With His Love

When I receive certain verses more than once or receive several verses on the same topic I pay attention to what God is trying to tell me.  Early in the week the word quiet showed up several times in scripture.

"Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in Him."

Psalm 62:5

"You're my place of quiet retreat,

I wait for your Word

to renew me."

Psalm 119:114

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 I knew these blessings were more for my mind than my body.  My body has been demanding I rest, but my mind was resisting.  And these verses reminded me of the scripture God gave me to go with my words for 2013~rest and trust.

"In repentance and rest you will be saved.  In quietness and trust will be your strength."

Isaiah 30:15

The main verse that I focused on was Zephaniah 3:17........starting with the part that I read in my Daily Light devotional.  "He will quiet you with His love".  Later that day I came across the whole scripture on a blog I was visiting.

"The Lord your God will be with you.  He is mighty to save.  

He will quiet you with His love.  He will take great delight in you.  

He will rejoice over you with singing!"

Zephaniah 3:17

This verse is packed full of good news!  We are first told God is WITH us.  Always.  Forever.  With. We are never alone.  What a comfort that is.

Then we read He is mighty to save.  Our Rescuer.  Sending His Son to save us.  Savior.  A mighty warrior on our behalf.

Next we learn how He quiets us.  With Love, not just any love~HIS love.  This part of the scripture has been my rock this week.  Washed in His blood and now His love.  Amazing.

We hear that He takes great delight in us.  Not just ordinary delight which would be more than enough, but GREAT delight.  The definition of delight is to take joy or pleasure and enjoyment in.  This is how our Father God feels about us.  This is how important we are to Him!

 Finally, He rejoices over us with singing.  God feels so happy and joyful about us He sings over us.  Powerful! 

How can we doubt the Fathers love for us?  I am taking note of God's instructions to let Him quiet me with His love.  To remember.............He delights, He saves, He is with, He sings, He loves. I pray the same for you.  That you be quieted and embraced by our Father God's love. 

Passing The Test

"Come to me all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens

And I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you.

  Let me teach you for I am gentle and humble of heart, 

and I will give you rest for your soul.  

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Matthew 11:28-30

Last fall God blessed me with 26+ (I quit counting after 26) encounters with the above verses in Matthew 11 in only a few weeks.  God was making more than a small effort to get His message across to me!   I believe He was preparing me, teaching me, and providing the answers I needed for peace in my circumstances just like any loving Father would do.  With patience He gently reminded me over and over again that the only place to rest was with Him.  Trust Me....Trust Me....He was whispering.

Needless to say, after last fall's encounters with Matthew 11:28-30, I felt the words I was to meditate on this year were "rest" and " trust".  They really are connected for me.  I truly need to trust God in order to rest in Him.  His plan, His love, His healing, His wisdom.  Rest in Him.  I even changed the title of my blog in my quest for entering into rest with our Lord Jesus. 

Now if I could just make the leap into His lap and stop struggling.......

This past Sunday morning Joel Osteen spoke on "entering His rest".  Especially at times when our circumstances have us feeling overwhelmed or we are challenged by storms that come our way.

A storm comes up.........financial, emotional, physical, spiritual.  Money is scarce, anxiety wants to take up residence, the doctor gives us a bad report, or we find ourselves wondering where God is in our mess.  A storm.

God wants us to trust Him in ALL circumstances.  He wants us to climb up on His lap and rest while we let him calm the storm, or calm us while we (God and us) go through the storm. 

I flunked the test.  You see, Joel Osteen said yesterday, "When you are at rest, you are passing the test."  I flunked the test.    :)    When I "rest", when I stop striving to get well, I truly feel anxious, because I believe deep down in the six year old part of me that when you stop fighting, when you are still and stop resisting, bad things happen to you.  I also am one who prays, but then I take the reins back from God's more than capable hands!  Thus:  I. Struggle. with. resting.

When I was battling Lyme Disease I would pray and pray about it, and then I did research and more research,  followed a strict diet, took a ton of supplements, herbs, and antibiotics, and followed a rigid sleep and rest schedule.  I felt I just had to do everything exactly right in order to get the 2 + 2 = 4 result I was looking for.   It is not that those things did not help, they did......but I did not trust the doctors or God to get me the results I desired.  As you probably know the healing that came my way in the past year was the result of prayer.  Only prayer.  Interesting.

