Heart surgery

We have had a fantastic week since arriving here on Tuesday, yet you can't put a price on the blessings received from worshiping with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ even if most of them are still strangers at this point.  The worship music was just that...very worshipful and there was lots of it!!  And once again I was reminded as loudly as a clash of thunder, that God's timing is perfect.  

The Sunday School class Jay and I attended was a video series on a book by Ted Tripp called "Shepherding a Child's Heart".  I have previously read this book and felt that this would be a great class to attend since I was familiar with the subjects to be discussed. One thing I didn't already know was that God had planned a long time ago that I should be in that class today and hear the charge that this speaker was giving to his viewers.  

Mr. Tripp shared an illustration of a parent/child interaction where he could have very easily used my name as the mom involved and would have accurately described an encounter with myself and one of our boys as recent as a week ago.  

I was rebuked that all too often I am focused on my agenda for the day or the moment and not on the hearts of the precious lives God has entrusted to my care.  Sometimes fixing a child's behaviour seems the simplest course of action, but unfortunately, the simplest thing for me isn't always the best for my children and can have long term repercussions on their hearts.  

More soul searching thoughts on my blog today...I guess that probably tends to happen when we're sticking to our budget and not running around spending money in order to occupy our time!  Maybe, no change that to I'm POSITIVE, that this is all part of God' great design in bringing us down here!