My Valentine Looks Like His Dad: Brett’s Journal — #60

14 Feb

A while ago when I was memorizing the Love Chapter from the Amplified translation I was struck by 1 Corinthians 13:5 and the exhortation to refrain from keeping a record of wrongs.  I admit to you that a mental running record of offenses is what comes naturally to me so pondering on this verse, especially in connection to my marriage, was much needed.  God brought to mind all the verses I know that tell me to pick up my sword and fight the natural woman –the old me–in me.  Not to be passive and simply expect old thought patterns and old habits to disappear on their own.  He so encouraged me to let go of that toxic way of thinking and really challenged me to let my Man off the hook the same way He had me.  He reminded me that He chooses not to keep a record of my offenses – even though He could have a list longer than I have time to enumerate or you have time to read.  But instead He chooses to remember my sin no more.

For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,

and I will remember their sins no more.

Hebrews 8:12

In fact, He keeps account of the things I do right.  What a God!  What Grace!  What Love!  But again, love is not simply what God does – it’s Who He is.

The I AM is LOVE.

And Love tells me that whatever is lovely, whatever is noble, whatever is excellent – these are the things I should be thinking about – not offenses, real or perceived, committed against me.

Brett's journalSo, I picked up Philippians 4:8 and I began to keep a record of rights for my Man. The stuff isn’t deep some of it’s downright silly.  The very first entry says . . .

  1.  1.  You smiled at my humming and I know it must be annoying.♥

I just write down the things that speak to my heart in the every day.  That’s what real living and real loving is – the every day.  There are grand moments of celebration but they ring hollow if that’s all there is.  There are special occasions filled with hoopla but they don’t mean much if they don’t stand on the shoulders of the daily choice to love.  So I write down the things that show my Man’s choice to love me in the everyday.  I keep a record of his rights.  I brag on him to me.  I think about “these things.”

And so today on February 14th, I’m going to share “Journal Entry #60” and thank God that He calls us to be like Him.  Without His Word and His call to imitate Him as a dearly loved child, I would’ve missed out on these most excellent things and I never would have loved like that left to my own devices.  Thank you Lord for all you do.

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.  Ephesians 5:1-2, The Message

#60 — ♥ — Brett – Will you be my Valentine?

Hello Valentine – and I mean that with every ounce of love in me.

I want you to know that I notice you – noticing and “not noticing” – me.

I know it doesn’t come natural to you to say things out loud, but you still do.  You tell me out loud that you love me and that I’m beautiful to you.  You’ll never know how many times I’ve whispered “thank you Lord that beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and given thanks that your eyes still see me that way.

I’ve noticed the effort you make to see what’s important to me so that you can celebrate without being coached. It melts my heart that you never ask me to tone down making much of Him just because your style is more low-key.  And the smile that creeps across your face when you’re listening to me share the latest thunderbolt to strike my soul makes my knees weak.

I notice you closing the door when my “joyful noise” bothers you rather than ask me to stop.

Yes Sweetheart, I’ve noticed all your noticing and

You’re just IT to me.

I’ve also noticed all your “not noticing.”

Not noticing when I haven’t shaved my legs – for a long time!  Not noticing the physical baggage I’m dragging “behind me” these last months.  Not noticing that the house isn’t quite as clean as it should be.  And not noticing the days that I don’t expend the energy to do my hair or put on my make- up.

Yes Sweetheart, I notice all your “not noticing” and oh,

How I love you!

I love you for not letting the reality of your wife sway your heart when it doesn’t always match the dreams you may have had of the girl you’d marry and I love you for looking more like your Dad everyday.  For choosing to love, despite the circumstances, just like He does. . .

I hear His voice in you – You sound like Him.

I see His grace in you – You act like Him.

I feel His heart in you – You love like Him.

Yes Husband, you look more like Him every day

and Valentine,

I’m so grateful you are mine.

1 John 4:16

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.  1 John 4:16

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The Invitation is for YOU!

7 Feb

“For many, the demands of everyday life are so packed with activities, responsibilities, and to-do lists that feeling overwhelmed is normal.  With so many pressures few have time to feed their soul.  The result is spiritual and emotional starvation—a deep inner hunger for peace, rest, and security.  And this hunger is pervasive.  At every age, in every walk of life, too many of us are starving for the nourishment that only God can provide.   .   .   .   . Unfortunately, too many of us try to satisfy our hunger with the spiritual equivalent of “fast food” – self-defeating behaviors, relationships that have more to do with feeding carnal hunger than the longing of the soul.” – The Daniel Cure, Pg. 13

Those words jumped off the page of Susan Gregory’s book as if the Holy One Himself had dragged a yellow highlighter over them.  They spoke straight to my heart – again.  You see this particular passage is simply the latest in what seems to be several other instances of Holy highlighting.  And here’s the thing—when I string them all together, one after the other, they all deliver the same invitation.

creation swap communion meal ribbetThere it is —  engraved by the Most High,

signed by the Blood of the Lamb,

and heart delivered by the Spirit of Glory.

Will you, Marilyn, spend one year with your chair pulled close?

The invitation arrived in the early fall of 2013.  Since then, my heart has fingered it over at least a hundred times.  I felt the fine linen paper when He delivered my verse for 2014:

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents.  Mostly what God does is love you.  Keep company with him and learn a life of love.  Observe how Christ loved us.  His love was not cautious but extravagant.  He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us.  Love like that. Ephesians 5:1-2, The MSG

You don’t keep much closer company than when you’re eating together.  You don’t get a lot of chances to look at someone as up close and personal as you do when you share a meal.

I moved my hand over the raised lettering as I wrote post after post filled with exhortation to you and to me to seek hard after Him and to know, without a doubt that He will be the God of More He promises to be.

Do not believe for a moment He has abandoned you in the trial Sweet One.  Your God would not take you there or allow the challenge if He did not have More for you on the other side.  You hang on with faith.  You pray big, ambitious prayers and you wait expectantly for your God to bless you. Listen to Him when He tells you not be afraid and consider Joshua 1:9 to be your personal post-it note straight from the heart of the Holy One. Press it on your chest Girlfriend, count on Him to do what He says He will do, and be confident that the God of More is with you. (The God of More . . . Much More, Sept 3)

And each time my heart glided over His Holy request, I tried to imagine what it might look like to spend one year dining with the King. Yes, I tried to imagine . . . .

Absolutely feasting on the Bread of Life and being filled with His wisdom, His compassion, and His Love.

Drinking in all that the Spirit is willing to give until the well of my soul overflows with Living Water.

Pulling my chair as close as I can and consuming every Word that falls from the lips of the Almighty One.

Marilyn, WILL YOU SPEND A YEAR AT THE KING’S TABLE?

Vintage Wedding Invitation

The invitation first arrived, signed and sealed by the Holy Spirit, held tightly in the hand of . . . . Mephibosheth.  Bet you weren’t expecting that – neither was I.  But if we’ve learned nothing else on the journey, we surely have grabbed onto the immutable fact that God will not be confined by our expectations.  And I’ve learned from my Sweet Florida Girl that that’s a good thing, because we would always expect far too little from Him as our finite minds tried to conceive what the Infinite should do and how He should go about the business of doing it.   As she says, “He will always exceed our expectations.”

So how exactly did the grandson of Saul, the son of Jonathan—ankles crippled in a fall when he was barely more than a toddler—come to be my personal messenger?   Through the study of Covenant of course!  That exclamation point was put there tongue-in-cheek to be sure.  Who would have expected to limp along beside Mephibosheth until they were offered a seat by the King?  But that’s exactly what happened.

God began engraving the invitation Mephibosheth would deliver to my heart with the covenant pledge made by Jonathan to David, who would later become the king,  in 1 Samuel 18:3-4.

Then Johnathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.  Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David with his armor, including his sword and his bow and his belt.

And now we have the firstborn son of King Saul, willingly stripped of his royal array, possibly looking more like a shepherd than a future king, side-by-side and heart-to-heart with David who is covered head-to-toe in the royal robe with the weapons of the son firmly in his hands.

And this covenant relationship – more akin to the knitting together of two souls than just a simple pledge or promise—was extended to the families of each of the men in 1 Samuel 20 with Jonathan pledging to preserve the life of David and asking David to do the same for his family should he be killed.

