The Journey From Head to Heart Knowledge

Hey Friend,

 

Sometimes I am disappointed that my "testimony" is...well...boring.  I have no dramatic stories of hitting rock bottom on drugs or alcohol.  I wasn't a runaway teen who got pregnant.  I have no story of God scraping me off the bottom of the barrel and suddenly seeing the light.  Though I celebrate these miraculous stories...it isn't my story.

 

I grew up in the church.  For as long as I can remember, we went to church every Sunday unless we were deathly ill.  I'd be sitting in the car, in the driveway, with my dad, with the engine running.  Impatiently he would ask, "What on earth is your mother doing?"  This was the Sunday morning routine.  In Sunday school I learned all the famous Bible stories.  As I grew older I was involved with youth group and choir and confirmation class.  Church is where I went every Sunday and Wednesday. I was the "good girl"...or a goody two shoes as we were known as back then.

 

I knew that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in a manger, that he grew up in the church, that he taught and performed many miraculous signs, and he ultimately died on the cross for my sins.  The only problem was, it was all "head" knowledge.  I knew the truth, but it didn't set me free.  I still tried as hard as I could to be good enough in God's eyes in my own strength. 

 

Someone said to me that it is more difficult to be saved from a place of pride than from a place of desperation with nowhere to turn.

 

But, wait, I wasn't prideful.  I wasn't haughty or arrogant or rude.  No, but I didn't have a full grasp of my need for a Savior.  I didn't commit heinous crimes; I did good deeds. Even in college I never "colored too far outside the lines".  What I didn't realize was that perfectionism, striving, trying to be good enough, trying to be perfect, are all rooted in the same thing - pride.  I somehow thought I had to earn my salvation or add to what Jesus had already done for me.  It wasn't about Him, it was about me.

 

When we fail to realize that, through Christ, not through ourselves, that it is "finished", we only have head knowledge. 

 

Even my view of God was askew.  I could relate to Jesus smiling in my Sunday school books, beckoning the little children to come to him.  But, God...I transferred my human understanding of a father onto him.  My dad, though a wonderful provider, was a disciplinarian.  He was a no-nonsense kind of guy who could often be critical.  There weren't a whole lot of warm fuzzies so I had trouble grasping that God delighted in me.  I had a healthy sense of fear of my dad and I transferred that onto God.

 

Jesus, however, I was smitten with.  When I was 13 years old in summer camp, I wandered away from the campfire.  Lying on my back and gazing at a sky filled with thousands of stars, I knew I needed His love, Jesus' love, in my life.  His was the love that I had so longed for. I invited Him into my heart.

 

That night head knowledge began its journey toward my heart.

 

Fast forward to the birth of my first child.  I was so looking forward to the birth of this baby.  We had waited four years after being married and were ready to welcome this miracle into our family.  What I didn't count on was that I would be slammed with a terrible case of post-partum depression.  It was also then that my OCD anxiety rocketed off the charts.  Depressed, anxious, not sleeping, not eating, in pure desperation I cried out to the Jesus of my Sunday school books. 

 

It was at this point, I recall crying into my pillow, "Jesus, help me!"  I knew I needed saving...I knew I needed a Savior.

 

I call this chapter in my faith, the chapter where the "rubber meets the road".  That day my faith took a big step closer to my heart.

 

Jesus answered in a big way.  I also started to believe Jesus' claim - that if you have seen me (Jesus) then you have seen my Father. God's essence is lovingkindness!

 

I could write a novel of the trials I've been through...further bouts with OCD/depression, secondary infertility, divorce, cancer scare, multiple surgeries...

 

Each time I called out to Jesus and once I knew I had God's love through the sacrificial offering of His son, I began to realize that I didn't have to keep earning God's love.  Each time, my faith took steps away from my head and toward my heart.

 

I have come to truly appreciate the verse Hebrews 12:2:

 

"fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith."

 

My faith didn't even begin with me...it was a gift from Jesus.  In Hebrew, the translation for "perfecter" means "completer" or "finisher".  Jesus, as God, is the one who creates and sustains and finishes my faith.

