Mother's Day 2021

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Hey, good morning, guys.

Happy Mother's Day.

It's good to see you guys.

Hey, if it's your first time, my name is Christina.

We're so glad you're here today.

And it is Mother's Day.

I am a mother, but this message is not just for the moms.

So if you're not a mom, you don't have to feel like you're excluded from the message this morning.

And I also do realize I this week was walking just through life with two close friends who are really struggling this week.

One lost her mom a few years ago, and the other one is desperately wishing to be a mom.

And so if you're kind of in a place that just doesn't feel, woo, moms, it's okay.

We love you anyways.

We're really glad you're with us this morning.

Um, guys, two weeks ago, the Papulius family hit a milestone.

The children went back to school.

You guys are not very supportive.

We're gonna try it again because what you don't know is that after 13 months in a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house, distance learning and working and zooming, and we you know we had to upgrade to like all the internet situation to like have four of us together.

The children went back to school.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Now you understand, and I have to tell you, since the children went back to school, it has been wonderful.

It has been quiet, it has been peaceful.

I will like tidy a room and it stays clean for hours.

It's it's insane.

It's absolutely amazing.

But also, um, it's really quiet and it's really lonely at the same time.

It's kind of both of those things.

I actually, the first day when I dropped them off, I cried the whole way home, like huge tears, like that kind of crying situation.

Um, because I just kind of I kind of miss them already.

Like I miss knowing that my eight-year-old, like that she got the answer wrong and her teacher told her it was wrong, and then she's crying because she's so embarrassed in front of the class.

Like, I'm so I'm so glad I got to like be a part of those situations.

Or my 11-year-old doing his PE in his room that the whole house would shake, you know.

But we're all we're like all doing PE or listening to the way he would like lead a little small group.

I don't know if he was supposed to be the leader, but it happened.

And just like hearing be like, that's a really nice answer, Sebastian.

I think that was really, you know, I just I miss hearing that.

I miss knowing which um YouTube video my 13-year-old's watching, you know, and who he's chatting with, because you know he was very central in the house so that my eyes were very aware of when he was in science and when he was, yeah, moms are nodding.

Yeah.

I I just I miss kind of knowing all of those things.

And I missed delivering them the snacks when like the moods were getting low, when the Wi-Fi would like check out and we were having like some emotions, being like, okay, let's have some food now.

You know, just I miss that, I missed the backyard being recessed central, like rollerblades and basketballs, a lot of fires.

There was a lot of fire building going on early on in COVID, and then it was like obstacle courses.

I just I missed that noise and that excitement and the celebration at the end of the day.

That was a hard, it was a hard year.

And for some of us, we're still in it, right?

It was a really hard year, and it was really hard balancing it all together, trying to be like mom, teacher, all the things and the responsibility all the time.

But it was also a really, really sweet year.

It was really sweet, and I really miss that day-to-dayness that we had together.

Just that freedom to be together and know what was going on and know how they're feeling and being able to be there to take care for them.

And now it's quiet.

And even though when I pick them up, I ask them, How is your day?

Ask all the questions, because I'm like that.

And they try to answer, but it's like there's six hours of their life every day I have no clue about now.

And I just, I kind of, I kind of miss that.

I imagine this is what it feels like for parents when their kids go off to college, right?

Like you kind of lose that day-to-day in and out, how you doing, what's going on, closeness with your kids.

And then all of a sudden you're like, I don't know how they are.

I don't know who who they're with, I don't know, I don't know what they're doing, are they okay?

That feeling is just kind of rough.

And I think the reason why I feel this way is because the life of a parent, any parent, is just all about their kids.

It's just, it's all about their kids.

I think it doesn't matter if a mom grows a child inside of her for nine months, or if a mom grows the desire for a child inside her heart and she fills out paperwork and she does home studies and she does everything she can to adopt a child, our lives are just all about our kids.

We walk through life with our children.

It's like this beautiful front row seat to their first words and to their first steps, and to them learning how to tie their shoelaces, and then we get to watch them just develop their sense of humor and their personalities and their interests and their friendships.

We just see it all unfold right in front of our eyes.

We get to watch their hearts grow.

And as parents, you know, we get to perceive and anticipate their needs and care for them and protect them, and and we desire to be their home, to be their safe place, to be their security.

I've been thinking a lot about this the last two weeks, you know, as I've been missing my little ones.

