Welcome back to unseen. It has been a difficult few weeks and i have learned a lot. Read on to see what god has taught me.

Knots

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted forgiving one another, even as God through Christ has forgiven you.

Bowline, clove hitch, 2 half hitches, monkey’s paw, and tautline. If you these words ring bells in your head, you are probably a former boy scout or a mother of one. They are a few of the many types of knots. These knots are each useful for different things. I couldn’t tell you what, though. You could ask my boys and they could tell you.  They learned these knots and how to make them. They did their very best to teach me, but were mostly unsuccessful. There is one thing the scout leaders tend to not teach, though ; how to get the knots undone.  If you are a mother or a teacher, you have untied or tried to untie thousands of knots in shoe laces, jump ropes, fishing line and necklaces.  Sometimes the harder you try to untie a knot the worse it gets. You usually have to trace back through the tangles and find the end of the string or rope. Knots and tangles can make the object difficult or impossible to use.

This is a lot like life.  Today there are 3 particular knots in my spiritual life. Worry, resentment and fear. I wish I could tell you that I can untangle my own knots because I am so wise and spiritual, but that would be a lie. I know the truth, that God calls me to forgive and be merciful, but some knots of resentment are too tangles and deep seated for me to undo by myself. I know that God is faithful.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    when I look at the things that he has brought me through just in the last few weeks, I am amazed. I have a human heart, though, and when I look at what I need this week and what I have to accomplish, I slip into worry. Then if I am not careful, the same enemy that tempted me with worry come against me with guilt for worrying. The point is, I cannot untie these spiritual knots any more than children can untie complicated physical ones. What did we do as children when we had a knot that we couldn’t untie? We went to our parents. We need to do the same thing in our spritual lives, and take them to our father.
1 Pet 5:7 says "Cast your cares upon him for he cares for you." and matthew  6 tells us the folly of worrying.  These should  remind us to let God untangle our knots of worry. Ephesian 4:32 says  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted forgiving one another, even as God through Christ has forgiven you. In the sermon on the mount, we are told that if we have anything against our brother to leave our gift at the altar and go and be reconciled.

We need to let God take our tangled situations and emotions and untie them. Thank him for his faithfulness and his provision and let him love others through you when you can't do it yourself.

Super Power

This week we had a friend who passed away. He loved superheroes. In his honor I want to share what I wrote for him about the lessons from superheroes.

Super Power

2 Corinthians 4:7

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:7

Superman swoops down out of the sky to rescue the girl from the nefarious villain.

Batman sees the Bat signal and urges Robin to run to the Bat-mobile.

Spiderman’s spider senses start tingling and he swings to the rescue on his web.

The Green Lantern uses his lantern to signal for help from the other guardians, facing a threat that is more than he can handle alone.

In America, we love superheroes. We spend millions of dollars on lunch boxes, action figures, comic books and movies.  We like the thought that someone bigger and more powerful can save the day. We love their superpowers. We like being sure that good will triumph over evil. Who can blame us? There is a lot of evil in the world and we are in a battle for our lives and our souls. Unfortunately, superheroes are in short supply, but that does not mean we are helpless.  

No superhero swooped down to rescue my child the first time a drug dealer offered him a quick fix for his hurts. You know who was there? Christian brothers and sisters who told him to make good choices, but also helped keep him busy doing appropriate things. They listened to him scream and rage while he was trying to get clean, and picked him up when he lost a battle. They pointed out his strength and value and assured both him and me that we could get through this, even when I asked if we had to go through every possible temptation with this one child.

.I have more trouble meeting my needs the last week of the month than I do with dr. Octavius or the Joker. I do not have a magic lasso or a web to swing away from danger, but I have something much more powerful

We are encouraged to put on our armor in Ephesians 6.

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
¹² For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
¹³ Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
¹⁴ Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
¹⁵ And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
¹⁶ Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
We forget that we are in a battle and we do need our weapons. 
I do not have a magic lantern to summon help, but  I do have Christian family who sometimes surprise me with helpful gestures just at the right time, like the friend who would call and offer a protein packed meal in exchange for a ride to the dr. There was the man who stopped me in the parking lot to give me a card to get my squeaky brakes fixed. No guardians come to my resue but my sisters will pray with me ( even in the middle of the store), cry with me ( or make me laugh at myself) and just love me. 

Life is hard, and we do not have super powers, but we do have a Super Power available to us through the holy spirit. We also have powerful weapons (2 Corinthians 10:4) and powerful allies (Galatians 6) 
Don't be afraid to use these or to help when someone else does. 

Behind the scenes

Do you ever feel like God is not paying attention? We are asking for things and nothing is happening. If you reading this, it means you are alive, so you probably have. Read on for a lesson from my past.

Behind the Scene

My ways are not your ways, neither are my thoughts your thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than yours and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8

In high school, I had the chance to be in some plays. From the audience everything looks calm and smooth. Actors enter and exit flawlessly and the scenery is changed at the appropriate time. From the other side of the curtain, though, it is a completely different picture. Tech people are bringing lights up and down. Make up is being touched up, and costumes are being changed. When the curtain goes down, prop managers scurry on and off stage. The props and scenery from one scene are often completely different from the one before. Places may be marked with glow in the dark tape. Think of the hours of practice that have taken place beforehand, with movements mapped out and practiced.

