Encouragement

Bear one another’s burdens

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else,  for each one should carry their own load.” Galatians 6:2-5
At first glance I was confused by these verses because they seem to contradict one another, first it says to carry each other’s burdens and then it turns around and says for each to carry their own load. But after some online study I found that it does not. The key is in the meaning of the words burden and load.
The word for burdens is baros, which means “heaviness, weight, burden, trouble” In verse six the word for load is phortion and means, “of burdensome rites.” While the first speaks of helping one another through troubles the second speaks of the responsibility each person has for their own troubles and sins.
Helping someone to carry a burden is a very good thing. But, actually taking the load on yourself is much different. It is like two people walking, one carrying a very heavy pack. They make it look easy so you say, “Here friend, let me take that awhile”…..WHOA! once you strap that pack on yourself you realize just how heavy it is. I got a picture of Frodo and Sam this morning while I was thinking about this. Sam was always supporting Frodo as he carried the weight of the ring, but there were times when Sam actually wore the ring himself, and immediately he felt the montrous weight of the burden Frodo carried.
What started this whole train of thought was yesterday. I felt just a tiny bit of the load that my very best friend carries dealing with a Mom with Alzheimer’s and a Dad with Dementia, that is, Dementia with quite a bit of meanness thrown in, I might add. I was on the way to get them groceries for them, as a favor to her. It’s the least I could do since she actually got to get away for a bit. I stopped at a red light. Just for a second, I felt just a bit of what she must feel all the time……….Tears sprang to my eyes. She has dealt with the loss of both of them this year, but still they hang on.

“God, there but for the grace of You go all of us……” 
I thought of how you have to put your own mind in a very strange state to deal with people who aren’t in their right mind. I am sure she wonders at times if she is losing her own sanity just trying to deal with them. She does amazingly well. She knows who her God is and that He is a very Big God. He can handle it when she cannot.
And behind it all, one thing stands out……
There was One who took our burden for all time. A very awful burden. One that only He could carry, and He did it willingly for us. He didn’t want us to have to. He knew that we couldn’t carry it, not even for one moment. I think, in light of that we are “more than conquerors in this life.”
When all the dross of this life is burned up, there will be one thing left.
Endless Gratitude.

pictures from google images……

A bouquet of praise………

“If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 4:11

Corrie Ten Boom was released from Nazi Death Camp Ravensbruck due to a “clerical error.” All women her age were killed soon after her release. Shortly before her sister Betsy died there, she and Corry led church services from inside Barracks 29. She or her sister would read from their one “secreted” Bible. Here is how she describes one of those typical evenings there surrounded by the unspeakable evil of everything that was going on around them:

“At first Betsie and I called these meetings with great timidity. But as night after night went by and no guard ever came near us, we grew bolder. So many now wanted to join us that we held a second service after evening roll call. . . (These) were services like no others, these times in Barracks 28. A single meeting night might include a recital of the Magnificat in Latin by a group of Roman Catholics, a whispered hymn by some Lutherans, and a sotto-voce chant by Easter Orthodox women. With each moment the crowd around us would swell, packing the nearby platforms, hanging over the edges, until the high structures groaned and swayed.”
“At last either Betsie or I would open the Bible. Because only the Hollanders could understand the Dutch text we would translate aloud in German. And then we would hear the life-giving words passed back along the aisles in French, Polish, Russian, Czech, and back into Dutch. They were little previews of heaven, these evenings beneath the light bulb” (Ten Boom 1971, p. 201)

Betsie’s last words to Corrie before she died there in that concentration camp were: “…(we) must tell them what we have learned here. We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still. They will listen to us, Corrie, because we have been here.” (Ten Boom, 1971, p. 217)

Corrie spent the rest of her life traveling around the world and speaking to people about all the things she had learned through her experiences. After every engagement people would gather around her and thank her for so greatly encouraging them in their faith. Every time she would give the glory to the Lord. She would go back to her room, get down in her knees, and present those compliments in thanks to God. She called it giving God a “bouquet of praise.”