 

When I depend on Jesus, He continues to guide my head knowledge to my heart.

 

"He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."  (Philippians 1:6)

 

I take heart that the journey to heart knowledge is a process and in the process lies the promise of completion by our Savior.  My salvation was secured on the cross when Christ said, "It is finished."  And my faith, which Christ began, will be finished on the day when He returns.

 

Like Jesus had no way of detouring around the cross (He had to go through it), we have fears to face and trials to go through.  We can't detour around them; we have to go through them.  The miracle is, that as we go through them our faith will take one step away from our head, and one step closer toward our heart.

 

Lord, I thank you so much for the gift of faith that you began in me and for your promise that you will be faithful to complete it.  Help me to set aside my striving and my trying to be good enough in your eyes and to realize that God sees me as perfect through your blood that was shed on the cross.  Truly it is finished.  In the process of my faith being perfected, let me come to depend more and more on you.  You, and you alone are my Savior.  In Jesus' name I pray.  Amen

 

 

be blessed...

 

ps.  Update on Redeemer Christian School:  For safety reasons I am hesitant to put too much information out on social media.  Let me just say that we are in desperate need of financial support.  Out of fear for their lives, many Christians have had to abandon their jobs.  Our school's director who depended on his income and savings (along with our support) from another job to support the school, now has no financial means to support himself or the school. For now, it is up to us.  We need financial help to enable him to secure a foreign work visa as well as funds to see to the ongoing expenses of the school.  The children are safe, but if you would PLEASE pray for the safety of our director and the school and for a way to be made for him to secure an income, I would be so grateful. If you are able...and time is of the essence...please send a donation to keep the school afloat. I know our God is able to bring beauty from these ashes of evil, violence, and terror.

 

Send check or money to:  Bev Rihtarchik/RCS

                                           103 Silver Lining Lane

                                           Cary, NC  27513

 

This is something tangible we CAN do to combat the evil that is rampant in our world.  The orphaned and impoverished children at RCS need our help...thanks!

 

When Everywhere You Turn There's Trouble

Hey Friend,

I lie in my bed and the slow whining begins.  I look at the clock and it's 4 am.  I know what's coming...the whining will continue until it crescendos into a full fledged agitated bark.  I try not to be angry or upset; after all, my senior gal Zoe just recently escaped a life threatening battle with severe pancreatitis.  She has doggie dementia and periods of agitated barking punctuate my day.  I know she can't help it.  I love her dearly, but it's hard to start each day this way.

Half asleep I get the coffee going and notice the ants are still here.  Under my breath, I curse them, "There's no crumbs here; go away!"  Four visits from the pest control company and we can't conquer these tiny giants.  I step on Topper's squeaky duck accidentally and, startled, I spill my coffee.  I wonder if he'll bring me a dead squirrel as a prize like he did the other day?

I robotically take my medicine for depression and ocd/anxiety that I have taken for many years.  Like Paul, I ask God many times to take away the thorn, but yet it remains.  Right now it (anxiety) is flaring due to exhaustion and stress. Pouring a bowl of cereal feels like climbing Mt. Everest on days like these.  I look at the long list of to do's for the day and sigh as I brush aside the dust that continues to build on my counters.

It's time to walk the dogs.  I slip one excruciating foot into my sneaker (the only shoes I can tolerate).  After months of waiting, the specialist told me I have a rare post-surgical nerve disorder that will require burning, freezing or cutting of the nerve.  None of the options sound fun.  My son texts me to tell me he's lost his temporary tooth (awaiting dental surgery).  He's at work so he asks me, please,  to make an appointment this morning to get him in at the dentist.  Of course I will have to drive him (another long story).  "Sure, I'll try," I say.

After juggling my schedule and dropping him back at work, I set in on my day's task of helping my "son-in-Christ" work on his resume.  I will make calls trying to help get him a life-saving work visa to get out of the epicenter of evil that is the Middle East.  He fears for his life because they are rounding up Christians, beating and torturing them, throwing them in jail for long sentences or killing them.  Every day he faces this evil and every day I tearfully try to turn my worry about him over to the Lord. 

