Fear not. I am with You… – Tesori Family Foundation

I will make you strong and will help you. i will support you with My right hand who saves you.
~ Isaiah 41:10 (kids version)

God’s word is strong and true. He has promised to be wit you in all circumstances. what you do with that promise is what matters most. You are God’s child. Therefore, never be afraid. You have the power to overcome fear for when you apply His word to your life, He will protect you and sustain you.

Just the best day ever. Today was the first day that Paul’s 8 year old daughter, Alexis, was able to see Isaiah for the first time. She is such a great big sister. I can’t even tell you how heartwarming it is to see her get so excited about changing his diaper (“I’m going to go wash my hands, daddy. Don’t do ANYTHING with him until I get back!”).

More moving, however, is to see her read to him out of one of the devotional books we read to him Daily (100 Bible Verses to Bless Your Baby Boy, a gift from Boo & Karyn Weekley and the great people at Christ’s Starfish Foundation (actually, in addition to the Weekley’s and CSF, this book was dedicated to Isaiah from a manager of a local Hallmark store, but we’ve lost that manager’s contact information! So, if it’s you or if you know who that manager is, PLEASE contact us so we can properly thank her!!

Here’s a video of her reading the above message to Isaiah:

What a great message for the first day these two get to spend together. We’ve worked really hard with Alexis to really share God’s word with her, to teach her how to communicate through prayer with Him. She knows she is God’s child and that she is loved. She knows Jesus in her heart and she knows that God will be with her in all circumstances. I’ll never forget the voicemail she left us when her kitty, Gigi (her pet at her Mom’s house), went to heaven this fall. Through what was clearly tears, she said “God must need a kitty to watch after all the other kitties up there. I’m a little sad but I’m going to give it to God and He’ll take away my pain.” Are you kidding me? I remember playing that message over again for the girls in my bible study just amazed at how clearly she understands that God will never leave her. He will protect her. Just leaves me awestruck.

What are you afraid of? Did you know the bible says “do not fear” 365 times? Yeah. That’s right. One for every single day. Coincidence? I think not. This command serves as a daily reminder from God to live every day fearlessly. If our 8 year old can do this, why do we have such a hard time with it? Worry happens. Life happens. We think we can control things ourselves so we try to. How’s that working out for you? I can tell you it never worked out very well for me, personally. It never worked out for Paul.

People have asked us over and over again in the past 2 weeks: “How are you doing it? How can you be so positive?” and we’ve gotten this a lot: “It’s ok to break down” and “you don’t have to be tough all the time!” We keep telling all our prayer warriors and concerned friends and family the same thing: “God’s GOT THIS!” and we truly believe it. Because Jesus has consumed our hearts, we do not need to leave in fear. I encourage you to find the place in your own heart to share your deepest fears with God. You don’t have to be great at praying. You don’t have to go to a church, even. Don’t be fooled by all that stuff. You just need to talk to Him. In you heart. In your head. Outloud if you want to. And just chat with him. At the end of this, I’ll share a prayer I’ve said to God the past few weeks and you’ll see there’s nothing special about it. It’s just a chat with a friend, my very BEST friend, asking for His divine intervention.

Since we’re on the topic of ridiculously adorable children, I also wanted to share this video. It is of Jillian and Jordan, the children of one of our NICU nurses, Laura. They are praying to God and sharing their love of Jesus with Isaiah from their swingset. See, I’m telling you – nothing special about HOW you can pray. Heck, I encourage you to get on your belly on a swing and pray like Jillian!

I can’t even stand it, the cute factor for today’s post is an 8 out of 8 (this is the Simpson/Tesori equivalent of a 10 out of 10! Some day I’ll tell you about Webb and Paul’s system!).

Ok. So let’s take a lesson from these kids and let’s pray:

Hey God! I am sooooo thankful for Your incredible blessings and especially for the love in the hearts of these children, Alexis, Jillian and Jordan. Lord, we know you work all things for good for those who are called according to your purpose (Romans 8:28). Help me to tackle this new responsibility of taking care of your sweet child, Isaiah, while you have given him to me and Paul to care for during his time on earth. Take away our fears of messing up! Take away our fears and “what ifs”! Help us to keep our eyes completely focused on you so that we may live abundantly in your grace. Please bless all the children of the world, especially those that do not know you, for we know that you know them. We pray for the parents of the world, that you will put it on their hearts to introduce their children to the power of your grace and mercy and protection at a young age so they won’t live in fear but in the hope of knowing you take away ALL pain.
Amen.