every now and again, God speaks when we are not expecting it, and i'm finding that those moments in which He "interrupts" me - mid-sentence, mid-activity, mid-prayer, mid-life - are some of the sweetest, most ordinary moments of profound depth for which i could ever ask (if i ever remembered to actually ask for them).
it isn't that i'm not trying to listen. but sometimes i'm listening for the wrong thing. sometimes i'm waiting to hear Him say something i want Him to say. to answer a question I've asked. to speak into a situation i want resolved. instead of simply waiting to see what He wants to talk about.
and in His grace, and maybe sometimes with a slight degree of amusement at my inability to get it yet, He speaks anyway.
i had an email this week from a dear friend i've never actually met. (we are friends because we ran into each other in the blogosphere, but our real lives have yet to intersect anywhere offline.) i'd written to her a few days before - poured out some of my troubles in vague detail, and written cheerily about some of the things that are going well - and there were seven glorious words in the middle of a sentence in her reply letter that were the word of the Lord to me this week:
"...that everything is fine like it is..."
i burst into tears. the good kind. the kind that come from that deep-seated place of "yes. i needed to hear You say that, and i had no idea it was true or how much i needed it."
everything is fine like it is. i don't have to change anything. i don't have to control it. i don't need so-and-so to repent for the harm they've caused. i don't need such-and-such to happen in order to be happy. everything is fine the way it is.
i am loved by an amazing God, who knows the plans He has for me, and who will not allow those plans to be thwarted, long-term. i am forgiven. blessed. cared for. i have rich friendships that i treasure. rejection does not define me, nor determine my worth. what He says about me is my definition. there is food on my table, a roof over my head, gas in the tank of the car that is still actually, miraculously starting (most days). i am able to give to others without experiencing too much lack. i am truly and amazingly blessed.
any shadow over this blessing is simply that: a shadow. it is nothing of substance. not really.
everything is fine like it is.
and i am blessed.
Showing posts with label simple felicity: having a thankful heart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label simple felicity: having a thankful heart. Show all posts
this season
every year on the first of the year, i take some time to get quiet and listen, to read the Word and pray over my coming year, and ask God what He wants to do in it. i try not to have an agenda - not to spend too much time telling Him what i want out of the year - tho we do talk about that, too - but to really listen. and then i journal about it, so i will remember.
today i was reading through that journal and found this, for 2011:
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"To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven."
- Ecclesiastes 3:1
as i read through the verses following this one today, i found myself picking out the times and seasons I'm hoping for this year:
a time to be born. a time to plant. a time to heal. a time to build. a time to laugh. a time to dance. (i'm not so sure about the whole stones thing...) a time to embrace. a time to search. a time to keep. a time to mend. a time to speak. a time to love. a time for peace.
i know we can't pick our seasons. they come to us as God wills them, and we learn and we grow through all of them. but so much of the past two years have been so hard, even in their goodness, and i would so just love a year of Jubilee. a year when debts are cancelled and work is less intense and joy and celebration abound. it would be such a gift.
....
Isaiah 61:
there are so many things in this chapter that resonate with my spirit and give me hope.
the Year of the Lord's favor brings: healing for broken hearts, freedom, release from darkness, vengeance we don't have to take (because God handles it), God's favor, comfort, beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. we go on display, showing God's splendor. things long ruined are repaired. devastation is reversed. we see and experience His faithfulness. we are saved. good things grow.
it is a beautiful season. and i think it is what You are promising me this year.
and so my word for this year is HOPE.
God, You know all the things I am hoping for.