Sure, I could go on...but do you ever have that feeling like everywhere you turn there's nothing easy, but only trouble?  It's the continual piling up of difficulties that leaves me feeling like I'm in quicksand and will never get out.  I'm afraid to look around the next corner for fear of what it might hold.  I feel small and helpless and afraid. 

"God calls us to hard places to prove our inadequacy."  (Shannan Martin)

I am a doer, a fixer, an initiator and God has brought my prideful self to a total place of inadequacy.

The one verse that keeps repeating in my head is 2 Corinthians 12:9:

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

I know that the Lord is speaking here, but to whom is He speaking and why?  I go digging. 

Interestingly enough, in this passage, Paul is talking to the church in Corinth and he has just described asking the Lord to take away "this thorn in his flesh".  Like my ocd, Paul had something the Lord decided not to take away.  Instead the Lord says to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

If we are too self-sufficient, pride and conceit begin to build.  God is not glorified when man boasts of his own power and does things in his own strength.  No, God's power is made perfect in our weakness.

Paul goes on to say, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong."

So why have I told you all my troubles?  Not for pity, but so that when God brings beauty from these ashes (and He will) that He will be glorified, not me.  Also, read the words "so that". I boast in my weakness so that Christ's power may rest on me.  My admitting my weakness, my inadequacy provides the ideal opportunity for the display of divine power.  Power comes when I admit my weakness.

When I reach the end of my self-sufficiency rope, it sends me running back into the arms of my Heavenly Father.

I come from a long line of stubbornness and I will try with all my might to do things in my power until I finally get to the end of my rope and there's nothing to grasp but thin air.  It is then, when I am weak and inadequate that I know I have no where else to go but to run into the arms of the Lord. 

It is in dependence and reliance on Him that I find strength and peace.

It is under His wings that I find my refuge...

This Easter I will find my strength and my adequacy in the resurrection power of Jesus Christ.  The power with which He overcame the grave and the power with which He defeats evil once and for all is power that is given to me by His death on the cross.  The power is mine for the asking...I need only lay down my pride.

Dear Jesus, thank you for being my very present help in times of trouble.  Thank you that in my weakness you are strong; in my inadequacy, You are sufficient.  Thank you for always being there with open arms when I get to the end of myself.  Erase my pride so that I might glorify You.  Thank you for what you did for me on the cross.  I love you Lord. To you be the power and glory forever.  Amen.

Be blessed...

ps.  Please, please continue to pray that God would place a hedge of protection around the school and its director.  Religious tensions are beyond "high" right now.  The good news is that Muslims are becoming disillusioned by their faith and are asking to get their hands on "The Book" in order to read what it has to say about "Issa" (Jesus) and His very different message about love, grace, and forgiveness.  God is good and His message of love, not violence, will triumph!

Can These Emotions Be Okay?

Hey Friend,

I must start this post by asking for your grace and mercy.  For the past week - ten days, Zoe, my senior pup, has been very ill.  I've been up with her most nights.  I've also had some health problems of my own and am quite concerned and worried about the situation in Pakistan.  My brain has been scattered and I imagine my words will be too, but if you can bear with me, maybe together we can gain some insight on this topic.

I know it was not coincidence that the night before I was to write about the topic of emotions, I had a knock-down-drag-out argument with my adult daughter.  I won't bore you with the gory details, but unfortunately I unleashed unresolved anger and resentment toward my ex-husband upon my daughter.  In her words and actions toward me, she was being (in my mind) just like him...thoughtless, disrespectful, unappreciative, callous and rude.  The venomous tongue lashing I unleashed was totally over the top and uncalled for. 

We'll talk more about this, but anger in and of itself is not "bad".  It is a valid emotion, but when left unchecked and unresolved, it can leave destruction in its path. It's what we do with the anger that matters.  I know I blew it!!

A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.  (Proverbs 29:11)

As believers we are filled with the Holy Spirit, but we are also filled, to a degree, with our own sinful spirit.

