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Carrying Her Mat

September 18, 2012 By 14 Comments

I saw something right before bed last night that will haunt me for the rest of my days.  It is the reason I’m up at 3 o’clock in the morning blogging rather than getting the sleep that my body so desperately needs right now.  It was a punch in the stomach so swift and powerful that there’s no way  to just shake it off.  But before I go into it, I have to say this:   I can’t tell you close I came to making up my mind {again} that I wasn’t going to share a single detail of it with anyone apart from my very closest friends.  It’s a lot of exposure and frankly, I’ve been burned.

It goes something like this:  you share your heaviest of hearts  ~those deep hurts that are ugly and messy and nowhere near in line with the propriety that we Christians so often use as our facade~ then the one you’ve shared with looks at you like you’ve just rolled in garbage, perhaps gingerly pats your shoulder with the promise of prayer, and leaves you with the feeling that you will be the topic at their dinner table that night because you’re such a freak show, “bless your heart”.  Ever been there?  Ever done it?  I know I have on both counts, sadly, lest you think I’m hypocritally throwing off.

What a snare of the enemy.  If there is one thing I’ve learned in my 37 years, it is that LIFE IS MESSY.  It just is.  We are in a fallen world and no matter who you are or where you come from, you WILL experience ugly, hard, and hurtful things.  You just will, and I daresay that, for whatever reason, the instinctual thing to do with it for most of us is to quickly sweep it under the rug, or stuff it in the closet, or bury it in the backyard depending upon the size of the thing and then just wash our hands, tidy our hair, and promptly post on Facebook about recipes and roses like nothing ever happened.  Really?  It all stems from the fear of being hurt of judged and no one wants that, so we just silently act like all is well.  This is not working out for us, folks.

I’m weary of it.  So weary of it.  We NEED each other, Christians.  We need to bear one another’s burdens.  We need to show genuine care and concern when people are hurting {and most of us are}.  We need to invest in one another’s lives and take the time to truly listen.  That requires our TIME.  We can’t do that in 5 minutes or less.  We need to truly commit to pray.  We need to overlook little faults when we do get to know one another, because love covers a multitude of sins, and we need to simply ask Jesus to give us eyes to see our brothers and sisters the way that He does, which is with longsuffering and compassion.  We need to band together if we are ever going to stand a chance against the one who seeks to steal, kill and destroy.

On that note, I am going to tell you what happened tonight, and it’s something about my life that I don’t often share easily because it’s a very vulnerable place for me.  I’m doing this for 2 reasons.  1.  It’s my blog, and I’d be lying if I posted over it.  This thing is rocking my world right now and I don’t want to gloss over it like it’s not happening.  2.  I like to keep it real, and I’ve got a fresh resolve to do just that.

Someone I love very much in my extended family is broken.   She has fallen into a pit of sin and addiction that is so deep and wide that none of us can get her out.  God knows we’ve tried.  I haven’t seen or spoken to this beloved person in almost 2 years because she is so bound in her sin and sometimes you just have let them fall no matter how much it rips your heart out to let them feel the brunt of it.  {If you don’t understand that, then please, don’t judge.  It’s a horrible and pain-laden road and I pray that you’ll never have to make these decisions regarding someone that you love.}

Tonight, I saw her picture for the first time in a long while.  Ok… it was her mugshot.  I can’t believe I just had to say that about her. What was once a beautiful face is now gaunt and void of all color except for the dark circles around her sunken eyes.  She is nothing but skin and bones because all she cares about are the drugs.  She is literally killing herself.

To say that it took my breath away when I saw it would be a vast understatement.  It hurt so much -and even though I had conjured up in my mind the way I thought she’d look at this point- actually laying eyes on her true form was beyond difficult.  It drove me to my knees where I prayed and wept and struggled with feeling as helpless as I’ve ever felt.  “What can I DO, Lord?  Is there just NOTHING?  Am I to sit here and watch from a distance while she self destructs?  Are we to just let the enemy win?  I can’t bear it.”

