What's in Your Heart?

We were on a two week family vacation when I was in ninth grade. This poem was framed and hanging on the bathroom wall by the toilet. Years later I still had it in my mind and decided to cross-stitch the poem. It’s a good poem to think on.

A few years ago God clearly spoke to me through Zechariah 7:10
… In your hearts do not think evil of each other.

Ouch! But, you know what? When I read this verse there was this deep conviction and I sensed God calling me in this. Not condemning me, but inviting me to be aware of what my thoughts were towards others. To recognized those negative thoughts aimed at my husband, children, family members, friends, strangers.

I began to ask God, “Why am I thinking evil of this person? Why am I nursing this grudge or why am I bitter about that? What am I believing that holds me in negative thoughts when I am called to think differently?" He shows me and leads me into truth. It's an ongoing process, and one I delight in walking with Him because He is so gracious and loving.

“…whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].” Philippians 4:8 (Amplified Bible)

My prayer is that I would operate out of an attitude of thankfulness and praise to God. If my heart is full with recognizing God’s goodness, love, and the grace He showers on me each day, those negative or evil thoughts won’t have the ground to take root in my heart.

God is working....

Sometimes when our lives seem out of control, we fail to realize that God is working His plan for our lives. We may be devastated by circumstances around us but God is in control. Job 5:9 says,

"He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted."

While reading the Pastor's Bible, I came across the following story and excerpts.

These words remind us to be open and alert to God's varied and unusual ways of aiding and working on our behalf when we are faced with unwelcome change.

The story of the sole survivor of a shipwreck illustrates and teaches a spiritual lesson. In the 17th century, a sailing vessel crossing the Pacific was battered and broken by a fierce typhoon. The one and only survivor managed to land upon a small, uninhabited island. He was able to do this by desperately clinging to a wooden beam from his ship. After much trouble and considerable effort, he built a crude hut where he placed all the belongings that had washed ashore from the sinking ship. Each day, he prayed to God for deliverance, and he continually scanned the ocean horizon to hail any ships that might pass by. One day, upon returning from a search for food, he was horrified to find his hut in flames. Everything he had was gone. Feeling that things could get no worse, the man looked toward heaven and cursed God. About three hours later, however, a ship arrived, and the captain said, "We saw your smoke signal."

God helps us many times in the most unexpected way... sometimes, in the midst of despair it is hard for us to see what He is doing... yet, He is always there... There are several things that we can do during these times....

... In times of despair, ask God to give hope.
... In times of darkness, ask God to pierce that darkness with light.
... In times of weakness and fear, ask God for enough courage
to take the next step.
... In times of confusion, ask God for clarity of mind.
... In times of pain and torment, ask God for peace.

God is our hope, our strength, our protector...

A New Day

Are you ever glad to close your eyes on a day and say, "Thank goodness, that's over"?

Do you ever wake up and say, "Didn't I just do this yesterday?"

Sometimes...I wake up tired. I get frustrated when things don't work the way I want them to. I get anxious and worried about things I don't have any control over. Sometimes, I feel lonely and insecure. When I'm already discouraged...and I focus on myself....all I can see are the things I don't like about myself or others, my short-comings or my failures. It's a dangerous path to get lost on.

My heart begins to doubt that God is who He says He is. I think my life is hopeless and God can never use me. I forget what I know is true and I miss the opportunity to see and experience God working in my heart and life and His wonderful ability to change something not beautiful into beautiful.

Sister.....if you are feeling down today....take inventory of the thoughts in your mind. Write them down. Throw out all the ones that are not true and that don't line up with the Word of God. Soak your weary heart and mind in the refreshing and life giving words of God's truth. Go to another sister that you trust and ask her to pray for you and help you sift the truth from the lies.

This is a new day. God has made it fresh. You may still feel a little bit of the winter blues....

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

His mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

Lamentation 3:21-23

He Knows

Exodus 2:23-24 “During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.

And God heard their groaning,

and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.

God saw the people of Israel -

and God knew.”

Sometimes life is too hard, and like the people of Israel, we groan under the burden and cry out for help. Our cries for rescue go up to God. And quite simply, God has not changed.

And he hears our groaning - He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cryand saves them. Psalm 145:19

And he remembers his promises - For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you… was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. 2 Corinthians 1:19-20

And he sees – The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. Psalm 34:15

And he knows - For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

He hears you, his promises to you are always Yes in Jesus Christ – amazing! always Yes!, he sees you and he knows.

He knows about your pain.

