06 Nov Day 27: The Perfect Life
“Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Isaiah 40:30-31
The Smith Family
Each morning I get up at 5am, go to the gym, shower, come home and put a hot breakfast on the table. We sit, chat and start the day together with prayer. I check that the homework and lunches are in the backpacks before my kids head off to school.
Well, that’s the way it plays out in my head. The true, unexaggerated reality is one parent is traveling, there are tears over lost homework, someone does not want to eat breakfast, and there is overturned furniture to dodge while dashing to the car, toast in hand, because the hamster was loose.
No one wants chaos. But people like me get distracted by what’s in front of them. The present. To the point of forgetting about the future. I remember Bella, when she was seven, pleading with me to stay during her 90-minute ballet lesson. “But other mothers leave their kids,” I said, to which she replied, “Yes, but their mommies know what time it’s over!” She was right; I usually tried to cram too much of life into that 90-minute interval.
Alas, we’re not as consistent as we should be in devotions, homework gets lost, the car is usually on empty, and I have even been known to show up at the wrong church to speak.
Since returning from Brazil in August, I have spoken in seven different states while Phil has been back and forth to Brazil, Ethiopia, Uganda, Europe, and several places in the U.S. Marc, 16, has been in a couple different schools, and Bella, 11, tries her hardest to keep us all on task.
When you see all the needs in the world, it seems almost selfish to ask for prayer. We are not hungry. We are blessed. But we do need prayer.
Phil is at the helm of Hope Unlimited for Children, backed by a fantastic board. The incredible U.S. team wears many hats to make sure that all the bases are covered so that our staff and children in Brazil have what they need to make the program work. The path which led each one to work with us is a journey that only God could have ordained. It is a calling, not a job, or they surely would have found something else easier to do!
But God has called us, and we need to make sure that we walk in the path of God’s leading, not our own.
Please pray for all of us on the U.S. team. Pray for vision, direction, compassion. Pray for unity, boldness, and patience. And, boldly, we ask you to pray for us, the Smiths; especially our kids, as we prepare to transition back to Brazil. We know that it is only by the grace of God—and your partnership—that we are privileged and honored to serve in this very blessed way.