The Beauty of Redemption

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There is Hope

"In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life." James 1:21 The Message


What a beautiful vision of God’s love for us: that he would take the barren, dark, desert landscape of our lives and turn them into lush gardens of beauty, and wholeness. Lives filled with light and life. This is what God does: He creates.

I know that there are places in my life that still need a remodel, a do-over so to speak. That is why what God does is so amazing. He makes all things new.

My hard, lonely, and dying heart can be made whole. That is the beauty of Jesus.

He has loved us from the beginning and He pursues us even now.

Watch this video and hear the message: God is calling you….

The Truth of the Matter

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Stand

There will be moments as you pursue the call of God on your life you will face discouragement. When you will feel battered and bruised. It is hard to face everyday life when you feel this way, much less a full scale battle against the enemy. 

Sometimes when we feel like we have reached the end of us, and our know-how, we do not know where to turn. We have stood for as long as we have known how. Now, how do we go on? 

You will need hope. 

I have been there more times than I care to recount. I have doubted my calling, I have doubted my talent, I have doubted my purpose. I have wondered if what I do matters, or reaches anyone. I have doubted I have what it takes to fulfill the dreams God has placed in me. This is the enemy. He is a liar. 

Doubt is this: actively listening to the lies of the devil rather than standing on the promises of God. Listening to these lies keeps us held back from fully engaging in God's plan for us. We get weighed down in the doubt and do not fully trust the Lord. We need to shake off the lies and begin to grab a hold of what God says so we can be what He has called us to be. 

The Bible has stuff to say about doubt, but I rather talk about the tools God gives us to withstand the assaults of lies that cause doubt in the first place: the armor of God. 

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."  Ephesians 6:10-18

We cannot do this life on our own. We are too weak. God wants us to find our strength in Him. His grace is sufficient for our every need. 

Faith is the opposite of doubt. But blind faith will not last. Your faith must be rooted in something. It must be attached at a centralized location: like the belt of truth. 

The Truth 

The Bible says without knowledge my people parish. It also says "you shall KNOW the truth and the truth shall set you free". Since faith comes by hearing the word of God (the Truth) we need to get the words of God into us. 

There is so much freedom in knowing what God says about any given situation or circumstance. He is the ultimate authority and when we know what He has to say about something, we can fully trust and believe. When we know the truth of a matter, we recognize lies for what they are, and we do not get snared by the little traps those lies set up in our lives. 

When I was feeling conflicted over something this weekend I wrote a small note about who my God is and what He says/does about/for me. I started off thanking Him for who He is and all He has done. Then I began to remind myself of what the word of God says about me. This is what I wrote: 

"Thank the Lord for His mercy, His kindnesses, and His grace. Thank the Lord for His freedom, His love and His never ending song He sings over us. My heart is full of His love. I am in awe. His wonders fill my sight and His lullaby fills my night. My Father loves, like none before. He loves beyond measure. Come, let us adore Him. Let us bow and kneel before our God. Our Maker. The Maker of Heaven, the maker of hell. The Mighty God who stretched forth His hand and when I turned to Him He breathed new life and spoke new life into me. I am alive in Him. My freedom's song is I belong. I belong, I belong, I belong to HIM!

Oh Lord you are faithful. Your mercies are new everyday. You O Lord are my rock and my firm foundation. On you I will stand. I will not look to myself, for I am nothing. In man I know I cannot rely. On you I lean all my understanding, to you I run and find shelter and under your wings I am free from the storm. You are my peace, my rock, and my strong tower. Salvation comes from the Lord. You are endless, your ways are perfect. You will keep me from harm and my feet will not stumble in your Way. I am full. I am well. I am free. I belong! Thank you Lord that you are my Father. You are my song. You are my everything. To you I belong." 

This note is based on many scriptures I have memorized over the years. I basically quoted the truth to myself to build my faith and remind me of whose child I am. This is girding my loins (innermost being) with the belt of truth. This reminds me who I am: what I was made for: fellowship with my Father. I belong to Him. 

By reminding myself of the truth, I am more deeply rooted in my faith. I am shoring up the foundation of who I am in Christ. Now the storms of life can come and I will not be moved. Now the devils lies will be recognized for what they are, because I am firmly rooted in Christ's truth. 

Like the song says "On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand." 

