Walking with God

When our landscape shifts

He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19

So hard to leave this place of peace…..As we left the cafe after breakfast this morning I said, “What if we just didn’t go back……got jobs here, lived in an RV.” Suddenly it sounded like the best idea in the world. But then, as soon as the dream took flight, reality set in as it always does.

Responsibility, Oh that. We are, each of us going back to shifting landscapes. Elaine’s Mom has been very combative and she has to address the monumental situation back home. A hard decision will have to be made, and she knows it will be extremely painful.

And while I was away, drinking in the ocean, and cherished time with family and friends, I learned via Facebook that when I go back to work this Thursday, it will be in a brand new place. I was expecting it, just not quite yet. I fully expected to go back to my safe, old comfortable workplace home. So as I said goodbye to a places and people I love this week, I also had to mentally say goodbye to the familiar, the comfortable, the routine. But thankfully, I have a job.

Right now my brother has to decide on a forced early retirement. Whether to stay and risk losing more, or leave and keep what he has now. How can someone who already has so much be given the power to take away what others have worked so hard for?

While we are enjoying the last night on the road before returning home, we are stealing ourselves for what comes next. While our hearts are still on all those we just left, and on their own individual joys and hardships, we also hold the fresh bouquet of memories to cherish.

And the joy we shared this week was real. The conversations were meaningful and the laughter was deeply felt. And as always, there is much to be thankful for.

We leave our prayers behind.

And more go ahead.

God was with us and will be with us through it all……

The enjoyment of being found…..

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; Philippians 3:8,9

I found you! I said as I chased her around the tree and she shrieked for joy……I was playing with my niece when I was back home last. Her new game is hide and seek and she loves being found! She hasn’t quite gotten the hang of tag yet. When she talks on the phone, she walks around the house and thinks I can see what she’s holding up, maybe that’s because she Skypes with her Mommy and sissy……And she doesn’t like saying goodbye……we have that in common. She comes with the joy that is unique to special needs kids.

She is like anyone else, she loves being found, and belonging to someone. Isn’t that what we all want after all? We want to feel that feeling of seeing the one we love winding their way through a crowd to meet us, just us. And then the scrape of the chair when they pull it next to you…..they are there, you are no longer alone, someone has claimed you. They know things about you that no one else does….

Sometimes we even seek to be claimed by those who really don’t have our best interests at heart, but their own.

When Jesus claims us, we can be sure that He has our best interests at heart always. And He will never lead us down a path of destruction, but life, and peace. And because of our relationship with Him, we are also claimed by the Father and the Spirit!

Jesus endured that long, lonely 40 days of temptation in the desert so that we will never have to be without Him again….and those of us who live in the desert know just how bleak it can be, especially in the summer…….He endured the cross so that we can say with the unbridled joy of a child peeking out from behind a tree…..”You found me!”

He rose from that awful death so that one evening not so far in the distant future, in a another place, we will be walking in the cool of the evening in a place we can can only dimly imagine, and He will be there to meet us and say, “There you are, I have been looking for you, just you.”

And that time, we won’t be hiding behind fig leaves……..

What to give up?

Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. Joel 2:12,13

As one not being raised in the Catholic tradition, I never gave Lent much thought. I gave Easter much thought. I always loved celebrating the whole week of Easter and I used to love when Good Friday was more a part of our culture in America. I remember businesses closing at noon and many gathered for service, either at their own church or a multi-church community service. I used to love it when the day was cloudy on Good Friday. It somehow seemed right.

In past years, I have given more thought to the period leading up to Easter known as Lent. It has become more important for me to reflect longer on all the events leading up to the Resurrection.

Every year I hear people talk about what they will be “giving up” for Lent, sometimes jokingly, sometimes not. In fact, it happened just this morning. Every year I ask myself, or rather God, what He would have me give up. Almost at once, I go through the list of things, and they are usually always the same ones. Sugar, chocolate, meat, books…..wine. There they are, not necessarily in order of importance. But what about the really hard ones?

Not trusting, being fearful, worrying. Taking matters into my own hands that should be resting safely in Gods hands. 

And this year, the answer came back.

Just give me your whole self.

To me, it is not so much what things I give up, but that I give my whole heart. And if He asks me, each and every one of those other things I listed. At whatever time He says, knowing that sometimes, at different times, it is important to give up something for someone else, in order to not make them stumble.

