Cindy Sproles shares with us, "What more could I do to prove things? I’d done everything I knew to do.
Called. Texted. Chatted. Sent letters. Cards.
There was nothing left in my arsenal that could attest to my faithfulness or show my love.
I was out of 'proof.'
I know sons are different.
Daughters, though moody at times, freely share their emotions.
Drama comes easy for them because they are…women. We’re good at the emotional side of things.
But sons — that’s different. Regardless of how I’ve taught my boys emotion is a good thing, they’re still men, and still driven by pride.
I love my children. Perhaps too much.
Though I divorced when they were toddlers, and remarried a few years later, I doubt they remember living in a fatherless home.
My sweet husband took me and my boys into his heart. He stepped up and loved my children as though they were his own seed.
I’ve loved his boys the same way.
Anytime you ask us how many children we have, the answer is four.
So when we’ve passed through the desert with them asking how come and why, we’ve stood before them with loving proof the decisions we made were in their best interest.
We’ve had one son walk away, then return six years later.
One who never included us in his life because we didn’t buy into the 'Pay for the kids who are married' game.
And another who moved away, suffered loss, and refused to acknowledge our love could help him walk the path of hurt into healing.
I long for a 'normal' family.
It would be great to have our boys figure out we’ll always be there for them.
They can lean on us for support and love. They’re men –determined to grumble and growl about what they don’t have and refusing to see the value in what they do.
Moses was ready to pull his hair out with the Israelites.
He’d allowed God to work through him, saving his people, providing their daily needs.
It didn’t matter God rained down manna daily to feed them or that He’d parted the waters of the Red Sea so they could escape the clutches of tyranny.
All they could see was thirst, and Moses should do something about it. God needed to prove Himself yet again.
Moses stood at the rock of Horeb, struck the rock with his staff, and God did what He’d done so many times. He proved His love — once more.
I feel confident my children know the depths of my love. And though it hurts when my love is not enough, I understand they are held tight in the grasp of God’s fists.
But there’s no need for me to prove anything.
Love doesn’t require proof. It requires faithfulness. And I am faithful to my sons, my husband, and my God.
God has yet to fail me and still, at times, I insist on living proof of His Love.
He’s loved me when I was unlovable…cared for me when others have cast me to the side. God never leaves me.
He simply waits for me to drink of the water from the rock.
The water He faithfully provides.
Prove your love and drink."
"I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink. So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel." Exodus 17:6 NIV
Prove It – She Said
Read Cindy’s devotions. cindy@christiandevotions.us.
Eddie Jones and Cindy Sproles are friends and cofounders of ChristianDevotions.us. They co write the popular He Said, She Said devotions and host Blog Talk Radio’s Christian Devotions SPEAK UP! along with Scott McCausey.
Eddie and Cindy travel and speak at conferences across the country and they are available to speak at your church or conference.
* Money from New Sheets is donated to Hope House to help young, pregnant moms choose “life.”
Long for a new life? Just change your sheets.
God uses our life experiences to shape us.
When the friction of frustration chaffs the skin, God offers us respite and rest.
For author Cindy Sproles, sleeping on worn-out sheets meant holding on to the past, but new sheets…new sheets marked a fresh start.
The slate wiped clean. Crisp. Fresh. New.
With each monumental event in her life, she tossed out the old and ushered in the new with a set of fresh new sheets.
From the cheapest muslin to the most expensive Egyptian cotton, she saw how God was shaping her into the woman she needed to be.
When the road is tough, veer off and step onto a path that is tried and true.
One already walked, already blazed, and already prepared just for you.
New Sheets – Thirty Days to Refine You into the Woman You Can Be, is a series of thirty transparent devotions and inspirational thoughts that welcome you, wrap you tight, and snuggle you in encouragement.
The next time you long for a change…go for new sheets.
Print version New Sheets (Google - New Sheets/Cindy Sproles/Amazon.com)
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