Abba Father - Daddy

My Dear Friends,

One of the most important truths I have learned is that God loves and cares about me. I matter to Him and I am just at important to Him as anyone else on the planet. He always has time for me and wants to hear what I have to say. He really does love me.

In my early life, I misunderstood God. I thought, God saved me, but I still had to live the "Christian" life. It was exhausting - being in church all the time, going to bible study after bible study. I had to make sure I believed all the right stuff. I had to be careful of my conduct. Life was very rigid.

I remember a song from Sunday School that said, "be careful little eyes what you see..., little hands what you do..., little feet where you go..., there’s a Father up above and He’s looking down in love...." I have always loved to sing, so music tends to have a strong impact on me.

But looking back now as an adult, all I hear in that song is guilt. Be careful because God is watching. I grew up thinking that the burden was on me. God had condescended to save me but I had to be good. Somewhere I got the idea that God was distant. I thought I was accepted because I was part of the right group. I didn’t think I was special to God or that He cared about me specifically.

Thankfully, God began to break through this thinking in my late teens. There was an incident in my Senior year of High School that showed plainly God was paying attention to me.

I love to sew and in High School I made a lot of my own clothes. This particular time I was working on a skirt that consisted of many panels. I very carefully laid out and pinned the pattern pieces and cut the fabric. I followed the directions step by step, stitching each panel into place. Everything was going along fine until..... disaster! Well, at 17 it was a disaster. I was missing a panel.

I looked through my pattern pieces and realized that I hadn’t cut out one of the panels. My first reaction was to worry. How could I finish the skirt? There was only a little fabric left. Like I said, it was a disaster.

At this point, for some reason, I decided to pray. Maybe my mother suggested it; I don’t really remember. But I prayed, "Lord, please help my with this skirt."

I don’t know if this all happened on the same day, but I looked at the fabric again. I laid the pattern piece on it and the pattern piece was too wide. But as I looked at it an idea came to me. If I folded the pattern piece lengthwise, it would fit on the fabric.

I pinned, cut and stitched the missing panel into place. The skirt was complete and looked beautiful. And then the second miracle occurred. I tried the skirt on and it fit perfectly. Slowly it dawned on me that if I’d had enough fabric for the missing panel to be full size, the skirt would have been too big.

I remember that being the start of the change in my thinking. Maybe God does care about the little things in my life. The things that aren’t considered spiritual. He had helped me with my sewing. That wasn’t spiritual, I wasn’t sewing for a missionary. But He had still helped me.

A tiny thought took root and began to grow. Maybe God did care about me specifically. That thought brought more thoughts. Maybe God isn’t distant. Maybe He really is with me. Maybe I had been wrong in my assumptions.

I was still hesitant about changing my whole belief system. But thankfully God was, and still is, very patient with my thought process. He has brought me through many changes that help me see Him more clearly. God cares so much about me He put me in the place where I would get what I need.

Psalm 37:23 says, "The steps of the Godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives."

I can say with confidence, God really does love you specifically and He cares about the little things in your life. You are so precious to Him.

Thanks for listening,

Sarah

Welcome to the Genesis of SarahLaughs.Com

This website is dedicated to encouraging others. And the only way I can do that is to share the lessons I’ve learned. Some of these lessons were very painful since I tend to be hardheaded. But if I don’t share them, they will go to waste.

So, you’ll see the real me, with all my flaws and failings. You’ll see that I am not that different from you. Hopefully, no matter where you are on the planet, you’ll be able to relate.

For now these entries will be posted every other week. As time goes by, these entries may become a weekly occurrence. There will also be guest "speakers," who have their own lessons to share.

I am also looking forward to expanding my website to include not only this web log, but other pages as well. I plan to have a poetry page that will list poems both original and by other poets. I will also have a page that lists my favorite books as well as authors. And because I love to sing there will be a page listing my favorite songs and artists.

A very dear friend suggested that I also have a resource page that will include links to other related sites. Just as I am a work in progress, so is my website - things are bound to change.

My Beliefs

I am a Christian. Now, having said that, I understand that everyone has a different definition of what being a Christian means.

So how do I define myself? Well, I love God and I love people. But without the help of the Holy Spirit, this would be impossible. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the only way to God.

There are many other foundational truths that I believe. But to list them all here would, I think, be overwhelming. Instead, I will be sharing these beliefs a little at a time.


Where My Website got its Name

Well, my name is Sarah and I laugh a lot, but that is only part of the reason. The other part comes from the Bible. My parents named me for Abraham’s wife, Sarah, and, as you will see, my namesake also laughed.

In Genesis18:1-15, the story is told of the Lord appearing to Abraham and reiterating a promise that He made earlier in chapter 17:15-16. He tells Abraham that by the same time the following year Sarah would have a son.

This may not seem very amazing to you until you realize that Abraham was 99 and Sarah was not far behind him. At this point in time, they have no children together.

While God is talking to Abraham, Sarah is in the tent listening. And she laughs to herself in disbelief and mild sarcasm. "Oh sure," she thinks, "a couple of senior citizens are going to have a baby. Tell me another one." (I’m paraphrasing)

Sarah of course denies laughing when challenged by the Lord. And the Lord says to Abraham, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" Then He states His promise again - in a year Sarah will have a son. And a year later, she did.

Now, was Sarah guilt-ridden because she hadn’t believed God? Hardly. Genesis 21:6-7 says "And Sarah declared, ‘God has brought me laughter! All who hear about this will laugh with me. For who would have dreamed that I would ever have a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a son in his old age.’ "

They named the baby boy Isaac and Sarah’s life was full of joy.

I once heard a pastor say that Isaac’s name means "He is laughing now." I really like that symbolism. God didn’t get mad at Sarah because she didn’t believe right away. He went ahead and fulfilled His promise and got the last laugh.

In my life, I have found that is often the way. I may start out skeptical and slow to believe. But as I see God’s promises fulfilled, in my life, I have to laugh with God at my unbelief.

Thanks for listening,

Sarah