A Firm Grip

  We had been visiting Joel's folks at the farm.  I woke up and went downstairs to find his mom getting ready to cut our son Matt's hair.  I was not brave enough to say anything, but turned around and ran upstairs to get Joel.  He let his mom know she was not to cut our son's hair.  It was long, yes.....it was the 70's and Matt was sporting a thick mop of hair.  Lots of bangs!  We were very grateful for that hair just a few months later.

Joel, Beth, Matt, and myself were visiting friends in the Canadian bush that summer of 1973.  We had rented a tent camper and were spending a week at their Christian camp in the bush country.  It was a sunny day when we set out to explore, using canoes to paddle our way.  We stopped to eat our picnic lunch on a large rock area.  After eating, our son Matt, age 2, went to play by the water.  Suddenly he fell in and I ran as fast as I could to the water.  He had already disappeared, so I reached down into the water searching, and found his long hair.  I grabbed hold, pulling hard to get him to the surface.  I don't think I stopped shaking for the rest of the day.

Matt age 3

It seems that this lovely picnic sight, with the beautiful water and level rock surface was the top of what continued to be a cliff underneath where currents ran strong.  He was being pulled underneath into an area where we could not reach him when I grabbed him by that thick mop of hair.  How thankful we were that my wariness around water got me to Matt in record time....how grateful we were that Matt's thick blonde hair gave me something to grip when I wrestled with the current to bring him back to the surface and into my arms.  Only God.

A good analogy of how God cares for us, don't you think?  We believe we are in a good place and everything looks great, but there is danger hidden from us.....yet not from God.  He knows what is coming and He keeps His eye on us.  He has a "firm grip" on us as we read in the book of Isaiah.  Our Papa God, as a loving parent, watches over us, often rescuing us when necessary.

"Do not be afraid, neither be dismayed, 

for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Joshua 1:9  

"I'll give you strength.  I'll help you.  

I'll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you."

Isaiah 41:10

Absolute Surrender

It began last fall..........the verse showed up in my vision through social media and I wrote my first post about it in mid September.....

"The Lord your God will fight for you......just stay calm."  

Exodus 14:14

This verse had jumped out at me in the questions I pondered.  And then my intuitive daughter Bethany and her family gave us a wall hanging for Christmas that resonated another translation of it.

Thus began God's persistence in bringing His Words to my attention.  Over the past four months that verse has popped up often ~ I' m thinking at least 9 times counting the one from this week that has me putting pen to paper.  

God is making a point, and as much as I don't always like the message I need to embrace it.  Just be still.... you need only be still......and let me fight for you.  

This is difficult for me....being still.   When I was sofa bound I had no choice but to be still in a broken body.  When I was set free, I vowed to never be on the sofa again, so it can be emotionally challenging for me to be still and let go.  Echoes of the past make it hard.  And speaking of echoes of the past, the "be still"l takes me back to the six year old little girl who fought against the abuse to her body.  I would resist, striving to get away, but eventually the strength and size of the abuser would overpower me.  It left an imprint on my brain.  When I could no longer resist, I was still, and bad things happened.

In my mind I know these are lies now, and Sozo has released me from most of the trauma surrounding these seasons of my life.  I know that I don't have to always be the fighter, the resistor, the striver.  I know I am safe now, but at times the old way of survival rises from the grave.  And sometimes my urge to fight my own battles gets in the way of what God is doing.  Just saying............

In the past, when God has sent me the same verses over and over again from different sources, he wants my attention.  I confess many of those times were connected to God trying to tell me to rest in him....be quiet in Him.....be still in Him. It is what I now describe as "absolute surrender"......words came to me from God as I meditated with Him this morning.  Absolute surrender requires absolute trust.  

Can you relate?  We hear all the time we are to fight to win the race....even Paul tells us that in the battle.  But in truth we cannot do this alone.  I'm sure God is not done showing me what he wants me to grasp from this subject, but today I am holding on to the comforting words that HE is my defender and I can trust Him.  I can lean back in His arms as the "little girl" and be safe.  I can lean back into His arms as an adult and trust Him to fight for me.  I don't need to always be fighting my way out of disease or distress.  God wants me to let go of the old way of living and trust Him.  He wants us all to trust Him with our past, our present, our future.  We look to Him alone.

When we trust God, when we believe His promises, when we understand Jesus as our healer, protector, provider, friend, warrior......then we can let Him fight for us and be at rest about it.  It is not that we stop doing our part, but we learn to stop striving alone, and walk forward from a place of knowing we have the victory through Jesus!  We give Him absolute surrender knowing that He fights our battles and that no one can stop the Lord almighty!   

