Peace and Joy

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."
~Romans 5:1-4

Rejoice in our sufferings..... that's a tough one. It's not something that comes natural. Our human tendencies would be to get angry or frustrated.

Do I rejoice when I've had a summer like we've had? My husband and I were excited to finally get ahead in life when we sold our house and moved. We were excited when we were going to have money in a savings account in case of emergencies.... well, it's now since been dwindled with everything that's hit us....

First was the stove.... broke the first day of company..... next was our hot water tank.... broke the first day of our 2nd set of company..... third was our dog suddenly not able to walk and us needing an emergency vet visit... fourth was our computer crashing and needing to replace it... fifth was our modem for the computer..... kicked the bucket.... daughter's bike broke so she's riding mine.... van repair bills.... the list goes on....

What we've experienced this summer is not a suffering like some of you may have experienced like the loss of a family member or friend. Perhaps even the loss of a marriage or friendship. Some might say that what my family went through is not even considered suffering. Regardless, God asks us to rejoice in our circumstances...

Is that easy? It's definitely not. Each day my husband and I committed our finances to Him and asked for guidance to make the right choices in our purchases for our new home. All the things we were hoping to provide our family with didn't happen. Because we were hit with all these unexpected big expenses, it showed us once again that God is in control. We can have all our ducks lined up but God rearranges them his way. We see that God is still faithful. Yesterday I felt our fridge warming up quite quickly and I prayed in earnest that God could fix that. Might seem silly but God heard my prayer about the fridge and it's now working.

Why do I need to rejoice through all this? Sufferings produce perseverance, perseverance produces character and character produces hope. Hope doesn't disappoint us because God poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

Through all our life journeys, sufferings come in many different ways. Each of us handles it differently. My encouragement to you is to praise God and rejoice in Him when going through trials because you'll come out a much stronger person in the end. It's not easy going through the tough times. This summer I've shed many tears over all these unexpected financial expenses. They've completely dwindled our savings... what we wanted to have for backup is now gone and we're in complete dependence on God's provisions if we have any more big expenses. Somehow we get through each day with God taking us one step at a time through our sufferings.

What is robbing you of your joy in Christ?
What does suffering look like for you?
Where are you in your journey? Are you in the middle of the trial or have you come through that difficult time? How have you changed?
What encouragement can you give someone you know who is going through a difficult time?
How can you rejoice for your trials or sufferings? What can you praise God for today?

Don't let Satan use your trials to take your eyes off Jesus.... He's our hope.

God Is For Us

"If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son
but gave him up for us all,
how will he not also with him (Christ) graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:31b-32

Thank You Father, that you are for us. You are not against us; You are not against us at all. Forgive us for believing the lies the enemy whispers to our hearts that You - our Saviour! - are against us. What a crazy, twisted thought! Help us to be aware of the fact that it's the enemy who is against us but You are for us! How great is that!

For you say,
"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-30

You're mindful of each little bird that falls. You have a tally of how many hairs are attached to my scalp -knowing how many went down the shower drain and how many were left in my hair brush. Minute details! Surely, my concerns are known to You then. Surely Your eye is on me - the one You gave Your only Son for - and You care for me!

You say "Fear not, therefore." Because of my great value (in Your loving eyes), and your infinite care, knowledge and wisdom, greatness, power and authority, You say I don't need to be afraid.
So, Father, right now I give You this concern - this fear - that's been on my mind and heart. (I've brought Him mine. You tell Him yours as well - each one.)

You often say, "Don't be afraid! or "Believe!" Father, help me to believe Your great and precious promises that You've made to us as your children. May we believe YOU! Not our feelings, not our past negative experiences, not the lies, but only You. Speak truth to me about my concerns/fears.

Bring my heart into the truth. Help me to walk in confidence that You love me, and that Your care for me is so great, that at any second of any day You know the trivial of how many hairs are on my head.

Let's trust God together and encourage each other to trust Him. He is so very worthy of our trust.

Honey, Eat Just Enough!

The other day while shopping at the farmers market downtown, my husband and I came across the best tasting honey in Abbotsford. It was home-made blueberry honey. We bought a couple of jars, one for myself and one for my brother who was coming for a visit. There is something so appealing about honey... even the jar looks attractive that it comes in. Far more interesting though, is that the bees do all the work for us to make the honey. Oh, there is a process after that before it gets into the jar... but the bees do all the work for that to happen.

I was reading in Proverbs 25 this week and it spoke about eating too much...

"It is not good to eat too much honey, nor is it honorable to seek one's own honor." Proverbs 25:27

"If you find honey, eat just enough--too much of it and you will vomit." Proverbs 25:16

And in the next verse, in Proverbs 25:17, it says;

" Seldom set foot in your neighbors house--too much of you and he will hate you."

I just found it interesting how close this verse was to eating too much honey...