I like that…….Corrie learned the secret of praise, and counting your blessings even when it seems there are none to count. She learned that if you start praising and thanking God, the blessings come……I am counting with Ann today and everyone else in the Gratitude Community, and remembering Corrie.

people who give even at the risk of their own life, people who have inspired me, encouraged me in my faith, some I have known, some I have not, people who have not only shared my burdens, but worn them, people that have stood behind me all my life so that I never had to go through anything alone, God who is faithful, who never asks me to do anything without His strength! 631-638

holy experience

Just stoppin in…….

Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. Proverbs 3:27
Today I stopped in. I decided to touch bases with everyone who follows. I confess that it has been too long since I have done this…..I came to your porch and knocked softly. I confess I wanted to steal a peek in your window, your porch looked so inviting. With most, I made my presence known with a comment and an encouraging word. It was good to see you again. To get a glimpse into your corner, your world. And I was touched.
I saw and felt, love, sorrow, joy, humor…with some pain sprinkled in. I breathed prayers over you, your families….did you feel it? When I read your posts, I tried to envision your porch as I stood there. I listened for sounds within…..I heard children playing, life happening, cereal spilling, dogs barking, doors slamming, cars starting up and pulling into the driveway.
I heard laughter, and saw someone bend down to pet a cat that had wound itself around a pair of ankles. I heard pages turning, furniture creaking, floors groaning, heaters coming on, flaring up after being turned down at night.
Sometimes I heard soft weeping, and that was when I hoped you felt my prayers wrap around you…….Sometimes I heard anger and that was when I hoped my prayers made somebody stop, think…..say “I am sorry, will you forgive me?” Because life really is too short to get mad over silly little things.
I saw you smile, and then I smiled too!
Thank you for fellow bloggers and also those that have none but are reading along with me. Thank you for letting me into your world, and allowing you to see into mine.
Be blessed today, and tell your loved ones how much they mean to you!
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Galations 6:9,10
photo from flicker and publicdomainpictures.net

Loved and Accepted…..

Love becomes practically meaningless apart from acceptance…….Bob George, “Classic Christianity”

I recently picked up a book that someone had left at my Mom’s house. In it the author poses a question to his son, who had recently been going through some difficult situations. His son was quick to tell him that he had never doubted his father’s love for him, expressed in many different ways over the years. Though this pleased the father very much, he says he felt like there was something unfinished. He says that God put the thought in his head to ask the question, “Have you always known that I accept you?”  His son asked him what he meant by that. His father said this:

“I mean, there is a difference between love and acceptance. You say you’re confident that I love you, but acceptance is something else. Do you know for example, that I accept you just like you are? That I really like you?”

The son goes on to say that, no, he really didn’t felt accepted even though he knew he was loved. He went on to say that he felt that his Dad would have liked him to be more spiritual, be more involved in Christian activities like he was, read his Bible more, or maybe went into full-time Christian work. This one exchange had the power to change their relationship forever.

How many times do we do the same thing to God. We feel loved by Him but do we feel accepted? I had to answer honestly that many times I do not. I have this unrealistic picture in my head of all the things I feel God wants me to do, and all I can seem to see is how many times I fail. How many times I don’t measure up to what I think God wants me to be, to do?

But the truth is, God accepts us and loves us just as we are. This should release a well-spring of joy inside us that people should be able to readily see. Until we really get that, we are a lamp partially dimmed, throwing out half light upon a world that needs full strength. So many times we walk around with an unrealistic picture in our own head that we will never be able to measure up to.

Walk through that door today, and feel His ocean of acceptance……..He has lived a perfect life, the one we never could live. He died and rose again so that we could walk in newness of life. We don’t have to try to be perfect anymore.

He does want us to mature and grow, but never believe for one second that He will only accept you if you reach a certain level and not until then.

