Refreshment

One day last week I was getting ready to face my day. I'd just put the kids on the bus and had cranked my music. I was in the bathroom, bopping away and fixing my hair when I heard someone yelling, "Woo, hoo!!" Scared the living daylights out of me!

It was a friend who knew I'd never hear her knock over my music and knew how to break into my house. She just needed a few minutes of encouragement. Life that week had been a bit uphill and she thought a few minutes with a friend would give her the boost she needed for another day. I knew just what she meant. I love those moments when I meet "Jesus with skin on" and my day is brightened by just a few moments of contact with someone who cheers you.

It also made me think of some words that have been rolling around in my head. It's a phrase out of Ephesians 5, right in the middle of a passage about the relationship between husbands and wives and Christ and the church. It talks about Christ sanctifying (making holy) and cleansing us through "washing of water by the word". Those words are like poetry to me. I've heard many profound things explained from this passage, but somehow these words speak to me of something very simple and wonderful.

In life I don't very often get filthy dirty--it happens, but not often. Yet, I still need showers and I love them. There's something so refreshing about being cleansed of the "dust" of a day. This happens to our spirits too. As we go through our day we may not encounter anything that's metaphorically filthy, but there's just a bit of sweat and grime that can build up from life. "Washing of water by the word" can be just as refreshing to my spirit as a shower is to my body. It can be as simple as reading a Psalm before going to sleep and a calm will seep into my spirit that washes away a lingering "yuck" from something I encountered in my day.

There can be all kinds of things that keep us from reading God's word. Sometimes it's a sense of condemnation or failure because we feel like we haven't made it a habit like we should have. Some have experienced it more like a disciplinary stick than a love letter. Sometimes it's just plain old inertia. There was a time in my life when I avoided it because I knew it would bring conviction that I wasn't ready to hear. At another time, I avoided it because I'd been exposed to a long period of legalistic teaching and it was discouraging to me. Out of desperation, knowing it contained my only hope, I went out and bought a completely different translation so I could hear it in a different voice (I chose The Message at this time).

Whatever it is, if you face a hurdle in this area, bust through and be refreshed! The Psalms are a wonderful place to start if you feel like you need something and don't know where to begin. I love King David. He messed up big time and more than once, but he loved God passionately and God described him as a "man after my heart". He was so honest and un-religious--he knew how to rant when he was frustrated and discouraged and felt overwhelmed and he always came back to remembering the goodness of the Lord and encouraging himself with reminders of God's faithfulness in the past and His promises for the future.

Don't be afraid to dive in and be washed by the water of His Word. It'll feel good!

"When I discovered your words I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God of Heaven's Armies." Jeremiah 15:16

The God Who Runs to Meet Us

My husband's been practicing a song that he'll soon sing in church called When God Ran. Every time I listen to it I get choked up. The song is inspired by the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) and it talks about how the Father ran to embrace His runaway son when the son returned to Him. I've become overwhelmed with the message of love in that action.

The son left his Father's house and spent all that his Father had given to him for his own pleasure. Eventually, he squandered everything he had and was living in the most pitiful condition. The son was in dire straights, but waited until he was completely out of options before returning to his Father. I can only imagine his sense of shame. If I was in his shoes, I would have been dreading the (deserved) anger of the Father. In fact, I have been in his shoes and that's exactly how I felt.

The Gospel of Luke tells us that the son "came to his senses" (hurray for coming to our senses!!) and decided to return to his Father's house. Prior to returning, he carefully rehearses an apology. He heads for home and before he has a chance to apologize, his Father sees him coming and "filled with love and compassion, He ran to His son, embraced him, and kissed him." The Father didn't wait for for the son to crawl into His presence. The son didn't have to do penance or prove the sincerity of his repentance. He moved in the direction of the Father and the Father ran to meet him!

That's how your Papa feels about you. His longing for connection with you is so great that when you turn to Him, He runs to meet you. He's filled with love and compassion. He wants to embrace you.

