God Still Knows Where the Apple Is

If God twittered, the Scripture He'd send to my phone would be Matthew 18:5:

"Whoever receives one little child like this in My Name receives Me."

Sitting on my living room floor one morning a coupla months ago (wow, this has taken forever!), in the midst of my two jammied kids (as Tessa likes to say)...



... and surrounded by toys strewn around the room just about as haphazardly as my hair was hanging around my face thanks to Daniel's rough attempts at showing his love for me... a tiredness attempted to creep into my thinking...

"Why am I doing this?"
"WHAT am I doing?"
"Am I accomplishing ANYthing besides making sure everyone's pants are clean and dry? And there's something resembling food on the table?"

Then Matthew 18:5 twittered into my head, and it was really like a salve that began to spread over my heart and into my thinking, bringing peace to my spirit. It reestablished my purpose as a Mom-at-Home!

Yes, I could respond graciously to my baby's cries for attention and my preschooler's chattering attempts at drawing me into role-playing conversation ... WITH a happy heart because it was like I was responding to Jesus!

I could carry out the daily tasks needed for these two little ones because as I did, it was as though I was serving Jesus directly!

I love love love being at home and serving my family.
I actually like to do laundry and make my kids giggle.
And bake sweet things.



But there are days when Mr. Winter shuts us in the house for the whole week.
Or the laundry falls two stinky socks short of fulfilling.
Or the only thing I'd like to bake is myself in the sun. Alone on a beach.

That's why I'm SO thankful for God's Word and for His Holy Spirit teaching me things like that verse in Matthew.

I love receiving Jesus in my house!


And having Jesus in my house also brings an extra set of eyes.

My wonderful Mrs. Pastor posted something one day along the lines of the fact that God is the only One Who is with my children 24-7. I can't be with them every second, but He knows everything about them and cares about every detail.

Including the missing fruit.

The one that Daniel could have found, put in his mouth like everything else, and choked on, I said to God one night as my husband and I were preparing to play Hi-Ho-Cherry-O with Tessa.



He knew about the disappearance of the first apple. And He knew where our plastic one was, too.

With my hand on the gate to let fearful thoughts pour into my mind about what would happen if Daniel had gotten into Tessa's game and eaten the plastic fruit, God told me,

"He didn't eat the fruit."

Sure enough, the fruit was found the very next day. And not in Daniel's diaper.


Thank You, Jesus, for being receivable.
For bridging the gap between me and God so that I can receive Him, too.

Thank You for being in my house,
For these little ones,
And for keeping an eye on the fruit.