Leftovers Tuesday

Tonite we had leftover pot roast for dinner. It was the kind of dinner that you keep eating because you think the next bite will taste a little better, a little more like what you remembered having a few nights ago...but it never gets quite that good. In the end you are satisfied, but not really. At least you are full. I think sometimes I can veiw my relationship with God the same way. Shame on me, I will experience the joy of a particular emotionally high time with the Lord, then I coast on that until it is the same feeling as Tuesday leftover dinner. I am not realizing that with God, it is always a feast! I mean, sure there are times in my life when I "feel" really close to God. But I am always His child. I will have the gift of salvation for all eternity, which in itself should spice up any old pot roast quiet time I can have. May I not walk in a manner unworthy of the calling I have received! Lord, teach me to love (all of) Your ways. Remind me that my joy is in my salvation, not my possession, and certainly not my circumstance. You are good to me all of my days, I am bound to eat at Your table for all eternity. What more could I ask?

Johnmark Tree Climbing (With a Chainsaw strapped to him, he's very proud of this)

 

Johnmark and Tabby Fishing

 

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart

Today is my honey's 26th birthday. In light of the fact that he wants nothing remotely resembling a party, I will have to use my blog for the birthday "love gush". :-) You can always stop reading if it gets too gushy. :-)

I have been married to this man for almost *gasp four years now. I have known him closer to six. I still wonder sometimes what God was thinking by giving me such a gift in my husband. He got kind of a raw deal, while I walked away with a precious jewel from the Lord. My husband has been through a greal deal in his life; he is the oldest of ten children, which means a lot of responsibility to be a good example and a great servant. He has excelled as both. He is a strong, yet gentle leader. He does not fear change or heavily weighted situations (though I do). I am amazed by his patience, his steady vision, and his integrity even in the middle of intense challenge. He has also had "misfortunes" in his life. I say it that way because I don't think he would call them that. From breaking his back to rolling a farm tractor onto himself to crashing cars over the sides of mountains to hospitalizing eye injuries to house burnings, God has chosen to repeatedly test my husband in the fire. And by God's grace and power, he continues to come forth as gold. I cannot express the gratitude to God that I feel when I look into Johnmark's eyes. What amazing grace! If you read this post today, I would ask that you think of a way to encourage my husband. If you know him, please give him a call or send him an email expressing God's grace in his life. If you do not know him, please take a few moments to pray for him today. That would be the greatest birthday gift I could give him, the prayers of the saints. :-) Happy birthday, sweetheart!

Discipline

This past Sunday, I really felt impressed by God with the following sentence: "Do not trade in the Disciplines of the Spirit for the Gifts of the Spirit." Our church, you see, is doing a lengthy study on the Spiritual Gifts, what they are, what they are for, which ones who has, etc. As I sense in my heart a desire to have these gifts and to walk in them, I know my temptation will be to less faithfully pursue spiritual disciplines, such as meditation and reading of Scripture, prayer, and the pursuit of holy living. After all, who wants discipline when there's presents laying around? Of course, God in His kindness has not left my heart in such a lazy selfish state. The power of Spiritual gifts is validated by one who is living in accordance with the Spirit of God. Or, as it says in Corinthians,

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing."

I Corinthians 13:1-3

The love that I mean here is not merely a love of others, although that is important. I believe the primary love to which this passage is refering is a love of Other, as in God. From a love for God would flow a love of all others before self, and in particular a love for the saints and the local church. But I do not want to be blinded and miss that a love of God, of Christ, and of the Spirit supercedes all of these things. God says in His word, "If you love me, you will obey my commands." Seeking Him, reading the Word of God, and pursuing the mind of Christ are all necessary for Spiritual gifts to be most effective. I know that God can work through broken cisterns, but how much better to use a vessel set aside for His purpose. May the Lord draw my heart even more to Spiritual disciplines as I "eagerly desire the Spiritual gifts"!

March? What happened to February?

Okay, I know it's been shamefully long since my last post. I am at a place now where I feel like so much has happened that nothing has and there's nothing to say. My kids have been sick for one thing. I have the ever-looming talk on Titus 2, and then there's regular daily life...it's warming up and I have been piddling some in my garden. My peas and turnips are just peeking out of the ground. The daffodils are blooming, along with my pear tree...which in the words of my friend Kim, "makes me feel like I'm way behind". I have a library book that is now a month overdue. Yipe! But I'm STILL not finished with it yet. I hope they don't send the library police after me. My brother-in-law got married last Saturday and my little girl and I were both a part of the ceremony. Johnmark's birthday is 12 days away. And so you see that so much has happened I can't really capture in a post. I will just have to move on. Two things on my mind today...let's see if I can get to them both. First, I wanted to share about one of my favorite times of prayer that I look forward to each week with total expectancy. At 9:00 on each Sunday morning (one hour before the service starts) a handful of us arrive to pray over the service. It is amazing how God moves during that time WITHOUT fail each week. Would that our entire church came to just one of these times to see and be blessed by the power of God. If you have something like this available to you on Sundays, please take advantage. There's no fuel for faith like the heartfelt, desperate prayers of some hungry believers on a Sunday morning. Ok ok, so what does this time look like, you ask? Well, a gentleman in our church sort of "leads" the time. I say this loosely because truly the Spirit of God leads it. Andy brings a passage of Scripture that the Lord has laid on him, or he may mention specific needs the pastor has requested us to pray about (e.g. faith for boldness, sensitivity, physical strength if he hasn't slept well) or sometimes we just pray. We bow our heads and cry out to God for his activity in our midst. We ask for vision, power, anointing of the leaders, sincerity in the worship, open hearts to the message, we pray for the congregation, both generally and naming specific names if the Spirit leads. We pray for visitors to come, we pray for Spiritual gifts to be used freely and without fear of man. Whatever the Lord lays on our hearts, we pray. And here's the AMAZING thing. God answers us. I know it sounds so simple, but when you cry out for 7 visitors to come and exactly that many do, or if you ask for Johnny So-and-so to receive ministry, and he goes forward at the end, or if you pray that God would touch single people and speak encouragement specifically to them, and the pastor stops the service just to pray for single people (having no prior knowledge of your prayer) it is astounding, it is faith-building, and man it makes you want to pray some more. And it makes me want to pray outside of that setting, like when my child has made the same mess for the fourth time in five minutes, I remember God's faithfulness and ask him to bless me with just a little more patience. Or when I am about to care for someone in a difficult place and have no idea what to do, I pray for God to speak through me and the Spirit to use me to bless this person. Oh, it's so powerful what God can use prayer to accomplish. And I don't think I have time to post on this other thing, at least not today. :-) Keep prayin!