I have been doing something this year that I have never, ever done before.
I'm working on memorizing Bible verses. My goal for this year is to memorize twenty-four verses. As of today I am on Verse #15.
Last December, I was reading this blog post from Beth Moore. I have read Beth's ministry's blog for a number of years and was familiar with the scripture memory work she has promoted through that. For some reason (duh! I know it is the Holy Spirit at work here), as I read through that post and read Beth's suggestions and ideas for memorizing, I thought to myself, "I could do that!" Then I looked around the room to see if someone else had said that, surely it wasn't me..I don't do scripture memory.
But here I am at the beginning of the eighth month in the year and tonight I picked out the fifteenth verse.
Beth said in that December 17th, 2012 post:
This is work worth doing, Sweet Thing. Never – NOT ONCE – have I ever
known anyone to get to the end of a Scripture memory commitment and say
that it didn’t make any real difference.
Not a single time.
That has been so very true for me. Just last Monday as I was visiting a dear friend in the hospital, I was able to share one of those verses with her:
Isaiah 41:13 For I am the Lord your God, who takes hold of your
right hand and says to you, "Do not fear; I will help you."
There have been nights when I haven't been able to get to sleep because of insomnia (hello fifties) or just too many things rolling around in my head (hello worry-wart) that I have gotten out of bed and found my little spiral book of verses and my Kindle. Then I read my verses, one-by-one, and work them into my memory. Then I go into my Kindle to the Amplified version of the Bible and look up each verse to see what it says in that translation. That had helped me understand the meaning of the verse in a different way.
The last time I did this, I reviewed Isaiah 30:18 --
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
He rises to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!
I just love the word pictures this conjures up in my head: The Lord longing to be gracious to me, He actively shows me compassion.
Then I read this in the Amplified version:
And
therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing]
to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may
have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord
is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all
those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]!
Read it again.
Go on. I'll wait.
What a picture, huh?
For the word of God is alive and active. ~Hebrews 4:12
I mentioned a few posts ago about my dad giving us some horseradish from his garden. As I was peeling it and getting it ready for the food processor, I wondered who the first person was that though just need to figure out what to do with it at it would be a good idea to eat this ugly looking thing:
Maybe it's just me, but there are a lot of foods I have thought that of: coconuts, durian, lobster....
Dad warned me about the potency of the horseradish. Boy oh boy was he right!!!! I had to step into the other room a couple of times as I was transfering it from the food processor to a jar.
Now I just need to figure out what to do with it...
I've decided and observed lately that we all have some kind of creativity in us that we just have to express.
Examples:
Hubby: He loves to play the piano. I am so blessed to be treated to mini-concerts several times a week. He likes to create spreadsheets. :)
Me: I like to sew. I first learned to sew when I was 9 years old. The first thing I made was a laundry bag. I still have it. I sewed garments for myself for years. Now I make quilts. There is just something about cutting up a slab of fabric and then sewing it back together into something totally different (& useful) that is very satisfying. I also like to cook and bake. I find great satisfaction in making food that pleases the people I make it for.
Daughter: She is loving having her own kitchen and learning to cook all sort of new recipes. (And she's very, very good at it!) She also plays the piano and had the most beautiful singing voice. I miss hearing those around the house. Even when she was a toddler, she would walk around the house humming. She also has dabbled in a bit of sewing, thanks to her grandma, who taught her the basics.
Son-in-law: He likes to play the guitar. He creates things from wood (snow-shoes, a small wooden box, a plaque for hooks to hang clothing on). He ties his own flies for fishing. He cooks very well. (I used to love to invite him over when we lived in the same town and have him cook dinner for us!) He loves to garden.
Daughter-in-law: She likes to cook and bake. She makes cute little decorations for their apartment. She likes to dabble in sewing.
Son: He loves music. (We first noticed that when he was about 18 months old.) He knows how to play a saxophone, the piano, and the guitar. He listens to all sorts of different types of music. He still likes LEGOS. His grandparents gave him his first little LEGO tractor when he was 2 1/2. He finds a lot of enjoyment out of creating things from LEGOS.
So you see, all of us (and I'm talking more than just my family) have a creative side and a need to express it.
