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All I wanted to do was to show 3-year-old Luke the two baby birds. I held him up and we peeked through the leaves. When they saw two faces peering at them, the baby birds blasted out of the nest. . . and plummeted to the ground.

One ran across the grass and the other tried to fly and slammed into a yard ornament.

That’s not what I hoped would happen at all. 

The first bird ran out into the street.

Mama bird was flying over my head, scolding me. The second bird flew from the yard ornament into the rose bushes.

It was chaos.

For the next half hour I tried to be a bird whisperer and get them back into their nest. They had no idea that my intentions were honorable. Finally, one was exhausted from its own efforts and allowed me to scoop it up with my gloved fingers.

It pecked at me. It squawked. It wriggled. But when I placed it in the nest, it was as if it finally got it.

I’m home. 

The second bird had burrowed into the rose bushes. I didn’t want it to be hurt by the thorns, so my son-in-law knelt on one side and I knelt on the other. I gently shooed it into his hands, but it escaped and flew crazily into the sky, his maiden venture taking him in the complete opposite direction.

Sometimes we run, run, run when all God wants is to help us find our way home.

Running looks different for all of us. We try every self-help fixer upper strategy that we can, and there’s a lot of good found in that, but it just doesn’t do the trick.

We run away from God, straight into the thick of what hurts us more.

We run into anger. We run, run into the arms of someone or something that makes us feel good temporarily.

Let’s stop running and let Him scoop us up.

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Let’s rest in His best intentions.

He wants to show you what home looks like.

What safety feels like.

What hands that are gentle and capable can do.

In just 18 days, The Mended Heart Proverbs 31 OBS (online Bible study) begins.

Maybe you are visiting today for the first time because you signed up.

That might feel a little intimidating because you’ve tried to make it work, or fix it, or make those feelings go away, so the pressure is already rising.

Don’t run.

Rest.

I promise that’s where we’ll begin together. We’ll toss out all the formulas and the shoulds or should nots, and we’ll discover how to build a foundation of rest.

Later on, there’ll be some beautiful things to explore and discover about mending your heart, but only as you rest in what you don’t have have to do.

So, you’re in the right place. You’re not alone.

This morning I’m on a bird hunt. I plan to seek that second bird until I can scoop him up and place him gently where he belongs.

That’s what our God does for us, on such a greater level. He seeks us when we are lost. He holds us close even when we fight against Him, not understanding He only wants the best. He helps us find our way back home.

I can’t wait to begin this journey with you.

Suzie

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