It's really hard for us in our humanness to comprehend such a love. I've recently learned that this misconception starts early in our human experience. One of my children was telling me about something that happened to them. It was a really special thing and it was obvious to me right away that it was a gift from their heavenly Daddy. I told them that I thought God was telling them how much He loves them. The first response was awe and wonder, but almost immediately doubt popped in. I questioned this and the response was, "I don't think so." I was genuinely surprised and confused. I had to press a bit for an explanation and then came the whispered confession, "I don't think He'd tell me He loves me because I have a bad word stuck in my head." I wanted to weep.

I was also really mad. Stinkin' mad. It's so obvious that this lie of being unloved is just that--a stinkin', rotten lie. Our Father loves us. He loved us before we ever did one thing right. And there is nothing that can separate us from His love. Nothing. Does He desire repentance? Absolutely. Whenever we break His laws, we bring pain into our lives and, being a good Papa, He doesn't want to see us hurt. He wants us to surrender our lives to Him because it will bring us joy and peace.

We don't have to "journey to a far country" or "live wildly" as the prodigal son did to believe this lie. Little lies can creep in that we've disappointed our Father. It can be any number of things. After all, there is an enemy who is actively trying to steal our joy.

If you're not feeling the love, ask your Papa to show you the lie you've been believing. He will. In fact, He'll run to meet you!

"I will be your God throughout your lifetime--until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you."

Isaiah 46:4

A New Calendar

Happy New Year!

I like seasons for the way they give us an opportunity to measure our lives. This morning I measured my kids and we ooohed and ahhhhed over how much they've grown since last New Years'. In the same way, I like to take a few quiet moments every New Years' Day and remember/evaluate the last year and consider the new year.

Like my children, I hope that I've grown in the last year--the more the better! I know I've "grown" over the holidays, but hopefully that's not permanent. What I want to know is if I've grown through life experiences. Have they made me bitter or better? Each year brings surprises--both good and bad. Last year held unexpected losses and disappointments. We were also surprised by unanticipated delights and answers to prayer.

Today I hang up a new calendar. Believe it or not, this used to cause me quite a bit of anxiety. All those blank pages and who knew what they held? There were a lot of "what ifs" for me on all those pages. I like to plan out my life, in fact, if my husband would let me, I'm pretty sure I'd plan the next five or ten years, complete with charts, graphs, and maps! (If this seems completely bizarre to you, you can just pray for me and skip this post!) However, one of the benefits of getting older is that you can get a little wiser too and I'm starting to see a pattern in my life. With all those blank calendars I've hung and all the unexpected things that filled in those blank spots, I've learned that God has been good and He has watched over me and helped me with all the really tough stuff and heaped a bunch of other blessings on me too!

I've learned that there are no "what ifs" in God's vocabulary. The closest thing I can find is Jesus asking, "What if you gained the whole world and lost your soul?" (John 8:36) A thought-provoking question, but not an expression of uncertainty. Clearly, "what if" is a result of being human and unable to know the future. Thankfully, we have a Father whom we can trust with the future. God knows that His plans for us are good (Jeremiah 29:11). He knows that when we place the heartbreaking stuff in His hands He will give us joy in the place of mourning (Isaiah 61:3). He knows that when we surrender to Him all things work together for good (Romans 8:28). He knows that all His promises are true (2 Corinthians 1:20).

With all of this in mind, it's a little easier to hang that blank calendar with a childlike sense of anticipation. My Poppa is with me! He has good plans for me! He will help me with the tough stuff!

Go ahead and plan your holidays and your next oil change. And don't forget to look with wide-eyed expectation for the good plans that He has for you. He loves you!

"What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?
If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love?
Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?
No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ,
who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from
God's love.
Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow--not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love."
Romans 8: 31, 35 & 38

Silent, Holy Night

I love this silent, holy night. The presents are under the tree. The children are asleep. It's quiet and the hush somehow seems holy to me. I always stay up a little bit longer to savour this moment.

