The Mother of Adult Children? Me?

In complete amazement of how fast this life passes by, it's happened to me.  2 adult children, and 6 to go!  Our oldest is married, and though it took me a year to tell her this story, I was so thankful she laughed.  I gave warning to be patient as I'm new to all this!
It's very important to me to be a kind, loving, encouraging, mother and mother-in-law!  Having no training in this new phase of life, we're flying by the seat of our pants!
Being a pastor's wife, shopping at Wal-mart, and just experiencing plain ole life you see a lot of what you want and don't want to do.  So I made mental notes of "deal with sin, ignore preference" and I have a note on my dresser from one of Jeff's sermons that says, "We should encourage people to be more like Christ, not to be like us".
So what do I do?
Upon a visit to my adult, happily married daughter's new home, I find myself shocked that she doesn't use the same dish soap that we have always used!  That's where my heart goes!  I know, it's embarrassing!  But I've put a lot of thought in to my dish soap!  I want the suds to last and not leave a film on dishes, blah, blah, blah.  So why would I even care what someone else uses?  Wouldn't I be grateful that I have a daughter smart enough to buy her own dish soap?  Wouldn't I count the abundant blessings in seeing her build her home in such a Christ honoring way?  Nope, I concern myself about dish soap.  I am so pathetic!
So when I came across this book, I just knew I had to read it and it was wonderful! Not only giving me insight in my own life, but also in the ministry.

So now, I'm a bit wiser, in the dish soap arena anyway.  I even went and bought every new dish soap  available just to break the idol of my previous one!  (Though I did go back to my old tried and true favorite dish soap, it no longer bothers me which soap other people use!  Freedom!)  (Probably more of a control issue which I have some good books on that too for another post! )  God help me!  God help my kids!  May I love them unconditionally, rebuke sin if needed, and never ever be concerned about dish soap again!

Galations 5:13  For you were called to freedom, brothers.  Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

But God

I didn't take the time to count them all, or even read them all yet, but these simple words "but God" occur approximately 592 times depending on which version you prefer.

I think it is truly biblical to share our woes and burdens with one another, asking for prayer, seeking wise counsel, just thinking out loud is helpful.  But I pray that I can always finish my struggles with a hearty "but God"!

There can be some hard things to deal with, health issues, death, divorce, hurt and sins, things that can consume our thoughts if we allow them to.  If we allow them to then it quickly becomes all about us.  That gets heavier all the time.  But God....

If I can train my mind (Romans 12:1-2) to always add the "but God..." then I'm turning that focus and purpose back to Christ.  It renews my mind that there is a purpose, far greater than my difficulty.

"This is really hard...but God promises..."

"I'm heartbroken...but God loves..."

It reminds me that God loves me with an everlasting, unchanging, pure love.  It reminds me that God allows difficulties for our own good, even if we can't see it at the time.  It reminds me that God is all powerful, creating this amazing world.  It reminds me that God is not taken by surprise and can handle even the most difficult situations.  No buts about it!

Psalm 73:26  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.