Today has been a typical quiet Monday: reading today's entry in Jesus Calling, (Subject for today: ask the Holy Spirit to guide my thinking according to God's thinking), laundry, grocery shopping, missing my hubby after a wonderful weekend together. (...and just being able to spend a weekend with my hubby qualifies as a wonderful weekend.)
This morning I spent about an hour at a park reading a book and munching on an Egg McMuffin. I was thankful for the slightly cooler weather to be able to do that comfortably.
While in the park, I was entertained by a swarm of preschoolers that were playing in the park. I watched in wonder at the sheer joy on the faces of those little ones as they climbed, ran, swung, and slid. I could even hear someone singing as they rode on the horsey swing. Makes me miss having little ones in my life to interact with.
I was amused as I watched two women gathering up their crew of what looked like about 10 three year olds. It took a good ten minutes to get them all to line up and find their spot along the rope they were to hang on to as they walked back to their day care. Of course there were a couple of strays. A couple of kids would get tired of waiting and break away. Frustrating for the care givers, amusing to me.
Watching those little ones loose interest in waiting for their caregivers to organize them so they could safely walk back to their day care made me think about me and God. How often do I not patiently wait for Him to safely guide me to my next place?
Trust in the Lordwith all your heartand lean not on your own understanding;in all your ways acknowledge him,and he will make your paths straight.Do not be wise in your own eyes;fear the Lord and shun evil.This will bring health to your bodyand nourishment to your bones.(Proverbs 3:5-8)
Have you ever heard any one say of either themselves, or another, "My faith is private, I don't like to talk about it." I've always considered that statement as a red flag. I cannot imagine not talking about my relationship with Jesus Christ. My relationship with my husband is a huge part of my life and I talk about him often and love to sing his praises. (Which you may know if you read this blog very often...)
As much as I value my relationship with my husband, I would be nothing without Jesus Christ in my life.
Last Sunday we had the honor of worshiping with our son and daughter-in-law. Such an amazing church. I read this quote in the bulletin and thought I needed to copy it here:
Sin, both our own and that of others, drives us into customized selfishness. Separation from God becomes separation from neighbor. The same salvation that restores our relation with God reinstates us in the community of persons who live by faith. Every tendency to privatism and individualism distorts and falsifies the gospel. The Bible knows nothing of the soul who is, in Plotinus's words, "alone with the Alone." --- Eugene H. Peterson
That's what today was. Full of sad things and happy things. Kind of makes my head whirl.
Hubby got up early to run a 5K race and was happy to find out that he came in 9th in the whole race! (His time was 22:24) I'm proud of him.
After a lunch of some yummy leftover pizza, we took off west to meet the lady who used her long-arm quilt machine to finish the very first quilt I ever made. In 1999 I took a quilting class when we were living in Singapore. I'll post pictures and tell the whole story when I get the binding on it. But I will say I love how she quilted it!!!
When then drove north near the town we used to live in to attend the grad party of a kid who was a part of the same church as us when we lived there. It was a beautiful day for a drive through the country side. We drove through a lot of small towns we had never been through before. When we congratulated the graduate I said to him, "We're going to ask you the standard questions, but first, do you know the answers?" He smiled and proceeded to tell us what university he's planning on attending and what he wants to study.
We saw quite a few families from our old church at the grad party. That was an unexpected happy thing. Especially those two girls we saw that were only about 4 and 7 when we first knew them. They are now young teenagers and looking so grown up! Amazing how much they have changed in just two years.
We were struck with sadness when we went into the house to visit with the graduate's mother. She has had a recurrence of cancer and is on hospice care at home. Really rough to see her struggling and miss the sparkle in her eyes. Sweet to get a couple of hugs from her. She and I sang on worship team together and I always enjoyed our chats. She has been a faithful reader of this blog, but hasn't been able to for several months.
Our next stop was at a care center to visit a dear, sweet elderly friend of ours. She came to our Bible study for years. She's 85 and has been sick with pneumonia. She's very frail. It was hard to see her like that. None of her regular spunk. We enjoyed our short visit. I was amused to see she had her always present supply of chocolate in her room. She asked about our kids (who adore her) we talked about churches some and who all has been visiting her. When we left her room, I cried.