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He does.
it hasn't been QUITE the Year of Jubilee i'd hoped for thus far - but there have been amazing moments in it. new friendships. amazing conversations with some awesome women of God. bursts of sunshine every now and again between cloudy days. today i am counting my blessings - because sometimes we just need to. it's that whole "remembering the deeds of the Lord" thing from Psalm 77 again. the Israelites rehearsed the story of God's faithfulness SO many times - it's told over and over in the Scriptures, especially in the Psalms. "He came and rescued us. we walked across the sea on dry land, but Pharoah's army drowned beneath the waves. the Lord saved us!"
if God can part the sea and make the sun stand still and raise His Son (and a handful of other people too!) from the dead - then He can do anything. everything broken in this world can be set right, in time, somehow.
remembering that today gives me new hope, and makes me happy. :)
random ramblings, vol. 7
This poor blog has been so neglected of late... Time for a little bit of rambling, I think! Maybe a few updates too. So without further ado:
1. I haven't actually not been blogging. I have a half-dozen unpublished posts/ideas of posts that I would really like to finish at some point. :) Most of them about Sabbath and/or healing. Stay tuned - one of these days I really will finish writing them!
2. I am craving bacon and feta cheese at the moment. Actually, craving might be an understatement...
3. The Lenten Daily Devotional Study that I'm doing with my church is going really well. I think I'm glad in retrospect that we didn't try to do the Lenten Supper thing along with it - as awesome as that would have been, it would have been one thing too many this spring. But the devotional itself has been getting a lot of good press - and in fact, morphed from being an email sent to people on a daily basis to also being posted on our pastor's blog. If you're interested in joining us, you can hop in at any time here.
4. Spring is finally springing. Can I just tell you how happy this makes me? I spent part of my Sabbath on Saturday walking in the woods, and it was wonderful.
5. After a few adventures (I believe it might have gone pseudo-missing at least twice), the podcast from the sermon I preached in February is finally up! :) There are a few little audio blips (sorry about that) - but most of the message made it!
6. I stayed up ridiculously late last night, finishing Robin McKinley's new book, Pegasus. The first couple of chapters were a little slow, but once I got into it, I could hardly put it down. It is an incredible, well-written, beautiful and insightful story. The protagonist is probably one of my new favorite characters ever. I really hope there's going to be a sequel, tho, and soon! The ending was terrible. Not unexpected - but still. I kept waiting for the last-minute save, and it never happened. :(
7. I also bought Rob Bell's new book, Love Wins. Definitely looking forward to reading it this week! I intended to read it on Saturday, but I started Pegasus first. And that was the end of that plan... :)
1. I haven't actually not been blogging. I have a half-dozen unpublished posts/ideas of posts that I would really like to finish at some point. :) Most of them about Sabbath and/or healing. Stay tuned - one of these days I really will finish writing them!
2. I am craving bacon and feta cheese at the moment. Actually, craving might be an understatement...
3. The Lenten Daily Devotional Study that I'm doing with my church is going really well. I think I'm glad in retrospect that we didn't try to do the Lenten Supper thing along with it - as awesome as that would have been, it would have been one thing too many this spring. But the devotional itself has been getting a lot of good press - and in fact, morphed from being an email sent to people on a daily basis to also being posted on our pastor's blog. If you're interested in joining us, you can hop in at any time here.
4. Spring is finally springing. Can I just tell you how happy this makes me? I spent part of my Sabbath on Saturday walking in the woods, and it was wonderful.
5. After a few adventures (I believe it might have gone pseudo-missing at least twice), the podcast from the sermon I preached in February is finally up! :) There are a few little audio blips (sorry about that) - but most of the message made it!
6. I stayed up ridiculously late last night, finishing Robin McKinley's new book, Pegasus. The first couple of chapters were a little slow, but once I got into it, I could hardly put it down. It is an incredible, well-written, beautiful and insightful story. The protagonist is probably one of my new favorite characters ever. I really hope there's going to be a sequel, tho, and soon! The ending was terrible. Not unexpected - but still. I kept waiting for the last-minute save, and it never happened. :(
7. I also bought Rob Bell's new book, Love Wins. Definitely looking forward to reading it this week! I intended to read it on Saturday, but I started Pegasus first. And that was the end of that plan... :)
how to open a present
It's my friend's birthday, and she lives in Texas, so I hardly ever see her, but she was here today, and we had plans for lunch. So of course I got her a present. And a really pretty card. Which she liked. A lot. Like, so much, I was starting to wonder if she would ever open the present, lol. But she did. And I have to tell you - I already love giving people presents, but if everyone in the world opened presents the way this woman does, I would be flat broke because I would want to do nothing else but watch people open their gifts.
