This Day

                                                                       
My Father,
Thank you for this day set before me, that your banner over me is Love. Help me walk into it with gratitude. Let me not take your name in vain through it, but deliver it as manna for the spiritually hungry. Let the words of my mouth, the meditations of my heart and the actions of my will be pleasing and profitable to you. Stand in the gap between between me and the others you place in my way. Temper my words, turn, twist, unfurl and re-wrap them so they are heard by the receiver as you would have them heard. All lovely. All grace. All mercy.
In the Great Name of Jesus, Ya'hus'hua
Selah

Psalms 19:14  Song of Solomon 2:4 Ezekiel 22:30

Who's Minding the Children?

When He saw the crowds, he had compassion on them,

 for they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Matthew 9:36

I've been pondering sheep lately, particularly as relates to the metaphorical title of God's children.

I know, I know, I can hear your deep sigh, Not another sheep analogy!  My apologies, but...

I understand sheep to be rather stupid animals. Apparently, they wander off a lot. And left to their own, will walk right into harms way, eat toxic vegetation, and are actually so timid will stare at moving water and die of thirst before bending the knee for a drink.

"The ONLY sure protection for the sheep is the ever-watchful shepherd."*

Without a Shepherd, sheep die.

For He is our God, 

And we are the people of his pasture,

the sheep of His hand.

Psalms 95:7

SO, who's minding the children, err, sheep? 

Of course God is ALWAYS tending his children, in fact scripture says he actually pursues us, even if we refuse him!
I have learned a new word this week-Radaph. That's hebrew for pursue, literally- meaning to hunt down. Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life.    psalms 23:6
"When I'm hurting, His grace hunts for me. When I'm plagued by problems, His goodness pursues me. No matter where I go, goodness and mercy are in hot pursuit of me. "**

We were never promised this life would be easy. As long as we walk this planet, persecution will be part of the package.
But sheep that recognize their shepherd are promised His eternal eye and care. So while we might, and probably will, be harassed, we aren't left without help.  

I understand harassment.

He would typically arrive around 3:00 in the morning, just moments after my husband left for base. 

We were newly married, living on a military income,  enthralled with our new life, and our first home--  a tiny, one bedroom duplex in Ft. Lawton, Oklahoma. It was sparsely furnished,  decorated only with  young love that envisioned a life time of bliss ahead. It was our castle.

Until 3:00 am rolled around, that is.  

I learned to expect his visit-- would lie paralyzed with fear on my bed, waiting.

I knew he had come again when I saw his shadow on the shades, and heard his heavy breathing outside my bedroom window.

With no phone, we were too poor, and no weapon but a butter knife, I listened for agonizing minutes as he attempted to pry the front door open. Or the window air-conditioner. Or the back screen door. He was relentless. He harassed me and made my life a stalking nightmare EVERY morning for 3 months. 

There is only one safe place for us in this world, and that is in The Lord.  The Lord, our true pasture. 

Outside the flock, we are helpless.

I was harassed. But I wasn't helpless. I was a sheep with a shepherd. And I was safe in His care.

I lift up my eyes to the hills--where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1-2

*Swindoll, chuck. Living the Psalms.
** Ann Voskamp, A holy experience


 Jeremiah 50:7

Flight of Faith--Radical Obedience

Have you ever held on to something (or someone) you knew you should let go of, yet the wings of your desire just couldn't cut loose from the current?  You know, that certain goose--sin--in your life that wants to take its place at the front of the V, pulling the thermal of your course errantly south?

In spite of an inner unction to cease flight and re-route, you fly on.

So what do you do when your faith, challenged by temptation, takes flight in a direction that will clearly result in a migratory mishap?
Reset your compass of course!

Look up ; Set your affections on things above, not on things below.
Surround yourself with God, and Godly influences ; friends, reading material-especially scripture, music, and activities.

Look in ; Examine yourself to be sure you are in the faith. Pray for the Lord to give you a discerning heart to distinguish right from wrong.
As you pray, beware of falling victim to the "strive" mindset. While obedience to scriptural commands is definitely a theological axiom, ultimately it is--Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord,  that victory is discovered.
In other words, relying fully on human effort to extract oneself from a stronghold of sin will always fail.
Striving fails--Spirit prevails. Every time!

