I recently was happy to shrink out of some of my favorite blouses, and gave them away to a friend who in turn gave me a coupon for one of my favorite stores for blouses (in my humble opinion, they are sensibly proportioned and rarely disappoint)
A few weeks later, I stopped by the store and after browsing a bit, I acquired several blouses that would do nicely for the dresses I was making.
A few days afterward, I was sorting laundry and thinking about my sewing projects coming up, feeling relieved that I had things figured out (sometimes it can be a hassle to get it together when it comes to dresses and blouses, at least in my life!)
God spoke into my heart, "Take them back" and I was sort of shocked at the struggle that occurred in my heart over that call.
Oh, the devil wanted me to think that I did not
hear correctly and that it didn't really matter.
But I knew better.
I have learned the beauty of that still, small voice
and I knew what God was asking of me.
So, after a brief struggle, I finally said
"Ok Lord. I don't really get it at all but sure,
I'll take them back."
And He replied,
"What you need, you will have when you need it."
"Trust and obey,
For there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus
But to trust and obey."
This morning I was reading through my journal that I am presently recording life's journey in, having begun this one in April of this year. I came to the spot where I mentioned having gone through 1 Cor. 13 and being impressed in a new way that God's way to love is HUGE and unattainable in my own strength and that it requires a lifetime of learning and climbing higher in it. Then, a week later, I wrote:
"...we hosted Bible study at our house after a long time of not having it here."
(we have Bible study in the homes of the families of our congregation on
Wednesday evenings)
"I enjoyed opening our home to everyone again.
The lesson was taken from 1 Cor. 13~
Love above all else.
Guess God thot I needed that twice in a week's time.
Lord, I know you have put Your gifts in me
for your work and glory, but if I don't have love,
then I am nothing.
Thank You for speaking so plainly in Your Word
for us to follow and know...
lead me in the way everlasting."
Then, a few pages later:
"Eagerly pursue and seek to acquire this love
(make it your aim, your great quest)..."
1 Cor. 14:1A; Amplified
I am struck with how these chapters flow together.
First chapter 12 tells us to let the gifts of the Spirit
be manifest in us for the work of God in this world.
Then we are told to love, and it is clearly defined for us:
Love endures long and is patient and kind;
love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy,
is not boastful or vainglorious,
does not display itself haughtily.
It is not conceited
(arrogant and inflated with pride);
it is not rude
(unmannerly)
and does not act unbecomingly.
Love
(God's love in us)
does not insist on its own rights
or its own way, for it is not
self-seeking;
it is not touchy or fretful or resentful;
it takes no account of the evil done to it
(pays no attention to a suffered wrong).
It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness,
but rejoices when truth and right prevail.
Love bears up under anything and everything
that comes, is ever ready to believe
the best of every person;
its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances
and it endures everything
(without weakening).
Love never fails
(never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end).
1 Cor. 13:4-8
Amplified
I have pondered this passage off and on in a deep way
in the 4 months since I encountered it twice in one week.
That kind of love leaves the flesh staggering.
It is impossible!
But with God all things are possible and when we
say Yes to Him and No to 'me',
then it is very possible to love like this.
The other week, I was having a hard morning with my son.
He has some difficulties with things that many boys
have difficulty with, only sometimes it seems he has
them to the nth degree!
But this particular morning, when I was feeling all
knotted up and desperate for the battle to be over,
I began to call upon the Lord for wisdom.
He reminded of 1 Cor. 13.
That kind of love requires me not to be angry and harsh
with my son.
To ask him to be respectful and to obey?
Yes.
But rude or harsh to him? No.
So after lunch, I decided to spend the afternoon with him.
Instead of taking a siesta in my room, away from the
noise of life for bit.
We played a game most of the afternoon, and then
my daughters gathered in the family room too,
and we ended up all sharing a good afternoon of
conversation and playing games.
God's Way works.
My son, becoming a 'macho man' at the ripe old age of 10,
became an absolute snuggle bug that afternoon,
wrapped in fleece, snuggled up against me as we played.
And his heart was in tune with my heart,
and we just had good fellowship one with another.
Dear friends, my encouragement to you?
Love in the manner God asks of us.
Let us love because He is love and love is of Him.
And our homes will be peaceful on a consistent basis.
