Fear

Welcome to first time guest blogger, Stacie Swicegood. Read on for a practical lesson on our old enemy, Fear. I’m sitting here thinking about writing and even talking to a friend about how to get started, and fear sits in. You know, the sweaty palms, heart palpitations, desire to run, avoid or do something else. It's like standing at the end of a very high diving board, looking down at the cold blue water, not knowing if you will sink or swim. If you are reading this, I jumped; whether I sink or swim is now up to God. He tells us in Psalms 119:105 that His word is a lamp to our path and a light to our feet. Have you seen the lamps from 100 BC or later? They are not the flood lights we have now. They light about 2 feet in front of you; the rest remains dark. I could use a flood light right now. The what-ifs are enough to send me packing, but the biggest, what if I fail, that thought is terrifying. Fear of failure is something, like many, I struggle with. I have forgiven my parents for being unable to tell me they were proud of me, but it does change how our brains are wired. We become overachievers, scared to let anybody down, and scared to step out of our comfort zone. This is where Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all submit to Him and he will make your paths straight.” For the overachiever control freak that I am, this verse terrifies me. Trust God? Don’t rely on my understanding? Submit? Let God control everything. Those feelings of fear come back right about now. But God But God promises in many places in the bible and in my own life that when we let him have control and let go of the wheel, he will bless us and take us further than we could ever imagine. He promises us our path with be straight but doesn’t tell us the terrain, only that he will light the steps we are to take. Trust in him, and know that the next step, no matter how terrifying, is exactly what God is asking.

kaleidoscope

Twisted

 

 “Thus says the Lord. My ways are not your ways. Neither are my thoughts your thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:4.

I love kaleidoscopes. They are such simple toys, made of a cardboard or metal tubes, an opaque lens and colorful pieces of glass or plastic. When you hold the lens up to the light, you can see the colored pieces for a shape Twisting the tube just a bit shifts the colored pieces and completely changes the pattern. It can be mesmerizing to watch the colors and shapes change and can keep a child, or an adult, entertained. The image depends on the position the pieces are in.

I have discovered something in the last few weeks. What we see in life depends on our viewpoint. One small change in our perspective can completely change what we know and understand. For example, I had an experience the other day when I was complaining about a situation that occurred often when I was growing up. My husband saw the situation from a different perspective and shared with me what he saw. I felt like my memory shifted like the pieces in the kaleidoscope. Things that had made no sense to me suddenly became clear. I could see more clearly why I reacted the way I did. Old resentments and jealousy were shown in a different light, and have become easier to overcome.

The Bible tells us in Isaiah 55, “Thus says the Lord. My ways are not your ways. Neither are my thoughts your thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."We think things should work one way but they don't work out that way. There is a country song that says, "Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers." I am not saying that we should use country songs to dictate our theology, but the sentiment does support what we read in this verse.

One reason our thoughts are not like God's thoughts is that we canot see the whole picture, but only a very small piece. Two verses address this The first is 2 corinthians 4:18. We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. There is a whole area of reality that we cannot see but the thing that happen in the spirit realm are as real, or possibly more real as the things that happen that we can see. I have seen it compared to what is going on backstage during a performance that we don't realize.
Loook at this beautiful verse from Isaiah 46.

9Remember what happened long ago,
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me.
10I declare the end from the beginning,
and ancient times from what is still to come.
       I say, ‘My purpose will stand,
and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.

Not only does God see things that we can't but he sees it in the context of eternity. We look at what is happening right now and can't understand. 

You can feel secure when your life is beig twisted and shaken. It is being held by your loving, almighty father. 

 

 What's it worth to you

  “Since you are precious in my sight, since you are honored and I love you, I will give other people in your place and other nations in exchange for your life." Isaiah 43:4

There is no limit to the places we can find lessons for our spiritual lives. Believe it or not, the inspiration for today’s lesson came from THE PRICE IS RIGHT. The item up for bid was a diamond necklace. Contestants were bidding between $750 and $1000. The “actual retail price” was $3025. I was impressed not only by the value of the necklace but by how people undervalued it. Diamonds are used in many industries including automotive and medicine because they are excellent for cutting and polishing. However they have value apart from what they can do. Ultimately, the value of something is based on what someone is willing to pay for it.

I realized as I thought about this that the same is true for us as Christians. I admit that have received my value based on performance and what I could do for God or others. Growing up, that was how I got validation. In school, church and often at home, that was how I got attention and approval. I accomplished things and I succeeded. I have shared before that I loved the gold stars and happy faces on papers and Sunday school charts. I did not learn about grace until much later and it was actually a difficult concept for me. My acceptance and God’s love for me was outside of anything I did or could do. It was because God chose to pay the price for my redemption. I had value to Him outside or what I could do or accomplish.

