Sharing

Some time ago, I remember feeling taken aback when a Christian Facebook page featured a post from a lady who had done a beautiful meme of Isaiah 41:10.  "This is my life verse," she said.  

I felt somehow usurped because Isaiah 41:10 is my life verse.  Of course I quickly subdued the childish idea that anything in the Bible is exclusively mine and mine alone, but...isn't it?  

The Bible often speaks directly and uniquely to some specific need we have brought to the Lord. Verses jump out at us, find a responsive chord in our hearts, and we know the Lord has spoken to us. We feel uniquely loved when this happens because we know the Lord has seen our need and has responded. How amazing to be covered by His love in this way!   

In her sermon this morning, our pastor stated that Isaiah 40 is one of her favorites. It is also one of mine!  I've come a bit further down the God-lit path of understanding than the day I felt an initial unwillingness to share my life verse with a fellow sister in Christ, and today I was able to recognize that Isaiah 40:1-2 does not belong exclusively to any one Christian, but is a statement of the comfort available to all God’s people. It is like one big comforter, or blanket, and we all can partake of its shelter.  

Under this covering of grace, there is no sharing involved in the way we tend to think. From childhood, we've learned that "You need to share" means that we aren't going to get as much as we would like to have because we have to allow others a portion of the whole.  But in God’s Kingdom, the whole blanket belongs to all who avail themselves of its shelter. That others also are sheltered by the same grace given us does not diminish each of our personal claims to its warmth; that others are warmed by God's covering does not cause any one of us to be less warm.  

There is a wonderful unity shared by those who are sheltered beneath the same blanket of grace. No matter our differences, we are under the same covering of His love.  Lord, help us find our unity with one another through You as we share the grace You have provided us through Jesus Christ.  Amen!   

Sunrise the Day After the Election

 

I smiled to see a red, white, and blue sunrise yesterday morning, the day after our country's presidential election.  I felt the Lord's reassurance that He has not withdrawn His protective love from the United States of America, that by His grace, He will continue to hear our prayers.  I am so grateful to the Lord for His love, grace, and mercy.  Let's pray together for healing of the divisions among us, thanking God for His continued guidance and love.  

A friend recently sent me an encouraging letter that ended with a message that blessed my heart.  I record those words here because I want to save them, but also because they resonate today; God has not abandoned us:  

"Be blessed my friend. You’ve been used by God, are still being used by Him, and God is still on the throne."

The Lord has not removed His presence from us. God is with us.   

He Is the Way

 

This morning I noticed an interesting play of light in the wooded area east of our house, and took the photo above. I had been out of sorts, to put it mildly, and had been tromping around the yard flinging childish accusations and hurts toward the Lord. As I headed back to the house, the phrase "You know the way to where I am" came to mind.

I came inside and looked up the Scripture the Lord had brought to mind: "You know the way to the place where I am going....I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:4, 6).

Only later, as I clicked through my phone photos, did I see that there appears to be a cross smack dab in the middle of the photo I had taken.

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. We can always find a clear path to Him through praise, prayer, and Scripture. Praise His Name!

Pray Adequately But Don't Worry Needlessly

 

My prayers were focused on my children and grandchildren this morning, but this meme can just as easily be a caregiver's prayer. When we are emotionally involved with the hearts and minds of those for whom we pray, it is hard not to give way to worry!

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, 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" Philippians 4:6-7.

Never Alone

This morning I opened my front door to the light, then placed my hand against the glass of the upper portion of the storm door. The barrier seemed symbolic as I felt the familiar loneliness of division from parents, Heaven, and home. But then the thought came that the Lord is on this side of the door with me. I remembered that Jesus has destroyed the dividing wall, and has conquered death. We are never separated from Him. He is with us.

Resting in the Hollow of His Hand

 This morning I read the lyrics to Frances R. Havergal's "Like a River Glorious," penned in 1867. I was sitting outdoors as I read, and looked up at the canopy of tree limbs overhead. I couldn't see the sky, but I was protected from the heat, and the thought came that sometimes the protection God places around us blocks our view of what is going to happen next. Praying today for grace to rest in the hollow of God's loving and capable hand, trusting the future to Him.

You can find the lyrics and hymn story here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/l/i/k/likriver.htm

When Pre-planning Becomes Pre-dreading

Most people have a junk drawer, and I certainly do have one--ok, two or three--of those. But I also have a junk room.  I call it "the storage room" because that sounds more acceptable, but this repository for items I can't bear to discard consists more of trash than treasure.  

Our waste management service makes its weekly stop on Wednesdays, and I've taken to going into the "storage room" each Wednesday morning, carting an empty trash sack and determined to decrease the clutter. Today I fed the bag two dilapidated Easter baskets that I will never use again but have been keeping "just in case." I then tripped over the Good Will box, which is a collection of odds and ends that I no longer want but are too nice (in my perception at least) to throw away.  I plan to donate these items... at some point, probably within the next four or five years or so...  

I peered into the box and saw the plastic garment bag that contains the brand new dress I purchased for my mom at the time I made plans for her funeral.  

One of the most difficult days I endured as a new caregiver found me writing my mother's obituary at the request of our funeral director. This was a part of the requirements for Mom's prepaid burial plan.  Our doctor had predicted just 3 to 5 years of life remaining for Mom, and our attorney recommended we make arrangements in advance. I had to pick out a casket and make plans for Mom's service, and the kind gentleman who led me through this process suggested we plan something for her to wear.  "It will save stress at the time of her death," he said. And so I perused catalogs and selected a beautifully embroidered dress in Mom's size, and hung it in the back of her closet. 

All this happened nearly 16 years before Mom passed away. 

For all those years, that black shrouded hanger caused my stomach an unpleasant lurch each time I encountered it.  The irony is that toward the end of Mom's life she lost so much weight that, less than a week before she passed, I realized the outfit I'd planned so carefully for her would no longer fit.  I selected a new and what turned out to be a prettier dress, and had it overnighted so that it arrived in time for the funeral.  

There are all kinds of lessons to be learned here. I wish I'd trusted the Lord for Mom's end-of-life needs and not given them so much thought until necessary.  I wish I were better at inhabiting the only point on my time line that is actually mine to influence--the present--and I pray to grow in trust to the point that I'm better able to leave the future in His hands.    

It is probably true that my OCD-tinged advance planning saved time and trouble, but I have walked with the Lord long enough to know that even when we make no wise plans at all, He helps us through. At the very least, I wish I'd left Mom's funeral attire up to the Lord.  I could've spared myself the avoidance I developed of delving too deeply into her closet.  

This morning I bade that black garment bag goodbye.  I stuffed it into my Wednesday garbage bag, and it will haunt me no longer.  And, if somewhere there is a lady who shops Good Will and could've used a nearly 17 year old embroidered suit, my apologies to her.  

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"Don't worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. You have enough to worry about today." 

--Matthew 6:34 CEV--

“Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow; the same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it." 

--Francis de Sales--