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Have You Lost Hope?

My daughter had given up hope. 

She had learned in the last few years just how financially strapped we had become and thought to herself "there is no way I will get a Kindle for my birthday".  We had said no when she asked. We knew we couldn't afford one. I had one that was a few years old, but next to my kids, my phone and my Kindle were my most prized possessions.

Then, I decided, that giving my daughter hope again was more important than a thing. I cleaned the Kindle up, a friend bought a skin, we put it back in the original packaging (my husband obsesses about keeping the boxes of everything!) and wrapped it up.

The look on her face was amazing.

"Are you for real?" was the first thing she asked.

We were and in that instant, her hope was restored.

What the Bible Says 

Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.   Proverbs 13:12 (KJV)

If you have lost hope, you are in a dangerous place. Lack of hope is disheartening. It will cause you to doubt, and make you vulnerable to despair. 

Lamentations, (the book of mourning) tells us this: no matter how bad the circumstance, there is always reason to hold onto hope. 

Lamentations 3:20-22  (MSG) 

I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,

the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed.I remember it all—oh, how well I remember— the feeling of hitting the bottom.But there's one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:God's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up.They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness!I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over). He's all I've got left.

Now my daughter's circumstances were not all that dire. She has a roof over her head, two parents that love her, friends, and so much more. Maybe she even has things you don't have. Your circumstances may be mounting up and crowding in on you. You may feel overwhelmed and without recourse or hope. 

Do not give up!  

God's mercy is new today! Just for you. 

Job lost everything. Every piece of livestock, every acre of land, his house, and every child. All of them were gone. He had reason to despair. He had reason to give up. Then he became ill. So ill his friends and wife were baffled by it all. Job was a righteous man. He had done good things all his life, including loving and serving God. Why did these horrible things happen? 

Because he was afraid they would, and the enemy hit Job in his most vulnerable area- his family. His friends questioned him. His wife begged him to curse God and die. To her, nothing could have been worse. She had lost hope. But not Job. 

Job had hope that the God who he had served so faithfully all his life, (the one who had kept and blessed him all those years) would again save him. 

"Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" 

Hope brings us alive. When we dream of the future, hope bubbles up like a fountain of life. When I think of the things God has done for me in the past, I know my future is  brighter than anything I could actually dream up. I have hope. 

What gives you hope? 

Sunday Reflections March 04, 2012

Well, this week has seen a few changes to the page, and maybe in me a little too. I hope the overall tweeking I have done to the content has not scared you away. There will be more Bible Study, but I am "discovering my voice" as a writer (thanks Jeff Goins) and I never know what is going to come of that. 


This week I feel like there were so many things different that I am almost a little embarrassed to talk about them. For one thing, I was extremely personal this week. First I shared my prayer for this blog. Then to give you a little something extra I added a post on the Names of God where we examined who God is. 


Then we looked at God's love manifested through Dream's and Plans. I know this is something that God has been showing me on a very personal level, so I cannot seem to do anything BUT share it. Then to make up for being so personal, I wanted to do a character study on Mary and Martha and still somehow, that boiled down to God completing His plans in us. Told you it was on my mind. 


Now we get to the REALLY different. This Writer's Manifesto was actually going to be just a writing exercise for me but after I was done I really felt like there was some truth there for anyone, and felt compelled to share it. It also was a declaration of what I am, what God has made me, how He is using me and it built me up in ways I did not expect. This blog is named "A Year in the Spiritual Life" and as of tomorrow I will have written this blog for only two months. (I know it seems longer....sorry bout that) In that two months there has been so much growth in me, and changes, internally and outwardly. I am so stoked to see what God will do next. 


Now, as I mentioned before, this week has been different, and this post: The Gardener and the Sapling  was perhaps one of the biggest differences there has been so far. This short story, or modern parable, was actually based on a story I first made up when I was only 15 for my little brother, Aaron, who was four at the time. I have always loved it, as he did when he was small, and when I was completely blocked on what to write, this was the only thing that dropped in my spirit. Since I had never written it down before, I was concerned it may not turn out well, but overall, I think it was pretty good. The scary thing for me was hitting the publish button and sharing it with you guys, because it is such a personal story for me. 