“You shall not cut off your lovingkindness from my house forever, not even when the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth. “  So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD require it at the hands of David’s enemies.”  Jonathan made David vow again because of his love for him, because he loved him as he loved his own life.  1 Samuel 20:15-17

And this was the vow between David and Jonathan when Saul and Jonathan met their ends.  The battle that ensued between the house of David and house of Saul over the kingdom saw the demise of all the descendants of Saul, except one.

Now Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son crippled in his feet.  He was five years old when the report of Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled.  And it happened that in her hurry to flee, he fell and became lame.  And his name was Mephibosheth.  2  Samuel 4:4

And that’s the last we hear of Mephibosheth until 2 Samuel 9.

Five long chapters pass as David fights enemy after enemy in an effort to unite the kingdom.  He’s mocked as weak, able to be defeated as easy as the “blind and the lame” by the Jebusites in Jerusalem and searched out for destruction by the Philistines.  And although David is satisfied to simply defeat the Philistines, the taunts of the occupants of Jerusalem were rumored to have so angered the king that he barred the “blind and the lame” from his house/presence.

And David said on that day, “Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack “the lame and the blind,” who are hated by David’s soul.”  Therefore, it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.”  2 Samuel 5:8

Mephibosheth, though he was in hiding with his crippled feet would certainly have become aware of the rumors of the king’s anger and the actions that resulted from it.  Even if he had not felt himself in danger as the grandson of Saul, he would never have believed himself welcome in the presence of King David in his “lame” condition.  Both lineage and present condition made him an enemy of the king.

Now, I’ve searched the Scripture as well as commentaries and haven’t been able to locate a single place that describes a public declaration of the covenant between Jonathan, the king’s son and David, the shepherd boy.  So to the best that I can attest right now, the covenant was known only to David and Jonathan.  And that makes sense to me because if it were common knowledge, like the rumor barring the lame from the king’s presence, it seems to me that people would’ve been coming out of the woodwork  to falsely claim relationship to Jonathan  in an effort to curry favor with David.

Instead we find David, now securely in his position as king, opening 2 Samuel 9 searching for a member of Saul’s household:

  • 1 Samuel 9:1-3
    • Then David said, “Is there yet anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”  Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David; and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “I am your servant.”  The king said, “Is there not yet anyone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?”  And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is crippled in both feet.”

David wanted so badly, for the sake of Jonathan, to offer kindness to a member of Saul’s household so he eagerly looked for someone to whom he could extend the covenant kindness he had promised to Jonathan.  The servant that appears before him, Ziba, makes it clear that Mephibosheth, the one left in Saul’s household, is crippled in both feet.  In other words—nobody the king wants in his presence.  But David sends him out after Mephibosheth regardless of his condition.

Ziba retrieves Mephibosheth from the land where he has been living, Lo-Debar.  It is a dry, barren, fruitless land that offers those who dwell there little. But at least in Lo-Debar Mephibosheth felt safe, perhaps that’s not so for the lame grandson of Saul as he enters  the presence of King David.

  • 2 Samuel 9:6-7
    • Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and prostrated himself.  And David said, “Mephibosheth.”  And he said, “Here is your servant!”  David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show kindness to you for the sake of your father Jonathan, and will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you shall eat at my table regularly.”

Mephibosheth hasn’t done a thing to deserve to be in the presence of the king.  In fact, his crippled condition, the result of his fall, should have barred him from his presence altogether.  But David did not see Mephibosheth’s crippled feet when he looked at him, King David saw Jonathan, the brother he had loved.  Mephibosheth had not earned a place at the table of the king, but David would look on Jonathan’s son as his own.

Overwhelmed and maybe even reeling with disbelief, Mephibosheth reminds him of who he is –“What is your servant, that you should regard a dead dog like me?”

But rather than condemn Mephibosheth, David defines the blessings that are about to come to the son of Jonathan.  “All that belonged to Saul and to all his house” will be given to Mephibosheth – what an unexpected, undeserved, unearned inheritance.  Given to him, not because of who he was, but because of who he belonged to.

Mephibosheth will now live in the lands that belonged to King Saul.  Fruitful and lush, lands of abundance . . . .and he will dine with the king as an adopted son. And I fully believe that each time David gazed upon that man at his table he saw him with tenderness, dressed head-to-toe in the covenant promise he had shared with Jonathan.

The InvitationI am so certain that by this time you are seeing the parallels between you and me and Mephibosheth that I don’t even need to point them out to you.  Sweet One, we might as well get t-shirts printed with “ I am Mephibosheth” printed on them because it couldn’t be any clearer.

  • David searched for someone to bless with the covenant.  He even sent someone to deliver the good news and bring him home.

Is that not what your Savior has done for you?  Has he not wanted to bring you into covenant relationship with Himself so badly that He sent someone out with the good news to find you and bring you home. (Luke 19:10; Matthew 18:11, 1 Timothy 1:15)

  • It was made plain to David that the one he was going after was not worth his effort.  He was crippled from the fall and that made him an enemy of the king.

And so Beloved, what about you and I?  Was it not made plain that we were not worth the effort?  That we were crippled from the fall and living in the lame condition of our sin.  Both our lineage and our present condition made us enemies of the King.  But yet He came for us. (Romans 5:10; James 4:4)

  • He sent someone to our Lo-Debar, our dry and fruitless land and just as surely as King David blessed Mephibosheth with the land of plenty, we have been ushered into abundance. 

Given an unexpected, undeserved, unearned inheritance.  Fruitful and full of life.  (1 Corinthians 2:9; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:23-24; John 15:5)

  • And just like Mephibosheth, I have not –you have not—done a thing to earn a seat at the table of the King of Kings. 

And yet, we have been adopted and welcomed to the feast as daughters of the King. (1 John 3:1; Ephesians 1:5)

All of this, not because of who I am, but because of WHO I belong to. (1 Corinthians 6:20)

For when the Father gazes at me, He sees me dressed head-to-toe in Jesus – the Son He loves.   My covenant relationship with Christ is my invitation to dine at the King’s table. (Galatians 3:27; Colossians 3:3)

Do you see it?  The invitation is FOR YOU.

creation swap communion meal ribbet

Can you even stand it?  Who but God shows Himself in the details this way?  Who but the Father would bother to communicate it to the simplest among us?  I am about beside myself!  I hope you are too.  It’s so my prayer that with every post you read, you see Him in His Word and you marvel at the great and glorious God He is. From Old Testament to New, our God does not change and our Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.  Oh Girlfriend — my RSVP is YES!

So, maybe not the way I expected to receive my invitation to dine at the King’s table for the upcoming year, but again my Sweet Florida Girl is spot on – He always exceeds our expectations.

And I’m not sure how it will all unfold or what it will look like but I do know this, it’s going to be more . . . more intense, more passionate, and more powerful than what I am prepared for.  I’m going to take comfort in the fact that even if I’m prompted to remind God “of who I am” like Mephibosheth did, it won’t cause Him to withdraw. And, I’m going to remember as I sit in my chair with the condition of my fall still dangling under the table — He sees the new woman, brought to life, and beautiful in the Name of Jesus.

Girlfriend, I know this message was meant to prompt me and it may not be striking your heart with same kind of ferocity it did mine, but I hope you are encouraged to pull up your own chair – the one reserved especially for you – and dine with the King.  Feast on the unexpected, undeserved, unearned blessings set before you.  Consume the Bread of Life and drink in the Living Water.

Oh what a year it will be!  I am giddy with anticipation and I cannot wait until you pull a chair up next to mine in Glory and tell me all that transpired for you as you dined at the King’s Table.  What a glorious day it will be!

The Angel said to me, “Write this:

‘Blessed are those invited to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.’”

He added, “These are the true words of God!” 

Revelation 19:9 MSG

(Special thanks to Kay Arthur for getting my wheels turning with Covenant: God’s Enduring Promises)

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Circumstances Do Not Change . . . We Do!

28 Jan

Our circumstances envelope us.  They engulf us.  They consume us.  Too often my circumstances pull my actions and my attention to places I never intended to visit.  I find myself in the middle of my own mind commotion solving issues, mulling conflicts, and traveling a general thought path that serves no one well.  I’ve written some posts over the last year describing some of the circumstances that have occurred in life and I pray that I have highlighted the activity of the Extraordinary in the life of the very ordinary residents of Biddinger Boulevard.