I believe for every drop of rain that falls A flower grows, I believe that somewhere in the darkest night A candle glows. I believe for everyone who goes astray Someone will come to show the way. I believe, Oh, I believe. I believe above the storm The smallest prayer, will still be heard. I believe that someone in that great somewhere Hears every word Every time I hear a newborn baby cry, Or touch a leaf Or see the sky, Then I know why I believe. Every time I hear a newborn baby cry, Or touch a leaf Or see the sky, Then I know why I believe
“The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking, still making little forward progress is because they haven't yet come to the end of themselves. We're still trying to give orders, and interfering with God's work within us. ” ― A.W. Tozer
With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
The woman who had sat across from me, tears dripping from her eyes as she told me of childhood experiences that had left her reeling for years, smiled through those tears, joy spreading across her face as she recounted how she had learned to know Jesus and how to forgive and move on in His life. My heart beat with praise to the Father that yet another of my friends was choosing Him in spite of horrible experiences that never should have been named among men in the first place, but because of the evil that is in this world, is a common occurrence.
And in the days that have followed, she and I continue to enjoy each other's company, catching up from almost a score of years that separated our childhood school days from the present day, our ways having been diverged from each other most of those years, save for a few brief encounters here and there.
The Blessing Basket...
One day, I brought her some apples in a basket, knowing her family enjoys food from the Garden. The next time she met up with me, the basket was filled with a mum for me, with the suggestion that we start the tradition of passing that basket between us with wholesome blessings in it, either in grow foods, or beautiful gifts that bless the heart.
I am wowed that God, who walked with me through years of loneliness and struggle, has blessed me with such a friend (and more like her, too!). Just because. Because He sure is enough for me and He doesn't have to give me anything in this world!
Sometimes friends just are the ones He uses to be hands and feet for Jesus, encouraging us on our weary way. Friendship is a blessing. True fellowship in Christ is a blessing we cannot take for granted. I am so blessed by friends He has sent me through the years. They have ministered to me in ways so completely of God that even now, it takes my breath away to remember.
Thanking God for friends today.
(what Paul said of the Macedonian believers):
"Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift,
and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints."
1. What we want most; 2. What we think about most; 3. How we use our money; 4. What we do with our leisure time; 5. The company we enjoy; 6. Who and what we admire; 7. What we laugh at.”
I'm taking a break from canning ketchup to breathe and write this post! Whew! Almost didn't get this one in for today, but that would have been ok, too. We are busy preserving the harvest and I am feeling blessed because I know what is in those jars, where the food came from, how it was raised, and had a very supportive family helping me. Even though I had to do tomatoes the past 2 days in 90 some degree weather, and one of the days it seemed many things were pressing in on me to do, I was given grace to see the project through. NOW...to wage a war on the spiders and dust that has quietly been collecting the past 6 weeks while we were busy gathering the harvest...
Here is a song I thought of as I pondered praise the other day. It is one we sang in school many moons ago, and I wish I could have found the music for it online to put on this post, but I didn't find anything. So here are the words...
I can still see the spot in the road where I was the day I started listening to this sermon. It came to me after a long, dark, uphill climb, when I was wondering just what the Lord had in mind by the shadowed trails He had me on at the time. I was so blessed by this sermon. I hope it can encourage you as well.
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.” So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.
So heart be still:What need our little lifeOur human life to know,If God hath comprehension?In all the dizzy strifeOf things both high and low,
God hideth His intention.
God knows. His willIs best. The stretch of yearsWhich wind ahead, so dimTo our imperfect vision,Are clear to God. Our fearsAre premature; In Him,
All time hath full provision.
Then rest: untilGod moves to lift the veilFrom our impatient eyes,When, as the sweeter featuresOf Life’s stern face we hail,Fair beyond all surmiseGod’s thought around His creaturesOur mind shall fill"
(I found this tidbit of information below to be interesting,
altho how accurate it is, I do not know since I found it on Wikipedia)
"The Gate of the Year" is the popular name given to a poem by Minnie Louise Haskins. The title given to it by the author was "God Knows". She studied and then taught at the London School of Economics in the first half of the twentieth century.
The poem was widely acclaimed as inspirational, reaching its first mass audience in the early days of the Second World War. Its words remained a source of comfort to the Queen for the rest of her life, and she had its words engraved on brass plaques and fixed to the gates of the King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle, where the King was interred. The Queen Mother was also buried here in 2002, and the words of "The Gate of the Year" were read out at her state funeral.)
A friend shared this with me and it struck a chord deep in my soul. We are the clay, He is the Potter.