It was an eclectic, 4-part present, all from Ten Thousand Villages (which in and of itself is cool - i mean, come on, social justice and a present? how much better does it get?) - and when I said, somewhat apologetically as she opened the box, "it's kind of an eclectic present...", she said, "I would expect nothing less from you!" and that was a compliment. :) And then she proceeded to go through the box.
I probably could have gotten her anything under the sun, and she would have thought it ingenious. She took her time opening those gifts, and the delight with which she found each item in the box.... I'm not sure I've ever felt so treasured. To hear her talk and to see the look on her face as she read the tags explaining the background on some of the gifts and the explanations of fair trade marketing - to see the way she traced the stitches and read the labels - you would have thought every dream she'd ever had just came true. She loved it.
I thought, as I shopped, "well, she's very hospitable and she journals a lot, so..."
She thought: "someone who knows me well just got me the perfect present."
What if we opened God's gifts that way?
What if, instead of simply thanking Him out of habit for our food before dinner, we actually stopped and marveled at the way tomato plants grow? What if we rejoiced over the rising of the sun, and instead of shushing our kids, joined them in hysterical, uncontrollable laughter, in appreciation of humor and the freedom we have to laugh? What if we noticed, not that our shoes got wet as we crossed the lawn to get the paper, but that the dew fell and sparkled in the sunlight? What if we got distracted by the rainbows the sun makes on the ceiling over the kitchen table when it shines just so and refracts through the glass-topped coffee table in the next room?
What if the fact that we can breathe in and out suddenly floored us with an understanding of God's goodness and mercy?
What if the fact that we have clean water wasn't something we took so for granted?
What if a realization of God's incredible, precious, abundant grace suddenly broke over our souls the way waves break over the rocks on a shoreline? What if we suddenly realized (again) how desperately in need of that grace we are? And how blessed we are to know One who so freely gives it - at great cost to Himself?
And what if we really knew how to open a present? I think a lot more people would smile, don't you? :)
It was an eclectic, 4-part present, all from Ten Thousand Villages (which in and of itself is cool - i mean, come on, social justice and a present? how much better does it get?) - and when I said, somewhat apologetically as she opened the box, "it's kind of an eclectic present...", she said, "I would expect nothing less from you!" and that was a compliment. :) And then she proceeded to go through the box.
I probably could have gotten her anything under the sun, and she would have thought it ingenious. She took her time opening those gifts, and the delight with which she found each item in the box.... I'm not sure I've ever felt so treasured. To hear her talk and to see the look on her face as she read the tags explaining the background on some of the gifts and the explanations of fair trade marketing - to see the way she traced the stitches and read the labels - you would have thought every dream she'd ever had just came true. She loved it.
I thought, as I shopped, "well, she's very hospitable and she journals a lot, so..."
She thought: "someone who knows me well just got me the perfect present."
What if we opened God's gifts that way?
What if, instead of simply thanking Him out of habit for our food before dinner, we actually stopped and marveled at the way tomato plants grow? What if we rejoiced over the rising of the sun, and instead of shushing our kids, joined them in hysterical, uncontrollable laughter, in appreciation of humor and the freedom we have to laugh? What if we noticed, not that our shoes got wet as we crossed the lawn to get the paper, but that the dew fell and sparkled in the sunlight? What if we got distracted by the rainbows the sun makes on the ceiling over the kitchen table when it shines just so and refracts through the glass-topped coffee table in the next room?
What if the fact that we can breathe in and out suddenly floored us with an understanding of God's goodness and mercy?
What if the fact that we have clean water wasn't something we took so for granted?
