Learning Perseverance....thanks to Roany Ty

It's amazing what my children teach me every day, when I'm taking the time to let it sink in. Today we were outside playing in the snow, thanks to the few of inches of beautiful powder that God blessed us with last night. Jayna's favorite thing to do is make snow angels, she made quite the family of them and I even got into making one of my own, which Jayna thought was great, then she went and added a happy face to it! She also thoroughly enjoyed throwing snow at me, not snowballs mind you, because the snow is so powdery that it won't even make a ball yet. Some Illinois family members need to make it up here in the winter to see this snow, there's nothing like it down there, it's so light and fluffy. (Sorry, I'm quite a rabbit trailer, aren't I?) So, Quaid pretty much just sits around in the snow, he does love throwing it at me (do we see a pattern here?), but he can't walk well enough yet to really run around and play in it. This was the first day that Roanen was really willing to try to get around on his own in the snow, the other times he has just cried and won't move a foot. As I was watching him out in the snow today he taught me an invaluable lesson. PERSEVERANCE!! The little guy was such a trooper, he probably fell down at least 100 times while out there, and if you think it's an easy thing for him with his short little legs to get up while in snow boots and a snowsuit that's a little big on him, well, think again! For a long time he didn't know I was watching him, he would fall down, move himself around until he was in just the right position to pick himself up off the ground and get up and walk around a bit, then down he would go again. One time I said "good job, Roany Ty" after he had gotten back up and he just smiled and clapped his little mittened hands. Every time after that, when he would get back up he would look at me and just smile, so proud of himself for doing it, knowing how proud I was of him. Even as I'm writing this I'm tearing up because of how great it was, watching him succeed, never giving up, then looking at me as if he was saying, thanks for believing in me, thanks for encouraging me. It makes me wonder, when do we as adults lose that drive to never give up when something is hard? Our Heavenly Father is there waiting for us to succeed, to say, good job, my child. Yet, for me, I give up when it gets hard, when I have to keep trying to succeed. Hebrews 10:36 says "You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." I can not give up on what God has willed for me. I was just telling Nathan the other night that I was really frustrated and ready to give up on being the kind of Christian, wife, mother and friend that I want to be, because it's just too hard to try to make everything the way I think it should be. The thing is, God has made me a Christian, a wife, a mother and a friend, those things are in His will for me, I can not give up on doing what God wants me to do with those things, and I think He wants me to do those things in the same way that He would. This is a HUGE challenge for me, there are MANY things that I have to continue to work on, but I WILL persevere, because it will be great to hear my God say to me, "Good Job, Elizabeth"!! Thank you Roanen!!!

"because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:3-4