Unfolding Grace

I went Christmas shopping today--I'm usually finished by now--and all my good ideas ended up nowhere.  I had to resist the tidal wave of consumer frenzy that surrounded me and threatened to overcome me with the urge to buy everything, anything, just to get it done!  Never mind my own panic at not being firmly in control of crossing things off my list.   Had to dig deep for the peace that's rooted in knowing that a great Love surrounds me and cares about the details of my life, the people I want to bless.  He cares...

Then my husband didn't agree with me on the one gift I did think would work.  My teeth clenched against the rise of words that won't help.  Struggled against the sense of frustration that this responsibility rests more on me than on him.  Fight.  Fight to honour and cherish relationship over getting things my way...

He met me there in those hard choices...  Slowly peace overtook panic and anger.  Slowly.  So slowly, I'm learning that things ultimately work out really well when I surrender to His grace.  He offers it to me and through me.

Grace, kindly and gently, working out ALL things for good in the heart that keeps on turning...and returning when it loses it's way...to the Source of all hope, comfort, and strength.

So we're not giving up.  How could we!

Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us,

on the inside, where God is making new life,

not a day goes by without his unfolding grace...

There's far more here than meets the eye.

The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow.

But the things we can't see now will last forever.

2 Corinthians 4:16, 18

Rescue

Do you have any challenges in your life that keep coming up over and over again?  You've done all you know to do, but are still waiting for breakthrough?  It can get so very, very wearing.

I read a verse tonight that I'm hanging on to.  Turns out I'm not the first to be in this situation...

"We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure...as a result we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.  And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again.  We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us.  And you are helping us by praying for us..."

Weariness can come from the long wait, it will definitely increase when relying on ourselves for rescue.  I need to learn how to rely on God.  More.  To remember sooner that He is the source and supply.  After all if He raised the dead, He can definitely handle this one.

He did rescue.  He will rescue.  He will continue to rescue.

Placing my confidence in Him, learning not to rely on my own ability.  Thankful, so very thankful, for friends who pray.

2 Corinthians 1:9-10

Courage

"Be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart!"

I think I'm talking to the kids about long division...but maybe, just maybe, I'm talking to me...

He shall strengthen my heart.

I'm telling the kids that they have all the resources necessary:  pencils, paper, a knowledge of their multiplication tables and my help at hand.  They simply lack courage.  They're daunted by the numbers on the page and the memories of past failures.  They need need the courage to pick up their pencil and do the first step.

I need to be of good courage and take the first step...in that challenging task, the thing I don't really feel like doing, the phone call I'm not sure I want to make.  Resources and abilities, I've got 'em.  Help available--He's there, willing and ready.  Courage.  I just need the courage to take the first step.

He will strengthen my heart.

He will strengthen your heart.

How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you.

You lavish it on those who come to you for protection,

blessing them before the watching world.

You hide them in the shelter of your presence, safe...

You heard my cry for mercy and answered my cry for help...

So be strong and courageous,

all you who put your hope in the Lord!

Psalm 31:19-20, 24

Refreshing Kindness

My back is aching, my eyes are crossing in exhaustion, and I'm pretty sure there are a few crumpled napkins still lurking in corners, but my heart is overflowing with gratitude...

Fourteen and a half years ago my husband and I moved to northern Alberta where jobs were more plentiful and land was cheaper than in the place from whence we came.  Newlyweds, we were, venturing out on our own, away from family, to a place where there were only a few people that we kind of vaguely sort of knew...  I was unprepared for how lonely I would be and how very bleak and cold the winter would seem.  We tried going to a few different churches and liked them all, but none of them truly "fit" until one day we walked into the church that is now "home."

The people were so friendly and kind!  Even though the style of worship and the way they did things was different from places that had felt like home before, these people loved.  From the first Sunday we felt connected and so we went back again. And again.  Weekly, we were invited into homes.  Gradually, we began to make friends with neighbors and coworkers.  There is a unique sense of community in rural areas and as much as I don't like the cold temperatures here, I love the warm hearts!

Eventually I wanted to reciprocate all the kindness we'd received, but felt completely inadequate for the job...  Not only because of the number or people who'd been so kind, but they all seem to be such extraordinarily accomplished hosts/hostesses!

I got a bright idea.  We would host a Christmas open house and invite all the people who'd been so gracious to us.  I could handle the idea of preparing a variety of finger foods and desserts.  My husband agreed, so we invited all our new-found friends and neighbors and I spent two weeks cooking and baking.  The day and time came and we sat and waited.  We looked at each other and wondered if we were crazy.  Would anyone come?