But the fruit of the Spirit (Holy Spirit) is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Sadly, I was the fool who gave rise to my own sinful spirit (a fool gives rise to his spirit). I did not run my wrath through the filter of scripture and discern what is good and acceptable in God's sight.  What I let fly was foul, selfish, fool- fruit instead of the fragrant fruit of the Holy Spirit...BIG difference. I have since apologized and asked for forgiveness...

Before, however, we go condemning all emotions as bad or destructive...let's give this some thought.  I have always been an "emotional" person.  That's not to say I have more emotions than any one else, I just tend to let my emotions show more. Early on it was engrained in me to not "wear my emotions on my sleeve."  I was raised in a family of stoics.  Later on in life I was directed to books that talked about "managing" or "controlling" your emotions like they were in essence not okay, but bad. 

When God created each of us, He created us in His own image.  He breathed His very Spirit into us.

I believe that if we are made in God's image, then God must have emotions too.  One day I will know fully...

I believe that our emotions were originally intended to help us enjoy, serve, and relate to God.  They give us insights about the Nature of God.  They reveal our character and the nature of our relationship with God as we struggle to live in a broken world.  Example:  Sadness and anger are appropriate emotions to feel as we live in a world full of man's inhumanity to man.  I believe that God weeps when genocide is repeated decade after decade, generation after generation.

God created perfect man with perfect and valid emotions...it's when they got mixed with sin (that man brought upon himself) that they gained the potential of turning ugly through our actions. 

Ecclesiastes 3:4 tells us that there is a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance.

Jesus - fully God and fully man - was sad and joyous and angry.   In Matthew, Jesus experienced righteous anger when He overturned the tables of the money changers in the temple.  He shared in joy at the wedding feast when, with His first miracle, He turned water into wine.  In the Garden of Gethsemane (before His arrest), Jesus didn't just shed a few tears.  No, with loud cries of prayer and supplication He shed tears of fear, sadness, and anguish at His Father's feet.  Facing an excruciating death on the cross, I can only imagine the emotions He must have been feeling??!!

Look up how many times Jesus wept...He let his feelings be known...

John 11:35:  Jesus wept.

Luke 19:41:  And when he (Jesus) drew near and saw the city, he wept over it.

Jesus claimed that if you have seen Him, then you have seen the Father.  Looking at Jesus and the depth of emotion that He poured out over the people He loved...the pious and the prostitutes, I believe we get a glimpse into the very soul of God.

Back to my anger issue...Ephesians 4:26 says, "Be angry and do not sin; don't let the sun go down on your anger.

To me, that says, go ahead and feel angry AND do not sin.  This tells me, I can be angry and still NOT sin at the same time.  Some of my anger may have been justified, but my response, my actions certainly were not.

So what's a person to do?

I like this quote by Reneau Peurifoy: "Yielding to the Holy Spirit transforms your inner being into what God intended it to be.  As this occurs, your emotions, desires and thoughts are transformed so they function more closely to what God intends."

Lord, thank you for creating me in Your image.  Enable me to let go of my sinful spirit and yield to Your Holy Spirit so that my emotions, desires, and thoughts are transformed by Your love to be what you intended. Help me to accept my God-given emotions AND to not sin at the same time.  Thank you for your grace and forgiveness when I slip up.  In Jesus' name.  Amen 

Be blessed...

ps. Update on Redeemer Christian School:  Reports out of Pakistan say that after the two tandem suicide bombing attacks on churches by Taliban forces, an angry mob of hostile Christians attacked and killed two supposed accomplices to the bombers.  (This is what happens when sin is attached to emotion).  Now Christians (many of whom were not affiliated with the attack in any way) are being rounded up, arrested and sentenced to long jail terms or worse.  Tensions are VERY high right now.  Please pray: for the safety of RCS staff and their families as well as the children.  May God provide a hedge of protection around them and protect the innocent!!  Now, more than ever, we could use your prayers and financial support.  Thank you.

In The Face Of Evil

Hey Friend,

Ever since Sunday, when I received news of the two tandem suicide bombing attacks upon two churches 650 yards apart in Lahore, Pakistan, I could feel my heart in my stomach.  For several days I was rocked with feelings and emotions I didn't know I could have. 

