Lent and Easter season

It is the night before Easter..... a truly special night in our Christian faith and tradition.

I missed really celebrating Good Friday with other Christians, our church didn't have a service, but I have been thinking about and pondering it for awhile.

It is a beautiful, holy season indeed.  It is amazing that our faith is built upon the death of Jesus, that betrayal, being forsaken, wounded, hurt, etc., is what He went through.  He is so familiar with the sorrows that we people go through on this earth.  What a beautiful Savior who loves and cares for us and understands us so well.

This year for Lent I tried to give up Facebook.  I say tried because I didn't do it completely, but at least I tried.  I realized I was becoming obsessed, and I was becoming angry, especially over the new little political updates on the right hand side.  I realized I had a Facebook addiction as well.  It was affecting my family, my marriage, and my housework.  It also became a place that I did not feel was safe.  Little tidbits of information seemed to caused fighting and dissension rather than deep understanding.  There are a lot of good things about Facebook, but it was becoming an unhealthy place for me at that time.

I still have a ways to go, but it has been so freeing to step back from it a bit.  I feel I want to continue to step back for awhile.  The other day as I was driving I felt the Lord told me to say, "Lord, my Facebook page is Yours."  The may sound silly to some, but submitting everything to Jesus is what I know we are supposed to do.  I still don't know what that will look like, but I want it to be His.  I want no Facebook addiction.  I want to walk in wisdom in social media.  It is a dangerous tricky medium. It has also brought a lot of blessing.  It has so many pros and cons.

But I am so grateful I did a Facebook fast over Lent.  I felt I could think more clearly, and there was a lot of freedom for me.  I will still use Facebook, it is a powerful communication tool. but I pray it will be with more wisdom and even less.  The Bible says that with fewer words comes wisdom.

Anyways, tomorrow I am helping out with worship at Easter service.  I am looking forward to it.  I am looking forward to worshipping.

God is good.  God is faithful.  I am grateful for Easter season.  I am so grateful Jesus has risen and sits in heaven at the right hand of the Father interceding for me.  I am grateful that my salvation is not dependent on me.  How incredibly loving and gracious Jesus has been to me, a sinner, so weak, so who I should not be.  And yet He loves me anyways and laid down His life for me.   I love You Jesus, and I am so grateful.

When you have passed through the shadow.....

It was a nice night for me.  I had a bit of a long drive to my seminary wives meeting (I live an hour to an hour and a half away).  I had forgotten that a couple who had a special needs child would be on the speakers panel.

The other speakers spoke freely and easily, talking about date nights, walks, time to listen the members in the family, taking vacations to nourish their soul.

The special needs couple spoke rawly of barely getting enough sleep at night, 2-3 hours of uninterrupted sleep was a luxury.  3 am came around with needs for children 5 nights in a row.  The stress showed through, the inability to speak easily and in a relaxed manner as the exhaustion and sorrow affected the emotional, mental and physical wellbeing of the couple.

How my heart ached for them.  I saw so much of myself in them.  I was in the same boat just less than a year ago.  After 3 years of a constantly fussy child, numerous hospital trips and stays, the stress of a marriage trying to bear the weight of a special needs child.

I saw the breaking..... God has chosen to break me.   And yet now, in His grace, He was rebuilding me.  This dear couple was still in the middle of the breaking.

There is something about having walked through the valley of the shadow.  How do you explain it to someone who has never been there.  You just can't.  You just pray that somehow the Lord will bring You through to the other side.  He has (mostly) don't this for me.  Now I pray for others.

Brokenness is not my favorite subject.  I really have no desire to live there.  And yet God has brought me through it many times.  And God speaks much and often of brokenness.  Pray for those who are being broken.  Pray that God will bring them through it.  It is a hurting world.  Only God can truly redeem those broken times.

Must go to bed.  Little one woke up crying, and my own special needs guy will probably be up at 3 as well.

God is good my friends.  He is the hope for the broken world.  I want to spend more time meditating on these.  May they comfort our hearts.  His Word brings such hope and healing.  

Psalm 34:18 ESV / 285 helpful votes

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

Psalm 51:17 ESV / 180 helpful votes

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Psalm 147:3 ESV / 141 helpful votes

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Isaiah 57:15 ESV / 90 helpful votes

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

John 12:24 ESV / 88 helpful votes

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV / 88 helpful votes

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Psalm 31:12 ESV / 78 helpful votes

I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.

