A Resting Place

     I woke in the wee hours of this morning with a stomach virus.  Joy.  (Please note extreme sarcasm.)  So, while everything I had planned for today had to be cancelled, the nice thing is that I have had the time to lay around, read, and put a few thoughts on paper…and I’ve decided it’s definitely time for that bathroom remodel I’ve been considering.  I’ll just leave that thought right there.

     One thing that has weighed heavy on my mind lately is the subject of faith.  Knowing (and loving) many people facing heart-breaking circumstances as of late, I have been troubled to constantly question, along with the Savior, “…when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”  (Luke 18:8)    I am a novice student of the Bible and doubt very little you could look elsewhere to find a much more in-depth, accurate study on faith.  I would, however, like to share with you some of the promptings of the Holy Spirit through my personal study and experiences and ask you to prayerfully consider your view and decide whether faith is the real motivator of your decisions and speech.

Something That Should Never Be Called “Faith”:

Denial is not faith!

     Doubtless, we have all heard of the “name it and claim it” movement sweeping the Church-world today.  I believe this movement has done a great deal of harm to real faith in the Church, and is rooted in a humanistic, “mind-over-matter” mentality, instead of the Word of God.  Romans 4:17 seems to be a big calling card verse for this movement, and people have been told to call “those things which be not as though they were.”  We must be very careful to view every verse of Scripture in its context!  If you will read the verse in its entirety, you will see that the Apostle Paul is speaking of “…even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. “  It is God who speaks things into existence from nothingness.  We are mortals, in a sin-cursed world.  Adversities and sicknesses are inevitable.  Even Jesus was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief”. (Isa. 53:3)  So much of the praise He is worthy of has been stolen by this incorrect view of Scripture, and I am convinced Satan himself is at the root of its lie.  When we deny someone has an illness, for example, we will probably not pray as we have been commanded, and when Christ does heal, He is not praised for His work or answer to our prayer…because we have simply ignored the problem.  We have taken the easy way out.  We have replaced asking in faith with pretense and denial.  This is simply unscriptural.    

     My friends, as much as I can possibly know my own heart…I am speaking out of love for you.  Denying the problem is robbing God of His Son’s glory, and breaking His heart.  Please note that every instance in the Bible where a miracle performed by Christ is recorded…He acknowledged the infirmity first.  The woman who touched His garment’s hem and received healing is referred to as “diseased with an issue of blood”.  (Matthew 9:20)  How could we ever forget the man who was “born blind” who received his sight at Jesus’ touch?   So many other examples are given of the miracles of our Master!  However, none of them would have been miracles had everyone denied the condition of the seekers.  Matthew 15:31 says, “Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel.”

     Can you see how Satan has used this lie to his advantage?  The cruel irony is that scores of Christians end up carrying the burden of problems through denial instead of saying, “Here is the problem, Lord.  It is too much for me, but I know You are able to bear every burden, and I will not look on my faith, but on You, the Author and Finisher of my faith.”  You will end up weary and jaded if you place your confidence in anything other than His stripes for our healing.  There is no peace or assurance in looking within ourselves or looking away.  We must be sure to always be “Looking unto Jesus.” (Hebrews 12:2)        

“My faith has found a resting place,
Not in device nor creed;
I trust the Ever-living One,
His wounds for me shall plead.”

Standing for Stephen

September 4, 2019: This blog has been slightly edited from the original shared seven years ago. I pray it serves to strengthen our resolve to Jesus who gives and sustains our personal lives and the life of His Church.  

     This particular blog is a sort of compilation of some of my journal entries from the last several months, so forgive me if it jumps around a bit.  Though we’ll look at two very different  passages, there seems, to me, to be a common thread.  Isn’t that how it is when God is moving and teaching in your life?  It’s that way for me, and frankly, it can be exhausting.  For example, if God is dealing with me about being more faithful in my devotional time, I’ll come across stories, e-mails, or songs that remind me that I will be weak spiritually without the Bread of Life.  My kids will ask for an extra roll, and my mind goes to an account in Scripture. I’ll go to buy hotdog buns and be convicted.  It never ends!!!  I’m sure that this comes as no surprise to anyone who has read my blog since I began writing seven months ago.  My life has a general theme…an overall desire…ever-present obstacles…just like everyone else’s.  I’m only thankful God stays long enough to ensure I get the point.  And I’m thankful you have all joined me in the journey.

