So if there is one thing you need to read today,
it’s this.
“Contentment is not something that is suspended in a timeless place,
but is rather what God is teaching us while we wait for our deliverance.”
“As He tells the stories of our lives,
we need to come to grips with the fact that
God loves cliffhangers.”
I wanted to sharing a little something that made me cry in understanding from yesterday’s entry in my daily reading of Streams In The Desert:
Why must I weep while others sing?
To test the deeps of suffering.
Why must I work while others rest?
To spend my days at God’s request.
Why must I lose while others gain?
To understand defeat’s sharp pain.
Why must this lot in life be mine?
When that which fairer seems is thine.
Because God knows what plans for me
Will blossom in eternity.
~ Anonymous
Last week Gabriel and I did a special art project one day, producing a piece of artwork for his bedroom as well as one for a gift for Grandpapa’s birthday. Here is a little glimpse into the fun that we had together and the beautiful results!
First we set up the kitchen, using an old shower curtain for a drop cloth. I had bought canvasses at Michael’s cheaply using 50% coupons, and a cheap set of 3 brushes (plus another tiny one we already had), and about 8 different colors of acrylic paints that were about 70 cents each; I used paper plates (styrofoam actually) for palettes, and washed them (and the brushes) between each color. Gabriel wore an old t-shirt of his daddy’s.
Gabriel painted in layers, one color at a time, and we used the hair dryer in between each one to dry them up.
We got to practice our colors, as well as listening to directions. 🙂
Gabriel signed the back of the canvasses.
I used an oil paint Sharpie to write Scriptures on them (and tried to be as artistic as my son had been!).
Psalm 147:1 & 3 on Grandpapa’s ~ we thought it was great for him as a doctor talking about brokenness & healing.
Exodus 15:2 on Gabriel’s ~ we thought this was perfect because Gabriel’s name means “the Lord is my strength” and the description of praising & exalting the God of his fathers perfectly suits our little boy.
Giving Grandpapa his birthday gift!
And we hung Gabriel’s on his bedroom wall above his bed.
Tonight we were at a banquet, and my former pastor Mr. Wilson happened to be the keynote speaker. He, as he often does, used one of my favorite lines of his: God loves to draw straight with crooked lines.
And it made me wonder all over again: what is God drawing beautifully straight with the horribly crooked lines of my life?
I can’t wait until He gives me the perspective to see His masterpiece. Even if it isn’t until I join my sweet littles in heaven.
This afternoon the newest member of our family made her entrance into the world of the officially air-breathing. Bringing next to nothing but dark wavy hair and long pianist’s fingers,
Clara Elizabeth
has graced my brother’s family (and thereby, ours) with her stunning presence. I stand amazed at life. Life that scrunches up its nose, stretches out limbs, and presses air in & out of lungs in rhythmic measure. Doesn’t it make you wonder how God ever thought of that?!
When Gabriel first heard that Uncle had a new baby, he told me, “uncle got a baby for you. Go get it. Mommy baby.”
No worries: I explained that this baby isn’t ours. She’s part of our family, but she isn’t ours.
Gabriel insisted, as we drove to the hospital this evening, that we were going to meet Baby Jesus.
No worries: he got it corrected once he met his new cousin, and we’ll work on nailing down his theology later.
Welcome to God’s green earth, Clara. Here, you will be mightily loved. You belong to a strong family. Generations of Christians hailed before you, and I trust that through you many more shall yet hail. From what your auntie knows, your name means “clear and bright” & “God’s promise.” May your Father in heaven ever reveal Himself clearly to you, make Himself clearly evident through you, and hold fast to His promise to bless generations through you even as you hold tightly onto Him throughout your days. Peace & blessings.
Psalm 26:12
“My foot stands on level ground; in the great assembly I will bless the LORD.”
Today I am meditating on Psalms 26, 103, and 134 ~ specifically on the idea of blessing the Lord.
I think a lot of the times people go to church expecting to be blessed. And, often, we are! That is God’s grace. Hallelujah! But the primary blessing is to be towards the Lord.
What a good reminder!
Bless the Lord.
Bless the Lord.
Bless the Lord!
Psalm 103:1-5,20-22
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Bless the LORD, O you His angels, you mighty ones who do His word, obeying the voice of His word!
Bless the LORD, all His hosts, His ministers, who do His will!
Bless the LORD, all His works, in all places of His dominion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!”
So whether or not you feel particularly blessed, remember to bless the Lord! This is our duty as well as our joy, as His beloved children and precious forgiven saints. And, as Psalm 134 shows us, the Lord does bless us: we bless Him, He blesses us, and it’s this beautiful cycle of giving & receiving! Amen.
Psalm 134
“Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD,
who stand by night in the house of the LORD!
Lift up your hands to the holy place
and bless the LORD!
May the LORD bless you from Zion,
He who made heaven and earth!”
At a special restaurant overlooking a river & waterfalls, enjoying a fantastic four course meal with my sweetest boys.