                             

   

I Cannot

While Joel and I were praying aloud over a situation yesterday, the words "I cannot by my own reason or strength" came into my mind and interrupted my prayer. What?  Where did that come from?

 

 I cannot by my own reason or strength

Those words are part of Martin Luther's explanation of the third article in the Apostles Creed.  I had to memorize it all in confirmation a gazillion years ago....well not that many , but close!  When our children went through Confirmation, they were also taught the Catechism, and I expect that is the last time I heard these words! ( For Lutherans, Confirmation is a time of study taking up to three years after which each person confirms their faith in their Lord and Savior.)

So, getting back to what interrupted my prayer~~I believe God brought those seven words to mind because of what I was praying about.  I had called a prayer ministry to ask for prayers concerning a health issue, and twice the woman I talked to shared words of knowledge with me that were powerful and a bit scary at the same time.   I felt unequipped and I am!   In response God gave me a gentle reminder.  And an invitation from the Holy Spirit.

I cannot by my own reason or strength.

God loves us so much He not only sent His son to shed his blood for our sins and for our diseases, but he sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within us.  The same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives within us to empower us, to comfort us, and to guide and strengthen us.  He is there when we come to realize that we cannot by our own reason or strength do what He has called us to do, live as He has called us to live.  Only through His strength are we equipped!

"I can do all things through Christ
who continually pours His strength into me."

Philippians 4:13

(paraphrased)

 

 

I am linking up with Spiritual Sundays today.

The Battlefield Of The Miind

Joyce Meyer has a great book she has written entitled "The Battlefield of the Mind" that I highly recommend.  Recently I watched her speak about this subject on early morning TV. It was just what I needed to hear!

Joyce shared that the first 15 minutes of the day are often the time Satan goes after our minds.  For me this is true.  When I wake up I find myself taking inventory of my aches and pains, and with Lyme Disease that can take awhile!  I will often find myself worrying too, ~worrying about my health, Joel's health, finances, the family, etc. etc. etc.  Oh dear!  I confess, worrying is second nature for me and I have to work at turning all those things spinning around in my mind over to Him.  I guess that is why Joyce's book resonates with me.

I am learning what helps change my mindset, and I hope you find it helpful for you too.

Giving Thanks and Praise:  Giving thanks to God for each day I wake up to see the morning is a gift, and giving thanks and praise helps me to put aside my worries.  Every time I start to think about something negative or the worry wheel starts spinning, I praise God instead.

Pray:  Lifting up my worries and aches and pains to the Lord and again thanking Him for the healing that is to come.

Remembering:  It is reassuring when we look back and remember what He has done for us in the past.  It is good to look back and remember the worries that never came to pass...or the trials that He guided us through, the victories we have had with the Lord's help.   Joshua built an altar to the Lord made of stones to always be a reminder to the people of God's goodness. I have a memory box to store mine.

Trusting:  When we give thanks, when we pray, and when we remember it affirms that we can trust our Lord with our today's and our tomorrows.  We know that He loves us and He is always with us. 

Reading and Speaking Scriptures aloud:  Yes, God's word is filled with messages and promises for each of us.  The Bible instructs us on how to keep our thoughts pure and on God and His goodness.  Speaking scriptures aloud keeps the Enemy at bay.  When we speak scriptures aloud, he cannot stick around. 

Giving Thanks...again!:  This brings us around full circle ~ we giving thanks, we pray, we remember, we trust, we speak and read His Word, and we know that with God all things are possible..including victory over the battlefield of our mind!

Stuck On The "I Can"