     Since Christmas, I have been reading a commentary on the life of the Apostle Paul, “To Live is Christ”, by Beth Moore.  I love everything about Paul’s conversion and service to Christ and have read the accounts many times down through the years.  Yet, until I read this book, it had never really occurred to me that all of Paul’s actions before his conversion were rooted in genuine passion for the Law of God.  He was a devout Jew…the ultimate Pharisee…someone convinced of the truth and concerned with its holiness being respected and preserved.  So convinced and determined, in fact, that while he was still Saul, he persecuted those who believed and confessed the Lord Jesus Christ, and found crumpled at his feet the coat of the first martyr, Stephen.  (Acts 7:54-59)  This excerpt from Beth Moore’s book speaks volumes and gains a different perspective of that day’s occurrences:

     “As Jesus watched, He didn’t miss a single nod of Saul’s phylacteried head.  Remember, Christ was up on His feet at the time.  Can you imagine the alloy of emotions He must have experienced as He looked on the two key players in the kingdom that day?  One for Him.  One against Him.  One covered in blood.  The other covered by prayer shawls.  One who could not save himself from men.  The other who could not save himself from sin.  One dead in body but alive in spirit.  One loved by God.  And the other loved by God.  Grace, grace, God’s grace.”

     Paul was standing for what he had always stood for, and Stephen was dying for something new…Someone new.  Christ had come to fulfill the Law that Saul was defending, and soon he would find himself (as Paul) convincing others that they were "not being asked to forsake their history, but merely accept the rest of the story." (Beth Moore)  I believe Saul’s intentions were good…that he was doing what he thought was right.  The simple truth, however, is that he was wrong.  The Messiah had come, and everything had changed.  His rules felt safe because they were familiar, but had he not accepted the Christ who came to “make all things new”, he and the countless others influenced by his future ministry would have faced an eternity lost and separated from God. 

     May I make a comparison?  In Luke 5:36-38, Jesus teaches, “…No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old.  And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles perish.  But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.”  Ultimately, the old will be gone...unless it is preserved through the new. A blood line ceases if nothing new is ever reproduced...but reproduction doesn’t produce a carbon copy. The offspring will bear strong similarities, but it will still be new, and it's only reasonable to expect it to adapt to its surroundings...or you minimize its effect and possibly ensure its death. Then, all the influence of the family line is gone.  
     The Church has long forfeited the opportunity to influence lives for the cause of Christ at the determination to keep a grip on the old bottle. May I say this without meaning offense to any of my fellow believers?  No matter how high you hold the bottle, it is still destined to burst.  Clutch it tight and hold it close, but you will ultimately grasp broken pieces and weep as all it once held perishes with it.  Because the old bottle is no good?  No!  It simply cannot contain new wine.  

     I am so weary of people trying to shove me back into an old bottle!  I don’t sing the songs I sang ten years ago.  Am I thankful I had them ten years ago?  Yes, but I am even more thankful God is still speaking and doing a new work in music today…something new that appeals to my generation and the younger generation.  I am also weary of hearing the “where are the D.L. Moody’s and the Billy Sundays?  The Elisabeth Elliots?”  We have just as godly men and women now. They won’t be dressed the same. They may have a different delivery, but they are here…making a difference for Christ.  Will we be the ones standing for them?  Encouraging them?  Or will we clutch our traditions and pride and have secret satisfaction when they leave the church misunderstood and defeated?  It’s really all become a game, hasn’t it?  The old “winers” against the new “winers”.  The old bottles “wine” over the new music, clothes, and methods.  The new bottles “wine” over their exhaustion from trying to please the old bottles.  And, sadly, our influence spills to the earth and dries into the dust.  And we, like Saul of Tarsus, stand by. Except we do it, as believers. 

     But, remember that while Stephen’s faithful, precious blood stained the sand that day, Someone else was standing.  Beth Moore describes it beautifully:

“Just a day in the life of a man named Stephen.  A shooting star.  He had one brief performance.  One chance on stage.  But it was absolutely unforgettable.  As the curtain fell on his life, he received a standing ovation from the only One who really mattered.”

