Parenting 7 kids...

...is hard.

God and I had another chat last night.

I wanted to tell him that parenting 7 kids is harder than I thought it would be.

But the truth is...it's not.

I thought it would be harder.

But...it's still hard.

I had a heart to heart with a good friend tonight who's going through some changes in her life. The changes aren't here yet, but she sees them coming.

We KNOW God is in control. We really truly KNOW it. Our head knows it.

But sometimes, our heart has a mind of its own.

I believe IN God. With everything in me. I believe He is Almighty. He is Forever and Always. His Word is the absolute truth. This is especially the case in the view of the big picture.

But in the view of the minute by minute...when I'm in the trenches of life...I don't always believe Him.

Don't misunderstand. He'd never lie to me. It just can't happen. He's TRUTH.

But the hard truth is bad things happen all the time. To good people. To Christians. To everybody.

In the big picture, I truly believe that God uses all things for good. Even bad things. That if I'm still breathing He has things to teach me. If I'm still breathing He is drawing me closer into relationship with Him.

Well...I'm still breathing. So that's the case.

But while you're going through things. It's not necessarily fun.

I also believe God brings JOY. and PEACE. Complete and utter Joy and Peace that defies any human understanding.

But in order to fully experience that JOY and PEACE I need to not only believe IN God...

...but BELIEVE God.

And I do...most of the time.

But when you're down in the pits, and the evil one is lying to you...it's hard.

Praise the Lord I'm not down in a pit at the moment. Well, not a pit, anyway. I've been there and believe me it stinks. Rotten, smelly place. But maybe a hole.

And holes are hard too.

Again, don't misunderstand. Life at our household is going quite well. Yes, of course there are challenges with 7 kids and a mom who is having trouble getting on her feet. But overall...things are really good here. God has blessed us...huge, huge, huge. We feel that and see blessings (many of them come from many of you!!) and joy daily. So I don't want to leave you thinking that we're in a pit over here.

Maybe I just want to let you know you're not alone.

Life's hard for me, too.

Mark 9:24b "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

Wonderful. Awesome. Joyful. But...sometimes...hard.