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Recently, I posted a status update on facebook that read:

The human race would be extinct if women had any idea how demanding motherhood would be.

My job as a mother is serious business. Not for the faint-hearted, for sure!  I wouldn’t trade it for anything… except maybe for a week in a tropical paradise… then I would want my demanding life right back again.

I’ve shared that the Lord has been teaching me how to rest in the midst of my demanding life. Clearly, sleep is helpful. I try to get 7 hours each night. Time alone with Him is necessary too… so my soul can rest. Then there’s my current fling with Amish fiction. My mind needs the rest from homeschool pre-algebra and the mental gymnastics required to outwit my 16 month old.

Recently, the Lord showed me that I need more help to rest my body. I’ve had two massages in the past few weeks. Amazing. Also enlightening.

I have major kinks and knots in my neck and shoulders! The stress of life and motherhood have taken their toll on me. I am carrying around tension in my body, and I have decided that this tension is no longer welcome. Of course, these knots will not budge without skilled hands… and not without pressure.

Now, there’s a word that keeps resurfacing in my life. Pressure. I am ever-aware that God allows pressure to build in my life so that I will keep running to Him.  So that, one day, I might never leave His side!

While laying on the massage table today, I gladly welcomed the painful pressure necessary to work the knots out of my shoulder muscles.  Welcoming pain… did I really say that?

Suddenly, I became aware that the pressure God permits in my life is also working out some of the knots in my heart. He is loosening up my heart muscles so that I can relax and trust Him more. The knots of fear, bitterness, and desire for control are kneaded out as I allow His pressure to work in my life.

Maybe I can learn to welcome the pressure and pain He permits… as easily as I welcomed the heavy hands of massage today. Hmmmm…. I am definitely moving in that direction. Lead me, Lord.

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When you’re watching something day in and day out… you don’t always notice growth or change. The daily increase is just too small to observe. Often, we need to step back and monitor change throughout a much bigger time frame. We’d probably view the progress more accurately if we laid it at the Father’s feet and then came back later to see what He’s done.

Here’s a visual for you:

This hydrangea was a new-baby-hospital gift from my good friend Carrie & family. It came to us in a little 6-inch pot. The blooms were originally blueish in color… so appropriate for a baby boy. As you can see, in one year’s time, the plant has flourished!  My green-thumb hubby transplanted it into this large pot, and it just went wild! These hydrangeas are one of the most beautiful blooms in our backyard.

It nearly took my breath away when I saw little Levi standing next to the thriving plant.  Lo and behold!! I was reminded that growth DOES happen. Even when it doesn’t feel like there’s any movement, any upward motion, any progress.

Feeling stagnant? Focused on your failures? Take a look back and ask the Lord to show you how far you’ve come. He will point out the work that He has faithfully overseen in your life. He has been tending to your needs and challenging you in certain areas. You are growing. You are flourishing. According to Ephesians 2:10, you are His handiwork!

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I’m no longer concerned about saving money for my children’s college education. What I really need to do is start a therapy fund for them. They are going to need some professional help after being my child for 18 years!

Many things combined to make this week another difficult one. Baby and I were hit with a cold. My hormones are performing one death defying loop-the-loop after another. I am allowing homeschool to present an endless list of to-do’s instead of fun learning experiences.

This morning, I read a timely devotion from Streams in the Desert. Here’s the part that got me:

Left alone. What different emotions these words bring to mind for each of us! To some they mean loneliness and grief, but to others they may mean rest and quiet. To be left alone without God would be too horrible for words, while being left alone with Him would be a taste of heaven!

Our Master (Jesus) set an example for us. Remember how often He went to be alone with God? And there was a powerful purpose behind His command, “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray.”  (Matthew 6:6)

Earnestly desire to get alone with God. If we neglect to do so, we not only rob ourselves of a blessing, but rob others as well, since we will have no blessing to pass onto them.

The fact is that when I do not find time daily to be alone with God and allow Him to fill me, I am getting by instead of living. I am surviving instead of thriving.

This week I realized that when I am only surviving, then my kids are doing the same. I want to see them THRIVING, not surviving. They deserve the best! I need to lead by example here…. and I can only do it by getting alone with God!