It was a little over 5 weeks ago that I arranged these cut flowers into a vase.  I put the arrangement into the shop.  A week later, I took them out and brought them to Marie and told her that they hadn't sold and may only have a little longer to live but that I hoped she could enjoy them for a few more days.

I asked the Lord that day if He could let them live a little longer...like maybe a week so that she could use them and enjoy them.

When I saw her a week later she said, "You need to come look at these flowers".  We were amazed at how good they looked and now they were two weeks old.  The next week I saw Marie and again, she called me into the kitchen and said, "You should just see these flowers".  "Unbelievable,"  I thought.  But it is important for you to know that already by this time...I had forgotten my request.  We talked about how pretty the flowers still were and I was thinking that I had bought some pretty good flowers.

Two more weeks went by and I saw Marie yesterday.  She called me in the kitchen and told me that I needed to take a look at the flowers.  I had to take a picture because this is what I saw.  There were four of us in the kitchen then, marveling over these flowers.  They were asking what I had done to the flowers to make them live so long!!  I told them I had cut the stems and changed the water a couple of weeks ago but other than that...nothing.  You'd think a florist would have a better answer but I didn't.  I've never seen cut flowers look and last like that.

I went out to set up the tables.  As I was putting things out I said, "Lord, how could those flowers live that long?"

And then I heard his voice in my heart.  "Did you not ask me to let them live for Marie?"

And I wept...right there, getting the tables ready.  And then I heard His Words in my mind.

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 thoughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen.

Ephesians 3:20

"Yes...Jesus...I asked you for one week and you have given five...FIVE!"

I love this story.  It's a great story...I have loved telling it....over and over again.  But the most beautiful thing about this story is that our God is intimate with us like no other.   I have been struggling lately with my insecurities....telling Jesus pretty much everyday all the things that I'm scared of and what I don't know how to do and how other people can do it better than me and I don't know what I'm doing and....the list could go on.  Do you hear me?  Have you ever been there?

Well, Listen to me.  This God...the one who is able to do far more than we ask, think or can even imagine wants to show himself in you.  In me.  In our church.  

Forgive me Lord for not being able to see what you can do because I just can't take my eyes off of me.

I asked the Lord to let those flowers live for Marie...me thinking to bless her...but the Lord knew that his blessing was also for me to remind me that He is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think....

I could never even imagine that...and that, is why I love Him so.

LOVE

1 Corinthians 13 - I'm sure you know it well. The Bible's love chapter. Well, today I read through it and got some interesting thoughts from it that I felt like sharing.

The first three verses talk about how, without love, we amount to NOTHING. We can have faith that moves mountains, amazing generosity, or strong spiritual gifts, but if those don't come with love, they're useless. Love is SO powerful! And I'm not talking about the commercialized, gushy, romantic stuff we call love nowadays.
No, God's kind of love is way different. It's:

-patient (don't we all hate waiting?)
-kind
-not jealous (now that's a tough one)
-not proud (humility... oh boy)
-not rude
-not self-seeking (yikes)
-not easily angered (easier said than done)
-forgiving
-perseverant
-hopeful
-enduring

Doesn't that sound hard? I think it's INCREDIBLY hard! Especially toward people that have hurt us or irritate us. But it's the way Jesus loved and it's what we're called to do. I think love is probably one of the most powerful tools God has given us. So as we go about our week, let's try to use it. :)

Keeping Peace

The Lord is my strength and my song.  His Light puts away all darkness.
In Him is life.


In the shadows of my mind...I hold fast to what I know is true.  My God is Faithful.


His Hope is Eternal.


His Love is Everlasting.


His Joy is Miraculous.  The Joy of the Lord is my strength. (Nehemiah 8:10b)


I sit quiet...the sun sets on a beautiful day...I hear the clock's gentle motion as the minutes pass...


"What is Peace?" I think to myself.  Is it this....strength in the moment.  Knowing...that He is Faithful when I can't "see" Him working the way I ask him to, want him to or imagine him to?


Discouragement knocks at my door.   She's in her party dress.  I want to let her in.  I stand at the door talking to her instead.  Should have never even opened the door.


Wisdom peeks around the corner and comes down the stairs.  "What are you doing?" she says.


Sheepishly, I turn around...Discouragement knows she's uninvited and it's an awkward moment...her foot is in the door and she looks annoyed, impatient.  I feel torn.  It would just be easier to let her in.


Wisdom puts her hand on my shoulder and looks into my eyes....her voice is gentle, but strong, unwavering...


"...but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31)

I'm tired of waiting.  Discouragement seems like good company at first but Wisdom is the dearest of Friends...I trust her.   I die to myself to shut the door.


"He is Faithful," I say aloud.  She nods.  The waiting is hard.  


"I trust Him."  I say this a little louder.  The waiting is still hard but I feel a little stronger.


An old song that I haven't sung in what feels like decades, pops into my mind....It's tune begins to humm an old memory...it's like the warm comfort of a nightlight when you wake in sudden darkness...



Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, All fear is gone.
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives. 

What can I do but wait for the Lord?  

His Hope is Eternal.

His Love is Everlasting.

His Joy is Miraculous.  

His Grace knows no bounds.

His Faithfulness....is my very reason for waiting for Him.  

This is Peace.