I told Hubby that was likely the last time we'd see either of the ladies we visited today this side of heaven. So sad to think of from this earthly view, yet reassuring to have that hope.
Hubby and I enjoyed dinner at a nice restaurant and then stopped by some friends for a few hours. We got to see their dog who I like to call a "not guard dog" because he is way too excited to see people when they come visit. But poor old Gunner is ooolllddd. (13) He didn't roll on his back for a tummy rub like he loves to do. When we left, we just got a tail thump. Gunner didn't want to get up.
Inside the house, we got the bonus of seeing two of the three kids. One in the flesh and one on Skype! The one that was on Skype lives in China, so that was a treat for us! (You can see their blog by looking for them in the Link's column on the right under Drew & Rachel's Blog. They work hard in China showing God's love to the people all around them.)
That was a happy time reconnecting with friends with sad mixed in as they talked a little about an estranged child. So heartbreaking to hear they haven't spoken to him (more like he hasn't spoken to them) since last August. I hope we showed a smidgen of compassion. I hope we were good listeners.
When we got home we had a letter from the parents of my childhood friend who died last November. It was their Spring Letter (instead of a Christmas Letter.) They wrote about my friend, Pam's, death to cancer. After I read it I just sat at the table and cried. Like her parents wrote, I still find it hard to believe she's really gone.
Overall, it was a good day. The weather was beautiful and I got to be with my husband. And Jesus stays the same. Jesus is enough.
I am reminded of a song we listened to on our drive. Kari Jobe has a song called, "What Love is This?". (Have you listened to her music? Such amazing stuff.) This song speaks to me. When things of this earth don't make sense, for me it all goes back to hope in Jesus and what He did on the cross for all of us. Jesus stays the same. Jesus is enough. The piano in this song is beautiful, the singing is full of passion, but the message is powerful.
You never change, You are the God you say You are
When I'm afraid You calm and still my beating heart
You stay the same, when hope is just a distant thought
You take my pain
And You lead me to the cross
What love is this, that You gave your life for me
And made a way for me to know You
And I confess You're always enough for me
You're all I need
I look to You
I see the scars upon Your hands
And hold the truth
That when I can't You always can
I'm standing here beneath the shadow of the cross,
I'm overwhelmed that I keep finding open arms
What love is this that You gave your life for me
and made a way for me to know You
And I confess, You're always enough for me
You're all I need
Jesus in Your suffering You were reaching Your thought of me
Jesus in Your suffering You were reaching Your thought of me
What love is this, that You gave Your life for me
And made a way for me to know You
And I confess, You're always enough for me
You're all I need
What love is this, that You gave Your life for me
And made a way for me to know You
And I confess, You're always enough for me
Always enough for me
Always enough for me
I haven't been able to think of a good subject to blog about, so I think it's time for a brain dump.
Caution: Non-cohesiveness ahead.
::: Blogger has changed their whole layout. I feel like a newbie trying to figure everything out. I guess I'll just resort to my usual "click until I get it" method.
::: I've gotten a kick out of watching the birds outside busily collecting twigs and dry grasses to build their nests. I watched a Mourning Dove repeatedly carry bits and pieces for its nest into one of the pine trees in the back yard. This morning I heard it singing. I love, love, love that sound. It reminds me of when I was a kid and would lay in bed in the mornings listening to those birds.
::: Hubby got a new boss and we are thankful for who the person is. The boss is someone Hubby has worked with in the past in another location and it's great they already know each other.
::: I'm trying to grow my hair out and have fantasies of what it can look like. Emphasis on the word fantasies. I'm not happy with it at the moment and I really hope that I won't say the words "chop it all off" when I go to my appointment on Monday. I'd wait longer to give my hair more of a chance to grow, but I really need my stylist to work her magic and hide that one color in my hair I am not a fan of.
::: We visited the kids last weekend. Always a highlight for me. I love just spending time with them. On our way south, we had supper with some college friends at our favorite BBQ restaurant. Then on our way back north, we had a meal with my sister and brother-in-law. Can I just say texting is one of the best inventions ever?
::: I'm currently sitting in our four season porch and it's 11 o'clock at night. I just heard a battle outside complete with a bit of howling and some kind of animal whining. Yikes. I'm a little nervous to look in the yard in the morning.
