"You still the hunger of those you cherish . . . ." Psalm 17
This is a continuation of my last couple of posts. In our family we are hootin' and hollerin' and leaping for joy. We are filled with glee. The Lord has come through big time. He's more lavish than we even imagined. He has provided in a supernatural way. He has made the impossible reality.
I will post more about this soon. But these few words are a testimony to the greatness of God. Shawn and I stumble in our ability to express our thanks and gratitude. Our souls dance with pleasure before God's throne.
Apr 11, 2008
Apr 4, 2008
Wealth . . . Gratitude . . . It Ain't So Bad
"Be anxious for nothing...give thanks... Philipians 4:4-8"
Today I told God that the one prayer he hasn't answered concerns wealth: We still have very little money, just enough to get by day to day but in the hole (because of school loans and car repairs and medical bills) even though my husband and I are highly educated. But then the Lord graciously told me that I am wrong. In fact, I am basking in wealth.
He said, "the earth is yours, I have given it to you for your enjoyment." He knows the deep pleasure I have in stepping outside, curiously observing the activities of his creatures around me--how my soul bursts with delight at the sight of rocks and trees and skies and seas--the wonders his hand has wrought. How I imagine the creatures and sights I've only read about when I am trying to fall asleep at night. He knows about my fierce desire to drink in the beauty of places I've only heard of. He knows about my fascination with trees and water. He has given me the beauty of the earth.
He said, "you are wealthy beyond measure in your relationships." I am married to my soulmate, to one who understands me like none other, like none other ever will. I didn't deserve him. No. Shawn is more than I could ever ask for or imagine (Eph. 3:18-20). God graciously gifted me with my husband. I thank the Lord for him every day. Not everyone has such a relationship.
I have four friends (aside from Shawn) that I can bare my soul to, six if I include my brother and sister. It is a measure of wealth to have one such friend.
He said, "I allowed you to attend a wonderful seminary and gain friends for life." I thank him regularly for Northeastern Seminary. Since childhoold I had dreamed of getting an M. Div.
He said, "I gave you a lifelong family at Rochester Christian Reformed Church including the youth group and pastors such as Russ Palsrok and Carl Tuyl." I have a place to call home. I know that they love me and my family. I can be myself. There I am known and appreciated.
He said, "I gave you Iliana--a beautiful healthy child. You will learn of my love for you as you love her. Children are a blessing from me." She was a seedling of our love born into a human being. And I am grateful that she has the best daddy in the world (she is truly fortunate). She delights us all the day.
He said, "I gave you my word. I gave you books. They instruct you and teach you. What knowledge, what joy you receive from your many books." I said, "this is true."
He said, "I saved you from yourself, from the mess you made of your 16th-20th year." I said, "Blessed be your name O, Lord. You have rescued me from the pit, from the pit of hell."
He said, "I gave you your parents and your dear abuela." Abuela was my dear treasure. I still mourn her death. But oh what joy, what comfort I gained from her. Not everyone has an abuela.
He said, "In 7th grade you mentioned in passing that you wanted to go to the Holy Land and to Asia. It wasn't even a prayer. I took note of your fleeting thought and turned it into reality four years later. You were in India and Israel."
He said, "I made Real-Radio reality. You couldn't have done it yourself." I said, "I know. There's nothing much I can do myself."
So I realized that I am wealthy beyond measure. I mean it. Now having little money seems like a drop in the ocean compared to everything else I do have. I'll have to recall this conversation to mind when I am tempted to bemoan our lack of money. The conversation itself enriched me even further.
Today I told God that the one prayer he hasn't answered concerns wealth: We still have very little money, just enough to get by day to day but in the hole (because of school loans and car repairs and medical bills) even though my husband and I are highly educated. But then the Lord graciously told me that I am wrong. In fact, I am basking in wealth.
