Certain Promises

Abraham. He's kind of a big deal -- not just to the Christians, but to the Jews and the Muslims as well. He was talked about a lot in Genesis, and all through the Old Testament. But, the New Testament continues to lift him up. Abraham was a giant in the faith, and even made it to the Hall of Fame for the giants of the faith in Hebrews 11. He's an incredible example to all of us.

God told him to leave his home and his people, and just go. When he got there, God would tell him ... and Abraham did.

God told him he'd be given a son, and land, and many descendants in the Abrahamic promise. It was a surety in God's economy.

But, it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r. The promise of a son took 25 years of waiting. 25 years. Of waiting. It had become an impossibility. Abraham was 100, and Sarah was 90. But their son was born. A son was given!

I have to wonder what Abraham and Sarah were like during those 25 years. Did they get discouraged? Did they continue to hold on to God's promises even though everything around them told them it was impossible? We do know that they tried to take matters in their own hands (see Hagar) and created a real mess for themselves and for future generations. This leads me to believe that Abraham and Sarah were real people ... like me. Real people who have real struggles and real doubt.

But, even with the doubts and the struggles, Abraham hung on. For all he was worth! And he had the extreme privilege of being able to hold that promised son in his old, weary arms.

The second part of the promise was that Abraham's family would have this land. It seems to me that this promise was never seen with Abraham's fleshly eyes. He never built a house, never had a front yard to mow, never had walls to paint. He lived in a tent and was a sojourner all his life. The only amount of property he ever bought was a burial plot for his wife Sarah.

What's up with that? Did God lie? Was He playing a cruel joke? Yet, we see that Abraham believed. He believed God and took it to heart. "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." (Romans 4:3)

Get this. Abraham didn't see the end result of the promise. That actually happened over 300 years later before the Israelites took the promised land for their own. But he held on to it as a promise, as a certainty. He had absolute and total faith that God would do what He promised. He had seen it before (in the birth of his son Isaac) and he knew God would do it again.

What about me? How do I do with God's promises?

Whenever I'm starting to doubt or be discouraged that God might not come through this time, I know that I need to once again get back to the bedrock of my faith, to once again focus on the truths that I know stand firm. And what's that?

** That God loves me.

    ** That God is good, sovereign and in control.

        ** That God will do for my best and His glory.

I might not understand it all. It might not turn out the way I had planned. But my God is faithful. Just like He didn't take Abraham to a different country and leave him high and dry, so He won't with me. He hasn't brought me to this place, to this time, just to leave me to fend on my own. His promises have always stood and will continue to stand.

God WILL do what He has promised, according to 2 Peter 3:9. I just need to remember that what He has promised often doesn't look like what I had hoped for or planned, but He will use my current circumstances for my good and His glory. Always there. Always working. Always loving me. 

Like Abraham, I choose to hold on for all I am worth. I know Him. I know He is faithful, and I can trust Him to do what He promises.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 

Hebrews 10:23

That Day ...

These last few years have marked a real change for me. I've always been the type who planned each day, who wanted everything to run by a schedule and be under control. I've learned, that even though that sounds admirable and extremely organized, it's basically an accident looking to happen. Because, girlfriend, ain't no how that things are always going to go according to MY plan. I've worked hard to change my thinking. But, I can because I've been given a little secret. Actually, it's not really a secret. It's in a published book that has been read for thousands of years.

It is so easy to look around and be overwhelmed by the brokenness and pain in this world. Sometimes, it's more than I can actually handle. The deep pain ...  fractured relationships ...  shattered dreams ... injustice ... fears ... anger ...  hatred -- don't look for too long, because you'll see every one of these on a daily basis. Our world is full of it, and it just seems to get worse, no matter how we try. Families destroyed by addiction. Couples heartbroken by infertility. Marriages devastated by infidelity. Parents estranged from prodigal children. It's all there.

One thing I hold on to: that Jesus will make all things new. He says that He will, that He's in the process even now. He talks about this in Isaiah 43:19, Revelation 21:5, and Isaiah 65:17. All that is broken, worn out, abused, discarded, destroyed, devastated -- it will be restored, made new, redeemed. It's what enabled me to walk my own long, dark road. I knew that maybe there would never be a reconciliation on this earth, but God would restore the brokenness that sin caused. It was a promise, a certainty. It. Would. Happen. It's all I had to hold on to -- the Word of my Lord.