And then, finally, in the wee hours:

“One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus” Luke 5: 17-19

I may not be able to meet any other need for this person that I treasure, but I can FIGHT for her.  I can pick up her mat with everything in me and drop her right at the feet of her only Hope.  She may lie there half dead and paralyzed in her sin, but I have all the might and power of my LORD.  She may be weaker than she’s ever been, but He is stronger than any of her chains.  I just have to be willing to get sweaty and dirty on her behalf.  I have to be willing to feel the pain of reality rather than shutting my eyes.  I have to be willing to weep at the thought of where she is so that I’m desperate enough to haul her dead weight.  I have to not get distracted by this world and love her enough to fight when she won’t.

Those aren’t easy things, but they are worthy.  And this is the reason that I am on this earth as a person whose shingles have been removed.  I’m not here for perfect comfort and a cushy existence void of all problems; that’s why I look forward to Heaven.

Maranatha…

P.S.  Please pray.  God knows her name.  And if there is anyone whose mat I can help YOU carry, let me know, and I will be happy to pray.  I mean it.

Filed Under: Blog,, Keepin' It Real,, My Meditations,, What His Word Says,

“Just a Vapor”

September 2, 2012 By 5 Comments

We’ve lived a lot of life despite being in the face of death over these last few days.  And frankly, I’m not even sure I have the wherewithal to make a coherent post, but I just have so much to put down so *I* can remember, that I will make the attempt.

First things first:  Hurricane Isaac finally hit our town in the form of a Tropical Storm after it hung out on the coast for awhile.  The rain was heavy and constant starting on Wednesday night and it lasted steady through Thursday afternoon.  We woke up to tornado warnings, which came one right after another for most of the morning.  There was at least one that touched down south of us, destroying someone’s home, but our town had only minor flooding and some downed trees with no real damage.  I’m so grateful for that, and our prayers are certainly with those who lost everything on the coast.  Those people will be picking up the pieces long after the news crews have gone home and moved on to the next big thing.  Mark’s mom lives in one of the hardest hit areas (about 2 hours south of here), and we were also so thankful that -other than losing power for a few days- their property and home were spared.

In God’s perfect timing, my own mother made the trip down here last Sunday to spend the week with us.  I don’t think she could have picked a more eventful one!  We celebrated Ty’s 16th birthday on Tuesday (more on that in a separate post), Hurricane Insanity on Wednesday & Thursday, and then on Friday, after nudging from the Holy Spirit, my mom and I made a day trip to visit with our very close friend over in Alabama who has been recently diagnosed with  ALS.

She has one of the most aggressive cases of it that they’ve seen and has deteriorated very quickly.  Just months ago, she was vibrant and active, and now she is wheel-chair bound, with a feeding tube and barely able to speak because of breathing difficulties.  It was hard to see her that way.  I am so grateful to God for orchestrating everything perfectly for us to go, right down to Mark being off so that he could stay with the kids, because the doctors have only given her a few months to live, and it’s very likely that we won’t see her again on this side of Heaven.  God is so gracious to give us the opportunity to love her in the flesh one more time, but I won’t lie, it was one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to do.  There were so many tears -even though we know we don’t grieve without hope- and so much to process in all that we saw and that she shared, that it was an extremely emotional day.

By the time Saturday rolled around, I was truly ready for a low-key day to just chill out and think.  I woke up with a lot on my mind about how the rubber really meets the road in terms of our purpose as Christians when faced with these situations.  Grief and sadness have a way of cutting off the futility, dross, and the comparably petty to shine the light on all the real and true things that ultimately matter.   I am firmly convinced that one of the enemy’s biggest traps is to get us so wrapped up in worthlessness that we become blinded to all the pain and/or need that’s all around us.  I know it grieves Him.  And He specifically asked us not to do that.  Real ministry isn’t about platitudes and programs, it’s about being willing to get our hands dirty and our hearts broken.  Those were my thoughts as I went about my day.  Little did I know, in a matter of hours, God would solidify this immensely.