Why?  Many in the world read the news with disdain or perhaps casual indifference.  It was another attack by the Taliban or ISIS in a part of the world that was halfway around the globe.  It wasn't on US soil or worse yet, in our neighborhood.  No, we were safe and busy filling in our brackets for March Madness.

So why did I find myself sobbing?  Incapacitated even?  Because I know people that lived in the neighborhood within a five minute walk to both of those churches.  I know names and faces and smiles and wide-eyed wonder that inhabits bodies that walk those streets.  I even know someone that was in one of the churches when the bomb detonated and blew body parts into the air.  I saw pictures of the aftermath.  To me, this was real...these were real people...God's children.

I challenge you...if I asked you to point to Pakistan or (most recently) Tunisia on the map, could you?

If not...why not?

In the Bible, Matthew 28:16-20 is called "The Great Commission".  In it Jesus is talking to his disciples -his closest friends and followers- and tells them in verse 19:

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations..."

What exactly is a disciple?  Easton's Bible Dictionary says:

A disciple of Christ is one who believes his (Jesus') doctrine, rests on his sacrifice, imbibes his spirit, and imitates his example.

If we call ourselves believers, then we should be disciples...

So how can we make disciples of all nations if we don't know where, and more importantly who, they are?  As a writer and blogger, I have certainly been convicted of my lack of knowledge on several occasions.  My blog statistics are able to tell me where - what part of the globe - my readers are tuning in from.  Thanks to internet and mass media, I have readers all across the globe (this I am continually amazed by).  I admit I have Countries and Republics show up under "Audience" that I could not tell you exactly where they are on a map.  Shame on me!!  Incentive to learn accomplished.

The good news of this is that The Good News is reaching Nations around the globe and reaching them with amazing speed.

I am but one tiny blogger in a sea of thousands of bloggers reaching out to the world through cyberspace. What I would like to tell the world is that we care...that we really do care. 

It's almost Easter, so crosses will be appearing everywhere.  Stand and gaze at one.  Follow the northern most point of the cross, which if followed, would extend to Heaven.  Follow the eastern and western points and imagine them extending out to others (like outstretched arms) around the globe...encircling people of all colors and nationalities with their love.  Finally, follow the southern most point that descends down to earth and even further to the depths of hell, where ultimately Christ will be victorious over sin, and evil, and death. 

What amazing news...that Jesus will triumph over sin and death.  He will fly in the very face of evil and defeat it...forever!

Isn't this news worth sharing?

If you think that the Good News of the Bible is worth sharing, would you join me in doing so?  Together, let's not let these horrific tragedies go un-met.  Let's not turn an indifferent eye to these atrocities. 

In honor and memory of those who have died around the globe, let's fly in the face of evil and tell the Nations of the Good News of the Bible.

How?:  Let's place Bibles in the hands of the innocent children who live and learn in the epicenter of evil.  Darkness may be at their doorstep, but we can put light into their hands.

This Easter season of Hope, will you join me at my "Missions" tab and donate enough to put a Bible or several Bibles in the hands of children who are hungry for words of hope??  I pray that you will...

Lord, help me...help us to be ambassadors of hope to Nations around the globe.  Help me to not turn a blind eye toward those who need to read and hear your word.  Enable me to take my role as a disciple seriously so that all the world might know.  Be with those who, in the aftermath of attacks, need your presence, your healing, and your love.

In Jesus' name,  Amen.

Be blessed...

You Can Never Run Out Of Grace

Hey Friend,

 

So..."Grace" is my watchword for 2015.  This post is obviously about grace.  But, how do you write about grace when you are, to put it bluntly, really ticked off?

 

I had waited months to get in with a specialist regarding perpetual nerve pain in my foot.  I was ready to head out the door to the appointment when the pest control company called back about scheduling a follow up visit in my ongoing war with the ants in my kitchen.  While on that call, the doctor's office called to cancel the appointment that I was heading out the door to go to.

