Prayer for the Overwhelmed

There is so much going on in the world, in the community, in family…Lord.  I do not know how you deal with ALL this stuff, pretty much every day…seeing people hurt, suffer, make poor choices.

Just the small glimpses I’m seeing of it this week grieves my heart, almost to overwhelming.

I cannot stand.

I find a warm cup of coffee, a hot bath, a job done, and keep moving.

Yet my heart is not smiling.  Too much.  I am not you.  I cannot take it.  My heart cannot.

Lord, how can your people go forward with joy and some peace in the world unless you reign?!  Reign supremely, Lord!  I beg of you to reveal yourself in situations that are too big for me, too heavy for me…to much for me.  I am overwhelmed just watching, seeing impact, hurting people, all over the world, near and far.  I hurt!  It is like watching another woman in labor, which I cannot do as a casual observer.  It is too painful!

Protect us, bring your truth to light, bring your victory!

Cause us to rejoice in your protection, your provisions, your healing, your working! I long for true celebration!

We cannot just elicit a smile on our own.

We NEED you.

Come in power! Come quickly.

Be our salvation, day and night.

Shine your truth in the darkness.

Wake up those walking in darkness and untruth.

Do it big.

Let the world see and know that you love them, and you care, in whatever ways you can.

Restore our joy that we may shine for you more fully, Lord. Lift our heads.

Amen.

Cup of Coffee on a Sunday Night and Some Burnt Toaster Struddles

Tonight, dark.  Stillness.  Fighting off a headache that hit at 1PM.

I woke this day, still battling the winter “blek”.  Virus after virus, strep, bronchitis…all since Dec. 1.  My feminine side can’t figure it out and takes revenge on me, too.  Wacky, mixed up, broken, self-crying-out-for-health.  Feeling the betrayal of being human.  Getting rested up, all for one event, then crashing low.  Time after time.  Wishing I were stronger.  Seeing myself in the frailty of weak people I detest, too weak to get better.  Get up!  Recover!  Rest!  Take care of yourself!  Slow down!  Watch balance!  Think well thoughts!  Eat and treat yourself!

And a micro step at a time, I feel some better.  And a lot of the time, I still feel tired, sick, and recovering from a long winter.  There were perks.  Time to take care of some quiet chores I save for such days.  Yet, there is a longing for eyes that don’t quint with pain from the new light of spring, but welcome it with the joy it deserves.

While the family is at church, I relish the intense quiet.  Dark.  Time to get real with God and pour it all out…what is bugging me.  Time to catch my breath.  To deal with me only.

I made some rich decaf, burnt some Toaster Struddels covered in self-made icing (why do the last two always fall out of the box into the recesses of the overstuffed freezer?) and sat down to a screen still open from earlier this week when I’d pulled it up, but not had time to read.  Waiting on me.  For this moment.

I have followed Ann V. for a long time and just feel in love with her heart.  Have talked with her by email several times.  The real deal.  Though our lives are different, our hearts our the same.  Always takes me back to center to read her strands of life.  I have thought often this week that I need to get back into the discipline of joy and thanksgiving.  No dread.  No fear.  No wondering what could possibly happen with my body next week to make me mad at it.  Our churches challenges to “God Sightings” is similar, and I will merge the two.

Though my head colds haven’t allowed me to enjoy much reading time, I get four changes to start over on the challenge to read the New Testament in a way:  Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.  Here we go with Mark.  I’ll try again this month.

I shared a thanks entry at Ann’s new Zondervan site tonight.  I’m so proud of what God is doing in Ann’s life and through her testimony.

“Be thankful in all things.”  Go, Ann!  God is with you!

For tonight, quiet worship, black and white keys, pecking out chords, searching for newness, for spring after winter.

Lord, help me to get there. To climb out, and go slow, and be willing to just keep moving, whatever the day brings. You are God. I am human. And it’s okay.

Amen.

No Greater Joy

I Need Your Prayers–Saturday

Ever Stretch Yourself? I think my skinny jeans should fit today, I’m stetching myself so much.  You know, wake up sick to your stomach, feeling a weight that you know shouldn’t be there, but you can’t help it, because it’s so important?

Today is the day I walk across the fields for the Upward soccer games and put the plan of salvation in the hands of the adults for the first time this season.  About 125. 

We’ve never had a result in soccer from the simplified ABCs version, so I took it just a little more personal a route this time.  I hope it connects with someone–specifically, with one I’ve been praying for.

