Time To Move On

Well ladies, it’s the first Wednesday of the new year and I’ve been asking the Lord for His word for us for several days now.  For many people I know, the next few months will bring many changes.  Our beloved church called Restoration is coming to an end and something new will begin.  I’m sure I’m not the only one with a mixed-up swirl of emotions over this fact.  My husband and I came to this church as two-week-old newlyweds in 1989.  This place has been our spiritual home, our community, and the center point of our lives.  We have been so blessed to be part of this small portion of the Body of Christ.  This morning when I logged onto my Facebook, I saw a video link to a song by Dennis Jernigan posted by my wonderful cousin by marriage.  The song is called “Time To Move On”.  I’d like to share a few lines with you.      

It’s time to move on! 

Time to conquer that mountain.

 Time for crossing that ocean. 

Time for calming that sea.

It’s time to leave your past behind! 

It’s time to loose those chains that bind.

But if you never seek you will never ever find

All you’ve been hoping for

Right through that next open door

But you’ve got to move on.

Moving forward with the Lord always means leaving something behind.  Good or bad, we have to be willing to put the past in the Lord’s hands and keep moving forward with Him.  We can thank Him for all that was good.  Receive His healing for all that was painful.  But we can’t move forward until we let go of where we’ve been.  God is great and He is good.  He has a future for each one of us.  Jeremiah 29:11 assures us with these words.  “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Abba, thank You for loving us always, and always being at work for the best in our lives.  Help us trust You with our memories and our tomorrows.  Give us grace to be brave because You go before us, preparing the way.   In Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

*If you would like to hear the entire song, you can find it on www.youtube.com.   The video was posted by Dennis himself and includes a wonderful testimony about how this song came to be. 

Peace On Earth

Merry Christmas, Dear Sisters!

I hope you are feeling the joy of the home stretch as Christmas is almost here and hopefully most of your many labors of love are done. As you gather with those most dear to you, I pray that your time will be blessed with peace and joy. Today has been a busy day of enjoying my family at the home of my husband’s parents. We’ve been blessed to make ourselves useful by taking care of a few of the items on their honey-do list. As I’ve moved through the last couple of days, I’ve heard these words in my heart and on my lips, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” I have always been the kind of woman who not only sweats the small stuff, but is able to find stuff so small most people can’t even see it. The Lord was definitely showing his sense of humor when He gave me six children. By His grace, the Father has been teaching me over the last twenty-two years that the small people are a whole lot more important than the small things. Of course, my small people aren’t so small anymore, but the principle is still the same. Hearts are what matter. All the rest will work out.

Abba Father, please help us approach the celebration of your Son’s birth with hearts free to love, free to rejoice, and free to let go of what isn’t as important as we might think. Let your peace and rest float down on us like gently falling snow. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Come to the Well

Yesterday morning I woke up to these words, “Come to the well.”  Isn’t that a wonderful wake-up call?  Are you thirsty?  Is your heart dry?  Do you need some living water?  “Come to the well.” 

Jesus once met a woman at a well.  He told her, “Whoever drinks this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”  (John 4:13-14) 

Have you ever forgotten to water your house plants?  For years I refused to have any because I didn’t want one more living thing that needed me!  Now that all my kids are housebroken, I have a few and fairly often I will walk by and notice one looking a little droopy because I’ve forgotten to water it.  It’s always a little miracle to see the change that takes place as the water is soaked in and the little plant perks back up.  Our spirits are just like that.  We need to be watered by the refreshing water of the Word and the Spirit.  Both of these are life to our souls.  I confessed to you recently that spending time with the Lord has often been more of a duty than a delight.  That’s because I was looking at it as if it was something I was doing for a grade.  “Is this an A quiet time, God?  Just a B minus?  Well, I’ll try harder tomorrow.”  Isn’t that sad?  I am beginning to get a clue that taking time to spend with the Father is for my benefit much more than His.  I’m the one with the dusty, harried soul that needs to sit with my feet in the river and soak in His presence.  He loves me and He wants to be with me.  How hard it is to let that sentence sit there and not add another word to it.  Our Father loves us.  Jesus loves us.  The Holy Spirit loves us.  We are His treasure.  To stop and let ourselves rest in His presence is a gift – an invitation to pull away from the trivial and the terrifying, and savor a small taste of the wonderful, eternal, altogether good God. 