The time of solitude feels scary, but it can be a really sweet time of fellowship with the Lord Jesus, who needs to be ALL in our lives. It can be a time of spiritual renewal and revival. I can be a time of learning in the quiet without the distractions of other endeavors and other situations going on.
May you be blessed and encouraged by this short video.
I was thinking, as I listened to this message,
how beautiful God makes things...
from the seasons in nature,
autumn splendor right now with all it's
beautiful flowers doing summer's last dance
and the berries of many shades and sizes,
and apple orchards hanging heavy with fruit,
the scent of the vineyards with their ripening fruits,
soon to be colored leaves on the maple trees~
the same One who makes all that
is the Potter who molds and shapes our lives
into the thing of beauty
FOR HIS GLORY
that He has in mind for it to be
if we let Him have His way.
So go ahead:
listen to the Voice of the Shepherd
and be as clay in the Potter's hands,
becoming beautiful for Him
and of use in His plan...
My friend also sent me this song and I was totally blown away.
It could almost be me singing that song!
So I share it with you as a testament to the fact that
YES! He knows how many times around the wheel
til we know His will and submit to it.
Beauty comes from being in His will.
Even if it is far, far different than what we
envisioned for our lives.
I love where God has me.
I love doing the work He has given me to do.
And there is a great calm in my soul
with the knowing that as I seek His face,
and desire to grow in Him,
He will always have me exactly
where I'm supposed to be.
“Jesus calls us to his rest, and meekness is His method. The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort.”
I missed posting my weekly Thanks post last week, but all because I've been very busy helping my family and others to harvest and preserve the harvest for winter. We shall not be afraid of winter (Prov. 31), to be sure!
As I was cleaning recently on a Saturday morning, I was a bit warmish (my friends know that I don't like to roast...I'll take a sweater any day over sweating!) and tempted to be peeved that I had a floor to wash on a Saturday, a day I usually reserve for resting, and doing odd jobs around the house, in celebration of another school week behind us, and in preparation for Sunday.
But as I was tempted to think sour thoughts, I determined instead to choose praise. Here is a run down of what I thought as I mopped my huge kitchen floor, and later as I pondered that on into the day.
*There's a roof up above me
*I get to serve my hard-working Farmer with a clean floor, something he appreciates very much
*My son, who is one of the main dirt-carriers into my house, is full of life and energy and a blessing to me.
*I am healthy and well and able to serve my family, something I didn't have in years gone by.
*I have many quarts of food harvested and in my freezer, one of the reasons this floor is so dirty~from being so busy preserving the harvest that we didn't reach around to do our cleaning well the past few weeks.
And later, I had the blessed privilege of showering in a spotless bathroom, thanks to a faithful daughter. I had an abundance of warm, running water, chemical-free soap that didn't cost me a fortune, and vinegar to rinse my hair shiny and smooth. I had clean clothes to wear, again thanks to a faithful daughter. And I could sit in front of a fan and dry my hair and enjoy the cool breeze.
Praise is powerful. That set the tone for the rest of my day. I found things to bless the Lord in almost automatically in different situations that day. It was pleasant to observe that if I choose praise, I can face any tomorrow and know that God is there, and that He will take care of whatever needs are there.
Praise is telling God that I believe He is who He says He is and that He does what He says He will do. Praise is telling Him that I notice and am thankful for the benefits He daily loads me with. Praise is telling Him that I am content in the shadow of His wing. Praise is telling God that I love Him and surrender to His plan for my day.
Praise is not ignoring the sorrows of life. It is not burying my head in the sand and hoping the problems go away. Instead, praise is simply acknowledging the One who never changes and who will supply all my needs, according to His riches in Christ Jesus.
Try praise. I highly recommend it.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
and why art thou disquieted within me?
hope thou in God:
for I shall yet praise him,
[who is] the health of my countenance, and my God.
that I live in the beautiful Finger Lakes of New York,
where the climate is temperate and grows beautiful bumper crops almost every year!
Thank you, God, that I am well and strong and can preserve organic harvest
for a fraction of the cost it would be, were I to buy it in the store.
Thank you, God that my mother taught me to be
disciplined (though it took me many years to apply my heart unto wisdom in this case!)
and efficient and to keep my home as you designed me to.
Thank you for the many hands that make the work lighter on annual family corn day.
And thank you for the 280 quarts we preserved that day.
Thank You for my Farmer man who planted the corn in his organic fields
and cultivated it, enjoying his summer solace under sunny (and often cloudy!) skies...