I held on for all I was worth because nothing else seemed to matter. And now, I'm holding on for all I'm worth for someone else -- someone whose journey looks different than mine. Someone who is dealing with a different emptiness than I dealt with.

Here's the deal. I'm able to wrap my mind around the restoration of a relationship. I can see the resurrection from death to life, of the lame walking and the blind seeing. Those all "make sense" to me...but what about infertility? What is the restoration there? It's not like the empty wombs here will be filled with life there in heaven, in eternity.

I've wrestled with this. What will it look like? I'm not totally sure, but I'm thinking it will look something like this. The empty arms here will be full in heaven. There will be no emptiness. There will be no aching hearts or feeling like we're missing a piece of ourselves. There will be none of that. Instead, we'll be full -- fuller than we could ever be as a wife, or a mom, or a person. Our hearts won't long for anything because we'll be with Jesus. Period. We'll have all that our hearts will desire because we'll be in His presence. Period. Everything that was wrong with the world here, everything that sin left a stain on or broke, everything ... everything will be restored, resurrected. Exclamation mark!!

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21)

A Work Day

I work in our church office as a secretary.  Being a church, we get a LOT of people who come in off the street, looking for help of any kind. I hate to admit this, but usually I figure someone is lying, or they're trying to fool me so they can just get "more".  The stories are often very much the same. Ultimately, they're just looking for money.

I've been convicted a lot about my attitude regarding people who come in looking for money. Oh, the people might not all be on the up-and-up. They might not all be 100% truthful and honest. But, I've also seen that it's not my job to be the jury -- you know, the one who decides if what I'm hearing is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. That's God's job. My job? It's to love folks, regardless of how they look or smell, how they act or speak, whether I feel like they're deserving or not. The only thing that I'm responsible for is to show them Jesus.

Today, there was a young woman who was waiting at our closed and locked doors before the work day even began. She was carrying 3 plastic bags of clothes. No car. No cell phone. Her husband had kicked her out of the house and she had recently lost custody of her school-age daughter. The night before, she had slept in a field by our church.Yes, there had been some horribly wrong choices that she had made in her life journey ... and the time for reckoning seemed to be looming. She wept. She mourned. And my heart was drawn to hers.

We made some phone calls to see if there was a place she could stay. We talked and I shared with her that when we hit bottom, it's God's way of calling to us. It's actually a mercy, a salvation for us after our choices have done their destruction. He calls us to turn to Him for His saving. I've hit bottom before. I've had God open my eyes to who He is when I was feeling hopeless and helpless. I begged her: "When we're at the bottom, there's only one way to go ... and that's up, especially if we look to Jesus. Look up! Don't waste this time!"

She appeared to listen. But as time went on, I could see that she didn't particularly want my help -- not in the way I was offering it. She never asked for money though. Never asked for anything really -- other than to use the restroom to clean up and to use the phone to maybe find some shelters. She was impatient to leave. Her mind was whirling with all of the ways that she could control this situation and make it better. Before she left, I asked if I could pray for her and she told me yes, that it would probably make her feel better. I stood next to her and gently put my hand on her arm. She smiled at me, and I began to pray.

As soon as I opened my mouth to talk with our Father in prayer, she stiffened. I peeked at her and could see her hands had contorted in to something resembling claws that dug in to her legs. I continued praying, but she wasn't able to stand there with me. She apologized and began walking away, gathering up her plastic bags full of clothes, telling me she couldn't be here. She thanked me for being so kind, and walked off toward the road -- homeless and alone.

And I knew.

I knew that she had made some horrendous choices, all the while probably receiving some encouragement and help from the enemy. There's nothing he wants more than to ruin and destroy the people that God loves so very much. Sometimes, the enemy succeeds ... because we give him permission. Sometimes the enemy succeeds ... because His people don't stop to hear His voice. They want to be the jury and decide who is worth the salvation.

My prayer for her is that she will know and recognize that God is what she needs. My prayer for me was that this heart of mine, which can so often be mistrusting and skeptical, was a picture of the heart of Jesus today -- soft, welcoming, loving, accepting. So often I fail at that. My longing is for my heart to be like His.

Today, if you're reading this, please pray for Stacie (not her real name). Pray that she will come to know and understand how wide, how long, how high and how deep God's love is for her. Pray that she'll recognize the lies she is holding on to, and that she will let Jesus love her.

