by Stacey | Apr 18, 2013 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
Our world is a mess. Atheist or believer, this is our common ground. We are cohabitants in a land that contains the potential for great good and horrific evil.
Each person has the potential for good and evil. God gave us the powerful gift of choice. Each person must choose which force will rise as victor. For centuries, the vast majority have chosen wrong.
Where is God?
It is okay to question God, but it is wrong to question His goodness and holy character. Bring your questions with the understanding that God is beyond our understanding. Ask in humility, knowing God is the authority. None of our questions are too hard for God (Kevin Weeks).
In biblical times, God has used the most wicked people to show his people how far they had strayed. Evil appeared to win. Sound familiar? Does it raise an important question? Why doesn’t God stop bad things from happening?
That’s not fair.
If God were fair every single person would be condemned to die. There is none righteous, not one. Yet God offers us hope in Jesus. Yes, all evil deserves punishment. Evil acts like the recent bombing and school killings deserve, and I hope they receive, the full consequences of their choices under the law.
However, I too deserve punishment. I too, have sinned. I too deserve to fall under the full weight of God’s punishment. If God were fair, I would. I am thankful that God is not fair. The unfairness of His grace, love and justice come together in forgiveness through Christ.
Everyone has dirty hands in this messy world.
How do I trust God when the world has turned upside down?
Remember that God came. I do not cope with mankind’s bent toward destruction alone. God came. He came for me, in the person of Jesus. He came for you. He offers deliverance from sin. What matters most is not wrapped up in this life, but is wrapped up in the life to come. This life is unfair, but the next one is not.
What is the point?
I am not here to find satisfaction or fair treatment in the world, as it is now. I forfeit a wonderful encounter with an all-powerful God by searching, as if it were my due, for those things.
I am here to bring glory to God. In all circumstances. In all times. That can happen only if I pray for God to work as if it is His glory that really matters. Because, it is His glory that really matters. It is God’s glory on the line. His goodness. His character. I must pray that He will be glorified in me, regardless of the circumstances.
“If you have a God great enough and powerful enough to be mad at because he doesn’t stop your suffering, you also have a God who’s great enough and powerful enough to have reasons that you can’t understand. You can’t have it both ways (Timothy Keller, King’s Cross).”
by Stacey | Mar 21, 2013 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
Before we know it Easter weekend will be here. Families will gather. Meals shared. Eggs hidden and found. Our family celebrates with a mixture of activities. Our kids search the basement for candy eggs, we share a special family meal, and use the our very special tablecloth.
We attend a church service on Good Friday. It is somber, sad, and reverent. It’s when we focus on the ultimate act of sacrifice. Christ’s death. Nailed to a cross because he claimed to be God. Not a god, THE GOD.
As a mother, my mind drifts to Mary and a sermon I heard long ago about this very moment in her life. This moment of pain, watching her first-born son stretch his arms out accepting the nails.
For nine hours Jesus hung until he breathed his last.
Mary is silent. She does not claim that Jesus was the result of a one-night stand or the product of a premature frolic with Joseph. She does not stand at the foot of his cross and deny his claim to be the Son of God because she knew.
Jesus was who He claimed to be, the Son of God.
And now he was dead.
I can’t help but wonder what Jesus’ friends thought as all this played out. Did they see walls when Jesus finally breathed his last? Did they have long-term plans for Jesus’ political future only to have them shattered? Did they truly understand his mission on earth? If this is Good Friday, what is so good about it?
When the apostles feared swords, Jesus offered healing (Luke 22:49-51). When they saw failure, Jesus saw fulfillment (Luke 24:13-35). When they saw death and destruction, the God of hope stepped in and changed everything.
Why is Good Friday good? Because Jesus’ death is the beginning of the new covenant between God and his people. The covenant we are under today. The covenant that God will honor because He always keeps His word.
That, my dear friends, is good.
*Artwork by Jonathan Weeks
by Stacey | Mar 14, 2013 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
I registered for a 1/2 marathon, something I never thought I would do. That’s 13 miles or 21.1 KM. It involves a schedule of exercise three times a week, one of those times consisting of a walk longer than ever before.
And they just keep getting longer.
This new way of life began mid-January. I started on schedule, actually, ahead of schedule. My type A personality began a few weeks early.
Then – holidays arrived. A blissful week in the hot sun on a sandy shore. A week without training. I wasn’t concerned since I started early. I could easily finish my training schedule while taking a week off. But I didn’t account for the loss of momentum and how it would affect me.
Upon our return I didn’t want to carve out 1.5 plus hours three times a week to devote to training. Not even a little bit. But lucky for me, I’m training with three other women who believe in me more than I believe in myself. They won’t let me stay on the couch. They share their success and struggles and we cheer each other onward. I have no doubts that in June we will cross the finish line together.
Tonight, as I was back on the treadmill for 9 KM, Beth Moore’s words came to mind. “When it comes to Scripture memorization, think marathon – not sprint.”
Interesting.
While I was on holidays fitness wasn’t the only priority to suffer. I am now officially two weeks behind on the Romans Project. And because it has been so long since I have recited the verses in Romans chapter one, I’m losing the verses I once knew. The past few days/weeks out of routine have tempted me to give in and give up.
