Did I pray too Hard? - A Dose of Encouragement

If you read any of my blog posts last year you may have noticed that I have mentioned a few times that

 I am Petite

I am 5 foot and half an inch tall.

I was usually the smallest or second smallest in my class at school and the youngest or second youngest as well.

I was the younger of two girls in our family with my sister being 10 years older than me and no brothers.

If you have read the Dose of Encouragement entitled "What a Face!"  you will know a bit about how I started going out with my husband  (if not click on the pic. below).

But I don't think I mentioned in that story that Fred is 6 foot tall so you can imagine the difference in our heights but if not, just have a look at the family pictures on my about me page.

All of my life I have never been allowed to forget that I am small.

My grandmother was a widow from long before I was born so she lived with us and right up to her death (a year after Fred and I were married) she referred to me as 

"the wee one" 

and this has been something my sister likes to remember.

My sister also loved to tease me about how I would need a step ladder to be able to reach up to kiss Fred, when we were going together.

After 5 years of marriage I got pregnant and we were very happy.  



I did have one concern and that was 

"what if the baby took after me and was small?"

So I prayed that my child would not be small like me, especially if this was a boy but also if the child was a girl, I just didn't want this child to feel as I had often felt (see "I Am Petite")

When Jonathan was born he was only 6 lb 6 oz but he was a long thin baby so I thought that this might be an indication that he would not be small.  However I continued to pray and sometimes mentioned to Fred that I was praying about this.

2 years later and we had another boy, Daniel who was heavier and about the same in length and I had already started praying about his height also.  

Then 3 years after that we had a girl and Linda was the heaviest of the three but not just as long as the boys had been.

You can probably guess that I had started praying about her height too before she was born.

As they got older we did as most parents do with their kids; we measured their heights on a wall chart.  We laughed often as we would see Jonathan sprouting up taller and then suddenly Daniel would catch up and they would be the same height for a while and then Jonathan would be taller again, and then the process would happen repeatedly.

When the boys were teenagers it was obvious that they were not going to be short so I was thankful that God had answered my prayers about them.  Then it was not long before Linda was taller than me and that made we very happy.

When Jonathan stopped growing he was just a little shorter than his father but by that time Daniel was taller than Jonathan and was gradually inching above Fred.  Even in his early twenties Daniel was still growing and when he finally stopped he was some inches taller than his dad.  Linda is also some inches taller than me so just a nice height and not too tall for a girl.

So if you look at the picture on the about me page you will know that Daniel is the one at the back of the group (that picture was taken at his wedding last year) and you can see what a difference there is between him and me, not just 12 inches but more like 15 inches.

What can I say other than  

Yes I also prayed for the health of my children and their education and understanding and everything else about them and still do, but I also believe that God knows what each of us feel and think at all times and He does give us 

the desires of our hearts

Now I know I am not taking a verse out of context here and not just being trite about this verse. 

This was a desire of my heart, something that meant a lot to me and God saw this, but He also knew that it was not out of greed that I made this request, it was not even really for my benefit instead it was for my children.

The verse comes from this passage

3Trust in the LORD, and do good; 

     so shall you dwell in the land, and verily you shall be fed.

4Delight yourself also in the LORD; 

     and he shall give you the desires of your heart.

5Commit your way unto the LORD; 

     trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

and must be taken along with the verses around it and if I was being selfish or greedy then I would not be living as the rest of this dictates.

There are three words in that passage and we must obedient

 to TRUST, DELIGHT & COMMIT

I definitely committed this desire to the Lord and He brought it to pass.

I am so thankful that God cares about the desires of our hearts.

The only thing is sometimes I joke with Fred saying that 

"Maybe I prayed too hard because Daniel is so tall now".

Have you taken the desires of your heart to God or have you just hidden them in your heart?

As I sit at my Desk - Coffee & Conversation

What view do you have as you sit at your computer?

Maybe you have a window to gaze through, maybe you have a wall with a family picture or some other nice thing to look at or maybe you have different views each time because you sit different places to work on a laptop.

I have a hutch shelving unit as part of the back of my desk and on the top of it I have a variety of notebooks kept in place by a set of teddy bear bookends, a picture frame and some videos between a set of bookends which have sections for notes and odds and ends.


I looked up from my chair today and was struck by what I saw (and I have seen this over and over again but today it just stood out more probably due to the way we had been praying at the church prayer meeting last night) so I really had to take a picture of it.