     Are we on our feet for the Stephens of this time in church history? Commemorating the past has its place, but we will not move forward by mixing the old & new wine...the old & new methods, old & new stigmas, old & new music, etc. We will either watch the Stephens of this generation as Saul or as Jesus. One stood over him, the other stood for him. There is no straddling the fence, here. To stand with Saul is to consent to death.  We are either shoulder to shoulder with self & tradition or we are shoulder to shoulder with Jesus in this. Lord, let us be making the right stand!  But, please help us stop mixing in the old...commemorating our glory days, because mixing the old & new may please many, but, if there is to be even the slightest new wine, an explosion is inevitable. And, while that may cause a few moments of excitement, the ultimate result will be destruction...something that grieves the heart of God and slows the advance of the truth.     
     I pray that I am found presently standing for the servants in the time of church history in which God has placed me.  And if God gives me a few decades more to live, I fully expect the services, dress, music...all of it to be very different than it is now.  And I so hope it is! That will be a beautiful testament to the creativity of my God who makes all things new. I hope I walk into church as if walking into a delivery room with all of its different sights and sounds...machines, protocol, stuff they didn't have when I was born.  All different!  But all designed to welcome new life into a world that so desperately needs it. I pray I will be the spiritual grandmother, maybe feeling a little out of place, but there celebrating life, embracing the "newborns", encouraging the "parents", knowing that this new beautiful creation born into a world to which is does not belong may endure great persecution...but they can count on me to stand in support, surrender, admiration, and intercession. 
     Saul eventually embraced the new that Stephen died for. I love that about Paul, but what I love most is that he spent the rest of his earthly life refusing to live as an old bottle trying to carry new wine. He never patched some old fabric here and there to keep the Pharisees happy. He was made new, filled with new wine, and nothing else would ever do. It was that newness that changed his direction, gave him a new name, and turned the world upside-down. God wants to do that for the present church. May we stand for the Stephens God has entrusted to our charge, be filled with new wine, and poured out as the offering Christ deserves. 
      

Isaiah 65:8 “Thus saith the LORD, …the new wine is found…Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it.”

This Stinks!

     As much as I wish I had some bit of profound wisdom to share today, the truth is, I’m up to my elbows in ordinary again.  I’m slightly perturbed at the manufacturers of Safeguard because the whole pack of bath soap I bought last week smells lemony.  I’ve already opened three bars, and sure enough, they all smell the same.  Why couldn’t they just leave it alone?  I love Safeguard, but if this unfamiliar scent graces the next pack, I’ll be forced to move on to another antibacterial bath bar…a decision that pains me greatly.  Change is one thing.  Change where I have to make a decision is another thing completely!  Luckily, my Mr. Clean with GAIN has offset the Safeguard disappointment, and now instead of unfamiliar, lemony, cheap soap smell, my bathroom odor (and whole upstairs, for that matter) resembles a freshly washed load of laundry.  That reminds me.  The shower curtain needs washed.  *sigh* It stuck to my leg last night, and I thought I may have to consider an amputation. 

     Life is a vapor.  That means it passes fast…and frankly, sometimes it stinks.  My only word of advice is to pray for contentment instead of attempting to understand the situation, and “walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.”(Eph. 5:2)

1Timothy 6:6 “But godliness with contentment is great GAIN.”  ;-)

Our God, Jealous

     Yesterday, a dear friend posted a video on her facebook wall that has broken and convicted my heart.  I laid awake thinking on it last night, and felt compelled to share it.  I know nothing about the book they are endorsing, and I cannot affirm the facts they claim of the religion she is following.  I am most deeply moved by her actual words in the video.  Please take a few minutes to watch.  My thoughts follow. 