(I warned you this post was lacking cohesiveness...)
::: Hubby planted some seeds in the garden this week. I'm looking forward to garden-fresh lettuce, spinach, radishes, green onions, and cilantro. We'll be planting some tomatoes and cucumbers and basil as well. And by "we", of course I mean Hubby.
::: I have started to write about two or three different things and deleted them before I finished a sentence. I think that is a good sign that I should end this extremely disjointed post.
I like jewelry and my hubby has done a good job with spoiling me with it. A few weeks ago I was wearing a necklace with three pendants on it and Hubby wanted to know why I had so many on the chain.
My hubby bought me the cross the week we moved back to the US from Singapore. He said it was for surviving the three years and I said it was because of Jesus that I did make it through. The rectangle with the Chinese characters is from Hong Kong. The two characters sound like the two syllables in my name. I don't know what the characters mean, but I did have a Chinese lady once pronounce them and they did sound like my name. (Drew? Rachel? Do you know what they mean? I just hope it's nothing bad...) No matter, I love that pendant. My daughter has one in silver for her name. The little ruby heart was a gift from Hubby for Valentine's Day a few years ago.
So my message when I wear this combo is: Jesus died on the cross for me because He loves me. I need to be reminded of the gospel everyday. This is just one way I do that.
I thought I'd entertain my blog readers with Eight Random Thoughts on August 8th. Original, huh?
1. Last Friday I went antique shopping. Well, the majority of the time was spent looking, looking, looking. There are so many things in an antique store that are fun to look at! I saw these glasses a few different places and I know someone in my family (grandma? aunt?) had these, but cannot for the life of me remember who had these:
(My mom can't remember either.)
2. I saw this beautiful 1930s quilt on Friday and thought about it and thought about it. Saturday, Hubby and I went back to buy a gift, and I decided to buy my first antique quilt. I am crazy about this one. I love the block (Snowball) and it is in such good shape. A friend commented that she wonders about the stories behind the fabrics: Whose dress or shirt or child's playsuit was it from? Who was the woman who stitched it together?
3. Yesterday when we went back to the antique stores, we arranged to meet some friends for lunch. We had first met them in the late 90s at a family camp we were both at. Several months ago we realized we only lived a couple of hours apart and it finally worked out to get together. It was a fun time to get caught up and experience a new restaurant (for us).
4. I have been going to a summer Bible study at the country church we have been attending. We have been learning about the Fruit of the Spirit. Good, good stuff. During the video for Week 3, God graciously gave me some clarifications in an area I have struggled with for years. It has to with loving others. I have experienced quite a bit of heartache in the area of relationships that I believed God had brought into my life, only to end in disappointment. God showed me that it wasn't for naught. I was obedient to what He asked me to do. And that is what is ultimately most important. On the drive home that day, I just cried at God's tenderness toward me.
5. Yesterday after church we went out for lunch with a couple from that church! I have to read that again myself, to believe someone actually asked us to join them for lunch. No one, and I mean no one, has reached out to us in this town in the more than a year we have been here. It was a great time talking about our kids and how God has worked in our lives and their lives.
6. I decided that Mondays are good days to do laundry and hang out in my jammies all day. :) It's also a good day for going to the grocery store which means I'll have to change out of my jammies. A conundrum for sure. ;)
7.The Waltons has become my new favorite afternoon television show. I know it's not a new show, but I sure enjoy a TV show that is so different from current shows.
8. In two weeks I am going to spend a couple of days with my college roommate! I am beyond excited to see her! It's been at least 9 years since I've seen her face-to-face. Her husband has meetings in the Twin Cities and I am going to keep her entertained while he's getting a sore back from all that sitting. I can not wait!
I hope you all are having a good 8/8! (What have you been up to?)
Yesterday was filled with recovering from vacation. I was surprised at how busy I was with getting everything back in order.
The phrase that kept running through my mind yesterday was put away.
Unpack suitcases. Put away suitcases and shoes and unworn clothes.
Put away the things we bought while on vacation.
Pick up the mail from the post office. Put away the junk mail. (maybe throw away fit better here...)
