In the shadow of the Almighty...

I encountered a rather terrifying scene yesterday, when I was least expecting it.  The kids were happily playing outside...it was a gorgeous, sunny, warm day for late October.  Carter and some friends were having a Nerf battle in the yard and Lawson, wanting to tag along, was running after them as best as he could.  I tried to keep up with him but was having trouble chasing him around and around the house.  For a minute I went inside, and when I came back out, he was gone.  He'd stopped following the older boys and was nowhere in the backyard.  For some reason, I felt the need to go straight around to the front of the garage...and there he was.  He had dragged the jogging stroller out of the garage, I'm still not sure how, and was perched in the seat...at the top of our steep driveway.  A matter of seconds longer and he probably would have gone careening down our driveway...out into the street and who knows to what end.  I raced to him and grabbed him...my heart was absolutely pounding.  All day I kept replaying this scene in my head, over and over again.  What if I hadn't found him when I did???


What does it mean to dwell in the "secret place of the Most High,"  or to "rest in the shadow of the Almighty?"

It's so easy to complain about things that aren't going our way.  It's easy to focus on the bad things that happen throughout the day...to take for granted all the things that do go right.  Re-reading about the Israelites coming out of Egypt for the past few months has opened my eyes to this all-to-common human tendency to complain and lose sight of our blessings.  We write God off so quickly, when things go wrong, thinking that He doesn't care about us...that He's ignoring our prayers and demands, that our problems are too big for Him.  But what about all the times He is providing for us, for not only our most basic needs but perhaps, unaware to us, He is performing everyday miracles...keeping us safe, healthy, shielding us from great harm...




I happened to read the beautiful verses of Psalm 91 yesterday...verses that beckon to the downtrodden, the discouraged, the dissatisfied soul.  How many times has He cared for me...times I wasn't even aware of?   How often has He saved me...my children...other friends or family from harm?   How often have I thanked Him for being a refuge for me?  Acknowledged that He is sovereign over my life and the lives of the ones I love most?

I have such a peace when I remember and dwell on these truths...that I can REST in His shadow...trusting Him to care for me.

Contrasts...

I often wonder at some of the verses I read...how am I to find joy amidst sorrow, purpose in pain, and strength when all I feel is weakness?

The power of God is most evident in these contrasts.  We can see Him working more clearly than ever when we acknowledge Him during difficult times.

He shines...as a light in the darkness...what more powerful image of contrast could be used to describe this phenomenon?

I think about the times when we had a power outage in the night.  One of the kids in particular is absolutely terrified of the darkness and will scream out in fear whenever this happens.  But there is instant comfort when even a very small light is brought into the room.  God brings that same kind of peace and comfort to us, even in the midst of our darkest moments.  Just seeing even a small flicker of light brings hope, comfort...a kind of calm we could never find on our own.

I heard this great  1-minute soundbite today on the radio about contrasts and wanted to share it here.

Holding on tight...

His fat little fingers clutched the box of the firetruck toy with unwavering determination.  His lip began to quiver and he immediately screamed as I pried it out of his hands and placed it back on the shelf.  It pained me to see him, so unhappy and angry with me... He didn't want to leave without it though and grabbed another one right away, not willing to give up without a fight.  As we left the store, I held him in my arms, wiggling and unhappy.  But as I placed him in his car seat and handed him some lunch, he immediately grabbed the food and began scarfing it down.  The thing he thought he needed so very much was not actually the thing he needed most.  I needed him to trust me to care for his needs...I needed him to let go of the things he thought he needed and just trust...

How often to I act just like my 2-year-old, hanging onto things in my life that I think I can't live without?  How often do I try to fight my own battles, unwilling to entrust the burdens I carry (or try to carry) to the One who is willing to be my advocate and defender?  Two days in a row, while reading, I came across this verse:

Exodus 14:14 

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

Be still...

How often could I truly say that I am still if I'm really honest?  Even when I am trying to be still, there are usually a million other things running through my mind.  I may think I'm trusting in God to take care of me, but if I'm always thinking about "the next thing"...always trying to plan everything out...unwilling to just Let Go...it's a pretty conditional and limited sort of trust.

In the past 2 years, I've learned a lot of hard lessons about letting go.  There are things in my life...people I love dearly, that have been taken away from me.  I never thought I could go on in these kinds of circumstances.  I never imagined I'd be asked to let go of things to this magnitude...

The very wise Corrie ten Boom said,

"Hold everything in your hands lightly,

 otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open." 

This morning, my Max Lucado daily quote calendar had this quote:

 "God doesn't manufacture pain, but He certainly puts it to use."