   

     Oprah’s answer is that her doubts about the character of God began when she heard that God was a “jealous God”, because, as she said, “God is love.”  Never a truer statement has ever been made than Oprah’s claim to 1 John 4:8, which plainly states “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”  Yet, Exodus 34:14 is just as true to state “For thou shalt worship no other god:  for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God”.  How often have you heard someone praise their God, Jealous?  And, yet, here is a verse telling us that Jealous is one of the names of the God of Heaven.  It can seem contradictory to us until we explore what jealousy is, and more importantly, determine its motive in these verses.  But, first, let’s sidebar for a minute: 

     Scripture is riddled with examples like the above…phrases that seem like oxymorons or oddities.  Example:  2 Corinthians 7:10 mentions “godly sorrow”, while James 1:17 says “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights”.  Does this same God who gives good and perfect gifts also give sorrow?  Yes, because, if you read all of 2 Corinthians 7:10, you’ll see that the sorrow leads to “repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”  God, in His mercy, makes us sorrowful for our sin to deliver us from eternal death.  There are countless examples in Scripture, but we won’t review them all now. 

     Also, consider this before we explore the motives of our jealous God.  “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” Romans 11:33 Why?  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.” Isaiah 55:8 To claim we could fully understand God’s motives or search out His wisdom would be a great pretense indeed!  Though we have been created in His image and feel many of the same things He felt in His bodily form here on earth, we must always remember that those same feelings and emotions have been tainted by sin, while He remained completely sinless.  Our anxiety is different from the anxiety He felt.  We are usually anxious over ourselves or our possessions, while the well-being of others and, ultimately, the salvation of our souls caused His grief.  Our anger is usually self-motivated, while His was a “zeal” over the reproach of His Father’s Name and His Word.  (Psalm 69:9)  Our joy is usually self-centered, while His was completely selfless.  “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross…”  Hebrews 12:2  My heart is overflowing right now!  Oh, the sorrows He endured for me!  Could it be anything other than wondrous love? 

     With that being said, I would like to offer two possible motives of our God, Jealous.  (Shew!  I almost gave it away!)  

1.        His love for us is His jealousy’s cause. 

     Imagine, as a parent, watching one of your children love and adore someone else.  Now, because I love my children, there is an automatic twinge of jealousy that sweeps through my heart at the sight, but that’s squelched by the fact that I know my children love me and they are loyal to me.  At the end of the day, they’ll want me to tuck them in, and it’s my hand they’ll want holding theirs in the scary times.  But, what if one of them decided to choose a new mom?  What if they simply chose to discredit the care and love they had been shown and go live with someone else?  Naturally, I would be jealous.  Not because I believe the other mom is better or more adequate, but because I am the one who has loved my child since before her birth.  I am the one who has tried to meet her every need and give her the desires of her heart.  Isn’t it only reasonable to expect her love in return?  My love for her would make me jealous.  

     It is just as reasonable for a God who was gracious enough to create us in His image, give us a free will, then send His Son to redeem us from turning from Him to expect our love and be jealous when we choose to worship another god…or simply refuse to worship Him.  Jealousy is a result of love, whether it is our love of self or God’s love of us.

2.       His Omniscience is His jealousy’s cause.

     Omniscient means “having universal knowledge or knowledge of all things; infinitely knowing; all-seeing; as the omniscient God.”  Imagine, again, that in the above story, I was omniscient. (That’s a big stretch, since I don’t even know what I’m fixing for supper this evening.)  Imagine that before my daughter left to live with her new mother, I told her all the terrible things that would transpire through her life… that the other mother, though she pretended to have her best interest at heart, ultimately aimed to destroy her and separate us forever.  Her new mother would see that she married, had children, was successful, and surrounded with any material thing she desired.  She would even be allowed to visit me occasionally through the years, but nothing personal.  The visits would eventually be refused, but a reference to me would be allowed here or there, but only references to my existence…never to what I had done for her.  Then, “for her own good”, she would be encouraged to simply stop believing I had ever existed.  After all, I only held rules that would inhibit her.  The rules would be emphasized and the love would be denied and forgotten.  My daughter would live out her life, seemingly peaceably, then die with her new mother holding her hand and secretly, deviously enjoying watching her slip into eternity…without me. 

     That story makes me boil with jealousy.  Does anything make you more upset than to see someone you love make a wrong choice because they simply will not hear the truth?  Even from someone whom they know loves them?  I think one more thing makes God, in His omniscience, a little more angry. 