By the end of that day more than forty people had filled our little home.  We'd laughed and loved and felt loved.  It was glorious!  A new tradition was born.  The first tradition that was "our" tradition--not something either one of us had brought into our marriage, but one we had created together.

Today was our thirteenth Christmas open house.  More than sixty people filled our home with laughter and love.  I'm so thankful that "when I was a stranger you visited me."  So incredibly thankful for the many friendships that have developed over the years.  Thankful for a Love that supersedes differences, that goes beyond culture, heals wounded hearts, and makes a family of strangers.

I always thank my God when I pray for you...

Your love has given me much joy and comfort, my brother,

for your kindness has often refreshed the hearts of God's people.

Philemon 1:4, 7

Need and Supply

"And my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus..."

And our need...my need...is great.  He has provided my daily bread and my house is warm, I have enough clothes and I have good friends, but there is still a great aching need for more.  I have a restless hunger for more of His Spirit, Life and Love to flow into me and through me.  I need this.  There's a need for more healing, there are prayers yet unanswered and relationships that have room to grow. 

I have need...and the promise of supply.  

According to His riches in glory...  I have no idea how much that is, but "riches in glory" sounds like more than enough to fill the need.

Tomorrow morning we light the "Faith" candle in the Advent wreath and this is my declaration of faith:  He will supply.

As surely as my amaryllis insisted on growing though it was yet in the dark, cold root cellar and unwatered.  He will provide.  It is His nature...it is what He does and it cannot be contained or squelched.  It must burst forth.  

I light the candle in expectation.  Faith.  Believing...for what has not yet been seen...yet is guaranteed by His nature and promise.

For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between "Yes" and "No."

...as God's ultimate "yes," he always does what he says.  

For all of God's promises  have been fulfiilled in Christ with a resounding, "Yes!"

And through Christ, our "Amen" 

(which means "yes")

ascends to God for His glory.

Philippians 4:19; 2 Corinthians 2:19-20

When You're Weary of Hoping

What do you do in this season of joyful expectancy when it seems like you're the only one not feeling it?  The Advent...the coming...of December 25 may be a certainty...but the weariness of the waiting...the secret cry in your heart...for the coming of life to that dead place, the dead relationship, your dead dreams, your disappointments...you wonder if the fulfilment of that promise will ever come.  When the "Hope" candle was lit on Sunday did you look away?  And feel ashamed for it?  Sometimes it hurts to keep hoping.


He knows.


I could tell you hundreds of stories of the answer, the Life, the fulfillment of the promise coming after the long weary waiting.  It might encourage you to hang on a little longer, but for today I need simply to tell you that it's okay...He's made a provision for the weary days.

...the moment we get tired in the waiting,

 God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along.

 If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. 

He does our praying in and for us, 

making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans...

That's why we can be so sure
 that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

He is so full of love for you and care about what matters to you that He's even made a way for the weary days...for the days when hope is a slim thread.  He takes all your wordless sighs and aching groans into His heart of love as if it was the most eloquent prayer...and He promises to make something good out of it all.  Just for today, just for this moment, rest in that love.

The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.  For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust...

Romans 8:26-28 MSG

Psalm 103:13-14 NLT

Joyful Expectancy

This morning there was a joyous scramble for the pieces of our advent calendar.  Ours is magnetic and each day until the 25th a piece of the nativity scene will appear on the fridge.  The youngest always has his turn first and he carefully placed the first piece, an outline of the stable.  The other pieces and figures were lovingly spread out and talked about.  The little one can't wait to add her favourite angel, she's counted out the days and she knows she'll be the one to place it.

Anticipation.  It's everywhere.  The waiting and the hoping.  It's active, not passive.  There's an alertness to the waiting.  There's no lethargy or hopelessness.  Everyone knows that it's coming--we're just waiting.

All yearning for that which is promised and coming...

Kids can't wait to open gifts, adults can't wait for days off, families can't wait to gather...and it's all a faint reflection of the great inborn longing for the coming of promised freedom.

We received the down payment on the promise when the Son of God came and lived clothed in human flesh.  We see the promise birthed in our hearts as a hope and a love far greater than what we could conjure on our own.  We wait to see the fullness of peace on earth and in every heart...and so we wait for the advent, the coming...

These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance.

That is why waiting does not diminish us, 

any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. 

We are enlarged in the waiting. 

We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us.

But the longer we wait, the larger we become, 
and the more joyful our expectancy.

Romans 8:23-25 MSG