This is how Gabriel feels about going to a fancy restaurant with Daddy & Mommy! (or at least how he feels about his own special dish of ice cream…)
Isn’t it interesting that people always use Jesus Christ as the example when they want to tell you to be joyful in all things? Someone may even say, “Jesus endured the cross with joy” ~ and I have to stop them short, because, I’m sorry but no, that’s not what Scripture says. It says that He endured it for the joy that was set before Him. That doesn’t mean He was currently enjoying the cross. It doesn’t mean that His endurance and joy overlapped, actually. Christ asked the Father three times to take the cup away from Him, because it was not easy, it was not fun, it was not happy (and if suffering isn’t easy for the Perfect Man, who could even begin to pretend to think that suffering could be even remotely so for any of us sinners?). It means that He endured because He knew that joy would be at the end of the tether. It wasn’t yet a reality, but it would be. After endurance, when His cross had been fully endured, there would be joy.
from Hebrews 2:2
“…who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross…”
–verb (used without object)
4. to continue to exist; last.
5. to support adverse force or influence of any kind; suffer without yielding; suffer patiently.
I wanted to share something from Streams In The Desert that really challenged & encouraged my heart yesterday. Especially on my particular journey, with particular struggles of walking by faith (which I know we each struggle with in our own ways on our own paths, ordained by God). When so many people try to give us advice on what to do or what not to do; where to walk, when to walk, how to walk… but it is only us that know what God is telling us to do as we seek His face and ask for His wisdom, surrounded by wise counselors of His who are faithful in Him.
It can be so scary to walk by faith ~ wanting to wait to move forward to see what the end result might be. But that isn’t always how He designed things to work. Most often, God asks us to do something when we simply can’t see ahead at all. Frequently, He asks us to do something when we don’t even know what will happen or how it will work out. It’s pretty scary, actually, this whole business of walking by faith and not by sight.
Well, anyway, I hope this encourages you all, as it did me.
Go Forward
“As soon as the soles of the feet of the priests…shall rest in the waters…the waters shall be cut off” (Joshua 3:13).
The people were not to wait in their camps until the way was opened, they were to walk by faith. They were to break camp, pack up their goods, form in line to march, and move down to the very banks before the river would be opened. If they had come down to the edge of the river and then had stopped for the stream to divide before they stepped into it, they would have waited in vain. They must take one step into the water before the river would be cut off. We must learn to take God at His Word, and go straight on in duty, although we see no way in which we can go forward. The reason we are so often balked by difficulties is that we expect to see them removed before we try to pass through them.
If we would move straight on in faith, the path would be opened for us. We stand still, waiting for the obstacle to be removed, when we ought to go forward as if there were no obstacles.
~Evening Thoughts~
I’ve been thinking a lot about complaining this week. It was brought up from the pulpit, and then the subject has been thrown around a bit in various capacities throughout the week. I’ve searched Scripture for references of complaining, and searched blogs of pastors I respect for their thoughts on the subject. I haven’t come up with a really well thought out essay on complaining at all… but I do have some random thoughts about it.
Job, David, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk are complainers. But Job was the most righteous man who lived, and David was a man after God’s own heart, and Jeremiah & Habakkuk sought the Lord with much determination and were trumpets of His voice.
Here are some Scriptures and themes that reference complaining that I have been meditating on this week:
What do these things show us? I think the greatest thing it is showing me is that complaining to the Lord is acceptable, and He hears our cries even when they contain complaints. Other verses in Scripture condemn complaining, when we are complaining to others, specifically about superficial things & circumstances.
Douglas Wilson says (in this wonderful sermon), There is a vast difference between complaining about God, which is terrible, and complaining to God, which He welcomes.
I think that is a truly excellent distinction!
Again, Mr. Wilson says (in this exhortation), You may bring your objective complaints with you; indeed He requires it. But you do so in order to cast all your anxieties on Him, the One who cares for you.
This shows the reason behind a just complaint: to cast it on the Lord.
So I am learning that the phrase “complaining is a sin” is not exactly Truth.
Grumbling, murmuring, whining ~ that type of complaining is sinful, because it does not embrace the sovereign goodness of God.
So what is a just complaint? What does it look like to complain to the Lord and complain righteously before Him? And what do we do with verses like Philippians 2:14, “Do all things without grumbling or complaining”? I am assuming that things can all go back to root words and definitions: the Hebrew and Greek words for complaining in various parts of Scripture may actually mean various things, that our modern translators have all lumped together as simply “complaining.” I’d love to research root variants in this subject. (In all my free time… hah!)
I’m [hopefully] learning, and am prayerfully seeking the Lord’s wisdom on this ~ because I think it’s something that is very elusive. Practical application in real life looks like not complaining about the weather, my reflection in the mirror, how tired I am, how sick I may feel, how difficult my job is… But bringing complaints to the Lord about frustrations with sin, death, and things He is doing in my life in order to cast my cares on Him and seek His comfort, beg for His deliverance, and ask for His mercy to be poured out is, as quite the contrast, beautiful.
As it so happens, I am currently bringing complaints to the Lord, seeking His comfort, begging for His deliverance, and asking for Him to pour out mercy ~ and casting my cares on Him is increasingly encouraging as I plod onward in life and in sanctification.