If God’s drawn you to Glimpsed Glory on other occasions you know that my Man has been a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the nipple line down, for the last 20 years. And you also know that even though he’s been in that chair for all these years, in my eyes, he stands taller than any man I know.

meandmylovefortyeight

For “his population” (a term we learned early in his rehabilitation which is never followed by what most would consider favorable statistics) his health has been good.  He’s in constant pain that the doctor’s can’t pinpoint the source of because his spinal cord doesn’t transmit the pain signals the way it should anymore.  He takes enough medicine to choke a horse on a daily basis to try and control a body that just won’t behave the way he wants it to.  And the joints in his shoulders ache constantly from using them to walk.  But for “his population” . . . .Brett

And again, if God has drawn you to Glimpsed Glory before you are aware that my Man is my biggest protector and the Warrior on my Wall.  He takes up the sword of God’s word and swings it with a surgeon’s precision in prayer every single day.  Over and over and over again –every day—he takes up his position on that wall and he fights.  I wrote these words about him during a hospital stay in March and they are every bit as true today.

That’s who my man is.  Behind the spine that won’t cooperate with his brain anymore, past the legs that will not listen to the signal to move, beyond the hands that refuse to obey his command . . HE IS A WARRIOR.  He is a protector.  He is about the business of listening to the Commander and standing guard at the wall so that his family and friends can safely go to their own work.  Every day, as surely as you rise from your bed and check off the tasks on your to-do-list, my man arises, grabs his sword and takes up his station. Oh how I praise God for the commitment He has given Brett to fight. (Warrior on My Wall, March 8)

God has truly raised Brett up to be a force for His Kingdom but that just wasn’t the way the whole thing began.  We weren’t believers when Brett was injured.  I have no doubt, Brett has no doubt, that the Hand and the Heart of God were definitely with us, but we were most certainly not with Him.

No, Sister, my Warrior and I did not begin this journey acknowledging Christ as our Comfort, our Sustainer, or our Friend.  In fact, we began this journey by running from it.  We ran as hard as we could to try and get away from the reality of it all.  It was so much to take in without Jesus.  Everything changed.  Nothing was normal.  We had no direction. . . . but we still ran.

It won’t serve you well or edify you in any way to share all the details of that time period, but this will encourage your heart.

No matter how hard we tried to escape our reality,

now matter how far we ran . . .

it was not further than the Heart of God was willing to go.

In all of our running, He was still pursuing us.  He met me, He met Brett, knee deep in our circumstances.  Some we had created ourselves and others we had not.  Regardless of the origin of our situation, God appeared.  He swooped down from heaven and He saved us. He intervened in ways that can only be described as miraculous because Girlfriend . . . that is what He does because that is Who He is.  He is the God who does not change and the Savior who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Consider Hagar who reacted badly to a bad situation and ran from the reality of her circumstance.

And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her. Genesis 16:4-6

But she could not flee further than the Heart of God was willing to go.

The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. Genesis 16:7

Consider Moses who killed an Egyptian and he ran from the reality of his sin.

One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. 12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?” 14 He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.  Exodus 2:11-15

But he could not outrun the Heart of God.

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.  Exodus 3:1-2

And then there is Peter who denied the Messiah he professed to love and fled the courtyard filled with shame.

 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” 70 But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” 71 And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” 72 And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” 73 After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” 74 Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. 75 And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. Matthew 26:69-75

But he could not flee the Love of Messiah.

After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. John 21:1

From the Old Testament to the New, God’s children have been running from their realities, fleeing from their circumstances, only to find that His Heart willingly comes after them.  And Sister, He does not change.

He will appear, He will find, He will speak to His children in the midst of it all and He will open our hearts so we can discern His Presence, hear His voice and truly see Him.

Hagar’s eyes were opened and she saw the One who sees her.  Her heart was opened and she knew the One that fixed His Heart on her . . .

So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,”for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” Genesis 16:13

Moses turned to see the fire of God and His ears were opened to His call.  His heart was opened to respond “Here I am” to the Great I AM. . .

When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Exodus 3:4

And Peter, who had gone out in disgrace, followed a heart that prompted him to run to Jesus. . . .

That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. John 21:7

And Beloved, when the Lord of Lord and King of Kings meets us where we are—no matter what has brought us there –and stirs our hearts toward Him, that’s when change takes place. When He reveals the Who of Him, when He allows us to glimpse His Glory, and when He peels back the veil so that we may see Him that, Dear One, is when change occurs . . .

not a change in our circumstance, a change in us.

Hagar saw the One who sees her and was directed back to her mistress.  Moses heard the Voice from the flames and was told to return to Egypt.  Peter ate with the Messiah and was told go “feed my sheep.”

Their circumstances were not changed but their hearts were.

Oh Beloved, this is my story.  This is my Warrior’s story.  As badly as he wanted to flee from his reality, as hard as he ran, He could not go further than the Heart of God was willing to go.

The Lord Himself jumped from the pages of His Word and opened the eyes of Brett’s heart to see Him.  He did not heal Brett’s spinal cord, but He healed His heart.  He did not restore his legs, but He restored His soul.  He did not return Brett’s finger function, but He wrapped those hands that would not cooperate in the earthly realm tightly around that Warrior Sword for the heavenly battle.  And he did not raise Brett up from that chair, but He did raise Him to life.

Brett’s circumstances did not, have not, changed . . . but he has.  The one who ran from the Lord now stakes out His position on the wall and stands firm.  The one who fled now fights.  All because the One to whom the battle belongs revealed Himself as the Giver of Brett’s strength, his defense, and His salvation.

Sword-Of-The-Spirit-941650Exodus 15:2-3

“The Lord is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3 The Lord is a warrior;
the Lord is his name.

Do you see the Love of it all?

In His Sovereignty, He may or He may not remove us from our circumstances, only He knows what will serve the Kingdom plan best, but Sweet One whatever your reality is, however far you may have run, you can count on the Heart of God to come looking.  And if He sends us back to our circumstance, we can be absolutely certain that we do not go alone nor do we return to simply “gut it out” in His Name.  He did not save us and then leave us to hang on by our fingernails and grit our teeth until Glory.  No Girlfriend. 

If He sends us back, we return changed.  We return more than conquerors. . . equipped for the battle . . . with His promises in our hands and His Glory at our backs.   We return, from however far we ran, having been found by the Heart of the Living God,  ready not only to survive, but dare I say, to thrive!

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He is the Worthy One!

23 Jan

What a wild and wonderful journey my Jesus has taken me on with Glimpsed Glory this past year!  I can’t begin to tell you how He has ministered to my soul by letting me write these little blips here in rural anytown, USA and then witness His Holy Hand spread them all around the globe to be read over 5000 times. Please be certain that what you hear in that last statement is all about Him and raise your hands with me to PRAISE OUR GOD for every Sister who has stumbled across these pages.

If you’re wondering why we’re taking a chronos moment to just sit at His feet in awe of this specific work of His Hands, it’s because Glimpsed Glory marks its first anniversary today.  Full confession is that I was a little hesitant to share the remarkable work He has done because I didn’t want it to be misinterpreted as a pat on the back to me.  More truth is that the enemy of my soul and the adversary of His Kingdom has used that particular trick to keep me quiet more times than I can tell you so as a child of the King, I’m claiming Psalm 8:1-2 and as the praise flows from my heart into every stroke on this keyboard I believe the Word of God and know that the foe and the avenger is silenced.

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!  You have set your glory above the heavens.  From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.  Psalm 8:1-2 (NIV, 1984)

So let me shout His Glory, boast of Him, and make it clear – whatever good thing has come from Glimpsed Glory, whatever hearts have been encouraged, or whatever spirit has been refreshed . . . that’s all Jesus.  The Father has given the nations to the Son as His inheritance, the ends of the earth are His possession and the Spirit is about the business of beckoning His children home.