Pray for strength and boldness for me. 

When I woke up, I walked by the computer, and a verse I was meditating on last week was up.  Why…I don’t know, I didn’t pull it up before I went to bed last night.  I must have closed a program and had this minimized behind it… 

“…at work within US,

to HIM be the glory IN THE CHURCH and IN CHRIST JESUS.”

I had written it out for myself.

My husband once taught that when he gets all the glory, it doesn’t matter if we fail or succeed.  We stand nothing to lose.  Might as well pour it all out.  No holds barred.  Lord, give me your eyes, your heart, help my kids (the hub has to work today…keep them uninjured and in good spirits).   

Be God.  Also, may the power of Jesus bind the enemy from those three fields and from anything that would keep those away who need to hear. 

Bring pray-ers out today. My writing deadline fell so late this week because Thursday was so full that I didn’t get to ask for prayer as much as I like to.  I know I can’t do it in my own strength.  I need your prayers…

 

 

Does Faith Matter in the Presidency?

A CNN poll this week apparently reported that said only 30% of Americans feel faith is an important toward the Presidential election.

Wow. 

When I think back to Old Testament times in regard to God’s favor toward godly kings, and his sometimes corrective nature toward the ungodly?  Ouch. 

I’ve heard in discussions people say those OT principles of politics don’t apply today…yet, I can’t imagine we could expect a ruler to rule in wisdom if he does not know he who IS the incarnation of all wisdom:  Jesus Christ.  This scripture pins that down:   

The LORD possessed me [speaking of wisdom] in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him…Proverbs 8:22-30

In the New Testament, in the first chapter of the gospel of John, we read “in the beginning was the word, and the word was God and the word was with God.”  Jesus is the word of God.  The useage of “the word” applies, according to scholars as not just the spoken word of God, but any ”cohesive thought”.  Jesus is the wisdom of God expressed in thought and word that it can be articulated meaningfully to us.  Jesus is the expression of God’s wisdom. 

With that framework, “faith” is very important.  Not just a flimsy faith in the general concept of a “God” (meaning whatever people want Him to mean) in times of disaster, or to whom we say the pledge of allegience , but belief in Jesus Christ as God’s Son who came, lived a perfect life, and died on a Roman cross for our sins, rising again three days later, overcoming sin, death, and the grave.  Through Him, and to Him are all things: blessing and honor and glory and power and wisdom and might. 

So, yeah, without Jesus, how do you have true wisdom?  How do you have selfless wisdom?  Those are my thoughts.  While I’m not endorsing any cantidate and I generally don’t talk politics at all to any depth, I’m just saying.  This challenges me personally in this way:  politics has grown so corrupt, we do not dream for our kids in that direction.  Not really.  We might say, “Who knows you might be the president of the United States someday!”, but we don’t really want it or mean it.  

We are selling ourselves short of great leaders we need because of that fear.

On a lighter note, I got forward last night I’ll hope you’ll take up along with us…

ONE MINUTE EACH NIGHT During WWII, there was an advisor to Churchill who
Organized a group of people who drop ped what they were doing every night at
A prescribed hour for one minute to collectively pray for the safety of
England, its people and peace. This had an amazing effect as bombing
Stopped.

There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America.

If you would like to participate: each evening at 9:00 PM Eastern Time (
8:00 PM Central, 7:00 PM Mountain, 6:00 PM Pacific), stop whatever you are
Doing and spend one minute praying for the up-coming election, and for the
Revival of Christianity in this great country. If you know anyone who would
Like to participate, please pass this along.

Someone said if people really understood the full extent of the power we
Have available through prayer, we might be speechless. Our prayers are the
Most powerful asset we have.

Thank You..

Casio wk-3800: My User Guide and Help Blog

I recently bought a Casio wk-3800 and started a blog to try to get some community thoughts going: http://casio3800.wordpress.com/called Casio 3800: An Unofficial Blog.  Especially if you play the wk-3800, check it out and say “Hi”.

Live Full

I think of high gas prices.  I don’t know about you, but I keep letting my tank get closer to empty every time, hoping gas prices go down before I have to refill again! 

Thinking on this in spiritual terms, we are so blessed.  We don’t have to wait until we are sputtering, coasting into the station on fumes.  We can quickly “tank up” every day, every hour, every minute just by giving ourselves to Christ anew.  His energy, grace, passion, forgiveness, and purpose are not cheap, but they are free!  (Jesus already paid the price, once for all time.) 