Odd, that I should encounter all of these verses and quotes within a three-day period.  Odd that my toddler should demonstrate the kind of behavior to me that God is warning me about.  He's teaching me about Trust...about the pain I experience when I lose things I cherish, and about relinquishing my will and my control and allowing Him to direct my paths.

This song was one of my favorites last year, right before my brother died, right before my world turned upside down.  I still love it, but the words affect me in a different and all-new way every time I hear it now.  May we all hold on lightly to the things of this world, but grip firmly onto the truths of God.  May we entrust everything to His care, and trust Him to fight our battles for us.

The Gift of Living Thankfully...

 I've had a double dose of reading about the life of Moses this week...well make that triple.  Not only have I covered it in the two studies I'm doing but it just happens to be the passages I'm reading to Reese in her Bible each night as well.   If there is one takeaway...one morsel of truth or encouragement I've found in this cross-referencing of the life of a Bible great...it is this:

We need to live THANKFULLY!

The moment the people lost sight of all that God had done for them....of the miracles He'd performed, of the ways He provided for all of their needs, they began to turn their backs on Him.  It's astonishing really, to think that people who had just witnessed the 10 plagues, and the parting of the Red Sea could complain against and forget about God...but they did...and all too quickly.

Perhaps the more important takeaway in this is not to point fingers at the Israelites and condemn their attitudes and behaviors but to compare their struggles with my own life.  I do the very same thing...when times are good, I forget about God...when times are difficult, I tend to cry out, to ask for help, or to bemoan the fact that things aren't going the way I want.  I lose sight of the everyday miracles He works in my life, and of the MANY ways He's blessed me.  I can't just remember Him "in the moment"...it's a daily, life-long exercise I must commit myself to...

Trying to find peace, fulfillment, happiness, joy, rest, comfort, and meaning in the world, I've found, brings great discouragement.  I took some quiet time to reflect today...




Reflect on the Mercy of God...
Reflect on all of His promises to me...
Reflect on the MANY things He has already done for me, for my family...
Reflect on the things I take for granted every single day...

We are nearing a time of year when we reflect on these very things...when we celebrate the bounty and blessings in our lives.  I'm thankful this week for the reminder to not lose focus on the GOOD that surrounds me...to live thankfully each and every day, no matter my circumstances.

If I look at the world, I quickly become discouraged and disheartened...Thank goodness, I have a place to go where I can find peace and rest from the great turmoil of this world.  In Him I find my Peace...and for that I am very thankful, indeed!

Things that get in the way...

I've been reminded all too frequently lately, how inconvenient it is to be in the third trimester of pregnancy.  Now that my stomach is sticking a foot out from my body, even simple tasks become more challenging.  On Thursday I encountered two situations where my belly was just not making life easy.  The first was when I pulled the van up to the book drop at the library only to drop one book down under the car.  I tried to get out the driver's side door but was parked so close the door wouldn't open all the way.  Under normal circumstances, squeezing through the partially-opened door would have been no problem...but it was an embarrassing struggle with an extra large stomach getting in the way.  Later that very same day, I was at the grocery store trying to buy some large pumpkins for the kids.  Of course the bins they were in were almost empty, so I was leaning as far as I could over the edge of the plastic bin, trying to lift up 4 heavy pumpkins and load them into my cart.  Sometimes, as in these cases, I can still manage to awkwardly navigate through difficult situations, but all too often I'm presented with challenges in my life that require far more strength than I could ever muster.

It's easy to focus on, dwell on, get weighed down by the things that get in our way.  It's tempting to throw in the towel, throw up my arms, and just give up at times.  Some days it seems as though there are just too many barriers blocking my path.  I look at these barriers, these burdens, from my weak, human perspective and immediately think...I can't handle this!

Psalm 29:11 AMP says, The Lord will give [unyielding and impenetrable] strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace.

I was thinking again about this yesterday at Carter's soccer game.  Watching him score a couple of great goals, and having to shoot some tricky shots to get around defenders and the goalie was such a great visual reminder, to me, of overcoming obstacles in my path.

Often what accompanies burdens that seem too heavy, and obstacles that seem impenetrable is a sense of fear....fear of being trapped, fear in thinking things will never get better, fear of failure, fear of the unknown.

I read a great quote in the book Fervant by Priscilla Shirer last week that said,

"Fear is the antithesis of faith.  And faith is what allows you to step foot on the soil of your destiny."

Too often I let too-overwhelming obstacles cloud my vision of what God is capable of.  I TRY rather than TRUST.