He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.” Psalm 2:7-8 (NIV, 1984)

It’s to our great delight that He allows us, in whatever way He chooses, to participate with Him in the Kingdom work. Through His saving grace He has made us ministers of reconciliation and commissioned us to spread the good news of the Gospel.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV, 1984)

01/23/2014: Country Flags =Readers Around the World

01/23/2014: Country Flags =Readers Around the World

And look how accessible He has made the world to us!  Only our Extraordinary God, our limitless, uncontainable Holy One, would have opened up such an unconventional avenue and sent such an unexpected messenger.

So if it worried me that sharing my awe at the fruit He has produced might be mistaken for placing the spotlight on me, why did I choose to celebrate it?  Why did I draw attention to it?

The answer is at the top of the page.

Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God.  They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”  Luke 5:25-26 (NIV, 1984)

And at the side of the page.

But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect.  1 Corinthians 15:10 (NIV, 1984)

The Extraordinary at work in and through the ordinary points to His greatness not mine.

I have tried since the first post on January 23, 2013 to be as transparent as would serve you well about my own unrighteousness and utter ordinariness so there would be no confusion over who was bringing life and breath to the words you were reading.  If you roll your cursor over the picture of me and my man at the side and click, you will go to a permanent page on the blog explaining who I am and who I am not.  It’s a message I pray that each visitor to Glimpsed Glory reads because I want every reader to be certain that only God does big things with small lives and to know without a doubt that the most important words they will read come from Him and not from me . . .

My own experience confirms for me that neither a righteous background nor an extraordinary intellect is a requirement for looking beyond what we can see and Glimpsing the Glory of the One we cannot. In fact, I am walking, talking assurance that the “Extraordinary of God” will be revealed to the most unrighteous and utterly ordinary among us. (excerpt from A Message from a Fellow Sojourner)

Sweet One, I hope what you are finding in these posts is the same thing that you find throughout the pages of His Word.

. . . The Redemption story from start to finish . . .

  . . . the intervention of Love in the life of the unlovable . . .

. . . Intercession by the One who is Worthy on behalf of the worst . . .

. . . astounding rescue, absolute grace, unwavering faithfulness . . .

It’s all about HIM.

God Is Faithful

It’s all about His rescue and intervention in the life of a girl “like Rahab” and the Love it shouts to us today. . .

Rahab the harlot, who lived long before me, is how I know that God loves me regardless of my sin history.  Rahab the called, who chose to trust God to preserve her life, is how I know He works for the good of those who love Him.  Rahab, the redeemed, who had no idea what awaited her in Glory is how I know that my mind cannot conceive the goodness.  (The Resolve to Go Beyond, Feb 7, 2013)

It’s all about realizing afresh that the Risen One, the One who spoke Outside the Tomb, has called us to the abundant life. . .

See that’s who I want to be.  I want to be the woman who realizes the depth of her healing so profoundly that she refuses to return to her home and stays just a little longer.  I want to be the one who weeps because my heart cannot stand the fact that I am not near Him.  I want to be the one who desires to see Him so badly that I stoop down and strain my eyes in hopes of getting just one more glimpse.  I know that one day He will say my name in Glory, one day He will say your name in Glory.  We will recognize His voice and Beloved when we turn, oh the love that will pass between the Healer and the healed.  But in the meantime Sister, for the redeemed and the released, there is life outside the tomb – abundant life.  Live it to the full Girlfriend.  Live it to the full.  (Life Outside the Tomb, Apr 2, 2013)

It’s all about trusting the One Who was, the One Who Is, and the One Who will be to always be Who He declares Himself to be. . .

Sister, we have no idea of the battle raging over us.  We don’t possess the eyes to fully see our circumstance.  But if we will open our hearts just a little wider, if we will fix our eyes on the Healer, we will see Him.  His feet are firmly planted and His arms are opened wide.  His attention and His affection are resolutely fixed on you. He will NOT waiver in His Love. He will NOT fail you. He will NOT let you fall.

Girlfriend, step off the edge of your circumstances – He is Faithful. You may not know the outcome but you Know the One who does.  Take the leap of faith.  Believe Him to be who He says He is.  Trust Him to be who He always has been and know, without a doubt, that when you jump the Arms of Love are waiting . . . just for you. (Step Off the Edge and Into Love, Nov 21, 2013)

It’s all about Him.

The One Who redeems. (Job 19:25)

  The One Who intercedes. (Romans 8:34)

  The One Who IS the Great I AM. (Exodus 3:14; John 8:58) 

And so I find myself, these many months later, having glimpsed His glory again and again, more confident, more thankful, and more convinced than ever that the words I echoed from the Book of Malachi and the Book of Hebrews one year ago today are trustworthy and true. . . .

I, the Lord, do not change.  Malachi 3:6

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.  Hebrews 13:8

I pray that it is the same for you Beloved.  I pray that your time here is time with Him and that He has spoken to you through His Word over and over again through the last year.

Girlfriends – ones I know and ones I am yet to meet –may I just say how I admire your tenacity and your desire for Him. If you are here, if you are visiting this site, I know you are searching for the More of God and I know with absolute certainty that He will not disappoint you. He will be the God He has promised to be since He set our chronos time in motion.  He determined the place and the time that simply would not be complete without you in it—thank you for letting me share in a small part of your journey.  You mean the world to me and fill me with great joy.  I so hope we will have another year to seek hard after Him and run the race side-by-side.  May God bless each one of us with eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to glimpse His Glory.

They will be gathered from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. Psalm 107:3

They will be gathered from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
Psalm 107:3

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He Never Leaves Us Empty

11 Jan

Day 11 of the New Year.

Most have probably stopped reflecting on 2013 by now and begun carving out life in 2014.  Me, I don’t even have our Christmas decorations down yet.  Truth is, I like our home with the glow of it all and, more truth, I haven’t stopped reflecting yet either. I’m basking in the glow of 2013 every bit as certainly as I am our still-lit Christmas tree.

Christmas on the Boulevard

Christmas on the Boulevard

It wasn’t an easy year.  In, fact it was a hard one.  And I’m not just talking about the things that occurred on the outside of my skin.  I’m talking about all the things He brought me face-to-face with on the inside of my skin. . . haughtiness, jealousy, pharasitical thinking.  But Oh, the refining work that God has begun in this Girl!

He confirmed for me again that I am of such importance to Him that He will not allow me to be stagnant in my faith or to settle for less-than.  He made it possible for me to glimpse His Glory and go places in my Promised Land that I never would have gone without the trials that left their footprints all over Biddinger Boulevard in 2013. Part of who I am has started to look a little bit more like Who He is because of the challenges my soul has faced and, Sister, that quiet joy . . . the peace of knowing that He is involved in it all, that He desires more for me. . . well, that’s worth everything.  I think it’s part of what God was saying through the Apostle Peter in His opening chapter.

 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while

you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 

These have come so that your faith—

of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–

may be proved genuine

and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Though you have not seen him, you love him;

and even though you do not see him now, you believe in

him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy…

1 Peter 1:7-8 (NIV, 1984)

Isn’t it beautiful?  I’m coming out on the other side of 2013 with a knowledge of what I believe to the marrow of my bones and what I still want to fully believe with every part of my heart but might be just lingering in my head.  Do you see that?  God already knows, nothing needs to be proven to the Omniscient One. The trials don’t reveal a thing to Him.  He already knows it all.  It’s me who walks away with more than I walked in with. 1pet172

You see, there’s a concept that God has rolled through my mind over and over the last couple of years and I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the next piece of understanding it.  The concept is plunder. Not a common word and not a common notion in our dispensation of time but I think I was blessed to live it this past year.

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance links the verb plunder with to “strip away” and the noun counterpart connects to the word “booty.” And it seems to me, no matter what the form –verb or noun—it’s always connected to a battle or to captivity. The Israelites had been enslaved and oppressed by the Egyptians for 400 years when God appointed Moses to lead them out.  They had been subjected to harsh conditions and brutal treatment but God had not forgotten them nor did He plan to set them free from their captivity empty handed.  No.  God decimated the Egyptians and sent His children toward the Promised Land weighed down with plunder–silver, gold, clothing.

Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.  Exodus 12:35-36

As the Israelites walked the dry ground, a wall of water to the left and wall of water to the right, their hands were full of what God had provided.  Every foot that touched down on the other side of the Red Sea emerged not only free from their oppressors but possessing their wealth as well. That’s so God.  He wasn’t content to simply free His people, He blessed them with abundance as well.

