there are times i have to literally tell myself ‘just be brave’ when i walk into a new store or a restaurant with david. because he has a deformity, i know people will do a double-take or even stare. any kind of physical differences are intriguing. i don’t think people are being cruel, they are just curious. but sometimes it gets to me and i have to be brave.
well, today i am taking matty for a speech evaluation and i feel like i have to be brave. i am so nervous that we will get bad news. i think he is a bit behind in speech, but i don’t think anything major is going on. but still, i’m nervous.
anything going on in your life that requires you to be brave?
lisa, i think you do an amazing job. i look at david and think God couldn’t have chosen a better mommy for him. the very fact that you see it as a privilege to be his mommy proves the amazing things God has done in you.
how did matty’s appointment go? zeb doesn’t talk nearly as well as other kids his age (mainly his cousin who speaks circles around him), but i’m hoping that’s still okay for his age. i’ve just started wondering about it.
Lisa, I love your gentle openess. It is so strange how we can see clearly in another person that they have no need to feel scared about something in their life. But in our own lives, at any given moment, life can feel so utterly overwhelming.
I read an awesome thing by Oswald Chambers today. He quoted Genesis 18:17 “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing…” Then he said, “God has to hide from us what He does, until, due to the growth of our personal character, we get to the level where He is them able to reveal it.” (You may need the quote in the context of the whole message.)
But what I really went away thinking about is, that God sees so much more than we do, OBVIOUSLY,.. but that we are only called to walk day by day. Just what he has for us that day. And I used to think that it was kind of mean that God didn’t show us the bigger picture more often. But what Chambers got me thinking about is whether it is actually out of God’s protection of us that He only asks us to build our strength in Him day by day.
I’m personally scared, when I imagine that I’m in a place that requires more strength than I presently have. But Lisa, all the rest of us can see God’s strength in you so much more clearly! God says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is make perfect in weakness….For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Obviously, your entry really struck a chord with me. I’ve been thinking about this very thing in my own life. And yikes, help us all, if I even get started writing about the things I’m fearful of. (OR, you could just start comparing yourself to me, and TRUST ME you’ll start looking really good! 🙂 )
I think you are awesome Lisa! The way you are able to handle all of the questions and stares that come with loving and raising David make you a woman braver than most.
For me (and I know the rest of you moms probably think I’m silly), being brave is being 6 months pregnant, while being the major financial contributor, and knowing that you will have to put your little bundle in the arms of who knows all day…and you won’t be there for their first steps, their first words or who knows what else…not to mention not knowing how you’re going to PAY for that childcare…but knowing that you don’t have a choice in the matter.
Steve couldn’t have married anyone more graceful than you!
My bravery today consisted of taking two little girls to the mall today with another mom and her two little ones – I think I decided I will never do that again except when they are both in school! However, I did find clearance undies at Gap for my kids and swimsuits on sale at Gymboree and might possibly go back and get a shirt for myself at Gap(without kids)!!
Let us know what is going on with Matty!
I agree with Lindsey. Lisa, you are so brave and you live life so gracefully. Praise God for Matty’s smooth eval. He is so good!
you are so brave lisa! really! you handle all sorts of awkward situations with such grace. and don’t worry about matty – god never gives you anything you can’t handle when you rely upon him! as far as the bravery thing on my side, i just started a blog and for some reason do not have the confidence that you do, and i feel a bit like a dork!
(check out my new blog: lindseycheney.blogspot.com):)
love you!
I’ll be praying that the evaluation goes well. Who do you take a child to for speech evaluation? How do they do it?
Hmmm, right now I feel like daily life requires bravery–I often wake up in the morning feeling way in over my head. I also still worry sometimes about how our boys will grow and develop. Sometimes when they’re defiant or disobedient I start worrying, what if they have some insitutionalized-related issues? But I guess that’s where I need to trust God (AND remember that there’s a reason for the expression “the terrible twos!)