Answered Prayers, Like Seeds, Don’t Stop Growing
I don’t think I’ve ever had a neat, tidy, easy-to-keep-up-with schedule – well, except for those six weeks after my spinal fusion surgery where I couldn’t do anything. But regular, everyday living? No! Don’t think so!
Two college students living at home who love for me to cook for them. Two of the cutest grandkids that I watch during the week. My husband’s home-office. . . at home.
I blog. . . when the schedule doesn’t push that out of the way. Or maybe, it’s not really the schedule. It’s how I process, think, talk to God, write.
You know that conflict you had when your kiddos were little? The littles and their messes, the energy drain, the confusion of “where’d-my-before-kids-dreams-go?” I admit, I now understand why I didn’t write much when my five sons were little and growing. Sometimes one dream needs to give space to another dream. The only way I could do that and not feel loss was to give that writing dream to God. It was something so very dear, so very much a part of who I considered myself to be. I remember giving God that dream. . . . and dug into the answered prayer He’d given me – the answered prayer of more children after experiencing secondary infertility.
Somewhere in living the crazy, beautiful, and, at times, heart-sore raising of all those boys, God gave my dream back to me, showed me how He wanted me to use it. Sometimes God is an either-or God with dreams. . . Sometimes He weaves them together. . . in His own time.
Believe me – I don’t quite know how being a boy mom, writing, baking and photography are valued on a resume, but I know He has designed all these threads to come together in His design.
This morning while I was walking, I thought about all my grands – and the two who come to Muddy’s House during the week. . . . and I had a little w.o.w. moment. You see, about 29 years ago I was pregnant with their dad. He was the answer to a prayer – a three year prayer while we struggle through the infertility journey. We loved our first son so very much, our hearts wanted more children. It was a journey of tears, heart-anguish. If you’ve been there, you understand. In that journey, I drew closer to God, learning how to lean into Him, to find that place of security in the shadow of His wing, to learn to trust, to meet Him as my beloved Father.
I also believe He was preparing my heart to be the mother five boys would need – a mother who never would give up, just like He’s a Father who never gives up, who knew God is the only solution, the only salvation in the easy and hard of mothering.
As I was walking, I realized how that answered prayer has multiplied into countless blessings. . . because I stuck to God and wouldn’t let go when it got hard. . . . because I gave the dreams to God – the writing and each child – all to God. . . . and He has handled them all so much better than I could or can on my own.
Those two precious little ones that come to Muddy’s House. . . they’re here to come because God answered a prayer over 29 years ago. I’d started praying for my husband when I was 12 – and had a shadow of an idea of what the result of the answer of that prayer would be like when I’m 90, but I’d not really thought about the long-term life of what my prayer for another child would look like, what my life would look like. Who fathoms being 58 when you’re muscling through your twenties?
Somehow, it is not the same-old same-old. I get to read “Be Brave Little Tiger,” and answer a gazillion three-year-old whys with a “Muddy says,” and watch his little brother learn to crawl and find joy in putting cheerios in his mouth. . . and experience that sweet peace when nap-time comes and all is quiet. . . and watch his daddy give hugs, handle exasperation with his special brand of grace, and teach his son to put on his shoes before they go out the door.
I’m watching these two littles develop relationships with their uncles who still live in Muddy’s House for A Little While. We talk about who calls me Muddy and who calls me Mom and who calls me Maryleigh. I’m watching this precious three-year-old fall in love with my baby’s girlfriend who is just the sweetest girl and recognizing that one day this sweet, little three-year-old is going to have his heart broken, just like Uncle Cam’s heart was broken when he was four, just like mine was broken when I was four. And one day, the son of an answered prayer, will fall in love with his Savior, though he doesn’t understand he has one and needs one just yet.
Answered prayers aren’t just one-dimensional. The Story of The Answered Prayer continues growing, grOWIng and GROWING. God’s answers are never one-dimensional.
Every now and then on a Monday, while I’m remembering what God has done for me, my family and community, I may not always manage to put up my Remember Me Monday Link. But friends, I’m living in the Hallelujah of a lifetime of Answered Prayers – and believing more answers are coming, even when today might not look or feel like I want.
What answered prayers are you living out that haven’t stop growing, haven’t stop giving, haven’t stopped blessing?
Remember Me Monday: #30 & Linky
“I’ll make a list of God’s gracious dealings,
all the things God has done that need praising,
All the generous bounties of God,
his great goodness to the family of Israel—
Compassion lavished,
love extravagant.”
~ Isaiah 63:7, The Message
In the Old Testament, God repeatedly, quietly and loudly, tells his children, “You have forgotten me!” (Jeremiah 3:32, Ezekiel 22:12, to name a few). It’s a heart cry from a father to a child who has forgotten all the love, all the saving, helping, little and big blessings – and it leaves me stunned when I realize our Father, the creator of the universe, who knows things I cannot begin to fathom, who authors storylines that leave me amazed, delights in all of us so much, He cries out, “Remember Me.”