Isaiah 43:4 has become one of my life verses. “Since you are precious in my sight, since you are honored and I love you, I will give other people in your place and other nations in exchange for your life.

Look at John 15:16. Jesus tells his disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”

 In the beautiful passage in Romans 8, Paul tells us …31What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things? 

I am by no means saying not to do things to glorify God or to help his people. I am merely saying that our value is not defined by what we accomplish but in what he was willing to do for us. The world and even people we love will sometimes undervalue us, like the diamond necklace. God gave up his most precious possession to purchase us. May we stand in that value this week.A

ABIDE

 

Abide

When I was about 13 we went to a Navajo reservation to hold a Vacation Bible School. It was a world like nothing I had ever seen. The hogans looked pieced together but they were sturdy and comfortable on the inside. The chapter house had beautiful handmade crafts, offices, meeting rooms and a shower facility. The men built a brush arbor while we watched amazed at the transformation.

We had Vacation Bible School in the morning and Gospel Meeting at night. Afterwards we ate fabulous food that we had never had, including fresh fry bread. The afternoons were reserved for fun. There were impromptu games and hikes. That was the summer I discovered Agatha Christie. I would hike a little way from where the campsite was and sit in on of the shallow caves to read. One day as I was hiking, I saw a fox den with 2 kits inside. We watched each other in silence. They were completely unconcerned. They were sheltered from the sun and mama was undoubtedly nearby and would come running at the slightest yip.

In our Christian lives, although we trust God we feel the need to rush around and figure out a backup plan in case he doesn’t come through. ( Maybe that is just me.) Scripture tells us to Abide in him. Abide means to remain stable or fixed in a state. Like the fox kits we need to be stable and fixed in our trust that God is a good father and will come at our call. Life does not always look like that but we have the assurance that it is true.

Look at this beautiful verse that I found about abiding in God. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalms 91:1) I cannot think of a better place to abide than in the shadow of the Almighty. I long for safety and shelter and I can be sure to find it there. More than that, it is my rightful place. What if a bobcat tried to move into the fox den. Mama fox would make short work of it because the den is not its rightful place. I don’t have to creep into the presence of God as if I am afraid someone will spot me.

 
Not only is God’s presence a place of safety and shelter, but it is a place of power and provision. Jesus tells his disciples, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:7” If we are remaining in a fixed and stable state in Jesus and hiding his word in our heart ( Psalms  119:11) we have a flow of blessings in him.

Abiding is not common in our culture. We are taught to strive, to work harder, to be self-made women and men. May we have the courage it takes this week to learn to be still and abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

Just Sit

 

Just Sit

Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heavens and exalted in the earth. Psalms 46:10

The other day, I came home from a long day at work. The dog was glad to see me. He had a list for me since I had been gone. We went out for a walk and he took care of all the necessary duties. We came in and he got his treats. I left out the one that stays in the refrigerator and he informed me that I had forgotten it. We played fetch and he ate some. I figured we were done since all the boxes had been checked, so I sat down with my book. He would be still for a few minutes and then let out one loud sharp bark. This went on for several minutes and finally I told him I was out of ideas. As a last option, I sat down beside him on the floor. He wagged his tail and put his head down.  That was all he wanted – for me to be with him.

In our Christian walk, we look to God for what we need. This is a good thing and He loves to bless us. He tells us to trust him and says that we do not have because we do not ask. (James 4). We depend on him for salvation, for our daily bread and our healing. There is a piece that is often missing, though. We do not take enough time to just sit and be with Him. Like Martha in the Bible we get so busy serving Him that we do not take time to sit at his feet. Jesus died to bridge the gap between us and a holy God so we could have fellowship. We need to take advantage of that gift of fellowship.

A verse that I love/hate is Psalms 46:10 – Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heavens and exalted in the earth.

Psalms 84 has a beautiful description of  spending time in God’s presence.

How lovely is your dwelling place,
    Lord Almighty!
² My soul yearns, even faints,
    for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
    for the living God.
³ Even the sparrow has found a home,
    and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
    Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
⁴ Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
    they are ever praising you.

I have not always done well at sitting in God’s presence, but I want to do it more. I need the restoration and healing that comes from it. May we have the courage to step away from our busy stressful life and spend time with the God who gave Himself up for us.

