{"id":190,"date":"2015-03-17T00:58:35","date_gmt":"2015-03-17T00:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/notsoshortterm.com\/?p=190"},"modified":"2015-03-19T01:11:14","modified_gmt":"2015-03-19T01:11:14","slug":"what-does-the-angel-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/notsoshortterm.com\/?p=190","title":{"rendered":"What does the angel say?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_5541\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Lovebug,<\/p>\n

Today we had a great conversation and I just had to save it here so you could read about it later. We were having dinner together and you kept wanting to play with mama\u2019s angel. I have a sweet little Willow Tree angel who sits on our table and you just love her. You always want to hold her and play with her, and I have to remind you frequently that you have to be gentle with her\u2014you typically oblige.<\/p>\n

Tonight you were sharing your dinner with the angel and letting her sip from your cup. At one point, you were making her \u201ctalk\u201d and she was making a \u201cRibbit!\u201d sound. I chuckled and said, \u201cBuddy, that\u2019s not what an angel says! An angel says\u2026\u201d Pause. I really had to think here. What DOES an angel say? Given the circumstance, there are a wide variety of possibilities\u2026how could I narrow it down to one sound byte? I had to think about what an angel could always say, in any situation, and then it occurred to me. \u201cBuddy, an angel says \u2018God loves you!\u2019\u201d You smiled and said, \u201cAngel says\u2026God love ooo!\u201d From there, our conversation went on.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, buddy! An angel says \u2018God loves you,\u2019 because He does! And you know what? No matter how you are feeling or what is going on in your world, God always<\/span> loves you.\u201d I explained that God loves you, even when you are having a really crummy day and it seems like He is miles away. I told you that He loves you even when things happen in your life that you don\u2019t understand. That He loves you every day, whether you want Him to or not. I explained that even though sometimes your feelings will try to convince you otherwise, His love for you is unchanging and perfect.<\/p>\n

This conversation was a great reminder for your mama, too. Your daddy and I have been surrounded by really sad stories lately. Stories of hurting friends, grieving families, and seemingly \u201chopeless\u201d situations. We have been praying so hard for precious people in our lives, and we aren\u2019t getting the answers we were hoping for. It\u2019s times like these that we have to choose<\/span> to believe and trust God and His love, even when He feels far away. We have to trust that His plan is BIG and perfect and ends in an eternity with no more tears, pain, or sadness, no matter how tough things get in the short term.<\/p>\n

Life can be so hard, sweet boy. There will be times when you are hurting and you will feel like God doesn\u2019t care. When you don\u2019t feel God close to you, choose<\/span> to believe Him and trust Him at His word:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
\nAnd through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
\nWhen you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched,
\nNor will the flame burn you.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cFor I am the Lord your God\u201d Isaiah 43:2-3<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lord is near to the brokenhearted
\nAnd saves those who are [a<\/a>]<\/sup>crushed in spirit.\u201d Psalm 34:18<\/p>\n

\u201cBe strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.\u201d Deuteronomy 31:6<\/p>\n

He loves you, sweet boy\u2026BIG MUCH. Don\u2019t you ever forget it.<\/p>\n

AML,<\/p>\n

Mama<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lovebug, Today we had a great conversation and I just had to save it here so you could read about it later. We were having dinner together and you kept wanting to play with mama\u2019s angel. I have a sweet little Willow Tree angel who sits on our table and you just love her. You […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,14,2],"tags":[9,17,8],"class_list":["post-190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters-to-william","category-parenting","category-william","tag-faith","tag-letters-to-william","tag-william-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/notsoshortterm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/notsoshortterm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/notsoshortterm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/notsoshortterm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/notsoshortterm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=190"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/notsoshortterm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192,"href":"https:\/\/notsoshortterm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions\/192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/notsoshortterm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/notsoshortterm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/notsoshortterm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}