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Day 4 …. Brave Moms, brave kids reflections and giveaway <3

 

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When your son is on vacation and sends the family this pic…

Welcome back <3

I have been enjoying looking back through the pages of Brave Moms, Brave Kids by Lee Nienhuis with you all this week.

It’s been fun to see your comments and a boost to jot down your names…over and over…because one entry for every like, comment, share…you know. Just saying…<3

And if you get this through email…remember the new email subscriptions will look different and hopefully today you will only get one!

But let’s move on to the topic of today.

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Near the end of the book, Lee talks about speaking blessings over others.

I just read this in a different devotion this week; about prayerfully looking for opportunities to pray a genuine blessing over someone God sends your way.

Not your own thoughts and hopes and dreams for them, but what God whispers through His word for this person. 

We want to impact those we love with an eternal perspective.

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The author uses a great illustration to highlight the temporal nature of our relationships here on earth and yet the eternal impact they have when we allow God to do His works in us and through us as we interact with those in our sphere of influence. 

She talks about a time their family entered a local race event. 

As they started the course, her family pulled ahead of her and so she watched the back of her husband and children advancing as she followed behind. Her son and husband were able to maintain an equal pace just ahead of her, but leading the pack was their nine year old daughter.

Born a runner, this girl ran on with carefree strides, pony tail swinging behind her. 

Lee says she gathered enough breath to call out a cheer of encouragement as her young daughter began the ascent of the last hill while she, herself, was just entering the valley.

 Minutes later, her daughter now out of sight, mom began the climb. 

Chest pounding and digging deep, she held tight to the memory of moments before watching her child pressing on and it spurred her to continue upward and over the top of that hill to join her family. 

Oh, I can tell you…I cried when I read it…I cried just now telling you about it. I have cried through multiple proofreading of this post and I will cry later when I read it again and find a mistake <3

I cried for what she wrote and I cried because it stirred a memory of watching our kids run Cross Country.

I remember well John’s first meet and standing at the finish line waiting for him.

The pack had taken off and the course went around the far side of a park that was unfamiliar to me. The last leg of the race was straight up an incline and so it was impossible to see the runners until they hit the summit. 

I stood there waiting and chatting with the other parents when someone shouted they were coming in. I looked up in time to see a familiar blonde scrap of hair bobbing on top of a smiling face as my own flesh and blood crossed his first finish line. 

Lee uses the race story to remind us that we are only going to be running on this earth a short time.

This is our race. 

This is our time. 

We run alongside a generation who needs us to love, encourage, instruct, guide and set an example for…and we are blessed to be alongside them.

photo courtesy of Zach <3

But in time, they will go on without us. 

They need us. 

We need them. 

We all need Jesus. 

So let us run the race well. 

Let’s do our part with the time we are given and let’s be encouraging and equipping those who will one day continue on without us <3

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