Emily and Jonathan

It has been too long since I have blogged. Mainly because life this past week has been so incredibly full that I had no time. So this early Sunday morning I sit quietly in the living room, just having finished my scripture reading. Tim is driving to Ohio to preach and spend some time there and Angela is still sleeping. I contemplate the coming days as they will continue to be full.

Emily and Jonathan are engaged and will be married this January. Daughter three - and we are suppose to be moving to Ohio next week. Life is - well - bittersweet. It is so sad to me to see Emily move to California after she is married. I am so happy for her yet there is a little selfishness that I don't want to see her go. Wedding plans and moving plans all mixed in together create quite the emotional time for me. As much as I can't wait to get to Ohio there is now the feeling of wanting to get as much time with Emily as I can before she heads off to the other side of the country. I pray the Lord brings about that peace which will suppase all my understanding. That in the midst of an ever changing life that God will wrap himself all around it - guiding every step - setting things in place ahead of time - and just filling each of us with his joy and peace. (sorry the picture is so dark, I took it with my phone the night they got engaged.)

3 John 1:3 "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."

I am so thankful for this in my life. I am so thankful that three of my girls have men in their lives who desire to grow in their christian walk. I am so thankful that all of them are walking in the truth. There should be nothing more joyful to a parent than this. So as they take their next steps on their journey I will commend them to the care of the Lord. No better place to be than that. I can still picture Emily in 1st grade singing in church with her class "Life is a journey we're takin each day, life is a journey and we're on our way and God in his mercy from heaven above blessed our journey in love." How precious those days are to me and I will treasure them always.

Maturity

Paul writes in Romans 1 "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world."

As I read these words I couldn't help but think about myself. Is this what others would say about my faith? At times yes, other times no. I think it would be amazing if our church was reported all over the world as having such faith. How about yours? Faith is always a challenge isn't it? Are you challenged in your faith every day? I know I am. Whatever circumstance we may face it should be our faith that holds us strong. Ephesians 4 "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." I believe that this is the faith that Paul was talking about. He was called by God - to prepare God's people - YOU - so that the church will reach unity in the faith. I love what ultimately should occure in our lives - that we become mature. Too many people do not want to grow up in their faith. They figure they got enough Jesus in their life. They know of him and that's enough to get to heaven. But as you look further wouldn't you just love to attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ? We miss out on so much of what God has for us. We miss out on miracles in our life and a deep personal relationship with Jesus, our friend.

I challenge myself and you today to pray about this. Ask the Lord to take you to that next step of faith and relationship with him. Paul longed to visit the church so that he could impart some spiritual gift to make them strong - AND "THAT YOU AND I MAY BE MUTUALLY ENCOURAGED BY EACH OTHER'S FAITH." Grow up in your faith, encourage one another in the faith, talk with one another about your relationship with Jesus. I desire to continue to mature in my faith and God continues to give me opportunity to do this.

I am so happy that Jesus is my friend. Walk with me this day Lord Jesus and fill me with an overflowing of your love and power to others. Continue to mature me in my faith so that I may also encourage others.

OWN IT

Exerpts from Psalm 9: "I will tell of all your wonders...The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you."

How can we even begin to comprehend these verses. When you really think about it. I am sure that we have all had times in our life when we felt forsaken. Forsaken by our spouse, a friend and even forsaken by God. Things got so bad that we felt like God had forsaken us. Or we pray and pray for something and it doesn't seem like anything changes. Yet the above says more than what we "feel". A promise that the Lord does not forsake us.

Also a reminder to tell of his wonders. Frankly I think that we can all be wimps about this. Something amazing happens in our life and we just say that it's luck or a coincidence, not even acknowledging God in it. God is in everything in our lives.

I just finished reading the book of Acts. In the final chapter Paul speaks these words. "The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet: 'Go to the people and say, "You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving." For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them."

Read again what I underlined. This is what we miss out on when we become calloused to hearing and seeing. God has some amazing healing to do in your life but we need to be open. We are a pretty tough group of people. We can do it - we don't need God to tell us what to do. Oh, you may not say it in those words but that is what we are really doing. I am guilty of this - running ahead and making my own plans without allowing God to shape me. It's not easy when the shaping comes, it feels like God is not being fair, but I love the result. Let's open our eyes, our ears and our hearts. God is always doing a work in us, but his promise is that when we do 'turn' he will heal us. Not sure what the healing is? Trust me, when you become vulnerable to him you will see what needs healing and you will be so much better. Healing does this! He did some shaping in me this past week. It wasn't easy but God used it to shape me and to give me a peace in this area in my life. I feel so much lighter now. God's work is always good.