But all too quickly the Israelites looked back toward Egypt, the place of their oppression and began to romanticize their enslavement.  They grumbled about their freedom, complained about their blessings, and longed to return to the land of their captivity.

The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we used to eat FREE in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna.” Numbers 11:4-6

Wow Sister!  Talk about rose colored glasses and distorted vision.  How could they remember anything in the land of their slavery having been FREE?  Did they not recall the miraculous ways God intervened to deliver them?  Had they forgotten the plunder God had sent them out with?  Were they really so unwilling to remember the pain of their captivity that they would risk returning by choosing to believe the comfort of the lies?

They hadn’t even faced an enemy from without yet and they were already considering surrendering to the enemy within.

Galatians 5:1

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep

standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1

Beloved, is this beginning to touch a heart string  with you?  Is it possible that in 2013 you emerged from a land of captivity?  That you walked between the wall of water on the left and the wall of water on the right and set your feet on the other side declaring freedom in His Holy Name?  Did you hold in your hands, maybe for the first time ever . . . peace, trust, assurance, confidence?  Was your heart full of the God of More but now you find yourself looking backward and wondering?

Girlfriend, see it for what it was.  Don’t let the unknown of freedom pull you back to the misery of captivity.  Fix your eyes on the One leading the way and trust the God who set you free.

He did not bring you out empty handed.  He loaded you down with one blessing after another.

fruitofspiritBut the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;

against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

But we cannot be afraid to remember the truth of where we have been and what He has delivered us from.  I have to remember the sting of realizing the haughtiness that lived in my heart.  I must be willing to recall the pain of the jealousy that was devouring me from the inside out.  I have to look at the ugliness of my pharasitical thinking.  And you can fill in whatever has held you captive . . .we must remember. 

Not in a put-ourselves-above-Jesus-can’t-forgive-myself kind of way, but in a way that puts the spotlight on our Redeemer and keeps us from believing that apart from Him there is any good thing living in any one of us. I heard a Bible teacher once warn against developing spiritual amnesia, I think she was spot on.  If we don’t remember the captivity we may fail to remember the rescue.   And the plunder that once thrilled our souls, the freedom to hold our heads high, well. . . it might begin to seem ordinary or worse, we might begin to believe we deserve it.

So you might not and I might not have the whole concept of plunder, spiritual plunder, figured out.  But Girlfriend, if we shrink back from staring our struggles, our challenges and our battles straight in the face . . . we’re in danger of returning to our captivity and that Sweet One is not what your God intended when He planted your beautiful feet on this planet. 

You were set free to live life to the Full . . . (John 10:10)

Your Soul Full of Freedom . . . . (2 Corinthians 3:17)

Your Hands Full of Plunder and . . . (Deuteronomy 28:8)

Your Heart Full of Him.

eph319

. . . to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge;

that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:19

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Making our Mark on the New Year

5 Jan

So, how has the New Year been so far?  It’s only day 5 of 2014 but I’ll admit to you that some of things I determined to do, to be resolute in, have already been difficult.  See, I took my own suggestions from the last blog.  I went to Bible Gateway and chose the 90 day reading plan.  I set up a separate e-mail folder to file and categorize the Girlfriends in God devotional that I receive daily.  I bought two new packs of neon index cards and I downloaded the Bible Gateway app onto my phone.  And now, for me, is the difficult part – following through!

I love the set-up of things.  The newness of the organization holds so many possibilities.  And the lists and plans look pretty to me all written down with exact lettering and arranged just so.  Might be because I’m writing from Michigan and we’re getting another snowstorm, but the “best laid plans” remind me of an overnight snowfall.

You look out the window and it’s beautiful.britt winter1

Pristine.  Fresh.  New.  Not a mark on it.

brittwinter

That’s how my calendar looks to me when I finish writing down the Scripture passages I want to read each day.  Or my index cards look after I write down the verses I want to memorize and put them in order of the way I want to go after them.  They’re beautiful.  Pristine.  Fresh. New.  Not a mark on them.

But eventually, someone has to leave the house, go get the mail, take the trash to the end of the drive—and there are the marks.  Tire tracks left behind to run an errand.  Cloddy old boot prints to the mailbox.  Trash bag drag marks cutting from the garage to the edge of the road.  And the unmarred beauty disappears.

Same with my 90 day calendar and my Scripture reading.  I have this perfect scenario dreamed up in my mind about the beautiful way it all unfolds at the beginning of each fresh, pristine, new day.  There I am sitting at my desk with a studious look on my face and a steaming cup of coffee by my side.  I’ve showered and have my make-up applied impeccably as I open my Bible, filled with the Holy Spirit, and dive into the Word.  The beauty of my time with Him remains intact and undisturbed.brittwinter2

No prints, no tracks, no drag marks.

It rarely works that way.  Most often, I’m still in my pajamas without even brushing my hair.  I’ve had coffee but I’m carrying my computer or my Bible from place to place with me, reading my Scripture aloud as I am doing things that have to get done every morning.  It doesn’t always feel like the beauty of meeting with Him is intact, whole, or undisturbed.

And my imagination doesn’t stop there.  I have the picture perfect completion of my scheduled reading time as well as the seamless transition to my next activity planned out too. In my pristine new day, I end my 90-day reading plan time, by using a new highlighter with an unfrayed tip to make a perfectly straight line over the passage I have read and I walk away feeling satisfied, full of the Spirit, and ready to begin working on the verses I want to memorize.

In my real life, I make a mental note that I’ll do that when I can find a highlighter that doesn’t have a tip saturated with black sharpie marker and I stuff my index cards into my purse so I can work on them at the doctor or riding in the car. “After all,” I hear my mind say, “I want to make God a part of every activity!”  And that’s true, but do you see how different my imagination and my reality are?  My reality doesn’t reflect the unmarred beauty of that newly laid plan.  My reality, like my highlighter, is a little frayed at the tip.

In my imagination, I somehow glided over the fresh snow and retrieved the mail without leaving a trace, soared in our minivan like Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to get milk, and floated, trash bag in hand, from the garage to the road without disturbing a single flake of snow—without marring the beauty in anyway.

brittwinter3

In reality, I put on my old boots with the broken shoestring and left footprints twice the size of my feet from the front door to the mailbox.  And they weren’t even in a straight line.  The van was not occupied by anyone enjoying toot sweet candies and not only does it leave tread marks behind it, it drops pieces of dirty snow from the wheel wells.  And those trash bags, they are much too heavy to float with!

That’s my reality. The snow around my house doesn’t stay in its pristine state for long.   Life starts to happen and life, well, it leaves big old prints, hard packed tracks, and drag marks all over my fresh, new plan. The unmarred beauty quickly disappears.

But you know what?  I don’t think God minds a bit when I come or when you come to meet Him wearing cloddy old boots with broken shoestrings.  I think He’s glad we want to be there.  Does He want to see me looking that way every day . . . my guess would be no.  But, if on some mornings, it’s the best I have and I purposefully pull on those boots and stride across the snow to get to Him, I think He looks at those big old footprints and He sees love.  It might even be that He looks at the heart driving the determined steps of those boot laden feet, the ones that mar and disturb with each new stride, and He finds them to be beautiful.

God doesn’t look at our well laid plans.  He doesn’t look at our neatly written calendars.  God looks at the heart Sweet One.

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

He knows your desire to meet with Him and He is not surprised by the challenges of your day.  You are not and I am not the first of His children to contend with interruptions or encounter obstacles.  And our God, who does not change, has never placed any value on the things that appear impressive to our limited human vision, but He has always seen straight to the heart of the one who loves Him.

Now we don’t take this as an excuse to have an attitude of license and give God less-than, but we protect ourselves from a posture of legalism by trusting Him to know the intention, the yearning, and the desire of our souls.

then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know every human heart), 1 Kings 8:39

Beloved, don’t take the task of deciding what beauty looks like from the Father’s perspective on yourself.  If I may be so bold, it doesn’t belong to you.  It isn’t yours to determine.  And simply put, you nor I are equipped to do the job.  We’re too extreme, swinging from one side to the other, justifying our actions in one breath and condemning our hearts with the next.   So, what say you and I decide that we’ll forge into every pristine day and we’ll proceed to leave our love filled cloddy boot printed, minivan tread tracked, trash bag drag marked prints all over it and then . . . . well, we’ll depend on the Beautiful One to see straight to our hearts.

heartsnow

Lord, the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel,

keep these desires and thoughts in the hearts of your people forever,

and keep their hearts loyal to you.