When God stops teaching you, you better worry

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–Ephesians 2:8
Driving home from work last night I breathed a prayer……”thank you Lord, for getting me through the day.” And then another thought, right on the heels of my prayer. Is getting through enough? Is it not dimishing the capacity of wonder in a day to pray that kind of prayer. I do understand it……. I understand that sometimes it is a real accomplishment to do just that, but too often I don’t set my sights high enough, I catch myself settling for less, when God wants to give me more.  
I had to apologize……Then I started to count the beauty moments, the grace moments in the day…..I remembered the conversation I had with a brother believer, and in those moments that we sat and shared, a window of Heaven was opened. He reminded me that everything we do, everywhere we are can be a ministry. A moment of opportunity. You see, every month he flies to Houston for his cancer treatments. And though he wouldn’t have chosen his present circumstances, he shared how so many times God has placed someone in the seat beside him that needed to hear about what God is going in his life.
Eternity moments. Reflected in each of our days, each one precious, each one a gift.
How can I pray to just get through the day when I know that almost certainly, the sky wasn’t just this color yesterday? How can I pray to just get through the day when there is someone waiting to hear what God is doing in my life, what He could do in theirs.
Every conversation has the possibility in it of changing someones life, someones eternity. Of opening a window of Heaven and letting the light spill out.
I do believe that when you are suffering, getting through the day in one piece is quite an accomplishment, but that wasn’t the case for me yesterday.
Thank you God, for reminding me of this. For loving me enough to teach me yet another lesson. Thank you for the grace that I walk in each and every moment.

Peace……

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. John 16:33

I am learning you have to work for peace. You can’t just settle back and say, “I am just going to sit here and be peaceful.” To get peace you have to seek it, desire it. Be intentional about staying that way…….Jesus was peace, and yet everywhere He went there was commotion. Upheaval. And in the middle of it all, He had the Father’s peace. That kind of peace is what we need in the middle of our world, in the middle of ourselves.

And it is reachable, because of Jesus.

And it is a battle. Sometimes in order to get that peace you have to fight for it. Sometimes as soon as you have set your mind on that peace, all of life conspires against your getting it. But you can get it. Actually, you already have it as a believer.

That peace is what attracts the world. That peace is what attracted them to Jesus.

They watched Him as the Sanhedrin tried their best to ruffle His feathers, but they never could. And they walked away shaking their heads, confounded.

Puzzled.

Even though Jesus was peace, and we have that same peace, there are times when He needed to find a quiet place. I love to think of Him sitting by the lapping shores of the lake, or climbing up onto a mountain where He could see His creation for miles…..Finding a little place to sit where he could pray…..far from the crowd, where He could hear the birds, listen to the wind in the trees, hear His Father’s voice.

I like to envision a well in my soul. It’s the one I draw from, the one with the living water in it. Unlike every other well built by man, this one has no bottom…..

It’s source is eternal. And it never fails to quench the thirst in my soul.

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Proverbs 4:23……

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

Peace is my word for this year. Did God give you a word for 2012?

God’s Language is Love

                      
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. Romans 8:26, 27
So many times I search for the right words….I falter. No words express what I am trying to say. It’s frustrating! But we need not ever search for the right words…..The Holy Spirit always knows the perfect words. It is as if He is laying out my heart before the Father, in the Father’s own language!
At one point in my Christian walk, I was almost obsessed with having a “prayer language.” I wanted to know everything I could about speaking in tongues. I read books, I talked to other Christians, I prayed for the gift. I wanted the “experience.” A pastor friend I know says he prayed for the gift and months later he was driving down the road and was so overcome with emotion he had to pull over. Then he spoke in tongues for the first time.
At one point, I went so far as going to a church meeting and having the pastor pray for me to “get it” right then and there. Nothing came forth…….not one utterance. He prayed…….I waited. And waited. Not one Holy peep. He told me, “Just praise God out loud.” I did, well, not really loud, in English.
Me and another lady were ushered off to the side where we were prayed for again, to no avail. She seemed somewhat upset. I mumbled something out loud and they thought they had success, “Glory to God!” I went and sat down just so they could stop praying.
Looking back, parts of this meeting now seem very humorous, although not in an irreverent way. It was an evening spent with people who loved God gathering together for one purpose, to praise Him. The motive in my heart was pure. That’s what God saw. My prayer may not have been answered the way I wanted it that night, but not because of what anyone did or didn’t do. Not the Pastor, not me, not anyone….certainly not God.
One day, many months after that night while I was vacuuming I started singing and praising God….in another language. It came quietly and unannounced, like a gentle dove. I didn’t lose control, I didn’t black out or fall to the floor. I was completely coherent and rational. And that is how its been every time since. It is my prayer language and only God hears it. It is His gift to me and it is precious.
And it came in His timing. And whatever you believe about this particular topic, the Holy Spirit is very much alive and working in the hearts of men and women today.
I know there are some denominations who teach that without this gift, you aren’t saved. I have never read that in the Bible. I also know some denominations that say it’s not for today, it only happened once on the day of Pentecost. All I know is it happened to me. Regardless, we never have to worry about either having a prayer language or not having one, God always hears the cry of our heart.
Not only do we have Jesus actively interceding before the Throne of the Father, we have the Holy Spirit interceding for us in our prayers! That unspoken request that is in your heart today? Be assured, it has already been communicated in the best language….God’s language! And His language is always
Love