What if a realization of God's incredible, precious, abundant grace suddenly broke over our souls the way waves break over the rocks on a shoreline? What if we suddenly realized (again) how desperately in need of that grace we are? And how blessed we are to know One who so freely gives it - at great cost to Himself?
And what if we really knew how to open a present? I think a lot more people would smile, don't you? :)
an attitude of gratitude
I'm sure about a zillion preachers have used that phrase at one point or another. "You must cultivate an attitude of gratitude, my friends." It's a catchy little rhyme, isn't it? I heard it close to 14 years ago, I think, and I have never forgotten it. And now likely neither will you. :)
Gratitude is a wonderful thing, tho... when you are busy being thankful for the blessings you do have, the things that you don't have are no longer the center of your attention, which means that you are no longer the center of your own attention either. Gratitude gets us out of ourselves, and directs our attention to the Giver of all good things.
It's Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S. and across the nation, people are stopping to think about the things for which they are thankful. At our Torch feast last weekend, we were challenged to come up with something memorable, something non-cliche.... none of this "I'm thankful for my friends and family stuff." Of course we are. But what else?
Well, I'm thankful for the "as is" section at IKEA. I found a great cabinet door for $3.00 last week that is now our welcome sign for Sacred Space. And I have an art project on my wall that is, at its base, two small tabletops (I think) from there - I believe they were $.30-$.50 apiece last year. And I have a great bookshelf that was supposed to be a tableleg... So there's my "memorable" bit of gratitude trivia. I know it seems like a silly thing to be thankful for. But the artist in me loves having a place to go for inspiration. :)
There are so many things I really am thankful for, on a much deeper and more meaningful level, tho. For my church community. For my pastor and his wife, who believe in God's call on my life even more strongly than I do, and who encourage me to live into it in every way they can. For the fierce women of God who have become my closest friends and confidantes. For blogging friends who have spoken so much encouragement and truth into my life over the past two years. For one friendship in particular that has taught me more about the unconditional nature of love than any other. And for an amazing, kind, compassionate, awesome, incredible, inspiring, sweet and loving God whose grace and mercy know no bounds.
I love You, God, and I am so grateful for You. Thank You for saving me, and for loving me so much.
Gratitude is a wonderful thing, tho... when you are busy being thankful for the blessings you do have, the things that you don't have are no longer the center of your attention, which means that you are no longer the center of your own attention either. Gratitude gets us out of ourselves, and directs our attention to the Giver of all good things.
It's Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S. and across the nation, people are stopping to think about the things for which they are thankful. At our Torch feast last weekend, we were challenged to come up with something memorable, something non-cliche.... none of this "I'm thankful for my friends and family stuff." Of course we are. But what else?
Well, I'm thankful for the "as is" section at IKEA. I found a great cabinet door for $3.00 last week that is now our welcome sign for Sacred Space. And I have an art project on my wall that is, at its base, two small tabletops (I think) from there - I believe they were $.30-$.50 apiece last year. And I have a great bookshelf that was supposed to be a tableleg... So there's my "memorable" bit of gratitude trivia. I know it seems like a silly thing to be thankful for. But the artist in me loves having a place to go for inspiration. :)
There are so many things I really am thankful for, on a much deeper and more meaningful level, tho. For my church community. For my pastor and his wife, who believe in God's call on my life even more strongly than I do, and who encourage me to live into it in every way they can. For the fierce women of God who have become my closest friends and confidantes. For blogging friends who have spoken so much encouragement and truth into my life over the past two years. For one friendship in particular that has taught me more about the unconditional nature of love than any other. And for an amazing, kind, compassionate, awesome, incredible, inspiring, sweet and loving God whose grace and mercy know no bounds.
I love You, God, and I am so grateful for You. Thank You for saving me, and for loving me so much.
i'll never know...
Dearest Lord Jesus,
All I can say in response to Who You are and what You've done is... thank You.
I will never truly know nor understand how much it truly cost You to save me. Thank You for being the Bridge that led me to life.