Remember the promise in the verse in Psalm above. I will write it again. "Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord have never forsaken those who seek you." Read this verse over and over until you have it memorized. Own it - live it - speak it - and I say again - OWN IT - IT IS YOURS.

Celebrate

So these past days have been extremely full and I have missed blogging. Sunday Tim preached his first sermon in Ohio and was installed as the new pastor. It was beautiful to see so many area pastors in attendance and praying a blessing over him. One pastor came up to Tim and told him that he just felt like God had lead the right man here. Praise the Lord! God is good! It was a beautiful day in the Lord.

Do you ever have those times when you can hardly believe that you are so loved by our creator? When just the thought of him loving you is humbling? I was reading Psalm 8 this morning. "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" Have you ever been out in the country on a clear night and layed down to just look at the stars? These times are some of my favorite memories. When we lived in NY Tim had built a play/swing set for the girls. Sometimes he and I would go out there at night with a quilt, climb up the latter to the top and watch the stars. Sometimes we would see shooting stars, which is always exciting. The multitude of stars is so amazing. The God who created this is the God who loves me - me, little ole me. This God thinks of me every day and all the details in my life. He cares about all that I do, every thought I have, every move I make. David here in this Psalm is blown away that this God cares for him - for us.

As the Psalm concluded "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth."

May we be in humbling awe that we are his children. We are sons and daughters of the King. Isn't that just the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Celebrate who you are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From suffering to joy :)

Trust me when I say that I know what suffering is. Every one of us has faced suffering is some form. Sickness, death, rejection, hurt...however the suffering comes it is hard to bear. I would not have been able to endure without the comfort of my heavenly Father. If difficult suffering has not plagued you, your time will come. That is the life on this earth. I look at where I am today and am so blown away by God's hand in every part of the suffering. He has brought me to a place of wonder and amazement at his power. When my girls were little I use to hold their hands and ask them "how big is _____" then say, lifting their arms way up in the air say "soooo big." Our heavenly Father is like that. Sometimes I think he'd like to say that to us, then remind us of his infinite power.

James 5 "Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverence and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy."

We are not forgotten. Patience during difficult times seems so hard to grab hold of sometimes. But not with Christ. It is in his power that you can persevere. Ask the Holy Spirit to empower you - to fill you so full with his presence. Note the end of the verse that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. Hold on to those promises. They are truth. When Satan comes at you with thoughts other than these, counter them with this truth. Those of us who know the story of Job know of his suffering. Suffering that most of us cannot even begin to imagine bearing. We get to the end of the story and look to Job as a kind of hero. A man of awesome faith. Remember that you have this same power within you to stand firm under suffering. Cry out to him, speak out loud to him, sing praise to him. He loves you so much. And on the other side is glorious joy.

Up is Down

I was talking with someone recently who is really struggling in their marriage. Go figure! Who hasn't? But here is what Tim and I were talking about as we took a much needed walk this afternoon. (Very much a repreve from all the paperwork in buying a house and moving...argh) Anyhow, we were talking about the realities in marriage. We all face those challenges. Yet the importance of recognizing the enemy in our life. You see, the more you recognize the ways that Satan tries and does find his way into our life and our marriage the more we can face it for what it is. Scripture is clear when it talks about Spiritual Warfare. Some choose to ignore it, and not really want to face the fact that this is real. Sad. Our enemy loves it when this happens. He doesn't have to mess too much with those people. Maybe that's why some choose to ignore this fact and play it safe.

A Christian marriage is a sacred thing. If you haven't watched "Fireproof", watch it. If you are currently struggling in your marriage - do not give up hope. Remember that our enemy has come to "steal, kill and destroy." He wants to do this in your marriage. Getting honest and real with your spouse is so important. Be sure to tell each other how you feel and if your spouse has something about you that he/she is addressing you with, and you don't like what it is, I challenge you when you hear it to say "thank you for sharing that". So often the hard things about ourselves that we hear turns into becoming defensive. Ephesians 4:15 says "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head, that is Christ." You see, when we speak the truth - always in love - we will grow into Christ. I love the words into him. How much better life will be if we will continue to press into Christ.

You see, God has a beautiful plan for marriage. We and society have so twisted his beautiful plan. Our sin gets in the way and his beautiful plans get so twisted by the enemy. Think of your marriage as loving the other one forward. Challenges - yes we will face them - but a marriage fully devoted to Christ, wrapped in prayer will flourish and grow. Forgive one another and walk forward in the power of Christ.

