Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

On our honeymoon, we visited Capulin Volcano on a whim. We decided we might not ever get to see a volcano again. Capulin is just across the New Mexico border coming back from Colorado.As we were driving up we saw scrub brush and cactus and lots of gray dirt. When we got to the rim, I couldn't believe my eyes. The inside of the crater was bursting with life. It was green and lush with dozens of different kinds of plants. One bush was completely covered in ladybugs. Every step brought new amazing sights. When we mentioned this at the visitor's center, the workers told us that the volcanic ash makes the most fertile soil. It was astonishing that so much beauty and growth could come from something as destructive and catastrophic as a volcano.


Isn't that just like God? Not only is he the Creator that formed the volcano in the first place but he recreated something beautiful out of the ruin  He can do the same for us What areas in your life has he redeemed? Sometimes it looks like a situation is so painful and bitter that nothing good can ever come from it. For me  some of those have been a miscarriage, an angry, destructive teenager and struggles with depression and anxiety. These were things that were so hard that I was sure that God could not use them for good. I know the verses but for some reason I decided that either these things were not included in the list of "all things that God works together for good." (Romans 8:28) Either that or I had not done enough good deeds to balance the scale. I was wrong, though, and God has used them. Some of them have been used to  shape me and teach me dependence on God. Some have been used to make me more compassionate and helpful to others in the same situation. I have been able to listen to them or give them a hug and prove that it can be overcome. I have also received hope from others who have been in similar situations, who probably felt the same way I did.


One of the verses that got me through these times was Isaiah 61:1-3.It reads like this.


The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,^[a]
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor  and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty  instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord  for the display of his splendor.


One of my life verses is Isaiah 43:1-3.


But now, this is what the Lord says—
    he who created you, Jacob,
    he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.
³ For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior


Another of my favorites is one you may not have seen. It is in Micah 7:8.
⁸ Do not gloat over me, my enemy!
    Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness,
    the Lord will be my light.
⁹ Because I have sinned against him,
    I will bear the Lord’s wrath,
until he pleads my case
    and upholds my cause.
He will bring me out into the light;
    I will see his righteousness.
¹⁰ Then my enemy will see it
    and will be covered with shame.


So many other verses echo these thoughts. If we release our hurts to God he can make them fertile soil for growth and service. I urge you not to fall in to the trap of holding onto anger and resentment, as tempting as it is for all of us. These are the scrub brush and cactus of our spiritual lives. may your ashes be turned into beauty.

Flyaway

Welcome to Unseen today. The good thing is that I have been very busy. The bad thing is that I have been very busy. Today I am returning to a post that I shared some time ago. My cousins have a child getting married this weekend and I have been thinking about letting go of my grown children.
Apparently it is a process. If you are anywhere in the process of letting go of something, read on for some encouragement.

Flyaway 

 Exd 15:2 The LORD [is] my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; He [is] my God, and I will praise Him; My father's God, and I will exalt Him.

The Olympics were a thrill to watch. People enjoyed the Fab Five and the way they bounced and twisted their way to gold medals.  I also love to watch my teenager compete in gymnastics. He has come a long way in a short time.  It takes three things to excel in gymnastics – strength, balance and courage. It requires tremendous upper body strength to support your weight, and even more to support your weight while twisting and turning. Balance is a key part in all the events. As exciting as the flips and handsprings are to watch, the slow, deliberate moves are just as impressive. Balance beam comes to mind, of course, with girls executing intricate moves on a surface less than 4 inches wide.  When it comes down to it, all the strength and balance in the world are useless without the courage to put them to work.  My son says that he is completely capable of doing a handstand on the parallel bars but that it is terrifying to look down and see the floor six feet away.  There is one particular move on the high bar called a flyaway. This move involves working up momentum by swinging and then letting go of a perfectly good bar to go hurtling through the air backwards. I confess that I watch through parted fingers while holding my breath. Fortunately for the athletes, and the parents, there are coaches, spotters and mats to increase safety.

In life we also need strength, balance and courage to be successful. In West Texas we are notorious for “pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps”. We are self-reliant which makes it hard to rely on God.  God understood this and addressed it. The word strength is mentioned 230 times in the Bible. God does not endorse bootstrap pulling. Many of the verses follow this theme;

 Psa 18:2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Exd 15:2 The LORD [is] my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; He [is] my God, and I will praise Him; My father's God, and I will exalt Him.

2Cr 12:10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

It is actually a little scary to get our strength from God either because we feel unworthy or because we have to let go of control. It is much more effective than relying on ourselves, though.
             