Because I Said So

Because I Said So

My ways are not your ways nor are my thoughts your thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my thoughts higher than your thoughts and my ways than your ways.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

It is the cry of the four year old. Why? Why? Why? Why is the sky blue? Why do I have to brush my teeth? Why do I have to go to school? My uncle called on one of those days and asked what I was doing. I said, “I’ve answered a thousand questions today.” He said, “You wanted an intelligent child and now you have one.”  Parents try to keep up for a while, but usually it deteriorates to the point where the frustrated parent says, “BECAUSE I SAID SO!”

God is sovereign. He tells us in Isaiah 55, “my ways are not your ways nor are my thoughts your thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my thoughts higher than your thoughts and my ways than your ways.”  It is tempting to ask God why things happened. Why did my family member die? Why did someone attack innocent people? Many times we don’t get an answer.

Job questioned God when he was hurting and broken. Here is what God said to him.

38 Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind and said,

² “Who is this who darkens the divine plan By words without knowledge?
³ Now ^[a]tighten the belt on your waist like a man, And I shall ask you, and you inform Me!
⁴ Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you ^[b]have understanding,
⁵ Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the measuring line over it?
⁶ On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone,
⁷ When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸ “Or who enclosed the sea with doors When it went out from the womb, bursting forth;
⁹ When I made a cloud its garment, And thick darkness its swaddling bands,
¹⁰ And I ^[c]placed boundaries on it And set a bolt and doors,
¹¹ And I said, ‘As far as this point you shall come, but no farther;
And here your proud waves shall stop’?

 

For several chapters God continues. All the marvels of creation exist “because He said so.”

Sovereignty is not a concept we understand in our culture. We are used to getting our way and getting it when we want it. God gets to have the final say because he created everything, He sustains everything and he redeemed everything.

 

When you don’t get an answer or don’t get the answer you want, you can trust God. Anything that happens to you is in his hand and you will be taken care of, because He said so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Redeemed

 Welcome back to guest blogger Samantha LaPierre. Read on to see what she has learned about God Redeeming the wreckage of the past. 

I keep starting and stopping searching for words that are not there to express things that vanish the moment you try to pin them down. They seem so sacred that to capture them would be nearly irreverent and blasphemous. Some moments, it seems, belong only to the moment in which they were birthed and are buried before the next. Bursts and flashes of creation are complete in themselves. How could I express that?

Sometimes I could sit and breathe and bask in the nothingness, the dreaming that occurs as it dwells in all of the possibility that the void contains. I can hold this space just briefly to quiet the chattering in my mid. The silence takes the roots of these and turns over earth inside my soul, so that I can grow something beautiful. I can create something I never could have on my own. I can feel my chest begin to calm. A feeling like a raging hurricane suddenly stopped.

At first I felt like I had died, like the lack of conflict was death, not peace. I was used to just surviving, getting by using anxiety as the source I used to me forward. To let myself take the weighted responsibility of owning my life would mean I would have to step into the authority of my own power. Actually it was not my own power, but the power entrusted to me by God by the Holy Spirit. I didn’t know how to claim it. I had nothing but failed attempts, a dysfunctional emotional body and a lack of guidance. I had no one to teach me who to be whole, but I quickly taught myself to be broken and bitter. I can’t pinpoint or understand how or when the depth of my soul surrendered to the surface all the treasures that I had assumed were lost forever. Lost when my vessel was tossed and wrecked time and time again, breaking and sinking like the pearl of the grace that came with a great cost. God has called these treasures out of their grave. He came walking on the water to help me see their beauty and unseen worth. He said to me, “these are the treasures you take with you from this life to the next.

As I wrote this these pictures played on the screen in my mind.

A pretty new ship setting off as dark clouds rolled in. As it set sail, it passed the safe zone and violent waves and winds capsized it, breaking it into splinters.

Another boat, not so new sits hesitant to leave. It didn’t sail long and was abandoned with its cargo. The captain and crew decided they would rather take their chances and float. Over and over this story replayed and no one dived to reclaim what was  lost.

Then the ocean floor began to shift. The tides and currents changed and the surface was hit by a tsunami. The ocean became an empty grave. I could see Him jump in the water and lift me out - resuscitating me and reviving my heart. I coughed cried and sputtered to take the next breath on my own. He wiped my eyes and my face. Then he lifted me to my feet and we were standing on the water together. He picks up stones, treasures and a bluepring. No. It is a complete pardon. 4 beautiful words. All has been forgiven.

I see a trunk full of books that don’t have words yet. “Write” he said without saying. “These are the tablets of your heart. He shows me a gold heart shaped locket with a mustard seed in one side and “to thine own self be true, on the other. I can’t help but smile. He had faith in me the whole time. At the end of this I come back to myself and I want to dance and cry and tell everyone about the way, in just a moment, God could reveal Himself to me. I don’t need to be spectacular. I only need to make myself be still long enough to release what it is in my mind