1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 

We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Faith to keep going another day and the work it requires – keep going! One foot in front of the other!  Keep your faith! 

Labor prompted by love – as horrible as PPD feels, the awful part is that we have to keep being mom while hurting.  Its SO hard.  How do we do it?  I admit I do not even remember the days.  But we labor, for the love we know but struggle to feel.  Hold on to what you know.  Hang in there.

Endurance inspired by hope – you hope for a new day, a better day, and to be well – you will be well!  You keep your endurance and you have hope in Christ.  He hears your prayers.  I know you think He’s ignoring you but He is not, He is right there with you.  You will be out of the valley.

Devotional

The other night at dinnertime, the kids and I were eating by ourselves because Chris was running late. 

My patience was running low, as it typically does at that time of day, especially when there is no Daddy-relief in sight.   I was irritated, frustrated.  I just wanted relief and I wanted it now. 

You know what that feels like some days, don’t you?

I was fussing at G to sit down for the 1,029th time and then yelled at him to “Sit down now!”

He looked at me and said in this quiet voice, “Don’t tell me to sit down.” 

And I looked at him, surely with shock and anger and frustration at the backtalk from a 3-year-olds mouth, and said something like, “Yes, you will listen to me, I’m MOMMY.” 

And he smiles and excitedly says, “I’m Gabriel!”

All the hot air totally went out of my balloon.  Deflated. 

No more anger, too much surprise.  It was one of those moments where I had to struggle so hard to not laugh in his presence because I was supposed to be disciplining him.   

I had to smile inside.  Or I probably turned away quickly and smiled!  I have found that in my motherhood journey, and most certainly when I was going through postpartum depression, God (through my children) sends sweet reminders and comic relief to ease that burden and release the pressure valve, so to speak.  My eyes and ears and heart are opened to how cute they are, how funny they are, how precious they are - and how needed those reminder are to me.

The Holy Spirit knows exactly what we need, when we need it and His timing is always perfect.  Trust Him.  Look for those God-moments that are precious, the ones intended to release the pressure and remind us He is there and our children are incredible. 

He has not forgotten you and He loves to see you smile.

The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing. -Zephaniah 3:17

Devotional, Humor

Psalm 71

 1 In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge;
       let me never be put to shame.

 2 Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness;
       turn your ear to me and save me.

 3 Be my rock of refuge,
       to which I can always go;
       give the command to save me,
       for you are my rock and my fortress.

Devotional

Matthew 11:28-30

 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Devotional, Encouragement

One of my favorite Psalms…lift up your head, your eyes today.  The Lord is your Helper.

Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
       where does my help come from?

 2 My help comes from the LORD,
       the Maker of heaven and earth.

 3 He will not let your foot slip—
       he who watches over you will not slumber;

 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
       will neither slumber nor sleep.

 5 The LORD watches over you—
       the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

 6 the sun will not harm you by day,
       nor the moon by night.

 7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
       he will watch over your life;

 8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
       both now and forevermore.

Devotional

I had a long-time college friend expience a horrible tragedy yesterday and thus my devotional this morning held extra meaning and brought comfort to my heart.  God’s Word tells us that we will have trouble in this world.  (John 16:33)  But His goodness and His unfailing love are who He is, and He is always there in those times of trouble.

Here are some quotes from my quiet time this morning.  I’m in the midst of Catherine Martin’s Pilgrimage of the Heart study.  (Amazing, btw.) 

…the foundation of your prayers is the character of God.  In fact, the greatest result of prayer is a deeper knowledge of His character and a more intimate fellowship with Him.  The most important aspect of His Character in relation to prayer is His goodness and love (see Psalm 107:1,43).  If He is not good and does not love, then our prayers may fall on deaf or uninterested ears.  Because He is good and all-loving, then we can cry out to Him in our trouble and know that His answer will be the very best and in accordance with His will.  Because of His goodness, He can be trusted in full surrender.

Psalm 147:11 tells us that He delights in those who put their hope in His unfailing love.  When our world is crashing around our ears, our hope is in His unfailing love.  When those we love do fail us, our hope is to remain in His unfailing love.  He will never fail us, He will never leave us nor forsake us.  (Hebrews 13:5)

Today, I urge you to focus on His unfailing love and His goodness.  I cannot answer the “why” questions that we all have in our troubled lives, but I can tell you about His unfailing love for each of us and His goodness.   Pour your heart out to Him in prayer.

Just talk, He’s listening.

Devotional, Encouragement

Easter is THE most important holiday in Christianity.   What Jesus did on the cross for us is too beautiful and perfect and painful to even think about sometimes.  This was written by my dear friend Mindy Lenahan today as we contemplate the Easter season.  You may be asking what this has to do with PPD.  It has everything to do the faith I clung to when I was in the dark valley of postpartum depression.  Read on.  I know you will be as blessed as I was when I read it. 

Devotional