I've had this little thought mulling in my mind now for some. It comes on me when I am in big crowds, when I am in the middle of someone trying to build some big and important, it comes on me when I feel small and insignificant and overlooked. Here is my thought, that I am still having a hard time putting into words.
We all need people to look us in eye, who are willing to spend ONE ON ONE time with us, and to show us we are loved.
You see the thing is, the world is big, and there are lots of people we know who are acquaintances. Everyone is so busy, with so many things to do. It is easier to make broad sweeping statements and connect with a lot of people than to sit down face to face over your favorite beverage, and really listen, and connect to a persons heart. To allow their joys to become your joys, their hurts to become your hurts, to reach out and say, "I don't have the answers, but I know someone who does, and I can pray for you."
I know I have done it so many times. I am consumed, consumed with my work, my house, my husband, my kids, getting things done, making sure I look like I have it together.
When what most people want from me is to love them, not to impress them.
And the honest truth is I have felt it from others. I have not felt that I am person to be loved, but someone to impress, someone to wow with who they are. But I realize that this stems from an insecurity, from them wanting to be loved themselves.
Dear Lord, please help me to get over myself. Help me to walk in love and reach out to others and really hear and love them. And please help them to forgive me when I fall short and fail them. Lord, you said the greatest thing is love. Help me to remember this and realize it isn't about my possessions or living the American dream, having a nice big house, nice car, looking good on the outside. But it is love. I fail constantly. Please Father, change me and my heart. I know I have limitations. I am limited right now with 3 young children, and a special needs child. Getting out of my house is difficult. But when I have the chance, help me to love, and just enjoy the friendships you have blessed me with.
Help me to love others, not strive to impress. One on one is never time wasted. Help me as a mom to realize this as well, that my time is not wasted in investing in only a couple little hearts and hands, but it is precious, it is fruitful, it is meaningful and deep.
And I thank you for those people who have been willing to give of that most precious gift, themselves and their time, to reach out, listen and care. Please bless them.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Jesus said, "You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings."
"Jesus said to the people who believed in Him, "You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.""
I really want to be Jesus' disciples. So, what are some of Jesus' main teachings? What a study that would be!
Off of the top of my head
I know for myself it is hard to remain faithful to Jesus' teachings. This world is so huge. There are so many voices. You google a question, you have thousand of answers in seconds.
It is so hard to choose to listen to that still small voice above all. But that is what I need to do. Every other thing is temporary, having to do with this life. As Peter said,
"Lord, to whom else should we go, You alone have the Words of eternal life."
Lord, help us to remain faithful to Your teachings. Help us not to just be happy with reading the words, please help us to meditate on them, let them change us deeply inside, and then changing our life on the outside.
I know I have failed, many times. But once again I choose You. I choose Your teachings. Please, do Your part in my sanctification, my heart, my life, my salvation. As I choose to do mine.
I really want to be Jesus' disciples. So, what are some of Jesus' main teachings? What a study that would be!
Off of the top of my head
- Believe in Him. John 3:16- "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotton Son, that whosoever should believe in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life."
- Love one another
- Forgive one another
I know for myself it is hard to remain faithful to Jesus' teachings. This world is so huge. There are so many voices. You google a question, you have thousand of answers in seconds.
It is so hard to choose to listen to that still small voice above all. But that is what I need to do. Every other thing is temporary, having to do with this life. As Peter said,
"Lord, to whom else should we go, You alone have the Words of eternal life."
Lord, help us to remain faithful to Your teachings. Help us not to just be happy with reading the words, please help us to meditate on them, let them change us deeply inside, and then changing our life on the outside.
I know I have failed, many times. But once again I choose You. I choose Your teachings. Please, do Your part in my sanctification, my heart, my life, my salvation. As I choose to do mine.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Singing in the night
It started a couple of days ago, and I barely noticed, but this evening, when the discouragement ran deep, when so many things piled on, one on top of another, it was clearer, stronger.
Just as the sun started to go down one little solitary bird sang a few notes. And then the darkness descended and fell, and when the darkness descended, the bird sang loud and strong, right outside my window. I still didn't understand.
"That bird is so funny," I tell my husband, "why is he singing? It's nightime." And now it is midnight, close to the darkest hour, and right outside my window, he has sung yet another clear, strong, solitary song.
