You make all things new
You redeem and You transform
You renew and You restore
You make all things new
You make all things new
And forever we will watch and worship You"
From God Makes All Things New by Steven Curtis Chapman
I have been thinking through the idea of my roles in life changing right now and today during my quiet time God helped me understand that He truly is transforming me by his love and through my changing roles, new experiences, and through relationships...including learning how to come alongside my young adult children.
So my art project today was to take some objects in my life and think about how, in small ways, they represent this transformation process.
The picture at the top of the page represents a phase of motherhood that involved helping with homework, and preparing meals for my family. Those were loving things...but now they look different. For instance, my daughter, who used to go into "vapor lock" in middle school over homework, will now send me amazing papers to proof read and I have the pleasure of feeling in awe of her growth and at the subject matter she is wrestling through at Moody Bible Insitute...and reading her papers challenge me...sometimes my brain even smokes when I am reading them! I like that.The second picture is the word "love" made from a bunch of hats. When my son, Brian was young I made sure he stayed warm when he played outside in the winter...now I have the privilege of coming alongside him and his heart to show Christ's love to the homeless in downtown Seattle. Brian's youth group goes downtown one night a month to share conversations and offer hats and gloves and socks to the homeless people they meet. It is a student led ministry but it is wonderful to be able to come alongside the little boy I used to nag to put on his hat on cold days and now knit hats for this young man so that he can give them away to help the homeless stay a little warmer on cold winter nights.
The third picture is the word "love" spelled out using family photos. They used to just seem like a monumental pile of photos that I needed to deal with someday. Now they represent a visual story of my family's life...the ups mostly (and some of the downs). It is valuable to have God's faithfulness documented visually through family photos. The pictures show physical growth, but also relational growth in all of us...including the wedding photos of my daughter Emily (Nathan), and the photo of the kids just this past Christimas surrounding their great grandma and intentionally taking time to tell her how much they treasure her.
The fourth photo is of some of the many books I have read or am currently reading to help me become a better wife, a better mother, and a better disciple of Jesus. As I look at all these books I realize reading most of them was motivated by the particular challenge of the moment...but wanting to learn and grow through those challenges was motivated by love for my Savior and love for my family. I actually dislike reading so I was amazed to see how many books I have pushed myself through just in the areas of parenting and prayer....so I even see books in a new way...they show me that as woefully inadequate as I feel sometimes as a wife and a mother that God has faithfully equipped me every step of the way...most importantly through his Word and his grace and comfort when I fail...but also through the wise words of others who are further along in the journey than I am.
He truly is "WONDERFUL COUNSELOR"
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