I am going to back up a little bit here to tell you how God has been using Mark.  There is a young man who works alongside him that has struggled and struggled and struggled with drug addiction for years.  He (we’ll call him “B”) wanted DESPERATELY to be free.  Please listen to that last part.  There is nothing sadder than seeing someone bound in chains who just truly wants to be free.   “B” attached himself to Mark and genuinely loved him for the Truth that Mark wasn’t afraid to speak, but for the care and respect that he continued to give him.  ”B” had a bad accident at the beginning of the year that gave him a God-sized wake-up call, and in the last 6 months or so, he has been clean.  He works for his dad (Mark’s boss), and he had been showing up on time and really putting forth an effort to do well; all the while talking with Mark, and trying to get his life straight for the Lord.  He started attending church and making sure he was active in his sweet young daughter’s life.  On Friday, at work, he told Mark that he was hoping that we could get together for dinner so that we could meet his new girlfriend.

24 hours later, on Saturday evening, Mark and I get the call to get to the hospital right away because ”B” had been found unresponsive in his home.  While we won’t ever truly know all the details that surround what happened, we know that he had what appears to be a drug overdose and it caused there to be no oxygen available to his brain for an undetermined amount of time.  He was rushed to the hospital where they worked on him for hours, and while they were able to get a heartbeat, his brain never did regain activity.

We made it up there late in the evening (thankfully my Mom was here to stay with the kids because Mark had just taken NyQuil for a cold and didn’t need to be driving).  When we arrived, Mark was quickly taken back to the ICU where ”B” had been transferred.  Mark quietly stood over him and silently prayed through tears before we went back into the waiting room to sit with his parents (Mark works with, and is very close to both of them).  They were given no hope for “B’s” survival, so we all sat there with them to wait for his heart to stop beating on it’s own.

I have to say here that there is nothing… just NOTHING… in my experience more heartbreaking than sitting there next to a Mama and a Daddy who are waiting for their child’s body to give out.  For the second time that weekend, it was one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to do.  There are no words to speak that will bring comfort.  There are no actions to take that will make that pain of all pains stop.  All we could do is just sit there and ask God to meet their endless needs.

Finally, at about 2 p.m. today (Sunday), “B” left his shell, with his family around him and his friends (including Mark) nearby.  And I truly believe he went to straight to the arms of his Savior.  His last Facebook post, on Tuesday, read “I need you Lord…”.    I’m so glad that those are the exact words that Jesus prefers.  He doesn’t require our perfection.  He requires our brokenness and our NEED.  Nothing more.  Thank you, Jesus.

My eyes are wide open.  My prayer is that my heart be forever changed and that I would be as determined as I have been these last few days to continue to ignore the attempts of the enemy (and believe me, they’ve been there) to bring the dross front and center.  I want to live like I’m not promised my next breath… because I’m not… and really focus on redeeming the time with those that God puts in my path to love and minister to.   I want to be willing to get my hands dirty and my heart broken.

I need you, Lord…

Filed Under: Blog,, My Meditations,, What His Word Says,

Monday Madness

August 20, 2012 By 1 Comment

This mess-of-a-book closet and Isabella’s face seem to be a great representation of our Monday:

It’s been a little chaotic and disjointed from the moment my feet hit the floor, it seems.  The baby has been crawling everywhere and finding every obscure thing available (which is a lot, incidentally) to put into her mouth;  the dog has barked incessantly; plans have been changed that have messed me up for my Dr.’s appointment later this week, and Jacob’s math was naturally left in Daddy’s car over the weekend, making it unavailable until this evening.  This was all before 9 a.m., and while I could go on, I think I’ll kindly spare you.  ;)

Anyway, talk about triggers.  There are a load of things in that recounting that make me crazy just by themselves (anyone want a dog??)  It feels like I’ve only been putting out fires all day and getting nothing accomplished in the mean time,  and that is always frustrating to me.  So when we reach 2 p.m. on a day like this, I am usually overwhelmed and ready to throw my hands up and give this a big, fat FAIL of a day.