I do believe it is a sign from You, my Father in Heaven. I have been in a season of night. And we know that "joy comes in the morning". But even in this season of night, there can be a song, and it is unexpected and more obvious than if it had been at the normal times.
Perhaps I can choose to sing just like this bird parked right outside my window. And my song doesn't have to be fake. It doesn't have to say my circumstances are perfect, or that I am perfect (far from it), but maybe it can be a sacrifice of praise. The song itself is not that beautiful, but it is the offering, the daring to sing like it is morning when it is the middle of the night. For the Lord is my light. And He alone is my strength and my song.
Thank you Lord, that in this time of night, and when the sorrow and disappointment can run deep, that we can learn from Your creation to sing in the night. That You alone are our song, not our circumstances, our crushed dreams, our dashed hopes. And in the darkest night, the songs come out clear and strong, clearer and stronger than they would in the bright day.
And so it is with You my Father. Your songs calm my heart and touch me more when my sufferings envelope me.
There is a theology of suffering, and I know it is a good study, a good, strong study. One of the best. And you allow those whom you love to suffer. But as of now, I am too weary to completely understand. All I know is "Your strength is made perfect in weakness" and you have truly given me
songs in the night.
Thank you my Father. You weary daughter, who must go to bed.
Just as the sun started to go down one little solitary bird sang a few notes. And then the darkness descended and fell, and when the darkness descended, the bird sang loud and strong, right outside my window. I still didn't understand.
"That bird is so funny," I tell my husband, "why is he singing? It's nightime." And now it is midnight, close to the darkest hour, and right outside my window, he has sung yet another clear, strong, solitary song.
I do believe it is a sign from You, my Father in Heaven. I have been in a season of night. And we know that "joy comes in the morning". But even in this season of night, there can be a song, and it is unexpected and more obvious than if it had been at the normal times.
Perhaps I can choose to sing just like this bird parked right outside my window. And my song doesn't have to be fake. It doesn't have to say my circumstances are perfect, or that I am perfect (far from it), but maybe it can be a sacrifice of praise. The song itself is not that beautiful, but it is the offering, the daring to sing like it is morning when it is the middle of the night. For the Lord is my light. And He alone is my strength and my song.
Thank you Lord, that in this time of night, and when the sorrow and disappointment can run deep, that we can learn from Your creation to sing in the night. That You alone are our song, not our circumstances, our crushed dreams, our dashed hopes. And in the darkest night, the songs come out clear and strong, clearer and stronger than they would in the bright day.
And so it is with You my Father. Your songs calm my heart and touch me more when my sufferings envelope me.
There is a theology of suffering, and I know it is a good study, a good, strong study. One of the best. And you allow those whom you love to suffer. But as of now, I am too weary to completely understand. All I know is "Your strength is made perfect in weakness" and you have truly given me
songs in the night.
Thank you my Father. You weary daughter, who must go to bed.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Why to stay in community.... even when you've been hurt.
These are not my words. They are from other writers better than me.
Love can only be comprehended in community. You need imperfect people in your life to perfect your practice of love.
There are no solitary saints; all sanctification is forged in community.
Read, enjoy.
http://www.incourage.me/2012/04/why-you-need-to-find-community-even-when-youre-really-hurting.html
Love can only be comprehended in community. You need imperfect people in your life to perfect your practice of love.
There are no solitary saints; all sanctification is forged in community.
Read, enjoy.
http://www.incourage.me/2012/04/why-you-need-to-find-community-even-when-youre-really-hurting.html
Friday, February 17, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Feb. 16 2012
Encouraging Quotes
"Are you passing through a night of sorrow? This thing is from Me. I am the Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief. I have let earthly comforters fail you that by turning to me you may obtain everlasting consolation. (II Thes. 2:16-17) Have you longed to do some great work for me but instead have been laid aside on a bed of pain and weakness? This thing is from Me. I could not get your attention in your busy days and I want to teach you some of My deepest lessons. "They also serve who only stand and wait." Some of my greatest workers are those shut out from active service, that they may learn to yield the weapon of all prayer.