Makes me want to get out extra containers and jugs!  Fill them up, being sure to have plenty to share.    ‘Freely you have received, freely give.’”

Join me in “TANKING UP” this week!  Hunt down all your jugs and containers and fill them up, too!  Let’s run on full, with plenty to share!  What we have access to is very expensive, but free!

Weighing Bill Gate’s Thoughts On Sunday

Today on iGoogle, this was one of the quotes: 

Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There’s a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning.
  – Bill Gates

At first, there is the smile toward a hard-working ga-zillionairre.  “Ah-ha!  He just WORKS harder than we do.  HE is EFFICIENT!” 

I have a great respect for efficiency.  Things in my kitchen cabinets have been re-organized over and over again through themselves toward greater efficiency.  I time myself with a cup of tea heating in the microwave set for 1 minute 25 seconds to see if I can unload and reload the dishwasher in that amount of time.   Many days, for a cup of tea, all my dishes are cleaned and I have a treat in the process. 

If my husband comes home for the day and I still have not unloaded the dishwasher, I strive to unload it from the time he pulls in the garage until he plants a typical kiss on my expectant lips.  There’s a great reward!

On the tails of efficiency and productivity comes this thought, “God longs to give us rest, but we would have none of it.” (Hebrews).   Hard work does increase productivity, as does efficiency.  But there is a limit.  True success is measured by hard work balanced with true soul rest, not just recreational activities of the rich and famous.

I turned toward some men and woman I consider “great” and “balanced” in their approach to life, whether rich or poor.  I don’t know Bill Gates.  He may be perfectly rested, balanced, at peace, and content.  I’m just using his quote as a jumping board for thought to challenge myself to grow.

~~~~~~~~~ 

The greatest thing anyone can do for God and man is pray.  It is not the only thing; but it is the chief thing.  The great people of the earth today are the people who pray.  I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor yet those who can explain about prayer; but I mean those people who take time to pray.
     ~ S.D. Gordon
~~~~~~~~ 

Too many women have too much leisure time for their own good.  They have time for criticism, gossip, faultfinding, and complaining.  They have time for idle games and lay too much attention to things of the flesh.  There are other women who have too little time for the enduring things of life.  They are too busy flitting about doing this and that.  They have great activity and much doing, but they lack time for building Christian characters.  Both kinds of women — the too-idle and the too-busy need to take time for meditation and quiet repose in prayer to God.  They need time to cultivate their souls that in turn they may cultivate their children’s lives.
     ~ Billy Graham
~~~~~~~~ 

An unschooled man who knows how to meditate upon the Lord has learned far more than the man with the highest education who does not know how to meditate.
     ~ Charles Stanley
~~~~~~~~ 

