The Night I Failed As A Mother

My sister said I had to write about this story in the blog. If you are a parent, I'm sure you can identify with me in my moment of failure. It all started when my friend, Mariska, and I were discussing how sad the school environment has gotten in regards to strong families and morals. We both agreed that having a strong, Christ-centered home was essential! It was then that I realized that my sweet, innocent Katelyn would be starting kindergarten in only a year and a half! A sense of urgency overtook me and I determined to make sure to do all I could to give Katelyn an excellent foundation.

Then ... later that night, I proceeded to act out my plan. Time after time I insisted that Katelyn come sit with me. Each time she was totally distracted and not into it. "Katelyn, it is so important that you know God loves you so much!" She goes to get a toy. I call her back. "Katelyn, there are people who will tell you that God isn't real but they just don't understand." Katelyn is not paying attention. I speak a little louder. "Katelyn, it is really important that you love them and tell them that God is real and loves them too!" She's still not listening. I'm getting frustrated and urgently grab her to get her to listen to me. "Katelyn, would you like to learn a memory verse? Let's memorize a Bible verse!" ... It went downhill from there.

By the end of the night, I am SO frustrated and Katelyn is SO frustrated and my frustration has turned into trying to put her into bed. I find myself literally pushing her down onto the bed saying, "Katelyn, you need to go to bed!" and she is pushing back at me, "Mom, you're fighting me!" That's really what she said.

Later that night, Mike is laughing and tells me, "Joy, it is good for you to want to teach Katelyn about good, Godly values, but you don't have to cram it down her throat all in one night!" As I looked back over the night, I couldn't help but laugh. What a great witness of the love of Jesus!

I called Katelyn over and told her I was sorry for fighting with her and that I loved her and was so proud of her. She melted and told me she was sorry too, that she loved me, and gave me a huge hug! It was a moment of sweet redemption.

I'm sure that all parents will agree with me when I say that I am SO VERY GLAD that I have God to help me raise my children because I will fail. Oh, how I will fail. But by God's beautiful grace, I trust that Katelyn will grow up to love her Savior, despite my failings, or maybe even because of them! :)

LIFE: WHAT A BEAUTIFUL GIFT

The last few days I have been thinking about the preciousness of life. What a beautiful gift it is and I wonder if I take it for granted. A YWAMer on our base recently had a terrible snowboarding accident and, among other things, lost his spleen, had his right shoulder and upper arm completely reconstructed using metal plates, and has no feeling or movement in his right arm. The doctors say that during surgery he almost died many times from loss of blood. They completely replaced all of his blood through transfusions. What a crazy, scary, out-of-nowhere experience! He has a wife and 3-month-old baby. The doctors are saying that if the nerves in his arm don't repair within a year, he will probably lose his arm. If you think of them, their names are Garrett & Sarah and I know they would appreciate your prayers.

Garrett's response to all of this has totally moved me. He is so thankful to be alive! Every moment with his wife or baby son is so precious to him now. I was told a story about them walking through Costco and Garrett saying to Sarah, "Man, we almost didn't get to do this together." Wow! While in the hospital bed, Garrett led his brother-in-law to Jesus. He is thankful for every moment and has become so aware of the fleetingness of life. I don't think he will ever be the same again.

It has made me examine my life in a whole new way. It has made me love my husband more and appreciate the smiles I get from my girlies. I am in wonder at the sovereignty of God. When Katelyn was born and her delivery was so difficult and I almost died, my faith and trust in God were shaken. I didn't respond with thankfulness. I was so hurt and confused by the situation. But now I see that life is a gift! My life, family, kids, friends, being involved with missions, getting the chance to speak into people's lives ... what a huge, beautiful gift.

My challenge for all of you today is that you would examine your life and heart and see if you have taken anything for granted. I challenge you to be thankful and enjoy the blessings God has given you. And I ultimately challenge you to make a difference in the time that you have. It is true that we don't know how long we'll be in this world, so go ... go make a difference for Jesus.

Our First Post!

Wow. So we are setting up a blog. What a great idea! I am so excited! I hope that you all will enjoy reading our posts and feel connected with us in our ministry because of this blog. It is our heart to partner in missions with you! Truly, without your support we cannot go. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. We love you all so much!

I (Joy) am going to try to keep this site updated. As of now, we are serving on the YWAM MT base and absolutely loving it here. Katelyn and Haley feel right at home in our cozy little dorm rooms. Yes, you read that correctly, we are living in two little dorm rooms with a bathroom down the hall and the utility closet across the hall serving as our kitchen sink. Cozy is a nice word, however, Katelyn has declared that she loves living in the dorms! To this I smiled. We are currently on the waiting list for a house on the base. What a happy day that will be!

We are listed as DTS Staff members and have been told that our first school will probably be the fall or winter school. In the meantime, I am volunteering in the kitchen and being the best momma I can be and Mike is serving with the Facilities crew as the resident plumber. What a blessing he has been here! Today he fixed a broken sink and a broken urinal. It is always nice to have a good plumber handy. :) He is also working on finishing up the plumbing on the donated hotels.

The Spring DTS school has just begun! Although we are not staffing the school, we look forward to meeting the students and sharing with them in their adventures here. God has such awesome plans for them! DTS is such a wonderful program because it opens wide the doors for God to come in and completely rearrange students' lives. Each student comes to the school with different beliefs, backgrounds, hurts, and fears and DTS is a safe place for them to address those things and to fully give themselves to God. The transformations are incredible! We truly are discipling world changers and I can't think of a better way to live my life. I believe that when I die I will look back on my life and believe that it was well spent ... because I spent it on the lives of individuals and they in turn went on to impact their world. What a beautiful legacy. Thank you, Jesus, for blessing us with this privilege. What an honor. Thank you to our financial and prayer supporters. We couldn't do it without you and love sharing our heart with you. You are our friends and family and we love you so much!

God bless you all today! Stay tuned for more Steps of Faith with Mike & Joy Sander! :)