While every day is a Remember God Day, I am inviting you to join me on Monday mornings to come by and remember what God has done for you, for your family. Maybe God sent a cardinal darting out in front of you, as if to tell you, “I’m here,” or broke a child’s fever after you laid it all down at His feet in a 2 a.m. bedside vigil. Maybe He stood with you in the wait of a prayer sent out, or brought someone you loved to Christ. Maybe He healed your broken heart, gave your courage, or you gave Him your dreams as a love offering only to have Him give them back in an unimaginable way. Maybe God helped you survive to bedtime after a crazy Monday, or forgive yourself for missing it with your kiddos –– Whatever it is, let’s Remember Him. . . in a “Remember Me Monday” love letter.
“My mouth will tell of your righteousness,
Of your salvation all the day long,
Though I know not its measure.
I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign Lord”
~ Psalm 71:15-16.
Let us delight in Him by telling the stories of what He’s done! If you wrote a blog post remembering what He’s done for you, join the linky. If you didn’t but still want to praise Him for what He’s done – write it in the comment section. Then visit a comment before or after yours! One of the beautiful things about the blogging community is the relationships it builds!
Rules? Write long or short, a list or a story, include photos or not. Just Remember Him and what He has done, and let the gratitude of your heart guide you. Let’s make Monday so Rejoice, that the goodness of God spills into the rest of the week!
Places I’m Linking at This Week:
Inspire Me Monday,
https://welcomeheart.com/blog, Worth Beyond Rubies,
Share a Link Wednesday,
Grace and Truth, Faith on Fire, Tell His Story
***All photos marked with Muddy Photography or © Blue Cotton Memory or used within Blue Cotton Memory blog(s) belong Blue Cotton Memory. Going forward, photos will be marked with Muddy Photography.
Oh, Maryleigh, what a beautiful post of your littles, answered prayer and the hearts that get broken and the hearts that come to know Jesus as their Savior. Not having children (thus grandchildren either), I have “adopted” other’s children as the littles whom I love like they are my grandchildren. I just spent the better part of last week with a family of 5 girls, ages 3 to 16, for their Mom is in Houston/MD Anderson for radiation treatment for Thyroid cancer. Prayers have been answered as the surgery and now the treatment are killing the cancer in her body. I am so grateful. I pray for these girls to come to know Jesus. The 12 and 14 year old have come to know Him. I pray that I will reflect His light to these girls.
Caring through Christ, ~ linda
What blessing, Linda – to have a Spiritual Mom like you! My spiritual moms have been such an encouragement in my life. When we open our hearts to love others like our own, lives are changed! Praise God for your friend’s success in treatment – and the comfort she has that her girls are being loved on and cared for! That’s how we’re all supposed to love! Shalom and prayers for your friend! ~ Maryleigh
Oh, thank you so much for these beautiful encouragements today. I have often prayed with my friends, that our prayers last for eternity, but I love how you expressed that they just keep growing. We don’t realize the way that God will blossom and grow these prayers that we have labored over and lifted up to Him. Truly He is so full of grace towards us. I needed to hear these precious thoughts this morning. Blessings to you!
Praying for you as you recover. Thankful God’s answers are more multi-dimensional than we realize, grace growing grace for a lifetime! Shalom, Bettie! ~ Maryleigh
MaryLeigh, this is just beautiful. When we give our dreams to God, He makes something so much better from them than we could ever have anticipated. I could never have imagined the joy and love and laughter that would fill my heart as I have watched all three of our granddaughters. Blessings!
What a gentle, thoughtful mighty God we serve. We would never know the difference if He slacked – but He never slacks. He always gives us His best! What a mighty God that is our Father! Shalom, Joanne! ~ Maryleigh
This is such a neat thought. I didn’t become a Christian until my later teens and so didn’t start praying for my future husband until some time after that. But to think those prayers led not just to marriage, but to children, grandchildren, and so many other things along the way–location, taking care of his mom, etc. We little know the ripple effects of our prayers. I’m so thankful God does, and for all the surprises He has planned for us along the way.
God’s ripple effects are so beautifully choreographed, planned out – even contingency ripple effects! Praising God with you, Barbara! Shalom, friend! ~ Maryleigh
Hi Maryleigh,
It’s intriguing how you have seen God stretch out His answer to your prayers over time. The fact that the answers keep growing and blossoming into additional blessings from that one prayer is the graciousness of our God.
This past week God brought much needed refreshment to my life. Like a year that needed to be cleansed, God swept through our desert with His freshly fallen snow to remind me that He makes all things new and that His word will not return to Him void. I delight in the desert snow which occasionally powders our mountainside renewing our hope and envigorating us to continue on the course set before us.