This day I place in your hand this pot of holy oil. Make use of it free my child. Let every circumstance that arises, every words that pains you, every interruption that would make you impatient, every revelation of your weakness be anointed with it. The sting will go as you learn to see me in all things." Streams in the Desert - Feb. 3
"A visitor at a school for the deaf and dumb was writing questions on the blackboard for the children. By and by he wrote this sentence: "Why has God made me to hear and speak, and made you deaf and dumb? "
The awful sentence fell upon the little ones like a fierce blow in the face. They sat palsied before that dreadful, "Why?" And then a little girl arose.
Her lip was trembling. Her eyes were swimming with tears. Straight to the board she walked, and picking up the crayons, wrote with firm hand these precious words: "Even so, Father for it seemed good in they sight!" What a reply! It reaches up and lays hold of an eternal truth upon which the maturest believer as well as the youngest child of God may alike securely rest- the truth that God is your Father.
Do you mean that? Do you really and fully believe that? When you do, then your dove of faith will no longer wander in weary unrest, but will settle down forever in its eternal resting place of peace. "Your Father!" I can still believe that a day comes for all of us, however far off it may be, when we shall understand; when these tragedies that now black and darken the very air of heaven for us, will sink into their places in a scheme so august, so magnificent, so joyful, that we shall laugh for wonder and delight." Arthur Christopher Bacon. Streams in the Desert. Feb. 12
"The very fact of trial proves that there is something in us very precious to our Lord; else He would not spend so much pains and time on us. Christ would not test us if He did not see the precious ore of faith migled in the rocky matrix of our nature; and it is to bring this out into purity and beauty that He forces us through the fiery ordeal.
Be patient, O sufferer! The result will more than compensate for all our trials, when we see how they wrought out the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. To have one word of God's commendation, to be honored before the holy angels; the be glorified in Christ, so as to be better able to flash His glory on Himself- at! that will more than repay for all." Streams in the Desert- Feb. 16
"Are you passing through a night of sorrow? This thing is from Me. I am the Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief. I have let earthly comforters fail you that by turning to me you may obtain everlasting consolation. (II Thes. 2:16-17) Have you longed to do some great work for me but instead have been laid aside on a bed of pain and weakness? This thing is from Me. I could not get your attention in your busy days and I want to teach you some of My deepest lessons. "They also serve who only stand and wait." Some of my greatest workers are those shut out from active service, that they may learn to yield the weapon of all prayer.
This day I place in your hand this pot of holy oil. Make use of it free my child. Let every circumstance that arises, every words that pains you, every interruption that would make you impatient, every revelation of your weakness be anointed with it. The sting will go as you learn to see me in all things." Streams in the Desert - Feb. 3
"A visitor at a school for the deaf and dumb was writing questions on the blackboard for the children. By and by he wrote this sentence: "Why has God made me to hear and speak, and made you deaf and dumb? "
The awful sentence fell upon the little ones like a fierce blow in the face. They sat palsied before that dreadful, "Why?" And then a little girl arose.
Her lip was trembling. Her eyes were swimming with tears. Straight to the board she walked, and picking up the crayons, wrote with firm hand these precious words: "Even so, Father for it seemed good in they sight!" What a reply! It reaches up and lays hold of an eternal truth upon which the maturest believer as well as the youngest child of God may alike securely rest- the truth that God is your Father.
Do you mean that? Do you really and fully believe that? When you do, then your dove of faith will no longer wander in weary unrest, but will settle down forever in its eternal resting place of peace. "Your Father!" I can still believe that a day comes for all of us, however far off it may be, when we shall understand; when these tragedies that now black and darken the very air of heaven for us, will sink into their places in a scheme so august, so magnificent, so joyful, that we shall laugh for wonder and delight." Arthur Christopher Bacon. Streams in the Desert. Feb. 12
"The very fact of trial proves that there is something in us very precious to our Lord; else He would not spend so much pains and time on us. Christ would not test us if He did not see the precious ore of faith migled in the rocky matrix of our nature; and it is to bring this out into purity and beauty that He forces us through the fiery ordeal.
Be patient, O sufferer! The result will more than compensate for all our trials, when we see how they wrought out the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. To have one word of God's commendation, to be honored before the holy angels; the be glorified in Christ, so as to be better able to flash His glory on Himself- at! that will more than repay for all." Streams in the Desert- Feb. 16
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
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