Last week left me with no words. Donald Trump won the election, and the world went haywire. It all felt so surreal. I fully anticipated riots in the streets or perhaps even an assassination attempt, but what caught me completely off guard was the way people turned so bitterly and venomously against each other. I couldn't tear myself away from the news and Facebook, just sinking deeper and deeper into depression and disbelief at everything I was seeing. On Facebook alone, there were venomous words towards those who voted the "wrong" way, unfriending, unfollowing, and story after story of racial hatred towards others. For a few days after the election, I just felt like being quiet as I took it all in. I shouldn't have been surprised at the depravity that was spewing from people's hearts, but I was. The last straw for me was watching a video on Friday night of a mom torturing her child by telling him he was kicked out of the house for voting for Trump in the mock school election. This poor boy, probably no older than nine years old, was crying and screaming, thinking his mom was truly kicking him out into the streets. I cried with him. It was just too much. This week still leaves me at a loss for words, so I'm just going to share some of God's. These words that follow are a portion of what I read on Saturday morning as part of a read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plan, and they reminded me of the hope we have in Christ. They felt particularly applicable and/or encouraging given the events of the last week. One day God will put all things right! These are words of prophecy about Jesus from the Old Testament book of Isaiah, and some words to Christians in the New Testament imploring us to walk in the unity and love of Christ, giving direction on how we should treat one another. Enjoy. Isaiah 9: 1-71 But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. 2 The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them. 3 You shall multiply the nation, You shall increase their gladness; They will be glad in Your presence As with the gladness of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. 4 For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian. 5 For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult, And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire. 6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. Isaiah 11:1-101 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; 4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. 5 Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist. 6 And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. 7 Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. 9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea. 10 Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious. Isaiah 121 Then you will say on that day, “I will give thanks to You, O Lord; For although You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, And You comfort me. 2 “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For the Lord God is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.” 3 Therefore you will joyously draw water From the springs of salvation. 4 And in that day you will say, “Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name. Make known His deeds among the peoples; Make them remember that His name is exalted.” 5 Praise the Lord in song, for He has done excellent things; Let this be known throughout the earth. 6 Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. Ephesians 41 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, And He gave gifts to men.” 9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) 11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. 17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20 But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. 25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. 26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity. 28 He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. 29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
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This is a story of God’s faithfulness and answer to prayer regarding a lifelong friendship of mine. It makes my heart so full of joy every time I think about how God worked throughout our lives and friendship! I share this story, both because it’s encouraging to my soul to remember what God has done in my life, and because I hope that it might encourage someone else to put their hope and trust in God to work in their own difficult situation, whatever it may be. This is also a story of God not giving up on people. Distance, brokenness, failures don’t stop Him from loving you and those you care about, nor from accomplishing His greater purpose in the lives of His children. FriendshipA true friend is such a blessing, and I’ve been blessed to have one of these friends in my life. She’s one of those friends with whom you can pick up right where you left off, even when time and distance and brokenness has gotten in the way. My best friend and I met when we were about nine years old. We lived in the same neighborhood, and every now and then I would see her riding her bike around, and I wanted to meet her. Our brothers were already friends, so it seemed natural that we should be friends too! Despite her being the more outgoing one, every time I would start to approach her to say “hi,” she’d ride her bike back home, or run down the hill back to her house. But I was determined! Once I finally managed to introduce myself, we were inseparable from that point on. During the summers, we would spend several days at a time together. We’d play all day, and then she’d spend the night at my house. The next day, we’d play all day again, and then I’d go spend the night at her house. We never