This food will be a delight in taco soup, succotash, and black bean burgers...
and we shall not 'be afraid of the snow'...
Thank you for tomatoes, scarlet fruit of my garden (and my mother-in-law's)
that will make splendid tomato juice and ketchup.
Thank you for my Vitamix, that makes swift work of tomato days!
And thank You especially for it on the day I did 83 quarts of tomato juice
and it was our family's turn to host Bible study at our house.
Thank You for the willingness of my children to help me
and that the son went with the Farmer that day to mow what is likely the
last hay he will get to help with this year, giving me extra time
(off of school!) to get tomatoes done.
Truly You know when
enough is enough.
And thank You that you sent cool weather that day,
and I could actually can in my kitchen with
a sweater on!
Thank You for my family, willing servants in filling the place
of service to their family that you have designed just for them.
Thank you for the quiet, studious one,
and the corny, adventure-loving one
(you decide which is which!)
and for the farmer boy with all his zest for life.
And thank you for flowers, that sparkle in the crisp autumn coolness
under the cloudy skies (my favorite kind of day).
Amen.
As I didn't find time to post a praise post last week on Thursday,
(now you know why!)
I decided to do two of them this week
because I had two and couldn't decide which one
to save for next week!
So until "Thanksgiving on Thursday" tomorrow,
may we be encouraged and choose to praise Him
with our whole heart!
No matter what.
Because He is worthy of all glory, and honor and praise.
Even from our feeble, faltering tongues.
Recently I heard this sermon on some of my trips to and from town. It was a blessing and created a deep yearning in my heart to KNOW the living God. I also deeply appreciated renewing my knowledge that Jesus' prayer in John 17 was for the Body even today, thousands of years later.
Today I was reading 2 Cor 9, and noticed how it continues the thoughts from chapter 8 of giving generously.
And it has me pondering...again!
So many people seem to have shallow lives, with petty quarrels and problems that stem from selfish living. So many people seem stuck in their own little world, drowning in the sorrows of past wrongs done at the hand of parents, brothers, sisters, or pastors. So many people stay in these miry places for years and years, and perhaps for all their life, every day bitterly wishing their life would be better, or that people would stop picking on them, or that someone would just love them.
While it is true that we all have been created to need love, we also have been created to GIVE it.
It is true that God planned for families to get along harmoniously, living in the peace that comes from the shadow of the Cross, carrying the Gospel to their towns with other families who believe on His name, it is also true that this Plan is often smashed to pieces by selfish parents or children who grow up hating their heritage. If this is my story, then God has a plan to give me a new identity, a new life in Jesus that does not include me being stuck in my own shell of selfishness year after year. His plan is to make ALL things new, including giving me a servant's heart that loves to go about like the Master did while He was on Earth, doing good unto all men.
So how do I get unstuck? How do I get out of that daily rut of turning everything that happens or is said into a personal attack or a wound that hurts my heart? How do I live like Jesus did, seeming not to make much ado about the darts that came His way from those who hated Him, but rather serving wherever He went, even though the antagonism, gossip and slander and false accusations could have made Him feel vulnerable and hesitant to serve? How do I get the courage to love as though I will never get hurt? How do I find that place of praise in spite of painful experiences? How? Besides being in a daily walking-in-love-with-Jesus relationship, here is how to move forward past those hurtful places, here's how to get unstuck and how to keep climbing in spite of the sorrow:
GIVE AWAY
THE LOVE
YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN!
God never intended for us to be satisfied to sit in our palaces,
fed to overflowing with the fullness of Christ,
without giving and giving and giving again.
Someone once told me, when I was facing a
rather hurtful and hard-to-understand situation:
Where grace is found, grace is given.
And since that day, I have purposed to give as much grace as I have been given.
Which is a lot, considering that I am
the chiefest of sinners~apart from Jesus' new life in me.
God loves a cheerful giver, one who lives their life sowing seeds of kindness
and loving those whom He sends them, with a joyful abandon that comes
when we rely on the power and Life of Jesus Christ to fuel our motives
and to set our souls ablaze with the zeal of the Holy Spirit.
So go ahead.
Give it away.
Give every day.
Give til it hurts the flesh.
Give til you think there is nothing left to give away.
“The word comfort is from two Latin words meaning “with” and “strong” – He is with us to make us strong. Comfort is not soft, weakening commiseration; it is true, strengthening love.”
