romans Archives | Heavenly Homemakers

Staring straight into the unknown future? Afraid? Insecure? Doubtful? Listen to these inspired words of truth from Tasha:

Dear fellow moms (and wives and husbands),

The future is heavy on my mind lately. Who am I kidding, I am always thinking about the future; it’s hard for me to settle down and enjoy the moment. It’s a problem, part of my personality, and a topic for another day. TODAY, I’ve been thinking even more about the future because it is uncertain. More so than it was a few months ago.

In hindsight, nothing about this life is ever certain. God doesn’t promise us sunshiny days and roses. But we get comfortable in our routines and seasons. We know what to expect from day to day. For most of us, dealing with our own emotions and taming our own tongues was enough to keep us busy. And now we have kids who can’t go see their friends at soccer practice, husbands teaching from the basement, family members having babies and we can’t go visit, Grandparents in nursing homes and we can’t see them. And I’m left confused about the future.

What will the rest of 2020 look like? What will 2021 look like?

I woke up to the baby crying out suddenly during the night. My heart pounded and I was short of breath from a nightmare I’d been pulled from. I was being led in a long line of other women by men with guns. A dystopian future. Thankfully, this was a younger, pre-motherhood version of myself and I didn’t have any of my children with me to protect. I can’t even imagine that type of fear. None of us knew where we were being led. We didn’t know anything about the situation except we were in danger and unable to fight against it. In my dream, I fervently prayed over and over, “God send a rescuer, God please send a rescuer, send a rescuer…”

When the baby startled me, in the moments between dreamlife and the darkness of my bedroom with the glowing monitor, I distinctly, clearly, had the thought: He already did.

God already sent the rescuer.

He already won the war. He laid out the path for us to follow. Jesus is the light that came into the world. He shines in the darkness and that light will not be overcome. (John 1:5) My future is secure. 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, (neither a virus, nor quarantine and a struggling economy), 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)

My dreams last night were discouraging, to say the least. Resurging today are memories from nine years ago when I was directly threatened at gunpoint, I have legitimate fears of being out of control and alone, I do not like to feel powerless, or trapped. And yet, even my subconscious, when drowning in those feelings calls out to God to be saved. It swells my heart to know that even when I think I’m not trusting God enough, I actually am.

I’m reminded of the father in Mark 9 who said to Jesus, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief.” Do you relate?

Can you believe and not believe at the same time?

Apparently we can. It’s possible to have fears of the future and yet trust God to save us. I’m not saying we should stay and wallow in that fear. Yikes, no way.

The future may seem uncertain, but maybe we’re just not looking far enough ahead. Today I want to encourage you to fill your mind and heart up with the truth of God’s love. Read encouraging books, talk to encouraging people, write encouraging words. If you don’t know where to start, read all of Romans 8. And then read it again.

Will you share something encouraging with a friend or neighbor today? Write a letter, make a call, send an email, or reach out on social media. They might need to be reminded of something wonderful more than you know.

Love,

Tasha

Tasha, friend of Laura, loves to read good books and talk to good people and write good things. She daily falls short of the glory of God and is graciously covered by the son of the creator of the universe. Neat, right? When she’s not guest blogging for Laura about how you can survive anything, and how she paid off a bunch of debt, she can be found buying googly eyes for her kid’s crafts, folding laundry that will then sit on the couch for three days, and sneaking homemade cookie dough from the freezer.

I rarely take time off. I rarely watch movies and pretty much never watch TV. This doesn’t make me “oh such a hard worker” or “better than” or any of that silliness. (It could actually mean that I have issues – not that that would be shocking for any of you to hear about.)

It’s just that I really like working and doing things. I love writing, I love cooking, I love teaching the boys, I love corresponding with so many of you through emails and answering questions, I love creating new eBooks, I love making meals for others, I love gardening. I love working hard. The bigger this site has become, the longer it takes to get all my blog work done. I spend quite a bit of time on it, and I love it. As I said in this podcast, my work is my play. I feel blessed to have found so much “work” in life that is fulfilling and enjoyable.

But this weekend, I took time off. We made our annual Kansas City trip, attended Leadership Training for Christ for our kids, then spent the rest of Easter weekend with friends who live close to Kansas City. I didn’t get to cook all weekend, but was instead waited on hand and foot. We got to relax and visit. I got to catch up with some loved ones I haven’t seen in months (or years!).

Not only that, after LTC was over and we were back at our friend’s house, I sat. With my feet up. I watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with the boys. And when that was over, we watched Mary Poppins. Then we watched a couple of baseball games. Every once in a while I thought to myself, “I should try to get some work done on the computer.” And then I said something to myself like, “nah” and kept snuggling with the boys or with Matt.

Sitting and doing nothing rarely works for me. I like being productive. But during those hours of down time, I felt like I truly was being productive. I feel refreshed and ready to work again.

Here are a few fun pictures of our weekend:

Malachi borrowed the camera and took some shots while we were waiting for
some of our kids’ events at LTC . Here’s a goofy one of me snacking on a Larabar.

And then Daddy got to join Mama for a picture.

After that, I grabbed the camera and said, “Okay, your turn”.
So here’s one of Malachi looking like his normal prim and proper self.

Elias and Justus were in a skit together that Matt wrote called “The Conqueror in the Hat”
(since the theme this year was from Romans: More than Conquerors). I love this picture.

As I looked at all of our LTC pictures after the event, I realized that I hadn’t taken one picture of Asa the whole weekend. He looked and did great too…I just don’t have any pictures to show you to prove it.

I’m very thankful for our mini-vacation! And now, if I could get the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang song out of my head, that would be helpful.

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!
Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Into the Unknown Future

What will the rest of 2020 look like? What will 2021 look like?

God already sent the rescuer.

Can you believe and not believe at the same time?

Gratituesday: Time Off