{"id":2134,"date":"2015-09-10T10:15:35","date_gmt":"2015-09-10T14:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/etheriedge.wordpress.com\/?p=2134"},"modified":"2020-12-13T16:53:40","modified_gmt":"2020-12-13T21:53:40","slug":"opened-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/2015\/09\/10\/opened-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Opened Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"


Tuesday, I sat\u00a0with my two oldest homeschool buddies. All our kids, are nearly<\/em> grown now. We laughed over having fought so hard to shield them when they were young. We stressed about everything<\/em>, trying to choose the safest and healthiest options.\u00a0What mom doesn’t want to protect their babies? We did our best, but there is this thing called free-will.<\/em><\/p>\n

With all my efforts, I still produced some prodigal children… they are however, my\u00a0extra <\/em>special kids. They have greatly humbled me, but also opened wide my vision and my heart. They speak a language that is understood clearly by other kids like themselves. My once strays<\/em> bring home strays<\/em> for us to love. And the rest of the family is far more gracious because of it.<\/p>\n

Forrest Gump was right, life (and\u00a0kids)\u00a0<\/em>are\u00a0a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get! It’s a wild and wonderful ride raising them, but hold on to your heart if they’re still young… it’s just beginning. Go ahead, make plans, prepare, and pour Jesus in x10! Just know that God is supremely creative<\/em>\u00a0and sometimes what He allows is not as we could imagine. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He promises, however, that no good foundation will be lost<\/em>\u00a0and all\u00a0our efforts<\/em>\u00a0done unto the LORD<\/em> will be blessed. Nothing is wasted with Jesus!<\/strong> Training up a child in the way they should go… will have its reward. They do<\/em> come around, just not always in our timing or in our way. If you’re in my shoes of waiting for the return<\/em>, don’t give up. God is faithful!<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

My favorite part of this is that these\u00a0lost-and-found kids, <\/em>have\u00a0been given special privileges<\/em> with other lost kids. They are extra special<\/strong>. Because of this,\u00a0I wouldn’t change one gut-wrenching thing. I am who I am, because of the stretching. It has been in the tearing that my heart\u00a0opened.<\/p>\n

ForGlorySake! –<\/strong> Anna<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"
Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.<\/em><\/strong> Proverbs 22:6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Tuesday, I sat\u00a0with my two oldest homeschool buddies. All our kids, are nearly grown now. We laughed over having fought so hard to shield them when they were young. We stressed about everything, trying to choose the safest and healthiest … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,1420,9],"tags":[402,448,644,831],"class_list":["post-2134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-children","category-devotional","category-spiritual-growth","tag-homeschooling","tag-keeping-children-safe","tag-prodigals","tag-training-children"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paUt4s-yq","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2134"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5631,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134\/revisions\/5631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}