There's hope ... because there's Jesus.

Isaiah 64

One of my favorite books of the Bible is Isaiah. I have many favorites, but this one is definitely at the top of my list. Such hope! So many wonderful promises! Such encouragement! Because it's absolutely so wonderful, I want to share a little from one of the chapters that I've just read.

"Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down!" (Isaiah 64:1a)

Does that sound familiar to you? Have you ever cried out for God to come down and rescue you from a set of circumstances that are threatening to overwhelm you? Or is that just me? I read the beginning words to this chapter and immediately was hooked. Isaiah shouts out the very words that I myself have cried at times.

I've learned over the years that often I'm crying out for rescue because I just don't like the pain of where I am. It's not killing me ... although it may feel like it. I just want to be rescued. I don't want to  learn. I don't want to grow. I just want to feel better. Yet, my God is in control. Because I know that to be true, I can also know that I am where I am for a reason, for a season, for a purpose. 

"From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear,

no eye has seen a God besides You,

Who acts for those who wait for Him." (Isaiah 64:4)

This is a promise! Our God acts for those who wait for Him. The interesting thing is that in the Hebrew, the word "wait" is closely related to the word for "piercing". Waiting often feels like a piercing, doesn't it? Because it is! We learn and grow in the wait, and in the meantime, a piercing is happening. A piercing of our ...

... control                                                                              

    ... plans
        ... wrong beliefs
            ... false idols
                ... pride
                    ... arrogance

In our wait, we see the things that we look to for our deliverance. We see the things that offer so much but can deliver so little. We see that often we're just looking for God's rescue but not for a true relationship with Him. He asks us to wait so that He can pierce and do away with all the things that entangle us. But He surely acts in this piercing. Surely!

"But now, O Lord, you are our Father;

we are the clay, and You are our potter;

we are all the work of Your hand." (Isaiah 64:8)

He's got this, sweet friends! If you're in the process of calling on the Father to come down and rescue you, if you're in the process of a piercing wait, KNOW that He is our Father. He is sovereign and good and continuing His work. 

A good potter doesn't leave the lump of clay as a lump of clay. He molds it, perfects it, fires it, and brings the work to completion. Our good Father? Our heavenly Potter? He won't bring you "this far" and then leave you on your own to finish it. That's His job! And He'll do it! He has promised us that!

"And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you

will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." 
(Philippians 1:6)

So, what do we do with all this? 

• We understand that our God is good.
• We understand that our God is sovereign.
• We understand that because God is good and sovereign that we can trust Him where we are.
• We understand that we must not quit or grow weary in our wait.
• We understand that our God is working, even though we don't see the whole picture.
• We understand that there will be God's perfect completion at God's perfect time.

God's Word is perfect for our every need. Be active with it!!

Unplanned Adventures

It's been an interesting weekend at our house. I'm not quite sure if interesting is the right word. Shocking? Stretching? Learning?

Wes and I have been shopping for over 2 years for an RV and finally purchased one. We've been to RV shows, traveled all over the state of Oklahoma looking at used RVs, researched campers, read all about RV buying and preparations ... and finally brought our RV home this weekend.

It was proudly sitting in our front yard for a few hours until we decided to move it to the back part of our lot. First, we had to take down some fence panels to get it back there, but that's not a problem. We're experts at putting up and taking down fence because we have Houdini reincarnated in our dog. So, the panels came down and then I stood in the back to guide Wes through the semi-narrow passage. He backs trailers all the time, so this wouldn't be a problem.

Except ...

The trailer is wider than his mirrors so if I'm standing directly in back of him while he's backing up, he can't see me. We were halfway through the process before we realized the extensions hadn't been put on his mirrors yet, so he was having to go through this partially blind at times. We also didn't communicate very well just exactly what hand signs we would be using. When I motioned for Wes to move to the right, he thought I was motioning for him to continue coming straight back. But Wes managed to back the trailer in spite of the narrow passage and half-crazed woman flailing around, trying to give directions. He backed it up slowly ... and then suddenly, it wouldn't back up anymore, even though there was nearly a half acre of back lot to go.

Apparently, when it has rained every day for a week, the ground gets a little too soft for a truck and a trailer to drive on without sinking up to the axles in mud. Apparently. Apparently to everyone else but us, that is.

