Relentless

One of the meanings of the word relentless is to be oppressively constant, incessant.  Synonyms for this word include persistent, lasting, unstoppable, 

There is an drug ad on TV that speaks about metastatic breast cancer being "relentless".  I have noticed it is the new j"buzz word" used by pharmaceutical companies.  The woman in the ad also speaks of being relentless in her treatment of the disease, but cancer can seem relentless.

The enemy, Satan, is also relentless in his pursuit to destroy God's children through disease, destruction, and the lies he whispers into the ears of those who love the Lord.  It can feel like an endless battle of good vs evil.  He is out to "kill, steal, and destroy".  The enemy is relentless.

I believe God is relentless in His love for His children.  He, too, pursues us, but He pursues us because of love.  He wants us to have a close relationship with Him.  He wants us to accept Jesus into our lives so we can live forever with Him.  God is relentless with His endless grace for us.  He continually welcomes us into His arms.  God is relentless!

We are asked to be relentless, too.  Relentless in our desire to love and serve our Lord.  Relentless in sharing that love God has for us with others.  Relentless in remembering that God so loved the world.  Relentless in standing firm in our faith!  Relentless in trusting our Jesus.  Relentless in prayer.  We, too, are required to be relentless. 

I am so grateful for a relentless God.  So grateful for His unfathomable love, His unending grace, His passion for His children.  God being relentless?  It is a good thing. 

Pitching Our Tent

It has been awhile.........Last week is a bit of a blur as I was hit hard with an intestinal flu that had me sleeping 12 hours at a time and bonding with my bed, only coming up for water and air.  What is up with that?  I was down for the count and it was not until yesterday that I felt at all normal.  Yay for normal.   This past week has had us contemplating winter.

We are in a winter season of our lives.  My health issues continue to come in rapid fire like a machine gun in the hands of the enemy.  We recently learned of the high radon we have been exposed to for the past 14 years.  It is sobering to say the least.  Our close friends have just started the greatest adventure of their lives as full time RV'ers and we are tossed by the waves of our loss and their rich blessings of a new future with Jesus at the wheel.  We were supposed to already be there to welcome them to Arizona this fall......and life intervened with breast cancer.  A shift for us that left us with a restless peace of sorts as we still call Iowa home. We just spent yet another holiday alone....family far from us and making their own memories.   Speaking of Jesus at the wheel, it seems God has clearly directed Joel (and me) to take a call as a part time Interim at two small churches south of Mason City.  It was not on our radar, nor our bucket list, but then God stepped in.  A story for another time.

We are weary of winter.

What sustains us in the winter seasons of our lives?  Hope.  Hope that comes from God's Word and His promises.  It carries us, encourages us, leads us.  Sometimes He just gives us a word.......one word that is manna for the day.  Sometimes He wakes us in the middle of the night to speak clearly.  Other times we sit is silence wrapped in His wings as we wait and believe tomorrow will be better.  Hope.  There is a verse that I found years ago in The Message.  It is found in  Acts 2: 25, 26.

"David said it all.
I saw God before me for all time.  

Nothing can shake me, He is right by my side.  

I'm glad from the inside out, ecstatic: 

  I have pitched my tent in the land of hope."

Pitch that tent in the land of hope.  Hammer the stakes in deep and climb inside.  Let it be His wings that enfold you.  Rest, weep, sing, or just breathe.  Hold on to the thread of hope...hope that may be light as a feather but also is able to carry us as we soar like eagles.  Winter will turn to Spring.

Havilah Cunnington spoke recently on the seasons of our lives.  She gave people 5 things to hold on to in the winter season.  1.  God will be faithful to you.  2.  God is fully aware of your season.  3.  God is all powerful in every season.  4.  God is working everything out for good....5.  Seasonal change will eventually come. 

Today is a good day for a miracle!  Doesn't that statement alone give you hope?  I'm all for that. There is hope that seasonal change is coming.  Hope that promises and prophecies will be fulfilled.  And always the hope of knowing the ultimate victory is ours. Hope is ours for the choosing.  Pitch your tent in the land of hope and rest in knowing God is faithful.  He is always faithful.

We Are The Storm

To use an old quote........March is coming in like a lion this year....I hope that means it will leave like a lamb!  We started yesterday with rain, then sleet, corn snow, and then snow with high winds adding to the mix.  All the snow that left with our 50 degree weekend weather, has been replaced by a few inches of the white stuff today. Ugh!  It is really pretty to look at the trees and bushes dressed in winter white, but still.....ugh!  Let winter be gone..........come Spring, come!