What matters most

Above all powers
Above all kings
Above all nature
And all created things
Above all wisdom
And all the ways of man
You were here
Before the world began……
This was the week Elaine and I were supposed to go on a cruise to Belize. Caretaking took that away as it has taken many things away this past year…..
But somehow, sitting in church yesterday listening to the sermon and, most of all,  having Elaine’s Nephew Mark sitting right beside us. The cruise didn’t matter as much anymore. Not if it meant having an eternal impact on someone dear. None of our travels matter much in the long run.
What I heard yesterday reminded me. Knowing God matters more. Reaching the halls of Heaven matter. Hearing the gospel and having a chance to respond? That matters more than anything.
When the Pastor took the long black rope representing our whole life plus eternity…..when he held up the piece with the knot about 4 inches away from the end, and how we pour everything we have into that four inches representing our very short time on earth…..
Our hopes, our dreams, our ambitions to make money, have a successful career, a family…..all on that very tiny end with the knot.
And we fail to think, to plan. For the rest of the rope that represents eternity. Stretching on and on.
We fail to count the cost.
Fail to plan for eternity and where we will spend it.
As he said the words, I felt the chill…….Saying “maybe tomorrow” is the same as saying no to God.
Later today is also a refusal.
With all that life hanging in the balance, 
A little cruise didn’t matter so much anymore. 
Above all kingdoms
Above all thrones
Above all wonders
The world has ever known
Above all wealth
And treasures of the earth
There’s no way to measure
What You’re worth
Crucified
Laid behind a stone
You lived to die
Rejected and alone
Like a rose
Trampled on the ground
You took the fall
And thought of me
Above all
 Michael W. Smith
the blessings keep coming, as well as the grace…….Awesome church service yesterday, just when it was needed most…..warm beds at night…..money for the new fridge…..and for the new coffeepot when the other gave out……music to soothe rumpled souls…..praise that lifts the tired and poor of spirit……God’s Spirit that helps us through it all…..warmed up oatmeal maple scone……walking in the mornings chill…..time off work, even when I am not going anywhere……#802-812

Pockets of peace

Sometimes you just have to pull over to the side of the road…..find a little out of the way place and hide out for a spell. Especially at this time of year. It gets pretty crazy. The more people around me speed up, the more I want to slow down. I do this every year. I wear myself out. Not with buying, with doing…..

And this year, I haven’t been able to make any plans because I still don’t know if I can take the week of Christmas off. It makes it very difficult, expecially when you have to schedule flights. I don’t do well with last minute. I want to plan, schedule. Finalize.

This has been an up in the air year. Ever feel like your life is in a holding pattern? Like you’re flying around and around, waiting for the control tower to give you clearance to land but they never do?

I surprised myself the other day, when I realized that God is teaching me something through all this. He is helping me get better with this feeling of being out of control.

He has brought little pockets of peace in the chaos, here and there. Times of enjoyment…..laughter….and we thank God for them, every one.

It is really a relief when you finally let go.

You realize that there is peace to be found in that holding pattern above the clouds.

Beating back the dark

This morning, I huddled in the crisp, cool darkness of the morning. I spilled out my worries. The same ones He always hears. I drew names out of my heart……

I whispered them and as I prayed I imagined them floating up…..up…..up toward that Throne.

The only One who matters, heard them.

Received them.

Then, after the spilling out of my cares was done. I figured I needed the serious praying posture. The head down and knees bent variety…..and no words except praise for Him who is worthy. Filling the silence I thought of the verses in the Bible that describe Isaiah’s vision:

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
There in the silence, I could almost hear it.
I discovered once again, that the best way to beat back the darkness is with praise.
It’s the one thing I have found that never fails.


Joy in the morning

As dawn colored the sky this morning, I couldn’t help but think that God knew that we would need such a greeting to start the day, and close it too.
Through all the worrying that goes on after dark,
all the tossing and turning.
The mulling over of everything we should have done….
or have left to do.
This I pray for all of us today.
That in all the rushing around of this season,
that we treasure each other and the time we have together.
Help us to have open and honest conversations….
not rushed.
Conversations that bring light and healing to hearts and ears.
Help us bring relief in our actions and a presence of calm.
Help us to be eager to bring relief to anxious and weary eyes.
Help us Lord, to enjoy each other’s company, knowing that though the river
of time never stops…..
That rather than just swimming furiously
or allowing it to carry us swiftly downstream,
we can stop and sit on the shore
for awhile.
Shoulder to shoulder,
quietly watching the beauty of it
flow by.
Thank you Lord for the joy that came yesterday as we decorated the house.
It shimmers with You!
Amen