And I've been reflecting on like what my role as a mother is like and how that compares to my role as a daughter, as a daughter with Jesus.

You know, as I do the day in and day out with my kids, I reflect on what it's like to do the day in and day out with Jesus.

In the same way that parents walk through life with their kids, we're invited to walk through life with our heavenly parent, our perfect parent, God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Now, we've been in this series on Acts, as you guys know, we've been talking a lot about the Holy Spirit, but just a little recap of the Holy Spirit.

What is the Holy Spirit, right?

I feel like we we know God the Father, we know Jesus the Son, but I want to talk a little bit about the Holy Spirit that we're invited to walk through life with.

Remember when Jesus was about ready to ascend to heaven, he said to the disciples, just wait here, right?

Wait here until God the Father, He's gonna give you a gift, someone that will never leave you and never ever go away.

In John 14, 26 and 27, it says, But the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

And then again in Romans 8, 26 and 27, this is how Paul describes the Holy Spirit.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, helps us.

We do not know what we ought to pray for sometimes, but the Spirit of God intercedes for us with world wordless groans.

And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God.

So God has given us his spirit to walk through life with.

This definition of spirit, I have to be honest, this is the definition of a guide, a helper, a comforter, a teacher, an interceder.

This sounds a lot like my role as a mom.

That's what it really reminds me of.

And it makes me think that as I mother my kiddos, I am being mothered by God the Father through the Spirit, walking with Jesus every day, just like Jody just said up here, their desire for their sweet little son, just to walk with Jesus all the days of their life.

This life that's intertwined with the spirit.

Walking daily with the one who knows our cries, the one who knows the sound of our laughter, who knows our fears and our hopes and our desires and our pains and our addictions and our struggles and our deepest needs.

Walking daily through life with the one that knew us before we even knew ourselves, the one that knows every single hair on our heads.

That's what it says in the book of Luke and in Matthew.

That's how well he knows us.

The way a parent walks through life with a child.

And today I just want to share just a couple observations, just like four thoughts that I have on the similarities between how I get to walk with my little ones through life, and then how I get to walk through life with Jesus.

So the first similarity would be this.

As I deeply know my kids, as I know so much about them, I know that I am deeply known by God.

I am deeply known.

For those of us in the house who are parents, one thing you learn early on with your newborns is which cry is the cry of your baby, right?

You can like be in a nursery and hear all the screams and you know which one is yours.

And then after a few really painful weeks, maybe months, you learn what the cries mean.

Like you know when they like when they're really hungry or when they're just fussy, or you know, you start to learn their cries.

And then as soon as this little bundle of joy starts to laugh, the sound of their laughter, it's just like marked in your mind, right?

You know the sound of their laughter.

Um, on the par at the park or the schoolyard or anywhere, I you can spark your kids.

Parents know which kid is theirs, and not just because of their clothes, but the way they walk, the way they interact.

You know your kids.

I can spot my daughter on the dance stage real quick.

I know exactly which one is hers.

When I go to back to school night and you walk through their classrooms, I can I can find my kids' handwriting on the wall, right?

I know which handwriting is theirs, which picture is theirs.

I know them that well.

I know what makes them laugh, I know what makes them cry.

I know how, well, I try to know how which ones need different things for discipline or communication, right?

I know them.

Moms know their kids, and we also kind of know what they're doing.

Amen?

Yeah, we got eyes in the back of our heads.

It's actually a thing, right?

When they're little, you know when they're quiet too long.

And when they're big, you know when they're quiet too long.

Mm-hmm.

We know.

A parent of a little one knows exactly the last time they had a feeding or a bottle, the last diaper change.

It doesn't change much as they get older.

It's just more like how much milk is in the fridge, how much cereal's in the cupboard, right?

These are the things we just know in our minds.

Um, from my kiddos' birthmarks to their forming personalities.

I just love getting to learn and know more about them.

I just absolutely love it.

And in the same way, the Lord knows us, right?

The Lord knows us.

If you have your Bible, I want you to just turn to Psalm 139.

If you have a phone, you can peek at it too.

I'm gonna read this to you guys.

I love this scripture written by David of how the Lord knows him.

And he says this you have searched me, Lord, and you know me.

You know when I sit and you know when I rise.

You perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down.

You are familiar with all of my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue, you, Lord, you know it completely.

You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is it's too wonderful for me, it's too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go to the heavens, you're there.