Prayer for today: Help me God, to stop giving You my shabby religion and give you my whole accepted self. Amen

God is in Control

This is a repost from 2009, with all that is happening in the world right now, it seemed like the timing was right to post it again…..


 Image by Todd Haven

Psalm 8:3-9

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
All sheep and oxen—
Even the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air,
And the fish of the sea
That pass through the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

Ever have one of those nights? You know the kind, tossing and turning, riddled with worry. All your problems seem magnified and beyond solving, it seems hope is snatched away with the light of day. You feel almost like you are going insane. I have them every now and then…..my Dad has them often, he tells me. The other night he was restless, worried about things. He almost woke my Mom just to have her sit with him awhile……

He started praying and meditating and God gave him a picture in his mind of the earth and how it looks from space. Part of us seeming to go about our business on the top of the ball, some on the bottom, yet we are all walking around on flat ground.

He thought of this strange dance of the planets, and how if the sun was a fraction closer to earth we would be vaporized in flame, or too far and we would be frozen faster than we could blink. But it all keeps going; perfectly set in motion by God. Soon he found himself enveloped in a peaceful sleep, sleep that had so eluded him before.

Contrary to popular thought, we will not destroy the planet. God will not let us. He put everything in motion and He will be the one who decides when to stop it.

So next time you are having one of those nights, go outside. Gaze up at the moon, focus on the depth of space, the infinity of the stars, the deep silence that speaks of God. He is there, and He is holding it all together and will continue to do so until He decides it’s time to start again…..

Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. Isaiah 65:17

Clay jar or crystal pitcher?

“Give your entire attention to what is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” Matthew 6:34 The Message
I lost a day to worry. That opened the door to depression. Thinking about events on “the road ahead.” I was bogged down and I couldn’t see things clearly. I have touched on the fact that I am a worrier before. But Jesus commands us not to worry. This is a problem if I want to live for Him! I hate to think of the many moments and days I have wasted on events that may or may not happen. It all comes down to one thing…..When I worry I am living for myself and not for God. When I worry I am taking Him off the throne of my heart and life!  
Paul was having some discouraging moments dealing with the Corinthian church. He was right in the thick of things, not like me, worrying about things that haven’t happened yet, he was fighting a real battle. I can imagine that he was in prayer, and God spoke to him about the clay jars lining the walls. I can imagine him feeling as humble and lowly as one of those jars. But God showed him how valuable he was and he spoke these very wise words……
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” 2 Corinthians 4:7-10

Paul knew where his strength was, I forgot for awhile. A few weeks ago out of the blue I thought of a song that I sang years ago. I had totally forgotten about it, but as I remembered it tears sprang to my eyes. That particular time, life was simpler (or maybe it just seemed so)……I was young and life was not so complicated. I had yielded myself to God and I saw His power work through me in a way that I never forgot.While I was thinking of that song a beautiful image came to my mind, an image of a crystal pitcher with clear water being poured into it. I have wondered about it ever since. Then this morning I read this:

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Revelation 22:1 

I think He was trying to tell me that He sees me as that crystal pitcher filling with the water of life……His life. Most days I feel just like that little clay jar, humble, weak and scarred; yet He has poured His pure Spirit inside of me and even now is turning me into that Waterford crystal vase, sparkling with His life, reflecting His light for all to see. He sees me as the finished product already and wants me to see myself that way too!

This is the comfort I bring today…….”For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12

If Paul can carry on right in the thick of the battle, I can surely carry on when the things I am worried about haven’t even happened yet!

The Path to Freedom

You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence. Acts 2:28

I have recently started to hit the trail a bit again, since the weather is so spectacular now here in Arizona. I grew up hiking, so it is something familiar to me. I greet the trail like an old friend. Hiking is a bit like life. I have been on some hikes that I absolutely thought I could go no further. The trail became the enemy and I hated every step I took, I cursed every bend and corner. The end result was the only thing that kept me going. That, and the fact that I had encouragers along the way. The funny thing was though, once I got to the top I tended to forget how hard it was. With distance, the pain faded a bit. Its easy to laugh about knees shaking like jackhammers after you’re off the trail.