Amen.
All I can say in response to Who You are and what You've done is... thank You.
I will never truly know nor understand how much it truly cost You to save me. Thank You for being the Bridge that led me to life.
Amen.
three things
Three things have happenened in the past few days for which I am incredibly grateful, and on the verge of tears:
1) my mechanic gave me my car back - for free. (and it works!)
2) someone anonymously left me an extremely cool gift. (if it was you - thank you. and that feels so inadequate.) i am humbled beyond belief to be so deeply loved by a God who knows every need even before i call... (Isaiah 65:24) and to be so loved by a friend...
and 3) last night, a relationship that's been through a pretty major rift took a step towards being better. i wouldn't have dreamed that possible 24 hours ago. but i am glad to have my friend back.
1) my mechanic gave me my car back - for free. (and it works!)
2) someone anonymously left me an extremely cool gift. (if it was you - thank you. and that feels so inadequate.) i am humbled beyond belief to be so deeply loved by a God who knows every need even before i call... (Isaiah 65:24) and to be so loved by a friend...
and 3) last night, a relationship that's been through a pretty major rift took a step towards being better. i wouldn't have dreamed that possible 24 hours ago. but i am glad to have my friend back.
5:00AM Devos: Thankfulness - Day 5
Hey, it's getting better - it's actually 5:00am somewhere in the continental U.S. right now.
Thankfulness - Day 5
"Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say, 'My idols did them; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.' You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them? "From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you..." - Isaiah 48:5-6
I am thankful for ... prophecy.
That was a little unexpected, wasn't it? It was to me. All week (or rather, all two weeks!) I've been planning to make day 5 the stereotypical "I'm thankful for my friends" post - though there is hardly anything stereotypical about most of my friends, and I would include some of you among them, tho I've never met you... but I find that hand-in-hand with that comes thankfulness for the gift of prophecy, and here is why.
Prophecy isn't predicting the future, tho there are times when the gift of prophecy operates in conjunction with words of wisdom and knowledge and that predictive element is present. Prophecy, at its heart, is simply encouragement and/or exhortation - cheering someone on, or letting them know that there's something they can do to be chasing Jesus better.
It turns out that a lot of my friends are prophets. :)
Last night, after a long afternoon of one thing after another not going the way I wished it would, I got in my car to drive to church for our young adults group, and it wouldn't start. So I hitched a ride in with a friend, and a ride back with another friend, and when I got home, my car started just fine. At first, I really could have just kicked it. But as I thought about it later, there's a possibility that the conversation we had on the way home may not have happened, and it was one of those moments where God spoke through my friend pretty directly, and I wouldn't have traded that in.
These are not his exact words, but this is the gist of it: Hap, I know I've told you this before, but a couple of months ago I was standing back by the sound board and listening to you sing, and God said, "Enjoy this, because she's not going to be here much longer." and I knew it was true. and to be honest, I'm not very happy about the idea of you being gone, but it's going to be great for you, tho it'll kind of suck for the rest of us. What you've been waiting for, it's coming. And I know other people have told you that. But it's true. Everything you've ever waited for in life, it's right there; He's going to give it to you, and it's going to be amazing.
I am so grateful for the friends who have so faithfully stuck by me in this season of doubt and depression and deep sadness that I cannot seem to shake no matter how hard I try, and for a God who cares for me so deeply that in addition to speaking to me Himself through His word and to my heart, which He has done often over the past few weeks, has also gone out of His way to make it clear to so many others from Australia to California that there is a new season coming for me and that I just have to hold on a little bit longer. And really, not even that - as another friend reminded me last night - I'm not holding on to Him; He's holding onto me. I can trust that.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thankfulness - Day 5
"Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say, 'My idols did them; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.' You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them? "From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you..." - Isaiah 48:5-6
I am thankful for ... prophecy.