He knows about your uncertainty.

He knows the desires of your heart.

He knows what gives you meaning.

He knows the things that give you joy and delight.

He knows how to rescue you.

He knows what he’s going to do.

He knows.

He knows.

Sunflowers

My favourite flowers are sunflowers. I remember driving in the Prairies when I was sixteen years old and falling in love with sunflowers for the first time in my life. It amazed me how fields and fields of sunflower heads would all be facing the same way. I couldn’t understand that complexity yet was captured by the bright color and uniformity of the fields. Yellow is not a my favourite color at all but there’s something about these flowers that just light me up.

I wondered why the sunflowers all faced the same way. I looked it up on the internet and it says that only while the sunflowers are in the bud stage do they follow the sun. This is called heliotropism. At sunrise, the faces of most sunflowers are turned towards the east. Over the course of the day, they follow the sun from east to west, while at night they return to an eastward orientation. This motion is performed by motor cells in the flexible segment of the stem, just below the bud. As the bud stage ends, the stem stiffens and the blooming stage is reached. Sunflowers in the blooming stage are not heliotropic anymore, meaning they won’t follow the sun. The stem has frozen, typically in an eastward orientation. The stem and leaves lose their green color.

I went to a memorial service on Friday and there were roses everywhere that represented the love the gentleman had for roses he tended. I thought about my own life and if that were me in the coffin what I would want those around me to be surrounded with. Sunflowers being my favourite flower, I would want to have them everywhere so those coming and hearing why I love sunflowers could be ministered to.

Every time I think about the sunflower I think about Christians and how we need to keep our eyes on Jesus. Sunflowers follow the sun…. we as Christians should follow THE SON. How easy our lives would be if we kept our eyes and hearts turned to where they are supposed to be for daily growth. For the sunflowers, once it reaches the bud stage, the stem stiffens and it doesn’t follow the sun any longer. I know that I can do this in my Christian walk where I get comfortable and don’t think I have any more growing to do so I allow my “stem” to stiffen and not follow THE SON and trust him to replenish and sustain me. I get caught up in a rut or a disappointing time in my life and can’t seem to find my way out to being a light once again… or more importantly, see the light.

As I stood at the graveside on Friday, I thought hard about my own life and my choice of sunflowers to represent my life. I want to be a person that daily seeks God and trusts Him and Him alone for my sustenance. I want my life to represent my walk as I stand with other Christians like the sunflowers in these fields…. Standing together facing THE SON … so we can have our seeds harvested. We use sunflower seeds for so many different sources of food in our life and I want to grow as a Christian so that when I have my seeds fall that they can be a source of spiritual food and life for others. I want my life to make a difference. It’s not going to happen if I just get to the bud stage and allow the stem to stiffen and die. My prayer is that those around me see where I turn my eyes and heart to and see me walk in it.

God says in Isaiah 45:22: "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other."

A song I am reminded of when I reflect on what I wrote:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.

(To hear a beautiful rendition of this song click on the link below to see a youtube video singing this song. This woman from Hillsongs has such an amazing voice!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2nCYklL_O8 )

Look to THE SON... not the sun.

I'm in Love!

My bladder woke me up last night. When I crawled back into bed I was marveling at how things have changed in my life. Not anything to do with my bladder, but that I wake up talking to God, go to sleep talking to God, and spend my days with my thoughts in communion with God.

It hasn't always been like this. Probably around 12 years ago, when both my husband and my girlfriend would say they talk to God all the time, I didn't get that at all. How was that even possible? For me, if I remembered to "do my devotions" I would think about God. Many times I wouldn't even think to carve out that time in my day to focus on God and therefore, wouldn't even think about Him...for days. So, this concept of talking to God all the time didn't compute.

This was my experience even though early in my life I had known that God loved me, and by faith had received God's gift of love and forgiveness through Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. I had devoted my life to follow Him and walk in love and obedience... and was walking on that journey. But talking to God all the time - being mindful of Him throughout my day? Hmmm...that simply was not my reality.

As I pondered this, I wondered how this change came about. Like, how could there be such a change without any effort on my part or anything that I could pin-point and say "these are the 7 steps to intimacy with God." I had no answer.

So, I asked God. And He responded, "You're in love!"

I'm in love! Yes...that's it! And as I lay in my bed I basked in that love as I have so many times. Just felt it envelope me like the blankets around me. I'm in love... I'm in love.

A line from a song we sing in church has been in my heart and mind for months now. "I am loved by the King, and it makes my heart want to sing." And I sing, and I smile, and I know it's true.