And, when an RV gets stuck in the mud and continues to sink deeper and deeper on one side, it will get the leans. In fact, it gets the leans so much that it will just lean on the nearest obstacle, which just happens to be our fence.

Brand new RV. Stuck in the mud. Leaning on a fence.

Hmmm. What to do? Fortunately I'm married to a wonderful man who doesn't get extremely frustrated and irritated at minor catastrophes like these. We just got some shovels and proceeded to start digging -- from the far side of the trailer since the sunk in side is on the fence. Well, Wes was digging. I was fighting with a dog.

Remember, I told you we have an Houdini-type dog. He is on a very long lead while he's outside because that dadgum brilliant dog has jumped our fence on every side. We built it up until it's taller than me. Of course, since I'm only 5 feet tall, that's not saying much, but still we've worked on a lot of fencing around our acre lot. Finally, we realized that no fence was high enough, and he just had to be on a long lead with supervision while he was outside. Well, our escape artist dog saw a fence panel was down and the way out was directly in front of him. Somehow Houdini Wylie wiggled out of his harness and was heading for freedom, and certain death in the busy street in front of our house.

I'm not a young girl anymore. I don't like running. I'm not exceptionally strong. But I saw the dog was heading to disaster and mayhem. I couldn't catch up with the dog (puh-lease!), so I did the only reasonable thing to do.

I dove after him.

Diving on the ground, even though it's been softened by a week of rain, still hurts. Especially when you're not used to that. But guess what?

I caught the dang dog. Caught him right by the scruff of his neck and held on like my life was on the line ... which I felt like it initially was since all the air had been knocked out of me. From the other side of the truck, my husband saw my head disappear, heard my "ooooof!" as all of the air was forced out of my body, and he hurried to help me ... or give me rescue breathing, whichever was needed.

Between the both of us, we were able to get the dog inside. The feeling was coming back in my back and stomach after having a hard meeting with the ground. Wes had run to the rescue ... but Wes's body doesn't like it at all when Wes runs anymore. The RV was still stuck in the mud, leaning on the fence. We were panting ... and moaning ... and groaning ... and deciding RVs and dogs are highly overrated. But we persevered. We persevered to the extent that we were finally able to get Wes's truck out of the mud so he could work today ... and our bright, shiny new RV is waiting for the nice tow truck man to pull it about 20 feet to the gravel pad out front.

Honestly, I thought our RV adventures would be a little different than this. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, but I know I didn't foresee this weekend. One thing I know however, is that I've got a wonderful man to experience all of life with, a good God that knows just how it's all going to go, and the willingness to step out into a different sort of adventure. That makes it all okay in my book.

There will be more RV adventures coming up, so stay tuned!

Broken Made Whole

Some days, it seems like all we can do is question: How do we recover from this? Will there ever be restoration and healing? Is there any control anywhere? Our feelings get in the way, and we can sink into a pit of despair and discouragement.

There's so much in this broken world that shatters us and leaves us bleeding, staring at the gaping wound and wondering if we'll ever recover. At the base of all of it is sin. Whether it's just part of the overall, fallen condition of the world ... or if it's a sin that we've committed, or that's been committed against us -- we feel them all. They all seek to break and destroy us.

These are things that I hate.

Infidelity. It breaks marriages and lives. It is a ripping apart of two hearts that God has put together. It destroys families, damages witnesses and testimonies. It is a walking death.

Infertility. It breaks God's perfect plan of being fruitful and multiplying. It causes grief to a woman's aching heart, and brings a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness to the heart of the man who wants to provide for his wife. It is an emptiness.

Infirmity. Bodies that no longer work as they used to. Diseases that run rampant through these weary bodies. A broken imperfection that keeps us from living as we're told we should. It wears us down, tires us out, causes us to feel incapable and futile. It is a destruction.

Addiction. Rebellion. Defiance. Hatred. Wars. The list can go on and on.

All of these words are a result of sin. Some due to a sinful and selfish choice. Others due to a fallen and imperfect world. But at the root of all are sin. Sin causes us to feel inadequate, empty, worthless, incomplete, and alone. We grieve and we mourn because we are suffering a loss that we were never meant to experience. In our innermost beings, we know we were meant for more than this.

God knows. He sees. He sees our shattered hearts, feels our deepest pain, hears our agonized cries, knows our innermost being. The world seems to continue on around us, but we're frozen in place, swallowed up in our grief. Grief is a natural part of dealing with loss, and we must grieve.

