Treading on the Heights

When I was a little girl, I would spend my summers running and playing on the dirt roads around our farm house in the “country”.  Looking back now, it is so funny to me that our “Summer Home” (which was a trailer house in the middle of the woods) was about seven miles from our big house “in town.”   It seemed so far away back then!  We would stay at the “Summer Home” so that my parents would be close to the garden and the hayfields.  Then during the winter, we would go back to the big house where we would be closer to school.  

I remember those first few days of summer, trying to walk on the rocky dirt roads with bare feet. (I hated wearing shoes!!)  The bottoms of my feet would get so very sore, and I would have to walk on the road a while, then over on the shoulder of grass for a while. (But I refused to wear shoes for some reason??)   After a few days of running back and forth from my house to my cousin’s house, my feet would be as tough as nails (and probably very dirty)!

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”  James 1:2-4 (NIV)

By the end of the summer, I didn’t have to walk on the grassy shoulder of the road anymore…I could happily run and play on the rocky dirt with my toughened feet…no problem! 

“The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”  Habakkuk 3:19 (NIV)

It seems like everywhere I turn lately God is showing me something about faith.  Our Sunday school lessons have been about faith, our women’s ministry just started a new study about faith, there was a message at the teen conference we attended last week about faith…

“because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance”

perseverance = endurance = patience

Just like walking on those rocky dirt roads toughened up my tender feet and prepared me for my summer journeys…the trials that I face today will toughen up my tender faith…and prepare me for my life journeys.   

“let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything”

Without those rocks, my feet would have stayed soft and weak.  Without trials, our faith will stay weak.  We have to trust that at the end of our “summer” of trials…we WILL be tougher, more mature, more complete. 

“he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the HEIGHTS”

With our faith strengthened…He takes us higher…from the depths below…He lifts us up…He sets us free to happily run the race that is set before us….with bare feet, toughened like the feet of a deer through trials.   

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds”

Be joyful…He is preparing you for the HEIGHTS.

 

 Listen to this song: Ever Lifting, Christy Nockels  Have a Faith-Filled Day!!!!  

My Job Moment (the man…not the place of employment)

January 13, 2013, my husband and I filled in to teach the adult Sunday School class…a lesson out of Habakkuk.  Basically, the lesson could have been titled, “Why Do Good Things Happen to Bad People?”    Habakkuk was tired of seeing the wicked prosper.  He cried out to the Lord to step in and put an end to the injustice.  We looked at how the Lord spoke to Habakkuk and told him to wait and see…He had a plan and it was worth waiting for. 

Then our discussion went to the opposite of this, “Why  Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?”  We spoke about how, in the past, things had happened in our lives that God had worked together for our good, even though we couldn’t see it at the time.  We discussed that our lives are a tapestry and sometimes we only see the “ugly” when God sees the beautiful picture on the other side.  I came away from that lesson feeling that, no matter what, my faith could not be shaken.  I felt so STRONG.

The next day, January 14, we found out that my husband, Chris, along with many others, would most likely be losing their jobs in the next few months.  STILL STRONG!  I know God is in control and nothing can shake me. 

The next Monday, January 21, I hurt my back trying to do boot camp exercises.  I was in very bad pain, and could barely walk for several days last week.  STILL STRONG!  Satan would not get me down.  I can do ALL THINGS through Christ who gives me strength. 

And then Thursday night, January 24…my 16 year old daughter, Maddie,  tells me she has a lump in her breast.  I assure her that it is probably nothing…and make a doctor’s appointment just to be on the safe side.  We couldn’t see the doctor until Monday…so I had ALL weekend to try to stay positive.  SORTA STRONG…until my mind began to dwell just a moment too long on the “What ifs” and then progressed to “Why us”.  

I know that this doesn’t compare to what Job felt…but I can truly say that by Sunday afternoon, with the pain in my back, the start of a head cold coming on, Chris’ uncertain job situation and then Maddie’s possible ordeal she could be facing…I had a moment where I just felt so incredibly weak.  NOT STRONG AT ALL! 