 

What?  They were cancelling right now?  Apparently the doctor had a "family emergency".  I'm embarrassed  to admit it, but any trace of grace for him and his situation immediately blew right out the window.  All I could think about was me and my pain at the moment.  After multiple calls back and forth with his office, then waiting on hold listening to how great their practice was for eighteen minutes on speakerphone, I finally got a live person who told me two weeks out was the best they could do.  Click.

 

To say that I was not a happy camper would be an understatement.  My uber-conscience urged me to utter a half-hearted prayer for his family emergency.  Determined not to let this ruin my day, I opted for plan B.  I would work on this blog post.  With steam still coming out my ears, I prayed.  I tried to humble my agitated heart before God.  I typed the title and I sat staring at my laptop....

 

Nothing...I would have had a better chance of turning water into wine than I was going to have writing this post.  Just then my phone pinged.  It was my good friend and neighbor asking me if I could spare some time to help her assemble and stuff wedding invitations for her daughter who was already distraught that they were going out so late.  "Sure", I texted back, "be right over."

 

How ironic, that in the middle of my ugliness, God was calling on me to measure out - or to give grace.

 

God can be uncanny with His timing.  He knew that I couldn't write about grace until I had been called to freely give it. 

 

And, we can't give grace unless we have truly and fully received grace.

 

By fully I mean...fill 'er up!  You wouldn't walk into a restaurant, pay for a full glass of soda, and then tell the waitress to only fill it half full because that's all you deserved.  Nor, would you expect the waitress to grudgingly fill your glass to the top.  No, you would drink that full glass and joyfully wait on free refills. 

 

If this analogy was truly reflective of God's grace, we would not be the ones paying for the glass of soda...Jesus would have already paid the price for that full glass of soda (grace).

 

Somehow we get the mistaken idea that if we keep messing up we will, at some point, run out of, or use up our allotment of grace.

 

The exact opposite is true.  If you are a believer you can NEVER run out of God's grace.

 

You can't exhaust Him.

 

You can't disappoint Him.

 

You can't try His patience to a breaking point.

 

You just can't.  That is what is so truly amazing about God's grace.

 

Word analysis time (bear with me, I was an English major).

 

Grace = generous act of God- making us acceptable in His sight through Christ's death.

 

Grace or (charis) in the Greek form means different things in different contexts.  Grace can mean:  favor, goodwill, blessings freely given (not by any claim or merit), rejoicing, gratitude, thankfulness, kindness, mercy, acceptance, power.

 

Grace is a divine blessing given to us by the in-working of the Holy Spirit.

 

Grace is a blessing freely given. It is NOT based on works or earning it.

 

In fact Christianity is the only religion based on grace.  All other religions are based on works. 

 

Renee Swope, author of "A Confident Heart" said in her book that she surveyed over 1,000 women and discovered that our past failures and fear of failing in the future are the two most common causes of insecurity and self doubt. 

 

What a relief, then, to know that no matter what I do or how badly I mess up, God's grace extends further.  I can't do it on my own, but in His power I can pick myself up and begin again.  What freedom!!

 

My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is made perfect in weakness.  (2 Corinthians 12:9)

 

"We do what we can and then we rest in grace."  (Holley Gerth)

"If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking."  (worship song by J. McMillan)

Obviously we don't go on purposefully sinning so that our grace may increase. 

But, we go on living freely knowing that God's grace has set us free.

Lord, help me to know that because of Your grace, my guilt is forgiven - washed clean.  Strengthen my heart to know that no matter what, I can never run out of Your grace.  When I want to give You my "works" enable me to give You my thanks instead.  Let me feel Your waterfall of never ending grace fall down on me and give me peace.  In Jesus' precious name, Amen.

 

ps. Please leave a comment below or contact me to let me know how I can pray for you...

Please pray for Redeemer Christian School in Pakistan.  The Director, Anosh, has not been well and needs prayer for healing...especially since Easter is approaching.  For Easter we are trying to raise funds so that every child at the school can have his/her own Bible in their language.  To do so, donations in the next couple weeks are critical.  If you would like to place a Bible in a child's hands, please go to my "Missions" tab and donate. Thank you! 

