The bible is full of stories about moms and dads who fail – sometimes they fail their kids, even their parents, and so many more times, they fail God. Yet God never once gives up on them. As a matter of fact, God seems to have a heart for those moms and dads – and kids who miss it – a Big Hearted God who redeems us with His saving plans and His saving Son.

Do you ever wonder if Rebecca regretted the trickery encouraged and orchestrated to help Jacob gain his brother’s birthright? The trickery that resulted in him running away from home, never to return during her lifetime?

I imagine those actions caused a rift in relationships with her husband, her first born, and even Jacob, her favorite.

What a basket of relationship problems – putting a child before a spouse, picking favorites among children, manipulating for outcomes, one child who feels betrayed, another child who runs away.

As Jacob leaves, I can visualize his mother, watching him until all evidence of his existence has disappeared on the horizon – and then she comes face to face with the possibly unintended results of her actions. Heart Ouch! Emotional Ouch! Confusion! How did what God told her lead to all this?

Rebecca sought God out during her very uncomfortable pregnancy to ask why? Why was this pregnancy so tumultuous?

“The children struggled together within her, and she said, ‘If it is thus, why is this happening to me?^‘ So she went to inquire of the Lord ” ~ Genesis 25:22.

She sought God out, asked Him – and God met her, answered her clearly about His plans for twin sons she carried,

“Two nations are in your womb,
    and two peoples from within you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,
    the older shall serve the younger” ~ Genesis 25:23.

God answered her. Imagine discovering she was going to give birth to twin sons! Imagining how these twin sons would turn the inheritance law of primogeniture on its head might have been daunting, and thoughts of it shoved aside until later! Did she tell Isaac? Or keep this to herself, like Mary, and ponder them in her heart? We don’t know those answers.

We know Rebecca asked God about her unusual pregnancy, but there is no record she asked God how the older one was going to serve the younger, if there was anything she was supposed to do to make that happen. . . .

I’ve always wondered, though, whether Rebecca created an untenable situation by thinking she needed to come up with the plan to make God’s promise/prophecy happen, when she ought to have trusted that God had the plan to make this happen, a plan that would not have taken Jacob out of her life for the rest of her life, that would not have created wedges between her husband and both her sons, that would maybe not have left her tents so empty.

Rebecca didn’t know like Sarah didn’t know how God would fulfill His promises. Sarah had no idea how or when God would turn Abraham into the father of many nations when they were both past child-bearing years. Both Sarah and Rebecca didn’t understand, didn’t know to trust that God had the plan – they didn’t need to come up with their own plan to make God’s promise happen.

How many times have I done that. . . believe God has asked me to do something, but I don’t ask, “How is this to happen? What am I to do to make this happen? Do I just live in the wait – live trust in you in the wait?” Sometimes it’s because it doesn’t occur to me to ask; other times, it’s because I feel that I should know, kind of like the answers on a test. I should know “the answer” or “what to do” and I don’t want the teacher to know that I don’t know. . .

. . . as though God doesn’t already know what I don’t know. . .

How many problems could I have averted if I had asked. . . what problems for Rebecca’s family could have been averted if she had asked. . . How often do we as mothers do that. God whispers to us – and instead of trusting He has the plan to make it happen, we suddenly think we need to make it happen, that we should have already known that, that we behind schedule and need to catch up.

The bible is full of parent-fail moments. . . . that God redeems with his God-designed plans.

My life is full of mom-fail moments – wife-fail moments, daughter-fail moments, friend-fail moments – and just plain self-fail moments. . . but God, He’s got the redemption plan.

He redeemed Jacob. . . Jacob fulfilled God’s plan for His life. . . not only did he fulfill what He told Rebecca, Jacob developed a close relationship with the God of his father, and His father’s father.

Would different choices have made her life more contented? Allowed for all her children and grandchildren to surround her for companionship, a house overflowing with children? Of course, there’s no real answer to that, but we do know that God neither abandons nor forsakes his covenant, that He remains faithful, that He loves us, that He saves – even though Rebecca might not have seen the evidence of the fulfillment of that saving plan.

I’m learning! God is writing my story with me. He is writing my sons’ stories with each of my sons. I am not the author of their stories; I am now just a character in their story. God’s got the saving plan – for each of my sons. My prayer often is, “Forgive me Father for running ahead of your plan, of not asking what you want me to do, how you want me to do it. Forgive me for impeding your plan in the lives of my children, whether through noble or selfish intent., for moments when I step in ahead of you and not let you go first. You put what’s in them Father. You understand why each character trait works the way it does, each personality response , each strength, each weakness. I might be surprised, but You are not. I gladly step out of the way, take my hands off, and lift them up to you, trusting that you having each saving plan, each redemption moment. Thank you, Father, that I don’t have to be more than who you made me to be – I don’t have to have all the answers, all the solutions, all the brilliant plot twists, or the life-saving plan. You do! Please help me to be hands off and hands up, help me to let you Be God and Do the Saving – and help me to be your hands and feet in loving, encouraging like you need me to be. Thank you for sending your son so that I can be your daughter who relies on you, who trusts and loves you, who believes you can save those I love so much better than I can. Amen.

Remember Me Monday: #25 & 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, Grace & Truth,  
Purposeful Faith, Tell His Story, 
https://welcomeheart.com/blog, Worth Beyond Rubies,
Share a Link Wednesday, Let’s Have Coffee, 
Grace and Truth, Faith on Fire,