     See, in my story, my daughter lived a seemingly peaceful life, but such would not be the case for her children and grandchildren.  Exodus 20:5 commands us to not bow to other gods “…for I, the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me”.  One thing I have learned and seen down through the years is that sin visits.  So many times, children reap the consequences of their parents’ sin.  It is heartbreaking to watch! 

     There are countless untruths that Oprah is believing...by choosing not to "believe" and basing her life on feelings.  The greatest is that a God who is love cannot be a God who is jealous, when the reality is that He is jealous because He loves.  And He loves her as much as He loves me.  My prayer is that Oprah will see the truth of God’s Word and His love for her.  I wish her no ill whatsoever.  I am, however, very disappointed that she is using her world influence to spread heresy, and I believe Christians need to speak out against this false religion.  I am most heartbroken that she has been so deceived and turned against Jesus and His work on the cross on her behalf.  I pray God sends a messenger of Truth to her, that she will repent, and use the forum God has allowed her for the Gospel’s sake. 

“Retirement may be lovely in its season, and to hide one’s self is doubtless modest, but the hiding of Christ in us can never be justified, and the keeping back of truth which is precious to ourselves is a sin against others and an offence against God.” ~ Spurgeon    

Love is Here

     Another Christmas…another string of lights on pine branches, popsicle stick ornaments, cordial cherries, and broken candy canes. (They always break at our house, anyway.)  I struggle every year to make Christmas memorable for my loved ones, but dare not forget that many would greatly benefit from the amount we spend on wrapping paper and boxes to pile at the curb for disposal.  I am not one to scold others for “extravagant” Christmases, because Christ’s birth was, without doubt, the greatest extravagance of Heaven given on our behalf.  When blessed with the means, it only seems sensible to me that we would give more this time of year.  The food should be better and the songs should be sweeter.  Christ has come! 

     One cold, rainy day this week, my girls and I drove our minivan stuffed with gifts past a white-bearded man trying to thumb a ride.  To offer a ride would have been unwise, but we did circle back and give him part of our supper.  Still, as his silhouette faded in my rearview mirror, I couldn’t help but weep at how little we really had to offer and wonder if that was the only life he had ever known.  Whose child was he?  Or father?  Would my children rest in safety and warmth that night because he had fought for their freedom in years past?  Would he spend Christmas alone?  Why was I the one in the minivan?  Obviously, most are questions I’ll never know the answer to and all are problems beyond my control.  Then, across the radio, a melody reminded me that Christ had come.

     We can dwell so much on the negative, out-of-our-control things that the blessings of life come and go without having received our attention.  We really can forget that He is here.  I battle constantly with simply accepting that God is in control…that He is here!  He hears the cries of neglected children and sees the tears of lonely widows.  He feels the ache of soldiers far from home and longs to fill the souls left empty and searching for something to believe in.  His Christmas present is simply that He was (and still is) willing to be present.

     Tomorrow, I’ll visit the grave of a loved one departed.  Someone who lived a life so beautiful that even the name carved in stone brings a smile to the soul and floods the heart with memories.  Lingering close by will be that same Comforter whose presence is always “…nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”  I’ll need Him tomorrow, just like every other day, and He’ll be there.  Though my needs are different from those of the weary, homeless traveler, I’ll be no less needy and His love and concern for me will be just as sufficient as to any other who calls on Him for help.  He is “Emmanuel…God with us.”   

     Christmas is here, and that means Christ is here…with us…all of us.   

The Music of Christmas

         By Steven Curtis Chapman   

There's a man who stands in the cold wind tonight,

And he greets everyone passing by

with a smile and a ringing bell;

And the song that he's playing,

is his own way of saying:

Love is here.  It's the music of Christmas.

And there's a lady who sits all alone with her thoughts,

And the memories of all that she's lost,

When she hears a sound at her door,

And a song comes to find her,

as a gentle reminder:

Love is here.  It's the music of Christmas.

CHORUS

So listen, listen with your heart

And you will hear a song in the laughter of a child.

Oh won't you listen for the sound of hope,

And you will hear the music of Christmas,

For the music of Christmas is love; Oh, its love.

So light the fire, tell the family to gather around,

And the walls will echo the sound

Of memories that are and will be;

And their voices, like a chorus,

will sing it so sweetly for us;

Love is here.  It's the music of Christmas.