What makes it so special? It's just another winter night. The lights and the music are nice. But there's something more. It's the "something" that changes everything.

Two thousand years ago there were ordinary shepherds on a hillside doing an ordinary job. There was an ordinary girl expecting a baby. An ordinary stable full of, you know, the things you would ordinarily expect to find in a stable. Well, it would have been ordinary...but everything was infused with the presence of God and that makes all the difference. Ordinary people, things, and events become extraordinary in the hands of God.

An angel of the Lord came and told Mary some pretty unbelievable stuff and she asked, "How can this be?" The angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." That's it. She didn't have to try to get it all right, she simply said, "Be it unto me according to your word." And nothing has ever been the same. Everything was changed because an ordinary girl said, "Okay, you can use me. I trust you."

So, this ordinary night is not so ordinary. There is a holy hush because we've been focusing on a miracle and we've been filled with praise. We've come to adore Him. When we worship the "Holy Spirit comes upon us" and nothing is the same. Ordinary people become extraordinary. They can forgive the unforgivable, love the unlovable, laugh through tears, and have peace in the middle of a storm--all because the power of the Most High is overshadowing.

God always uses ordinary people who surrender to Him in trust. There's stuff we simply cannot accomplish on our own, but when we say, "Be it unto me according to your word," extraordinary things happen.

Hope

Christmas...it's all about hope.

This morning my prayers are filled with "biggies". Prayers for two families celebrating their first Christmas without a father, for a family whose Christmas joy is diluted with the sadness of an empty chair belonging to an estranged son, for a dear friend sitting by her newborn baby in the NICU, for my dad's worsening and undiagnosed health problems...bigger stuff than what to get Aunt Bertha for Christmas. And, yet, I have this hope!

Paradise was, indeed, lost. God created this perfect earth, lavishly filling it with every good thing. He created people because He wanted friends. But sin came...and we've all suffered the pain of it one way or another. But the very God who was rejected couldn't bear the separation! So He sent His Son.

His Son.

For you.

For me.

All because the great God of the universe, the God who is so huge we can't even begin to comprehend how vast and how great He is, wants to be connected to us. Just stop and think about that for a minute.

A stinky stable. A mother who was most likely gossiped about. A humble father from nowhere. Fleabitten shepherds. And a sky filled with glorious angels declaring, "Peace on earth, good will toward men!!"

Peace on earth? But what about _________ ? What about that big list of heavy duty prayer requests? People often ask, "If there's a good God, how come so many bad things happen?" And yet, of all the gods in the history of mankind, this is the only God who lavishes love on a world that rejected Him and continues to reject Him. I say, wow, what a God! That's an irresistible love.

Yes, I'm grieving with those who grieve. I'm also celebrating with them the good fruit that will continue for generations because of the faith of their fathers. I ache when I see that little baby in NICU, and I'm filled with gratitude because her little life is already a story of miracles. I long for sons to be reconciled to their families, and I believe because I know so many stories of reconciliations that could only have happened by the grace of God.

We continue to see the consequences of sin and separation from God. And we have a promise for a day when there will be no more pain, tears, sorrow and dying. (Revelation 21:4)

On this sparkly, Christmasy morning I bring my requests to God with thanksgiving and hope because I've seen His Love born in a manger, crucified on a cross, resurrected from the dead, redeeming in the present, and promising to come back and make all things new.

"Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!

His mercies never cease.

Great is his faithfulness;

His mercies begin afresh each morning.

I say to myself,

The Lord is my inheritance;

therefore I will hope in Him!

The Lord is good to those who depend on Him

to those who search for Him.

So it is good to wait

quietly for salvation from the Lord."


Lamentations 3:21-26

I Need to See Him

"And so this is Christmas..." Strains of one of my favorite Christmas CD's wafted through the house as we decorated--almost drowned out by the squabbling of my children setting up the nativity scene. Good times!!