Dear Abba, please grant us grace to run to Your presence and stay there.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Glad To Be A Sister!

Yesterday, I got to enjoy a little taste of heaven right here on earth.  I spent the morning with a group of sisters in Christ who have made the choice to be real with each other.  We’ve shared our stories – the bad and the good.  We’ve shared our struggles.  We’ve shared the lessons we’ve learned – most of them the hard way.  Today, we heard a new song when one of our sisters shared the gift that God has planted in her heart.  Most of us were wiping tears away as our dear friend courageously sang her song.  Wow!  That is all I can say about how amazing God is in the lives of these women.  He has redeemed mistakes, bound up broken hearts, and given grace to carry loads that would crush most people.  He has shown Himself faithful to provide for every need.  He has birthed joy and creativity.  He has comforted those who mourn and touched those who hurt with comfort and healing.  He has imparted confidence, acceptance, and sisterhood to a group that really couldn’t be more diverse if we’d tried to be.  Our Abba Father has given us a taste of the unity we were meant to share as the Body of Christ.  We don’t all see things the same way.  How could we when we come from so many different places?  But we love the Lord with all our hearts, and we are blessed to be sisters with the same wonderful Father.  So, what do I believe the Father is saying to us today?  Be real.  Share your story.  Sing the song He puts in your heart.  Somebody nearby really needs to hear it.   

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.  For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.  In Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.         
                                                                Ephesians 2:13, 18, 22

Abba Father, thank you for making us one in You.  Thank you for giving us friends for this journey.  Thank you for the wonderful truth that though we may not walk the whole way together, one day there is going to be a glorious reunion!  In Jesus’ Name, Amen

Celebrate Tiny Triumphs!

It happens almost as soon as we are born.  Someone takes us away from loving arms to weigh and measure us.  For the rest of our lives, we are continually assessed in one way or another.  We must endure years of academic testing which give way to annual physicals, performance reviews, credit reports and of course the dreaded woman with the tape measure lurking in the lingerie department certain that you’re wearing the wrong size bra!  All of this however is nothing compared to the way we constantly weigh and measure ourselves.  Whether it’s climbing on the bathroom scale for a daily dose of torture or feeling guilty for not being a good enough whatever, it is so easy to live in judgment of ourselves.  This week, I’ve been wrestling with what it means to live in grace.  Our pastor preached this week on breaking free from the trap of performance.  I loved what he said about God’s standard of acceptance being based on relationship, not performance.  Monday morning, I was bracing myself to step on the scale when I heard the Holy Spirit so clearly say, “Stop measuring yourself.”  As I went on about my day, I realized how often I do just that.  Then the Lord spoke to me again, bringing to mind words I read from Sarah Young last week, “Rejoice in tiny triumphs.”  I believe the Lord wants us to stop looking for opportunities to grade ourselves and start looking for opportunities to celebrate every step our hearts take in grace.  I struggle with getting my kitchen floor mopped.  For some reason it is the hardest thing in the world to get it done.  This morning, by the grace of God, I mopped my kitchen!  I didn’t do it to earn a gold star on my internal performance chart, I just did it to bless my house and I celebrated it being clean – at least until school got out.  When it comes to my relationship with the Lord, I’m trying to learn to rejoice in it.  Instead of having a quiet time because it is the right thing to do, I want to take the time to spend with the Lord because He loves me and I love Him.  Wow.  What a difference maker.  I’m a little embarrassed to admit that this is all still a struggle for me, but I’m also excited because my Abba Father has brought me so much freedom and joy and I know this is just another step in that journey. 

