Dancing with Max

I recently read "Dancing with Max" by Emily Colson and so enjoyed it. Max is her amazingly wonderful autistic son. I loved the response of their church to him. I loved her love and delight in him, and that she was real about how hard it is at times to raise him.
You will be blessed by reading this and it will help you in knowing better how to love and respond to special needs people in your life. It's also a reminder that we may see them as "special needs" but they are of great value and importance in our world.

Trusting in His providence

I found this statement on the blog Radical Womanhood. It's written to singles but relevent for all of us. The journey Tim and I have been on for 2 1/2 years has not been at all what we've exected. There have been very discouraging times, it often seems hopeless. We've chosen to keep trusting that God is at work and He is good, but it's easy to fall into Naomi thinking. I am so thankful that God is faithful and sovereign and I can put my trust in Him even when I can't see what He is doing. He is God and I am not.

"It’s all about trusting God’s good provision for our lives. Encourage single men and women to read Ruth. Not because it’s a matchmaking book (it’s really not), but because we all tend to be like Naomi. We survey our circumstances and think we know exactly what God is doing. . . or not doing. But we simply have no idea that he is doing more than we can ask or imagine. His quiet providence is on display everywhere and an eagerness to look for that and praise him for it cultivates gratitude. "

I'd also recommend "A Sweet and Bitter Providence," by John Piper. This book was a wonderful valentines gift from the love of my life.

I must! Really?

I have an addiction to on-line mahjong! Some people serf the web or watch then tube to waste time, I play mahjong. It's a time killer I know. When I play I can block out the world and I enjoy it. Harmless, right? Anything that is addictive isn't harmless. I've tried to not play, but I keep going back to this "harmless" time waster.
Today in reading Jeremiah I saw these words, spoken by the people of Judah when confronted with their idolatry, "It's no use. I love foreign gods and I must go after them." How foolish, how short sighted, how like me. "It's no use I love mahjong and I must play it."
To emphasize the message I was also in II Cor. where Paul was talking about dying to self and death, to self, being at work in him. I clearly saw that I am refusing in this area to die to myself, my "harmless" time waster.
I want to put God first and love Him above all else. If you think of me please pray that I will humble myself before Him and truly love Him enough to die to myself.

Let Your Heart Rejoice!

I've been memorizing Psalm 13:5-6 and trying to discipline myself to praise God for all things, especially my salvation and then I heard a song yesterday that was such a good reminder to me.
It's a song by Annie Herring, I don't know the name of it, but it's very simple and I've always loved it.

The words are:
Never let a day go by without letting your heart rejoice,
Never let a day go by without lifting up your voice.
To thank Him for the things He's done,
for giving us His precious Son.
Never let a day go by without letting your heart rejoice.

I had an "ah ha" moment when listening to it this time that my heart was made to rejoice in God and naturally wants to but I let life distract me and often get discouraged by the distractions. I need to free up my heart to rejoice as it was designed to do.

The hard part is what does that mean. I'm letting the Spirit talk to me about it and looking forward to what He is doing in my life through this nugget of truth.

Faith...

A few weeks ago we got an expected no on a job, but it was still a disappointment. We went out to celebrate God's sovereignty and goodness, but I have to admit after two years it's a bit harder to rejoice. As we were eating the Lord reminded me of the definition of faith from Hebrews 11.

"The assurance of things hoped from, the evidence of things not seen."

I felt He was reminding me that He is working and I must trust Him. I needed, and continue to need that reminder.

Thank you Lord, for being with us through this season, thank you for your faithfulness and goodness to us.

He is Holy

I've been in Leviticus and Deuteronomy lately and it does amaze me to see the importance of God's holiness and my lack of truly understanding it.

At the end of Leviticus 9 we see God devouring the offering with a great fire and the people falling down to worship Him. In the next chapter we have the story of Nadab and Abihu offering strange fire and dying because of it. This seems pretty intense. I rarely deal with such intensity before the Lord. I want to please Him, but often do "my own thing." Why doesn't He strike me dead for it, because of His grace and mercy. I am forgiven and stand before Him in Christ's righteousness, because of the blood of the cross.

I am glad that I am living in the church age, however, at this time I think we are a bit too casual in our relationship with our God. I wonder how different our lives would be if we saw such immediate judgement.

Pretend gods

The other day Sydney asked me if there are bad gods. I tried to explain to her about false gods, made in mans image and then I realized that she gets pretend better then the words I was using. She has a great imagination and often when we are doing something she will remind me that "it's just pretend." I explained to her that many people believe in pretend gods, only they don't understand that they are pretend. She got that and concluded that we believe in the true God.

I've been thinking about that lately, my Isaiah study is in some chapters that talk about idols. It helps to remember that they are pretend, and that most of ours today aren't statues but anything that replaces God in our lives or that we covet.

God points out the foolishness of making an idol out of wood that you also use for making a fire to cook with or warm yourself. He said to them, " you don't even know that what you hold in your right hand is a lie."

Children don't always differentiate between pretend and real, but as they get older the usually figure it out. Adults should get the difference, but in the case of idols, or whatever we covet, we don't always. We can be so foolish.

He is good!

Today I was reading in Matthew 6. Verses I've read so often about God providing for us and how valuable we are to Him.

These verses blessed me today by encouraging me with His love and care for us in a way they haven't before. We are in a place where we know how truly dependent we are on Him to provide--a job, food, the roof over our heads. He has been so faithful through this process, but it has been a long time and we are weary of it.

I have been battling anxiety and He has been faithful to give me peace when I go to Him with it.

We are eating a lot more soup now and truly thankful to Him for all we have. We've always said we were but when you have a paycheck coming in you tend to not understand your dependence as much.

God has provided through His people and even a food bank. It is humbling to go to one, but it also gives us an intimate understanding of where many today are. We can be satisfied in Him even when we are on the other end of giving.

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. This satisfaction doesn't depend on circumstances, it only depends on His goodness, and He is good!

God has a plan

Recently I read a book my sister gave to my husband, "The Sherlockian" by Graham Moore.
The book is a creative work that tells a present day story of solving a mystery by using Sherlock Holmes methods and a mystery from the time of Sir Arthur Conon Doyle, using Holmes methods to solve it. The book was interesting and well written, however the blessing in it was on page 149, of my copy at least.
Doyle is frustrated by the lack of progress and realizes that that is how his readers feel in the middle of his books. He makes a statement which coming from an author seems to be to be a bit proud and presumptuous, however I felt the Lord telling me this is for me from Him.

I am going to take care of you. I know it seems impossible now, but it will all work out. You cannot see where I'm going, but I can, and it will delight you in the end. Trust Me.

This is an encouragement I need at this stage or our journey. As I've continually been reminded this year in studying Isaiah, God has a plan, He is working it out and it is good (although sometimes the goodness of it is mystery).

Friends

I got a new book that I am enjoying. "Sparkling Gems from the Greek" by Rick Renner.
Today's verse was Eph. 1:16, I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you always in my prayers.
He asks a few questions at the end of the study and one was:

"When you pray,do you focus only on the 'problem people' who bother you and steal your peace, or do you always make certain to take the time to thank God for the faithful ones?"

I have to admit I often spend more time praying for the people I'm struggling with. I need to be in prayer about them but I also need to remember to pray for those that are a blessing to me. I spent some time thanking God for these special people and praying for His blessing on them and enjoyed it very much.

What about you?