Perfect Day Perspective

Perfect Day Perspective by Rachelle Phipps There is nothing in this world (no struggle, no temptation, no amount of money, recognition, or fame) that could ever tempt me to leave my post as wife and mother! God has blessed me with the absolute perfect day!!! I don't deserve it: *Reading poetry (The Highwayman--my absolute favorite) to the kids, on the porch, for school...when people in other countries can't read and enjoy books....maybe they've never even seen a book, much less had someone to teach them. * A brown haired little beauty with a fishtail braid, and a bright swimsuit, when a little girl in another country wears a man's t-shirt and searches through a dump to find scraps to eat. *Two rambunctious boys searching for illusive robins' nests...when other boys (maybe orphans) in other countries don't have time to be children because they walk miles to search for water, carrying their orphaned baby brother who carries a smeared water bottle, too.... * Seeing the warm delight in the big blue eyes of our miracle baby as he is surrounded by toy cars on the patio...when other couples are trying to conceive, or struggling to keep a pregnancy to term, while one American abortionist, is on trial for murdering 40,000 babies in his "sick" career, some of which survived abortion only to be killed after being born, with scissors.... * Needing to quickly go outside and slipping my feet into our oldest son's flip flops, thinking they won't fit, but it's like Cinderella and the glass slipper.... I fit my son's flip flops...? When did this happen...? And why do we get the privilege of raising him for almost ten years, so far, when people in other countries fight for their children to survive? ...Who walk miles to find medical care for the baby, only for him to die on the way there? * Shedding a happy tear when i read a sweet and caring text, from a man I love, on an iPhone that I don't deserve...relishing that text along with my coffee, which would be considered a delicacy in another country where they don't even have clean water! * Having the time to write (my absolute favorite thing in the whole world, probably) because my man works hard all day to protect our country, while Obama tries to lower military forces and funds our enemies... *Surrounded by fiery sunshine and a green carpet of grass created by a loving God...who this nation denies exists, defies with their rebellion, and turns their back on in our government and schools..... I can usually put this stuff into words but not today.... There's just nothing that compares to the freedom of being a stay at home mom, homeschooling our children, and serving a God who hears and sees and cares and saves.... I know there are women who wish they could do exactly what I do every day, and what i have grumbled about in the past. Not anymore! When things happen in your life to bring you to your knees, no one says you're going to respond perfectly in every situation...but if you learn from the struggle and you can still have a "perfect" day, amidst the trials and struggles, like I have had today, then you will know that God LIVES! You will know that he breathes his Word into your life, enabling you to weather every storm! You will know that he gives good and perfect gifts to his children exactly when they need them! You will know that He moves in the trials and wishes you'd hear him if you'd just listen and see! You will know that little things don't matter anymore, but that eternity is in the hearts of those who love Him and are committed to him! You will know that even the hardship, and heartache, and disappointments, and tragedies don't compare to your destination, and they happened to you, to bring you to the place you are, where you get the PRIVILEGE to enjoy a perfect day, when you actually deserve hell!!! Better is ONE day in God's house, than a thousand elsewhere!!!! Why can't we see God's grace in this country? Why can't we look past our trials and realize that people in other countries would love to have our struggles? If we were living every day, looking for food and water, we wouldn't have time to sin, or sit in church asking how we can stop sinning... If we lived out the Great Commission we could be considered the "Beautiful Feet" that brought the good news, to people who have never seen a Bible, and who may have never owned a pair of shoes, much less seen a closet like mine, full of them. If I went on a missions trip and wore some of the shoes I have or the blingy earrings I love so much, I'd be seen as a Princess! Beautiful feet??? Are you kidding me? Not even close! I'm not a princess. I'm selfish. Guilty as charged. Blessed beyond belief. And I sit here day in and day out crying because of my troubles, asking God why they happened to me, and forgetting that I get to breathe! ....much less have a perfect day. Maybe this isn't the perfect day, after all. My heart is suddenly filled with grief, conviction, and guilt! No. This isn't the perfect day. The perfect day would be living like the Jesus of Nazareth, that I say I follow , but care about wearing red nail polish on my toes. It would be walking into another country (barefoot like i deserve) who's never heard the gospel of Christ, and leading people to the One who fills and satisfies the soul and maybe bringing them some shoes for their soles. The perfect day would be seeing men, women, and children, calling out to God for salvation the way I did when I was 19, because I doubted stories in the Bible, that they've never even had the privilege of reading.... What is wrong with me? I came to Christ because I doubted the words in a book; The Book, that people in other countries are prohibited from owning and could be killed for possessing. The book that some people huddle around, reading by a dim candle, underground, so they don't get caught. And I'm 19, surrounded by fifteen million bibles, repenting of my sin of doubt and unbelief, of a book that people in other countries have to share and pass around. And I have like five bibles of my own, in five different versions, and I can't let go of personal grievances against me, when my Bibles tell me exactly how to do that....I'm worried about grievances against me, while I'm surrounded by my wealth and greed, and "the perfect day"....when people would think they were in heaven if they had my day. Unfortunately, they won't have anything close to "my perfect day" because they have never heard the message of Jesus Christ and will burn in hell. And the only reason they didn't hear it is because I sat in the lounge chair my husband gave me for Mother's Day a few years back, like I've sat it in ever since, and nursed my hurts, my anger, and the offenses against me, in my bright orange bikini, with a jar of clean water. With ice. "W hoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved." How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, "H ow beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things !" (Romans 10:13-15 NASB)