That was a little unexpected, wasn't it? It was to me. All week (or rather, all two weeks!) I've been planning to make day 5 the stereotypical "I'm thankful for my friends" post - though there is hardly anything stereotypical about most of my friends, and I would include some of you among them, tho I've never met you... but I find that hand-in-hand with that comes thankfulness for the gift of prophecy, and here is why.
Prophecy isn't predicting the future, tho there are times when the gift of prophecy operates in conjunction with words of wisdom and knowledge and that predictive element is present. Prophecy, at its heart, is simply encouragement and/or exhortation - cheering someone on, or letting them know that there's something they can do to be chasing Jesus better.
It turns out that a lot of my friends are prophets. :)
Last night, after a long afternoon of one thing after another not going the way I wished it would, I got in my car to drive to church for our young adults group, and it wouldn't start. So I hitched a ride in with a friend, and a ride back with another friend, and when I got home, my car started just fine. At first, I really could have just kicked it. But as I thought about it later, there's a possibility that the conversation we had on the way home may not have happened, and it was one of those moments where God spoke through my friend pretty directly, and I wouldn't have traded that in.
These are not his exact words, but this is the gist of it: Hap, I know I've told you this before, but a couple of months ago I was standing back by the sound board and listening to you sing, and God said, "Enjoy this, because she's not going to be here much longer." and I knew it was true. and to be honest, I'm not very happy about the idea of you being gone, but it's going to be great for you, tho it'll kind of suck for the rest of us. What you've been waiting for, it's coming. And I know other people have told you that. But it's true. Everything you've ever waited for in life, it's right there; He's going to give it to you, and it's going to be amazing.
I am so grateful for the friends who have so faithfully stuck by me in this season of doubt and depression and deep sadness that I cannot seem to shake no matter how hard I try, and for a God who cares for me so deeply that in addition to speaking to me Himself through His word and to my heart, which He has done often over the past few weeks, has also gone out of His way to make it clear to so many others from Australia to California that there is a new season coming for me and that I just have to hold on a little bit longer. And really, not even that - as another friend reminded me last night - I'm not holding on to Him; He's holding onto me. I can trust that.
Thank you, Jesus.
5:00AM Devos: Thankfulness - Day 4
11:13am Devos... somehow, it just doesn't have the same ring...
Ah, well.
Thankfulness - Day 4
"Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker..." Psalm 95:6
Perhaps I am thinking about this because of Sacred Space, or perhaps it's because it's after 11:00am on a Sunday morning and I am curled up in bed with a third cup of coffee and still in my pajamas and having a rather worshipful morning not being at church... but today I am thankful for worship.
I am thankful for all the things that worship is: an act of adoration, an acknowledgment of God's greatness, a recognition that my life is not about me, that this Story into which I'm living isn't mine to write, but that it's His...
I am thankful for all the ways in which my worship can be expressed - curled up in bed under a pile of blankets on a snowy winter morning with a cup of coffee and a slice of peppermint pie (wait a minute, slice? no, tell the truth, Hap... you took the box out of the fridge and a fork out of the drawer...!) writing about worship; dancing sockfoot in a church sanctuary, singing at the top of my lungs, painting, or even choosing to slow down for a second and just breathe, remembering Emmanuel...
and I am thankful for all the things that worship isn't - or doesn't require...
Ah, well.
Thankfulness - Day 4
"Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker..." Psalm 95:6
Perhaps I am thinking about this because of Sacred Space, or perhaps it's because it's after 11:00am on a Sunday morning and I am curled up in bed with a third cup of coffee and still in my pajamas and having a rather worshipful morning not being at church... but today I am thankful for worship.
I am thankful for all the things that worship is: an act of adoration, an acknowledgment of God's greatness, a recognition that my life is not about me, that this Story into which I'm living isn't mine to write, but that it's His...