Now, with the setbacks I have had this year I am still striving to get the results I desire WHEN I desire them. I end up taking my eyes off of Jesus and unto Dr. Google or my own efforts.  Striving.

That brings me back to the resting.  God has shown me the same verses in Jeremiah a few times concerning my healing.  "I will give you back your health and heal your wounds says the Lord."

I know I will be healed.  He has promised to give me back my health.  He has promised to heal my soul wounds.  But when?  I resist it being at His timing.  It is hard for me to trust sitting on His lap.  It is hard to rest in His arms and trust Him with it all. 

Just being honest here.

Because, here is where the truth lies about my present journey......When I enter into His rest, I am passing the test. 

I have learned from Ann Voskamp that one way to learn to trust is by taking in all those small and large things in life.  Write them down and meditate on all God blesses us with on a daily basis.   "Eucharisto comes before the miracle." (Ann)  Grace.....gratitude......trust.

So each day I am making the effort to find those things I am grateful for.  In the midst of feeling just plain awful I am holding on to those many things that come my way by the grace of God.

Laughing with Joel
Crying with Joel over the death of our sweet dog Levi last Friday
A cardinal stopping by and gracing my view
A heavy rain that reminds me of our years in The Philippines
Being able to sit on a stool and make pancakes
Eat pancakes with fresh strawberries and coconut whipped cream
Sitting in what was once my mom's recliner and remembering her
A text from a daughter with pictures to share
Entering Papa God's rest and sitting on His lap...even for a moment
Passing the test....one day at a time. 

What We Have Here

Do any of you remember the movie, "Cool Hand Luke"?  It was not my favorite movie, but there is one line that I have never forgotten......"What we have here is a failure to communicate."

Do you ever feel that?  For a few days I have been corresponding by email with Charis Bible College in CO.  I had gone to the site and ordered their course on Healing by Barry Bennett, but I had inadvertently registered for the online college when I ordered the course.  I wanted the correspondence course, not the online class.....but there was a break down of communication on my part.

Three weeks after ordering I was still waiting for the course to arrive.  I knew our credit card showed  a charge for it, so I emailed...they emailed....I emailed....they emailed.....and finally someone called me and explained things to this ol' granny warrior (remember my Zena Princess Warrior post?).  What we had experienced was a failure to communicate because I had misunderstood what they were offering.  They kept asking me if I had ordered correspondence or online....I was online when I ordered the course so I figured that is what they meant...oh boy!  What we have here.......

Sometimes when we talk with God we may thinking....."What we have here is a failure to communicate."

You have sent your request and you are standing  on God's promises, but the answer to our prayer does not line up with the request, so we find ourselves saying.........Ahhhhh, God?  Did you misunderstand what I was requesting?  Did I not communicate to you clearly my needs?  Did I not read that all Your promises are yes and amen?  Hmmmmmmmm

I think what we may have here is a failure to communicate.

This is where trust comes into the equation.  If His answer to our asking is wait or no or even silence, we need to trust that His plan for us is good,  We trust that there is no failure to communicate, there is only a loving Father who is doing what is best for his children. We trust and rest in that knowledge no matter what we are experiencing.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding

In all your ways acknowledge Him

and He will make your paths straight."

Proverbs 3:5,6

The Appraiser

This morning an appraiser came as part of our adventure in refinancing our house.  It was odd to have someone we did not know come through our home taking measurements, photos and notes. We were looking  at our home through a stranger's eyes.

Joel and I saw this from different, but telling perspectives.  Joel was proud of all the work we did or had done by professionals in the past nine years.  The list is extensive.  We took an ugly duckling and created a swan...or close to it.  He saw great changes and a nice house. I saw all the work that was done, BUT I focused on the things that still needed work!  I said nothing but found myself anxious and wanting to tell this guy our future plans for renovations.

Very telling.

Joel knows what still needs to be done but is able to find joy in what has been accomplished. I see all the changes, and I am happy about them.....but I find myself easily forgetting what has changed for the better, and am drawn to what is not done.