However, we cannot ever lose sight of the fact that ... God is.

God is ...
     ... ever present.
     ... sovereign.
     ... good.
     ... faithful.
     ... perfect.
     ... all-knowing.
     ... whole.

God is ... all that we are not, especially when we're dealing with a by-product of the brokenness of sin.

God is ... tenderly asking us to trust in Him even we're hurting and scared.

God is ... continuing to write our story.

And His love for us is immeasurable. That was proven by the cross. All of the ugliness and destruction of sin, Jesus took upon Himself. For you. For me. For our healing and restoration.

Listen. If you only get one thing out of reading this post I want this to be it.

The cross is the point in history that we can point to where it was all finished. It was done. This sin that ravages our world, that gashes our soul, that we battle with daily -- it was defeated by Jesus on the cross. The battle still rages, but the victory is already won.

There will be a day when we will see this sin done away with. No more infidelity. No more infertility. No more infirmity. All that is broken will become whole. All that is empty will be made full. Ashes to beauty. Mourning to dancing. All through Scripture, God talks about the Day of the Lord -- the time that He'll heal it all.

It is coming. It is certain. And we wait in anticipation for all to be made right.

I'm Middle Aged ... If I Live To Be 116

I've heard it said that life is too short to be taken seriously. I agree 100% with that ... but totally disagree with it at the same time. Just depends on how you look at it.

For example, I don't want to go through all of my life and then get to the end and realize I wasted all that I had been given, that I focused on the things that don't matter to the exclusion of the things that do. On the other hands, I don't want to be so totally focused on the task at hand that I forget to smell the roses, that I neglect to just enjoy what's around me. That, my friends, is what we call a conundrum ... or life.

As I'm getting older, I'm learning more to enjoy what's around me. I still like to say I'm middle-aged, but my oldest son (who is dangerously close to middle age himself) likes to point out that I probably won't live to be 116, so therefore, I can't be termed middle-aged. Whatever. I'd like to say that my oldest son is dumb, but that would really not be nice ... so I won't.

This brings me to another point in that tiny argument about age that I have with my son. The British  have concluded in a study that middle age begins at 55. Sounds about right. Makes me a little more forgiving about that big war that we fought for independence with them a couple of hundred years ago. But I think they're on to something.

We'll just say I'm a little older. That way no one gets hurt. A little older. Maybe a little wiser.

I can sit on the back porch with my husband at night and watch the sun set while we talk about our days, about our dreams, about our family, about our life together ... and not worry that the kitchen isn't totally cleaned or the laundry hasn't been folded yet.

My husband and I laugh about the texts that we send each other, because if we're not wearing our reading glasses, who knows what will wind up being sent. Old blurry eyes and fat fingers do not make for good texting results, but they definitely make for a lot of hilarious fun!

I can watch our grandchildren play and enjoy their creative minds and mischievous attitude ... without worrying about how dirty they're getting, or how much sugar they're consuming, or what other people might be thinking.

I can put on my make-up in the morning and know that there's only so much I can do without resorting to cosmetic surgery ... but still be semi-okay with the fact that I'm presentable, and my husband likes the way I look. Besides, my eyes don't work like they used to, and what I don't know won't hurt me, right?

I'm at the age where if I tell people I took a nap today, they don't question my productivity or my health. Of course I took a nap. That's what people my age do! I just want to apologize to my mother for fighting naps like I did as a child. You were right, Mom. Naps are incredible!

We watch sporting events, movies, go to the doctor's office, see a policeman working an accident and realize that every one of those people look like little children. They're all younger than we are -- and we just smile at each other because we know they're going to be in our shoes one day.

It's the little things that give me joy. Getting up out of a chair without making noise. Seeing the trees change color in the autumn. Being surrounded by our children and grandchildren, laughing and enjoying each other. Hiking a rough terrain without pulling any muscles. Smelling hot chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven. Getting a compliment on my super-cute shoes. Holding hands with the man I've loved so many years.

God has given me so much. I used to just focus on the big things -- like my salvation, or His incredible love for me. Those things are awesome! Mind-blowing, if you don't mind me using an old person term. I know I'll never not be thankful for those "big things" because they're what my eternal life is all about. But, I've learned to slow down, to smell the roses, to appreciate all of the little gifts that go together to make this beautiful life He's given me.

This middle-age season suits me pretty well.