got tired of each other’s company. We spent our days reading teen magazines to learn all the fashion and make-up tips, playing outside building forts, singing all the songs from our favorite movies, having deep talks, and sharing secrets with each other. We even started an odd-job service in our neighborhood together, since we were too young to have jobs, but hungry for cash! Oh, we were such good friends. One of the things we often talked about was God. I grew up in a Christian home, but my friend did not. Sometimes I would talk to her about what Jesus had done on the cross for our sins, and while she was interested in what I had to say, she wasn’t ready to accept Jesus as her personal Lord and Savior. I prayed for her daily, and sometimes she would come to church with our family on Sundays. (Although coming to church with me at that age was definitely just another chance to hang out rather than out of a genuine interest in the sermon!) Nevertheless, she heard about Jesus both from our family and from the pastor. Changing TimesIn junior high, my friend’s parents divorced, and she ended up moving away from our neighborhood with her mom and brothers to an apartment in town. We were sad, but this didn’t immediately impact our friendship. My mom was a stay-at-home mom, and was generally willing to shuttle us back and forth so that we could still see each other. As time went on though, she started making new friends in her apartment complex, and I didn't get to spend as much time with her. Her new friends weren’t the type of people I clicked well with, and I think they were probably into a lot of things they shouldn’t have been. I tried hanging out with her new group of friends a few times, but I just didn’t really fit in. Failures and RegretsMy family eventually moved to a neighboring city, so it became even harder for us to connect. We talked on the phone often, but it was more challenging to hang out in person. One of the biggest regrets of my life happened during one of those phone calls. The topic of God came up again, and I asked my friend if she had accepted Jesus into her heart as her Savior. She replied softly, “No, but I want to.” Silence. I panicked. What do I do now? I should pray with her and help her ask help Jesus into her heart, but I’m too afraid to pray out loud! You see I was terrified and too insecure to pray with people. I had been my whole life. I didn’t know the right words to say, and I was afraid of sounding stupid. I guess that’s what it was. So I let the moment pass. Friendship fail. Now her eternal destiny is all screwed up because of me! It wasn’t really, because none of that depends on me, but that’s certainly how I felt for a long time after. Drifting and DistanceWe grew up in the days before cell phones, so it wasn't easy to get a hold of my friend. She was quite the social butterfly, so she was always out doing things with her new friends, and when I called her house, she wasn’t usually there. We drifted. We drifted, but I never stopped trying. She was my friend and I didn’t want to lose her! I continued to pray for her, despite our drifting apart. Faith and More FailureOne of the last times I saw her was on a Sunday when she came to church with our family, as she still did on occasion. This particular Sunday, the pastor prayed a prayer for those who would like to invite Jesus into their lives. It wasn’t anything unusual for a Sunday morning, but later that afternoon, we were walking up the stairs to my bedroom, and my friend out of the blue told me that she had prayed the prayer with the pastor that morning! I was ecstatic! And once again I didn’t know what to do or say. I should say something to help her know what to do next. I should help her study the Bible. I should teach her how to pray. But I didn’t know how to teach her those things. I didn’t really even know how to study the Bible very well for myself at that point, but I knew it was important. Again, friendship fail. I let the moment pass, like I had on that phone conversation months earlier when she said she wanted to ask Jesus into her life. I kicked myself and wondered for years “what if” I’d done it right? Fortunately for all of us, God doesn’t allow our failures to get in the way of His plan. My own inadequacies didn’t stop God from accomplishing His purpose in her life, but I wouldn’t know this for over a decade. Broken Heart and Unanswered QuestionsI think I only saw my friend a few more times after that day, and then I could no longer get a hold of her. I tried calling her so many times over the next months, maybe even years. But no answer. Even when I left messages, no call back. The last straw was when she actually answered the phone one time. I said “hello,” and I know she knew my voice, but she didn’t say anything. Silence. And then she hung up. Oh, my heart was so broken, and I started sobbing. I had so many questions. Why didn’t she want to talk to me? Was she ok? Did she know it was me when she hung up? Moving OnThe whole thing was starting to feel like a crazy obsession and I just had to let it go. If she didn’t want to be friends, I couldn’t force her. I resolved myself to stop reaching out to her, but I continued to pray and just trust God for His work in her life. I suspected that she was into some things with her new friends that she didn’t want to share with me. Whatever it was, I was heartbroken, and I had to move on with my life. Even though my heart was hurt, I continued to pray for her, and I hoped that one day God would allow us to reconnect. Life went on, and I matured and grew physically, emotionally, and spiritually during that time. I went off to college, traveled, started working, and got married. I thought about my friend often, with so many unanswered questions, and continued to pray for her over the years.