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Philippians 4:13

~~~

"I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me"

or paraphrased~

"I can do all things through Christ who continually pours His strength into me"

What I have learned about myself is that I often get stuck on the first few words of this well known verse.  "I can do all things"....and I tend to forget that what I can do is only possible if Christ continually pours HIS strength into me.

Recently I read about a woman with a debilitating chronic illness, who prayed and gave thanks for God's strength throughout her days.  If she was making breakfast she prayed for strength for that task.  While caring for her children she prayed for strength to do so.  Every single task took great effort and she had learned that without Christ's strength being continually poured into her she could not accomplish these things.  Without Christ's strength being renewed on a task to task basis, she was too weak to function as she needed to.  What an amazing testimony!

I believe that the "I can" attitude keeps us from giving and receiving some of God's greatest blessings!  We are not in this life alone. When we rely on Christ not only in our times of need, but every single day in every single way, we are able to be used more for HIS glory, and we become closer to Him.  We know without a doubt, that He loves us and we are blessed!

I can??

or

HE can!

All I Can Do Is Nothing?

"The Lord will fight for you, you need only be still."

Exodus 14:14

I was reading a post written by a friend today and one sentence she shared took on special meaning for me as she spoke about her chronic illness.   "All I can do is nothing".  Do you ever feel like that?  I know I do.  Sometimes we come to a place where we feel we can do absolutely nothing to change our circumstances, like when life has handed us a huge challenge, and we do all we can to fight the battle for as long as it takes, even becoming exhausted from our own efforts ~ But nothing changes.  So we try another tactic...hanging on with sheer determination and endurance.  But nothing changes.  We ask God for help in our cause.  But nothing changes.

There is nothing left to do..."All we can do is nothing",  so we let go, crumbling into a heap, weeping in sorrow and frustration, giving up the battle.  Surrender.  Surrender to our circumstances, surrender to our God who tells us in Exodus that there are times when all we need to do is be still and let the Lord fight our battle for us!   A place of acceptance like my friend spoke about.  A place of surrender.

I have been at this place many times over the years, but I have trouble staying there.  I rest, pick myself back up and spend all my energy trying to change my circumstances ~ thinking~ " I can do this!"  I search for answers, for cures, for ways to change my situation.  with sheer determination I plod forward.   I wonder how often I get in the way of what God wants for my life by not shifting my focus,  by not sitting still before God and hearing His voice and embracing peace in where I find myself. 

All I can do is nothing?  What does that mean?  Giving up?  Not hardly.  It means I let go of my plans,  my timing, my actions and reactions so I can be obedient to His.  It means sitting still before God and surrendering my will to His, living from a place of acceptance with hope.  It may seem like we are doing nothing..but we are really doing something...surrendering to the most powerful Someone in our lives. Letting Him fight our battles when we are weary.  Trusting in His love for me and His plan for my life.

Shelter In The Storm

"God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble.
 Therefore we will not fear,
though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the sea,
though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.
 The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our stronghold."

Psalm 46: 1-3, 7

Watching all the news coverage on the hurricane bearing down on the East Coast has had me remembering when we lived in the Philippine Islands during the late 70's.  Typhoon season was in the late fall through November, and the first year we were there we went through several typhoons in just a matter of weeks.  One was particularly strong, and although our home was safe during the storm,  we ended up living several days without electricity or tap water.  Even with the continual warnings of what was coming, we were not well prepared and our first Thanksgiving dinner there consisted of jello, chips, and luncheon meat! 

There have been many times in my life where I have not been prepared for the storms that have blown in.  God's word gives us ample warnings of what could lie ahead, and also tells us how to prepare, but I have not always taking the warnings seriously, or completely trusted God to shelter me and walk with me through the storms.  The result was often unnecessary hardship interwoven with worry, fear and anxiety. 

It is so important to fill our minds with God's promises, rejoice in all circumstances, and lean on Him to see us through all the challenges that come our way.  We do not always have time to prepare for life's storms like we do for a hurricane, but if we stay close to God at all times and let Him be our shelter, we will be ready to weather what comes our way.  Believing in God's promises, we will be prepared.

Stop over to visit Charlotte and Ginger at Spiritual Sundays to read inspirational posts or link up your own.

The Gift of Fragility

The gift of fragility~ I read these words in a devotional book by Sarah Young recently and found myself wanted to disagree.  How can fragility or weakness be a gift?  And who would want such a gift?!
Certainly no one wants to be weak or fragile, although we all are in some way or another.....so is it possible to look at our weaknesses as gifts?  It did not take me long to start to shift my mindset. Our weaknesses draw us closer to God when we learn we cannot do things on our own.  Our weaknesses keep us from becoming arrogant or from having the mindset that we can are doing just fine without God's help.  Our weaknesses bring us into a deep relationship with our Mountain-moving God.