Look East ; Look to the eastern horizon where The Sun of righteousness rises with healing in his wings.
Confess your sins, change your course by pulling out of formation, and then hold to the promise--He will remove your sins from  you as far as the east is from the west.

And whatever you do?  DON'T LOOK DOWN.

Can you do it? YES!
Can you let that thing go? YES!
Will it seem like your dying? Probably.
Will the reward be greater than imagined? Absolutely!
Refuse to turn back!

Do not be afraid, I am your very Great Reward.

Genesis 15:1

Colossians 3:2  2 Corinthians 13:5  1 Kings 3:9  Zechariah 4:6  Malachi 4:2 Psalm 103:12

#1000 gifts for 2013 - Taking the Joy Dare.

Open my lips lord, and my mouth will praise thee.

Psalms 51:15

I am getting a late start on this mission--counting 1000 reasons to praise in 2013 -- I'm a slow learner. But the Lord has been good to me, so here I go....

#1 A child's laughter rolling with somersaults
#2 Healed bodies

#3 Infinite grace for a finite sinful me

#4 Selfless love of a faithful spouse

#5 Heritage of family 

#6 Bird songs

#7 Winding paths of dirt through wooded beauty

#8 My forest sanctuary

#9 Gentle rustling of treetop leaves.

#10 Gift of adoption, so that she could be my daughter, and ultimately His.

#11 Spirit of God that won't ever let go of me

#12 Scripture that speaks wisdom to my soul

#13  Peace of early morning moments with The Lord
#14 Chocolate. Really!
#15 Opportunity to share Job 31:16b with Co-worker this morning-widowed at 49. Sharing God's awareness of her grief, and compassion for her weary eyes. Revealing to her a Living God who see's .

#16 His sovereign hand-in the unexpected moments of life-even in the secret place.  Psalm 139:15

JUNE 2
#17 Holy Spirit's halting of my use of the word "strive" in prayer this morning, and the reminder that it isn't by might or power that I am delivered from my propensity to sin, walk in obedience, or worship in holiness...IT"S BY HIS SPIRIT!  Zech 4:6   My striving fails--but--His spirit Prevails.
June 4
#18  Gratetful for his presence still with me in the morning-psalm 139:18
#19  Kingsley Dr. and Kalinda Ln.
#20 Aunt vera, her legacy of steadfast faith, and love for creation, that inspires me even today.
#21 The conviction that I too, can be the late night pick-up truck pulling flat-bed trailer and clanging metal on concrete,  disturbing peoples peace with the invasion of my own trailer full of noisy selfishness.
#22 Opportunity to affirm worth, and display Christ, to hurting nephew, and a co-worker struggling with a relational addiction.
#23 yesterdays revelation of Radaph and it's confirmation of what The Lord has been attempting to show me.
July 11
#24 That when I look around at all the hurt, my life seems pretty good.
#25 That god hasn't given me what "she" has because I wasn't designed to have it. I couldn't handle it. I couldn't handle the good of it, and I couldn't handle the bad of it. The good and the bad, they belong to her.









           
                                                       

Waits for the Waking

I tried

I tried to put an end to the darkness 

the darkness in the depths 

of his recessed soul 

Cleaved, cowering, wedged

between the clefts of despair

Where destruction resides-

rumors of death ripple.

I tried to cut shafts 

into the blackened void of it

a place forgotten by the foot

concealed from the living 

where hand assaults the flinty rock- 

of hopelessness.

Palpable stones

polished with sorrow-

empty eyes.

Nuggets of gold

pummeled with pain-

beautiful mind.

There, 

where no falcon fly's

he dangles and sways

and waits

Waits for the waking.

                                (L.paddock)

But-

God understands the way to it.  He alone knows the dwelling place. 

He has measured the winds of wisdom, and

cut a path for the rescue.

Job 28:23

What is impossible with man

is possible with God.