Yesterday, I went back and read Habakkuk, and what the Lord said to him, “Look at the nations and watch--and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” Hab 1:5  This reminded me that God has a plan, even though we may not see it. 

I also went back and visited old Job…and found this in Job 42 “Then Job replied to the LORD: "I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You asked, 'Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?' It is I--and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. You said, 'Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.'  I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.  I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance."  It took everything that Job went through to make him SEE the Lord and KNOW His goodness.   

For now, Chris still has a job and we are trusting God to provide a new one, if need be.  Maddie’s doctor’s appointment went fine…nothing to worry about.  Everything was normal and she is perfectly healthy.  My back even feels much better today…I think it is on the mend!

God is good and He is strong….so I don’t always have to be.  Forgive me Lord for my moment of weakness and ignorance.  Your ways are far too wonderful for me to comprehend.  Thank you for the little Job moments that remind me of these things.          

It's OK to Ask "WHY?"

All of my life I have been under the impression that we "do not question God".  But today I realized that my mindset about this was wrong.  Even Jesus himself asked “why?” when he was suffering on the cross. (Matthew 27:46) 

As I lay in my bed this morning, pouring my heart out in anguish to God and shedding every tear my body could produce, I did the unthinkable:  I asked Him “WHY?”.  “Why did my friend, who loved her family so much and was such a sweet, wonderful person, have to die? Her children need her!  There are mothers out there who abuse their children (that they never wanted in the first place) and they get to live. Please, Lord, help me wrap my brain around this.  I just don’t understand WHY.”

And guess what?  He didn’t get mad at me. He didn’t strike me down.  He answered me…in a way that I could totally understand and relate to through my relationship with my children.  He reminded me that He is my father.  He loves me just like I love my children and He parents me like I would parent my children.   

Then I began to contemplate and understand the comparison…Sometimes my children are going to ask me “why?” when I make a decision that they don’t like or understand.  Most of the time I can give them an answer, but sometimes I just have to say, “Because I said so.”  They may be upset at first, but they eventually get passed it because they trust me.  They know that I love them and they know that I would do anything for them.  They know that I have their best interests at heart, even if they can’t see it.    And when I say, “Because I said so”, they can move on and accept that I know what is best.  In the long run, they may even look back and understand why I made that decision at the time.

There was my answer.  “Because I said so.”  It may not have been the answer I was looking for, but I can accept that answer because I understand how very much He loves me and that He would do anything for me.  I know that He always has my best interests at heart, even if I can’t see it.  I can get up and move forward with the understanding that He knows what is best. 

What a blessed assurance to know that it is OK to ask my Heavenly Father “why?” and believe that He will lovingly answer and give me peace.  And you know what?  He will do the same for all of you.  Jesus said this right before he returned to Heaven, “But the Advocate (the Comforter), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”    John 14:26-27 NIV

This side of Heaven, we may never know the answers to all of the why’s…but we can know the One that holds all of the answers.  

 “Pain, tragedy and death will come. But joy, comfort, love and peace have already won.  So many things in this world, we just can’t comprehend. But our Father always knows what’s best, so we have to trust in Him.”  (from the song, It’s OK to Ask Why)

Manipulative Women of the Bible: Eve

One rule.  That was all that God had given Adam and Eve.  They were living in Paradise without a care in the world.  God had provided everything that they needed; but He had also given them free will, which included a choice (if there is not a choice to obey or disobey, then free will doesn’t exist).  Some might say that God was being “mean” when he put that one rule into place. That is not the case at all.  He designed man with free will so that he would choose to love Him, not be made to.  Any parent knows that if you have to make your child love you, it’s not really love.       

So here we find Eve in Genesis 3. She had everything: a beautiful home, a perfect body, a gorgeous husband, a relationship with God…a seemingly perfect life.  But she wanted more. (Do you know anyone like that?)   Satan planted that seed in her mind that there was more out there.  So she began to check out the “forbidden tree”.  She walked around it.  She looked at the fruit.  She saw that it looked tastier than the fruit that she had been eating.  Maybe she was bored with her mundane life and was looking for excitement. 