In life and hiking there are times when you reach a point where you simply don’t have it in you to keep going.

In one of Martin Luther Kings recorded sermons he tells about such a time. He had just gotten another phone call, a death threat, threatening he and his whole family. Not long before he had been arrested and thrown in jail for driving 30 mph in a 25 mph zone. He was sitting at his kitchen table, a cold cup of coffee before him. He was trying to figure a way out. How he could turn it all over to someone else and go back to the quiet life of a scholar like he had planned. Here is how he describes that moment:

“I discovered then that religion had to become real to me, and I had to know God for myself. And I bowed down over that cup of coffee. I will never forget it……I prayed a prayer, and I prayed out loud that night. I said, “Lord, I am down here trying to do what’s right. I think I’m right. I think the cause that we represent is right. But Lord, I must confess that I’m weak now. I’m faltering. I’m losing my courage.”

It was then that he heard an inner voice…….”Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness. Stand up for justice. Stand up for truth. And lo I will be with you, even until the end of the world.”  Three nights later a bomb exploded on the front porch of King’s home, filling the house with smoke and broken glass but injuring no one. He took it calmly: “My religious experience a few nights before had given me the strength to face it.”

We have all reached that crossroads…….we ask the question: “How can I get out of this?” We can’t take another step. We want escape. But it is at that point where the Holy Spirit comes in and does what we can’t do. He takes over…….Peter was at that point after he denied Jesus, but what happened just a few days after that? The day of Pentecost! After Peter was done preaching those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. Acts 2:41

Lord, I am thankful for all those who didn’t give up in the fight for freedom. The ones still fighting today. I thank you for Your Precious Holy Spirit because now you are not only walking beside us, but are actually within us! Thank you for all those times when You picked me up when I thought I couldn’t go on. I continue numbering my gifts today, though I know I can never put a number on what you have done, it is infinite……the numbers teach me much about You……sleeping in peace without angry steps at the door…..getting to enjoy the view after the climb…..the prayers of encouragers along the way……freedom to learn……to go to school without fear….to worship without fear….open windows without bars……weakness that causes me to lean on You…..laughter to lighten the way……little streams that sing songs of hope….yes you can! #598-608

holy experience

Something Worth Singing About

The best way to honor someone’s legacy is to pass it on……. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 15:12

One of the most valuable things I learned, and am still learning from my parents is that no matter what life throws at you, you just keep going, press on, never sink into defeat. You tighten the straps of your backpack and hit the trail again.You can despair for a time, but ultimately you get up and start doing what has to be done, keep the rhythm of life going. For as long as I can remember, my Mom has started the day singing. She does it a bit less now…..her days are long and she has many aches and pains, but she still gets up before everyone else. She presses on. She has always found something worth singing about. She knows the song of redemption.

Love is showing through demonstration that there is always a reason to sing because life is a gift. 

I was raised with music, singing. I was raised with people who believed that there was always something worth singing about. My Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, all of us gathered around while somebody played the piano or organ…..I can still hear their voices even now all these years later, my Grandmother’s warbly soprano, my Aunt’s alto harmonies, the plink-plink of my Uncle Bill’s banjo. What wonderful memories those are, they weaved themselves into the fabric of my very being, they are part of who I am today.

There is something about singing that lifts the spirit when nothing else can. There is power in song. This is part of our very DNA set there by our Creator. He first put the song in our hearts and He sang the stars into existence! Ever notice that kids find it very easy to sing? It just comes naturally. But life can really stifle that song right out of you at times…..you don’t have to let it. Heaven is filled with music we can scarely imagine, and when we sing in spite of how bad things may get down here, we bring part of Heaven down on earth. Turn that old music master Satan’s instrument against him!