The key is this: You can't give what you don't have. The love you want to give to your spouse - you cannot give it until you have it from Jesus. It is through his pouring of love in you that will empower you to love your spouse. The knowledge that Jesus died for your sins, he loves you so much, and your desire to receive and live in his love. This is the love that you can now give to your spouse. You cannot do it of your own will, but only in the power of Jesus. Seek him in prayer and get down on your knees and submit all of who you are to him. Remember, the way up is down!!!

Authority

Paul sure faced crazy opposition in his ministry. He knew the grace that was there for him. He knew the forgiveness and power of the gospel. God had placed him in authority - made him a leader. I was thinking about this as I was reading 2 Corinthians this morning.

"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test?" Wow - failing this test - yikes. He continues - "I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test...we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong...but that you will do what is right." This is so important that we also test our own faith. That we evaluate our relationship with Jesus. Where do you stand? We have a Jesus who loves us so much, more than we can even begin to imagine. He loves us through our crap and is calling out to each of us to come to him. Do you trust him with all of your life? Do you trust him that he really does have your whole life in his hand. Even when it seems so hard you can hardly stand it - allow him to shape you through it. Wow, the results are awesome.

As Paul goes on he says "This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority - the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down." You see, Paul knew that God had placed him in authority in the church. Pastors are placed in authority and in today's society that role of authority has not been respected. As Paul writes he knows that he has the authority to call the people on issues. He doesn't want to be harsh but will if he has to. There are times when we may not like what the pastor has said in his sermon, or directly to us, because it shows our own sin. Yet the word of God is clear when it talks about authority in the church. If you are a doctor or in banking you would not want your pastor to come to you and tell you how to do your job. You would think it out of order if he came and told you that you are wrong by not giving a person a bank loan, or that you did not give good care by prescribing a certain antibiotic to someone. They would know that you did not know what you were talking about and you should allow them to do their job as they have been trained. This is the same for a pastor. They have gone through much training and schooling. Some more than others, yet they have been trained and equipped for their leadership.

People, respect your pastor and if you have a concern speak directly to them. DO NOT SPEAK TO OTHERS ABOUT IT. Most of the time it is a misunderstanding and you just need him to clear something up in your mind. If you do not agree, respect him as one placed in authority and do not speak poorly about him to anyone. This is an area that Satan is having a field day with in the church today. Do not allow that in - protect your pastor from this kind of attack as it will tear him down and discourage him in his minsitry. Remember how Jesus was attacked for speaking truth and love. Some just don't want to be convicted of their sin so instead they will retaliate. The word of God is "sharper than a two edged sword".

Allow the grace and love of Jesus to flow through you.........you will be amazed at the results!

Maturity

Every time I read scripture I learn something new. That's the way it's suppose to be. Even scripture that I have read over and over in my life, one day I will read it and it's like a light bulb just came on and God shows me a new way of understanding it - and teaching me through it. Some scripture today reveals the importance of studying scripture. Hebrews 5:11 "We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn...Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not aquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."

Now my little 9 month old grandson is just beginning to eat table food. He does not have any teeth yet so he is limited in what he can eat. Milk and baby cereal work best for now. But as he gets teeth he will begin to eat more solid food. Those will be exciting days I am sure. He would certainly not grow propertly if he continued to only drink milk. Now why is it that many of us have read this scripture above and yet we do not mature in the faith? Why is it that so many men today are not true Godly men but want to continue to just be boys? God is calling here for his people to grow and mature. Not just in their career and making money, but to mature in their faith. Notice here that maturity in the faith brings about discerning good from evil. That is so worth it.

These past months have been a real faith maturing time in my life. Lots of times where it is easy to look at circumstances and forget that we have a God that can move mountains. Here we are setting a closing date on our home in Ohio and 3 weeks ago we had not idea how this would all work out. God cannot be contained - allow him complete access into the deep recesses of your soul. Allow him to shape you, change you, hold you and ask him to make you into the man/woman that he wants you to be. Then be attentive to his shaping. I continue to be amazed at the deep love that he has for me. It blows me away.

May each of us crave spiritual maturity that our day is so empty if we haven't had our God time. Seek him with all your heart. He longs to have that close personal relationship WITH YOU. Remember that he made you, every part of you. He knows what you will say before you say it. This is our God. Spend time with him - and if you are having a hard time "feeling it", try closing your eyes and speak, out loud, "Lord, I want to know your presence in my life, fill me with your Holy Spirit, show yourself in my life so that my life can bring glory and honor to you."