Sometimes I wonder if I am not getting what God wants me to get when I read His Word. Could you relate honey with other things.... like knowledge... the Bible says it is good to get wisdom and knowledge. But too much of the wrong kind of knowledge is not good for you. Can you know too much... Could that be why a neighbor or friend might hate you. I have a friend who went through a devastating situation in her marriage... her husband was in the present state of being unfaithful and she had just found out. Her daughter called my husband and I, and in the background, I could hear my friend sobbing uncontrollably. My friend would not talk to me. Eventually, the husband came back and the two of them began the work of restoring their marriage. But, my friend had been shamed and she basically closed herself off to even her closest friends. She shut her front door, packed up her household items, sold her house and moved away. She wouldn't answer the phone, she didn't have email and she didn't answer letters. We had been friends for over 30 years. Somehow, I think I knew too much. Our relationship has been restored now... but it has taken years for her to work through the shame and sorrow of what happened to her. It wasn't just me she shut out of her life... it was most everyone that knew her.

What would it be like to go back to a simpler life, without CNN or CBC , without Internet, without the daily newspaper, without cell phones, without television even; would my lack of knowledge lower my stress level? We have been given access to so much information, it can be overwhelming at times.

On the other hand... it can also simplify our lives if we don't take in too much of it. I found it incredibly awesome to be able to call BCAA on my cell phone when we were ten hours away from home and our car broke down on the highway this past weekend.

So, my prayer for you today is.. that you would eat just enough honey, whether it is in your tea, or on your toast with butter, placing the Word of God before you like a candle burning. My prayer also, is that you would place all of the cares of this world into His hands... He is our only Peace, our Comforter, our Shield and our Protector.

Empty Words

For it is no empty word for you, but your very life! Deuteronomy 32:47

Moses spoke these words to the people of Israel after he had recited the word of the Lord to them, warning them to listen and to obey. The word of God is life. Giving true life, abundant life. The ink blots on the paper in the book are not just words on a page, inanimate, idle, without action. They are our very life. And by them we live. "For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess."

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

I would contend that not many words are empty. It was words that brought the creation into being. With words dry bones became flesh and blood, a dead man was brought back to life, a storm was calmed, sight was restored. It was also words that caused 2 she-bears to tear up forty-two young boys, brothers and their descendants to contend with each other throughout history, a man to displace himself from the fellowship of the disciples. Words make a difference. The things we say matter. Words of blessing, words of cursing.

Ok, this thing about the weather. I grew up in a desert climate, and I loved the sun, the light, the warmth, even the heat. But because the summers were long and very hot, I used to look forward to the Fall, when things would cool off a bit and it would actually rain a little. It was my favorite time of year, a change of season.

Now I live in an un-desert-like place where it rains frequently, even in the summer (if you can imagine that!) I have realized that for the past couple of years, I have become more and more ticked about rainy weather, and I actually dread the winter. I don't want summer to end and fall sucks because it means that winter's on the way, and being cold is not something that I enjoy.

I realize that this is stupid. Why should I waste the beautiful days of summer dreading the coming of fall and winter. Fall and winter come every year and there's not much I can do about that. Why should the weather control any part of my emotional well-being? I should be able to thank God for the cold, gray, wet skies of winter as much as I do the bright, warm, sunny days of summer.

So I asked him what the deal was. Why do I feel this way, Lord?
Is it just because I'm a California girl at heart? - No
Is it just how I'm made? Lizards and snakes are made to need to bask in the sun. - No
Don't cloudy, gray days make everybody depressed? - No
Isn't winter just a product of "the fall" anyway? (Think about it. Adam and Eve were naked!) - No

None of the above. My sweet saviour revealed to me that my not-so-empty words have brought this about in me.
"I hate being cold."
"I hate winter."
"Why can't I live in a place where it doesn't rain all the time?"
"I can't handle the cold."
"I'm happiest in summer."

These words, spoken out loud, were anything but empty, meaningless, idle. No, by speaking them, I brought cursing upon myself, allowing the enemy to have influence over me in the way I think and respond to the weather. By speaking these words, I was in agreement with lies and the Father of Lies. These words aren't in agreement with the Word of God, which gives life and is my life. God changes times and seasons. He created the weather. Rain is a gift from God on dry, thirsty land. And so on and on.

Praise God that he has provided a way for us through Jesus Christ, who became a curse for us, to be free from the results of our negative words. All I had to do was repent (recognize that I had made a negative confession), revoke it (unsay, or cancel it), and replace it with a confession of the truth, putting myself in agreement with God and his word. Halleluiah! I can honestly say today I am unaffected by the gray, cloudy weather outside and that I am actually enjoying it. My heart is light and I am almost :) looking forward to the Fall. I think it's okay to still really love bright, warm, sunny weather!

His word is my very life.

