Romans 12:2

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Thankful Thursday - Family

We are a big family. 
This is our family, but we are missing one of the sisters and her whole family in this picture because she was due to have a baby and add MORE. :)


 I come from a family of 4 girls...we all married boys in big families...we all have big families of our own. 

 There are 22 kids (so far) between us 4 girls.

We have a big family with lots.

Lots of love.

Lots of feelings.

Lots of joy and lots of sorrow.

Lots of talking. (some listening).

Lots and lots of energy. (we all have very active children)

Lots of opinions and passions.


 We are a big family that is close, but spread out,  so our reach is far and wide.

 When one of us is rejoicing we are all celebrating, even when we are not together.
  We celebrate together when we can, and sometimes, over the phone, sometimes over the computer, and sometimes, just in our hearts.

When one of us is hurting, we all suffer.  The distance doesn't matter, when a family member hurts, the pain is felt family wide.

When one of us is sick we are all in pain.

We have had tremendous joy and sorrow...just like all people, but when you are a big family there is just MORE!

More praises.
More prayers.

 More to celebrate, more to rejoice over, more to pray over.

Our family continues to grow and move and change and with ALL that growth comes growing pains.
  I've never seen "growth" of ANY kind without "growing pains".

  It's always worth it,  it's always greater and bigger and MORE than ever, and the process of change and growth is hard and difficult, but it is ALWAYS GOOD.

1 John 4:7-8

English Standard Version (ESV)

God Is Love

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, becauseGod is love.


 This big family KNOWS the LORD.  

We are all on different journeys, but we are on it together as a family spread out and feeling each other's joy and sorrow, and growing pains.


It is not always pretty, sometimes it even gets a little ugly, but it is all part of the process of growth.


2 Thessalonians 1:3-4

The Message (MSG)
 3-4You need to know, friends, that thanking God over and over for you is not only a pleasure; it's a must. We have to do it. Your faith is growing phenomenally; your love for each other is developing wonderfully. Why, it's only right that we give thanks. We're so proud of you; you're so steady and determined in your faith despite all the hard times that have come down on you. We tell everyone we meet in the churches all about you.

Thanking God for my family today.

5 comments:

Shauna said...

Morning reading this a.m. was 2Thes. 1 :)

Yes. Much and lots of it all. We are blessed!

Farm School Marm said...

LOVE this! What a lovely family!

Laurel said...

We are a BIG family ... and right now we are going through some TOUGH growing pains. Adding 4 daughters & sons-in-law in 1 year adds a bit of unknown to all of our relationships (and now adding the first 2 grandkids in less than a year).

Please keep our family in your prayers. I am praying that some day our adult children will be close (like you are to your sisters), and that the Lord will restore the broken relationships between some of our bigs kids and us (Dad & Mom).

Our dream has always been to have close loving relationships with our big kids and their families, and we are truly grieving over brokenness right now.

Prayers Please.

Laurel :)

Lashae Bowen said...

The best big family ever!!! I love love love having a huge family!!! :) :) Growing together is hard but only makes us stronger. God is so good.

marlece said...

yes, even though we don't get to see each other with our eyes very often I see each member in this family deeply with my heart. When one is laughing I laugh, when one is crying I cry hard....thankful for this 'family'.