The Ministry of His Word

“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5: 7

I am clinging to this verse today for dear life. More than today, this is my life-verse! It sits in a place of prominence in my heart and in my mind, and it comes to me on a daily basis right when I need it…like this morning.

I don’t know about you, but waiting for a dreaded medical appointment really clouds my days. My thoughts take me into roads I should not travel, and I end up in great need for an extra dose of trust. My devotional today offered me just that by reminding me of this verse, and for that I am determined not to let the timeliness of His delivery go unnoticed. I praise Him for my anxiety, though great today, did not cloud my vision, as it would have in the past, and I was able to clearly see His message of peace and love this morning. I call that progress in my book!

Therefore, I resolve, by the power of the One Who Cares for me, to throw ALL my anxiety on Him at this moment. Not only my anxiety itself, but better yet, I will cast upon Him all the sources of my anxiety. I will put them all at the foot of the Cross.  My health concerns, financial/job fears, my sons, my husband, my extended family, my ability to be the person He desires me to be, my feelings of inadequacy, my sense of loss, and all the challenges this life has to offer…they all go to Him today, one by one. I am nailing them to the tree. I hear the clinking sound of the hammer hitting each nail on the head. I hear the sound of the cracking wood underneath. I hear the sound of the redemption and forgiveness that sets me free.

After all, it is for freedom that He has set me free (Galatians 5:1). And this is the freedom, that we would never be slaves to false idols, ideas, our past, our personality, our tendencies, our circumstances, our health, our bodies, our feelings, our emotions, or anything that can snare our will and determination to rest on Him and keep our eyes on the One Who is in control, the One who cares for us.

The freedom that comes from Christ is the one that allows me to toss the sources of my anxiety away from my soul into His all-consuming fire. And for that, all I have to do is say thank you in humility and love, for I am certainly, completely undeserving of His mercy.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 

1 Peter 5: 6

Thank you, Lord, for ministering to me through the power of your Word.

Linking with: Graced Simplicity

Honest Tears

He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him. Psalm 126: 6

Well, if I am not the worst person in the world to talk about planting, gardening, farming or the like, I don’t know who it would be…I am SO NOT a gardener or anything like that. The only time I actually planted anything was 2 years ago in my old house. I planted tomatoes that rotted at the bottom and some lilies that got eaten by ants. That is the extent of my gardening experience. However, my lack of skill does not impede me to understand the metaphor. I DO get it! I see the symbolism perfectly. I comprehend the struggle involved in putting the seeds in the ground, to then nurse them, water them, and weed them for days without end, without seeing anything…until one day, finally! A little sprout breaks through the ground. Pure joy!

That’s why I love planting analogies in Scripture. They capture the essence of life. One of those passages from His Word that I treasure is Psalm 126: 5-6. I heard Beth Moore talking about it years ago and it stuck with me. Then, like a week ago it resurfaced in my devotional to once again move my soul.

The prayer in my little book says: “Help me to see that the promise is not made to those who simply have tears but to those who are willing to sow seed in the midst of their tears.”

Reading those lines truly shook me. I have been doing a lot of crying lately, but have I been “sowing seeds” while I weep? The thought convicted me. 

The seed in Scripture usually refers to the Word, as we see Jesus explain it in Mark 4 and Matthew 13. “The farmer sows the Word,” Jesus says to His disciples in Mark 4: 14. In Psalm 126 we are the farmers. We are the ones who “go out weeping, carrying sees to sow.” We carry the seed, The Word, in us, hidden in our hearts (Psalm 119:11). So what are we to do with it as we go out weeping? Are we to keep it stored in our little seed packets until we feel better about ourselves and about life and our circumstances? Not according to Psalm 126. We are to carry the seed “to sow” it. Then, we will be able to return in joy, carrying the harvest of our hard work. Beth Moore went a step further and said that our tears will water the newly planted seed. It is our tears, therefore, what nourishes the soil that will receive that seed and to it grow. 

