Loving your brother

I've been struggling lately with something. I felt the Lord speak to my heart a few weeks back that I needed to be setting my alarm and getting up before the kids in order to have time to spend with Him. This was not a call to legalism, rather a Father who desperately wants to spend time with me and He knew that in the morning was the only time (for me) that it would happen. But I've been failing, miserably. There's always something, a sick child, an errand I run at night, wanting to get things done around the house, that makes me disregard the specific longing He placed in my heart. I've been managing to get up before the kids once a week at most.

So today this was heavy on my heart as I went to Jack's check up. Then his doctor came in, he had a student in tow as usual. And he proceeded to tell the student about our story of adding Jack to our family. He looked at me and said, "You know I really admire your faith, talk about putting faith in action. If only more people would do that think of the difference it would make." I told him that I wish I would put my faith in action in many other ways that I fail at all the time and that I guess we all have our strengths. We went on to talk about Jack and how pleased he is with how he's doing. He hugged me goodbye, telling me how happy he is to know our family.

I left that office with my spirits lifted, my outlook altered. Our adopting Jack doesn't somehow undo any other sins of disobedience in my life, but God used the doctor to remind me that I am not someone without the ability to walk by faith, I am not a failure, just someone in process.

What a difference we would make if all believers would put their faith into action the way the doctor does, speaking of his love of Christ, his beliefs openly to his students, his paitents. Not being afraid to praise and lift up our brothers and sisters in Christ. I think this would be a different world if we really loved our brother as ourselves, took the time to pay attention to them, and find ways we can love them in what it is they're going through right at that moment.