Work, work, from morning until late at night.  In fact, I have so much to do that I shall have to spend the first three hours in prayer.
     ~ Martin Luther
~~~~~~~~ 

I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord.  The first thing to be concerned about was not how I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man may be nourished….  I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation of it.
     ~ George Mueller of Bristol

Easter Family Photos

My camera’s timer feature is my friend.   Thanks EM, for sharing the new shirt for my boy last year, worked great with Goldilock’s green dress.  Red was able to wear last year’s clothes, as well.  So easy this year.  Leftover shoes worked for everyone, so I’m glad I didn’t fight the war of new ones. 

A new dress for Goldilocks this year.  She’s outgrown last year’s, or more probably worn it to death!  She loved it. 

Grace and simplicity in all this year.  God knew my heart. 

The forsythia outside my bedroom window is exploding in bloom!  Wow!

Before photoshop:

A dreary day.  So, Photoshop is also my friend.  It was grey, windy, Red’s sweater wasn’t pulled down, and his eyes were nearly shut. Stealing eyes is a great trick.

. 

Cold outside, but lots of fun inside. We finally got that quiet, down time I needed with the kids.

One loved pink and flowers…

One can make football out of anything! 

 

Loved seeing her dressed up at the sink, offering to help peel potatoes!  She picked out her own dress this year.

A treasured baby afgan in silky yarns brought out for a much needed shawl–I’m wearing it myself this Spring with knitting and crochet all the rage.  A treasure we are enjoying again.

“The Three Amigos”

Before church…COLD!  We made it fast!

We tucked Red’s shirt in 15 times if we did once!

I stayed up ironing, finding socks for the boys–we were still tighter on time than we wanted to be the next morning.  But, the turkey was roasting and it was great to have The Hub home to help us get ready.

The peripherals, though not the important thing, help give the honor, celebration, and focus to the special-ness of the day, I hope.  (About the only time I get all three children in a decent photo, too!  Not sure I got one last year due to the cantata costumes.)

AND…{drumroll}…I am technically 25 years old today.  I prefer this birthday!  :D  What a GREAT way to celebrate my “birthday” in Christ!

“Awakening Your Life’s Purpose”…with OPRAH?

We needed to explain to our kids the other night as we enjoyed “Oprah’s Big Give”,  Oprah’s new Sunday evening show helping people learn to multiply resources to best help needy people, that while many of Orpah’s principles and practices seem “good” and Christian, she sometimes presents ideas in a ”humanistic” way.  We need to be careful to discern what is “best”.   It’s a great show!  I learned a great deal from it, but we needed to have some conversation about it.

The kids said, “What’s humantiistic? {they couldn’t say it} What’s that mean?  Is she bad?  She’s giving money to people who really need it and everything!” 

We explained that what she is doing is good, but she sometimes teaches that the best is in us, and that we are in charge of our own destiny–our own positive attitude and outlook are what matters.  Christ teaches, on the other hand, that HE is the power at work in the believer, not we ourselves.  Her line of thinking takes us down a path toward what is called “New Age religion”.  Humanism takes man’s good ideas and makes a religion of them claiming to point to a path toward God.  They seemed to at least “get” that it was something to carefully approach.  Even at 6, 9, and 11, they know who the famed “Oprah” is!

Still thinking a bit on the new show and Oprah, I ran across  a quote from of this well-written blog article I stumbled across last night:

 While in Chicago last week, I opened up the USA Today newspaper and ran across a full-page ad for the free online seminar that Oprah is offering in conjunction with Eckhart Tolle to discuss his book, “A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose“.  The plan is to review one chapter each week for ten weeks…According to information I found on the website Berean Call, she has begun a year long study on her XM radio channel on:  ‘the New Age teachings of A Course in Miracles.1 A lesson a day throughout the year will completely cover the 365 lessons from the Course in Miracles “Workbook.” For example, 1 Lesson #29 asks you to go through your day affirming that “God is in everything I see.” 2 Lesson #61 tells each person to repeat the affirmation “I am the light of the world.” 3 Lesson #70 teaches the student to say and believe “My salvation comes from me.” 

By the end of the year, “Oprah & Friends” listeners will have completed all of the lessons laid out in the Course in Miracles Workbook. Those who finish the Course will have a wholly redefined spiritual mindset—a New Age worldview that includes the belief that there is no sin, no evil, no devil, and that God is “in” everyone and everything. A Course in Miracles teaches its students to rethink everything they believe about God and life. The Course Workbook bluntly states: “This is a course in mind training”5 and is dedicated to “thought reversal.”’  (read full article here)

Did you read that?  “My salvation comes from me?” 

Wow.  The Bible, God’s written word to help us grow in relationship with Him, makes it plain:  salvation comes through Christ Jesus alone. 

