Blue Kangaroo - Cathy Hill

For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear; I will help you. Isaiah 41:13 NIV

I found the book hidden under a stack of others. 

Of the hundreds of books I have read to my daughter, this little book was one of our favorites. When nap time came, I reassured her she would love it.

A tiny little girl had a dear friend named “Blue Kangaroo.” Blue Kangaroo went everywhere with the little girl, and her affection for her little friend was quite evident. Through a series of visitors and a birthday party, the little girl received a handful of other small and large stuffed toys. Each one took a place in her heart and her bed until Blue Kangaroo was far off to the side.

Night after night, Blue Kangaroo expressed his worries and sadness until finally, his little mind wrote, “There’s just no room for me anymore.” And he rolled off the side of the bed.

Magically, Blue Kangaroo found his way to her brother’s bed. In a desperate search the next morning, the little girl found the kangaroo and exchanged all her new toys for the kangaroo.

My Ava loved the Blue Kangaroo, and she adored his heroic return. I admit I did too.

We want a happy ending, we want to know everything will be okay, and we want things and people and precious parts of our hearts to stay in the order they were meant to be.

Only they do not. At times, the Spirit of God can seem like our breath. But then life gets in the way. The newness of self-sufficiency comes first, followed by control and pride. We seem not to need anything or anyone. We have it all, until the unthinkable happens.

And then we wonder where our first love went. We wonder if what we held will still hold us. If God is listening when we whisper agony in the middle of the night.

Our view has dimmed as if looking through a foggy window. He is there—we somehow know He is there—but He is unrecognizable because we have pushed Him to a corner.

Pull God in. Don’t trade the glory He holds for the good of what you hold.

Tweetable: Do you need to pull God closer?

Cathy is a writer, teacher, and entrepreneur. She met her husband Brian while studying in Paris, France. They make their home in Geneva, IL, with their four children and their daughter-in-love. She loves writing about the wonder and whimsy of life and her love for Jesus. Her first book is Destination: Fierce, Moving from Fear to Fierce. Learn more about Cathy at www.cathyjoyhill.com.

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Boats for the Storms - Cathy Hill

When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. Isaiah 43:2 NLT

I remember as a little girl absolutely loving rainstorms.

I loved watching the weather roll in. There was something magnificent about it. I also remember my dad. He would walk to the backyard and discern exactly what the weather was going to do. 

As we waited, he would go to his workbench, hand us a couple of scraps of wood and nails, and tell us to make a boat. When the rain stopped, we would find streams of fresh rainwater. If we had designed well, our creations would float, but we had some sinkers too.

There is an adage that says a boy marries his mom and a girl her dad. I did. Like my dad, my husband is a weatherman.  

One early morning, my husband was out in the country for ministry. The forecasters predicted the worst storm in seventy years. Great, I thought, and here I am without my weatherman.

I talked to the children about who controls the weather, but I wished Jesus were stilling this storm.  Sitting in the bathroom with my three children, as we listened to sirens roar and the rain fall, I wondered if I could build a boat for four?

Some hours later, the warning was lifted. The wind still blew, but the sky was noticeably brighter. Our day began again. I dropped the kids off at school and then sat at my desk, still unsteady by the fear-filled morning.

We face a lot of storms—a lot of heartaches. In these storms, gales of fear and downpours of tears come. I ask for God to still them, but He allows them to remain. He knows I have so much more to learn.

God asks us to have faith. Yes, we can build a boat, but we will need His presence. He will protect us when we can stand no more. He will hold us when life is too rough, and He will still our hearts when the storm rages on.

What are some ways you can trust God in your storms?

Tweetable: Have you built a boat for your storm? 

Cathy is a writer, teacher, and entrepreneur. She met her husband Brian while studying in Paris, France. They make their home in Geneva, IL, with their four children and their daughter-in-love. She loves writing about the wonder and whimsy of life and her love for Jesus. Her first book is Destination: Fierce, Moving from Fear to Fierce. Learn more about Cathy at www.cathyjoyhill.com.

Thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts! We also invite you to follow and like us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram. Help us spread God's encouragement through His Love Lines.

Conniption – Cathy Joy Hill

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! 1 John 3:1 NIV

It was the summer of 1985, and I had moved to France to finish my degree.

I was excited and homesick. I remember that first letter from my dad. A dialogue on the weather and his latest home repair. Fortunately for both of us, this was 1985, the season his beloved Chicago Bears would go to the Super Bowl. His letters became a record of that season, play by play, player by player, and my love of the game was born.

Some twenty-five years later, my son had started to play high school ball and my daddy and I were thrilled. It was game day.

Typically, my daughter played with her new football friends, but today was not typical. She started to fuss, a lot. We headed for a hotdog. I bribed her with cotton candy. Lily was having none of it. Somewhere in the heavens, Lily’s grandmother, my mother, smiled. At five years old, Lily was having a conniption, but I was an NFL pro at these. Absolutely nothing she did worked.

Desperate, I looked down the field for a place Lily might want to go. I spotted it, the port-a-potty. Lily loves those, and indeed, although still wailing, she agreed she had to potty. In private, I reminded Lily her behavior was unacceptable. It was football after all. She did not care. I was helpless.

Then it happened. A woman saw us as we left the port-a-potty, and, sounding exactly like Mary Poppins, said “So you don’t like football?” I looked at the woman in disbelief and then looked at Lily. She was shaking her head, no. It occurred to me that Lily had not yet been to college, nor had I written her letters about the Chicago Bears. How could she like football? Lily went on to tell Mary Poppins about ballet and school. My sweet little girl was back.

Over and over in the Word, God calls us His children. He gently reminds us we are held, and at our worst, He still loves and holds us. It is okay to be honest . . . to have a conniption now and then, He can absolutely handle and heal our hurting hearts.

How has God comforted you during your conniptions?

Tweetable: Are you having conniptions? 

Cathy is a writer, teacher, and entrepreneur. She met her husband Brian while studying in Paris, France. They make their home in Geneva, IL, with their four children and their daughter-in-love. She loves writing about the wonder and whimsy of life and her love for Jesus. Her first book is Destination: Fierce. You can learn more about Cathy at www.cathyjoyhill.com.

Thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts! We also invite you to follow and like us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram. Help us spread God's encouragement through His Love Lines.