Interrupting the Spiral

“He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God’” Psalm 46:10.

Last Sunday while sitting in church listening to a sermon on humility the most powerful thing occurred. One of our pastors was delivering the message and seemingly needed a moment to gather his thoughts. He is an incredible speaker and never uses notes but, on this morning, he paused the message to personally speak to us. He admitted that his thoughts and emotions were suddenly filled with anxiety. He suggested that we stop and pray so that the Lord could settle in his spirit to continue bringing the message to us. As a full worship center of people joined him in prayer, I could barely contain myself from sobbing. You could hear the whisperings of different people lifting their individual prayers for him. You could hear the sniffling of the congregation realizing that the very topic of the message was being exemplified by the speaker. I don’t know what the chatter sounded like in his head prior to the prayer, but I know what power was revealed in our church…on that stage…in our hearts after the prayer. Without our pastor’s true humility God’s power would not have had the beautiful vessel through which to travel.

“Humility is impossible unless we quiet the chatter and the noise and sit with Jesus. Silence, in itself, is the most basic and intimate form of humility. We lay down everything and just stop…We recognize our spirals and naming them is the first step to interrupting them. That’s why the enemy wants to fill our lives and our heads and our hearts with noise. Because silence with God is the beginning of every victory.” Get Out of Your Head, Jennie Allen, p. 62.

There has never been a truer statement that ‘Silence is golden’ than when our silence is a result of our stillness with God. Silence ushers in praise, prayer, and power. It teaches us the person of God and fills our lives with the benefits from God such as peace, calm, wisdom, and weapons against the tempter.

When we are our most exposed and vulnerable God is His most powerful and faithful.

The Beauty of Boundaries

“When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance…He set the boundaries of the peoples…” De 32:8.

From Genesis to Revelation, from people to places, from land to sea God has been setting boundaries for His children motivated by His love. He knew that the flesh runs after chaos and relationships require order, intentionality, love, and patience. Seeing Beautiful Again by Lysa TerKeurst holds within it’s cover nugget after nugget of navigating through chaotic times. She wrote of a time when she ignored the boundaries that God had laid around a certain relationship. By ignoring the boundaries, she unnecessarily hurt her loved one with her words and actions. But Lysa has such a heart for helping others, her transparency is our blessing this morning.

She writes, ‘Boundaries aren’t to push others away. Boundaries are to help hold me together. Without good boundaries, other people’s poor choices will bankrupt your spiritual capacity for compassion…You’ll sacrifice your peace on the altar of their chaos’ p.89. She goes on to say that only God can bring about true change in another person’s heart and life. Her advice for us is to pray for them…love them…share godly wisdom with them. We can ultimately protect the relationship with our loved one by entrusting them to the Lord.

I tried to control a loved one for over 8 years and it wasn’t until I surrendered the control (which I never really had to begin with) to the One who controlled everything! Whatever we attempt to control will only control us. We must trust God for bringing things back into His perfect order, in His perfect timing, and in His perfect manner.

‘Lord, please forgive me for all of the times I’ve tried to step into Your place in the lives of the people I love. Today I’m releasing them into Your hands. You are their Savior, not me. Show we anywhere I need to draw healthy boundary lines, and help me maintain them with humility and love. In Jesus’ Name, Amen’ p. 90

Slipping Away with Jesus

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart” Jeremiah 1:5.

Well, it has been an exciting week in the life of our family. After a safe and healthy labor and delivery, my daughter and son-in-law brought their sweet bundle of joy home yesterday. Bruce and I went over to help them settle in and took dinner to them. We sat on the couch and held Emry while they ate their dinner. We reminisced about the past couple of days, and laughed at certain things that had happened. They have two dogs who were being brought home last night to meet Emry. They had the hospital blanket ready to greet the dogs with to get them familiar with her scent. They asked me to take her back into the nursery for a few minutes as they spent time with the dogs. As I sat down in the rocking chair in the dimly lit room I looked down at her delicate little face and thanked God for her life. He had known her before He ever formed her. His hands placed her little life into Caroline, and had breathed His own breath into her lungs. I couldn’t help but to pull her as close as I could knowing she went from God’s hands to our arms. I started thinking of what a beautiful canvas God has painted and that her story to be written had begun. Culture has not yet lied to her, people have not yet disappointed her, and sin has not yet tempted her. In the quiet of the moment as she stared at me, I heard the silence break with my voice. ‘Emry Rose, Jesus loves you and Emmy loves you.’ And then it dawned on me that those words should always be my message to her. The message isn’t difficult: Jesus loves us and we are to love others.

I just picture myself withdrawing into a quiet place with my Father and casting my gaze upon His face. As I lean into Him, it is just the two of us removed from the distractions of life. He whispers things to us, things that we would not otherwise hear among the crowd. He reminds us that Jesus loves us no matter what. Why do we make the beautiful message of God’s love so difficult and try to earn what we have already been given?

I’m so thankful that God invites us to these quiet moments for the purest of reminders. It is up to us to slip away with Him.

Beneath the Floors

“These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock” Matthew 7:24-25. (The Message)

Years ago, we discovered that our crawl space which ran under our 30-year-old home was completely infiltrated with mold. It had attached to the duct work, the HVAC units, and everything that related to it. We needed a professional company to come in and remove the mold by pulling everything out, throwing it away, encapsulating, and wrapping the block foundational walls with a moisture resistant covering. They installed new duct work and all of its connecting equipment. It was one of the most expensive projects our home ever required and did nothing for the beautification of our home above the crawl space. A few years later, mold was found in an exterior wall to the right of our front porch. As they opened up the wall to fix it, they discovered that there was rot in the floor and structure under our hardwood floors. We had to pull up the entire hardwood area and replace the 3 rooms of flooring. Our floors are beautiful now, but only because so much work beneath the floors had to happen.