                Jesus is our example when it comes to balance. In Luke 2:52 we are told he grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and Man.  When things got chaotic in his ministry, He was able to go and be alone with God. I am not sure if it is a function of our society or just our human nature, but balance is so difficult to find. We have to make the effort, though.
                Courage is where I often fall short.  Peter gets a bad rap, but he is the only disciple who got out of the boat and walked on the water. Many times when God asks me to do something, I am afraid to start. I may be afraid that I will fail and I may be afraid that I will succeed.  A good example is when I started writing in earnest.  I have mentioned before that I had seven really good reasons that I should not  or could not write a book and almost as many why I couldn’t write a blog.  Yet here we are, 3 years and two books later. Honestly much harder than letting God take care of my stuff is letting God take care of my loved ones’ stuff. Just like I watch the flyaway stunt with parted fingers and held breath, I watch my sons take flight in their lives the same way. What if they fall? What if they can’t get up? What if they don’t need me anymore? Well, they have fallen some. I watched my older son fall hard into addiction and rage, but God was faithful and caught him in the safety mat of grace and the Holy Spirit. My younger son has had different and less visible struggles, but God has been faithful to him too.
                Let God and His joy be your strength. Keep your life balanced as much as you can and have the courage to let go of your perfectly good bar. You can trust God to keep you and your loved ones safe in His grace and love. Evidently it is a process.

Why did the Chicken Cross the Yard

I had what should be a once in a lifetime experience this week. I was driving close to downtown Abilene and saw a chicken ambling across the road. It was strutting across my lane. I honked to encourage it to hurry. It declined to hurry, looking at me and the car behind me as if he were wondering what we were doing on his street. I guess he figured he had the right of way.

As I drove off I thought of one of my favorite chicken stories. A woman (I believe it was my great grandmother) took advantage of a warm spring afternoon to do some deep cleaning. She brought chairs bedding and outside so she could air them out. Deciding to give the mirror a good cleaning as well, she brought it outside and propped it against the wall of the house. She went back inside for a minute. but was startled by a horrible racket. She went back out and saw her rooster standing at the mirror, screeching at his reflection. She tried to shoo him away but he was lost in the moment. With his talons and beak flashing, he flew at his adversary. The good news is he was victorious and the interloper lay in pieces at his feet. The bad news is that the woman was not understanding about his smashing the mirror to get to the "other rooster" and he ended up in the soup pot.

How many times have you spent time and energy fighting the wrong thing?
We do have things that we need to fight, but we often have our focus in the wrong place. For example, the other night I was having a stupid argument with my husband. We were arguing because instead of the super ultra extra large pack of paper towels, I had only bought the ultra extra large pack. He was determined to show me the error of my ways and I was determined to defend my decision. All of a sudden I stopped and thought, "I bet we are not arguing about paper towels." Then we were able to figure out the real issue and settle it, especially once I promised to buy super ultra extra large packs from now on.

This is true in our spiritual lives as well. We argue with our brothers and sisters about stupid things. There have been church splits that have happened because of the color of the carpet chosen or which song book was the right one. This suits the enemy's purposes just fine. As long as we are sniping with each other we won't be fighting the more important battle of helping to win people to the Lord. Another trap we often fall for is "taking up an offense". Because of my personality, I don't like to see people mistreated. If I hear about it, I will get upset with the "mistreat-er" on behalf of the victim. The truth is that this is a bad idea. I had recently forgiven someone  after a very long period of resentment. Then I heard about him mistreating someone else. Immediately I started to get angry with him on her behalf. That resentment started flooding back. God showed me that I had to let their issues be theirs. As long as I had "cleaned my side of the street" with him, that was all I was responsible for.

So what does the Bible say about all of this?   Ephesians 6:12 is  the verse I immediately think of.
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." 2 Corinthians 4:8 reminds us, "we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." So much of what we are fighting about is trivial and takes our energy and focus away from the things that are much more valuable and lasting. Finally we need to remember that no matter what we temptations we face from the enemy, his ultimate goal is only to "Steal, kill and destroy." (John 10:10). Keep you eyes on the goal and don't be tricked into fighting an illusion.

Jamboree

Welcome to Unseen today. I got to spend time with family this week and as we were visiting I came across a long buried memory with a timely lesson attached to it. Read on for a good laugh and a good lesson.

