“Surely then you will count my steps, but not keep track of my sin.” Job 14:16
My daughter is 12 going on 22. She has such a precious heart and personality. She makes me laugh so often. Well….last week she made me cry. In a good way! This is the Valentine card that she made for me:
Those of you that know my fears over my failures with my kids can understand a little of what this did for my heart.
God is good. He gave me three precious kids. They each own my heart in their own way!
31Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:
” ‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 32But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
33Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”
34“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”
35But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.
~~~~~~~~~
69Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.
70But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
71Then he went out to the gateway, where another girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”
72He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”
73After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away.”
74Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”
Immediately a rooster crowed. 75Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly. (Matthew 26)
Have you ever said “I will never do that” and then find yourself doing that very thing? I have done it so many times! You think I would eventually learn. Everytime I read this story, I weep with Peter.
I have promised my Lord that I would be His and live worthy of His death…and then turned around and acted like I had never made such a promise. Lived as though I had never known anything about Him. Denied Him.
I am ashamed of those times in my life…when my defiance was so outward and obvious. But I am guilty of failing Him every day. My only saving grace is…well…His saving grace!
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4-5)
Thank you Father for Your gift of grace and mercy. And for saving me when I was Your enemy.
Jesus was born…God became flesh. His parents held Him and loved Him and cherished the things He did. He came to this world knowing that He came to die, but He came anyway. And loved us….enough to die in our place.
Thank you Father for Jesus. Thank you for sending your only begotten Son… because of your love for us…so that we could know Him, obey Him and be with You forever.
8 Praise our God, O peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard;
9 he has preserved our lives
and kept our feet from slipping.
10 For you, O God, tested us;
you refined us like silver.
11 You brought us into prison
and laid burdens on our backs.
12 You let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water,
but you brought us to a place of abundance. (Psalm 66:8-12 NIV)
We talked about this particular section of verses today. I am not sure that I had ever noticed them before. I know I had never really HEARD them before. Praise God! He put us in prison and laid burdens on our backs! Really? We don’t think like this do we? Praise God for the hardship? I’ve been told to praise God in spite of the hardship, through the hardship, after deliverance from the hardship. But to praise God for the hardship…I’m not sure I know how to do that just yet.
When I have found myself imprisoned by something, (my own bad choices) praising God was not anywhere near the top of the “to-do” list. On the contrary, I have tended to lose hope and even give up on God when I have gone through trials. Too often I say “If God loved me He wouldn’t let this sort of thing happen to me”. I am so wrong in thinking like that! God refines us like silver…by fire…so that we can reflect Him.
On Saturday mornings, we have been studying about Joseph. Every time something went wrong in his life, he acknowledged God. His life was a roller coaster of good and bad, but he never failed to acknowledge God in the events that unfolded. Sold into slavery…promoted to Potiphar’s top guy…where he was pursued by Potiphar’s wife…and thrown into prison when he resisted her advances…where he interpreted dreams…and was forgotten by the man he helped. He eventually tells his brothers (the very ones that sold him as a slave) “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good”. Joseph knew how to praise God for the refining fire.
I guess James is trying to teach us this same concept when he says:
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4 NIV)
Trials do not feel like a gift from God do they? James says trials develop perseverance and perseverance will make us complete…not lacking in anything. I don’t want to be found lacking. I want to be effective for God and if trials and hardships make me more effective for Him…if people will see Him when they look at me…then I want to learn to praise Him for that. Not just endure the trial with gritted teeth and clinched fists…but to be like Joseph and acknowledge God and to realize that even through hard times, God is in control and working to make me better prepared to serve Him.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever. (Psalms 107:1)
Today I am thankful for God’s love, patience and mercy. He saved me, waited patiently for me to come to my senses and had mercy on me when I finally called out to Him. He saved me again. And put wonderful friends in my life to keep me safe and to make me feel loved. I thank Him for each of you. Travel safely. Feel God’s loving hand on you.
The LORD your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.
I saw this verse circled in my Bible tonight as I was flipping through pages to get to the passage we were going to study. The powerful imagery of it struck me again. First of all, I love that phrase “He is mighty to save”. Yeah! I love that. Like someone said tonight, “Jesus is the absolute best super-hero!” But then I see a loving Father singing to His child in order to soothe and comfort. A lullaby. That is what I want!! I want to have that safety…that comfort…that peace. I want to sit in the Father’s lap and hear His lullaby and rest forever in that peace.
What do you think God would want to say to you in His lullaby? I’d love to hear from you.
Waaay back in the ’80’s I had a little baby boy. He was bright-eyed and curious. He had such a logical intellect that he would out-think me somedays…most days probably! But that little guy turned 20 last week. I cannot believe that I have a 20 year old child. I don’t feel much over 20 most of the time myself!! How does this sort of thing happen?
Another “stab in the heart” kind of moment came last month when I took my BABY daughter to middle school. I managed to hold it together until I got back in the car after making sure she got to the right waiting place and after I made sure she had lunch money on account. When I got to the car, I cried a little bit and one thought kept going thru my head “I just left my baby girl with a bunch of junior high boys!!” AAACKKK!
I know that the whole point of having kids is to raise them to be good adults…but wow it just seems to be happening so fast! It honestly doesn’t seem like that long ago when I held them each in my arms for the very first time. Tiny little helpless things, snuggling against me as I held them. My boys are now both taller than me. ( I know, I know. That’s really not saying much) But I’ve still got a couple of inches on my daughter.
I thank God for each of my three kids. They are the reason I am still alive. They make me laugh. They take care of the things they should (for the most part). They are good kids. Thank you Father for each of them…so different from one another…so much a part of me.
3 Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.
4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one’s youth.
(Psalms 127 NIV)
Let’s eat, Grampa.
Let’s eat Grampa.
Grammar saves lives.
This summer has been so busy at work I haven’t had my usual amount of blogging time. I apologize to the three people who read my blog! 
I was tired of looking at the same post so I thought I would put up a few more of the funny one-liners I had previously stolen from another blog.
**I used to be schizophrenic, but we’re okay now.
**The more you complain, the longer God makes you live.
**What happens if you get scared half to death twice?
**Help stamp out and abolish redundancy.
**The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
I hope that you all have a great, relaxing weekend!!
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;
8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
It’s hard to think of “trials” and “pure joy” in the same sentence, but James tells us to do just that if we want to become mature and complete. I want to have everything I need to be effective for the Lord.
I want wisdom to deal with situations that arise daily. James tells me to ask for it because God gives without finding fault.
These words were bouncing around in my head today so I had to let them out somewhere! Don’t be surprised if you come back and I’ve added some more thoughts to this post. Thoughts are brewing in my head and they are not completely sorted out yet…Thanks for reading~
EDIT: How is it possible to face a trial and consider it pure joy? I have had to face trials I would have just as soon walked away from. But I decided that to make my life more in line with what God expected from me and what God intended for me, I had to clinch my fist, grit my teeth and face the trial. Did I consider it joyful? Not at the time. But looking back it was such a relief to get that poison out of my life…to make the changes that would ultimately bring peace to my life and to my heart. Now I thank God for my time of trial. I am closer to Him, more in awe of Him and more in love with Him than I could have imagined. I guess I need to learn to look for the God-things during the time of trial. I want to be able to face the trial knowing that God is teaching me something…that God is working something…trusting that He will get me through it and good will come from it. I have seen it over and over in my own life as well as in others. God disciplines those He loves and my hardest times came as consequences for my poor choices. But I think God built my faith in ways that helped me learn about Him…and helped me learn about myself.
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