Lysa TerKeurst, author of Seeing Beautiful Again wrote, ‘Home renovations are so very similar to heart renovations…You have to tear some things down before you can build back up in new and beautiful ways…You have to work through what was so we can move on to what can be’ p. 82. There is nothing glamorous about working on mold, nor is it ever appealing to work on foundational things. But, the necessity of spiritual heart work will always radiate outward onto surface beauty.

I love my floors in all their beauty, strength, and shine but we only have them because there was something broken and rotten beneath them. It was only by watching the day to day tearing out the old and replacing with the new did we see the hope that was building. We must trust the process when God is revealing the parts of our lives that need reworking. Don’t neglect the work…Trust the process…Look for the beauty.

‘Track the progress you do see. Be patient with the setbacks. Celebrate the wins, even the small ones. Stacks of the small wins turn into big wins. And eventually you’ll be so glad you pressed through the renovation when you see the beauty that comes from all the hard work’ p. 85

Feathering our Nest

“Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Psalm 103:2-5

I haven’t read Psalm 103 in a long time and yet the fruit of its message should be on my lips daily. Why do we need a reminder of all the benefits of God? I believe it is because we live in a culture who wants us to forget His promises and remind us of everything that is wrong with our lives. This morning I didn’t want to just read the chapter, I wanted to relive the benefits. In reminiscing my past, I was both humbled and grateful for all the benefits I have been given through Christ. I was so blessed to understand the context of the last sentence about renewal.

‘In reading the original Hebrew of Psalm 103:5, commentaries state that this renewal is like when an eagle is molting. When eagles molt, they have to give up their feathers, because as they fly, fish, and nest, their feathers become heavy from being covered in dirt and oil. When they molt, the old feathers fall out and fresh new ones replace the old, allowing for better flying, soaring, and protection’ Looking for Lovely, Annie Downs, p. 73. Like I always say, there is so much to learn about ourselves by learning about creation since the same hands created both.

I wonder this morning if you find yourself in a molting season? Are there feathers you have lost leaving you heartbroken like a job, health, or even a loved one? Do you believe that God will bring new feathers to cover your wounds and heal your heart? Jesus cautioned us that in this world trouble will find us, and pain will be our companion during some seasons. But God tells the seasons when it’s time to change, and remembering His benefits during these tumultuous times can help anchor and stabilize our faith. We must believe in the renewal of our hearts, our minds, and our circumstances. Through our remembrances of God’s past faithfulness, we can regain our footing and walk in the confidence of our healing. We can feather our new nest with His lovingkindness and mercies that are available each and every morning.

Laying Down our Yoke

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly life can turn on its head and we suddenly must adapt to the rippling effects of change. In just a week, there have been 3 families who are experiencing life changing events. I have always loved this passage with the image of a gentle and safe falling place in Jesus. I’ve read this so many times and have never really looked up the word yoke for context. Daniel Passini, Doctor of Theology explained that every person who was in the audience of Jesus would immediately understand the analogy of a yoke. A yoke was the wooden frame placed on the neck of two animals to lighten the load of the cargo they were to carry. As soon as the animals felt the yoke placed on them, they understood work was coming. It was still very heavy and burdensome for the animals. Jesus spoke of putting on His yoke which was ‘easy and light,’ but the prerequisite was one that we so easily forget when the crisis hits…we must come…take…and learn if we are to find the rest we need.

Some days we are inclined to seek Him when we are exhausted and burdened by the weight of our circumstances. Other times, we must be intentional in searching for the ‘easy and light’ yoke that Jesus offers. Christ’s yoke was anything but easy when He speaks of everything that we can access from Him. His yoke was the trauma of the cross, but His gentle and humble heart still chose it for you and for me. He allowed man to place that wooden frame upon His neck so we wouldn’t have to carry the load of sin and death.

Who doesn’t want to find rest for their soul this morning? Who is weary and troubled looking for help to disburse the weight of the burden? Go to Jesus…take from Jesus…find rest in Jesus.

Fear and Fatigue

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:20

This has been one of my favorite verses for a very long time. In a world where sin and sickness do their greatest damage in harming us, it’s no wonder we live in fear and fatigue. There is no shortage in living wounded…people harm us…circumstances devastate us…carnage from it imprisons us. It’s tough seeing beautiful on the horizon after war has waged in our lives. Sometimes we just need a little helping spotting something that will lift our hearts…that will spark a flicker of hope…that will encourage us to put one foot in front of the other.

In Seeing Beautiful Again, Lysa TerKeurst describes a time when her counselor gave her the Purple Heart given to his family after his brother-in-law was killed in the line of duty to save others. He told her to on tight to this Purple Heart as long as she needed it. He said, ‘Hold on to this, Lysa…When the battle gets so fierce you wonder if you will survive, remember this moment of me telling you that you will get through this. If God gave out Purple Hearts, you would absolutely receive this high honor. What you are going through won’t be for nothing. Your hurt will not be wasted. It will be for the saving of many lives’ p. 56.

I don’t have a Purple Heart to give you this morning, but I do have the heart of Jesus to share with you, who gave up His life for the saving of all our lives. Your pain matters to God and He is using your circumstances this very moment to draw others to Him through your story…the saving of many lives. If you got out of bed this morning when you didn't want to, it is God who is helping you face the day. If you feel there is no joy left in your life, God will help you see beautiful again until you can see it for yourself. Life hurts but faith heals when we place our situation in God's hands who fully understands the sacrifice we had to make for the sake of another.

‘God can still bring good from what feels impossible. You will see beautiful even from what feels too far gone…your story, surrendered into the hands of God, will not be waste...I’m declaring over you that the Lord will restore you, redeem you, and write His glorious story onto the pages of your life’ p. 58.