So began the temptation of something new.  Something exciting.  Something that would make her life better.  God knew what she was doing.  He saw her looking at that tree.  He knew her thoughts.  But she had free will.  Satan knew what she was doing, too.  He saw his plan was working and it didn’t take much convincing on his part to get her to do the forbidden.            

But it wasn’t enough for her to take part in the sin.  She had to pull her husband in with her.  How do you think she did that? 

“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”  Gen 3:6 NLT

From experience, I know that there are ways that I can get my husband to do just about anything that I want him to (you women do not need an explanation of that!). I will venture to guess that Adam was the same way.  Eve was the most beautiful woman that ever lived (and she walked around naked all the time), one bat of her eyelashes and Adam would have done anything she asked. God put that desire in Adam for his wife, but He did not intend for Eve to use it against him. 

The repercussions of this original sin will never end until the world is destroyed.  That one act has affected every other human being that has lived since then. 

“Then he said to the woman, "I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you. " And to the man he said, "Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains.  By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return." - Gen 3:16-19 NLT

What should we learn from Eve?  First of all, look around you.  If you have a good life, do not let satan put thoughts in your head about what you are missing out on.  Be content with the blessings that God has already given you.  If He wants more for you, He will provide it.  Focus on what you DO have and not what you are missing! Count your blessings and you WILL find happiness.

Second, just because something is permissible, does not mean that it is beneficial.  God placed the fruit where they could get to it; it was there within their grasp.  But He had told them that it would cause their death.  The bible warns us of MANY things that we should avoid because they will lead to death and destruction.  Learn from Eve!  Don’t do those things that the Lord has warned against.  He loves you and wants better for you!

"Everything is permissible for me"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"--but I will not be mastered by anything. - 1Cor 6:12 NIV

And finally, DO NOT use desire to manipulate others into doing what you want.  Many men (and women, too) have been led astray and pulled into a pit of sin because someone used their desires against them.  A man’s desire for his wife (or a woman’s for her husband) is a God given gift.  (Ask someone who doesn’t have that…they will tell you what a wonderful gift it is.) We should never use that gift to control our spouse or lead them into sin!    

Manipulative Women of the Bible: Introduction

Several weeks ago we began a bible study on Sunday nights in the Youth Room that I named, “Characters Welcome”.  We started in the beginning with Genesis and have been studying the people of the bible.  Currently we are in Genesis 40, in the middle of Joesph’s life.  So far, I have seen quite a terrible pattern among the women that we have studied!  They were very manipulative!  So I decided to do a little further digging into these women’s lives to see what we can learn from their behavior…kind of a “what NOT to do” series. 

Before we begin, first we have to understand what type of manipulation I am referring to.  According to Wikipedia.com, “Psychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics.”  As we will see, the women that we are going to look at used psychological manipulation on their husbands to get what they wanted.  Some of them were trying to help God out…which is what I think many women today still try to do . 

As we look into the lives of Eve, Sarai (Sarah), Rebekah and Potipher’s wife, we will see the effects of their manipulation.  I pray that we, as women, will guard ourselves from becoming so overwhelmed in our selfish desires that we try to manipulate others to get what we want. 

Looking forward to sharing with you!  Feel free to let me know your thoughts!            

TEAR DOWN THESE WALLS: The Story Behind the Song

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”  What a lie!!  We say this to our children but it’s just not true.  Words hurt: verbal/ emotional abuse can cause as much or maybe even more damage than physical abuse, but unlike bruises, the pain is hidden behind a self-made wall.   