Weirder still was yesterday's post Psalms 151- My song. First of all, you may not realize this, but there are only 150 chapters in the book of Psalms. I was attempting to be cheeky with the title but I am not sure if anyone got my sense of humor... it is a little wacky I know. This was a new song I felt God was giving to me and I wanted to share it with you. This new song was something that I wrote, re-wrote, and one day, may re-write again, because I always want to reach for better, though perfection this side of Heaven is impossible. The sentiment in the song comes from my desire to do all I can to express my love for my Father and worship Him in all the ways He deserves. But I am no dancer, and I am not a great singer. It is a good thing God sees the thoughts and intentions of the heart, because there,  in the deepness of my heart and the loony places in my head I dance like Melanie Moore or Sasha Mallory of So You Think You Can Dance fame. 


This week also saw five more countries visiting the blog, bringing the total to 54. They are Barbados, Indonesia, Syria, Lebanon, Brunei Darussalam, and Argentina. Welcome to the readers in those countries and hope that they are blessed by what they find here, though I am not sure how well my humor translates to all these different languages. I am not sure it translates in English most of the time. 


This week did open up some wonderful opportunities and soon I will be writing a guest blog on http://www.alanknox.net/. That will be coming on March 19 as it stands now and I am very excited about it. I will of course link that for all of you when it happens. 


So that is the week, like I said, I feel a little awkward about it, because it is all so new and different than I thought this blog was supposed to be. This is a stretching time for me, so when you think of me, please pray: I need it. I am always praying for you. 


Be blessed and be a blessing and remember that stretch is a verb. 

Psalms 151- My song.

Arise! Arise!

                In Jesus, Arise!

Dance! Dance!

                In Jesus, Dance!

Sing! Sing!

                In Jesus, Sing!

Do not be moved

Do not be swayed

Our foundation firm

Our debt is paid

Arise! Arise!

                In Jesus, Arise!

Dance! Dance! 

                In Jesus, Dance!

Sing! Sing!

                In Jesus, Sing!

There is hope

There is freedom

When a child is

In His Kingdom

Arise! Arise!

                In Jesus, Arise!

Dance! Dance!

                In Jesus, Dance!

Sing! Sing!

                In Jesus Sing!

For we are bought with a price

God’s only son, the sacrifice

Lift Holy hands to His name

Sing to Him and Proclaim

He is worthy

He is Holy

Father, Savior, King

Arise! Arise!

                In Jesus, Arise!

Dance! Dance!

                In Jesus, Dance!

Sing! Sing!

                In Jesus Sing!

I am no dancer, but before my God I dance. 

I am no singer, but before my King I sing!

In the morning my song will rise,

At noon my feet are lithe.

My father sees me and is pleased.

I am no great orator, but before my King I plead. 

I am no artist, but before my Master I am clay.

In the evening I cry to my Father

In the night I rest in His presence

My Father holds me and I am safe.

Arise! Arise!

                In Jesus, Arise!

Dance! Dance!

                In Jesus, Dance!

Sing! Sing!

                In Jesus Sing!

Ministry Highlight - BIG LOVE!

We have all at one time or another asked the fateful question Why me? Well, why not you? The word says it rains on the just and the unjust.  None know this better than the families fighting cancer, especially when the battle is for the life of a little one.  Jesus said that children have a special place in the kingdom and he took special care to pay attention to them. He also said we are to minister to those who are in need, hurting, and that is exactly what Big Love Cancer Care does!

The whole family is affected when there is a diagnosis of cancer for a child. Everything from family dynamics to finances changes. Big Love provides services like phone cards, parking cards, toiletries, groceries, prayers, and foremost love and understanding for parents who are stuck in the hospital with their children while the kids undergo treatment.

I began this blog in part to highlight ministries that I believe in. I give to this ministry myself through my offerings at my home church, but I want to encourage you, please give. As little as $11 can pay for parking for a day: $20 can provide meals for a family. God gives seed to the sower. I believe that there is a reason you are reading this.

2 Corinthians 9:8-11 The Message (MSG) says: 8-11 God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it, He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out. This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.

I stand on this scripture. I know that this blog is seed, and as I sow into you, won’t you in turn sow into Big Love? Now abides faith, hope, and LOVE, but the greatest of these is LOVE. (I Corinthians 13:13)

Be blessed and BE A BLESSING! Love is a verb!