Family.
No word can more quickly generate emotion — love, comfort, acceptance, joy.
Rejection, neglect, conflict, betrayal.
Family, by their very proximity, has great influence on our emotional being. Family can be the most accepting, the most supportive and the most difficult to love.
And, just as I look at “others” as part of my family, I am a part of “others” family.
So I am potentially one of those “good” family or “bad” family. Ouch
There is a familiar saying that “you can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family.” However, you may not have “picked” your family —
But God did.
God appointed me to be born in the family I was born in.
God orchestrated my meeting and marrying my husband, and “formed my children in my womb” (Psalm 139)
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge; till the storms of destruction pass by. I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.. .God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness. Psalm 57:1-3
God has placed me in a family system for a purpose. Not just for what they can do for me, or how they can support me —
I am in the family I am in for how God can use me to show them His glory. I am there to be used of God to be a blessing to them. God has lessons to teach my family, and He has sent me to be His instrument.
Father, thank you for my family. Thank you for what you teach me through them. Thank you for your wisdom, which is so much higher than mine. You knew what would be for my good, and what would be for their good. Help me to constantly depend upon You to be the family member You want me to be.
You are my refuge. You will fulfill Your purpose for me. Amen.
Plea for Grace 