Being

It's been an interesting month...  Neil has been travelling like crazy and the little ones have had so much going on.  It has been a serving sorta month...
Sometimes amidst feelings of smallness and insignificance, i forget why i've kept this blog in the first place - but then i look down at the tender little ones in my care and i realize that i've tended this little garden of a blogspot to whisper some of the truths that i've found like gems, scattered throughout these mama years. 
This year brought on the perfect storm - circumstances beyond my control that threatened to capsize my teeny vessel... but now...
Morning is breaking over the deep and this gratitude that has sprung up in the wake of the storm holds me fast and sustains me.  i know He's not finished with what He's begun in me... the aching wounds brought on by the storm will heal; in time and with careful tending to root out any tendrils of anger, bitterness, malice and strife... 
But underneath it all, over, under and surrounding the angry beating chaos  brought on by the wind and the rain... the thrum of truth that i've heard - and i hear still, ringing in my ears like the joyful sound of victory - in my heart - in my very soul...
is that i am claimed. 
i hear that truth proclaimed with a gentle assurance, "your ransom has been paid..."
And for some reason - that assurance - is giving me the grace to just be. 
And yes, little ones - the storms will come, and life will seem unfair and you'll think you're entitled to things that break and tear... But can you hear Him claiming you? 
"This one is mine."
And as you bear your heart to your rescuer, He'll ask you to do hard things - to love when you're hurt, to embrace humility and reject bitterness, to defend others, leaving yourself defenceless.  He'll ask you to serve when you're tired, give comfort when you're cold or to speak out when you're tongue tied.  He may even ask you to remain soft and vulnerable when you'd like to hide - because even in this, He has a purpose and a plan. 
As i look at each one of you - i can only imagine what will happen in those Holy moments between you and your Creator... but i do know this, and can speak with confidence from this place of broken 'being':
He has claimed you. 
Be His.