We also have birthdays that come in March.  Our daughter, our daughter-in-law,  and myself.  My birthday will be coming in like a lion for me ~~ 70.  Seriously.  When did I get that old?  And how?  Only by the grace of God.  To have a child close to 50 and finding myself facing my seventh decade is a bit sobering.

Recently we heard a story about a man who came to visit a place he used to work.  He drove up and got out of his car, a little unsteady on his feet.  He walked around inside the place he had worked in the 50's and reminisced about his life then.  People gathered to hear his story.  Someone offered to walk him back to his car, thinking this 80 plus year old guy may like having someone to lean on.  He said he would like the company and then shared how old he was.  He was 102 years old!  Still on the move! (And still driving?)

When I turned 60 it was a big deal for us.  Truth be told, not many people believed I would live to be 60.  Lyme was sucking the life right out of me.  And then healing came.  Joel keeps telling me we are going to live another 30 years.  I am not so sure I want to, but don't tell him that!  He has great plans for a long life, and we should have plans and dreams.  That is what keeps us going.  How old was Moses when he did his best work for God?  Over 80 I believe.  Yeah.......

I remember when I lost a college friend.  I had roomed with her our first year, and lived with her a couple weeks while working in Minneapolis.  Shortly after that she was killed in a car accident.  The same thing happened with another woman we knew from Bible college.  And another friend died in her early 30's from severe diabetes.  Cancer claimed a few others over the years.  So, I guess what I am saying is how blessed I am to celebrate 70.  Nearly 3 decades of Lyme, and three different kinds of cancer have not ended my life.  I. am. still. here.  So are you!  Life is worth celebrating!  Every minute of it.  So on the first day of Spring I will be dancing a happy dance and rejoicing at 70!

Sometimes it is hard to hang on to that when storms come into our lives.  Just like the snow storm we had yesterday, the winds blow, visibility is low, and there is nothing we can do but stay safe in our homes.  A storm of sickness, disease, or tragedy can do the same.......and we find there is nothing we can do but stay safe and secure in our Father's arms.   I found a wonderful image yesterday that gave me pause and helped remind me that when the enemy comes against us, and he will.......we need to remind him that we not only can stand strong in the storm with Jesus but that we ARE the storm!

Seventy is going to be an awesome year!  I'm so grateful to be here to celebrate and live it.  And if Satan whispers lies to me,  I will remind him that this soon-to-be-70 year old woman is the storm. Celebrate your life today.  You may be walking in divine health, you may be battling disease, or like so many laid up with a nasty winter virus that won't let go.  Wherever you find yourself, celebrate!  Sometimes life comes like this March ~ as a storm....but then the Lamb comes and we remember with Jesus we are the storm!  So grateful. 

Hold Your Peace

"The Lord will fight for you,

and you shall hold your peace

and remain at rest."

Exodus 14:14

(AMP)

Across the world in the country of Uganda a baby died last night.  A precious child of God who had so much of life before him.  Born broken into a broken world he was.  But not left behind, he was ushered into the home of a young missionary as one of her "gems" in The Gem Foundation that cares for children with special needs.  Those in their care are loved on 24/7.  They are given the best care by nurses and nannies day and night, and they know the Father's love through the serving hands and hearts of others.  With loving on others often comes pain and sorrow.  It is often the way of this broken world we live in.  And sorrow has come with the loss of this precious child. 

Sweet Emma is fulfilling her calling as a missionary, having been called by God at age 8 or younger....  Determined, she would pray every night, "Please God, let me be the one who gets to help the orphans in Uganda."  This did not come from mom and dad, she drew them in with her passion and has been taking mission trips there to, as she calls it, "my Uganda" since she was 13.  Now at age 21 she lives in the red dirt of Africa and is experiencing firsthand the joys and sorrows of her calling.  God has orchestrated His plan for The Gem Foundation, the home Emma and her staff maintain for the "undesirable" to be loved and cared for.  The enemy comes to kill steal, and destroy, but God  is in the midst of them and the work He has ordained is coming to pass.

Prayers were lifted and knees bent to ask God to restore Arthur's health. And Arthur died.  I will not share my thoughts nor the thoughts of others here on God's will for healing.  There are unanswered questions, but today is a time to lift up Emma and her staff, and grieve with hope.  The hope of knowing Arthur is with Jesus.  The vision God provided for me in the wee hours of the night as I prayed  was of a radiant toddler, holding on to the hand of Jesus while laughing.  I expect this is how we all will feel when we enter Heaven.  Welcomed by Jesus, we will be radiant, joyful, and at rest in His Presence.

There is great loss being felt today for this child who touched the hearts of so many in his  Gem home and around the world.  Lord have mercy.  Hold up your children as they hold on to Your peace knowing that for Arthur, suffering has been replaced by joy.  Emma, the staff, Linny and Dwight and the family grieve in hope.  We all grieve with hope and hold on to peace.  God is with us.  He will fight for us.  Remain at rest and hold your peace, friends.  Hold your peace.