**This post dedicated to my friends who have lavished much grace upon me in my times of weakness.

Need A Breath Of Fresh Air?

Hey Friend,

 

Have you ever felt like you are submerged under water and you are kicking and paddling furiously toward the surface?  It seems just out of reach and you wonder if you're going to make it with the air you have in your lungs.  Faster and faster you kick; panic begins to set in, and then you gloriously break through the water's surface and suck in a big breath of life-giving air?

 

I think we've all felt that way at times...like the big vacuum cleaner of life has cozied up to us and sucked the life right out of us.  I have felt that way this week. Frustrations, emotions, and lack of sleep have left me craving something I need.  I need a breath of fresh air. 

 

Every path he guides us on is fragrant with his lovingkindness.  (Psalm 25:10)

 

Every path he guides me on...notice that He "guides" me.  He doesn't leave me in the wilderness alone to wander.  No, He lovingly guides me.  He doesn't just do this on some paths; no, He does this on "every" path.  Even on the rough and treacherous paths, He still guides me.

 

Here it comes. Every path is "fragrant".  It's not just a breath of fresh air; it's much more than that - it's beautifully fragrant.  

 

The only thing required of me is to simply breathe it in.

 

Even the paths in the dark are fragrant.  Think about the night jasmine whose delightful fragrance only comes out in the dark of night. 

 

 What is every path fragrant with?  His lovingkindness.  This might sound redundant, but I love the word "lovingkindness".  My spell check on my laptop wants to correct it and separate the word into two words, but in the Bible (and only in the Bible)  lovingkindness is one complete word.  Lovingkindness is also only used to describe God.  Hmmm....how interesting. 

 

Along every path in life, be it trial or pleasure stroll, the path is ALWAYS fragrant with His lovingkindness.

 

I can only read the news in the newspaper so long until I have to pick up the comics for a breath of fresh air.  I can only stay cooped up inside with all the winter snow and ice outside until I need to step out into the sunshine and feel it on my face. 

 

God will give us the "comics".  He will give us the "sunshine on our face".  He always brings it to us in the form of lovingkindness.  Our job is to look for it and then to breathe it in.

 

It may come in many forms:  Notice the intricate petals of a flower just beginning to bloom.  Listen to the laughter of your children or a group of children as they walk home from school.  Feel the warm embrace of a good friend.  Listen to the steady rhythm of your spouse's breathing as they lie next to you.  Smell how the coffee, or the cookies, or the bacon wafts its way up the stairs and tickles your nose. 

 

Read scripture and hang on God's every word and drink in the love found therein.

 

In all these ways the path is fragrant with his lovingkindness - His peace, His hope, His joy, His love.  Let it cover you, inspire you, uplift you, and surround you.  Breathe it in.

 

I used to live in a farming community in Pennsylvania.  One day I got stuck on a winding two lane road behind a manure truck.  Life can be like a manure truck.  I followed the road I was on until I literally had tears running down my cheeks - the stench was that bad.  Just when I thought I couldn't take another breath of this literal crap, the truck turned off the road I was on and headed down a dusty road.  I threw open the windows of the car and I gloriously breathed in the fresh sweet air. 

 

Every path he guides us on (even the rough, trial and frustration laden paths), are fragrant with his lovingkindness.  We may not be able to breathe it in at every point along the path, but just as "weeping may endure for the night, joy comes in the morning".  Just as we may have to wait and hold our breath, God's fragrant breath of fresh air will break through. 

 

Look for it, and when it comes, breathe it in.

 

Lord, thank you for promising to guide me along every path in life.  Thank you that amidst the stench of life, you also provide fragrant lovingkindness to give me hope.  Thank you that you come behind me and follow me with goodness and mercy all my life.  In all these things, I thank you.  In Jesus name, Amen.

 

Be blessed...

 

 

ps.  For Easter, we are trying to raise funds so that every child at Redeemer Christian School in Pakistan can have their own Bible in their own language.  Will you join me at my "Missions" tab to read more about this wonderful school that is bringing light into a dark world and consider an Easter donation?  Let us bring the fragrance of God's lovingkindness to these innocent ones.  Thank you.