I am thankful for all the ways in which my worship can be expressed - curled up in bed under a pile of blankets on a snowy winter morning with a cup of coffee and a slice of peppermint pie (wait a minute, slice? no, tell the truth, Hap... you took the box out of the fridge and a fork out of the drawer...!) writing about worship; dancing sockfoot in a church sanctuary, singing at the top of my lungs, painting, or even choosing to slow down for a second and just breathe, remembering Emmanuel...
and I am thankful for all the things that worship isn't - or doesn't require...
5:00AM Devos: Thankfulness - Day 3
I'm so far off my "brilliant" bandwagon, I can't see it for all the dust. *sigh* It's after 10:00am. But it's Saturday.... :)
Thankfulness - Day 3
"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk, without money and without cost." - Isaiah 55:1
I am thankful for... grace.
I once heard grace described as an acronym for "God's Riches At Christ's Expense." It isn't free - it cost Him everything - but He gave it to us, without cost. And I am grateful, far more grateful than I think I'm even aware of sometimes, for that gift of grace. I don't think I generally fully comprehend the awfulness of my sin sometimes, nor the lengths to which He went to redeem me from it... but I've seen and understood enough to know that I would be totally - and deservingly - lost without Him.
Thank you, God, for your grace - both in saving me, and in the way you continue to save me daily. Thank you for Christmas - and for the gift of redemption that you gave us that day. I love you.
Thankfulness - Day 3
"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk, without money and without cost." - Isaiah 55:1
I am thankful for... grace.
I once heard grace described as an acronym for "God's Riches At Christ's Expense." It isn't free - it cost Him everything - but He gave it to us, without cost. And I am grateful, far more grateful than I think I'm even aware of sometimes, for that gift of grace. I don't think I generally fully comprehend the awfulness of my sin sometimes, nor the lengths to which He went to redeem me from it... but I've seen and understood enough to know that I would be totally - and deservingly - lost without Him.
Thank you, God, for your grace - both in saving me, and in the way you continue to save me daily. Thank you for Christmas - and for the gift of redemption that you gave us that day. I love you.
5:00 AM Devos: Thankfulness - Day 2
Well, once again it's 5:00am somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but hey, at least I'm actually writing. :) It's been a busy couple of weeks, what with gearing up for Sacred Space, the event itself, and cleaning up after it. There are still boxes from it piled in my basement that need to be sorted out - but they can wait. Catching up on sleep and getting rid of this cold are a little more important. :) But more on Sacred Space later...
Thankfulness - Day 2
"The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer." (Psalm 6:9)
I am thankful for prayer. Someone once told me that prayer is God's gift to us; He doesn't "need" it, per se - He knows everything anyway - but He knew we needed it. We need to be able to talk to God - and we need to be able to hear from Him. So He created this amazing thing called prayer, and gave us a zillion and one creative ways to engage in it. We can pray with our words, with our paints, with our dancing, our singing, and even with our silence at times. And He speaks to us in so many ways - through creation's beauty and intricacy, through music, through our friends, a line we read in a book or heard in a movie - and yes, through silence, too.
I am grateful that we have a God to whom communication is so important. I love that word, "communication" - rooted in the same word that "community" comes from - it has this sense of coming together, of being with the person with whom (or with Whom) you're communicating. And He is Emmanuel, God with us. I love that.
Thank You.
Thankfulness - Day 2
"The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer." (Psalm 6:9)
I am thankful for prayer. Someone once told me that prayer is God's gift to us; He doesn't "need" it, per se - He knows everything anyway - but He knew we needed it. We need to be able to talk to God - and we need to be able to hear from Him. So He created this amazing thing called prayer, and gave us a zillion and one creative ways to engage in it. We can pray with our words, with our paints, with our dancing, our singing, and even with our silence at times. And He speaks to us in so many ways - through creation's beauty and intricacy, through music, through our friends, a line we read in a book or heard in a movie - and yes, through silence, too.
I am grateful that we have a God to whom communication is so important. I love that word, "communication" - rooted in the same word that "community" comes from - it has this sense of coming together, of being with the person with whom (or with Whom) you're communicating. And He is Emmanuel, God with us. I love that.