Whether it is our home or the person I see in the mirror, the flaws can stand out as eyesores for me! And yet I know we have a nice home and I know that I have been "fearfully and wonderfully made"!  I know that I am enough because of Jesus.  The other day The Lord whispered to me......" You are so much harder on yourself than I would be on you."

Some day we will all stand before The Appraiser, our Lord.  Will He be a stranger to us or will we know Him well?  What will He see?

Because of Jesus, because of Father God sending His only Son to die for us, He will see that we are fearfully and wonderfully made!  He will see us through His Son's light!  He will see us forgiven, flawless, and  whole.  Because of His love for us we can stand strong on that final day, knowing we are no longer flawed or unfinished.  Because of Jesus.

What Warms Your Heart?

Today I am in my recliner all decked out in my corduroy knit pants, hooded sweatshirt, and wool slippers.  I know.  It is June 4th and I am dressed for winter.  My body is in a "shut down" mode and when this occurs I need to stay warm.  The only thing missing is my wool comforter, affectionately named "Wooly", but that seemed like overkill, even with March temperatures on this cold rainy day in June.

After years of battling chronic illness I know how to warm my body.  But in my present frame of mind.............I needed to revisit the answers to the following question~~

"What warms my heart?"

Encouraging words, praise music, hugs from my hubby, porch sitting, a text or phone call from one of the kids......these are all things that warm my heart. Maybe your list is similar.  But we need more. We need to fill our hearts with the Word of God.  God's promises.  His voice.  Today I read a quote on Facebook by Stormie Omartian that spoke on this.

" The more you put God's Word in your mind, 

the more you will hear God's voice speaking you your heart."

Yes, God's voice will warm our hearts.  On cold days, seasons of change, or times of discouragement,  staying "warm" is a good thing. Spirit, soul, and body~ each has its own needs and God provides for them all.  So, if you are having a tough day, wrap up in comfy clothes, turn on your favorite praise music and open God's Word.  It will warm you heart.

MBM: Remembering His Promise

Linny over at A Place Called Simplicity created Memorial Box Monday, where she shares their stories of God's faithfulness and provision, while asking others to do the same.  They have a Memorial Box in their home with objects on display that help them remember......just like Joshua who built a stone memorial as God instructed.

I have written several stories which you can find archived here, but today my story is a bit different, although not any less important to me.

If you visit my blog you know I have been on a healing journey from 28 years of Lyme and several co-infections, Fibromyalgia, cancer, PTSD and more.  When I first began this walk with Jesus, I was given the words, "God wants you well" by four different sources/people, and God gave me the verse, "I will give you back your health and heal your wounds, says The Lord" found in Jeremiah 30:17 to stand on~~first when I was going in for cancer surgery, second when I was praying for healing concerning Lyme.  Through  prayer my husband was healed overnight from Lyme and the Lyme was destroyed for me also through prayer.  Praise GOD!!  Other conditions have not left as quickly, but improvement was pretty steady.......until.....

This year my health has been challenged and at times my belief in healing too.  It began with UTI and BV infections that have had me on rounds of antibiotics.  Then my thyroid started malfunctioning again.  Ups and downs in energy and strength opened the door for discouragement and fear.  Doubt followed.  Satan began whispering to me....."You just thought God wanted to heal you....you are not healed.  Silly you....this is as good as it gets."

Recently I needed to go back into the doctor for more tests and exams.   I prayed and asked God to give me a verse to hold on to.  I just wanted to be obedient to His plan for my life. The next morning I went to my email and opened the Joel Osteen devotional.  It was titled, "Healing Is Yours"!  The verse that went with the devotional?

"I will give you back your health

and heal your wounds, says The Lord".

Jeremiah 30:17

There it was.  Remember?  The very verse he shared with me three years ago, then 14 months ago......

There it is~~ God's faithfulness.  His promise.

I am still spending way to much time in my recliner.  Physically I feel worse than I have in months....I am longingly waiting for Holy Spirit to tell me to put on my hot pink tennies and walk again.  Meanwhile, I am remembering........remembering His provision in the past........remembering His promise, standing on His Word, and being obedient to His instructions.  God is faithful.

What is God asking you to remember today?