Paul shared in 2 Corinthians 12 that he had asked God to remove the "thorn" he lived with 3 different times, but each time Jesus responded with, "My grace is sufficient for you.  My power works best in weakness."  Paul's weakness, his thorn, was never removed.  Instead God gave him the grace and strength to preach the good news, bringing the gospel to all he came in contact with in spite of his weakness.

God's power is within us, too, enabling us to live the life God has planned.  Paul spoke again in Ephesians 3 about God's power within us.  Ephesians 3: 16-19 says:

"Pray that from His glorious unlimited resources he will empower you

with inner strength through his Spirit. 

Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in him. 

Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. 

And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should,

how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is, 

May you experience the love of Christ thought it is great to understand fully. 

 Then you will be made complete

with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God."

The power comes from God's love for and in us.   Philippians 4:13 (paraphrased) speaks more on this subject of strength.

"I can do all things through Christ

who continually pours His strength into me."

Weakness~ fragility~ maybe it is a gift.  A gift that brings us closer to God and His abiding love for us.  A gift that lets God work in and through us to His glory.  A gift that is beyond our understanding, but makes us complete.....weaknesses and all.

Please stop over and visit Charlotte and Ginger at Spiritual Sundays to read more posts or link up your own. 
I am still unable to leave comments on several blogs..hope this gets resolved soon!

Hands Held

As I was reading my devotional book, "Jesus Calling", I was reminded of a chorus from a song we used to teach our Sunday School kids....

Put your hand in the hand of the man who stills the waters

Put your hand in the hand of the man who calms the seas

Take a look at yourself and you can see others differently

When you put your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee.

I really enjoy reading "Jesus Calling" because it is written as if Jesus were speaking directly to the reader.  I have found that it speaks so often to me with just what I need to hear, that I look forward to reading it each day!  Sarah Young's creation is a blessing from God.  One of my favorite devotionals talked about holding the hand of Jesus and the two of us walking forward through the day together.  I sat back the morning I read it, closed my eyes, and envisioned Jesus and I walking together holding hands.  It brought a smile to my heart and comfort and courage to my day.  Since that day, I try to remember to envision walking hand in had with my Lord.  His warm strong hand wrapped around mine. 

If you are in need of a bit of comfort or courage today, and if you can use an extra smile for your heart, remember.....put your hand in the hand of the Man of God who calms the sea...who stills the water.  Put your hand in the hand of our Lord who is here to help us!

"For I hold you by your right hand ~ I the Lord your God

And I say to you, Don't be afraid

I am here to help you."

Isaiah 41: 13

The You-And-I-Together Factor

This morning as my husband and I were having devotions, we read from Sarah Young's devotional, Jesus Calling.   One sentence stood out for me.  "It is this you-and-I-together factor that gives you confidence to face the day cheerfully."  Isn't that the truth!

Each day we wake up to another 24 hours to celebrate life.  Some days it just does not seem worth celebrating, other days our hearts burst with the joy of being alive.  The sun may be shining, or storms may be on the horizon.  At times the storms may be so loud and heavy over us that we wonder if they will ever end.  It is easy to feel we are alone.  Not so.  Whatever comes our way, we have the you-and-I (the I AM) together factor to get us through.

Yesterday I wrote an honest post about my journey the past few months.  It has been up and down physically and emotionally I have put myself through the gamut, choosing to worry, to focus on my circumstances, to try to get God to heal me my way and right now.  I am no longer in that dark place. I have come through the heavy depression I felt for the first time ever.  I am resting more in God's loving arms as I wake up each morning.  My resistance has turned to resting in Him.

One thing I am learning over and over is that I am not on my own.  Inviting Jesus into our thoughts as Jesus Calling says, gives us the best perspective.  What a precious gift that is ~ the you-and-I-together factor.

Continually Pouring

"I can do all things through Christ who continually pours His strength into me"

Philippians 4:13

(paraphrased)

This is one of my favorite verses, shared with me by one of my online friends.  I find great comfort in knowing that God is giving me His strength to do all things. 

Just what does the word continually mean?  Webster's Dictionary defines it as "going on without interruption...unbroken."  And to pour?  "To cause to flow in a continuous stream.....to flow freely."

What a powerful gift for us.  Christ's strength ~ His OWN strength flowing freely in a continuous stream without interruption into us, His children.  Unbroken flow. 

Oh, Lord, let us never take this for granted.  Let us never forget that when we feel weak and unable to keep moving forward, we are not alone on our journey. You have given us this precious promise ~ this amazing and powerful blessing.  Lord, having this knowledge, let us always call upon you and open our arms wide to receive your strength...continually...freely.   In Your name, Amen.


Please stop over to visit Ginger and Charlotte at Spiritual Sundays and read inspirational posts or link up your own.  www.bloggerspirit.blogspot.com