If I make my bed in the depths, you're there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there, your hand will guide me.

Your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, Well, surely the darkness will hide me in the light, it will become night around me.

Even the darkness will not be dark to you.

The night will shine like the day, for darkness is light to you.

For you, you created my inmost being, and you knit me together in my mother's womb, and I praise you because I'm fearfully and I'm wonderfully made.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, and when I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body, and all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them can be.

Lord, you know me.

He knows everything.

And friends, I think I think we can respond in several different ways to this.

Two ways I want to talk about is that I think first we can find comfort in that.

We can find comfort in knowing that we're truly known.

Like the mysteries of our own hearts.

Sometimes we can't even figure ourselves out.

Am I right?

Like, why am I doing this?

Why am I acting like this?

Why do I feel like this?

What's going on?

The Lord knows.

He knows.

And yet he still loves us and he still chooses us.

In verse 17 and 18, he responds this way.

He says, So now that you know, and he's claimed all these things that the Lord knows, he says, so how precious to me are your thoughts, God?

How vast is the sum of them?

Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.

When I awake, I am still with you.

There's that comfort in that.

When I awake, I'm still with you.

I am comforted by this knowledge that the Lord knows me.

And then secondly, I think we can respond with being extremely humbled.

Right?

To know that we can't hide, that our thoughts aren't known, our words are known, our bodies are known, that this there's this beautiful intention that the Lord created us for purpose, and it is known.

And our response to that, is it humbling?

Does David hide?

Let's read.

He says in verse 23, So search me, God.

So search me, God, and know my heart.

Test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

He says, You know me.

So search me.

Lead me, God.

Lead me, walk with me.

The one who deeply knows us wants to walk with us.

Friends, we're deeply known.

Deeply known.

My second observation is that as I strive, hear me here.

As I strive and try and rely on Jesus to be a good listener to my children, God is a good listener to me.

And I am fully heard.

I am fully heard.

I love how young kids kind of cry out with no inhibitions to their parents, right?

From the time they're newborns.

If they're hungry, I don't care if it's 2 a.m., there's no scream.

And they're gonna scream until you take care of it, right?

And when your toddler needs help in the bathroom with the toilet situation, they're just gonna yell.

They're gonna yell really loud, right?

No inhibitions that they need help with their shoelaces.

Mom, I need help with my homework.

Mom, mom, mom.

Any moms in the house get tired of hearing their own name?

Yeah, I'm with you.

Yeah.

Sometimes I'm like, it just no, just I'm just no, I'm that's not me anymore.

I'm changing my name, right?

It's kind of a lot to be needed all the time.

But here's what I do know.

As a mother, I do want to know the needs of my children.

I want to know the needs of my children.

Yes, I want them to be independent.

I want them to grow to be self-sufficient, but in the meantime, I don't want them to carry a weight that's not theirs to carry, right?

I don't want them to try to combat life with something that they're not skilled to do yet.

I need to know, I want to know.

I want to help them face the battles and the hardships.

Like I love it when my little one kindly says to me, kindly, Mom, can you help with my bed?

It's just too messy and I can't do it.

Right?

You hear that desperation of like, it's too much for me, I just can't, you know?

I want to help with that.

Or when my 11-year-old asked me to help with his math, dude, I love helping with math.

It's one of my favorite things to do.

Or even this last week, my 13-year-old said, and I loved it, he said this with like a sweet boldness, like, hey mom, I'm gonna need your help.

I gotta write a speech.

Got time for that?

It's like, yeah, right?

I love how children know where to go to get their help.

With a boldness and an awareness of that.

I love to listen also to my children talk, right?

I love to listen to their thoughts.

I want them to be fully heard by me.

I love hearing about their relationships and their feelings.

And as they get bigger, it gets more interesting.

And I want to listen and I want to know what they're thinking about things.

I don't always want to know about this at bedtime.

That's not, that's not really the time I want to know, but that's usually when they want to talk.

But friends, that desire to care for their needs, to know where they need me, that desire to listen to them, that's not me.

That comes directly from the heart of God, right?

And we have that same access to God.

And here's the thing that I love: He does not grow weary of us calling him.

He does not get tired of us calling his name the way I'm like, nope, I'm not mom anymore.

Go find your father, right?

God doesn't do that.

He likes us when we cry out to him.

I remember um growing up, I had just the great joy to grow up in a family where my parents really loved Jesus.