1 Chronicles 29:18

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Let’s Resolve to Love Like That

30 Dec

What would the coming year bring if we looked more deeply at His resolve?  What might unfold before us if we determined to place our faith in the Who rather than the what?  What might we see if we were to truly fix our eyes on the Author and the Perfecter of our faith?

These are the same types of questions I was asking myself and sharing with you all when Glimpsed Glory posted for the very first time in 2013.  Seeking hard after Him and letting Him determine the what of my life is still my greatest desire.

I know what I’m doing.  I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you,

not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen.

When you come looking for me, you’ll find me.

Yes, when you get serious about finding me

and want it more than anything else,

I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.

Jeremiah 29:11-14 (The Message)

I believe Him when He tells me that He will make Himself known to me.  I have no doubt that when I come to Him, looking for Him with eyes willing to see, that my heart will be filled with the Who of Him.  It may not look exactly the way I picture it or transpire the way I imagine it, but God will be true to His promise and I will not be disappointed.  How can it leave us feeling short changed when we come out of our circumstance with More of Him than we walked in with?

Yes Sweet One, the promise is for you.  Take it personally.  Your God has determined that you will find Him when you look.  He is unwavering in His commitment to show His children lavish love, immeasurable grace, and endless mercies when they seek His Face.  This is the God revealed in the Old Testament and the Messiah who walked in the New.

But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.  Deuteronomy 4:29

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7

Both sides of the Covenant line reveal a God who desires to be seen and to be known by His children . . .

Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand). Jeremiah 33:3

The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. [I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.]  John 14:21

From the opening verse in Genesis to the announcement that will close out our chronos time in Revelation, God is revealing Himself – showing us the Who of Him– so that we will seek Him, perhaps feel our way toward Him and find Him.

actsduncanThe What of God flows from the Who of God.

God does not merely act faithfully – He is Faithful.

God does not simply love you – He is Love.

And the list could go on.  This is the declaration of the Word of God to you Beloved.  And the beauty of the Who of Him is that He will not change.  He was, is, and will be Who He declares Himself to be.

Our God has gone to great lengths to draw us near– can your prayer, can my prayer,  be anything less than to humbly ask Him to stir our souls with the enduring tenacity to seek hard after Him and bless us with an unsatisfied, discontented spirit when we do not?

Sister, this is the only hope for the transformation this time of year causes us to consider.  newcoffeeDo we really believe that the desire for the “new thing”, for the more, for the unimaginable originates with us?  Have we really convinced ourselves that the longing to change and be more than who we are today started with our own hearts?  Have we forgotten that it is God who lifts the veil and it is He who is about the business of transforming us from one degree of glory to another?

Be holy because I am holy.

Be transformed, renewed, and revived daily.

We may have usurped it, twisted it, and distorted it to serve our own purposes but being all about the “more” and the “new thing”, those are God’s specialties.  He declares that those who believe in His Son and proclaim Him to be their Savior are a new creation.  The old has gone and the new has come.  The old woman is put to death and the daughter of the King lives –that ought to change us.  We’ve been adopted by the King.  We are not who we were and the who of us must begin to flow from the Who of Him.

“Therefore, be imitators of God as dearly loved children and

— live in love,”(NET)

— “walk in the way of love,”(NIV)

–“walk in love.” (YLT)

just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us,

a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.

Ephesians 5:1-2

No matter how you word it, it comes out the same – seek the Who and the what will follow.  Look on Love and step where He steps. Watch the Who and do what He does. Eugene Peterson translates Ephesians 5:1-2 like this in the Message:

Watch what God does, and then you do it,

like children who learn proper behavior from their parents.

Mostly what God does is love you.

Keep company with him and learn a life of love.

Observe how Christ loved us.

His love was not cautious but extravagant.

He didn’t love in order to get something from us

but to give everything of himself to us.

Love like that.

Girlfriend, there’s the key.  Keep company with God.  Learn.  Observe. Love.  It’s the only way to be transformed and to have the change your heart is truly yearning for.  Meet with the Messiah daily just as certainly as the disciples who walked beside Him did.  Gaze upon the face of your Father so often that you begin to walk and talk just like your Dad.

Living it out, real time, real life won’t just happen.   Purpose in your heart to make meeting with Him your priority.

I plan to “run into Him” throughout the day by setting my homepage to Bible Gateway so that every time I visit the internet the verse of the day is looking back at me. Keep company with Him Sweet One.  Seek Him– He will not disappoint you.

Be intentional.

Be purposeful.

Be resolute.

Let’s immerse ourselves in the Who of Him so that the what of us may be changed.  And perhaps, at the close of 2014, we will find that we have leaned in, learned from the Father, observed the Son, and begun to LOVE LIKE THAT.

wordcups

Happy New Year Sisters – around the world!

May God bless you as you seek His Face.

The Message:
The goal of The Message is to engage people in the reading process and help them understand what they read. This is not a study Bible, but rather “”a reading Bible.”” The verse numbers, which are not in the original documents, have been left out of the print version to facilitate easy and enjoyable reading. The original books of the Bible were not written in formal language. The Message tries to recapture the Word in the words we use today.

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Step Off the Edge and Into Love

21 Nov

The birthday of a sweet little friend is quickly coming up.  She will be celebrating four years of full on, love-out-loud, beautiful life—four years of miracle living.

addybdayaddy2soft

addy3Four years that were anything but a certainty on the day she arrived. This was the news given to the world the day Addy Josie made her debut.

  • November 30, 2009 (fb status)
    • Addyson Josie ///////  born at 7:42am, 8lbs 11oz. having some troubles breathing but stable. need lots of prayers for her.

Her introduction to planet earth was a little bumpy and the ride did not get any smoother over the coming days.  What seemed to be “some breathing trouble” initially, quickly escalated to a fight for every breath and a circulatory system that would not cooperate.  Miss Addy was transferred to a larger hospital and took up residence in the NICU.

  • November 30, 2009 (fb status)
    • Addyson is on her way to /////////// in ///////////, having troubles breathing. Hopefully I will be released tomorrow to go down and see her.

See the last sentence of that update – Momma had to stay behind.  Imagine the ache of that goodbye to her baby girl.  All the fear that could have flooded her heart.  All the worry that could have overtaken her.  All the sorrow that might have washed over her.  I honestly don’t know where her mind went that afternoon but I know it was hard on her.  The pain of it was all over her face when I visited her that afternoon.  She didn’t share what she was thinking but I know she did some business with her Father in Heaven and I know she came out with a quiet resolve and a determined peace.  She chose not to shrink back but rather to call out every prayer warrior willing to do battle and to trust Him for the outcome.  And regardless of the news of the day, that’s where she stayed.  Firmly planted in Him and counting on His people.

  • December 3, 2009 (fb status)
    • Back over to the NICU Addyson is stable, we are waiting for her little body to correct it’s circulatory system. This could take days to weeks depending on her body. She needs prayers for healing, I’ll keep trying to post updates on here. Thanks everyone for the support and prayers.

So Momma and Daddy gazed at their baby girl in her isolet, unable to hold her, but absolutely willing their sweet baby girl to breath with everything in them.  I can’t say what went through Daddy’s heart because men don’t tend to give voice to much in those situations.  But Addy’s Momma rolled 1 Peter 5:7 through her heart over and over again as she sat, watched, and prayed over her little girl.

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

1 Peter 5:7 (NIV,1984)

Here at home we answered the call.  We prayed over that little girl.  We fasted for that child.  We linked arms in the heavenlies and humbled ourselves before God asking for a miracle.  We reminded ourselves that the child we were praying for was loved by Him far more than we could imagine and that she had an angel that was always gazing into the face of the Father.  His thoughts are most certainly higher than ours and His ways beyond our understanding, but we knew without a doubt that no matter the outcome His attention and His affection were on that baby girl.

addy 1day

 “For I tell you that their angels in heaven

always see the face of my Father in heaven.