Thank You.
5:00am Devos: Thankfulness - Day 1
My friend Rachel has tagged me in a meme, 5 Things I'm Thankful For. It was kicked off a couple of weeks ago by John over at SmuloSpace, and is still going strong.
When Rachel tagged me, she said (and I quote): "can't help it, I think it might be a blessing for you right now!"
She's right.
So I am answering the tag, but I am also going to stretch it out a bit, because I need more than one day to be thankful. So at least for the next 5 days, there will be thankfulness posts.
I had this brilliant idea a few days ago that for all of December I would try to do a 5:00am devo post. (note the sarcasm and irony in that word: brilliant.) This idea did not take into consideration the opportunity to sleep in on weekends, nor my general inability to function that early in the morning, nor the fact that I probably won't have access to email long enough to post over the Christmas hols... still, I think 5:00am Devos sounds like a good title for a series, so here goes - and it is 5:00am somewhere for some whale in the Pacific Ocean... speaking of which (tangent), Greenpeace is holding a vote to name the whales in a pod they've been following, and so far the name of choice is Mister Splashy Pants. Please go vote, and stop the madness... :)
Thankfulness - Day 1
Psalm 1:1-3 - "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." (NIV)
I am thankful for time - both kairos and chronos:
for new seasons, new days, new weeks, new years, new beginnings of many sorts
for the changes that time brings: to the earth, to life, to us
for the patterns by which we mark it: for holidays, for liturgy
for the ability to look back and see where we've been and how we've grown and changed, to both learn from our mistakes and celebrate His victories
for God's patience and love shown through time - His forbearance with us, and the delay of His return so that as many might know Him as possible - tho so much of my soul cries, please come soon! and that is good and right as well...
and for today, December 1st - which is the first day that Baker's Square will have their candy cane pie - and you can bet that I'm going to go get one. :)
I tag: Rob, Sara, Kevin, Amy, and Josh.
1. Post 5 things you are thankful for
2. Tag 5 friends to take part also
3. Link back to John's post (optional) and encourage others to leave a link in his comments section back to their completed post as well.
When Rachel tagged me, she said (and I quote): "can't help it, I think it might be a blessing for you right now!"
She's right.
So I am answering the tag, but I am also going to stretch it out a bit, because I need more than one day to be thankful. So at least for the next 5 days, there will be thankfulness posts.
I had this brilliant idea a few days ago that for all of December I would try to do a 5:00am devo post. (note the sarcasm and irony in that word: brilliant.) This idea did not take into consideration the opportunity to sleep in on weekends, nor my general inability to function that early in the morning, nor the fact that I probably won't have access to email long enough to post over the Christmas hols... still, I think 5:00am Devos sounds like a good title for a series, so here goes - and it is 5:00am somewhere for some whale in the Pacific Ocean... speaking of which (tangent), Greenpeace is holding a vote to name the whales in a pod they've been following, and so far the name of choice is Mister Splashy Pants. Please go vote, and stop the madness... :)
Thankfulness - Day 1
Psalm 1:1-3 - "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." (NIV)
I am thankful for time - both kairos and chronos:
for new seasons, new days, new weeks, new years, new beginnings of many sorts
for the changes that time brings: to the earth, to life, to us
for the patterns by which we mark it: for holidays, for liturgy
for the ability to look back and see where we've been and how we've grown and changed, to both learn from our mistakes and celebrate His victories
for God's patience and love shown through time - His forbearance with us, and the delay of His return so that as many might know Him as possible - tho so much of my soul cries, please come soon! and that is good and right as well...
and for today, December 1st - which is the first day that Baker's Square will have their candy cane pie - and you can bet that I'm going to go get one. :)
I tag: Rob, Sara, Kevin, Amy, and Josh.
1. Post 5 things you are thankful for
2. Tag 5 friends to take part also
3. Link back to John's post (optional) and encourage others to leave a link in his comments section back to their completed post as well.
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