And I remember growing up, there was times that my mom, just as she was going about her day, no cooking or doing whatever, that I would just hear her kind of call on the name of the Lord.

She'd just say, Oh, Lord Jesus, kind of under her breath.

And I didn't know what she was saying, I don't know what the prayer was, but I knew that was something she did.

And you guys, I did the exact same thing this week.

I didn't realize I was doing it.

I was in the car, and I just said, Oh, Lord Jesus.

And my 11-year-old said, What's what's that, mom?

He's a very intuitive little guy.

What are you writing about?

And I said, Oh, you know, my heart's just really heavy, and I just needed some comfort.

I just needed some comfort.

Friends, that's the access we have to God.

That's the access that we have day to day.

Lamentations three.

And then verse 55 through 57, Jeremiah says this.

He says, I called on your name from the depths of the pit.

You heard my plea.

Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.

Right?

That's the plea.

Saying, Lord, don't close your ears to me.

Listen to me.

And you came near to me when I called you, and you said, Do not fear.

That's God's response when we're in the pit and we're like, God, help.

He says, Do not fear.

I love the worship song that we sing, you guys.

Um, you remember the words that go, I called you answered.

You know this one?

And you came to my rescue and I.

The words are, I want to be where you are.

I want to be with you.

When I call to me to you, you're there with me.

We are fully heard and completely comforted.

Isaiah 66 says it this way in verse 13.

It says, As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.

As we walk daily with Jesus, we can be confident that God hears us.

When we cry out to Him for help, for comfort, anytime we need to talk to Him, friends, even if we just cry out in boredom, right?

God doesn't just want to hear from us when we're a wreck.

Even if we just, hey God, I'm just here.

He wants to hear us, and we know that we are fully heard.

So as I walk daily with Jesus, I know I'm deeply known.

I know I'm fully heard, and I know I'm entirely treasured.

I'm entirely treasured.

I remember the moment with each of my kids that I found out I was expecting.

This might be TMI, but I just remember that moment when I knew, oh my gosh, there's a baby coming.

And then quickly the nausea sets in and it doesn't feel quite as fun.

But there's something in the moment, that joy, that anticipation, that gift.

And I remember the first time holding each of my kids and looking at this little stranger.

And they're kind of ugly the first time you look at them, let's be honest.

But you look at this little stranger and you're like, I just love you because you're mine.

Like, there's no other reason that I love you and know you.

You're just mine.

My children, they're a treasure and they're a gift, and they're the joy.

They're just the joy of life.

I remember when my husband Steve and I brought home our firstborn.

Um, his name is James, he's 13 now.

But y'all, we couldn't stop staring at him.

His bassinet was at the foot of our bed, and I remember laying on our stomachs on the bed, just looking at him, just like just watching, watching him sleep.

He would like do a deep breath, and we'd be like, oh, that was so we were just we just loved him.

I know it's kind of strange.

We did that with all of our kids.

And even now, I love to look at my kids when they sleep.

It sounds a little stalkery.

It's not.

It's yeah, it they're peaceful when they sleep, they're quiet and calm.

It's a wonderful time to pray over them.

But I just adore them.

I think you hear often from parents of like little kids, they're so stinking and exhausted by the end of the day, like bedtime cannot come soon enough.

But then, do you know what we do?

And I have older kids, but younger kids parents used too.

They get their phones out and they look at all the pictures they took all day with their kids, right?

Like the second they're in bed, then you miss them.

Like, our children are such, such a joy to us.

And I think if this is how I feel about my kids, gosh, guys, how does God feel about us?

Right?

How does he feel about us?

In Isaiah 49, verse 14, it says, But Zion said, The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me, right?

Isaiah 49:14

This is an accusation.

The Lord has forsaken me, He's left me.

And then the response is this in verse 15.

Can a mother forget the baby at her chest and have no compassion on the child that she has born?

Though she may forget, I will not forget you.

See, I have engraved you in the palms of my hands.

The words of God, I will not forget you.

I've engraved you in the palms of my hands.

You are my treasure, you're my treasured possession.

It says in a few different places, Joshua, Deuteronomy, and Hebrews, the words of God saying, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you.

Because we are his greatest treasure, church.

We are his greatest treasure.

And he went to an extreme for us.

As I walk through life with Jesus, I know I'm his I'm his treasure.

I know I'm heard by him.

I know I'm known by him.