Oprah is positive, out-going, and wills good toward the needy.  She is well-respected.  She strives to make herself and the world a better place.  All these are attributes of a “good person” and a good leader. 

However, this kind of wisdom from this class she is supporting is what the Bible refers to as wordly wisdom.  Do you realize that the Bible makes a differentiation between earthly wisdom and wordly wisdom?  

Godly wisdom teaches us the path to life and to fear God, who is the beginning of wisdom, while wordly wisdom is defined by this verse:  ”there is a way that seems right {or wise} to man, but in the end it leads to death.”  Now, this type of death describes what  Adam and Eve experienced, not a physical death, but one worse…to be separated from intimate fellowship with God by our own self-willed choices, choices that do not follow Godly wisdom given in the Bible.  Truth is meant to give life.  We can’t experience full live walking in “the way that seems right to man”.  Unfortunately, at times we are too busy watching Oprah to be reading the Bible, I dare say!  We cease to realize the subtle differences in “wisdom” so that anything not clearly foolish begins to sound like godly wisdom to us. 

I’m not trying to blast Oprah.  I really like her as a person.  We can learn a lot from her and she does a lot of public service work I admire.    She has done much good around the globe.  However, we need to learn to evaluate what lines up with Scripture in some instances.  We have to do this with any media that comes our way.  It’s just a little more subtle here and we need to see it. 

Someone commented on the blog article mentioned above, saying that when Christians and other religious groups claim truth above others, we are causing the greatest wars of the world.  They suggest that we reach a Universal religion of tolerance that allows us to just love one another and respect one another’s differences.  Know that the Bible never suggests we pursue peace at the expense of truth.  We experience peace when we apply truth. 

If we let go of Biblical truth at the goal of this image of ‘peace’, we will on a downward spiral history has never seen.  We will have completely abandoned God’s truth, preferring our own thoughts and methods as if we know the answers.  We will have elevated ourselves to the status of God, just as Satan tried to do when he said, “I will be like God”. 

Know that I hate war, and I have family members in Iraq today I worry about.  But, abandoning the word of God is not the way to peace, finding real truth through Jesus Christ is the way to inner peace AND world peace.  I know every religious group out there is going to claim that.  Our job is to be as persuasive as we can and as gentle as we can, but the Word says, there is “a time for war and a time for peace.”  There are some principles and causes worth fighting for and worth dying for.  War doesn’t solve everything, and sometimes it seems to make matters worse, but through the ages, war has been part of human history for one reason or another. 

Turning in a different direction, last week, CNN published two stories on the same day stating new surveys showing that all Protestant faiths combined now only make up only 55% of the American population.  Barely a majority.  That says to me that we have not cared enough about other people to be pursuasive.  It also means that our public policy will veer more and more toward non-Christian principles because we will soon not hold the majority opinion.  Family values?  Christian values?  Want to see them persist?

I have some personal challenges to deal with here!  Is it possible that we have become so removed and uninvolved in our “praying” that we are not making an impact?  Is it possible that grass-roots love and care can only go so far?  Do we need to learn from Oprah and become more pursuasive, energetic, visible, positive, and helpful to the glory of Christ? 

Learn, but be discerning!  Be aware when you tell friends, “Oh, I love Oprah!”.  If you care about them, have relevant conversations that inquire about their spirituality and see if they have what they need to be satisfied.  Because if they don’t, they are searching, and if you don’t give them The Truth, Oprah will give them this brand.  Lead them to Christ who satisfies.  Christ Jesus who is THE way, THE truth, and THE life…no man comes to the Father except through Him, who is able to forgive all our sin.

Onesimus: Slave

The sermon topic last night?  Onesimus…run-away slave of Philemon.   Goes right along with my thoughts on “piercing” the last few days in relation to bond servants of the New Testament times.

After he was saved, Paul was trying to restore Onesimus to his owner, where he belonged.  It was right for him to return.

Still had the topic on my mind this morning and was looking to see if there was more information about this slave.  Wikipedia has this to say about Onesimus, “just a slave”, 

During the reign of Roman emperor Domitian and the persecution of Trajan, Onesimus was imprisoned in Rome and martyred by stoning (although some sources claim that he was beheaded[3])…He is regarded as a saint by several Christian churches, including the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, which commemorates him and Philemon on February 15.

Wow.  I had NO idea.

The Book of Philemon in our New Testament of the Holy Bible, only 25 verses long, captures just a snap-shot of a life of healing, restoration, duty, faith, impact, purpose, and sacrifice. 

