{"id":13974,"date":"2021-03-02T04:59:12","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T10:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=13974"},"modified":"2021-03-02T04:59:23","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T10:59:23","slug":"the-joys-outweigh-the-jitters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=13974","title":{"rendered":"The Joys Outweigh the Jitters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yesterday, I blogged about \u201ccounting even the toughest times as joy\u201d \u2013 because in the middle of those times, we\u2019ll find joy, if we look for it. Joy certainly has outweighed the jitters over this humongous move I just made. Since December, I was on a quest to sell my home, which meant getting the home ready to sell by staging it. That meant getting rid of so much more than I needed. I sold, gave away, and threw away. After selling my home in far less time than I expected, it was packing and moving and even staying put when I couldn\u2019t move because of the ice, snow and bitter cold. Since last Tuesday (the move date), I\u2019ve been unpacking. It has been a feat. But that feat came with joy and love as can be seen by these beautiful flowers and card from my children who are truly treating me like a queen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My Frisco grandson, Payton, helped me in so many ways, including selling my home, and finding my new apartment home in Austin. This weekend, my Frisco granddaughter, Alexia, came down to help me unpack and we knocked it out of the park. This girl was relentless in her determination to get boxes emptied and cabinets organized. She wouldn\u2019t let me stop. I needed that push. And, then there\u2019s Bryson who has been on hand to be my trash man and heavy box lifter. After church on Sunday, both darlings were my allies \u2013 turning chaos into sweet peace and organization. You can see our highly refined eating areas in the photo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019m so thankful for the years I invested my life into my children and grands because I\u2019m getting a great return on my investment. And, you know what \u2013 these children and grands are being blessed because they care. 1 Timothy 5:3-5 says: \u201cHonor widows who are truly in need. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they should first learn to fulfill their duty toward their own household and so repay their parents what is owed them. For this is what pleases God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m so grateful. Being a parent, we get to use that \u201cCount it all joy\u201d a lot with raising our children and navigating the ups and downs that go with it. But, I think becoming a grandparent is our reward for those years! Grandparenting brings so many joys that just can\u2019t adequately be explained in words. No one \u201cgets it\u201d until they become one. I remember thinking how silly those grandparents were with all their bragging, telling stories, and showing their MANY photos. Then I became one and I \u201cgot it\u201d! Our grandchildren just multiply the joys that our children bring us. So, of course I\u2019m counting my blessings today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I pray strategically and deliberately for each of my grandchildren. I name all seven of them (that number includes grandson Braden\u2019s wife, and now my granddaughter, Ruth) in my prayers. As their grandparent, I can have a major role in stabilizing and influencing their lives by praying for them during these years of decision-making, establishing their own lives and future, and overall \u2014 just \u201cgrowing up\u201d and becoming mighty men and women of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seeds of prayer we plant today will yield a harvest of blessing in the future. In Isaiah 44:3 God told the Israelites, \u201cI will pour out my Spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants.\u201d God STILL promises to pour out his Spirit and blessings on our descendants. He still places a \u201ccrown\u201d on our head and adds another jewel to it each time He blesses us with yet another grandchild. (Proverbs 17:6)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The greatest long-lasting gift we can give our grandchildren is the gift of our time and prayers. And, I know, from firsthand experience — the rewards are limitless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I blogged about \u201ccounting even the toughest times as joy\u201d \u2013 because in the middle of those times, we\u2019ll find joy, if we look for it. Joy certainly has outweighed the jitters over this humongous move I just made. Since December, I was on a quest to sell my home, which meant getting the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13467,19975,12804],"tags":[837,1210,756,1769,12801,15459,652,7029,40,2563,19971,41,7474,19974,4683,19972,19973,578],"class_list":["post-13974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-children","category-grandchildren","category-joy","tag-blessings","tag-blog","tag-children","tag-christian","tag-count-it-all-joy","tag-flowers","tag-grandchildren","tag-grandparenting","tag-inspiration","tag-investment","tag-jitters","tag-joy","tag-moving","tag-parent","tag-queen","tag-staging","tag-unpacking","tag-widow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13974"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13980,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13974\/revisions\/13980"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}