In the sorrowful and stressed-out-frazzled-state that I currently find myself in, I have to wonder if my tears have watered much else than my pillow. I admit that, sometimes, I have forgotten to do the planting. The promise is so wonderful and rewarding, however, that it becomes the perfect motivation to not let my tears flow in vain. I want to remember that their purpose is to nourish the soil where the seed will be planted further along. The calling is for our tears to have the purpose of preparing the soul of those who will receive the Word as we try to plant it in the midst of our weeping. 

Perhaps now I/we could dare to say that we are all gardeners after all. Our seed may not yield luscious produce or gorgeous flowers. But it will surely not be rotted or eaten away either, for the seed we seek to plant will bring about a crop of eternal value, through the power of Christ and by the honesty of our tears.

Linking with Whole Hearted Home and Simply Helping Him

A Voice Across the Miles

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. Isaiah 55: 8

Four years is a long time to not have heard from someone you love. It is time enough, however, to begin to wonder if you will ever hear from them again or ever have them near. It is long enough to see hope begin to wither. By human standards, that is. By the standards of The One Who Rules Time, things work a little different. Sometimes, it is so different that it is almost impossible to comprehend. But it doesn’t matter in the end, for we have the certainty that, even when we don’t understand them, His ways are best.

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.…Isaiah 55:9

The phone rings and a voice you thought forgotten travels across the distance and the disappointments, making you believe again. Though still miles away, the hope of a bridge that will close the wide gap carved by pain emerges as a faint promise in the horizon. And you dare to dream one more time.

It is not a dream, however, if it comes from the hands of the Most High. It is just part of the unfolding of His plan, written for each of His children individually, since before we were in our mother’s wombs. He has always known. Nothing surprises Him. The depth of our despair doesn’t repel Him. The extreme of our need and loneliness doesn’t scare Him. There is no place He cannot find us. We are never so lost that the sound of His voice calling our names cannot reach us. He is the Good Shepherd and He watches over us even when we don’t see Him or have forgotten about Him. His plan of redemption is flawless, even when it sometimes includes gaping wounds that we don’t know how to mend. He is in charge of them. He heals them with His touch. He heals them with His love and He makes us whole again.

Four years is a long time to wait to hear from someone. But it may just be long enough for Love to allow the healing to begin.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:7

Linking with: Titus-2sday and Counting Our Blessings

Once again I'm hanging at the mercy of test results...well...not really...I know I am NOT, for, like the old hymn says,

Many things about tomorrow
I don't seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand.

Despite of the knowledge of His presence, however, anxiety has a hold on me.  So, in my frazzled state, this morning, as I was getting ready for my first day back to work after my surgery, my mind was playing tricks on me. I was very nervous. I kept thinking I was going to forget something or that I was not going to be able to teach my courses well. On top of that, from the back of my mind, the thoughts of upcoming test results were adding to my discombobulated state. Dylan's bus was going to be here any minute, so I decided to go wait in the car by the end of the driveway. As soon as I put the car on park to sit and wait, I turned the radio on and the sound of another song filled the air.

I can't tell you what the lyrics really said because I wasn't paying attention but to the chorus, which repeated over and over several times: "His Grace is Enough, His Grace is Enough."

It repeated enough times in a row that it actually caught my attention in a way that it made me listen and realize what the Lord was trying to tell me at that moment. In my frazzled state, He whispered, through this song, that He sees me, and that He knows what I need...and once again He reminded me a lesson He has been trying to teach me for a long while:  He's got this and He will take care of me and my loved ones no matter what.

I looked out the window and I saw Dylan's bus turning the corner into our neighborhood. We quickly got out of the car and I said my goodbyes to my young son as he hurried his little legs to the bus. I praised God for the privilege to be here for him today, and as I walked back to my car, I thanked Him for His patience and for, once again, reminding me that His Grace is, indeed, all I need.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Linking with:  Monday Musings

Nothing But a Vapor...

Nothing makes us consider our mortality as facing an illness. Big or small, health concerns have a way to make us stop and ponder....Even a paper cut decreases our productivity as we waste time walking around in circles with our finger in our mouth not knowing what to do once that thin sheet of paper has somehow, inadvertently slit through our skin...

