Happy Prayer

May 2, 2025

Let God Handle The Heavy Stuff


Dear Nieces & Nephews,


I hope you’re enjoying spring! The warm days are still too few and far between, but that makes them special. My favorite spring thing is sitting in my little green rocker by its open window and letting the bird song wash over me. The winter months had withered me, but I’m coming alive again.


Uncle Kerry contributed to the cause last fall by setting up a whole city of bird feeders on the other side of my window. As you know, he does nothing in normal measures. Where most would install a feeder (or maybe two or three), he has seven outside my window, as well as two off the kitchen and two in the front.


He's quirky that way, but aren’t we glad? When he helps with an object lesson, it’s all about oomph and gut-grabbing power. Like Stihl leaf blowers and chain saws to demonstrate some Kingdom principle or other. 


When we planted evergreens 30-odd years ago (some of you helped), there were 10,000 … a double row around all our boundaries.



I’ve been walking our property lines this past week and appreciating the tree-borders. It helps me remember which is our own land, as I imagine what God might want to do with the acreage. So much to dream about! So much potential. I pray over Sadie’s paws at the start of each walk, that God would bless every place she sets a foot on. 




I doubt there’s a grass blade she hasn’t touched by now, as she follows every smell and chases every squirrel.



She has so much fun, which has been reminding me that prayer is meant to be enjoyed.


I need happy prayer times. WE need happy prayer times. Life gets so heavy without them, doesn’t it?


The story of Jesus multiplying the loaves and fishes has been big on my mind. It’s the one miracle (besides the resurrection) that is described in all four gospels, and all the writers point out the three things Jesus did when he had a huge hungry crowd to feed on a small amount of bread:


He looked up to heaven.


He gave thanks.


He broke it.


I’m taking it as a model for my happy prayers. The first two anyway. (He takes on the third one as His own, since He knows I wouldn't get around to it.)


I look up to heaven. Things just aren’t all that bad when you see them in the light of eternity and the big picture of God’s creation, his dreams, and His goodness. And I imagine Grandpa and Grandma, Uncle Steve, Aunts Kathy, Rhonda and Colleen, Rubi and so many more cheering us on. I’m pretty sure they’re praying for us too, alongside Jesus.


I give thanks. There’s ALWAYS something to give thanks for. This morning was really tough, but I was so grateful to have empty garbage bins after Pellitteri came through that I sent up a whoop for the big brown truck.


I let Him break it open. This can mean so many things, but always involves a revealing of truth. Years ago, I would pray every day for God to shine His light on hidden corners. Oy! He answered my prayer way more than I liked. These days, I add a clause so He'll only show me the hidden corners I need to see.  I don’t care to know the rest. Anyway, whenever I see something in life breaking open, even though it’s hard, I follow the trail and watch for the multiplication and blessing.


I hope some happy prayer will bubble up on the inside of you. Think of Sadie. It’s really not meant to be complicated. Let God handle the heavy stuff.


I love you all so very much,


Aunt Michelle


Happy Prayer

I Don't Get To Do What I Want ...

By Michelle Hauge • November 17, 2025
Dear Nieces & Nephews, Did you know that rules stimulate the desire to break them? It says so right in Romans 7:5. “For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.” Bingo. The source of all my parenting woes! The law. Rules. What’s a parent to do? Get rid of rules? “By no means!” to use Paul’s phrase. Jesus didn’t come to get rid of the law, but to fulfill it. So if I’m to follow His parenting example, I don’t get RID of our rules, I fulfill them. What?! What in Heaven does THAT mean in the heat of battle? I wish I could give a clear, concise answer, but all I have is hints that I’m collecting in a bucket. Do you care to join me? If not, skip the next twelve paragraphs and jump back in where I tell you Lexie’s inspiring story. This is what I've got in the bucket so far: Rules, like “The Law” of the Old Testament, reveal the existence of naughtiness. Without them, we wouldn’t even know what's naughty. We need them. The problem is, they also stimulate a desire to break them. Which leads to pain. (Keep reading Romans 7-8. It paints quite a picture.) If God provided a way out of this pain with sacrifice born out of deep love (dying on the cross), maybe we can do the same for our kids so they can experience it first in the natural realm. “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you,” with natural consequences we neither rescue them from, nor remove ourselves from. We’re still there, with them as they suffer. Yes, we suffer too. Ugh! But with the kind of suffering that brings joy. Maybe God-inspired deep-love-sacrifice releases our kids from the tyranny of forbidden-fruit-infatuation and sets them free to live in a new way, deeply rooted in connection instead of rules. Because our connection to them pulls them into our connection with Christ , facilitating their connection to Christ , which sets them free from sin and changes their whole mindset. Eventually. In a slow progression of their minds learning to choose Spirit ways over sinful nature ways. One small painful step at a time. While we parents have absolutely no control over which way they choose. One of my dear ones stashed every forbidden candy box and wrapper ever collected in their dresser during my ongoing war against sugar in our home.

A Birthday Note

By Michelle Hauge • November 16, 2025
Dear Nephew, What do you want for your birthday? Like really, really want , so deep down you’re afraid even to say it? I feel like God’s waiting for you to say it. He knows what you want, He just wants to make sure you know what you want. So say it. Then hold onto it with all that tenacity you’re famous for, until you see Him bring it about. He put your deep desires in you for a reason. It’s been a painful process of sorting it out from the surface wants that are so fleeting and even damaging. When I used to take you all shopping and you got to choose something you wanted, the other kids would quickly grab something off the shelf. But for you, it would become such a process. You were so worried you were going to choose the wrong thing and be disappointed. These past few years, you have had many disappointments. From rejections of your love, to devastating breakdowns, to friendships not working out, and then all these health problems. Disappointment times infinity. I believe it’s been a process of sifting in your heart that has been so painful you don’t know what to do with it. I hate to watch it. I hate to see your pain. I think breakthrough is right ahead of you. It’s probably not going to look like you expect it to, but I think it will look many times better. Above all you could ask, think or imagine. Because God’s goodness is infinite. Where it looks like He has forsaken you and let you down, He’s just not coming through in the small things because He needs you to let them go so you can grab hold of the big things He’s offering you. There is so much champion in you. So much skill. Such refreshing wit. Such a winning smile. Such a blend of tenacity and tenderness. I can’t tell you how proud I am of you. How relieved that we are still close. I want to team with you for whatever is ahead. I love you from the bottom of my heart, Aunt Michelle

What Do You WANT?

By Aunt Michelle • November 4, 2025
Dear Nieces & Nephews, You’re always on my mind. I’m hoping that with the approaching holidays and Camp Fire gatherings (more on this later), I will see you in person soon. In the meantime, here’s to writing again! I was part of a mom-care panel a couple weeks ago, sharing with homeschool moms some of my triumphs and failures in caring for myself while caring for children. The next day, while that was still on my mind, Aunt Marian called to offer me a week’s stay in a cottage at Christmas Mountain in The Dells because of a last-minute cancellation. I accepted, and God took such good care of me there! I decided what mom-care ultimately means is letting Him care for me, and cooperating as He directs me to assist. We moms would call that “obedience.” A good friend told me recently, “Michelle, if I was God, I’d give you an A+ for effort and a D- for results. But that’s not how God grades us. He grades us on our obedience. Some plant, some water, but it’s God who provides the increase. Just keep doing what He tells you to do.” OK. I can do that. I’m actually really good at obeying. I mean, I can put my nose to the grindstone, grit my teeth and plow as only a mule can. I’d make a really good mule. I’m not so sure mules are happy though. Our Midnight is, but … well … she’s never worked a day in her life and knows nothing about obedience.
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