Good Ol' FacebookFifteen something years later, now that we had this handy tool called the Internet, I decided to do some Internet sleuthing (“aka” stalking!). Call me crazy, but I was still a determined to find my friend! It took a long time, because she had intentionally made herself hard to find, but one day by God’s grace found her! I could hardly believe it, and my eyes welled up with happy tears. Although she had used a different name on Facebook, I had managed to put together some shared connections and found her picture! The picture was of her holding her newborn baby in a hospital bed. She was older now, but it was definitely my friend! And she was a mama now! I excitedly poured over the rest of her Facebook page to see what I could learn about who she’d become. I looked over her pictures, including those of her wedding. And what made my heart the happiest was seeing pictures of her with her husband at church activities and going on a mission trip! I rejoiced that she was okay, that she likely knew Jesus, and that God had been faithful in her life when I couldn’t be there for her. He had watched over her and protected her throughout the years, when I was no longer able to be in her life. And if that’s where my search for her ended, I was content just to know that she was alive, happy, and that God was in her life. But of course I wanted to see her! Rejoicing over God’s Faithfulness Now came the scary part – reaching out to her. It had been a very long time, I still had a lot of questions, and I wasn’t sure how my communication would be received. I greatly feared more rejection, but I had to try. She had Facebook messaging blocked on her account, but now that I’d discovered her married name, I was able to track down her mailing address. I sent her a card in the mail with a brief note and my contact information, and put the rest in God’s hands. Now I waited. On June 28, 2012, my long lost friend sent me a message on Facebook! Nervously I opened it, and as I started to read, I could hardly hold back the tears. God is so good. Here is a snippet of what she wrote that totally blessed my socks off: I think about you and your family often. If nothing else, I'd really like you to know you were a pivotal person in my coming to Christ. Your's and your family's kindness and persistence definitely planted seeds that later blossomed. Also, coming from a broken home, I often reflect on your family unit and find myself looking to model that in my own home. What encouragement! Sometimes you just never know how God might be working in someone’s life, even when you can't see it. God had heard my prayers and held my friend tight in His hands, and I was blessed to be able to see the outcome of my endless prayers over the years. ReconnectingWe got together for lunch a week or two later and spent hours and hours catching up, sharing memories from our childhood, looking at pictures, and learning who the adult versions of each other had become. I asked her to share how her faith in Christ had come about. I was curious how much she remembered from our childhood, and what had taken place in her life since we were younger. Much like I suspected, she had become involved with some things that she wasn’t proud of. Her life went off track for a while, and amongst other things, she had started dabbling around with astrology, which opened her up to demonic influence and activity in her life. She told me some crazy stories about how she would wake up in the morning with big claw marks on her legs that weren’t there when she went to bed. There were other things too, but that’s the one I remember most distinctly. Naturally, she was afraid and turned to another Christian friend in her life. (Yay God for giving her another Christian friend!) That friend and her mom helped her turn her life back to Jesus. They prayed with her and told her that she needed to burn her astrology books to break the demonic stronghold that had formed in her life. When she did, the books went up in black smoke. After that, she was committed to Jesus and has been growing with Him since. I asked my friend if she remembered that day she told me she prayed with the pastor at church, but she didn’t. Even though it wasn’t a moment she remembered, God was faithful not to let her go, and I’m so thankful to Him for that. I believe that moment back then was real, but it was just a seed in God’s plan that would later blossom. We barely scratched the surface of all we wanted to talk about in that first reunion, but we continue to have lunch dates at least a couple times a year. We’re older now, and our lives are busier, but we have picked up right where we left off! A Picture of God's Love For UsI'm not so arrogant as to think I'm just like God, but I think this story provides a good picture of how God loves and pursues us. Maybe that's why He allowed things to happen the way they did. Just like I so persistently pursued my friend, even from the very beginning, so God pursues us. He chooses us to be His children and doesn't let us go. I didn't choose my friend because there was anything so perfect about her or anything like that, and I didn't keep pursuing her for so long because she treated me so well. In fact, she really wasn't a very good friend for a stretch of time. It hurt when she parted ways with me, but she was still my friend, and I still loved and cared about her. God chooses and pursues us and even lets us go our own way for awhile, but He never stops loving us. If we're being stubborn, sometimes He gives us over to our own devices so that we can see what life is like without Him, experience the consequences, and run back to His loving arms. God is deeply grieved when we turn away from Him, but He never stops loving us, and He never stops pursuing those who are His children. Lessons to LearnWhile my story is not your story, I want you to come away with a few things:
I love my God. He is my Creator, my Father, and my Redeemer. He is my strength when I am weak. He is my constant in a world of change. He has a way of lifting my spirits when I’m down, and casting light on a dark situation. He gives me a purpose and value as His child. He is gentle, yet firm. Forgiving, yet just. Brilliantly creative, astoundingly incomprehensible. He knows the perfect time to be angry, but graciously draws those in who have regrettably done Him wrong. He doesn’t put up with disorder, and makes clear His ways. What is the point of this life but to know Him? Not to better ourselves, but to be made complete by His touch. He has breathed life into our lungs, fashioned the shape of our flesh, and continues to mold and shape our spirit and our character into the likeness of His Image. Friends, it saddens me that so many think of religion as a means to be good, or a set of morals and beliefs. Perhaps that is religion, but it’s not Jesus. Knowing your Creator in an intimate way is life-giving. He knows your deepest hurts, your ugliest scars, your guiltiest moments. And He loves you. He loves you in spite of what He knows of you, and loves you enough to walk with you through a journey of change and growth, setbacks and failures, joys and triumphs. Clichés and formulas and rules to follow are not what Jesus intended for us. He is real, and though many of us claim to believe in Him, I think sometimes we forget that He is real. I do. To talk the talk and say the right words is easy. To know deep in your soul the amazing Truth and the Life of Christ is overwhelmingly powerful and you can’t help but radiate His light from your being. The world needs to see that, but it’s scary to be passionate about Someone whom so many can’t see and don’t understand. Does anyone know they need forgiveness anymore? Has anyone done that of which they are truly ashamed? Jesus forgives those who ask Him. And He covers you with so much love and grace that you don’t want to do whatever bad thing you did ever again. You don’t want to disappoint Him. It’s not easy to admit my failures. Sometimes I don’t even recognize them until my loving God points them out to me. Sometimes He uses the words of my husband to show me my selfishness. Sometimes He uses a pastor’s sermon, or words on a page, or a comment by a coworker. And sometimes it’s a gentle whisper to my heart to show me where I went wrong. It’s out of love that He does this. He wants to heal me and make me better, but first I need to know my weaknesses, so that I can ask for His forgiveness and strength. Many say that they don’t need to be religious to be a good person. In a sense that’s true. Many non-religious people put me to shame in the areas of generosity and kindness and other good things. But the truth is that none of us, religious or non-religious, are good enough by God’s standards. Only God is truly one hundred percent good. It doesn’t do me any good to compare myself to others, because God demands perfection, and of that we all fall terribly short. Comparing myself to Jesus is a surefire way to a humble heart. The point of “God” and “religion” isn’t to be a good person; it’s to be a forgiven person. And no list of rules and commandments can offer forgiveness—only a Person can. Only Jesus can. So if you don’t know Jesus, no religion in the world can save you. It’s just not how it works. I love Jesus. I love that He cares about the details of my life. I love that He’s always there for me. I love that He forgave me, and I love that because of Him I don’t need to fear death, or what comes after death, because I know with certainty I will be eternally with my God who created me and loves me. Jesus died for my sins, and rose again conquering death. That’s a God worth loving! The Apostle Paul’s words in Ephesians 3:14-18 sum up my heart on this: For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. I found this little article buried in my email that I wrote a year ago, and I was encouraged to look back at this moment of my life and see how God was working in me. I hope it might encourage some of you as well! We live in a culture that values being strong. The ladies are told to be “strong women.” Strong men are more respected than weak men. We aim to have the attitude of warriors and conquerors of life’s challenges. Men and women alike spend hours in the gym strengthening and toning their physical bodies. There is nothing wrong with being strong, but there is a greater strength that comes only in weakness. Sometimes our own “strength” is a mere cover for weakness and insecurity that we know truly lies beneath the surface. All the positive thinking in the world can't change what's really there. God said “My power is made perfect in weakness,” and this has been a theme in my life the last couple of weeks as God is teaching me to rely on His strength. I’ve been struggling with feelings of inadequacy for life’s demands: Demands of my marriage. Demands of my job. Demands of trying to keep with the housework. Demands of planning ahead for the future. The more effort I put in, and the more I aim to please, the more I seem to fall short. When I feel like I’m giving it all I’ve got, and still not meeting the expectations of myself and others, it’s very discouraging. What more can I do? I’ve heard similar stories from women who have struggled to keep up, and I know my story is not unique. These other woman talk about how they were trying to do things in their own strength, when they should be relying on God’s strength. Intellectually I understand that, but spiritually and practically, I haven’t known how to grab hold of that truth and make it a reality in my life. I think it’s my time to embrace what God is trying to teach me in this area. At a time when I need it most, everywhere I turn, I’m being sprinkled with Scripture and truth about how God helps us in our weakness. Friends and family have been posting Bible verses on Facebook. The music at church included lyrics about our weakness and God’s strength. Radio sermons have been about it. God wants me to hear this right now. I’m learning that the more I come to terms with my own limitations and weaknesses, the more I can boast in God’s strength when He comes through for me. Having an attitude of humility rather than a souped up “Strong woman-I-can-conquer-the-world" mindset is both more honest and freeing to the soul. "And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." 2 Corinthians 12:9 |
AuthorFull time office worker, full time wife, and full time lover of Jesus. I'm kind of a Bible nerd, and I have a passion for finding ways to introduce Jesus in a practical way to everyday people doing everyday things. Archives
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