And then lastly, I know I'm fiercely loved by him.

I am fiercely loved.

Jeremiah 31:3 says, I have loved you with an everlasting love.

Jeremiah 31:3

I have drawn you in with an unfailing kindness.

And Romans 8 38 and 39, one of my favorite verses of all time, it says, For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, no powers can ever separate you from the love of Christ, which is In Christ Jesus our Lord.

Guys, these verses tell us that the love of God is everlasting, unfailing, never-ending, and inseparable.

And my understanding of this selfless, fierce, and sacrificial love of God, it drastically changed when I had my first kid.

Like I thought I got it and I did get it, but I understood it in a whole new way when I had my first kid.

I remember my husband and I have been married almost 17 years.

And one time when we were newlyweds, we were having this conversation with some other newlyweds.

We didn't have kids yet, like a little hypothetical conversation.

And the question was: if you had to choose between your spouse or your child, you could only choose one of their lives, who would you choose?

I mean, why do we even talk about these things?

I know a mom in the front's like, no, this is not okay.

I don't know why we were talking about we didn't have kids yet, so like we didn't even know what we were talking about.

But we all were in unison.

Like, of course we'd choose our spouse.

Like, spouse, like that's the right answer, right?

You're supposed to choose your spouse.

Well, I can tell you this.

The second I saw my firstborn son, I knew Steve was toast.

Like, just sorry, sorry.

And Steve, the same for you, right?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

He would, like, I'm gone in an instant, right?

Because that's just the heart of a parent.

You do anything to protect your kid.

You do anything to protect your kid.

When your baby is tiny, you stop sleeping, you stop eating, you stop using the bathroom, you stop brushing your teeth.

There's not showers.

I mean, that's just like what you do right off the bat.

You just quickly learn to lay down your life for your children.

Last week I got a text from Rachel Divendorf, our amazing worship admin here.

I adore her.

And this is what the text said.

I think I broke my toe, but the baby is fine.

This is her from the ER.

I'm like, okay, well, I'm prank, so I don't, yeah.

Come to find out, she fell down the stairs with sweet little baby Silas in her arms.

And what does she do?

Just goes into protective mode.

She told me later, she goes, Oh, Silas didn't even cry.

He didn't even know we fell down the stairs.

But her big toe got, the bone got split in half.

Right?

But would she have even like done it differently the next time?

Of course not.

That's just the heart of a parent.

See, as a mom, there's there's like this part of me that wants to protect my kids from everything, right?

Any earthly pain, any knowledge of evil.

I don't want them to know like the horrors and the atrocities of our world.

I want to protect them from the pain of sin, heartbreak, the consequences that come when you make choices outside of what God desires for us.

I don't want them to stumble into addictions that they're gonna suffer with for the rest of their lives.

I so badly want to share with them the wisdom, the guidance.

I wanna help them see what's down the road, right?

They can only see this part.

I wanna be like, oh, but I see what's around that bend.

I can see it, and I wanna warn you.

I wanna help you avoid that.

I don't want you to have that pain.

I know I I can't actually walk through life with them like this and like this.

I kind of want to, but I can't.

I know I can't do that.

But that's the fierce warrior type of love that parents have.

That's the kind of love we have.

I have watched moms dive into swimming pools at superhuman strength to pluck a child whose head was underwater, right?

I've seen them go to the extreme, and in the same way, I've seen friends as their kids get older, college, beyond, who go to the farthest extreme to protect their kids, right?

To help them.

When there's addiction or eating disorders, really messy relationships and damaging things.

That fierce love shows up and it shows up strong.

It's the parents that are praying and fasting and fighting for the hearts of their kids.

Guys, this is fierce love.

Who does that sound like?

That sounds like Jesus.

Doesn't it?

That fierce love, that sacrificial love, this protective nature.

Guys, that's not me.

That comes from the heart of God.

I get that from my daddy.

That is God's love.

God wants to protect us from evil.

He gives us the choice, but he wants to protect us.

He's given us this book.

He's like, hey, I can see.

I can see what you can't see.

Let me help you.

Right?

And he goes to the greatest extreme to sacrifice his son, Jesus, for us.

Because he knows the devastation of sin.

He knows what a ruined life can look like outside of the abundance that he can offer.

And because of that, he's invited us to walk with him every day.

Every day.

As I daily walk with my kiddos, I also get to daily walk with Jesus.