Long ago, a baby was born in the night,

And as He let out His very first cry,

The sound was bringing hope alive.

Stars were shining, angels singing;

All heaven and earth was ringing:

Love is here.  This is the music of Christmas.

Basket Case (Conclusion)

     It is also very true that Christ could have made baskets magically appear, but it seems if that were part of the story, it would have been recorded.  It is also very clear in so many of Christ’s miracles, and even more in my personal life, that while God is certainly miraculous, He is also very practical.  An example that comes to mind is the Ark of the Covenant, which contained several physical reminders of God’s miraculous works on behalf of the children of Israel and where the Holy Spirit of God rested between the cherubim on its surface and spoke to Moses.  The Ark was a source of great blessing to the children of Israel, but it still had to be physically carried.  God gives every bit of increase in our lives, but He still leaves the planting and watering up to us.  “It is the same divine power, though exerted in an ordinary way, which multiplies the seed sown in the ground every year, and makes the earth yield her increase; so that what was brought out by handfuls, is brought home in sheaves.  This is the Lord’s doing.”~Matthew Henry 

     Wherever the baskets came from, the fact remains that several people left this desert place carrying a basket of fragments.  God’s Word doesn’t tell us who carried the twelve baskets away, but I suspect they were people who needed them.  The word “fragments” brings to mind Ruth’s “handfuls of purpose”.  Ruth accepted the handfuls of purpose because she needed them.  How much we need every fragment of God’s blessing! 

     Can I share a bit of advice with you…from one basket case to another?  Carry what matters.  “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” 1Timothy 6:7  We all have desert places, but God can bring us out of them with our bellies full and baskets of fragments to remind us of the work He has done on our behalf and enough to spare for others we pass along the way. 

Psalm 78:19 “…Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?”  God can.

Basket Case (Part 2)

     As they say…the rest is history.  Jesus blessed the fishes and everyone in the desert that day “…did eat, and were filled.”  A wonderful story of God’s blessings and provision, but what I love most is the next portion of Matthew 14:20: “…and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.”  Maybe it’s trivial, but one question always comes to mind when I read this account.  Where did the baskets come from?  Keep in mind that, in a desert place, anything they carried would surely be a necessity.  I would consider food the most common necessity to man…and yet the only amount of it found amongst such a great multitude was five loaves and two fishes.  It seems strange to me that five thousand people (and many more were assumed to be present) would leave home without so much as a bag lunch.  My family hardly makes it to church and back without a snack thrown in there somewhere!  So, consider with me, and please offer any suggestions you may have about the following questions:

Ø  Did someone bring an empty basket?

·         Maybe they had nothing.  “It shall even be as when an angry man dreameth, and behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty.”  I know lots of people carrying around empty souls.  Jesus can fill you!

·         Maybe the world had emptied their baskets.  “…for the emptiers have emptied them out, and marred their vine branches.”  Christian friend, be very careful of the emptiers!  Always yielding to someone else’s demands (besides God’s) in your life is a sure way to look back with regret on a fruitless, joyless life.

·         Maybe they emptied their baskets in the desert that day.  I wonder if someone there looked at their basket of “things” and realized what little worth they possessed compared to bread blessed by the Son of God.  I have so much to learn in this walk with my Savior, but one thing I have definitely found to be true is that there are things we will have to cast down to carry the blessing of God on our lives.  We read in Genesis how Rebekah “…hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.”  Doubtless, a life with Isaac was a pretty good return on her investment of a few pitchers of water!  We all know that we must “…lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us…” and cast “…down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,” but I suspect that many struggle (along with me) more with the command in 1 Peter 5:7:  “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”  I read somewhere once that time spent worrying is time spent saying, “God is not enough.”  God help us.  God help me.

     I would be remised to side step the fact that God can also empty us.  In Ruth 1:21, Naomi says “I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty.”  Sometimes, God will empty us so He can give a much greater blessing.  While the process is extremely painful, His good will ultimately far outweigh our bad!

