Happy and chilly February evening to you all :) I have to admit that I hate that life and the very things I like to blog about take me away from blogging. However, if life didn't happen, then what would I blog about??
Well, tonight's thoughts were provoked by our sermon series and specifically the sermon from Sunday. While traveling through Galations, we have been diving into how simple and passionate the Gospel is. "Jesus + nothing = everything and Jesus + anything = nothing" has been the coined phrase.
Sunday we looked at those that were in bondage based on their sin, and then became enslaved by the idea that they needed to add something to the Gospel in order to follow Christ. We celebrated the freedom we have in Christ and that through that freedom we live our lives to the fullest.
It got me thinking about the kids biological parents. Bio dad is living back in the state from which they came, and bio mom is set to get out of prison in early March. While that date looms ever nearer, my heart and my head become very confused. We are approaching the time when we will be faced with consistent visitation with bio mom (and dad if he comes back here). Part of me is so overwhelmed with the idea of having the kids forever, and part of me is so scared that I won't have them forever.
I had the vision Sunday during worship of bio mom worshiping along side of us. So far I have focused on the kids. However, now my attention is turned to their mother....who let's face it, I am not. Growing God's kingdom is much bigger than us 'adding allens', so reaching mom and changing her life should come to the forefront of my 'to do list'.
How does one do that? How does one show the living Gospel to someone who hurt little people you have come to love? And let's throw in that her changing will then take those little people away from me. The Mama Bear in me wants to somehow put something scandalous in her purse so she gets in trouble so I keep my...I mean her....babies. The Mama Bear in me wants to tell her that she screwed up the most important job she will ever have in a major way and doesn't deserve a second chance.
One problem....this Mama Bear is merely a ragamuffin who has great freedom in Christ. I long and desire for others to know the freedom I have and to likewise be free from what enslaves them. I have no experience with the type of chains that bio mom and dad are tangled up in. That part of the world is very foreign to me. But chains are chains and no matter what they are, their purpose is the same...to confine us and keep us from experiencing freedom.
So blogger world know that I am struggling with this. I want nothing more than to pack these babies up and be in Mexico before March. However, our purpose in this is far beyond what we are capable of. Please join us in praying for bio mom and for March. Pray for the kids and how they will take seeing her after eight months. Pray for Papa and I as we prepare for the possibilities and that these possibilities may be stretched out over time and require more devotion to the greater purpose than we feel we can muster.
As always, may God be glorified in what we do. This week, when you get a chance....read through Galations. It is the story of freedom in Christ both from sin that enslaves us and the additives we like to throw on top of our faith.
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