I think of the Slaves, singing out through the depths and horrors of bondage, of death all around them. I think of soldiers singing as they march into battle……I think of Paul and Silas’ song in prison and Jesus and His disciples singing a hymn before they went out into the black night of sorrow. They were all thinking of the joy set before them as Jesus was……Freedom, peace, deliverance, Heaven…….

This morning I remembered all those songs. They made me sad for times past, but also encouraged me to pick up the song and sing with them. As I was pouring my coffee, The Holy Spirit breathed a little song into my heart that I had completely forgotten about and I found myself singing it on the way to work, though I had a hard time remembering the melody for the first few bars…….The lyrics say……”You are the reason I sing, You who taught all bells of Heaven to ring, I had no song just drifted along, but now You’re the reason I sing……”

Yes, that redemption song. That’s the best way to honor all who have gone before, and those still with me, I choose to keep singing the song of hope and never stop.

Who is in the boat with you?

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” Mark 4:35-41

They had already seen multitudes healed, and the command and depth of knowledge that Jesus had in the Scriptures, but was it possible that they weren’t really sure who Jesus was until He calmed that sea? Imagine being in that boat, small boat I should say, they didn’t have cruise ships back then, and being tossed by a violent storm. It must have been bad, for they feared for their lives. These were men who were used to being out in a boat. This had to be something like a Perfect Storm.

Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.

He wasn’t worried, he was fast asleep on a comfortable cushion no less……..He knew who He was. But when He calmed that raging sea, something clicked for the disciples. Nobody has that kind of power, that even nature itself obeys. But Jesus is the creator of everything, He created nature and everything in it, along with the Father and the Spirit. All three were present at creation.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness……” Genesis 1:26

I don’t blame the disciples for being afraid. I am always just a little uneasy in boats, I tend to get seasick. I have felt the panic, the clammy skin, the feeling you may have to head for the side of the boat…quick!

When storms rage in life, it is easy to forget who is sleeping in the boat with you. He taught the disciples a valuable lesson that day, and I don’t think they ever forgot it.

No matter what storms rage in your life today, remember He is in the boat with you. I pray calm and peaceful waters for you today, may you enjoy the view of the sunlight sparkling off the water, the warm breeze and the cry of the sea birds, the sun on your face, the lapping of the gentle waves against the side of your boat.

Walking in His light…….

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34

I awoke in a cycle of worry this morning. Some days start like that. It is the same worry loop my mind runs through, has been running through for several years now. It is familiar to me like an old song. In the days of phonographs and records sometimes there used to be a skip in a record and you would have to go over and reset it back into the right groove or else start it all over again from the beginning. I realise that I have to explain that, and it is funny to me having grown up before the era of CD’s.

Sometimes worry is like that old song, that groove in the record. But I am tired of that song. I made a decision this morning to reset the record. I got up and got dressed in the dark and went out and walked. I put my IPOD on “Praise” and as I listened to songs like….”All of Creation” by Mercy Me, and watched the sky fill up with glorious color, the color of the Master Artist. By the second time around the park, I noticed something start to happen. My spirits were lifting. I was not so worried anymore.

They were being choked out by the praise!

When you fill up your mind with praise to Him, it tends to crowd everything else out. My circumstances didn’t change, the worries are still there, but God is covering them now with promises from His word. Instead of listening the recording in my head, I listen to what God says. He says: “Don’t worry!” He said it often because He knew we would be a recurring problem for us.

I thought another thing this morning too. During Christmas, I tend to put worry and stress on hold and just focus on Christmas and the wonder and joy of it all. Christmas is for me a timeout from all that, a chance to focus on something else. When it is over I tend to go back to my worrisome ways. But why can’t I adapt a Christmas attitude all year long? Well, God says I can!

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew 6:27

Jesus had to walk a lonely road to Calvary for us. Sometimes its the small calvaries in life that get to us. But when we look to Him and keep walking, He will reward us with His hope, His joy, His victory.

If the world is threatening to choke out the Word in your life today, don’t despair. He will come, He will see you through, one step at a time!

photo from my iphone