“Verbal abuse is described as a negative defining statement told to the person or about the person or by withholding any response thus defining the target as non-existent. If the abuser doesn't immediately apologize and indulge in a defining statement, the relationship may be a verbally abusive one.” Wikipedia.org

There are so many people walking around with a smile on their face, pretending that everything is “ok”, when inside their hearts are broken and scarred from verbal abuse. “You are so stupid!”  “Can’t you do anything right?”  “You will never get a boyfriend/girlfriend looking like that!”  “Hey you butterball!  Why don’t you go on a diet?”  “You are so lazy.”  And these comments are nice compared to what most abusers say.  I could go on for days…but you get the point.   I have met so many people that live with verbal abuse every day.  We have no idea what goes on behind the closed doors of people’s homes.

Proverbs 12:18 NIV - "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."

People who experience verbal/emotional abuse build walls around their hearts to protect themselves from the pain.  We see it so often with teenagers.  They are so hard to reach because the abuse that they have suffered from bullies at school or the adults in their lives have caused them to build such thick walls that it’s hard to get through.  Satan loves it!  The thicker the wall, the harder it is for that person to be reached by the light of Jesus.

Verbal abuse causes the victim to live in a dark prison where no light comes in, and no light goes out.  Even many Christians deal with this kind of abuse.  Walls hold the abused back from being everything that God wants them to be.  They have to realize that Jesus died for their freedom.  He DOES NOT want them to live that way.  They are meant for SO MUCH MORE!

So how do you escape from the prison you have built?  You make a choice not to let others determine your worth.  You make a choice to not let those words hurt you.  You pray for Jesus to tear down the walls and let His love shine through.  He can rescue you from your prison and He is big enough to handle your situation.

The chorus of the song is: “Tear down these walls, and let your love shine through.  I know that You can hear me, and you know just what to do.  I’m tired of being a prisoner, I can’t do this anymore.  Tear the walls down of my heart, I’m meant for so much more.”

Don’t be a victim anymore.  Don’t be a prisoner anymore.  The enemy has already been defeated.  Rejoice and let your light shine!!   

Psalms 64: 3-10 NIV  “They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows. They shoot from ambush at the innocent man; they shoot at him suddenly, without fear….But God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be struck down.  He will turn their own tongues against them and bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.  All mankind will fear; they will proclaim the works of God and ponder what he has done.  Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him; let all the upright in heart praise him!”

LET ME: The Story Behind the Song

On one of the rare Saturdays that I was actually at home, I was doing housework and listening to music.  As I stood washing dishes, for some reason I became so burdened for the lost. (Perhaps it was a song that I was listening to on the radio...)  The burden for me was this: I KNEW there were lost people surrounding me every day, but what was I doing to lead them to Jesus? 

In my little world I come into contact with so many: my family, my church family, my co-workers, those I see at my job, the teenagers I work with at church, my Facebook friends, people at the grocery store…Do they ALL see Jesus in me?  Am I living my life in a way that shows them that Jesus loves them?

"Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers."  1 Tim 4:16

Then the question in my mind was: What if I’m the only Jesus that some of them ever see?  I began to cry and I didn’t stop all day.  Every word of the song “Let Me” was poured out with tears.

Our job as a child of God is to show the lost the way to Him.  That job is the difference between everlasting life (in Heaven) and everlasting death (in Hell) for those that we are supposed to witness to. How overwhelming!

If we don’t love others and show them the way to Jesus, who will?  This world has gone so wrong; there is darkness at every turn.  WE HAVE TO BE THE LIGHT! 

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."  Matthew 5:14-16

But without Jesus, we cannot do the job we are called to do. The chorus of the song was a prayer from my burdened heart that day, “Let me hear them with YOUR ears, see them with YOUR eyes, speak to them with YOUR words.  Let me love them with YOUR love, bring comfort with YOUR touch, let me show them who YOU are.”

We cannot pretend that lost people don’t exist, they are all around us.  As hard as it may seem to love some of them, we are CALLED, it is our MISSION, to show the love of Jesus and to reach lost souls for Him.  I still cry every time I sing the song.  But, I am so thankful that the Lord has burdened my heart for the lost. 

Who will reach them before it’s too late?  My prayer is that we will all cry, “Let Me”!

"And then he told them, "Go into all the world and preach the

 Good News to everyone." Mark 16:15 NLT