Matthew 18:10 (NIV,1984)

Little Miss Addy surrounded by love and enveloped in prayer—quite a beginning. (And it strikes me as I type those words that I’ve never praised as hard for a single healthy life as I prayed for the one who was in danger.  That’s some food for thought on my part.) Prayers were said all around the country for Addy Jo–people from Michigan to Florida, lifting this little one before the Throne—with Momma leading the charge.  She desired healing for her baby and she had her eyes fixed on the Healer.

  • December  3, 2009 (fb status)
    • Addyson’s labs are looking excellent, praise the Lord for answered Prayers. we are still a long way. thanks everyone for the prayers and support. Keep them coming
  • December 5, 2009 (fb status)
    • so the Doctors made rounds this morning and believe that Addyson has rounded the corner and is ready to be taken off the vent. This is done slowly over the next 24 to 48 hours. Prayers that she tolerates it and will be off by Monday!!! I am so excited to get to hold that little girl!
  • December 6, 2009 (fb status)
    • So another great night and morning. Plans are to have Addy off the vent this afternoon and have the central line out tomorrow. So that means that I might get to hold that little girl tomorrow!!!!! God is a miracle worker, he heard our prayers and has answered!  

The praise and prayers of a Momma’s heart.  The want to hold her baby girl and give the love she had been whispering to that little heart tangible, physical presence.  She had arms of love –wide open– waiting to pull her little one close.

  • December 6, 2009 (fb status)

I finally got to hold Her ! Hooray ! PRaise GoD !

addybilli

“I will praise the LORD all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

Psalm 146:2

  • December 6, 2009 (fb status)
    • As you can see by the pictures. The Vent is out, I got to give her a bath and hold her today! What an awesome day! “I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Psalms 146:2

The battle that raged over Addy Jo was fierce.  Momma, Daddy, and every warrior who answered the call fought with tenacity and perseverance.  But little Miss Addy, did not worry for a single moment.  She did not fret or stew.  She just kept inhaling and exhaling.  Fighting the good fight with the tools she had been given.  Moving from one moment to the next.  At rest, right where God had placed her.

addyeyesaddytubesADDYHAT

And God, who does not change, performed a miracle that we could recognize.  No matter what the outcome would have been God would have brought beauty from it, but in this instance, even my limited human vision could see and comprehend His Goodness.

There are times in my life when I have to believe what I know to be true over what my eyes see and my heart perceives to be the circumstance.  Just like you, I’ve walked through times that didn’t seem beautiful to me. Times when I don’t recognize the miracle.  I know it’s there because I know the heart of my God is Unfailing Love.  But, I fully confess that there must be some uncovered, unbelieving places in my heart that won’t grab hold of that truth. If there wasn’t I would just keep inhaling and exhaling, moving from one moment to the next, fighting the good fight with the tools I have, and be at rest right where God has placed me – even when I don’t comprehend my circumstances.

The verse Addy’s Momma claimed as her own, 1 Peter 5:7, reads like this from the Message:

Live carefree before God; He is most careful with you.  1 Peter 5:7 (MSG)

Carefree living.  Inhaling and Exhaling.  Moment to moment.  At rest, right where He has placed you.  Oh Sweet One, The I AM is MOST CAREFUL WITH YOU.  And with me.  It is why we can be free of the cares of this world.  His care and His Love are our assurance of the miracle.  And while I would love for both of us to recognize it every time, to always comprehend the miracle in the midst of life, I just don’t think it’s possible this side of Glory.  You know all too well that life on planet earth is not for the faint of heart.  Storms gather above our heads and rain falls on each and every one of us.  We stand at the edge of our circumstances and we peer down, unable to see the outcome.  Uncertain of the beauty. Unable to comprehend the goodness.

But what if, as we leaned over the edge of the unknown,  we inhaled and we exhaled, and we called to mind the things we know?

  • November 29, 2010 (fb status)
    • Tomorrow is Addy’s 1st Birthday!! The miracle Baby is a year old, I cannot believe it!!! Praise the Lord for this little ray of sunshine !!!
  • December 1, 2010 (fb status) 
    • I am still celebrating little Miss Addy Today as well. Last year at this time, was the biggest hurdle our family has had to endure together. With the GRACE of God He healed Addy’s little body. I believe in Miracles.. I sure do.
  • November 30, 2011 (fb status)
    • Today is Addyson’s 2nd Birthday!! HaPpY BiRtHdAy to my Miracle Baby!! Not one day goes by where I don’t thank the Lord for that little girl! He preformed Miracles right in front of my eyes at /////// NICU.. I am so thankful we get the chance to see her grown and raise her! Sooo let’s Celebrate! Happy Birthday!!
  • November 30, 2012 (fb status)
    • Happy Birthday to Miss Addy Jo! Today she turns 3!! My little miracle baby is thriving and such a blessing to her family & friends! The way she came into this world helps me to remember daily God could of took her but knew I needed to watch my little one grow, I thank Him everyday for trusting me to raise her up to serve Him. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADDYSON JOSIE!

Sister, we have no idea of the battle raging over us.  We don’t possess the eyes to fully see our circumstance.  But if we will open our hearts just a little wider, if we will fix our eyes on the Healer, we will see Him.  His feet are firmly planted and His arms are opened wide.  His attention and His affection are resolutely fixed on you.

He will NOT waiver in His Love. 

He will NOT fail you. 

He will NOT let you fall. 

Girlfriend, step off the edge of your circumstances – He is Faithful. You may not know the outcome but you Know the One who does.  Take the leap of faith.  Believe Him to be who He says He is.  Trust Him to be who He always has been and know, without a doubt, that when you jump the Arms of Love are waiting . . . just for you.

nofear

♥ Happy Birthday Addy Josie ♥

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Grab a Hard Hat Sister . . . The Walls are Tumbling Down!

9 Nov

Why do you think it might be that we can be zipping right along in life feeling as if we couldn’t get any closer to the Spirit without going Home and then . . . . wham!  A nasty brick wall rises up in front of us, seemingly out of nowhere.   We hit that thing so hard that we aren’t certain we’ll ever get up.   Our heads spin and we can feel blood seeping from an open wound or two.   We hear one side of our brain screaming, “Get up, we need some help!” and the other part is shouting just as loudly “Stay down. Nurse those wounds alone.”  And you find yourself in the middle of mind commotion that is all too familiar.

Why is it “all too familiar”?  Because that nasty brick wall did not come from nowhere.  If we’re honest—willing to look closely, willing to really gaze upon the thing–I’m betting we’ll find that that wall was carefully crafted by our own heart.  Constructed one brick at a time in all manner of circumstances, with all kinds of reactions and emotions.

No matter how early in life we accepted Christ we still had time to build that wall and it’s possible that the construction continued well into our faith walk.  I know for myself, I carried my wall building patterns right into my life as a Christian and it took years to tear down those barriers.  Even now, after 17 years of full out acceptance of the Truth, I still find my heart tempted to reach for a brick when I feel hurt and vulnerable.

Think about it for a moment.  Where does that brick wall spring from?  Fear of rejection?  Fear of exclusion?  Fear of loneliness? Fear of ____________?  Where might the building process have begun?

Maybe these ugly threats lived in your home.  Home should be where unconditional love thrives in every circumstance but maybe instead, you found that acceptance and tenderness were very conditional.  Withdrawn at the smallest infraction; restored when some measure of favor returned.   And you left that home of unpredictable affection with your bricks in place, only to find that the world was no different.

Perhaps you experienced these things in your school days.  Left out, left behind, disregarded . . . yet, you had some notion that when you left that environment those challenges would fall by the wayside.  Only to enter into adulthood and find that kids aren’t the only ones who are thoughtless and unkind.  And with certainty you reinforce each row in your growing barricade.

So we walled ourselves in and walled others out—sometimes purposefully and other times reactively.  brickmortarOne brick at a time – no one can hurt us because no one can get near us.  And we used the slights, hurts, and fears of this world as mortar to hold our wall together and convince ourselves that the pain of self-imposed isolation was far preferable to the pain on the other side.  Self-protection is a powerful motivator.

