Choose Life

     My friend, Bethany Dillon, posted an article entitled "What to do When Your Church is Changing" to her Facebook, this afternoon. It was exactly what The Lord had been speaking to my heart. I thought I would take the opportunity to share my heart with you today.
     Though some of us would like to temporarily revisit the birth or infant-hood of our children, only an unnatural affection for that child would wish them to live a life without growth and change. To wish that for your infant would be to rob them of their life, because life is just that...a series of growth and change. If we were to receive the tragic news of a loved one receiving an injury or illness that left them physically alive, but incapable of walking, talking, or speaking - if they could breathe and all of their organs function normally, and perhaps they could even think, but possess no means of expressing their thoughts or feelings because they could only communicate on the same level as an infant - we would say that person's "life" had been cut short...that they were not really "living".
     This will sound offensive, but I can't help but wonder whether someone is spiritually alive when they want to be what they were forty, twenty, or even one year ago. I certainly hope I have learned, changed, and grown in the past year, and I CERTAINLY pray I do not possess the same maturity and understanding I possessed as an infant! Occasionally, I would like to revisit my childhood. I remember the safety and the love of my parents. I would relish running along the creek banks and building stick forts with my cousin Shannon or walking the railroad tracks with my grandfather, but consider how much life I would leave behind. And not just for me. That life preserved and unchanged would mean a world without my husband, my children, my walk with Christ since I was saved...and that's no life at all.  Similarly, a church clinging to the past is wishing its future away. Lives God placed you in your community have been unaffected and the "family" He willed for you is nonexistent...because you stopped "living" years ago. 
    Suppose with me that a living, healthy person was placed in a tomb filled with rotting corpses. If he remained, he would be poisoned by their condition of death, until he was at last, dead as well. Be careful to recognize a tomb when you see one. Tombs may have a very different beginning, but once they shelter death, they are rarely anything else. If  you're part of a church that is trying to change and grow, you should thank God for sending someone into your fellowship who is fighting for life...for your life , the lives of your children and of so many others. You are blessed. God is extending His life-giving grace to you. If you are the only one fighting for life, you may need to leave the tomb. (I know Someone with experience in that situation, by the way.) 

"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." - Deuteronomy 30:19

Here's the link I mentioned at the beginning:
                    http://joemckeever.com/wp/church/

Ears to Hear

     I ran just ran (literally) up the stairs to type this.  The girls are out walking their new puppy, and I am trying to take advantage of the few minutes of peace and quiet that buys me.  A thought has been on my heart the last few weeks, and I am determined to get it in writing before it’s lost forever…banished to the land of busy young mothers’ thoughts, where school lunch orders roam and intentions of healthier cooking and exercise beg in the streets. That sounds more like an inner city than a land.  Yeah…an inner city of gangster grocery lists and mafia closet organizers.            “Yo, Vinnie, we’re out of cereal.”  

      “Me?  You talkin’ to me?”  Anyway…

     I recently read a quote by Oswald Chambers that has been in my thoughts every day since.  “We show how little love we have for God by preferring to listen to His servants rather than to Him.”  Read it again, and let it sink in.

     Before we go further, let me say - People in ministry, as we are, will agree when I say that we live with the constant realization that everything we say or write is examined meticulously and poked and prodded for any hint of accusation or judgment.  That isn’t whining.  It is the fact of the matter…and rightly so.  We are as apt to misuse our influence as any other fallible human being.  With that being said, please know that anything in this blog is intended for my own personal accountability to Christ and to encourage others to grow closer in devotion to Him.  This is not a soapbox.  It is just how the Lord has dealt with me, personally. 