·          Maybe they came expecting a miracle.  Could it be that the 2 Kings account of the widow came to their minds?  2 Kings 4:3 “Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.”  Sometimes faith is the provision.  I’m ashamed to say it, but this bread is the hardest for me to swallow.  Sadly, in my times of little faith, even when His hand gives provision, my wandering heart is left feeling empty.  On the contrary, I’ve looked back on the times of life when I felt fullest as almost always being the “leanest” times, materially speaking.  How satisfying the substance of faith and how much more satisfying is the thought of my faith ending in sight!  “I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.” Psalm 17:15

                                                                                                                      

                                                                                                                             Continued

Basket Case

     Today, in my devotions, I read of the John 6 account, where Jesus fed the five thousand.  It brought to mind a lesson I taught at a ladies’ meeting a few years back, and I found myself digging out the old binder to review my notes.  Often I begin a blog not really knowing the turns it will take or where it will end up, and this is one of those.  It is my prayer that God will direct the compass needle and that I won’t fall asleep at the wheel.  It’s only fair that I warn you, though.  I may have to pull over and ask for directions.

     This miracle, unlike most Jesus performed while present in human flesh, was recorded in all four gospels, and although it most certainly would be evidence of His identity and power, He performed it because He was simply “…moved with compassion toward them” (Matt. 14:14).  How wonderful to have a Savior who is so moved!  Isaiah 63:9 foretold what great love He would possess and bestow upon us… “In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them:  in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.”

     I love to imagine the back-and-forth between Jesus and His disciples here, as they reminded Him that this was…

1.        “A desert place” (not to be confused with a dessert place, like Cheesecake Factory *snicker*).

2.       The time was “now past”. In other words, it was late and they could use some shut-eye.

3.       Their suggestion:  “Send the multitude away”.  Something tells me that, although Jesus understood the exhaustion of the disciples, this suggestion probably made His heart ache just a little.  How many times have I thought the “multitude” was just asking too much of me…when, in reality, they had nowhere else to turn?

     In John’s account of this miracle, Jesus asked the disciples, “Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” Beth Moore points out in “Jesus, the One and Only” that “Christ sometimes provokes a question so that He can be the answer.”  That was, most certainly, the case here in this desert place!  Then, almost strangely, He looks at the disciples and tells them to feed the multitude.  It seems almost unfair to the disciples, except when we remember that the source of their exhaustion was from healing the sick and even raising the dead.  Hadn’t they been fed by Jesus before?  Hadn’t His command been “…freely ye have received, freely give”?  Unfortunately, the disciples were guilty of what we, so many times are also guilty of.  “…We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.”  Friend, never feel inadequate when following a command from God!  His specialty is making much from nothing!

     Then, Jesus takes the bread, and after blessing it, He breaks it.  It is so easy to release something to God when we know it will be returned with His blessing, but surrendering anything to Him to break at His will is a much more difficult task.  Matthew Henry said “As the widow’s oil increased in the pouring out, so here the bread in the breaking.”  Any life where the sweet scent of love and blessing lingers is sure to have an alabaster box in pieces at His feet. 

                                                                                                                                                                         Continued…  

The Many Blessings

     Thanksgiving was day before yesterday, and my newest niece was born the day before that, so…although I have spent much of the time thinking of God’s goodness, I thought of it on the run and haven’t felt like I had the time to put any of it on paper.  This morning, I stole a few minutes to do so.  I know it’s belated, but fortunately, giving thanks isn’t reserved for only one day of the year.

Earlier:

     As I sit here at my desk trying to do some studying, I can’t help but think of the many blessings I’ve seen in my thirty-three years.  “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”  I love what the Psalmist is saying here, to remember every benefit He has graced upon me would be an impossibility.  The childhood sicknesses He healed, the memories of family and friends, the times He touched my broken heart…these alone are countless blessings.  Doubtless, the greatest of blessings is that He took the time to move on my eleven year old heart and show me my need of His salvation and guidance in my life.  The God of heaven and earth took the time to send His convicting Spirit up a West Virginia hollow to change the life of a freckle-faced, ugly-feeling girl at church camp!  I’m wiping tears at the thought.  Oh, friends, God has been good to me!