Unpack toiletries, refill containers of shampoo, etc. and put away.
Go to the grocery store because there is no food in the house. Put away all the groceries once you haul it all into the house.
Wash the sheets (because you can't remember the last time they were washed) put away the clean sheets on the bed. (Okay, maybe that was stretching it a bit...)
Oh, and I can't forget the laundry! Wash several loads of laundry, put away the clean clothes.
It all took a lot of time and conscious effort to work through all those areas to get things back in order for living life here.
As I was thinking through all that, these verses came to mind:
Ephesians 4:31&32
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (ESV)
I think (at least for me) it takes a lot of conscious effort to put away all bitterness, wrath, clamor and slander and let God replace it with kindness, being tenderhearted and forgiving. A few verses before this read:
...to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (verses 22-24)
Thank you God, for creating me in Your likeness. For giving me a new self to put on.
(Just what was running through my head yesterday.)
About the same time we moved to Minnesota after our three years overseas, another family moved to the same little town. They had one daughter who was in age, right between our kids. Like us, they were transplants to Minnesota. After they started attending the same church as us, we began to become friends. Like the friends we made when we lived in Singapore, we connected with them in this different "culture" because both our families had lived in completely different parts of the country. They were from the south and we had lived several different places in the Midwest and in Singapore. When you live in a small town, I think you bond more easily with others who also are not from that town.
We did a lot of things with this family. We shared Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. The mom and daughter would pop by our house to get a drink or use the bathroom when they were out on a run. We had lunch together after church on Sundays. We commiserated about sometimes feeling left out in that small town. Our kids even went on a vacation with them to southern California one spring break. Our kids and their daughter felt like siblings. The summer my hubby and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary, the mom, Karen, and the daughter, Rachel, and our kids fixed Hubby and I a fancy meal complete with a tiered chocolate cake and a veil for me to wear.
This family moved to Oklahoma after Rachel graduated from high school. It was a hard good-bye. Rachel was attending the college she always wanted to. Her mom and dad wanted to be near-by. She was their whole world.
When our son, Caleb was in his third year of college, he had a serious crush on a girl named Amanda. He worked for months to get up the nerve to ask her out on a date. A month before he did ask her out, he had a conversation with Rachel. They were talking online about Caleb's crush and Rachel's advice to him was to be "confident in his hotness" and ask Amanda on a date. (That phrase was sooo Rachel, it still makes me smile.)
That was the last conversation they had.
Our daughter reminded me this morning that today is the anniversary of our sweet, sweet friend, Rachel going to eternity. She and a friend were killed in a head-on car accident three years ago today. (I wrote about it here.) She wasn't even quite 20 years old. I sat on the couch this morning and just cried remembering the shock of the news and the grief I hear in her mom's voice whenever I talk to her. It's been hard on all of us and she wasn't even a part of our family by blood.
(I remember the day we heard the news. Our pastor had been trying to get confirmation of the death. I called Caleb who was working at his college newspaper that afternoon. I asked for him to look at Rachel's Facebook page. I will never forget his voice when he barely choked out over the phone, "Oh, Mom. It's true." He told me that he was so upset had to leave the newspaper and went to the only place he could think of. To Amanda's apartment. They had been dating about three weeks at that time. Caleb told me later that Amanda cried with him and prayed with him in his grief that day. That was when I was first endeared to the young woman who was to become my daughter-in-law.) (It was a Sunday afternoon when we heard. Our daughter, Megan, was a senior in high school and a young man named Zach was hanging out at our house that afternoon. It was tough to break the news to Megan. She and Rachel were like sisters. Zach was comforting to Megan that day. Little did we know that Zach would be our son-in-law one day.)
The huge thing, the thing that gives us peace, the thing that gives us hope, is that Rachel was a Christian. She loved Jesus more than anything. When I look at pictures of her, I hear her laugh and imagine her dancing and laughing with Jesus.
This afternoon I was listening to this CD. The hymn that got me deep in my soul?
It Is Well With My Soul. Written by Horatio Spafford written in 1873. Go here to read the story behind the hymn.
How do I express what it means to me to know that Jesus Christ, The Son of God, died on the cross for pay for my sins? This verse sends me to my knees in graditude every single time I hear it.
