Great is His Faithfulness

If you are anything like me you may find yourself fighting off the winter blues.

February is typically the hardest month of the year for me. I know this about myself and have made purposeful changes in my life over the past few years to combat this.

However, sometimes it still creeps up on me. Homeschooling has helped our family to remain fairly healthy many winters. Unfortunately that has not been the case for our family this year. It is inevitable that with a family of six children that at some point we'll have some illness passed throughout our home. This year that has certainly been the case. We have had multiple doctor visits, seen the ENT for two different kids, had a two-night hospital stay, taken a baby to the eye doctor, had persistent coughs, snotty noses, gone through several boxes of tissues and much more all in the past four weeks.

These tribulations begin to weigh on the spirit of even the strongest of people. After having the smallest person in our home cough into my face and sneeze into my eyeballs even my tough immune system has taken a hit.

When I'm not feeling well I tend to spend more time on my phone, scrolling through Instagram and Pinterest and Facebook and Twitter and all the mindless ways to waste my time. The thing is, none of those things make me feel better. In fact, they tend to make me more miserable. 

I begin comparing my roughest days of the year with women who have the most perfect homes in the history of the world. I look across the room to see a waste can overflowing with snot-filled tissues. I see a woman who goes thrift shopping and finds the most stunning things to make her home look gorgeous. And I lift up my eyes to see carpet that once was white but is now covered with stains from dirty shoes and spilled drinks. I barely have the energy to see my family through their daily needs, let alone make things look pretty just to look pretty. This cycle repeats itself until I begin to feel so down on myself and my own inability to make my home look immaculate and magazine-cover worthy.

Thankfully I've got a great God and an amazing husband who remind me of who I am.

I am not enough.

“Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us...”

But God is.

“... but our sufficiency is from God.” 2 Corinthians 3:5

I am raising six children, who are gifts from God. (see Psalm 127:3)

I am weary at times, but He will give me strength.

When I can take a step back from my pity party I can see much more clearly. I can count the endless ways God has provided for this day.

Do you guys remember in art class learning about that famous artist (Georges Seurat) who painted masterpieces using tiny little dots (Pointillism)? Up close the paintings look disjointed, unconnected, pointless, and undefinable. However, when you step back you realize what a genius he really was.

I think sometimes life can be like that. Some days the dishes pile up, carpets get stained, dirt and snow get tracked in, kids fight, moms get sick, dads have late meetings, and these little dots don't make sense. We can't see what is happening. But then we take a moment to step back and we are reminded that earthly treasures rot (or go out of style), and kids learn compromise and selflessness, mothers grow strong and capable, fathers contribute not just to their homes but to their community, and slowly these dots are taking form into something beautiful. If we keep ourselves in a perpetual state of discouragement we won't see the good God is doing.

Perhaps one of the most beneficial parts of stepping back from our momentary problems is once again seeing the eternal perspective of our lives. As Christians, we are not to be living for the world, but for God.

Friends, God will give you strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.

Great is His faithfulness.

I'm so glad that I took a step back to see what the good work He is doing in our family. Even in February.