The first summer I came home from college, my mom told me that my Grandpa had been waiting anxiously for me to get home and that he had a surprise for me. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be tickets to the Senior Citizens Jamboree! This was a “talent show” put on by some of Amarillo’s golden agers. There was square dancing and there were guitars. There was singing, with some of the selections including “Listen to the Mockingbird” and "The Moon Shines Tonight on Pretty Redwing”. (Grandpa, as was his habit, sang along to these). Then there was the junk band. The instruments, and I use the term loosely, included a saw, a harmonica that played something close to the melody, a 5 gallon plastic bucket for a drum, and what I can only describe as a contraption with a cowbell, a triangle and a pie plate welded onto a metal stand. As I write this I can hear Grandpa laughing and clapping along with the music which he apparently thought was terrific.

Does your life seem out of tune and like something that is not up to par? Whether we compare ourselves to others or just look at how far out of reach our dreams are,  it is easy to get discouraged. We may try to pray and not feel effective and try to minister and not see results. Two factors behind this are our own humanity and the enemy of our souls. The solutions are the blood of Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the love of God.


One of the names of the enemy is the Accuser of the Brethren  in Revelation 12:20. In 1st Peter 5:8 he is described as a roaring lion seeking who he may devour.  He is quick to point out both the ways that we do not measure up to others. He will highlight our failures and downplay our successes. We have to be wary of him, because in John 1o we are told that he comes to steal kill and destroy. We can do harm to ourselves without his help though. We see where we want to be and when we are still struggling we get frustrated and discouraged. Sometimes life is just hard because this is a fallen world


There is a solution to all these and it is found in God. First we must realize that God know our weakness and our strength. The beautiful verses in Psalms 139 remind us that he knit us together in our mother's womb. He loves us with an everlasting love and as he told Samuel when he went to anoint David to replace Saul as king, "Man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart.1 Samuel. He loves us and our efforts like a parent cherishes a clumsy handmade gift from a child.  When it comes to the accusation from the enemy, we have great ammunition. Romans 8:1-2 says  "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ has set me free from the law of sin and death.  Because of Easter when God looks at us he sees jesus and when he hears our out of tune lives and praises He hears something beautiful. Finally like the filters that engineers in a recording studio use to mix sound levels and eliminate imperfections, the holy spirit is our interpreter with God.  When "we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. Romans 8:26


Knowing this, sing your heart out and give your love freely. Just because it sounds like a junk band to you, it is a symphony to the God who created and loves you.

Family

I love my family and I am so glad that I have been able to get in touch with them more often. They are a source of strength to me and one place where I know I am accepted and loved. We share the same history and heritage, as quirky as it was.  Our grandparents were two of a kind. Grandpa loved to argue to pass the time. He loved to preach and tell stories and sing in a tremulous voice that my brother can imitate to a tee. One of his favorite stories to tell was about when he was a preschooler in the Oklahoma Territory. Some Indians came up on horseback and his mother grabbed the gun, put the preschool children behind her and demanded to know what they wanted. After a conversation hindered by language barriers, it turned out that he was trying to sell her peaches.
 Grandma always looked at life just a bit off kilter to the way other people did and she LOVED to tell stories. These traits led to a conversation that I had with them. I was probably in 2nd grade and had been learning about George Washington Carver in school. The next time I was at their house I asked Grandma Carver if he was one of our ancestors. Rather than giving  me a simple answer, she said no and then proceeded to give me 200 years of Carver history. Eventually she said, "Now, your great-great uncle John Carver was a stowaway on a wagon train!" Grandpa, who had been listening in, said, "Oh, Stella, he was not! It's my family and I ought to know." Without batting an eye, Grandma said, "Well, I have to make it sound good."


Our families are flawed because they are full or people. As much as we love them they will let us down and we will let them down. The wonderful thing is that God has invited us to be his family.  We are told encouraged us to live as brothers and sisters. He tells us in John 1 that to everyone who believes in Jesus is given the right to become children of God. That means that just like our earthly families share the same heritage and history, so does our spiritual family. We are connected to the saints who have gone before and will leave our legacy of faith for those who come after us. Hebrews, after, listing people in the Hall of Faith, calls this our great cloud of witnesses.(Hebrews 12:1) Even better than this is the father we are connected to. He promises to never forget us,(Isaiah 49:15) to never leave us (Hebrews 13:5)to be our shield and our very great reward.(Gen 15:1) This morning I was telling God that I did not know how he was going to do something I needed and he sent me to Isaiah 40. Even though it is longer than the passages I usually include, I am going to put it in here because we need to remember what kind of God we serve.

  Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
²² It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
²³ He brings the princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless.

²⁴ Scarcely shall they be planted,
Scarcely shall they be sown,
Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,
When He will also blow on them,
And they will wither,
And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.

