“Heavenly Father, Are You Really There?”

A few months ago, my daughter had her first baby. It’s been a delight to watch her become a mother complete with moments of laughter when a diaper change runs amuck to watching her love this new life straight from heaven. I often hear her hum or sing to her baby to help invite him to sleep. 

Her lullaby of choice includes the lyrics-
“Heavenly Father, are you really there?
And do you hear and answer every child’s prayer?
Some say that heaven is far away,
But I feel it close around me as I pray.
Heavenly Father, I remember now
Something that Jesus told disciples long ago:
“Suffer the children to come to me.”
Father, in prayer I’m coming now to thee.
Pray, he is there;
Speak, he is list’ning.
You are his child;
His love now surrounds you.
He hears your prayer;
He loves the children.
Of such is the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven.”

The words have been circling in my mind as I hear her sing. And with the melody an invitation to check what I believe about the ideas. 

A few days ago, I began my morning with a backyard hot tub soak. As I climbed outta the hot tub, I felt a bit light headed and laid down on a patio sofa for a minute. 
I stared into the light blue morning sky and uttered the silent words from the song to my Heavenly Father. “Heavenly Father, are you really there?
It was more of a prayer than a question…

I’ve felt certain promptings in the past few months and no further ones to help on the implementation side if more is needed on my end. Additionally, my health has been a bit rocky lately and I’ve been praying for ideas of how to bring relief that are convenient. 😂😉

Yes. That’s exactly what I said. 

Thus my prayer was more of a revisit to the pleas of my heart than a question. 
I have absolute certainty Heavenly Father IS there and He IS listening. 
Truthfully-
Some days heaven feels far away.
And yet- like the words in the lullaby-
I feel it close around me as I pray.

My daughter and son-in-law are bringing a new baby into a beautiful world. At times- troublesome. 
But I find the good always circumpasses the hard. 
For certain there will be times and places where he will get to come to know for himself the power of talking with God in prayer. 
He will get answers. He will feel of His love. 
And on the days the answers seem to be in waiting, he will be able to choose to feel God’s love around him. 

In the meantime-
He gets to feel the love of two parents who’ve done the work to understand God’s love for them and thus share it with their child. 
And I get to watch it all happen, staying true to what I know, growing in circumstances where I stumble, and joining Heaven in cheering them all on. 

-JC

Coconut, Mac-nut, Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

¾ cup soft butter
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups milk chocolate chips
1 ½ cups toasted coconut 
¾ cup chopped roasted macadamia nuts

Beat sugars and butter until creamy. Stir in eggs and vanilla and coconut extracts; don’t overmix.  Add dry ingredients all at once and stir until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
Form dough into 16 balls of dough. Flatten slightly. Refrigerate for 2+ hours or freeze until ready to bake. Bake at 400 degrees for 12+minutes. 
Drizzle with melted Caramel Chip Topping and sprinkle with sea salt. 
Let set. Share.

Caramel Chip Topping
1 cup caramel baking chips
2 teaspoons coconut oil
Dash of salt