I know I'm deeply known.

I know I'm fully heard.

I know I'm entirely treasured.

And I know that I am fiercely loved.

And as I reflect on this beautiful knowledge of God's heart towards me, I'm more and more aware of my own shortcomings and my need for Him.

Because even though I know all these things, I don't get to offer the same thing to my kids.

I'm not God, right?

Some days I'm just a really rotten mom.

I hurt them because I'm broken and there's sin, and I need Jesus.

We as parents all kind of do this.

We need Jesus.

And I think we're kind of a tired bunch, us parents, right now.

And I also think those of us in the house that aren't parents, I think we're a tired bunch too.

It's been a rough year plus.

We're still in it.

Some of us are coming out of it, but we are a tired people, and life is really hard right now.

I was chatting with some friends recently, and we're talking about this transition back to school for some of our kids and back to sports and masks and are we gonna get vaccines or are folks getting vaccines?

You know, all of this stuff.

And the words that just keep coming up were like exhausted, tired, weary, discouraged, depressed.

At one point in the conversation, someone even said, I don't know if I need to go on antidepressants or if I just need a really long nap, right?

Last service when I said that, everyone kind of laughed a little bit.

And I was like, Yeah, because I think we kind of all feel that.

It's like, what do I need?

We're just so weary people, and to me, that just points to the fact that we need Jesus.

That this life is hard, and it's going to be hard.

And we're not supposed to do it on our own.

We're supposed to do it walking every single day with Jesus.

I mentioned my kiddos went back to school.

I don't know if you remember that.

We all cheered together.

Yeah, I'm coming back to that again.

So on the second day, I asked my eight-year-old, Lenny, how is school today?

Did you hang out with your friends?

What did you eat for lunch?

You know, I'm being the annoying helicopter mother that I am, wanting to get all the answers.

Thank you for the nod.

I appreciate it.

Yeah.

And she's kind of quiet.

And I was like, Oh, was it okay?

And she's kind of quiet.

I said, Well, were you lonely?

She goes, Mom, I want to tell you, but I don't want to hurt your feelings.

And I said, It's okay, you won't hurt my feelings.

She said, Mommy, sometimes when I go to school, I don't even think of you at all all day.

So cute.

And you know what, guys?

I could not have been more delighted.

I could not have been more delighted.

I don't want her to need me all the time.

I don't want her to want me all the time.

I want her to have a beautiful life outside of me, right?

Because here's the painful truth about parenthood.

My kids aren't gonna always need me, right?

There is a time to grow them, there is a time to birth them, there's a time to feed them, there's a time they feed themselves.

There's that day you drop them off and they don't turn around and wave anymore.

And I know that someday they're gonna leave.

They're gonna get in their car and they're gonna go, and I don't get to be in the day-to-day of their lives anymore.

But it's beautiful and it's painful and it's wonderful, and it's life.

And this is where it actually is quite different with me and my kids and us and God.

Here's where it's different because we do not outgrow or mature our need and our dependency on Jesus.

We don't.

God is not raising us up to be independent.

We never outgrow that need for Him.

The more mature we grow in our faith, we actually become more dependent on Him.

I think sometimes we we get kind of confused about this.

In our self-sufficiency and our independence, our worldly knowledge and our power.

We stop walking closely with Jesus, and then his voice gets more faint, and we don't strain to listen anymore.

And before we know it, we're walking a whole different path, going a whole different direction.

Our helper's not there, we're not listening, we're not following, we're not pursuing, we're not hearing.

And then we kind of change the rules for who it is we want to be, what our standard is for living this life in this world, and then we start to measure ourselves the wrong way, maybe by what we do, by what we produce, by how we contribute, by how we appear.

See, independence from Christ is not a sign of spiritual maturity.

Spiritual maturity, it's not found in our ability to not sin anymore.

And spiritual maturity is not found in our knowledge of the scripture or our knowledge of theology.

Spiritual maturity, it's not found in our ability to judge ourselves or judge others and their choices and lives.

And spiritual maturity, it's not even found in how we serve and give and lead and how we pray in our small group, right?

Those are all good things.

They're all a sign of our maturity, but that's not where our spiritual maturity is found.

Our spiritual maturity and our spiritual growth comes through our day-in and day out process of walking with Jesus.

Just walking with Jesus.

So, church, today, I want to call you to that.