 

Your thoughts, comments and prayer requests mean a great deal to me... I would love to hear from you.  Will you consider clicking below to leave a comment?

When Your Heart Is Laid Bare (Part 2)

Hey Friend,

Last week I began Part 1 of this post.  In order for this train of thought to be cohesive, I encourage you to go back a week in the "Archives" to read the first part.  I left you as I was heading out of town to the funeral of Uncle Bob, my husband's uncle, who was like a father to him.  I posed the question as to whether there was a reason why we must suffer?  I related a story of my suffering and I admit, I've wondered at times if God truly cares about the suffering I/we endure?

Uncle Bob knew suffering.  After multiple strokes, he lived inside a body for sixteen years that couldn't walk or speak.  Look around and we see suffering every day...people struggling with degenerative diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Lou Gehrig's, to name a few (not to mention their caregivers).  Many people silently suffer with mental illness themselves or have a loved one who suffers.  Prodigal sons and daughters break parents' hearts every day and gravesites are dug for children and youth long before their time. "Why?", we cry out.

Simply put, God does not cause suffering.  God allows suffering because He allowed us (mankind) to have free will and we brought sin/suffering upon ourselves when we disobeyed God. 

There is, however, an intricate and redeeming relationship between suffering and comfort.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.  For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.  If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.  And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.  (2 Corinthians 1: 3-7)

Phew...there's a lot there that could take chapters to break down, but let's glean several nuggets of truth and hope.  Here are some things God has revealed to me...

The greater the pain of our suffering, the greater the depth of comfort we will receive.

If we fall into a pit that is ten feet deep, God's arms of comfort will be there to catch us.  If we fall into a great chasm, God will go down to the depths necessary in order to comfort us.  His consolation knows no bounds. 

In my life I have learned that there is a great correlation between suffering and God's love.

The greater the suffering endured = Greater realization of the depth of God's love for me.

Had I not gone through the trials I have gone through, I never would have known the boundless love, comfort, compassion, and consolation of God.  In my greatest pain, I have found the greatest love.  Certainly, there have been times when I've said, "I get it God...you love me...could you remove this suffering please?"

God is the source of every comfort.  Comfort begins with God.  God does and will comfort us in every affliction so that we may be able to comfort others (in distress) with the very same comfort by which we have been comforted. In other words, God pours out His comfort on us and in turn we are empowered to pour out His comfort onto others.

By this painfully beautiful act of comfort being poured out upon others' suffering we build bridges of vulnerability, trust, and intimacy.

Still with me??

Once saved through grace, we are also called to grow in our likeness of Christ.

 

We can't be the hands and feet of Jesus unless we have walked in His sandals.

To do so, we must learn how to share in His suffering.  Christ endured the gruesome cross...through what form of suffering are you being conformed into Christ's likeness? 

Sometimes my suffering has been truly unbearable.  I'll be honest, I hate it when I'm IN the crucible.  That's when I need to cling to an eternal perspective - that these troubles will seem "seem light and momentary" when I burst through these shackles into eternal paradise and freedom with Christ.

My "patient endurance" is building character in me for the Kingdom work I will be called on to perform when the new heaven and earth come. 

A mentor of mine once said to me, "Girl, based on the suffering you have persevered through, God must have some mighty big Kingdom work in store for you in Heaven!"  You better believe I won't be sitting around on a cloud strumming a harp lol. 

This might be a little corny, but here goes...

When suffering makes you want to just QUIT...remember you are a KWIT (Kingdom Worker In Training)

On a more serious note, God knows and deeply cares about your suffering.  He is the God who truly sees.  He will go to whatever depths He has to in order to lovingly lift your head.  He catches all your tears and counts them.  He will match your suffering with His furious love.

From 1 Peter 5, read and...

...know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same sufferings.  And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.  To Him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

How have you grown in God's love and comfort through suffering?  Are you suffering right now and need others to pray for you?  Please let me and others pray for you either through commenting or contacting me.

Be blessed...

ps.  Check out my two new tabs, "Missions" and "Comment"