For years I didn't have a nativity set because I wanted just the right one. It had to be a bit rustic and kind of authentic looking. About six years ago a friend gave one to me and it's perfect. Perfect because it reminds us of our good friends every year and perfect because the stable is made out of barn wood and all the little characters are country and homey. Everyone wants to be part of setting it up, but this year somehow two of my kids started on it without the rest of the family. I waited to see how they would negotiate the process without my intervention. Things went okay for a while, but then got a little heated. Seems the problem was that one child wanted to arrange everything nicely, like a picture so you could see each figure. I understood her point completely. I like things to be esthetically pleasing. However, her brother was adamant--they came to see Jesus!! They couldn't see Him if they were all standing around looking nice.

Ouch.

I had to think on that for a while.

I like to think I've come a long way in this area. I'm pretty unconcerned about what the general public thinks of me. However, I've recently been reminded of how uncomfortable I am when someone I respect doesn't think much of something I value. I am uncomfortable with disappointing my friends and family. And you know what? It is difficult to see Him when I'm focused looking nice.

A lot of the stresses that come with Christmas have to do with this whole business of "looking nice"... The process of buying gifts that feel more like an obligation than a gift. Making decisions about how we celebrate so as not to disappoint anyone. Our kids may helpfully point out that their friends get more presents or cooler presents. We may feel pressures and expectations from our extended families. The list goes on.

The angels declared to the shepherds that Christ had come to bring peace. Ironically, the squabbling of my children helped to bring that peace back to my heart. There's no peace in trying to look nice to everyone. You can't please all the people all of the time. But there's a tremendous amount of peace when you go "see Jesus".

Attempts have been made to rearrange the nativity scene so that it looks nicer, but it doesn't take long before all those little shepherds and wisemen are crowded around the manager once again and I smile.

Come, let us adore Him.


"You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, whose thoughts are fixed on You!" Isaiah26:3

A Strong Tower

The name of the LORD is a strong tower;

the righteous run to it and are safe.

Proverbs 18:10

I'm a very visual person. This can be a blessing or a curse. If I'm trying to picture how I want something to look, it's great. If you give me "too much information", well, I could be scarred for life! My Papa knows this about me so sometimes He answers my questions in wonderful visual ways.

Just this week I was remembering one of these answers He gave to me in July of 2007. We were living in a camping trailer as we tried to finish the house we were building. It was pretty stressful. I don’t like moving even when I’m looking forward to it. Nothing was convenient. No shower, no laundry, no stove, no privacy. It had to have been the windiest July on record. I couldn’t even barbeque because the flame would blow out. I had tried really hard to be organized so things would run smoothly in this transition time and yet it seemed like I was daily rummaging through boxes looking for the one thing that we absolutely needed. My husband was under a lot of pressure to get the house completed and get back to work.

I was playing a favorite CD and trying to encourage myself. I found myself singing enthusiastically to a song based on Proverbs 18:10: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are safe.” I prayed, “Lord, how do I run to your name? How is your name a ‘strong tower’? I really want to be safe right now from so many different things. Discouragement. Frustration. Impatience. Anger.”

No sooner had that prayer formulated in my heart than one of my girls came running toward me yelling, “Mom!! He’s trying to hit me!” As soon as she called out, “Mom!” her little tormentor slowed down and by the time she reached me he was actually off and running in the other direction.

I laughed out loud! Probably not the reaction the kids were looking for, but God had answered my prayer. I saw in living colour that when I call on His name and I’m running toward Him the enemy knows he’s already been defeated.

I think I often call for help, all the while cringing and huddling with my hands over my head as though I'm still expecting the enemy to strike. It helps me to visualize myself running with confidence toward my Papa while my enemy backs off because he knows he has no chance of succeeding. Seeing with the eyes of faith what is really happening in a difficult time makes all the difference in our posture.

The trailer didn’t get any bigger and it was weeks before things got a little more convenient, but I found myself a little more peaceful as I “ran into the strong tower” calling out, “Father! Abba! I need you!”