But, I can’t.  Because this is the day that the LORD has made and I WILL rejoice and be glad in it.  It’s my choice. I’ve read many things recently that have been excellent reminders that we moms shouldn’t ever really think of our work as being exactly finished.  It is an ongoing cycle and not something that we should hurry up to get done just to get to the “me” time.  There are so many treasures to be missed with that thought-process, I’ve realized, that it’s just not worth it.

Sometimes the babies whine and the dogs bark.  Sometimes the dishes are piled up and the table is covered with books and other remnants of the day.  Sometimes plans change on a dime.  And sometimes we just have to let it go and do our best amidst the madness because being a kind Mama and a loving wife is so much more important than having a picture-perfect school day and Southern Living looking home.

Lord, help me!

Filed Under: Blog,, Keepin' It Real,, My Meditations,

Lakeside Lunches

October 5, 2011 By 7 Comments

Today, I had my 32 week routine OB visit and everything checked out just fine, as usual.  Baby Girl is measuring right on track and I have had no problems.  Here is a picture taken today after lunch:

 After my appointment, I took everyone out to the park so that we could enjoy a picnic lunch and the beautiful day.  Every now and then it’s good to break away from the normal routine to just “be” and enjoy each other.   The boys immediately went to “sword” fighting:

   

 And scavenging for stones to skip (which wound up turning into big rocks before it was over because the “KERPLUNK” noise is apparently so much more enjoyable)  ;) :

My sweet girl wasn’t as into all of that, so she did what comes naturally to her, and scavenged for much prettier, less destructive things:

Then, as is often the case, after a few minutes, I was presented with this:

These are so beautiful to me.  They are currently displayed on my kitchen sink along with a few of the brightest red leaves that we found, too.  I am hoping to do this with them later this week (you’ll really want to click that link for a fun and easy Fall activity!). 

How could I not be thankful today?   There are so many blessings in just the few hours represented here that they are too numerous for one post.

Grateful:

Filed Under: 31 Days of Giving Thanks,, Blog,, Children,, My Meditations,, Pregnancy,, Stuff I Like,

Yielding

January 26, 2011 By 6 Comments

Over the last 18 months, we have really seen God pour out His blessing on this family.  During this course of time, we have had to take steps of obedience and battle the fear of uncertainty, but He has been so faithful throughout all of it.  He always has been, but this last year and a half, I guess I’ve really had my eyes opened to it.  The “chips” have fallen so perfectly and well orchestrated that it could only have been God’s holy hand.

I’ve learned that there is nothing that He doesn’t want us to get His direction on.  Nothing.  He wants to be Lord of all of it, and why shouldn’t He?  He is God.  He knows all things, past, present and future, and not only that, but He loves us with an unfathomable love.  That means that He isn’t going to hurt us.  Even when things are really, really hard, He uses those things to mold us and shape us into the image of His beloved Son.  I want that.  I want that more than my own desires that are probably driven by sin anyway.

I want my time on this earth to be used for Him and the purposes that He has for my life.  Anything else is just striving and worthless.  I want to be focused on my treasures in Heaven. I want to live out my life as an offering poured out at His feet holding loosely to my own agenda. 

But I’m learning.  So today, when something I’ve prayed so hard for direction over received a very clear and succinct “no”, I’m having to tell myself all of those things over and over again.  My way was not the best way and I’m trying to let that sink in right now and not the fear and uncertainty that the enemy wants to riddle me with.

He is good.  He has something better.  And I will rest in that.

“Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.”  Proverbs 3: 5-6

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  Matthew 6:33

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”  Philippians 4:6-9

Filed Under: Blog,, My Meditations,, What His Word Says,

Christmas Past, Christmas Present, Christmas Painful

December 21, 2010 By 7 Comments

I have to make a confession.  I’ve been battling crazy grumpiness over the last few days.  It seems like I do this each year right before Christmas.   Sure, I can run down the list of stressors (stomach virus that lasted a sweet forever, getting all of the gifts wrapped, pulling everything together for a 16 hour road trip up North, ect..), but it goes a little deeper than that, and this year, I have to come face to face with it.

The bottom line is that I miss my grandparents.  I was practically raised by these wonderful, Godly people and I can’t imagine how hard life might have been without them.  My parents went through a terribly rocky divorce when I was young and my Dad has battled alcoholism for many, many years.  My grandparents were very much my stability throughout the course of my early  life  (I had not accepted Christ yet).   Then, I lost my Grandpa unexpectedly to a massive heart attack right after Ty was born.  It was devastating.  And, 4 years later, my precious Grama went to be with her Jesus after suffering a terrible stroke several years before.  She was ready and I was ready for her sake, but  I still miss them both dreadfully, and for some reason, Christmastime is the worst.

Mark and I have lived in the South for the entirety of our marriage and have spent all of our Christmasses here.  We’ve not gone home to Pennsylvania one time as a family in the 16 years since we’ve been married, and especially not for the Holidays.  However, this year, we’re going.  Mark’s Dad lives there, in the same house that Mark was brought home in as an infant, in the same area where we both grew up.   There is a lot of history and a full ton of heritage in those parts for both of us.  We have many, many generations of ancestors that come from that area and we are looking forward to showing all of that to our children.

But for me, there’s alot of pain, too.  My family homestead, one that had been in our family for well over 100 years, was sold off, along with several patches of land (long story that I won’t go into).   I mourn my home.  My brother and I wish like crazy that we would have had an opportunity to purchase it just to keep it in the family, but as it was, things were done without any involvement or consultation of the two us. We were still young adults when it happened.  I haven’t really been back to that area very much since Mark and I got married, and the few times that I have been back, I’ve avoided going near my family home.

But this time, I’m going.  I’m not going to knock on the door or anything, but I’m planning to drive by and show it to my children.  So much of who I am started in that home and the land surrounding it and they need to see it.  So much of who they are is there, too.  I’m also planning to visit the graves of my grandparents, which I’ve never done.  This I will do by myself. 

I’m so glad that even though our lives have the ability to change in an instant to an almost unrecognizable state, that our God does not.  I’m so glad that He knows my story from the time that He was knitting me together within my mother’s womb, all the way to this very minute, and that there’s not a single detail that has escaped His memory or His Holy Hand.  He knows me better than I know myself.  He stores my tears in a bottle and He has numbered the hairs upon my head..  So even though I have to do this hard thing in the next few days, I go nowhere alone.  I go with a compassionate Father who *gets it* more than any human ever could and that is what brings me peace and joy this Christmas.

Not the gifts or the food or even the snow that we have missed each year.  It’s not the family or the long-lost friends, even though I’m so grateful for them. 

It’s Jesus. 

It’s ALL Jesus.  In my own way.  It’s my relationship with Him, that’s only been made possible because He became flesh in the form of that baby and then allowed that flesh to be brutally crucified just so that we could be together.  There are no big red bows with this present, but there is beauty unmatched and it is a sight to behold.

I hope that if you are struggling in any way this year with memories or sadness or even something that the rest of us might not *get* that you will remember that   He loves you, and He knows exactly where you are even when no other human does.  That’s how we celebrate Christmas.

Filed Under: Blog,, Keepin' It Real,, My Meditations,

The Blessing Bag

December 11, 2010 By 16 Comments

I just love it when I hear a good idea that I know will work for me or my family.   So, as I was chatting with a sweet older lady from church the other day, she mentioned that during Thanksgiving dinner, when she was raising her family,  that they would go around the table and do the standard telling of something that they were thankful for during that year.  However, she said that over the last few years, her daughter had begun using a Blessing Bag in it’s place.