Faith isn't just believing in God...it's the ability to Trust in Him, even when our circumstances seem to be swallowing us alive.  Faith surpasses all human capabilities and places the full responsibility on God.  We are promised

 "Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you.  Psalm 55:22

And...

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Matt 11:28

I will not always be able to work around, overcome, have the strength to combat the things that get in the way of my faith, and my peace.  But I'm ever so glad I know the One I can turn to Who can!

The Need for Light...

 I noticed something very strange the other day with the two large flower pots sitting on either side of my front door.  I'd recently planted some mums in the pots to replace the fading flowers of summer.  The mums had not bloomed yet when I planted them and looked pretty much identical.  A couple weeks ago the mums began to slowly open, and now they are in full bloom.  There is something very different about them, however.  One of the pots receives a bit more sunlight throughout the day...the other pot is close to the house and is more shaded.  The difference is marked...

The flowers in the pot receiving more sunlight are brilliantly colored and have larger, fuller blooms. The flowers in the more shaded pot are more dull-colored and much smaller.  Some of them were beginning to die off already while the others were still going strong.  I was amazed how just a few hours of light can make that much of a difference....how it literally changes the character of the flowers...their ability to grow and flourish.

We enjoyed another phenomenon of light over the weekend...a magnificent full double rainbow that came after the rain.  We all ran out onto the deck to observe this amazing, often overlooked miracle of light.

Light reveals...light brings beauty...light causes things to flourish...

Isn't it interesting that in the Creation story, the very first thing God created...was Light!   Interesting still is the number of times that Christ is referred to in the Bible as "the Light."


John 8:12 Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”


I have a choice....to accept and walk in the Light...or to walk in darkness.  Ephesians 5:8-9 says "Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth."My life would not be the same without the kind of light God brings to it.  I would be a stunted, withering, half-dead version of myself without the glory and beauty and strength He infuses into me each and every day that I live and breathe.  Unlike the weather...that predicts sunny skies and instead offers us clouds, the Light He brings is steady and constant and an absolute certainty.  

Made from Scratch...

 I was flipping through cookbooks the other night for an hour with Reese.  We'd been to the library and her passionate interest these days is helping out in the kitchen. So whenever we go to the library now, she checks out a dozen new cookbooks to look through and try new recipes.  I love that she's so excited to learn the art of cooking and am always happy for her help when I am preparing meals.

As we looked for a new recipe to try, I got a little frustrated with some of the books.  So many assume that the kids won't want to measure, or prep, or take the time to make things from scratch, so they call for "a box of cake mix," "a box of pudding mix,"  "a tub of whipped topping," "canned or packaged veggies," "pre-made dough," or "canned fruit."

As I was standing at the counter this afternoon grating squash from our garden for some squash fritters tonight, I was thinking about this and about how much better things taste when you make them from scratch.  People always notice and appreciate too, when you take the extra time to cook something from scratch.  The flavor is more intense, the nutrition is more complete and healthful, it's an overall better experience, when you have the time and ingredients available.  Sure, it takes a little more elbow grease to grate a butternut squash than to buy it pre-grated or chopped and frozen...but I'll bet these fritters will be well-worth it.

I think this is such a great comparison to my faith walk...my relationship with the Lord.  There really is no adequate "short cut" to grow in my faith.  No "pre-prepared" scripture readings, no ready made prayer requests.  Just as I can't forge lasting and meaningful relationships by posting photos and clicking "Like" on Facebook, I can't have a deep and meaningful relationship with God if I only send up text-style prayers to Him and only read my Bible in bits and pieces.  I've got to get in there and be willing to get "dirty"...I've got to push myself to new limits, beyond my comfort zone.  I've got to work hard at it, not skipping any steps, putting every ounce of my strength into my relationship with Him. And then, when difficult times come, which they will, I'll have a strong foundation to fall back on.

Carter and I read the story of Jonah last night in the book we read at bedtime.  I loved one verse in particular that speaks to just this...

When we take the time...really invest ourselves...to have that close and meaningful relationship with the Lord, it becomes an automatic response to turn to Him in difficult times.  And we can be fully assured that He hears us...He knows when we struggle and when we doubt and when we need Him most.  He's not the kind of God to turn His back on us in our darkest hours.  I've experienced this firsthand many times over the course of  my life, but especially over the last year and a half.

Faith is a step-by-step, life-long process...it's the perfect example of something that is "made from scratch/"  There is no shortcut, no alternative route...there is but one path to a true and complete relationship with God and He gives us all the instructions we need, the "recipe" if you will, in His Word.