(Song: Because He Lives by Bill Gaither)

Back to Your First Love

This weekend I was at a youth retreat and was really challenged by an idea the speaker talked about: returning to your first love. The speaker talked a lot about love the entire weekend... love between husband and wife, loving others, God's love... but the thing that impacted me the most is that God is calling us back to Himself, our first love. I got to feel God bringing me back to Him... after having been distracted so long with life and all its craziness. There was one worship song we sang quite a few times, and every time we sang it, I was touched deeply.


"He is jealous for me
Loves like a hurricane
I am a tree bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy

All of sudden, I am unaware
Of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
And I realize just how beautiful You are
And how great Your affections are for me

Oh, how He loves us so
Oh how He loves us
How He loves us so"

Singing over and over about how much God loves me made me realize how much I've lacked in loving Him. And I wanted so much to come back to Him, back to having Him as the centre, the love of my life. The greatest part is that He never stops pursuing us. We just don't always recognize that He is.

I know I'll fall and mess up again, and I'll have to come crawling back to Him after I get over my own pride. But the promise of that song gives me an amazing hope. Hope that no matter what, I will always be able to come back to my first love. Jesus will always take me back.

Grace

I came across a very simple, all encompassing definition of grace in my online course "The History of Redemption" at Blue Letter Bible Institute. In defining grace, the course instructor says, "It is simply this: Grace is God doing it. Write that down. Grace is God doing it.

Everything throughout all of human history has always been about God doing it. He spoke all things into existence. He breathed the breath of life into the first man, and "in his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind."(Job 12:10) 

If even breathing -  the most automatic activity we do in life - would not be possible if God did not continue to ordain it, why do we still think we're in control and insist on doing things our own way? Why do I think that I know better than God? Seriously, without answering that question...and dealing with that... we will not move any closer to enjoying God's grace. We won't be comforted to know it's God doing it.

God is The One who has the plan - the perfect and glorious plan - that continues to go forward according to his will and work. We forget that...we forget that often.  Even as we've looked at the first chapter of Ephesians, we see how God has set everything up according to His purpose and plan. It's all about God doing everything for us. It's about God's incredible power in us. It's about God's Spirit working through us.

Grace is God doing it. The question for us in every circumstance today is this: Am I going to receive His grace? Will I submit to God doing it? 

Isaiah 30:15 has been a favourite life verse of mine. It is so contrary to how the world does things, but in light of grace meaning God doing it, it makes perfect sense for followers of Jesus.

For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength." But you were unwilling... 

(and they did things their own way)

Let's embrace God's grace and rest in His working everything according to His will.  May God's grace produce willing hearts in us. By God's grace it's all possible.

Life...Growth...Revival

I've just come home tonight from spending some much needed girl time with my mother, my sister, and  my sweet daughter.  The moon is big and round in the sky.  I'm glad to be home.  Spring is in the air.  I feel it.  I'm ready for it.
To celebrate Life...Growth...Revival.

I was thinking earlier today that it's hard to write some days.  Sometimes because life is just busy and full and if my schedule changes and I haven't planned ahead....well...that's a funny one because really...if you know me...I'm a procrastinator anyway...

I think ahead...sometimes I even worry ahead...but really I'm not the best at planning ahead....its a discipline for me that I'm not that disciplined at doing....but I wasn't planning to talk about that...

Today...when I was "thinking" ahead...of what I would be writing about today...and "thinking" that somedays its just hard to write and talk about my life and what I'm doing or not doing.  I remembered the most wonderful of things!  It's not about me!!!

It's about Him.  He is the Joy, the Life, the Smile on my face.  He is the Redeemer.  The Faithful One.
He is Peace.  Everything I love,  everything that is good and wonderful and beautiful in my life is: In Him, Through Him and By Him.

Ephesians 1:1-14 is still renewing my mind.

The saints are faithful In Him. (That means that you and I are also able to be faithful In Him)
In Him, we have been given every spiritual gift in the heavenly places.  (Do you get that...it's incredible)
Before the foundation of the world was made...we were chosen In Him...to be holy and blameless before Him.  (Think about this...we were chosen to be set apart and not condemned, without blame...that is what we are...In Him)
In Him, we have redemption through his blood. (Don't count this one out just because you're already saved...Whatever you've got in your life right now that you need to be redeemed from...His blood has still paid for it...He is the Redeemer!)
In Him all things will be united...things in heaven and things on earth. (The Past, Today, Tomorrow and Eternity are united in his hands....He is not limited between heaven and earth and they are not two separate worlds for Him.  That should be a comfort for you because he understands your past, he knows your future and he is totally present in the here and now of your life today)
In Him we have obtained an inheritance.  (Have you ever wanted to inherit something entirely amazing like some fairytale you've read about or seen on TV?  Believe me, this is more than you or I can possibly even imagine!)
In Him we have been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. (Right here, right now...that changes your life...we have a Counselor...a Helper...a Guide...we have the Spirit of the Almighty God living and breathing within us...He speaks.  Lord, help us listen)

In Him...we have Life, we have Growth...we have Revival...we have...Spring.
Thank you so much, Jesus.

Ephesians 1:13-14

In him
you also,
when you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation,
and
believed in him,
were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
who is the guarantee
of our inheritance
until we acquire possession of it,
to the praise
of his glory.
Ephesians 1:13-14