The premise of the Blessing Bag is that, throughout the year, you write on little pieces of paper (something like Post-Its), the things that God is doing in each of your lives.  Nothing is too small.  You place it in a bag or a box or whatever you have on hand.  Ours is just a gift bag that looks similar to this:

Then, at Thankgiving, you go back through the bag and read the blessings aloud.  I’ve often thought that it is sad how easily we forget all of the many little things that God does to show His love to us on a daily basis.  I can’t tell you how often I have read a verse or something that met me right where I was, or a rainbow or a sunset that just drew me in to Him.  This is a way to recall all of those things.

I find it sort of similar to what God told the Israelites to do in Joshua 4 with the Stones of Remembrance.  The gist of the story was that Joshua was to select 12 men, representing each of the tribes, and they were to gather stones to place in the riverbed that they had to cross, as a memorial to God so that they could not only call to remembrance among themselves but teach future generations what God had done for them. 

I’m thinking that, if we continue with this tradition, it will be such a treasure to label those bags by the year and store them to go through in the years to come or when we find ourselves in a hard place and need to be reminded of God’s goodness to us over the course our lives.

I’m really looking forward to all that’s going to go in there.  What do you think?

Filed Under: Blog,, My Meditations,, Stuff I Like,

He Is There…

November 1, 2010 By 10 Comments
I am a soul-searcher and a hopeless analyzer by nature. I am always trying to assess the situation on a deeper level than what you see with at first glance. I swear, I have ALWAYS been this way. I remember my mother, having been berated for l-o-n-g stretches of time with my questions and deep, deep thoughts, finally telling me to “quit thinking so stinkin’ much”. ;) It’s just who God made me to be. And while there is value in this characteristic, it can also be annoyingly abused.
 
For example, when I truly need to just leave something alone, it becomes a huge battle to simply lay it down and walk away within the confines of my mind. Things that others just glance at can cause me to lose sleep and can affect my entire existence. God has brought me a long way in this regard, but it is still a thorn that I can easily struggle with if I’m not careful. I know that I have got to guard my heart diligently about what captures my focus and to take heed not to let my feelings control my obedience.
 
God has moved in my life abundantly through these lessons. I’ve experienced the amazing Truth that when I keep my gaze fixed completely on Him, it can be like a fireworks display of His glory. I see Him moving in little ways that, incidentally, were there all along (but I’d be too focused on triviality), and in HUGE ways, like prayers from the deepest pleas of my being coming to fruition.
 
So, when I felt God really prompting me to take a break from Facebook until further notice, I immediately started analyzing. Ok. Actually, I started protesting. I thought “Wow. I move away from everyone that I love and now you want me to cut off the majority of the connection that I have with them, too?” I listed approximately 586 reasons why this was a bad idea. Nevertheless, I still really felt that He was asking me to let it go. THAT’S when the analyzing kicked in… and when I finally mulled it over, hashed it out and prayed it through with Jesus for weeks (because He doesn’t get annoyed, praise His name, with my constant processing), I came to the conclusion that I have a deep fear of loneliness. Not *being* alone, just feeling like I am.
 
But, do you know what I now realize? God does some of His most amazing work when it’s just Himself and His child. Think of how He called Abraham out into the wilderness or the Israelites into the desert. Think of how He called Moses up onto the mountain. Think of how our Lord Jesus needed a reprieve away from everyone else. If He did, then how much more do I?
God is moving mightily in our family right now. I can’t share all of it just yet, but He has called us to obedience on other levels at present, too (truly, I’m not trying to be elusive, I’m just waiting on God to release me to spill it) and I know that these things require earnest focus. A shutting out of the chatter (that I actually enjoy) in order to hear Him with every ounce of clarity that He will allow.
 
