There are all types of moms out there. For years, I was the uptight, live-by-rules kind of mom. I confess that I was a wet-blanket sort of mom when it came to time-consuming, messy, inconvenient, expense-required adventures.  When my son came along (10 years after two girls) I realized that I was spending way too much of my time talking my kids out of things and saying no.

The Lord spoke to my heart about adjusting my perspective on my kids. He urged me to say yes as much as possible to my kids, without endangering their safety, integrity, or maturity.  At first, I did it SO begrudgingly. (Sigh.) Then it became such a joy to say yes!!  I have experienced a long-desired increase in intimacy with my teenage daughter through this adjustment. What do you know?  I have become a blessing to her by saying yes more. I have shown her that I respect her passions and her interests, and she has blossomed in confidence.

This morning, when I read a passage in 1 Corinthians 1, I realized that through this parenting adjustment, God was asking me to follow His example.  Check this out:

Do I (Paul)  plan according to the flesh like a worldly man, ready to say, “Yes, yes,” when it may mean, “No, no?”  As surely as God is trustworthy and faithful and means what He says, our speech and message to you (the people of Corinthian church) have not been a Yes that might mean No.  For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who has been preached among you by us, was not Yes and No; but in Him it is always the divine Yes. For as many as are the promises of God, they all find their Yes in Him.  (1 Cor 1:17-20)

Did you catch that? With Jesus, it is always the divine YES! He loves to say yes to you. When you ask for something, He responds to the heart of your request. He sees the deep-seated need and meets it in the best way possible. The outcome of His yes may not look the way you expected, but it is a divine yes nonetheless.  It will be exactly what you need.

The other gold nugget in this passage is that when it comes to the promises of God, the answer is always yes. When you ask the Lord for something that is promised in scripture, know that the answer is already yes. Think and behave as if you know the answer is yes. Allow a joyful anticipation to overrule your fear or worry.

Open your heart to receive it in His timing and according to His will. The answer is yes!

100th post today! I love what God is doing through this blog. When I started “a babe in the womb”, the birth of my son was drawing near. A season of teaching and preaching the word in group settings was drawing to a temporary close. I experienced tremendous grief over being led away from women’s ministry at my church. Yet something new was born! Not only my son, but a new ministry experience. I have been able to share His word through the internet while He has kept me at home caring for my baby (just turned 2) and my homeschooled girls (nearly 11 and 13). God is good!

Though the scenery and the venues have changed, His promises to me have not waivered.

Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.  God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.  Hebrews 6:17-19

We often interpret God’s promises to mean something specific (according to our own desires, of course) and we don’t leave room for Him to keep His promises amid changing circumstances. We forget the truth of Hebrews 6:18… God cannot lie! He absolutely never considers it. The scriptures tell us that He IS truth.

No matter what happens in our lives, God keeps His promises. We must give Him room to fulfill His promises in His own way and in His own timing.  We only have to wait and see what He will do. When we hold on to the Lord in faithful expectancy, our hope is like an anchor. Though the waves of circumstances and heartbreak attempt to toss us to and fro, our hope in the One who cannot lie keeps us anchored.

What has God promised you?  Are you confident that He would never lie to you?  Do you believe that He is fulfilling His promise to you even at this very moment?

We live in a consumer society. We can buy just about anything that we want, even if we don’t have the money for it!  We expect to receive what we’ve ordered in a short amount of time. Fast food. Express shipping. Instant streaming.

We forget how much preparation goes into the things that we order. Take dinner, for example. When we order our favorite meal at a restaurant, we are not mindful of the seeds that were planted months ago. The livestock that was birthed years ago. The aging of cheese or wine over long periods of time. Your meal takes more than just 15 minutes to prepare! In reality, it takes years.

God works in the same way. We are not mindful of the preparation, the cultivation, the planning that God takes in fulfilling His promises to us. When we cannot see our order coming out of the kitchen, we think He’s forgotten us. We think He’s angry with us. We forget that He is good. He never lies. He is always working for our good.

Put your hope in Him! Drop your anchor deep into the reality that He loves you and He is preparing His best for you. Wait in expectancy for Him to fulfill everything He has promised you.