Maybe Things Aren't Going to Get Easier

A good friend of mine startled me recently when he said something like...Sometimes God lets us go through some hard things to strengthen us so that when the REALLY hard things come we're ready for them. Maybe things aren't going to get easier. Maybe they're going to get harder.

I really wish I could remember exactly how he put it because something happened in me when he said those words.

Hope! Hope is what happened. I know that doesn't really make sense but suddenly my pain had purpose.

 

I know that God is faithful and I'm looking forward to someday looking back and seeing the work that He is doing in me right now and how it will glorify Him!

Rain, rain, go away...

Are you missing the sun yet? Unfortunately I am one of those people who tend to be a tad melancholy (and tired) when it's cloudy for too many days in a row.

The sun you see in the picture is a gorgeous (the picture does it no justice) piece of art my mother gave me. She did this because several years ago my family relocated to Washington state...for all of 3 months. The lack of sunshine got to me and we decided we had to come home.

Everyone said, "Penny, you knew it rained a lot there!"

To which I replied, "The rain was not my problem, it was the lack of sunshine!"

 Anyway, I begged my mom to paint me a huge picture of the sun so I could gaze upon it every single day no matter what the weather. While the above is not a painting, she never forgot my request and was finally able to honor it by presenting this handmade piece to me for my birthday this year.

And yet I am still tired and even a little (right now a lot) emotional. It's hard sometimes not to get wrapped up in myself but I'm trying to focus on God's goodness and on praying for those who have been hit by these hurricanes and have had to either evacuate or deal with the devastation.

When the tsunami hit Thailand in 2004, David Crowder wrote a song (after watching the news for 2 days straight) called Here is Our King. It is a song of hope and redemption even in the face of crisis. Even when we are devastated by things beyond our control God's desire is to rescue us. The chorus of the song says:

Here is our King

Here is our love

Here is our God who's come

To bring us back to him

He is the one

He is Jesus

It's not the sunshine that I put my hope in, it is in Jesus Christ, my King. And even when I am feeling down he is speaking to me and calling me to serve him. He is my hope.

I guess I'm not sure where this post is heading or how to end it. I've just learned to trust God in sorrow or joy and to rest in Him always, and I'm hoping to encourage any one else who may be down today.

You are not alone, the Lord our God is by your side (and mine).

God is my strength

Psalm 121
(The Message)I look up to the mountains;
does my strength come from mountains?
No, my strength comes from God,
who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.
He won't let you stumble,
your Guardian God won't fall asleep.
Not on your life!
Israel's Guardian will never doze or sleep.
God's your Guardian,
right at your side to protect you—
Shielding you from sunstroke,
sheltering you from moonstroke.
God guards you from every evil,
he guards your very life.
He guards you when you leave and when you return,
he guards you now, he guards you always.

Dirty Feet, Beautiful Day

Sometimes the dirtiest feet are the result of the most beautiful day! That was certainly true on the day this photo was taken.

It was a warm and lovely day in the mid-west and my family spent much of it outside, walking trails, working in the yard, chatting with neighbors and most of all enjoying God's creation.

It's amazing and wonderful to me that even though we will never know the splendor of the Garden of Eden or what the world was like before the atmospheric changes that came with the flood, we can still get a glimpse of God's glory through nature each and every time we pay attention.

Our Churches are Not Meant to Meet Our Every Spiritual Need

Upon entering marriage I found myself believing that my husband would complete me...that he would be my prince charming, my Mr. Right.

You know...we grow up believing these things, looking forward to them.

At some point in time though you have to grow up and realize that your spouse is a person and is not perfect.

Once we realize this we have a choice. We can either become bitter and disillusioned and possibly walk the road toward divorce or we can embrace the fact that God has other plans to make us whole. There is a longing within us that only God is meant to fulfill and when we expect a person to complete us we are setting them up to fail.

Today I began a dialogue with a person very close to me about this same dynamic within the church.

I also became a regular church attender with an idealistic expectation of what that meant and what I would get out of it. But again at some point I had to grow up and realize that it's okay if the church does not meet my every spiritual need.

Maybe God wants to grow my faith during our alone time or through my job at the Christian coffeehouse I work at. Maybe God wants to stretch me as I minister to my neighbors or interact with my kids.

My church experience and my marriage have both greatly benefited from me attempting to extend unconditional love and lowering my expectations. Not only are my relationships stronger but I am a happier and healthier person too.

Lots of love...

Surrender Can Be a Good Thing

Do you remember the R.E.M. song, "Everybody Hurts"? Some of the lyrics are as follows...

"Everybody hurts. Take comfort in your friends. Everybody hurts. Don't throw your hand. Oh, no. Don't throw your hand. If you feel like you're alone, no, no, no, you are not alone"

I've always concluded that when Michael Stipe counsels his listeners not to throw their hands he means, "Don't give in to this pain." Good advice and when this song came out in the early '90's it was just the sort of instruction I needed.

Lately though, I've been pondering the lyrics of a song a friend of mine wrote a few years ago called, "Grace". In this song Jeff speaks of something much different than Michael Stipe but they both use similar phrases. Jeff says, "Remove the stain and I stand and throw my hands and give you all that I am..." Mr. Stipe says, "Don't throw your hand."

Both songs speak of surrender. One says "don't surrender to the pain" and the other says "I chose to surrender to God".

Fifteen years and a conversion to Christianity after I heard the first song I can now add to the original good advice "go ahead and throw your hands... not in surrender to pain and depression but in surrender to God, and let him help you deal with and work through your pain."

Zacchaeus Was Short, What's Our Excuse?

"Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way." Luke 19: 1-4 NIV

Zacchaeus had a pretty good reason for not being able to see Jesus. The Bible says he was short. I wonder sometimes what my problem is. Not that I don't know Jesus at all or never see him, but I do feel like I miss his presence much of the time. Size is not my problem but aren't we all "short" in one way or another?

What keeps us from seeing Jesus? What can we do to overcome what holds us back?

Zacchaeus refused to be held back. He climbed that great big tree and not only did he get to see Jesus but Jesus called him by name.