It shall not return empty...

Imagine the joy that welled up in my heart when I checked on our two younger boys this afternoon. They had decided to build a "fort" in our play equipment, and once it was complete, they determined that it was the perfect reading place. This is how I found them:

Lest you think that everyday is filled with these kind of moments, let me be the first to dispel that notion. There are days of bickering, bad manners, selfishness, rowdiness, and total lack of control...and that's just me! Seriously, though, there are days when I wonder if any of the biblical truths we're imparting to our boys are penetrating their hearts. There are days when I'm discouraged by an apparent lack of character training and I feel like such a failure as a mom. Yet today God has graciously provided encouragement and hope.

During my quiet time this morning, I was reading Isaiah 55. Verses 10 and 11 read like this:

"For as the rain and the snow
come down from heaven
and do not return there but
water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and
bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes
out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that
which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing
for which I sent it."

Perhaps days or months or years go by with seemingly no results. God simply tells us to scatter the seed and it will bear fruit. That's not the work of me...it's the total work of Him. So even during the discouraging days when it seems like the Truth of His Word isn't connecting with our children's hearts, we have the hope and the promise from God that He will keep His Word.

I feel blessed that my devotions of this morning connected with the sweet moments of this afternoon and reminded me that it's all about God's work in our boys' lives. And I thank Him for the little glimmer of hope He sent in the form of a couple of brothers building a fort and (quietly) sharing some peaceful moments reading together.