God bless your every step this New Year as you delight His continual answer to prayer.
Janis
What a refreshing affirmation, Janis! We all need that right now – I love the words you use – “snow,” “renewing,” “hope”, “invigorating us to continue” – I can feel the cool relief of His encouragement! Praise God for His Mighty Love! Thank you for sharing what He has done for you this week! ~ Maryleigh
A beautiful post Maryleigh! I love the photo of your grandchildren together! 😀
Prayers answered;
My loved ones gave their hearts to Jesus a few months ago, I’d been praying for their salvation for 47 years!
Living out the growing prayer of praying for the blessing of a fifth child after the deaths of my third & fourth children, 37 years ago, to now praying for her three children my grandchildren as I do with my eldest two daughters & their children, my grandchildren of whom some are now adults.
Praying for my bonus three step daughters & their children, my step grandchildren. Yes my quiver is full with 11 grandchildren!
Blessings,
Jennifer
A Salvation Prayer answered after 47 years! I understand why the angels rejoice when a lost lamb is saved, the prodigal lambs! Rejoicing with you, Jennifer! You have left beautiful hope right here today! Thank you, friend! What a Hallelujah answered prayer! ~ Maryleigh
‘Muddy’s house.’
You’ve made me smile, Maryleigh, you’ve made my day.
I am missing my grandkiddos so much.
We’ve been so blessed during this season of quarantine because I watch my grandkiddos while their parents work. Isolation has not visited our house! Praying for fellowship, for big time with your loved ones Linda – soon! Shalom in the wait! ~ Maryleigh
Oh, my! To open your blog and see that you had spinal fusion surgery. My daughter had one on Thursday and we are, of course, consumed with her pain mgmt and recovery.
Praying for your daughter, Lauren – and private messaging you! ~ Maryleigh
I LOVE this post and what you point us to see through your one reflections. It is so true in how the Lord moves and keeps multiplying the answers and his provision and path ahead. Thank you for this. I see where that has happened many times in my life in big and small ways – my husband’s safe return from a war zone during which time I had our first child, dealing with the challenges of my parents’ aging and deaths that resulted in me being guardian to a younger brother with mental and physical handicaps, changing careers in midlife, etc. Then when retirement came I was unsure of what that would look like or how I would spend my time. Months before it I saw that a favorite Christian author of mine (Margaret Feinberg) was holding a Writers’ Boot Camp in CO and the dates would be adjacent to a trip we had planned to be out West. I used the retirement monies gifts I received and went – exploring more about writing (something I had always wanted to do, but missed except for a brief 3 years as a “stringer” for a local newspaper when you children were small. I was excited and then terrified when I learned we had to have a website and post several posts BEFORE we even arrived. A graphics arts friend helped with the website design and then little by little the Lord began to lead me with writing. It is now moving toward 6 years and it has been a great joy to me as I seek the Lord each week about what He would lead me to write. In the midst of it, He also led me to write a book. Who could have guessed His plan for me in retirement!! For all the years as a teacher and then as a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and Marriage and Family Therapist and the people the Lord allowed me to reach, this season with my website has opened the doors to reaching more people than any and all of those years. How incredible He is!
I love your story Pam – the encouragement, the God-in-It not realizing He was planning beyond where you were, that He kept your dreams growing even though you didn’t realize – and that you are blossoming and growing from answered prayers still! What a beautiful story of an answered prayer growing, growing and growing! God never means for us to stop growing – even, maybe even especially, in retirement. You are a beautiful encourager, friend!~ Maryleigh
Prayers that we pray for others are one of the most precious gifts that we give. Answered pray tends to lead to more prayer, more answers, and more blessings! Prayer – the gift that keeps on giving!
God always listens, always answers – but we need to draw near first. Praise God for His faithfulness and love! Thanks for coming by Barb! ~ Maryleigh
Maryleigh, I can’t even tell you how much I loved this post. I love the perspective you shared your thoughts through. Those prayers we pray at one stage of life, when God answers (one way or the other, we can’t understand how that answer will impact the rest of our life. My hubs and I also walked through years of infertility. It was heartbreaking, humbling, and in time drew me into a much deeper understanding of and relationship with Jesus. And yes, the two boy-men who now occupy rooms in the house with their mess, their smell (teenage boys, after all), their laughter and their vibrancy, they have forever changed my life for the better. They continue to grow toward manhood, giving me many smiles and many reasons to pray to our ever-loving, always-faithful Father.
It is such a wonderful realization to stop in the middle of what you’re doing and realize, “Without the answered prayer, this moment would not be.” Boys and mess and smell and all! How God has blessed both of us in His answers! Shalom in your crazy boy mess, Jeanne. It’s a special place to be! ~ Maryleigh