To simply walk with Jesus every day, all day, from the morning to the evening, even when you wake up in the night walking with Jesus.

This is what the Christian life is.

This is what it is.

We believe in God the Father, we believe in his work of Jesus Christ on the Son, we receive the forgiveness for our sins, and then we surrender our life every day, and we just walk with Jesus.

I think sometimes we try to complicate things, we try to make it more than what it is.

Walking with Jesus is a day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment relationship.

A relationship that we turn to in joy, in struggle, in boredom, in indifference, in frustration.

A relationship that we just continue to turn to.

See, our Heavenly Father doesn't just want us to come to Him when life's a wreck, right?

Walking with Jesus is not just crying out when we're desperate.

It's not just pausing before a meal to pray or praying before bed at night.

It's an interactive life back and forth every day.

I'm gonna invite the band to make their way forward as I just hit this last little bit here.

But here's what I think it looks like this day-to-day walk with God.

It's connection, it's communication, it's praying, it's listening, it's asking.

When we walk with Jesus, it's like we have little touch points throughout the day.

It makes me think back to my kid analogy, right?

Of when kids are little, when they're little, little, little, they'll uh kind of veer away from a parent a little bit, but not too far, and they kind of glance back.

You guys know what I'm saying?

They kind of keep their eyes on you.

They know where you are at all times.

And if you're trying to drop them out of daycare or the nursery or something, they're gonna scream, they're gonna know.

And then as they get a little older, they'll they they go a little farther, but they they run back every few minutes.

Just a little touch point, right?

Just touch point throughout the day.

It's like when your kid is, I don't know, out on the field or on the stage at school or something, and they see you and they do a wave like, hi, I'm here, I'm here.

It's just like a touch point, a little acknowledgement of a relationship.

It's like this last week when I got to my kids' baseball game, my 13-year-old, and I got there late, and I didn't know if he knew I was there.

But you know, when they're 13, you don't want to stop at the dugout and be like, hi, mommy here, right?

So I just like quietly took my seat in the stand.

See, see, I'm okay, I'm doing this right.

And then when my kid got up to that, I didn't know if he knew I was there, and he turned to me and gave me the.

It's like, yeah, he knew I was there, and he shot a glance at me, right?

It's a touch point.

I think that's what it's like with Jesus.

It's maybe a cry for help, it's a request for insight, it's a plea for patience, it's this day in and day out conversation.

Maybe it's when you wake up in the morning and your alarm goes off and you just can't even muster up the energy to go.

Maybe it's like, Lord, I just need you right now.

Maybe it's that point in the day when you're just feeling the frustration rise, and it's just like, Lord, what's going on in me?

Search my heart, God.

You know, I feel like for me, sometimes I'll be going about the day, the part of life, and I all of a sudden realize like, I don't have a joy.

Where did my joy go?

Like I'm something doesn't feel right.

It's just that pause and being like, hey, God, something's not feeling right in my spirit.

What's going on, Lord?

Did I say something?

Did something happen?

Just touch points with the Lord, just walking with Jesus, opening him up to speaking to us.

Sometimes walking with Jesus is um like a stroll through a rose garden.

It's a walk through a beautiful national park, right?

Just like beautiful peaks and waterfalls, and there's breathtaking views every way around, and you're just like, wow, Lord, this is awesome.

So glad I'm walking this with you.

And sometimes walking with Jesus is like a walk in a really hot desert where there's just not shade, and it's just feeling all uphill, and there's just not water to be found, and you're just like, Lord, help me, right?

But it doesn't matter which path you're on, what matters is who is with you, right?

It matters who is with you.

Sometimes in parenting, I realize that I don't always know what's coming next.

And I think it's a good thing in parenting, you don't always know what's coming next.

Because it can be really a challenge.

I think in our faith it's the same thing.

When you're newborn is screaming and you just don't know what to do, sometimes you just change the diaper.

You just try a new pacifier, you just do the next thing.

That's what you do in parenting.

You read another bedtime story, you say another prayer, you pack another lunch.

And sometimes in our faith with Jesus, it's the same.

We don't see what's six miles ahead, we don't see what's around the curve, we don't see where the next water is coming.

We just take the next step with Jesus.

Just take the next step.

Just keep walking, just keep going.

Because it doesn't matter where we are, it matters who is with us.

And that, friends, is the Christian faith.

And that is what Jesus is offering to us today.

We hope you are blessed by this message.

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