I am tenderhearted and have great compassion for others.  I am a feeler.  My husband is a thinker, a problem-solver.  We are two sides of a coin.

In our family, we have a chore chart, chores each person is responsible for–for that day.  After Sean died, it was painful to look at the chore chart, so I put it away.  Eventually, we needed to function as a family again, so we used a system again.  I found that implementing the system was proving troublesome. Everything had changed, our dynamics had changed.  The kids had so many excuses why they didn’t want to do their chores, which I think was part of the grief and suffering they were going through, and since I’m so softhearted……

 I asked my husband to implement the chore chart.  Now I hear,” don’t worry about doing the pots and pans—I’ll take care of those” or “if you unload the dishwasher, I’ll load it..”

The end of the day usually finds my husband and myself finishing up chores, working side by side in the kitchen together.  It is a very sweet time for us.

Why?  I think it’s because we see in very real ways our children suffering and grieving the loss of their brother, and so in also very real ways, our hearts go out to them, and we come along beside them and help them.  Both of us—the feeler and the thinker—we love our kids—we would do anything to help them—we would do anything to show them how much we love them and that they are not alone.

It is in times of being “a parent” that I most clearly see and feel and know—God’s love.   If my husband and I, both so different, can both come along beside our children to help them during their times of suffering, so does God come along side us to help us.

God with all of God’s attributes—loves His children and comes alongside of us and helps us.  He helps us.  In so many ways we have seen “His goodness in the Land of the living.”

He has done the things that only He could do—to reach out to us—and love us—and help us. If you’d like to read some examples of how He has done this—  Read—Julia’s gift; The Gift of Grace; The Gift of Work; The Gift of Hindsight.

Our Father doesn’t do these things just for us—He does them for all His children.  He loves all His children.  Ask Him to give you the eyes to see where He is coming alongside of you.   He is the best parent there is.  He is the best parent there is.  We have the best Dad ever!!

So Be Encouraged!!