Sisters, I pray that you hear the Lord speaking to you today – Stop measuring.  Start celebrating.  Keep believing.  You are loved with an everlasting love.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen. 

Facing Down Failure

Yesterday was quite a day at my house. From the 6 a.m. alarm until the parent meeting at the high school that took longer than I was hoping it would, there was too much to do and not enough time to do it. However, in the midst of the whirlwind of activity, there were a few moments where the Lord met with me that made all the difference. The first of those moments happened during prayer at Ladies Bible study. As Elaine prayed, the presence of the Holy Spirit lifted the lid on a box I had been shoving aside and ignoring for days. Inside that box was an overwhelming sense of failure. I've been telling myself I'm fine, but I've been lying. I've been talking to the Lord on behalf of others, but refusing to come to Him for myself. In those few quiet moments, I was able to face the truth about the box. Dealing with it would have to come later, but spending those next couple of hours with the wonderful ladies in our Tuesday gathering really encouraged me and strengthened me for coming home and taking the lid off again. Coming together with other believers in a group where you can share your life and your heart makes all the difference.  

So, in the afternoon, after settling my sick little girl on the sofa for a nap, I slipped outside to sit on my deck and talk to the Lord, hoping that He had something to say to me. I've been running from the Lord. Why? Mostly fear - fear of rejection, fear of hearing nothing, fear of seeing His back turned against me because I still think it's about what I'm doing. I had twenty minutes before the oven timer was going to go off. I brought my Jesus Calling, silently daring God to speak to me through it. Here's what the day's entry said, "Don't be discouraged. I know your heart. Don't let feelings of failure weigh you down." About this time I had to laugh because not only does God totally have my number, He has arranged for me to read exactly what I need to hear. One of the scripture references at the bottom was Hebrews 4:14 -16. On my way there, verse 4:2 - the second part jumped out at me, "But the message they heard was of no value to them because those who heard did not combine it with faith." I have to choose to believe what God says about me. Here's what He tells me I need to do - this is Hebrews 4:16 - in my words, "We need to run to God's ruling seat of mercy full of confidence that He will receive us and give us the mercy and grace we so desperately need." That is what I intend to do. Run to His mercy. Believe that the blood of Jesus has covered all my failures once and for all. It is done. I choose to enter His rest.  I choose to quit believing that His love for me varies with how well I'm doing my job, how much I weigh, or how clean my floors are. 

Father God, please help us believe the wonderful truth that You receive us and our performance has no bearing on Your love for us. Help us get this Lord, because I'm still not sure we really do. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Looking Back/ Moving Forward

This week we’ve been enjoying a visit from my father.  He lives in Virginia where he works full-time as a hospice chaplain, so we don’t get to see him very often.  More than a few years ago, he and my mom packed up their little girls and moved to Fort Worth from central Florida for my dad to attend Southwestern Seminary.  On Monday, we decided to take a nostalgic trip to look at the campus and snap one more picture in front of the little apartment building that was our first home in Texas.  As we drove around, my dad recounted for us the story of how  they were given the president’s special suite on campus to spend the night, prompting one administrative assistant to ask, “Who are you?” assuming they must be vip’s.  My dad told her, “We’re just God’s kids.”  My sister and I have our own faith-building memory of praying all the way to Texas for bunk beds and being ecstatic when we entered our tiny new bedroom and found a set. 

These are stories I remember hearing over and over growing up.  They were part of our own version of Psalm 136, which recounts God’s faithfulness to Israel and repeatedly affirms the truth that His love endures forever.  We need to take the time to remember and tell each other about the epic faithfulness our Father God has shown us.  Remembering how good God has been and how far He has brought us strengthens our resolve to stay the course to the end.  However, looking back is only a good idea if we keep it brief – whether we are changing lanes on the freeway or remembering the way things were.  In order to keep moving forward, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus and He is always out front!  His word to us is always, “Come, follow Me!” 

Father, please help us remember all the good things You’ve done on our behalf.  Please give us courage to follow Your lead, even into unfamiliar territory.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.  2 Corinthians 2:14