Can you imagine an actor making an entrance onto a dark or semi-dark stage? He has made the entrance dozens of times before, but this time something is different. The prop manager did not get a piece of scenery off the stage from the previous scene. It happens to be right in the way and the actor trips or even falls. The audience gasps, or maybe snickers.

There was a time recently when I was waiting for something from God. I was doing everything I was supposed to do. I had confessed every sin I ever thought about committing, fearing that the reason I was not receiving what I was waiting for was because I was being punished. I begged. I pleaded. I cried. I got angry. I told God that He was not paying attention, and He apparently wasn't doing anything about my situation. Finally I got a picture of a scene backstage, with prop managers scurrying madly. God reminded me that He is in control, and that I would not want to make an entrance until the stage was set, because I did not want to fall over something.

I received what I was waiting for, and it has been fantastic. I see some of the things that were worked out, but I know there were many more that I will never see. I have no idea what God is doing when He appears to be doing nothing. We need to have faith, because God has seen the end from the beginning. Nothing surprises him and he is in control. Take courage as you wait for what you ask for. God is faithful.

LORD, Help us to remember that there are things we cannot see and that you will never leave us.

Creation

Welcome to Unseen today. When we live unseen we are tempted to focus on our flaws rather than the good things inside of us and others. Read on for a lesson from the sewing basket, of all places.
 

Creation

We are confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phillipians 1:6

Lately, in all my spare time, I have been doing counted cross-stitch again. It is relaxing  (much more so now that I have bifocals) and it is fun to see a picture emerge onto a blank canvas. There is a pattern to go by and directions. I have had to realize, though, that no matter how carefully I count and try to match colors, my design does not always look like the pattern. I have to adjust and let it be OK.I have discovered that as great as the front of the canvas looks, the back is usually a tangled, knotted mess. I can either get frustrated and stop, or I can understand that no one is going to turn my creation over and inspect it for flaws. In most patterns that I have done, the instructions say to use more than one strand. The floss is thin and would snap or tangle with just one piece. The one place where the instructions usually say to use one strand is with backstitching. This is a finishing step to add detail and contrast, and is typically done using dark colored thread.

Isn’t it fun to see God’s plan and glory emerge in our lives and the lives of those we love? God the Creator is still creating. He has given us a pattern to imitate in Jesus and directions to follow in the Bible. Just as I often miscount my stitches, I often step out of God’s plan and may miss what He intended. I do not look the pattern Je left me in Jesus. When I do He doesn’t crumple up the plan and leave me to my own devices. He leads me in a different direction and makes beauty out of my mess, using it for his Glory. One of my favorite scriptures is the story of Jeremiah in the potter’s house. The vessel was marred in the potter’s hand and he fashioned it into something new. God asks Jeremiah, “Cannot I not do the same with you, oh house of Israel?” (Jeremiah 18:1-7)

We know ourselves and our flaws, and are looking at the inside of our hearts, minds and souls, often comparing them to the outside of other people’s lives. We feel guilty and unworthy of God’s love and of being used by Him. God sees us, instead, through the filter of Jesus’ blood. For instance, if I am honest, today I am angry with God. We had prayed for healing for a friend and it is not looking like it will happen. I know all the pretty words about how death is the ultimate healing, and how God’s will is perfect, but I feel like God let us down. I look from inside and see the anger and doubt and think God must be really ashamed of me right now. He sees me through the blood and is honored by the fact that I showed up at church this week and sang praises even with my arms crossed and tears in my eyes. Which brings us to the point that we are not in this alone, and just as the floss is weak by itself, so we need each other to be strong. (Ecclesiastes 5:9, Galatians 6:2-5) I know that the times in my life that have been dark have outlined God’s grace and glory in my life. Joseph told his brothers when he revealed his identity, “you meant this for evil, but God has used it for good.(Genesis 48:1-12) Romans 8:28 tells us the same thing . I swore in the middle of those times that God had forgotten me and there was no way anything good could come out of this, but I know that he has been faithful.   

Like a picture emerging on a canvas, God is creating something in you. The best news, as we see in Phillipians 1:6 is that he is not done with his creation.  We are confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Look for his beauty in your life and in others.

Patchwork

Welcome to Unseen today. This week we had a program at work for Black History month. The post for today is based on something I wrote for the program. It is deeper than that, though. We who live unseen know that race it not the only thing that separates people. Read on for a lesson on celebrating "one another".

Patchwork

For by one spirit, we were baptized into one body, whether Jew or Greek, slave or free. 1 Cor. 12:13

I have a beautiful patchwork quilt and chances are you do too. The colors are as varied as the rainbow. The pattern seems haphazard at first. My quilt keeps me warm on cold nights and warms my heart, too because it was pieced together by women who love me. Your quilt is probably completely different from mine, but treasured just as much.