²⁵ “To whom then will you liken Me,
Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created these things,
Who brings out their host by number;
He calls them all by name,
By the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power;
Not one is missing.

You know how children on the playground always say, "My daddy's bigger than your daddy"?

Rejoice today in your family. If you haven't told them you love them do it. Then rejoice in your spiritual family and if you haven't told you Heavenly Father you love him, do it. I'll start. I love you .

Tangled

Tangled

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1

On the Animal Planet the other day, I watched a show where sea animals had gotten caught and tangled up in trash from the beach. The plastic bags, six pack rings and fishing line had wrapped around their fins and flippers. Some of the animals had been cut and others were unable to move. In either case they were more vulnerable to predators. Wildlife rescue workers had to bring the animals in and either untangle or cut the plastic or line and tend the wounds it left. People are urged to pick up their trash to avoid hurting the wildlife and the planet. Dramatic music accompanies the plea, of course.

I am all for saving the planet and taking care of wildlife, but we have a bigger problem than six pack rings. In our spiritual lives we get tangled up too and it can have eternal consequences. For me the things that I get tangled up in are resentments and shame.  There are two versions of this voice in my head. The first one says “you should be ashamed.” The second, more dangerous one says “Your mother would be ashamed of you”.  I don't believe that my parents, preachers or Sunday school teachers intended to subject me to shame but the enemy is crafty and, knowing my personality, twisted what I heard.

 For some people it is a particular sin or an addiction that tangles them. Maybe it is regrets about things we did or didn’t do in the past. Another big entanglement is fear or worry.  The enemy will happily bring any or all of these things up because it keeps us distracted or overwhelmed.  He can use them as strongholds, or places to hold ground and launch an attack. Fortunately my stronghold of shame and regret has been hit by a battering ram of truth this week.

How can we deal with these things that get and keep us tangled? Hebrew 12:1 says throw it off and run the race with perseverance. The first step is to realize that we have a problem. Can you imagine a turtle or fish getting tangled in a line and not realizing it? They could easily twist and turn, getting more and more trapped. The second thing we have to do is to accept help. The harder and longer we fight things on our own, the more exhausted and discouraged we get. No matter how hard the animal thrashes it usually needs someone to help it get free. Jesus says in Matthew 11:28“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

God knows us and knows the struggles that we face. Shame and regret are powerful weapons that the enemy will use against us. Paul tells us in Romans 8:1 that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. What a good God! He provided the solution before we even knew there was a problem. As much as Satan wants you entangled, Jesus wants you free. It is why he died to save us from sin and shame. Trust him.

Monkey See Monkey Do

Welcome to Unseen today. I have been having more quiet time than usual with God since I have been sick. I learned a lot about following the examples that I have to live a good life. Read on to see what I have discovered.

Monkey See Monkey Do 

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1

We had a parakeet named Iggy when we were growing up and my brother tried to teach it to talk. Unfortunately Iggy was not interested. His cage was in the kitchen to start with and when someone pushed the buttons on the microwave he would start chirping along in perfect pitch and rhythm. Mother got tired of his comments and moved his cage to the front door. When the doorbell rang the dogs would run to the door and bark. One night we were settling in for the night and heard soft barking. Dad decided that the dogs had gotten out and declared DEFCON 1. We set out on a search party for the dogs, only to find all of them accounted for. Going past the front door we realized it was Iggy who had learned to bark. From that day on he was referred to as either the watch bird or the bird dog. 

Who do you imitate and why? Children imitate their parents, usually by doing things they shouldn’t and often without realizing it. I started wondering at some point why I chew on my pens and pencils until I saw my dad doing it. Much more destructively I also imitated his habit of refusing to use 3 little words. “I NEED HELP.” My younger son had it right, I think. The only person I know who learns from other’s mistakes, he said, “I want to be just like brother, except I ‘m not going to do this and I’m definitely not going to do that cuz that was stupid.”

Ephesians 5:1 says that we should “Be imitators of God as beloved children. That is a great idea, but I can’t get my head around it. Even things like be holy even as your father in heaven is holy are not that helpful. (Matthew 5:48) Fortunately God understands. It is one reason that he sent Jesus. This is how Paul explains it to Timothy.

1 Timothy 1:16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.

Imitating Jesus is easier because he was flesh and blood, but it is easy to say yes but I am not like Jesus. Paul has an answer to that, too. He told the Corinthians, Be imitators of me as I am an imitator of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1.He goes on to list specific ways we can do that.

We need to try to be imitators of God, but if we can find a human example to follow, it is even better. Look for someone a little ahead of you in their faith walk and learn from them.  At the same time keep an eye out for people following you.