This Boy...Grandparenting

 

Yesterday our phone rang  and our son's name popped up.  But to our surprised it was this boy who said hello from facetime.  He said, Dad said I could call you and talked to you by myself.  He, Reedley Doc Draper is five years old and until this past May we'd been a part of his everyday life for almost all of his life.  

When he was about two months old we along with our son and family rented a huge house in Simi Valley, California.  It was perfect for two families, we had our own bedroom, bathroom and living room.  All we shared was the kitchen and dining room.  

So from the time he was a tiny baby we got to hold him, rock him to sleep, play with him and before we knew it he had taken over our hearts.  The other two grandchildren were ok with this because they loved, "this boy" too.  As our grand daughter said about Reedley, he rocked our boat.  

We got to be there when all three of our sons children were  born and God worked it out for us to be there when our daughters three children were born.   And even though being there for their birth was something we will never forget, there is a difference in that and then being there day after day and watching them grow.  

We have six grandchildren, three from our daughter, Scarlett Rose 23, Logan 18, Ava Jo 12. Three from our son, Jared, Emarie, 11, Austin, 9, and Reedley, 5.  All of them are special in different ways but living with them day after day from birth build a special bond.  And that is why Reedley would want to call us and have a special time with just us.  He feels the bond very strongly between us.  He misses us the most since we moved away.  

Proverbs 17:6 “Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.”

 Psalm 103:17 “But from everlasting to everlasting the Lords love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children. 

Psalm 37:25 “I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.”

Grandparents are given to us to bestow their wisdom on us, to teach us about God and His Word, and to help raise up children who will serve the Lord.  Even as they age and are able to do less, they are no less valuable.  Their lessons may change as the age--but we still will learn to love others and to love God by caring for them.  

Ace and I both feel the blessing of being part of grand children's lives.  They love to come see us and that makes us extremely happy. 

• Our grandchildren accept us for ourselves, without rebuke or effort to change us, as no one in our entire lives has ever done, not our parents, siblings, spouses, friends - and hardly ever our own grown children. ~Ruth Goode

If you do not have grandchildren yet, just wait, everything one says about being a grandparent is true, over the top true.  They are a crown to the aged.  

 Add title: Porta Potty

This past May we traveled from southern California to Minnesota. Our route took us through a small portion of S. Dakota and all the across N. Dakota.

There were veryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy long stretches of nothing but prairie, sage brush, and antelope all over the place, but few towns. On one stretch my husband needed a bathroom quickly. I think the next town was 60 some miles away so he started looking for a bush. There are few bushes also in North Dakota, sage brush is too short and it's always blowing around too. Flat everywhere you look and then out of nowhere we spot this tiny blue building tucked in a dip of the landscape. There was no construction around to warrant a porta potty , but there it sit as you can tell by the picture, standing out like a sore thumb. To us it was a rescue building.

It never crossed our minds to pray for a porta potty. To be honest, I don't think we prayed for even a bush. We had driven this route before and remember how bare it is so we just accepted our plight. My dear husband was just going to have to endure being uncomfortable.

BUT GOD...ok, here we go with this analogy of the Porta Potty. BUT GOD who loves us so much, cares about the functions of the body. He created, and designed to have needs, like hunger, thirst, warmth, and relief, which was the need of the moment.

We were driving a new car for us, bought by a generous donor who wanted us to have a nice car to drive in our ministry. Ours had gave up and was going to cost more then it was worth to fix, it had over 200 thousand miles on it. Most of those miles were put on by us traveling around the southwest visiting missionaries home on furlough. We don't know who the donor was, but we settled on a SUV that could pull a light weight RV if needed. So we are have experienced great gift from the Lord through His people. He has never failed to provide our needs.

We had no idea who put that porta potty there or we would write a thank you to them with a note saying it was an oasis in the middle of nowhere. I'd bet my last dollar others have used it. In fact, I hope it is still there for others.

We are use to praying for big things, the political needs of our country, those fighting overseas, people with cancer, heart issues, money needs are always on our prayer list but, again, just being honest, a porta potty, never.

Maybe you have something little you would like to see an answer to. Right now I am praying I find one of my hearing aides that I have lost. It's a little thing but a costly little thing. I am thinking it might have got left in the porta potty. Just joking. What has He done for you recently that was as personal as a porta potty?

Where Ever

 

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Just think, you're here not by chance, but by God's choosing. His hand formed you and made you the person you are. He compares you to no one else - You are one of a kind. You lack nothing that His grace can't give you. He has allowed you to be here in this time in history to fulfill His special purpose for this generation. Roy Lessin

This morning I watched a Christian speaker telling about his experience of meeting in secret with Christian leaders in China.  Over half of them had been in prison before because of their faith but were willing to meet over and over to encourage believers.  Some had walked 11 hours to attend this meeting.  

Then I talk by phone with a friend in the states who struggles with not seeing her Grandchildren since Feb because of the virus issue.  Talked the other day to a missionary who brought her daughter home for Bible school only to learn her return flight got cancelled for an unknown time.  That leaves her husband to homeschool their two boys in Papua New Guinea.  I have so many friends who are battling cancer, heart issues, family issues that is destroying their family life, or quarantined due to exposure.    And here I sit in northern Minnesota, waiting for our little place to be finished so we can move into it.   I have my own struggles, of course, but they seem like nothing compared to all I have mentioned.  

It's so easy to compare and feel less spiritual because you have not had to walk 11 miles for church or you have more then one bible in your house. 

It's only when I fall into comparing that I fall into a deeper trap of feeling less then....whatever or whoever.  I cease to see the goodness of the Lord when I am buried in this pit.  I become forgetful who placed me where I am right now at this time of life.  

It is God who has chosen where we are born.  Acts 17:26 From one man He made every nation of men, that they should in habit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. NIV 

Where ever my feet find themselves I am to practice Proverbs 4:25-27 Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet, then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left, turn your foot away from evil. 

The word ponder means to consider something deeply and thoroughly, meditate, to weigh carefully in the mind, consider thoughtfully.  Ponder does not mean to compare ourselves with others but to search our own hearts.  

My friend reminded me today of this scripture"  Psalm 26:8-12 the last part is the key for me, "I shall walk in integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me. My foot stands on level ground; in the great assembly I will bless the Lord.  

Where ever God has me, whatever I am going through I am to walk in integrity. I cannot do that if I allow my mind to compare.  Comparing is looking to self and not the Lord. 

All of this pondering had brought me full circle back to be thankful for such a time as this, such an experience as this, where ever God has me, God help me to ponder on You  and not myself.    

That proverbs verse opens up with a powerful statement, "where ever my feet find themselves".  

Where do you find yourself these days, comparing or pondering?

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