I want to ABIDE in YOU, Jesus

"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." John 15:5

I celebrated my birthday just before moving to HK and my MIL gave me this great book called, "Breath Prayers for Mothers." Inside she wrote, "Brief prayers are very important. They can help you keep a calm heart during hectic days. Motherhood is wonderful but can also be very tiring." I had only been a mom for 2 months so I was still living on excitement, adrenaline, and lack of sleep (LOL) but it didn't take long to realize how accurate her words were. I don't know how many times, sitting in the bathroom for a moment of sanity or just quickly in the midst of the day, I've reached for this book and found the perfect verse/prayer... to express my heart to God. Currently the one that is remaining with me is: 'I want to abide in YOU, Jesus.' There's been a lot of things going on where it's been easy for me to pity myself or get down or just want to give up but this verse/breath prayer just constantly reminds me that I need to continually die to self and put God first.

Especially during this Easter season. It's so easy to just say, "Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross to save me' and to get stagnant in your spiritual walk to where Easter is just another holiday (even though you know it should be special.) But I pray that we can make time to reflect on what really happened, why it happened, and how that affects our lives. Mike is doing a special youth service right now that I wish I could be at (it's a public holiday so Joan has the day off) but I've been praying that it makes an impact on our students to understand the amazingness (I know.. not a word) of our God and the sacrifice He made for us. I feel sometimes that now that I'm a parent, God's sacrifice of His son is more real to me and just hits me in a different way.

Okay... we have a fun day planned tomorrow so I need to clean up and I want to read a bit before heading to bed. Have a blessed Good friday.