Remember the promise "Draw near to me, and I WILL draw near to you."

He IS with you

The Holy Spirit leads, guides and directs. I love reading this promise all over scripture. In Acts 22 Paul says "And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there." Paul was in tune to the guiding of the Holy Spirit. He was in prayer, he was listening. As Paul sails toward Jerusalem, landing in Tyre he found the discples there. "Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem." The Spirit had shown the disciples what Paul would face.

But I love picturing this next scene. "All the disciples and their wives and children accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray." Isn't that the coolest image!!! What a picture of what we are to be about - in prayer together - when the need arises to just stop where you are and pray - children present - whoever is there! Families praying together is such a beautiful thing. What an example this is to pass on to your children.

Ok, so as they travel on a prophet came down from Judea. "He took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, 'The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'" Of course the people pleaded with Paul not to go to Jerusalem. Here is Paul's answer "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." The people knew that Paul could not be dissuaded and said "The Lord's will be done."

So here you have a man willing to do whatever it takes to share the gospel of Jesus. When we face challenges, which we will, standing firm in our faith can be a challenge. We are witnesses of who Christ is in our life. Sometimes we fall - like I did the other day. I was just having one of those days when it felt like I was sinking. So much coming in, so many directions, so many decisions that I felt very weak. Come evening I was just "out of it" and Angela said "are you ok mom." I simply told her that there are a lot of adult decisions to be made and sometimes it can get stressful. My quiet daughter looked at me and said "mom, look at what God has done in our life, he is going to take care of things. I don't want to change schools but God is going to take care of that too. Just remember what he has all done." It was in that moment I knew the reason for having a bad day. So she could shine and minister to me and speak the words of God's provision. Isn't God amazing how he uses even our crappy days for his glory. We just have to open up our hearts to allow him to teach and shape us.

This past week has been so crazy - and God has definitely used it to shape me. Today we sit in the final preperations for closing on a house in Ohio. Great that we are to this point as it makes it much easier to plan our move. Please keep our family in your prayers as we make this transiton. God has amazing things planned and we are excited to get settled. Tim is ready to get at ministry full time again. God is awesome, never forget that. Our God is a God that can move mountains!

God is by our side every step of the way. When you have days that you don't feel it. Stop and claim the truth - HE IS WITH YOU - and ask him to shape you through whatever it is you are facing. Look where God is taking us - to a new and fresh place. He had lead and guided all along and waited until we were ready for what he had for us. There were times when I couldn't understand it all but since when do we ever know the right time for the next steps. I want God to take the lead in my life - even on those days when I think I know best - I really know that I don't. We must just submit to his will knowing that he is by our side all the time and we can call on him anytime and he is always there.

Drink from the river

So today I heard a very powerful message. Someone had shared with me that author, Bob Sorge was preaching at a local church - so off I went. (Tim was preaching an hour away - he would have loved it.) He use to be a worship leader and pastor, and lost his voice. He could preach in a whisper, with a close microphone and a good sound system. But oh was it a powerful word on envy. "The biggest problem that nobody has!" Confession of envy clears out a host of other problems. When we envy we are really saying that we are not thankful. Our talents all vary from a 1 talent to a 5 talent person. There is no way that I can bring his message to my blog but his closing brought tears to my eyes.

There is a river that can flow, a stream of love for us but envy can hinder the liberty of the Holy Spirit.

We should never settle for the talent we have because God has even more for us. Joseph, wow, he was a 5 talent guy - but there was more God had for him. Joseph, in prison began pressing in to God. Praying deeper and harder - the Holy Spirit says to him "deeper son" - he goes deeper and still - "deeper son" - until Joseph found the river. Then he was able to lead.

Then there was the 1 talent lady - Anna - who loved to take care of her family. That was what she was good at. Then one day it was all stripped away from her, she had nothing left. She begins to press into God. "Why God." Deeper and deeper to the Spirit of God. Deeper still, until she hears the voice. "Fasting and praying Anna." She does this in the temple day and night. She has found the river. She spoke about Jesus to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

GET DEEP IN THE SPIRIT AND FIND THE RIVER!

So this was not as much my blog as me sharing some awesome insight. This is my plan this week. I desire to get deeper in prayer. I am going to begin by starting to read his book "Secrets of the Secret Place." One chapter at a time. It is time for me to go to that next step in my prayer life. I pray you do too.