Another part of the reason that God’s got me backing off for now is that since He has called us here, to Mississippi, I’ve been hanging out on Facebook for my interactions. Consequently, I’ve felt little desire to get out there to nurture the new garden of fellowship that God has placed me in. It’s hard work to try to build new relationships and much easier to maintain the precious ones that I already have. But that’s not why God moved us here. He has a purpose for us in THIS place and I need to be intentional.. even if it means a period of loneliness.
 
God is FAITHFUL. And if I go into this season of pure obedience with my grasp on all things being loose except on His holy hand, I know that He will bless it.
Filed Under: Blog,, Moving,, My Meditations,

The Greatest of These

October 22, 2010 By 10 Comments

Lately, we have had some struggle with our attitudes toward each other here in the Westover home (just keepin’ it real, peeps).  I have noticed that we have all been very quick to criticize and complain about each other, but slow to regard one another as better than ourselves.  And after a few weeks of it, all of us are starting to be worn down.  Yes, it could easily be explained as being the result of each of our individual world’s having  just been changed, however, “easily explained” does not mean acceptable.

So yesterday, Mama had had enough of the bickering (it was approximately 9 a.m.) and I knew it was past time for a big, old “come to Jesus meeting” with the children.  We talked about love and how Paul called it “the greatest of these..”.  We talked about how we were not showing it to each other, even in a worldly sense, and we talked about how we give God’s enemies cause to blaspheme when we act in opposition to our calling as His children.

About that time, I was flipping through my Bible and I found something that I wrote a few months ago when I taught the beloved ladies at our church in Alabama.  I was teaching about the perils of self-focus and how it is the opposite of love.  It’s based off of 1 Corinthians 13, which is commonly known as “the love chapter”.  It is widely read during wedding ceremonies, and while it certainly applies to how we treat each other within our marriages, it was originally meant to train us how to treat each other within the body of Christ.  Sometimes, it’s easier to understand a concept more fully,though, when you view it’s contradiction.

Love Contrasts

*Love is patient – Self focus is anxious and unwilling to wait.
*Love is kind – Self focus is bitter, callous and sometimes cynical.
*Love does not envy – Self focus is covetous and greedy.
*Love does not boast – Self focus must exalt itself in order to feel secure.
*Love is not proud – Self focus is the epitome of pride.
*Love is not rude – Self focus is inconsiderate of others.. b/c we’re too busy focusing on ourselves!
*Love is not self-seeking – Self focus IS Self-seeking!
*Love is not easily angered – Self focus can get very cranky when one doesn’t get their own way.
*Love keeps no record of wrongs – Self focus stores up offenses.
*Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth – Self focus is utterly FUELED by lies of the enemy.
*Love protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres. – Self focus injures, refuses to believe God, despairs, and drops out.

I needed this reminder probably more-so than the children did at that moment.  In fact, I might do well to tatoo it my arms or something.  God is so good, and He always manages to gently meet me right where I need to be met in His unfailing love.  I’m so glad.  I can’t imagine what a huge pig I’d be without Him.

Filed Under: Blog,, Children,, My Meditations,, What His Word Says,

The Advocate

October 18, 2010 By 4 Comments

Yesterday, during worship, we sang what is probably my most favorite hymn, “Before the Throne of God Above”.  The words are so accurate and meaningful.  The song was originally titled “The Advocate” by it’s author,  and I’m not sure why they changed it as it seems a perfect title, nevertheless, read and meditate on these amazing truths.  Praise His holy name!  Hope you have a blessed Monday, my friends.

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong, a perfect plea:
A great High Priest, whose name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.

My name is graven on his hands,
My name is written on his heart;
I know that while in heaven he stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look, and see him there
Who made an end of all my sin.

Because a sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me

Behold him there, the risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I am,
The King of glory and of grace!

One in himself, I cannot die
My soul is purchased by his blood
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ, my Savior and my God
With Christ, my Savior and my God

Filed Under: Blog,, My Meditations,