A bookmark I had received some years ago on a Christmas card just saying MIRACLE and a little bit behind it a greeting card from which I had torn off the front part because it has a picture of Noah's Ark (and I love Arks).

So today I was gazing at the phrase Wishing you a miracle and then there in front of it was that plain statement of fact in the bookmark.

How encouraging and inspirational is that to have to look up at as I sit at the computer?

I am just a bit disappointed that so many days & weeks had already passed and I hadn't been struck by those two objects being so close together until today, but I'm thankful I noticed it now.

I do believe God can and does do miracles!

Now I am waiting to see what the miracle (or miracles) will be,

                             because I do believe God can and does do miracles.

 Do you? 

Daddy ........ Chips??? Decision Time - A Dose of Encouragement

Decisions, decisions, decisions!!!

Who likes to have to make them? there must be someone?

Several years ago there was a television ad in the UK for McCain oven chips

Daddy ........ Chips?

Our family loved it and forever, yes even still now we go "Daddy.......chips", when there are two things we would like but have to make the decision between the two.  It's our way of saying this is very tricky as we really like or want to do both and a sort of plea of

Do we have to decide?

Oh why can't things be simple we often say. Sometimes I am heard to complain why do things all happen together, why can't we have events spaced out more? Why does one week have to be very busy and the next one relatively free?

Why is it that when you want to go away for a while there will be something just have to occur in the middle of that time frame?

One month we were so busy and made several trips back to our birth town of Londonderry each just for a few days but for several months before that we weren't back there at all.  Then I saw the clippers were coming into Londonderry at the end of that month but just felt that we couldn't really justify the 2 hour journey each way to go back yet again.

Sad to say we missed a really great event.

Sometimes I like to make the effort to do different things even if they are sort of smaller things but may turn out to be quite enjoyable.

The first Sunday of the this month we went to Belfast to have lunch there with our son Daniel and then went on into the city centre to see the street theatre the circus school were organising. Fred was a bit dubious but I assured him we would have a relaxing time and be entertained. Well he enjoyed it - I could tell by how he clapped and laughed.

Now do we mention the restaurant or not?

Daniel says it is what you call modern /cool but I didn't think it was either. The food was okay, but I think that if I am paying to go somewhere and eat that I want nice surroundings and comfortable seats. I really don't want to be in a room where they have mismatched, chairs, plates etc.
Okay so I'm not cool!

We didn't have time to sample their coffee however and as it was an Italian place 

the coffee could have made a big difference.

I would have liked to have been able to go back to Belfast each Sunday afternoon this month and enjoy the Street Theatre & I am hoping for good weather.

But  

It did make our Sunday rather busy with Church in the morning, driving to Belfast, lunch, street theatres, driving home again, preparation for the music for church in the evening and then church itself again.

However 

Every day can be busy and we need to remember to keep time in each of those days for God

                    especially on Sunday

                                        but not just on Sunday

And 

That is often where we have to make another of those  Daddy ........ Chips? decisions

Bible Reading & Prayer  ....... TV, Book, Tidy up etc.

I know for some people first thing in the morning is just not the suitable time for us to read and pray regularly so some other time in the day needs to be found.
This is also not always easy with busy homes, families, work schedules and we are often left feeling tired, too busy ..... and it is so tempting to go for the Chips decision - you know the one where we get to have what seems nicest and tempts us with relaxation and a treat maybe.

But

Look at that other word in our phrase

Daddy

and think of how spending time with God our Father can teach us, refresh us and encourage us for the next busy day, week, month .....

At that decision time let's be ready to plump for the one that is going to be a lasting help and comfort and not the temporary one.

Do you have a Daddy ........ Chips? decision time?

Well we also had tea and biscuits after the evening service that Sunday so we didn't get home until after 9 o'clock to be greeted by the phone ringing and our oldest son Jonathan declaring

 "Are you only getting in now?   

What kept you?    

Well my day has been busy!"

He just had to hold on for a while until I made a cup of tea for Fred and got a coffee for me and then we sat down and listened to his day.

There could have been the temptation to say.

Coffee ........ Jonathan? 

but fortunately for him there are some pleasures you can have together and not have to make the big decision, because that could have been a difficult one, seeing how fond I am of my coffee.

Do you have a Daddy ........ Chips decision time?



You are very welcome to read my other  Doses of Encouragement