He said, "the earth is yours, I have given it to you for your enjoyment." He knows the deep pleasure I have in stepping outside, curiously observing the activities of his creatures around me--how my soul bursts with delight at the sight of rocks and trees and skies and seas--the wonders his hand has wrought. How I imagine the creatures and sights I've only read about when I am trying to fall asleep at night. He knows about my fierce desire to drink in the beauty of places I've only heard of. He knows about my fascination with trees and water. He has given me the beauty of the earth.
He said, "you are wealthy beyond measure in your relationships." I am married to my soulmate, to one who understands me like none other, like none other ever will. I didn't deserve him. No. Shawn is more than I could ever ask for or imagine (Eph. 3:18-20). God graciously gifted me with my husband. I thank the Lord for him every day. Not everyone has such a relationship.
I have four friends (aside from Shawn) that I can bare my soul to, six if I include my brother and sister. It is a measure of wealth to have one such friend.
He said, "I allowed you to attend a wonderful seminary and gain friends for life." I thank him regularly for Northeastern Seminary. Since childhoold I had dreamed of getting an M. Div.
He said, "I gave you a lifelong family at Rochester Christian Reformed Church including the youth group and pastors such as Russ Palsrok and Carl Tuyl." I have a place to call home. I know that they love me and my family. I can be myself. There I am known and appreciated.
He said, "I gave you Iliana--a beautiful healthy child. You will learn of my love for you as you love her. Children are a blessing from me." She was a seedling of our love born into a human being. And I am grateful that she has the best daddy in the world (she is truly fortunate). She delights us all the day.
He said, "I gave you my word. I gave you books. They instruct you and teach you. What knowledge, what joy you receive from your many books." I said, "this is true."
He said, "I saved you from yourself, from the mess you made of your 16th-20th year." I said, "Blessed be your name O, Lord. You have rescued me from the pit, from the pit of hell."
He said, "I gave you your parents and your dear abuela." Abuela was my dear treasure. I still mourn her death. But oh what joy, what comfort I gained from her. Not everyone has an abuela.
He said, "In 7th grade you mentioned in passing that you wanted to go to the Holy Land and to Asia. It wasn't even a prayer. I took note of your fleeting thought and turned it into reality four years later. You were in India and Israel."
He said, "I made Real-Radio reality. You couldn't have done it yourself." I said, "I know. There's nothing much I can do myself."
So I realized that I am wealthy beyond measure. I mean it. Now having little money seems like a drop in the ocean compared to everything else I do have. I'll have to recall this conversation to mind when I am tempted to bemoan our lack of money. The conversation itself enriched me even further.
Mar 31, 2008
Christ is Our Life II
"For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." Colossians 3:3,4
So, if Christ is our life and we say our life sucks, what are we really saying? Christ sucks? Christ stinks (using a more sanitized word)? When we really believe that Christ is our life, our outlook will change. We will seek nourishment from the Christ-life in and around us. We'll be much more content and much more loathe to say our life sucks.
So, if Christ is our life and we say our life sucks, what are we really saying? Christ sucks? Christ stinks (using a more sanitized word)? When we really believe that Christ is our life, our outlook will change. We will seek nourishment from the Christ-life in and around us. We'll be much more content and much more loathe to say our life sucks.
Mar 27, 2008
Christ is our life
"For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." Colossians 3:3,4
Early Easter Sunday morning billows of disappointment swept over me. The disappointing waves were courtesies of a storm that brewed for days. I just had to be in church even if I'd be alone; my husband and daughter had miserable colds.
I stepped out of the house into a glassy blue sky, drenched by sunshine. Ah . . . . I inhaled the crisp air. Refreshing. All of a sudden, I forgot my disappointments. After a 10 minute sunshiny drive, I slid into the back pew of a beautiful church I'd never attended.
There I heard chapter three of the epistle to the Colossians. The words "Christ who is your life" overtook me. I sat understanding that I was trying to squeeze life out of situations, and when these situations didn't produce the life I wanted, disappointment followed.
Lately I've been disappointed a lot.
Yet when I heard these verses anew, I realized anew that if Christ is my life, it doesn't matter what situations I find myself in. He who is my life will give me life in the midst of disappointment if I would but look to him for life, not circumstances. This truth is an idea I've comprehended but needed to experience afresh.