My week hasn't gone so well. Besides a visit from my friend who totally uplifted me and made me feel refreshed to taken on parenting again, I have played referee between all my children. I have one daughter with a hot temper who seems to like to take matters into her own hands and decide to "parent" with aggression instead of her words. She gets frustrated with me that I put her brother on time outs and thinks he deserves more than that for what he did to make her angry. As a result she will walk over to him and give him a punch or push. He doesn't want to let her get away with it so it goes back and forth. As a result of taking things into their own hands, there are tougher consequences.

As a parent it sure is frustrating to have things like this happen. We punish our children because we love them and want to teach them the difference between right and wrong. Our job is to direct and teach our children to make wise choices and that if we choose something else that there are consequences to our actions. We have rules as guidelines on how to live.

We as adults are actually no different than my daughter and son who take matters into their own hands. Our Father grieves and hurts when we choose to disobey and not trust. My daughter didn't trust that I would discipline accordingly and we do that to Jesus. How often do we wait and wait for answers and because we don't receive them in our timing, take things into our own hands? This leads to severe consequences in some cases and it takes a while for us to get back on track.

When we wait on the Lord we find how rewarding it is to trust. It's not easy when things are answered the way we aren't expecting or we have planned. God is perfect and his plans are perfect. Unlike us as parents, we make mistakes when directing our children. The consequences we place on the actions aren't always the right ones and sometimes we need to apologize for our actions. God doesn't make mistakes in his directions. We make the wrong choices and the mistakes.

Here's a couple verses of the many God put in His word to encourage us to wait on Him:

Psalm 25:5 (NIV)
"guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

Psalm 27:14 (NIV)
"Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD."

Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)
"but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

Don't take things into your own hands but wait for the rewards of God's answers. They might not always be how we want them to be but they're for our best. Just as a Mother and Father direct our children, allow God to direct your paths and trust in His timing. God says in Isaiah 40:31 that if you hope in the Lord you will renew your strength. You will soar on wings like eagles. You will run and not grow weary, walk and not be faint. Embrace Him and entrust your cares to Jesus.

My grace deck

We built out our deck a couple of years ago. Made it really big. We got it done in time for the two summer weddings we had at our house. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Its size isn't the problem, it's the amount of frustration and time and labour and problem- solving we've had to put into it. I called it "my deck from hell" because of all the "what could go wrong, went wrong" problems we've experienced.

Two summers later - that would be now - we've had to do a "re and re" (as my husband calls it) on our deck. Re and re means remove and replace. So here we were this summer with this long drawn out re and re which was estimated to be a two day project. At the peak of the problem... let me rephrase that... at one of the key problems, when I was talking about my deck from hell... the Lord spoke to me. I had this conviction that it's all about grace. It's about extending grace, receiving grace and trusting in God's grace. So at that point in time, I began to refer to my deck as my grace deck. Am I ever glad I changed the name to my grace deck! This refocusing would prove to carry me through more difficulties.

This week was finally the week that we were able to get beyond the first re to the second re. Replacing. Wednesday night I flopped into bed exhausted after working the previous day, and all that day from 7:30 until midnight. I needed some encouragement. The "random" verse I read in a book I flipped open was
James 1:2-4
"Consider it a sheer gift, friends (Amity), when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colours. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. So let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way."

As I was falling asleep and throughout the night, the Lord kept on saying to me,
"My grace is sufficient for you."
The song,
"Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me" also kept going through my mind.

Thursday morning was the ultimate test. My neck ached and underneath my fingernails were so sore from all the work, that I could barely move my fingers and couldn't bear to think we were going at it again. And we were only a third of the way through! (Maybe the size of the deck is one of the problems!)

Then I read Sweet Freedom's post. "Grace and Joy and Peace... who wants to live without it?" Did I ever need grace and joy and peace... especially that morning. We had arranged to begin working Thursday at 1 pm, so I had the morning to bawl my eyes out. I went for a walk with my mom, to loosen up a bit and to whine and cry. I read the post and cried, and continued to cling to God's promise of His grace. And I made it through another 8 hours of intense work yesterday afternoon and evening.

I will continue to trust God for His grace as we're far from done with dealing with our deck. My grace deck is more than a future lovely addition to enjoy, but it's about learning about God's character - learning about God's grace.

Grace and Joy and Peace...who wants to live without it?

Thinking about the grace of God today and the joy that comes from knowing Jesus.

Ephesians 2:4-7

But because of his great love for us,

God, who is rich in mercy,

made us alive with Christ

even when we were dead in trangressions--

it is by grace you have been saved.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him

in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

in order that in the coming ages

he might show the incomparable riches

of his grace,

expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Oh and I love this....because Colossians 1:13-14 says...

For he has rescued us

from the dominion of darkness

and brought us into the kingdom

of the Son he loves,

in whom

we have redemption,

the forgiveness of sins.

May the knowledge of his grace and love and peace bring you joy today.

For the Joy of the Lord is your strength...seek Him for that strength and rest in the grace that is ours through his beautiful life and sacrifice for us.