Please pray for Emma, the staff and the other children at The Gem Foundation home in Kampala Uganda.  Please pray for the family of Emma and the directors of  International Voice of the Orphan, Linny and Dwight Saunders and their treasures. 

Come Away With Me To The Secret Place

Come away with me....

to a secret place. 

Rest in My loving arms.

Not only when you are fearing the moment,

but always.

Live your life from the Father's arms. 

These are the words I wrote last night as I expressed my thoughts on what I had been hearing and reading throughout the day, the past many days.  I read them aloud to Joel before bed, and we talking about how to live from that secret place....in the Father's arms instead of from the soul....the me part of us....the flesh part.

So when I saw the title of Bonnie's article over at Faith Barista, I knew God was speaking.  "The Beloved is Real:  Do You Have a Beautiful Secret Place?"  I opened her post and was overcome with the past,  as she talked about the secret place she had created for herself as a small child.  Bonnie has been sharing her journey of healing from PTSD and her traumatic childhood.  She is an amazing woman of God who has been using her own story to give voice and courage to so many on a similar path.  I am one. Each time I visit her cyber home I am changed.   

Today she spoke about how, as a child, she had created this special world in her mind, where she felt beautiful, safe, loved, and alone with Jesus.  She shared this with her therapist ~ this make believe world she felt she needed to let go of.  She was not a little girl anymore.  I was brought to a place of stillness by how her therapist responded. He replied,

“This is a beautiful place Jesus made just for you and Him.  It’s where He’s preserved you safe.”
“It’s the opposite, Bonnie,”  ”It’s time for you to make your outer world reflect you inner world — where you are completely loved.  Cherished."

How sacred these words given to her listening heart.  Precious jewels from Jesus spoken through a man of God.  I began weeping for Bonnie, but soon realized I was weeping for me too.  I could not help but reflect on my own childhood where deeply hidden memories surfaced and held me captive in PTS not too long ago.  For me inner healing has come over the passing of time with Sozo ministry, and this inner healing opened the door for more physical healing too. Only God.

Just the past ten days Holy Spirit has been working to bring more healing to the deeper, hidden places within.  I have been undone...there really is no other word for it....undone with the Father's love I have experienced.  I keep telling Joel, "This has purpose, this is powerful" as I make the effort to keep my heart open to His will and remind myself ..."less of me...more of Him". 

Today as I read Bonnie's post I thought about my own place of escape during my childhood when I believed I was invisible and all alone.  Immediately the apartment my mother and I lived in came to .mind and I vividly saw the secret place where I felt safe and happy .  The sofa was my bed, but there was a large closet with a window upstairs in my mom's bedroom that I called my own and I would go up there and sit.  When the sun came in the window in the afternoons it was a bright place and after school when the quiet was unsettling, I would climb the stairs to this special place and play with my dolls.  The seven dolls I spoke to were my companions and with them I did not feel alone.

Come away with me....

to a secret place. 

Rest in My loving arms.

Not only when you are fearing the moment,

but always.

Live your life from the Father's arms. 

 

As I continued to reflect on my secret place of so many decades ago I realized that it was created again within our own family.  We have seven children, like as a child I had my seven dolls. I never felt alone when our house was full of kids!  The loneliness deep inside was kept at bay with a full house.  But now the children are gone many years,  and it is not my hubby's job to be with me 24/7 although everyone we know would tell you that I would be thrilled if that were so. 

God has been telling me in His gentle but powerful way that I can let go of those lonely feelings that held little Renee captive because they are and always have been a lie.  I have never been alone.  Jesus has always been with me, keeping me safe, holding my hand when I was not, and filling my life with His Presence. I have been undone by His presence as He has been healing me of the deep places within.  "Ask and you shall receive".

 

Jesus says I am with you always.  He never leaves us.  Ever.  I stopped running from the silence years ago, but I did not let myself heal from the memories that came with it.  I did not know how....just toughen up, get over it, and all that, right?  But I had to stop believing the lies from so long ago that I was alone and I had to put out my hands to receive the truth that Jesus had for me today nearly 60 years later.  I have my secret place of intimacy with God every moment as I rest in His arms.  I can bask in the Son-shine that fills me~ heart and soul~ the way I basked in the sunshine filling that small room so long ago.  I am not alone in the secret place, the secret place which is in the Father's arms...moment by moment, day by day.  Always,

 

 



Come away with me....
to a secret place. 

Rest in My loving arms.

Not only when you are fearing the moment,

but always.

Live your life from the Father's arms.