You know why I'm in love? Because I KNOW that God loves me. It's not simply a statement, fact, or a plaque - GOD LOVES YOU. It's knowing God LOVES me.

This knowing the love of God has been a definite theme with me lately. It's been the prayer for myself, my family, the women with whom I serve, and the women we interact with. It's our prayer for you, the women (and men) who join us at Soul Kitchen.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:16-19

To my writer sisters: Child of God, Satisfied, Sweet Freedom, Pilgrim's Heart

This is what I see in you. You're in love! This is what I hear as you write. I sometimes can almost hear you breathlessly saying the words that you write. It's because you're in love with Jesus. The words you write aren't idle words - you're not trying to say something smart or spiritual. You love Him and His words are life to you.

Thank you for loving Jesus. Thank you for sharing that passionate love and committment with me and all of us who read this blog. May we together grow in really knowing the love that God has for us. May we know it so well that the doubts are gone...so there's no more trying to figure it out, "he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me..." We simply and fully know that when the last petal is plucked from the daisy, it's He loves me! In fact, every petal of every flower and all of creation declares, "He loves me!" May we so fully know it and may we so totally love him back.

It's something I see everyday...

... and it reminds me that when I go my own way.... I will... face the consequences. 

Several years ago, when I was a bit more adventurous and had a lot more energy... I went canoeing with my husband and a couple of other friends.  My husband loved canoeing and he really wanted me to go even though I was recovering from a cold and virus.  "All you have to do is sit in the canoe, and I will do the rest,"  he said.  

We were canoeing down the river and having a great time when the wind started blowing.  We could see dark clouds forming in the distance... and knew a storm was coming.  We were in Columbia, South Carolina and knew the dangers of a sudden storm.  It was usually accompanied with thunder and lightening.  As we watched the clouds gathering around us, we knew we had to get out of the water as quickly as possible.  It was  not safe to find shelter under a tree during a lightening storm and we were surrounded by trees, yet, we definitely had to get out of the water.  The only thing to do was to portage our canoe upstream , through the swift current from which we came.   Hopefully, we would be able to reach our car before the storm reached us.

My husband insisted that I stay in the canoe and they would all push it upstream.  As I watched him and my friends,  struggle against the wind,  I decided that,  I... was a burden to them and demanded they let me out of the canoe to help.  My husband, being the protector that he is, tried to convince me that it was too dangerous for me... but, I would not listen.  I got out of the canoe anyway,  and started pushing.  I realized that the canoe really wasn't that heavy... it was the force of the wind and swift current that kept me struggling to move forward.  Still, I was determined not to let them know that I regretted getting out of the canoe, and if they could do it... I could do it. However, it was exhausting and took every ounce of energy that I had, though, I would not admit my weakness.

When we finally reached our destination and I could see the car,  "I was patting myself on the back.  I knew I could do it!"   We could only see the car, though, and the wind was blowing even stronger.  The current of the water kept trying to pull us away from the shoreline.  Eventually, little by little and step by step, I prodded my way through the water until I was able to emerge from being waist deep to ankle deep.  Just a few more feet... we were almost there.  That's when I blacked out and fell face down in the water, hitting my shin over a sharp rock.  I was so weak, I couldn't even stand.

My husband lifted me into his arms and carried me to the car.  He must have been extremely weak too,  yet with every ounce of energy he had left, "he carried me."  He bandaged the gash on my leg and applied first aid.  Five days later, I was still in a lot of pain with my leg and it was not getting better, it was getting  worse.  My underlying fear had come true... after seeing a doctor,  he told me it was indeed, infected.  

My husband knew when we left on the canoe trip what was best for me. "Just come along for the ride and I will take care of you."  But I insisted, or was determined to do things my way Because I wouldn't listen, I wound up with weeks of pain and a scar that I can see 30 years later.  

I have other scars too... the ones left from not listening to God ... demanding my own way.  We all carry those scars...  Isaiah 53:6 says;

"We all like sheep, have gone astray,

 each of us has turned to his own way;

 and the Lord has laid on him

 the iniquity of us all."

And, if we stop and listen, we can hear His words in Isaiah 30:20-21;

"Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity

  and the water of affliction,

  your teachers will be hidden no more;

  with your own eyes you will see them.

  Whether you turn to the right or to the left,

  your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying,

  This is the way, walk in it."

"This is the way, walk in it."

May you walk in faith and love today as you listens to God's  voice of truth...