Family

I love my family. I am so blessed to have my Mother and Father still with me and my brother and his wife. My husband is a gift from God and I cannot say enough about my Mother and Father-in-law and brothers and sisters in law - they are so helpful to me. I can't imagine life without any of these people!

But God has given us an extended family. The body of Christ is all around us. I have a tendency to cut myself off from these dear folks. Not on purpose. My depression tends to make me a loner and the fact that I am working, writing, taking care of the house and kids - well - it is so much - taking time to fellowship and finding accountability is hard. Next to impossible.

Living rightly is difficult if not impossible without the help of our fellow believers though. I was telling a friend of mine today that sometimes we as Moms are embarrassed to ask for help or to talk about our problems because we feel we are the only ones. You are not alone.

First of all - we as believers have our heavenly Father here with us all the time. He is our heavenly Father. We are his daughters. He wants us to depend on him, to cast our cares on him and to enjoy his company.

Philippians 3:10,11
10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

1John 1:6,7
6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

This is the great thing about being in the family of God. When we walk in the light that God has given us, then we also have fellowship with other believers. We can share our hardships and know that we are indeed not alone. It is a compass of mine - and I see that I am going through a period where I seem to be struggling with my fellowship - I need to look harder at where I am failing.

2 Corinthians 4:6-8
6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,"made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair

I love this verse. God has given us the light to shine in our hearts. And we carry it in this earthly vessel the body - so that when we struggle - we do not despair. How encouraging is that? Talk about a warm fuzzy! So it is good to share our burdens with fellow believers. It is good to be transparent and talk of our struggles. Others have been there and they can help us along...we can do the same. We are to bear our sisters burdens! It is good to know that I am not the only one that struggles. It is good to know that I am not alone in my journey here on earth...I have family!

What a blessing to be in the family of God!