The beautiful life of a “servant by choice”.  Onesimus, whose name means “helper” captures what we need to be about as “servants” of the Lord Jesus Christ.  About the business not of acclaim or acheivement, or pursuits of grandeur for it’s own sake, but to simply be a help to those who need it, whatever the Holy Spirit leads us.

Servants.  Helpers.  Lord, help make me one.

photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onesimus

Jesus Had a Step-Dad

It simply just never occurred to me:  Jesus had a step-dad.  

Joseph was obscure.  We know little of him.  But, we cannot estimate his impact on the life of Jesus. 

We know that Joseph honored and helped Mary and tried to preserve her dignity. 

Joseph’s response ”How can this be?”  showed he was real and honest and needed a little time…time to work things out in his heart.  And…he needed a little help, an encounter with with God “understand” enough to obey. 

Joseph was a woodworker, skilled in his trade, a provider for his family. 

Joseph was a dreamer (unlike Mary who Gabriel spoke directly with). 

Joseph was immediately obedient to “dreams” from God.  

Scripture likely keeps Joseph obsure, likely  to keep our eyes on his heavenly Father, who we should emulate the most.  We would have it no other way. 

Joseph was obviously the right man for the job.  The perfect choice. 

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for showing me something new.  Ten years ago, this information would not have impacted me.  But, today, it does!  Something new every day in the Christmas story!

Source:  Michael Card’s, The Promise, A Christmas Devotional Book

Blogging Took Up All My Words…Apparently

Well, if you think the last couple day’s post have been a change of wind, they have!

I found that I was using so many of my “words” online that I really didn’t have much to say by the time The Hub got home.  My laughs were used up, and my words were gone, and he’s been so busy this fall, it didn’t matter.  It was helpful.  Now…it matters.  It’s nice to be missed, however, I have some restructuring to attend to.

Having comments turned off has made me appreciate the conversation of my family more.  I have a broad circle of friends here!  It’s great to know you can sustain me in tough seasons, and this summer and fall were hard in a number of ways.  We continue to face challenges even now. 

Tonight, I even watched a movie mid-week with The Fam:  The Santa Claus.  I laughed my head off.  Nope, I’d never seen it before.

We started some Christmas giving tonight…my daughter bought us all presents today at the school store with her character counts money!!!  She came home steathily, wrapped them like a pro, and delivered them tonight, not able to wait!  It was so sweet.  Now, that is holiday spirit…spontaneity and love and sacrifice.  What a sweetie!  I got a Mozart tape.  I will enjoy it.  She asked if I would share it with her.    That’s my girl.  The others got Christmas ornaments, very nice ones, outdated from card store editions.  We LOVED them. 

I bought some a Christmas card stamping kit today at Rite Aid.  The delightful little fun stamps turned out to be a bout 25 cents a piece, so I just couldn’t resist the urge to make a few cards, though I generally like store bought.  We got a card making kit last year, and Golilocks and I made a few during a snow day last winter.  Thought I’d see if I could churn a few more out.  It was fun…a change of pace.   They have 2-3 more if you want to look…the stamps were nice.  $10 for the kit.  I usually don’t like wood block kits, but as they are all Christmas and fit in one tidy box, I can store them away after the season with ease. 

I ordered a few gifts online today.  Lovin’ the online gifting. 

I am staying caught up…read through Ezekiel 25 today.  Man.  Weirdness there.  I don’t guess I’ve ever read all these prophets, much less straight through.  It’s having a bit impact on me.  Mainly, in terms of my sense of what is important to God:  the poor, the needy, the orphan, the widow, and keeping him first at heart.  Those issues are repeated by the prophets like a parents talking to a teenager:  over, and over, and over, and over.  I realize that I have not kept the things most important to the heart of God close enough to my heart.

Also emphasized is the discipline of God.  He said in the last chapter I read, “I had covered your sins, but your rebellion made me remember them all”.  Isn’t that how it works with most of us?  Character breeds trust–lack of character destroys it.

Also, the huge enemy of our souls:  pride.  Pride in beauty.  Pride in wealth.  Comfort.  Plenty.  Coveting other nations, other ways, other loves.  Not caring for our children enough, and their spiritual heritage.  Oh Lord…we have much work to do. 

Well, that’s all for today.

Thanks for your blog-ship!  (Comments are dis-abled intentionally for this post.    Blessings!!!)

What to Say

Wow.  Revival tonight rocked.  I don’t know what to say. 

All I know is, I went in stuck with what kind of God could blow away Job’s family, just to get in Satan’s face…and I was stuck.  I could not finish reading Job.  Every day this week, every trip, every part of my day, I’ve said, “Alright Job, here we go”.  I’ve taken my Bible with me.  I’ve had three days scheduled to read the book and I just have not been able to make myself get through it.  A chapter here, a chapter there. 