My quilt is like my life. Just as the colors in my quilt are varied so are the people who have touched my life and influenced me. They come from different culture, different lifestyles and different faith communities, but they all come together in a beautiful whole. Just as the pattern in my quilt seems haphazard, so does the intersection in my life of light and dark, joy and pain, and laughter and tears. We cannot have life, or quilts, without both.

If you think about your faith community or your family, you may think God chose an odd pattern, but like a patchwork quilt, he has placed people in our lives for specific purposes. 1 Corinthians 12 describes the body of Christ, or the church. It says,

For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many (1 Corinthians  12:12-14)

It goes on to talk about how the members of the body cannot do without each other, and when one hurts the whole body hurts. There are so many verses in the New Testament in particular that teach us about “one another”. We are told to Love one another (1 John 4:7-8), to serve on another,(Galatians 5:13)  and to bear with one another. Eph 4:2.

People make up our life quilts. Our differences in culture, personality and opinions work together to increase the beauty that God can make.  Instead of letting these differences separate us from our brothers and sisters, lets celebrate “one another”

Ready or not?

Welcome back to Unseen. It has been a while because of illness and general yuck. With the holidays I was remebering family stories as I was working on a tribute for my mom. Read on for a lesson I learned from my grandparents.

Ready Or Not?

The day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night. 1 Thes 5:2

My grandparents were quite a pair.  They were married for 68 years when Grandpa died, so many times they had no need for verbal communication. The most vivid example was the dance they did when it was time for a visit to be over. Grandpa wore a hat whenever he went out and when he got ready to go he would walk through the room Grandma was in, carrying his hat. Grandma never responded at this point. He would wait a few minutes and then walk back through wearing his hat. She started thinking about getting ready then. A few more minutes would pass before he walked through jingling the car keys. She would start to wrap up conversation but she could talk till the cows came home and then talk to the cows. Finally he would start the car and then come in and give her a look. She would usually act surprised that he wanted to go, but would put on her scarf and get ready to go.

Getting ready to go is a process but it is necessary. Someday it will be time for us to leave here. Whether you die and go to be with the Lord or he returns to restore all things, we need to be ready. Peter’s description of that time is vivid.

  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with        a    great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 2 Pet 3:10

 Paul encourages us to “walk not as unwise men but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. (Eph. 5:15-16)” The story of the wise and unwise virgins in Matthew 25 show us the necessity for being watchful.

For some people the Lord’s return brings fear, but it is a good thing for believers. We are not at home here. This week was particularly hard and I am glad to know that Jesus has gone to prepare a place for me (John 10). This world is not all there is. Take heart and keep watch.

Gifts

Well, it's the weekend before Christmas so you have very likely been running around trying to find gifts. Let's be honest. Living unseen, Christmas in general and gift in particular can be hard for us. This post is probably something we need to know this week. I had planned a completely different one but left my thumb drive. Read on to see if you are one of the people who God wanted to share this with.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights, in whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.  James 1:17

Gina took a lot of time preparing for Christmas. She got an angora sweater for her mother who loved soft things. Her dad was a woodworker and she got him new tools. Her brother got an official NFL jersey. For her sister, she got a birthstone necklace.   She watched eagerly as they opened their gifts Christmas morning. Her mother opened the sweater and exclaimed at its softness and color. Then she put it back in the box and told Gina that she couldn’t accept it because it was too precious. Gina’s father opened the woodworking tools and said that they were the finest he had ever owned. Then he said he was going to put them in the closet so they didn’t get dirty. Gina was amazed and puzzled. Her brother was next. He opened the jersey, held it up and then shook his head sadly. “I don’t deserve it. I skipped class 3 times this semester and I got a speeding ticket and I didn’t mow the yard. I can’t accept it.” Gina’s sister opened her package. She held up the necklace and watched the light sparkling off the sapphire. She laughed excitedly, and then she put on the necklace and gave Gina a hug.

What would you say to this family if you were there? You would be able to tell them that Gina had given her mother the precious gift because she loved her, that the tools were only helpful if they were used and that a gift does not have to be earned. It only needs to be accepted.  Now switch from the living room to the church. You see the same behavior if you can recognize it. God has offered us not only Jesus come to earth, but salvation, peace and the tools to equip us for the ministry he has called us to. So many people either don’t accept his gifts at all, or they don’t make use of them to live an abundant life. For example they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit but seldom allow him to use his power in their lives. Instead we try to do God’s work on our power which is like trying to run a car on a 9 volt battery.  We don’t have to earn the right to receive a gift. Like Gina’s sister we only need to accept it joyfully and put it to use.

The Bible has so much to say about the gifts we have received. Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” John 10:10 explains why Jesus chose to come and give us the gift of his life. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 1 Corinthians 12 describes the idea of spiritual gifts that God uses to equip each of us and the body as a whole, but ends by encouraging us to earnestly desire the higher gifts, leading to the famous love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13. Finally James 1:17 says that Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights, in whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. We can trust His gifts and we can trust him. Please do not allow the enemy of your soul to trick you into either not accepting or not using the gifts you have been given. He knows that if you do, He will be in big trouble!