My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
The response I have to that is a desire to live my life for Christ. To glorify Him with my life. To be obedient because of Christ bearing my sin so I don't have to.
Then one day, my faith shall be sight. With the sound of a trumpet, the sky will be rolled back and Christ will descend to take me and all those who follow Him home with him.
Rachel is there. I can't wait to see her again. And so many family members that are already there.
My daughter gave me for Christmas a couple of CDs she made for me. One artist stuck out for me and my dear hubby got me a CD by that guy. His name is Jon Foreman. This song speaks a challenging truth of how we worship. God hates the show. He wants our hearts.
Somehow that song reminded of an earlier Christian singer. I've always been convicted by this song by Keith Green. God wants more than show. He wants obedience.
And if we are talking about Long Ago Christian Artists... we have to go to Larry Norman. Ever heard of Larry Norman? He's been called the Father of Christian Rock Music. He says he started writing music in 1956. This is a tribute to him done in 2008 after his death. He was socially relevant.
On a bit of a different note. This classic song by Larry Norman came to mind today as I think about the death of a childhood friend's sister. Was she ready? Something I appreciate about these artists is they are not afraid to speak challenging truth.
I first heard this song when we were living in Singapore. It got my attention because of the fact that there are no seasons in Singapore. I missed that. But the words resonate even here in the north. In the land of extreme seasons. The theme is: God is always present. Always working.
The last verse speaks to me today:
And everything that’s new has bravely surfaced Teaching us to breathe What was frozen through is newly purposed Turning all things green So it is with You And how You make me new With every season’s change And so it will be As You are re-creating me Summer, autumn, winter, spring
When Caleb got married last summer he named the wedding: The Wedding of Awesomeness. Megan and Zach's wedding he has dubbed: The Epic Wedding. He's a journalist and just has a thing with words, wouldn't you say?
Today has been rather low key. The calm before the storm? I don't think the wedding day will feel like a storm, but the week will get busier as the days get closer.
Here is how I spent the latter part of the morning:
Our washing machine has given up, so every couple of days I head to the laundry mat and wash a load or two and bring it home to dry. Like I really needed more stress in my life right now, huh? I have had a couple of friends offer me the use of their washers and I probably will. That does seem like the ultimate "airing your dirty laundry" scenario. I have observed some interesting characters in those laundry mats. Today's grandmother screaming at her 2 year old granddaughter to stop screaming was classic. And sad.
Zach, the groom-to-be, has been to the airport to pick up one of his groomsmen who has flown from Thailand to stand up for Zach. Zach spent a couple of summers when he was in college doing mission work in Thailand and made some really great friends during that time. Zach and his Thai friend will be here for supper. We're having pizza. Very American!
There is randomness ahead. Be prepared.
Wednesday was our last Small Group Bible Study meeting. We have been a part of this Small Group for close to nine years. The people have changed over the years and we have enjoyed them all. We decided to end it with a meal together. Here is a shot of them in our dining room.
Oh I will miss those people.
Okay. New subject before I start crying for the umpteenth time.
I thought it would be fun to capture a picture of some of our different wedding shoes. Which do you think are cuter?
They are (clockwise, top left) my hubby's, one of the flower girls, Megan's (a beautiful dark purple) and mine.
I'm hoping to post a picture or two every day this week. I intend to savor every moment from the lunch I had with Megan and her dad today to the last kiss at the reception.
I came across this saying in a book I have been reading:
Sticks and stones may break my bones, words destroy the heart and spirit.
That struck something in me.
I experienced some incredibly hurtful words spoken to me a few months ago. Satan has tried to use them to destroy my heart and spirit. I know the words were spoken in the midst of great stress and personal pain, but I think maybe those are the times when we need to guard our words the most. When you are hurting is when it's easier to say hurtful things. Words are powerful. I almost wish the person would have thrown a rock at me. In time, that wound would have healed and probably not left a scar.
Proverbs 15:4 says:
The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.
Recovering from hurtful words is very difficult. Healing from being crushed takes a long time. Those words, only five words, have affected how I look at all my relationships.
I realized yesterday that when I don't look at myself through my Father's eyes, I don't see what He sees. I don't trust His lavish love for me. I don't trust His plan for my life. It affects my relationship with Him.