     Am I still ordinary?  Painfully so!  But, His blessings toward me are extraordinary!  To count a few…my girls just left their tree house to run next door to grandparents who love them, a naked deer hangs in a tree in the front yard (Gross, I know, but it will fill our bellies.), I’m wearing warm clothes and already have gifts under the Christmas tree.  So, today, I’ll try to not focus on my short-comings, but rather on His far-reaching.  I’m also going to pretend I don’t see the dogs rolling in the deer guts.  Lovely.    

Chicken Dance

     “Reach” screams the little voice in my head (No comments, please.), so I reach.  I stretch.  I stand on my mental tiptoes and extend every ounce of intellectual energy (Again…no comments.), and the only end result is the phrase I read on a friend’s facebook wall this morning… “I dream of a better world.  One where a chicken can cross the road without its motives being questioned.”  I know.  Deep.  But aren’t we all just chickens trying to get to the other side?  Do we really have to be so skeptical of every spoken word?  Every nod?  Every glance?  Every smile?  Every change?  Sadly, we do have to use extreme caution in a world that is seemingly growing more evil by the second, but amongst ourselves, can we please just put away the “I’m taking every little word you say as a personal attack or compromise on your part based on our/your history” attitude for the Thanksgiving and Christmas season?  And if you just took this personal, you’re totally missing the point.  It’s not aimed at any soul but my own. 

     So, that’s it.  If you’re in search of profound words of wisdom to guide you on your way, sadly, you stumbled across the wrong blog today.  The plain truth is I’m just a big, fat chicken trying to avoid becoming another smear of road kill on the freeway of life.  The other plain truth is the traffic patterns change, so I have to change to survive them.   If I dart your way (like a chicken with her head cut off), I may just be dodging a semi you don’t see. 

The Good Part

     I have a small confession.  I could spend a good hour in the greeting card isle.  I have to prepare myself and even evaluate whether I’m up to the task or not.  It’s such an emotional roller coaster!  Laughing one minute…crying the next…it can be quite pathetic, and if we’re ever out shopping together and you’re easily embarrassed, you may want to slip away to the grocery section or at least linger one isle over.  It’s a sort of brief escape from reality.  (On a side note…I think Wal-Mart could benefit greatly from making the card section a little coffee house of sorts, with benches and cappuccinos and maybe some soft music.  That’s just my opinion, though.)

     Anyway… this is my week to drive the school carpool.  On the way home this morning, I wondered, “If my life was represented on a greeting card, how would it read?  What illustration or emblem would grace the front to catch the shopper’s eye?”  Immediately, a card a dear friend sent me years ago came to mind that pictures a fifties-era woman with perfect hair and a perfect smile, standing in her kitchen, wearing an apron, holding a mop.  I can’t recall the exact words, but it said something about her spending her spare time polishing her floors to a lovely shine, then the inside read, “Help me.”  Though I’m sure the picture on my card would most definitely not include perfect hair, polished nails or heels, the gist would most likely be the same.  The caption would probably read, “Hello.  I’m Mrs. Ordinary”, and this little punch line on the inside – “My extra is apparently missing right now.  Maybe I left it in the pocket of the jeans I just threw into the washer or it rolled under the beds I haven’t made yet.” 

     My daily struggle is this:  The only thing extraordinary about me is all of the extra ordinary.  If you’re looking for ordinary, you’ve come to the right place.  I have it in extra amounts!  “Can I interest you in some mundane or seemingly trivial?  I can serve that up hot and fresh with a side of guilt over discontentment and a steaming cup of restless anticipation.  Oh, and who wants to sip on restless anticipation without a couple lumps of aimlessness?   Wow.  Sarcasm is an ugly thing, isn’t it?  To my shame, I keep heaping helpings of that, too.  Unfortunately, it makes its way off the back burner too often.

     So, like the fifties lady from the greeting card, I’m left asking for help.  Even though my emotions are screaming otherwise, I know He will help.  I know His command is for me to live for His greatness, instead of my own and to always put the eternal above the temporal.  Today, I simply refuse to be so “cumbered about much serving” that the “needful”, “good part” leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  So, my solution this morning is to put off mopping the floors until Monday, spend extra time in the Word, and go have coffee with my mom.  Since my husband is working and my girls are at school, she and Dad are the only other things of eternal value within walking distance.  Dark and strong, please, with no cream.                

Luke 10:38-42