Today, I'm recovering at home after surgery and of course, the gears in my brain have begun to churn away thoughts of worry and scenarios filled with unpleasant "what ifs." After all, our lives are nothing but a vapor... 

a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes...(James 4: 14) So it is only natural that thoughts of our own mortality may overcome us at times..."here today and gone tomorrow" as the author of Ecclesiastes reminds us. 

Our Lord, however, does not want us to spend our days in useless worry. He has told us many times to not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will come with its own worries, but He'll take care of them all. The important thing is to seek Him...and He'll make all things work together for the good of His purpose.

There is a choice, therefore. As we confront the trials of life and have a chance to stare at our mortality face to face, we can choose to waste our precious time in senseless panic about what tomorrow may bring; or we can choose to fix our eyes on Him as He guides us through the storm. It is all about choosing to bask in His love.

He wants us to live a life of abundance...a life immersed in the abundant love that He pours down on us in unlimited supply day by day. Let's not waste it then on baseless speculation and unfaithful fears. Instead, let's remember the words that Paul wrote for the Ephesians as we pray that we may begin to grasp the inexpressible depth of Our Father's love...

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. 
Ephesians 3: 14-21

I pray that as I recover from surgery, my heart is strengthened in His love and that my life may become a testimony of His power and mercy...and that through paper cuts and cancer, we can all realize that we are rooted in His love and that the immeasurable power of His Hand rests in us, rendering us, therefore, victorious overcomers.

Well, I know that prayer is the most effective way of maintaining the line of communication with God active an open. It is the way we keep tapped into His source of infinite strength and power. It is the way of miracles…then…why is it that I so often neglect it?

As a frazzled woman, I neglect prayer because I get distracted by the busyness of life and the many worries that occupy my mind. 

Lately, however, the Lord, in His compassion and patience, has been leading me back to the way of prayer. Throughout the last several months and due to the many changes and challenges I have been through, Christ has helped me rediscover the power of prayer. It has happened mainly guided by the example of prayer warriors who surround me and cover me with their persistent prayers which never cease. One of those prayer champions is my dear friend Helen.

Helen is a very special lady, whose many gifts include a huge heart for prayer. She keeps a list of petitions and praises which she goes over twice a day. Needless to say, most people who know Helen, make an effort to get in her list every time they have a need. I have had the privilege of being in her list for a long time now, as well as the rest of my family. I think our names are in with permanent ink by now. And I praise God for that.

But through Helen’s dedication, the Lord has taught me, or reminded me, rather, the importance of a life of consistent prayer. Ever since I began to follow Helen’s example and started compiling my own modest list, I have seen the hand of God in action more than ever! In my own life as well as in the lives of those whose names I have in my prayer list, I have seen the power of the will of God in action.

It is not that we can manipulate God into doing what we want Him to do by praying. It is that through prayer we get to see what He can do as He unfolds His will in front of us. It is the way that we remain tuned into His “program” for our lives so we don’t miss a thing. It is the way that we stay aware and watch Him be on the move.

As a frazzled woman, I need to be extra intentional in my prayer life. That’s why I need to pay attention to women like my dear Helen, whose frazzled years have long stayed behind, and now is dedicated to a life of prayer that constitutes a vivid reminder of how Our Lord uses each one of His children for the furthering of His Kingdom and the unveiling of His plan.

Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5: 17

Linking with Simply Helping Him and Whole Hearted Home

Never Truly Alone

Sometimes we have to go to that place…the place to where nobody else will go with us…the place where we feel completely alone, just to realize that we are not…just to know, for sure, that He is with us. His great love is not snared by selfishness, so He never abandons us. 

In His great patience and compassion, He is never overwhelmed by the great depth of our need and desperation. In His great Mercy, He is never repelled by the grip of our fear. He is the ONLY ONE who can take the burden of all our worries and the heavy weight of our anxiety away from us as He carries them all to the cross.

Even when the lights are off and we feel alone…He is the One who is always there…He never abandons us…He goes with us through the steepest mountains and the darkest valleys…He is never gone. But sometimes we don’t get to realize this truth, until the whole world turns its back on us and we are submerged into the pit of loneliness. That’s what it takes, sometimes, to realize that He is there with us. Once the clutter, the noise, the distractions disappear, that’s when our eyes open up and we clearly see that He is near.