The Door is in the floor.

Date: 29/11/2024

Jesus is worthy.

It has been a beautiful time of discovery, adapting and wonder as we welcomed little Annah to our home. Rebekah and Noah have been so curious and kind in their interactions with the little person and it has been beautiful to see the wonder in their eyes. We are so quick to forget how quickly time between nursing sessions goes. I often giggle (internally, of course) when Renée just finished nursing, burping, changing a diaper, tried to clothe herself, brush her teeth, get the other two kids clothed with something, and then just when she wants to take a sip of that coffee I made two hours ago, Annah makes her sincere desire for some milk expressely known. And she isn’t unreasonable, two hours had indeed just flown by. So, just as in Monopoly, we get to go past the start line once more for another loop. Unlike Monopoly, however, I don’t get to collect R200 every time. 

It is beautiful and we relish in the blessing of this gift. 

Just before Annah was born, somewhere in the 480 months that Renée was pregnant, the Lord showed me a gear lever. It was a standard 5-speed manual gearbox. As I was looking at this gear box, though, I could see the Lord add a new, lower gear in front of 1st gear. I felt the Lord invite us to often “gear down” when Annah arrived. Of course, when gearing down in a car, it means the car will be travelling slower. “Gosh,” I thought, “slower than first gear, Lord?” I felt the Lord say, “Yes, but stronger, too.” 

I can grow frustrated rather easily at times, I will admit. I am in that unreasonable stage of parenting where I have to put shoes on literally everyone, ask if Rebekah has to use the restroom 403 times before we leave the house, then replenish the diaper bag’s Mary Poppins-like plethora of provisions to help in all those unforeseen circumstances, then I have to unlock the garage whilst carrying a kid, said diaper bag, and everyone’s water bottles (because you cannot just walk twice, it is against a law somewhere… must be). Having plonked both toddlers in their car seats, reversed the car out the garage, locked up the garage, and turned the car around to traverse our really steep driveway, Rebekah would nonchalantly ask, “is there a toilet where we are going?” By asking this, I know that she actually really has to go…

It is at this moment that Grace offers me that split-second decision: stick with your current gear and possibly stall the car, or go lower, and slower. Easier said than done. I surrender the time, the back ache, the morning, my career, and my life once again in that moment. I get to die there again. There is a cross for me there, an opportunity to pick it up and follow after the Only One found Worthy. He is trekking up that mountain, up to Golgotha’s summit. Lowly and slowly. I want to be in tow. 

Our dear friends, there is a lower and slower gear. As Proverbs says, “…He gives grace to the humble.”

My mother-in-law once quoted to me: “the Door is in the floor, and there is always more.”

May we learn to go lower and slower still. Thank you all for your continued support of inlyn. It has been such a blessing to us in this season of our lives. We are grateful for your support in what the Lord is doing through this ministry. Thank you. 

Maranatha!