a corner being afraid!

Let's go!

Yes

Yes.......Mooble is back. I haven't written a 5 minute Friday for over a year. Seeing as the last one was after my first week in my 'new' job, I could say I've been too busy, but it's more likely to be that I don't often know what day it is, so Fridays hurry past. I keep thinking of coming back, and today....yes....here I am. (If you want to know more about Five Minute Friday, then click here)

Yes.

It's something I say far too rarely to my kids. I'm far more likely to say no. And I notice it now because of the job I do. Part of my job is working with children allowing them and enabling them to do what they want to do. Saying yes.

I sat in work only last week with a girl who was emptying all manner of glitter, sand, and other fabulous textured things into a pot which had originally contained 'gloop' (you know, cornflour and water. Never made it? Oh you should!). Well she added the glitter, and all kinds of other things we had out for sensory activities and every part of me (well the teacher and mum parts!) wanted to say, 'No, Stop. Don't waste  it'. But I didn't. I said 'yes'. And she had a fabulous time.

It made me think I should do that at home with my girls.....but I probably won;t. It's harder to say yes when it's your ingredients and your house to clean up.

But I should say yes more often.

God says yes to me. He shows me the things I need to see, and leads me in the ways I should go. He has helped me to say yes recently to things I didn't think I would say yes to. And I'm grateful, and excited. Who knows what tomorrow will bring, but here's hoping it's the chance to say ......yes.