2 Corinthians 1:8-10 ESV / 69 helpful votes

For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.

James 4:6 ESV / 63 helpful votes

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Matthew 5:2-12 ESV / 63 helpful votes

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. ...

Isaiah 66:2 ESV / 53 helpful votes

All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

Galatians 2:20 ESV / 50 helpful votes

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

James 5:16 ESV / 36 helpful votes

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Isaiah 66:1-2 ESV / 35 helpful votes

Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

Psalm 51:1-19 ESV / 28 helpful votes

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. ...

1 John 1:9 ESV / 27 helpful votes

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Jeremiah 18:1-23 ESV / 26 helpful votes

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. Then the word of the Lord came to me: ...

Matthew 5:3-4 ESV / 24 helpful votes

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Acts 20:24 ESV / 23 helpful votes

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Romans 3:10 ESV / 19 helpful votes

As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;

John 14:1-31 ESV / 18 helpful votes

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ...

Romans 6:23 ESV / 17 helpful votes

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Proverbs 17:22 ESV / 17 helpful votes

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Psalm 31:23 ESV / 17 helpful votes

Love the Lord, all you his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.

1 Samuel 30:1-6 ESV / 15 helpful votes

Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way. And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. David's two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. ...

Hosea 10:12 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

Ephesians 3:1-21 ESV / 10 helpful votes

For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. ...

Romans 5:1-21 ESV / 10 helpful votes

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. ...

Zechariah 4:10 ESV / 10 helpful votes

For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. “These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which range through the whole earth.”

Isaiah 61:1-11 ESV / 10 helpful votes

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks; foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers; ...

John 14:6 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Luke 23:34 ESV / 8 helpful votes

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

Luke 19:40 ESV / 8 helpful votes

He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Psalm 130:1-2 ESV / 7 helpful votes

A Song of Ascents. Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

1 Chronicles 9:1-44 ESV / 7 helpful votes

So all Israel was recorded in genealogies, and these are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. And Judah was taken into exile in Babylon because of their breach of faith. Now the first to dwell again in their possessions in their cities were Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the temple servants. And some of the people of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh lived in Jerusalem: Uthai the son of Ammihud, son of Omri, son of Imri, son of Bani, from the sons of Perez the son of Judah. And of the Shilonites: Asaiah the firstborn, and his sons. ...

Romans 3:23 ESV / 6 helpful votes

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

2 Chronicles 7:13 ESV / 6 helpful votes

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people,

1 Timothy 1:9 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers,

Matthew 5:1-48 ESV / 5 helpful votes

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. ...

Job 1:1-22 ESV / 5 helpful votes

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually. ...

Psalm 40:1-5 ESV / 4 helpful votes  

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie! You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.

Psalm 103

Psalm 103New Living Translation (NLT)

Psalm 103

A psalm of David.

1 Let all that I am praise the Lord;
    with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
2 Let all that I am praise the Lord;
    may I never forget the good things he does for me.
3 He forgives all my sins
    and heals all my diseases.
4 He redeems me from death
    and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
5 He fills my life with good things.
    My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

6 The Lord gives righteousness
    and justice to all who are treated unfairly.

7 He revealed his character to Moses
    and his deeds to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
    slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
9 He will not constantly accuse us,
    nor remain angry forever.
10 He does not punish us for all our sins;
    he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
    is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
12 He has removed our sins as far from us
    as the east is from the west.
13 The Lord is like a father to his children,
    tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
14 For he knows how weak we are;
    he remembers we are only dust.
15 Our days on earth are like grass;
    like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
16 The wind blows, and we are gone—
    as though we had never been here.
17 But the love of the Lord remains forever
    with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
18     of those who are faithful to his covenant,
    of those who obey his commandments!

19 The Lord has made the heavens his throne;
    from there he rules over everything.

20 Praise the Lord, you angels,
    you mighty ones who carry out his plans,
    listening for each of his commands.
21 Yes, praise the Lord, you armies of angels
    who serve him and do his will!
22 Praise the Lord, everything he has created,
    everything in all his kingdom.

Let all that I am praise the Lord.