Early Easter Sunday morning billows of disappointment swept over me. The disappointing waves were courtesies of a storm that brewed for days. I just had to be in church even if I'd be alone; my husband and daughter had miserable colds.
I stepped out of the house into a glassy blue sky, drenched by sunshine. Ah . . . . I inhaled the crisp air. Refreshing. All of a sudden, I forgot my disappointments. After a 10 minute sunshiny drive, I slid into the back pew of a beautiful church I'd never attended.
There I heard chapter three of the epistle to the Colossians. The words "Christ who is your life" overtook me. I sat understanding that I was trying to squeeze life out of situations, and when these situations didn't produce the life I wanted, disappointment followed.
Lately I've been disappointed a lot.
Yet when I heard these verses anew, I realized anew that if Christ is my life, it doesn't matter what situations I find myself in. He who is my life will give me life in the midst of disappointment if I would but look to him for life, not circumstances. This truth is an idea I've comprehended but needed to experience afresh.
Mar 18, 2008
Contentment
"But godliness with contentment is great gain." I Timothy 6:6
What is contentment? Are you content?
What is contentment? Are you content?
Mar 11, 2008
Faithful and True
"I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. 'He will rule them with an iron scepter.' He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." Revelation 19:11-16
Is God faithful when he seems unfaithful to you -- that is, when you've loved him and obeyed him to your utmost yet your entire world still falls apart (like Job's did)? In that instance is he true, that is, is he who he claims to be in the Bible?
Most of us would quickly reply, "Why of course he is!" But when our world actually falls apart, when what we never dreamed would happen happens, do we treat God like he is faithful and true or does our faith fall apart with our world?
If you are committed to following Christ a time will come when he strips everything away, maybe all at once. At that moment will you say with Job, "though he slay me I will trust him" (because you know he is faithful and true even though your circumstances seemingly contradict what you believe about his faithfulness and goodness to you)?
It is difficult to honestly declare that God is faithful and true when our world falls apart. But God wants to bring us to the point where we know and feel he is faithful and true despite the onslaught of slaying circumstances. More than anything, God wants us to trust that he is who he says he is.
God tests our trust.
Is God faithful when he seems unfaithful to you -- that is, when you've loved him and obeyed him to your utmost yet your entire world still falls apart (like Job's did)? In that instance is he true, that is, is he who he claims to be in the Bible?
Most of us would quickly reply, "Why of course he is!" But when our world actually falls apart, when what we never dreamed would happen happens, do we treat God like he is faithful and true or does our faith fall apart with our world?
If you are committed to following Christ a time will come when he strips everything away, maybe all at once. At that moment will you say with Job, "though he slay me I will trust him" (because you know he is faithful and true even though your circumstances seemingly contradict what you believe about his faithfulness and goodness to you)?
It is difficult to honestly declare that God is faithful and true when our world falls apart. But God wants to bring us to the point where we know and feel he is faithful and true despite the onslaught of slaying circumstances. More than anything, God wants us to trust that he is who he says he is.
God tests our trust.
Feb 27, 2008
Isolation Sickness & Spiritual Health
"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:24-25
What happens when we are isolated from the body of Christ (even other denominations), or from people in general? Mal perceptions. In the absence of healthy others, ill-informed emotions and opinions emerge. We desinegrate into neurosis, perhaps without even knowing. It is impossible to be spiritually, emotionally, or physically healthy when we spend all of our days alone because there's no one to tell us we're wrong, in left-field, no one to encourage us when we need it most.
Life-giving nourishment comes from being immsersed in the body of Christ. Probably the only reason that we would withdraw from the body is if we're homebound for one reason or another. Otherwise, let us not merely attend church, but immerse ourselves in the body...let us spend out lives together. Our health depends on it.
Life-giving nourishment comes from being immsersed in the body of Christ. Probably the only reason that we would withdraw from the body is if we're homebound for one reason or another. Otherwise, let us not merely attend church, but immerse ourselves in the body...let us spend out lives together. Our health depends on it.
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