Matthew 18:27

                                                        
Job 28

Flowers in the Fescue

                                                       

"What do you want from me", he asked.
"I want poetry. And I want wildflowers from the roadside that say--I thought of you today", I replied.
"We don't have flowers, remember?  It's really only fescue."

***

 But there are flowers in the fescue!  See?  There!  Right there. At your feet. Abundant beauty, lavish color, petals of praise, hidden holiness--see?


Father,
I don't want to settle for the ordinary, common fields of fescue.
While worthy in its own right, you desire so much more for us. Open our eyes that we might see wonderful things in your word, and your world. *
Help us see beyond the grass to the glory of your gifts.
Even more, let us "not want to merely SEE  beauty",  let us actually "be united with it, pass into it, receive it into ourselves, bathe in it, become part of it." (1)

Give us eyes to see the flowers, and then, ears to hear you say--

 I thought of you today!

                                                                           

Lord, I want to see!

Luke 18:41

                                                                   
                                                                                 

*Psalm 119:18
(1) C.S. Lewis "The weight of glory" in The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses.

The Dare

She dared me, and I'm not one to refuse a challenge. *

She dared me to count my blessings, even in the midst of the mud, mire, and mess of daily life--

"Authentic thanks is always for all things. To bring the sacrifice of thanksgiving means to sacrifice our understanding of what is beneficial and thank God for everything because He is benevolent. A sacrifice of thanks lays down our perspective and raises hands in praise anyways-always.  A sacrifice is,  by definition, not an easy thing--but it is a sacred thing."

As a child, there were many dares. The competitor in me wouldn't let me refuse. Plus, being the only girl out of four siblings, well, refusing a dare just wasn't an option.

Ever.

Many a summer I would perch on the high dive at the local public swimming pool.  Toes curled tightly around the distal rim of the board, deep end of the pool reflecting a drop of at least 10,000 feet-or so it seemed, I would engage in a verbal tug of war with self--You can do it!.
Defying defeat, I ultimately accepted my fate and took the plunge of death to the thunderous applause of my cheering friends.

Around the age of 10 or 12, I attended a weekend girl scout camp with my troop.
Late in the evening of the first day, when darkness had settled as an eery blanket over us, one of the girls in the cabin swore she had seen a ghost floating in the field between our cabins and the bathrooms. Of course, we all had to use the facilities before retiring for the night. But no one, NO ONE, would brave the black, 50 yard sprint to the bathroom across the field. The image of young girls huddled in terror, and taunting SOMEONE GO FIRST,  must of entertained the leaders to no end.
Guess who excepted the ghostly gauntlet and led the way to restroom reconnaissance?  Yep, Me!

And so, I have accepted this new and different dare-- find cause to praise, in ALL things ;

Last month was a stellar month for me regarding door frames and knobs. They have not been my friends.  And so, once again, my magnetic affinity for door knobs found me hung up by the pocket of my bathrobe and whip lashed back into the door frame.
She said, "Hurry makes us hurt".  A profound insight considering my natural bent is to bustle.
I paused, resisted the urge to swear, and whispered, Thank you, Lord, for the reminder to slow down, to savor the moment. 

The bagger kept slamming my groceries into the cart. Eggs chucked in the bag with canned goods, bread buried beneath the gallon of milk, greeting card shoved up against the condensation of an ice cream carton. Sigh.
Thank you God, that this man has been given the strength and years to still be here on earth. That he can still find constructive labor and social interaction. Make me aware of my own propensity to treat people like groceries. Help me be gentle, respectful of their fragility and uniqueness.

It was my ONE day off for the week. I needed the peace and relaxation BAD and preserved the date with all the ferociousness of a mother bear. The day came and birthed blue sky. The woods were rife with song of sparrow. A balmy breeze drifted softly over the hill. My book and chaise beckoned my presence. Oh how I had eagerly anticipated this day.
But the neighbor? Apparently he took the day off to power wash the house. Really?
Thank you Father for drone of electric motor rather than detonation of bombs in war torn lands. Thank you for freedom to chose our activities rather than be subject to tyrannical rulers.
Thank you for the occasion to pray for those who persecute me.

Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will praise Thee.

Psalm 51:15

*Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts, devotional.