Think marathon, not sprint cycles through my brain with each step on the treadmill. This is a set back, not the end. I’m in training for something far greater than a medal after 13 miles. I’m after a crown. A well done, my good and faithful servant. A hiding of God’s Word in my heart.
I’m training with a God who believes in me more than I believe in myself. His strength is perfect when I am weak.
So, today is a new day. I pick up where I left off. The verses quickly come back. Fresh motivation surges through my body.
I’m in this for the long haul. It’s a marathon. A race to hide God’s Word in my heart. By His strength I will cross the finish line.
*Kate at her first cross-country meet earlier this year. She is learning to think marathon – in more ways than one.
by Stacey | Mar 7, 2013 | Devotionals, reflections, and encouragement
It’s hard to rest. It’s hard for this multi-tasking, type A, homemaking mamma to stop and rest.
Day one of our holiday and I found it hard to be still. I was supposed to be doing something. An article. Editing. Cooking dinner. Folding laundry. I don’t sit. I do.
But I needed rest. And once I embraced the idea of rest –I slept. I slept all night with no little voices asking for water or one more story. I slept in the morning at the beach, in the afternoon at the pool, and at night in the hotel. It was good.
I can’t believe I fought the idea of being still for so long, and I can’t help compare this thought to how I fought resting on the Sabbath.
The Sabbath is a day set aside to worship God. To draw near to Him. To foster family and friend relationships. To rest. Somewhere along the line I slipped into the tread that used Sunday to catch up on laundry, cooking and other work pushed aside all week. About a year ago I noticed this trend and decided the best way to fight it was to tell my daughter my plans. Trust me, she holds me accountable!
She’ll remind me Saturday night after prayers that after we worship God in the morning the whole day is devoted to family and fun. She can’t wait.
Some of the things that have changed for me?
- No laundry is done on Sunday. And guess what – we always have clothes to wear. It turns out I didn’t need that day to catch up.
- We all enjoy some alone time for about an hour and a half. We can do whatever relaxes us and that looks different for each one of us. Some of us read, some nap, play games, or putter outdoors.
- We have a traditional Sunday dinner of a buffet of leftovers, fresh fruit, yogurt, granola, cheese, and anything easily pulled out of the refrigerator or cupboard.
- We watch a family movie over dinner.
- Go to bed and REST. Just the way it was meant to be.
by Stacey | Feb 28, 2013 | The Weekend Visitor
FACT: If your children can’t read by age four there is a 95% chance they will end up homeless and on drugs.
FACT: If your children eat any processed food there is an 85% chance they will contract a rare, most likely incurable disease, by age 12.
FACT: If you’re not up at dawn reading the Bible to your children, you are most likely a pagan caught in the clutches of witchcraft.
FACT: If your children watch more than 10 minutes of television a day there is 75% chance they will end up in a violent street gang by age 17.
Obviously, the “facts” listed above are not true (at least, I don’t think they are). But, I’ve noticed that the Internet has made it much easier for people, and moms in particular, to compare themselves to each other. Now, just to be clear, this is not a post against “mom blogs”, or whatever they’re called. If you write a mom blog, that’s cool with me. This is a post to encourage the moms who tend to freak out and feel like complete failures when they read the mom blogs and mom Facebook posts.
Moms, Jesus wants you to chill out about being a mom. You don’t have to make homemade bread to be a faithful mom. You don’t have to sew you children’s clothing to be a faithful mom. You don’t have to coupon, buy all organic produce, keep a journal, scrapbook, plant a garden, or make your own babyfood to be a faithful mom. There’s nothing wrong with these things, but they’re also not in your biblical job description.
Your job description is as follows:
- Love God. This simply means finding some time during the day to meet with the Lord. It doesn’t have to be before all the kids are awake. It doesn’t have to be in the pre-dawn stillness. Your job is to love God. How you make that happen can look a million different ways.
- Love your husband (unless you’re a single mom, of course). Your second job is to love and serve your husband. Husbands are to do the same for their wives, but that’s for a different post. If your husband really likes homemade bread, maybe you could make it for him. But don’t make homemade bread simply because you see other moms posting pictures of their homemade bread on Facebook.
- Love your kids. Your calling as mom is to love your kids and teach them to follow the Lord. They don’t need to know Latin by age six. If they do, more power to you. But that’s a bonus, not part of the job description. Your job is simply to love your kids with all your exhausted heart, and to teach them to love Jesus. That’s a high calling. Don’t go throwing in other, extraneous things to make your life more difficult. If you want to teach your kids to sew, great. But don’t be crushed by guilt if your kids aren’t making stylish blazers by the age of 10.
Moms, Jesus want you to rest in him. He wants you to chill out. His yoke is easy and his burden is light. Don’t compare yourself to other moms. Don’t try to be something God hasn’t called you to be. If the mom blogs are making you feel guilty, stop reading them. Be faithful to what he has truly called you to do, and know that he is pleased with you. When your kids are resting, don’t feel guilty about watching an episode of “Lost”, or whatever your favorite show may happen to be.
Love God, love your husband, love your kids. Keep it simple and chill out.
–
+photo by pedrosimoes7
First posted October 12, 2012 at www.theblazingcenter.com
Used with permission
punishment. Evil acts like the recent bombing and school killings deserve, and I hope they receive, the full consequences of their choices under the law.