My husband said to me, “Dear, you need to read the first two chapters of Job, and the last few…the middle is just a bunch of blaming and whining.”  And maybe the man was right…he has a point.  I’ve fot 3-4 days to read Psalms, and I’m going to be SO behind. 

But, Job held me captive. 

How does a God who loves you and is proud of you…just…throw that in Satan’s face, and say, “Have you considered my servant?  Blameless!”  And He doesn’t say it once, but twice.  TWICE!  He points his servant out to Satan.  Yeah, Satan is “roaming throughout the earth, seeking whom he may devour”, I’ve read that.  But, to think that God POINTS US OUT?

Is that insane?

Yes, it’s crazy–nuts, for those of you struggling with the answer to that question.   There is nothing comforting about it…AT ALL.

And I was shaken.

And, frankly, there have been a few times when I’ve tried to reason my way out of a problem or two, and I’ve had as many words and reasonings as Job.  I surely have!  I get the “many words”.

Why? 

I found myself asking, “Why God?” 

“How could you?”

And, I was severely stuck.  Stuck with the reading, yes, but also suddenly stuck with a God I did not understand, and…I didn’t trust.

Until tonight.

I knew the information presented, and frankly, if someone told me what he talked about and his style and what-not, I would have said, “Yeah, yeah…heard it, heard preachers like that before, that’s all great.  I got it.”

But, there aren’t words to describe the problem in my heart and how it got fixed.  Words can’t wrap today in a package.  Words can’t explain how the call I got yesterday with a drug ravaged family met with a skit and a suicide today and a room full of so many situations and hearts meeting at one dot in time for one meeting where there vision of God was altered just enough to go from stuck to “unstuck”.

I may try again later this week, but for now, I just want to soak in who God is…the newness I found in him tonight.  I want to bask in a God I can trust with all that I am, and with all I have, and with all I hear about–with all that seems WAY too big for me to understand.  I’m just overwhelmed.  Totally melted.  Mowed over.  Broken.

For someone who has no words to say about it, I’ve used 518 so far according to my counter.  But, I still can’t explain it.  If you weren’t there, you ought to get a tape, but that seriously won’t do it justice as so much of it was visual and in the moment.  I’ve never been to a better revival meeting that I can remember.  It DID actually REVIVE me to the core.  I just have to say “THANK YOU, LORD!”  What a load off. 

Not to mention the fact that my kids were totally riveted the whole time, Bibles open, laughing, answering questions, and dancing in the seats the whole praise service.  Man!  Our church rocks…and we’re a pretty traditional Southern Baptist Church!  What can I say?  We just know how to have fun and we can’t seem to help it.

How Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son, Became Lame

Today, the sermon was on Mephibosheth, illustrating kindess.  Great story.

So, I leaned over to my husband and said, “Do you know how he went lame?  He was running away on the day Saul and his two sons were killed, to escape!  He tripped and fell!”

”Wow.  I didn’t know that.”

“Me neither.  I thought he was lame from birth or something.  I read it last week.”

That’s why you should read your Bible.  Impress your man with random Bible factiods. I’m sure he thinks it’s sexy. Oh come on now…if she thinks “his tractor’s sexy”, surely I have a shot.

2 Samuel 4:4 (Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became crippled. His name was Mephibosheth.)

More info on that inheritance is interesting to me here, too:  Mephibosheth’s inheritance of land was either seized by David, or had continued to be worked by Ziba, a steward, who’d possibly worked the land for a profit.  

David gave the land back to Mephibosheth, and commanded Ziba and his household to work the land for Mephibosheth, and give him all the profit.  Ziba agreed.

But, fast forward some time, after Mephi has been dining as a son in David’s house.  David’s son, Absilom, tried to overturn the throne, Ziba is by David’s side as they flee.  Mephibosheth is not.  David asks Ziba where Mephi is…Ziba  claims Mephibosheth had not come with him to war (hello, lame) because he was staying close to the throne, just in case Saul’s line came in possession of the crown again. 

With that, on the spot, David gives the servant Ziba BACK all the land and proceeds (assuming he had it the first time…it stands to reason in the context of this story).   After David wins, he questions Mephibosheth himself, “Why did you not come with me?”  

Mephibosheth hee-haws around and honors David greatly for his love and kindness (a good idea).  I’m not sure that a lame man should go to war, but anyway.  So, David can’t figure out from the conflicting accounts who is right, Ziba or Mephibosheth, and there is no way to prove it, so he divides the land and proceeds down the middle between the two. 

One other interesting factoid:   I always thought since Mephibosheth was taken in “as a son”, he must have still been a boy or very young man.  Nope.   He was already a father himself, with a ”young son” named Mica.  (1 Sam 9:12).  You may have caught that in today’s reading, too. 

I dig this stuff.  Seeing how God’s justice and mercy plays out over the course of people’s lifestime is fascinating.