It might be, as much as it pains me to write it, that you have encountered these same unloving circumstances inside the Church.  The one place you were certain would be your safe haven was not.  The place was filled with imperfect people who acted from their imperfection.  They slighted you.  They excluded you.  They hurt you.  They gave you reason to keep those walls you so carefully fashioned standing tall.

And although the preceding words were painful, the ones that follow sear my heart more deeply than any other I will write in this post:  I might have been the one.  I might have been the one to make you feel excluded.  I might have been the one to slight you and leave you behind.  I might have been the one who made you feel less-than and unworthy.  The one who placed the brick in your hand and pushed you to build your fortress even higher.

I know without a doubt there were times when my actions told my child that she did not deserve my affection.  I am certain that I hurt others on many occasions by acting as if they didn’t belong.  And I know that the imperfect actions of this imperfect woman kept the Church from being the safe Haven Christ died to make it.  I wish those statements weren’t accurate, but they are. And Beloved, please don’t be offended, but might it be that you have been a brick provider on an occasion or two as well?

The truth of it is, no matter whom you encounter or where, you can be certain that they have been busy with their own bricks.  They have diligently constructed their walls based on their own experiences and the imperfect actions of imperfect people have made their structures strong.    So when you do life together, no matter where it is, the place is crowded.  You, them, and everyone’s collective bricks all fighting for the same space.

The irony of it is that we want to be together.  We want to do life side-by-side.  The walls we have created are not supposed to be there.  I say that so confidently because it’s the way God designed us.  We were meant to be in fellowship with one another.

He intended that my desire to follow Him would lead to my refining and I would be the deliverer of fewer and fewer bricks–I will sin less and less if I am abiding in Him. He desires for you to leave your fear behind, step out and follow Him.  He wants us to stop relying on our walls to protect us and to begin depending on His heart.

I constructed the walls of separation—not God.

I have put every brick in place—not God.

But here’s the beautiful thing, I am not clever enough, smart enough or strong enough to build a wall that will stand in the face of LOVE.  Girlfriend, neither are you.  God Himself has declared our freedom from fear –His Perfect Love Drives It Out. God Himself has opened the Door –step out and follow Love. Sweet One, you ask your Savior to set you free, you believe that He will make the way, and then you lace up your demolition boots and pull your hard hat down tight – because the walls are about to fall!

God is Dynamite

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Beautifully Wrapped and Lavishly Loved . . . You are a Gift!

2 Nov

youaregift

The last blog post was about Remembering our Miracles.  Not losing sight of the Gifts that are doing life right in front of us.  Not allowing the stuff “between the numbers” to steal our vision.  I’m certain that as you read, your own precious heart album was laying wide open in your mind’s eye.  And I’m just as certain that as you looked into those eyes, saw their smiles, and considered the depth of your love toward them, you were overwhelmed with thankfulness to the One who gave them to you.  The One who intentionally carved out a place for each and every one of those beautiful faces in your heart.

Have you ever stopped to consider how purposeful God was when He gave you those Gifts?  Those Miracles imprinted on your heart and your mind?  He designed them, precious in His sight, fearfully and wonderfully made and then . . . . . He entrusted them to you.   It wasn’t an accident.  It wasn’t happenstance.  It was choice.  They were given to you–Gifts to watch over and to care for–beautifully wrapped and lavishly loved, heart-picked and hand delivered by Divine choice.

God knew that there would be life stuff come their way that would be more bearable, more joyful, and more doable with you by their side.  See, the blessing of Miracles and Gifts runs both ways.  Your Miracles, well . . . they possess the Gift of YOU.

  • God determined that you were the one to walk beside your husband and to support him even when it’s hard.  Nobody else could fill those shoes.  He made them just for you.
  • He knew that the baby He put in your arms needed to have unconditional love straight from your heart.  No other heart would do.  He chose you.
  • He resolved that specifically you would be entrusted to bless and love those heart children.  Only you were appointed to shower them with unending love and blessings.
  • And those Sisters at your side were given especially to you to comfort and to encourage.  Their lives are richer, fuller, sweeter– because they belong to you.

Now you look at that list and the general terms that I offered –husband, babies, children, sisters—and they all take on names.  Names of the ones you love and maybe, if you’re like me, you think of the immensity of what He has entrusted to you and quickly become convinced that God has short changed those Sweet Ones around you.  You’re not the one to love with no strings attached.  You aren’t the reliable one, the one who will be steadfast no matter the circumstance.  You can’t meet the needs of others that way or offer comfort that really makes a difference.  You surely aren’t the one who showers love on others, may be it trickles – on a good day.  Maybe everything within you right now is shouting—I am no Gift.

Well Girlfriend, if you and I were left to our own devices, abandoned to our own hearts, I would be the first one to stand up and agree with you.  But that’s just not the case for those who believe.  God never intended for us to walk into the precious lives He has surrounded us with on our own.  We were sent there as a Gift by the One to whom we have been entrusted.  He fully desires for us to rely on the Power, the Tenacity, the Endurance, and the Love of the One to whom we have been gifted.

JESUS PRAYS FOR BELIEVERS

And so for their sake and on their behalf I sanctify, dedicate, consecrate Myself that they also may be sanctified, dedicated, consecrated, made holy in the Truth.

Neither for these alone do I pray, it is not for their sake only that I make this request, but also for all those who will ever come to believe in, trust in, cling to, rely on Me through their word and teaching,

That they all may be one, just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me.

I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are one:

I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and definitely recognize that You sent Me and that You have loved them even as You have loved Me.

Father, I desire that they also whom You have entrusted to Me, as Your gift to Me, may be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory, which You have given Me Your love gift to Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

O just and righteous Father, although the world has not known You and has failed to recognize You and has never acknowledged You, I have known You continually; and these men understand and know that You have sent Me.

I have made Your Name known to them and revealed Your character and Your very Self, and I will continue to make You known, that the love which You have bestowed upon Me may be in them–felt in their hearts–and that I, Myself, may be in them.  John 17:19-26

Do you see it?  You are the Gift from THE GIFT.  The richness, the sweetness, the love that you pour into the lives of others is because Christ Jesus—GOD’S GIFT TO THE WORLD–has received you – has received me – as a gift straight from the heart of the Father.  You have been entrusted to, given to, gifted to the Christ of God and He has poured Himself into you so that you might pour Him into the lives of others.

It is the unconditional Love of the One who is Love that flows through us and fills the hearts of our babies.  It’s His reliability, His steadfastness that wells up within us giving us the tenacity to walk strong beside our husbands.  It is Him, the Great Comforter, who reaches out to that Sister with our arms and lets us wear His heart for them.   And it’s Him – the Living Water, which never runs dry – showering our heart children with blessing and unending love.

See, apart from Jesus, apart from the Spirit of Love coursing through us, there is no good thing in us, but with Jesus comes every good thing.  He giftwraps us with tenderheartedness, with mercy, and with patience giving us the power to endure whatever comes and hand delivers us to the those we love and those we are yet to love.

And the world sees it.  They watch us do life.  Enduring trials, encountering suffering, celebrating and grieving with those we have been given.  We are never pulled out of the hard stuff but we’re always gifted with the One who will see us through and because we are imitators of He who loves us we walk strong and steady with those to whom we have been given.

Oh yes, Sweet One, you are the Gift and might it be that to see yourself as less-than is to see the Savior, THE GIFT who lives within you, as less-than as well?  We do not boast in or about ourselves, but we will boast all day long in our Jesus and the work He has done to transform our messy, sin filled hearts into blessings for those around us.  All praise, honor and glory to our Savior –THE GIFT—who for the joy set before Him endured the cross.

Sister, I believe with all my heart that part of the joy the Savior received were the Gifts given to Him by the Father after His work had been completed and He sat down at the right of the Throne.   I picture in my mind the Father handing His Son one Gift after another and the nail-scarred hands joyfully receiving each one.

And don’t you know Beloved, one of those

beautifully wrapped (Colossians 3:12),

lavishly loved (1 John 3:1),

heart-picked (Ephesians 2:4-6),

and hand-delivered (2 Corinthians 1:10)

Gifts –part of the joy set before Him–

is YOU.

gifts

Now thanks be to God for His Gift,

precious beyond telling,

His indescribable, inexpressible, free Gift!

2 Corinthians 9:15

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