     In Exodus 20:19, the Israelites said to Moses, “Speak thou with us, and we will hear:  but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”  I have read this passage many times through the years, but only in these last few weeks has the sadness of it stood out to me.  Here, their God is speaking…and they’re too afraid to hear.  Here is the One who proved their worth by sending plagues and pestilence on the land that held them captive, the God who spared their children on the night of the Passover, the God who gave them a leader like Moses, the God who miraculously parted the Red Sea for their deliverance, then destroyed their enemies before their eyes, the God who led them and sent them manna, quail, and water in the wilderness.  Here He is giving His laws…laws that guarantee a life of even more blessing, but they’re still uncomfortable, still reluctant, still unacquainted.  They would still rather hear Moses. 

          God saved me when I was eleven years old.  I have said so many times that God not only saved my soul, but because when He saved me while I was young, He saved my whole life.  Yet, even after all of the good He has wrought in my life in the twenty-five years since, there are times I find myself settling for comfort or advice...or even correction from a “Moses” in my life. There is nothing wrong with testimonies (I love them), but if you crave that over preaching, you’re settling for a Moses.  There is nothing wrong with worship music (I love it), but if that’s the only sound bites of Scripture in your life between church services, you’re settling for a Moses.  If you run to a friend (no matter how godly they are) instead of to God in prayer, you’re settling for a Moses.  I am a worship leader, but if you can only worship when someone else “leads” you into worship, you’re settling for a Moses. 

     If you’re sitting back wondering what my beef is with Moses or if I am encouraging you to disregard the preaching or teaching of those God has placed in spiritual authority in your life, you have grossly misunderstood me.  I will even go so far as to urge you to BE a Moses.  Verse 21 says that “Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.”  Moses was an organizer and a leader.  There is much to admire in Moses.  The point is that instead of following his example, they followed him, and drew near to him, and listened to him…rather than being close enough to hear from God for themselves.  Verse 21 also says that, after all that God had brought them through and blessed them with, “the people stood afar off.”  That statement convicts me at the deepest part of my heart.  I certainly hope that after all God has done for me, I don’t wake up one day to realize that I have kept Him at arm’s length, and ignored Him by turning to a person for guidance, over the One who loved me and gave Himself for me. 

     It is time to draw nigh to God for yourself.  Be thankful for the “Moseses” God has placed in your life, but let us determine together to stay so personally acquainted with God through His Word that in every situation, nothing else will give direction and peace.  Let's love Him enough for all He is and for all He has done, to have ears to hear Him for ourselves.      

"...Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee..." Ezekiel 40:4

Flourish

     This morning, I read over last year's "Resolution" blog.(http://thedaringlife.blogspot.com/2013/01/resolution.html)  As expected, my heart ached at the memory of that time.  I found myself counting the failures again and felt the old familiar heartache of hopes deferred and friendships lost.  And, then, the Holy Spirit, in His kindness, convicted me so deeply.  It seems strange to call conviction a kindness, but there is nothing so kind as the reminder that He is present…hearing every prayer and knowing every thought of my heart.  As clearly as He has ever spoken to my heart, He reminded me of His presence and work in every single situation that transpired throughout this past year and that every single bit of it was an answer to my own prayer.  The prayer to be more transparent – undoubtedly every ugly and vulnerable thing was exposed.  The prayer to stand – Only by His grace was I able to withstand the heartache.  The prayer to serve – It was how I survived.  The prayer to change – Oh my word!  So much change! 

     He answered every single prayer and has spent the last few days showing me that I have wasted so much time focusing on what I have lost versus what He has given.  I'll honestly admit, friends, that nearly every bit of my energy this year was spent on surviving.  It was my focus…just survive, keep your head above water, Laura… Clark's ministry needs you, your children need you, your testimony is based on whether you make it through this, or not.  I know we all go through "surviving times", and dreams of a life without difficulty are a waste of time and energy, but I am ready to move out of survival mode.  God's blessings are not made to be survived. 

     With that being said, I simply resolve to thrive…to praise Him for His presence and power in my life, to be that tree whose roots, though exposed, exist for the sole purpose of reaching the water, knowing my God created me to flourish. 

"And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it." Ezekiel 17:24