I struggle with this with my husband too. I don't trust what he sees in me and how he loves me and why he loves me. It affects our relationship.
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
1 John 3:1a
I have been praying to see and feel that lavish love of God's. I know He showed it through Jesus and what Jesus did for my sins. I have asked God to show me in my everyday life.
I came across this quote in an article I was reading. (I don't remember who wrote it so I can give them credit.)
God can heal wounds and turn them into "holy scars" that declare God's grace, mercy and purposes.
I look forward to the day that I can look at this scar left by five words, and only see God's grace, His mercy and His purpose.
Minnie Louise Hawkins wrote this poem in 1908. I thought it was fitting to post on the first day of a new year. May we always remember that God Knows. Nothing Surprises Him.
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.” So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.
So heart be still: What need our little life Our human life to know, If God hath comprehension? In all the dizzy strife Of things both high and low, God hideth His intention.
God knows. His will Is best. The stretch of years Which wind ahead, so dim To our imperfect vision, Are clear to God. Our fears Are premature; In Him, All time hath full provision.
Then rest: until God moves to lift the veil From our impatient eyes, When, as the sweeter features Of Life’s stern face we hail, Fair beyond all surmise God’s thought around His creatures Our mind shall fill.
I have really enjoyed getting into the blog-world. I have made a new friend (and met In Real Life), made other bloggy friends and been able to keep up with far-away friends. There are some pretty funny blogs out there and there are some people that have a gift for writing quite thought provoking posts. I wanted to share a few with you that have touched my heart recently.
Shaun Groves writes about the last two commands from God in Malachi. Awesome-Send-Me-To-My-Knees stuff.
Then there is a blog called Stuff Christians like. And this post. Read It.
Beth Moore and her daughters keep up a blog that is connected with Beth's ministry. This post is full of wisdom and perspective that I think so many of us (including me) miss when we are smacked in the face with really hard stuff like Beth and her family has been recently. Beth had surgery and you just have to read through the post to find out the names of a couple of nurses she had.
I just wanted to share some of my reading with my three or four readers. :)
Saturday, December 19, 2009
C.S. Lewis said, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
There are times in this Christian walk I am on, that I have no choice but to sit back and shake my head in amazement.
Sometimes I am amazed at the hard things: the friends who are getting divorced after almost 30 years of marriage; the cruel things said by someone close who should be a cheerleader rather than a criticizer; the cluelessness of the lost.
Sometimes I am amazed at the overwhelming goodness of God: the Bible verse I read that speaks amazingly specifically to something I am struggling with; sunshine; a song on the radio; the unconditional love of my hubby; friends who take time out of their lives just to help me (and I didn't even ask).
I struggle with throwing around the phrase "God is good." It's not that I think He is not good sometimes. I believe He is good all the time. Yes, He is even good in those terrible heart wrenching times: when the divorce comes at you, when family members treat you badly, when children grow up too fast. He is good then because He always loves me even through those kinds of things. God goes out of his way to show me His love. Even if He is breaking me to teach me how to be more faithful to Him, He is good and He loves me. I think Christians tend to throw around the "God is good" phrase too haphazardly especially when our lives are going the way we want them too. But can we say "God is good" even when things in life stink? I'm learning to.
This verse is one that I have been aware of for several years:
The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17
I just can't quite wrap my brain around God rejoicing over me with singing. What in the world does that look like? I picture me holding my sweet little babies, or sitting on the edge of their beds and singing to them. Is that's what it's like? Does God try to calm me with a song? Does God look at me and do a little happy dance and break into song? Amazing. Simply amazing.
As I was thinking this over, this song came to mind. Worship God with this.
This is a picture of a spot in town that I have been liking to go to to sit in quiet and read my Bible. There have been a lot of cloudy days recently. Outside and in my heart.
But God's word is refreshing. Always.
When I flew to Kansas a while ago it was a dreary day down here on the earth.
After the plane bumped through the clouds, I looked out the window and this is what I saw: In my head I thought, "This is the other side of a cloudy day." No matter the dreariness of the day, rest assured, this is what is on the other side of those clouds.
Psalm 113:3
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.
