The Anchor in the Storm

It's hard for me to write about this because I don't want anyone who reads this to be concerned, worried or anxious for me or for my family in any way. By God's grace, I certainly am not worried about it, but am constantly praying for God's perfect will to be done, whatever it looks like.

Keith is in the middle of changing jobs, which means that we've gone from having an income that more than met our monthly obligations, to having an income that covers about 10% of our monthly obligations. He and several other people are beginning a new business together, and only God knows how long it will be before Keith's income reaches a level that will cover our bills. It's very possible that we could lose our savings, our home, our credit, and whatever other earthly security there is in life.

In addition to the challenge of beginning a new business in a sluggish economy, there have been many other roadblocks and pitfalls that have cropped up. Some of them have been traps that have been purposefully laid by others with the express intent of doing us harm.

And finally, there are, of course, the daily ups and downs of learning how to live and work with and unconditionally love the people around us, and of learning how to speak the truth in love and receive and appreciate the sincere thoughts and ideas of others with grace and humility.

Keith and I have talked and prayed about this at length, and fully believe that God has lead us to this place. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is always good and always faithful, and that whatever happens, even when we make mistakes, we are in His hands. That's why I'm not worried about this at all, and am constantly looking heavenward with joyful expentancy, knowing that whatever happens, it will be for our ultimate good, and, infinitely more importantly, for God's eternal glory.

Happy Anniversary to my oldest daughter, Lisa, and her husband, Dustin!

They celebrated their 5th anniversary on June 7, 2008, and I just want to say how proud I am of both of them. Marriage in this culture during this time in history can be such a difficult challenge, and their flourishing relationship is truly a testimony to the grace and faithfulness of God, and to the benefit of surrounding ourselves with people who will speak God's truth into our lives.

Marriage is many wonderful things, but one of the best is that it's an illustration in the physical realm of the spiritual reality of Christ's relationship to His people. Lisa and Dusty are a beautiful, shining example of that. I thank God for both of these delightful young people, and pray His continued blessing over them in all they do.

Happy Birthday to my beautiful daughter Linnea, who turns 13 today! ~

Linnea is my first born and is such a joy and delight to my life. Being her mother is a great honor and priceless privilege. ~

What a sweet spirit she has! Little children flock to her because they sense that she sincerely cares about them -- about their well-being, their comfort and their enjoyment of whatever circumstance they find themselves in. ~

Her heart generates a joy of its own, no matter what difficult situation she may find herself in. She readily bounces back from disappointment or failure, and has shown a unique ability to love people unconditionally. I am continually amazed and inspired by her maturity and wisdom. ~

One of these days I hope to post some of her beautiful artwork on my blog. ~

Linnea, if you read this, I want you to know that I thank God for you every single time I think of you, and I pray that His presence will continually be your light and comfort. I love you.

Abundant Life!

John 10:10 KJV - "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
John 8:32 KJV "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
I used to view abundant life as something most of us are still waiting to realize--having a lot of money, good health, flourishing relationships, a nice home, nice cars, a vacation every once in a while and the admiration and acceptance of our peers, just to name a few.

God showed me a long time ago that abundant life has nothing to do with "stuff", and everything to do with Him. Life on this side of Heaven will never be perfect. Now I realize that abundant life begins when we really, really, really believe that God is good, that every good gift is a blessing to be enjoyed with gratitude and faithfulness, and every difficulty is something that a good God allows for a good reason--to change us ever-more into the image of His Son.

Abundant life has everything to do with freedom, freedom in Christ. Freedom in Christ happens when He opens our eyes to see the truth, in concepts both large and small.

With the truth that He loves us as we are and paid an unimaginable price to redeem us to Himself forever (Thank You, Lord!), God set me free from the bondage of competetiveness and the need to prove my worth and value by being good and doing the right things.

With the truth that He loves us perfectly and that He works everything together for good, He set me free from the prison of fear.

He set me free from the chains of criticism with the truth that a spirit of criticism never comes from Him and only serves to steal joy, distort truth and harm relationships.

He set me free from covetousness, dissatisfaction and depression when He filled my heart with overwhelming gratitude and gave me eyes to see the truth of His constant beautiful presence in all of life.

He set me free from weariness with the truth that His joy is my strength, and because His joy is infinite, the strength He gives me is also infinite. He also showed me how to plug in to that powerful source anytime or anywhere, and the way is, for me, through music.

He set me free from unrighteous anger and frustration with the truth that the situations that tend to produce those emotions in my heart are situations that God uses to teach me and draw me nearer to Himself.

He set me free from the burden of judging others with the truth that judgment is His job, not mine, and that my job and my delight is simply to love God and love people.

By enabling me to enjoy each experience in each moment of every day for its own worth, He freed me from the bondage of frequently wanting to be somewhere else, doing something else. When I'm at work, I love being at work. When I'm at home, I love being at home. When I'm engaged in a conflict of some sort, I love it, because it teaches me how to depend on God's presence for wisdom and peace and guidance.

He set me free from pride when He showed me that anything good in me comes from Him alone, and how desperately I need and depend on Him every moment of every day.

This really is the abundant life. I don't take any credit for it whatsoever. My heart overflows with gratitude for this unending Source of life, joy, peace and contentment, and cries out to God to reveal Himself to every living being, according to His perfect will.

The Issue of Trust

I don't even really know when it happened. I just realized one day that I don't think about trusting people anymore. God has completely freed me from that burden of questioning people, guessing at motives, of being suspicious. People are people. Even the most mature, wise, fruit-bearing, self-sacrificing, joyful, delightful people are still just people--flawed, imperfect people. I can't trust myself, whom I know better than anyone else on the planet. So how can I trust someone else, even if they believe that they are trustworthy? But I do trust them. It's another one of those beautiful God paradoxes.

It's so cut-and-dried as to be humorous in its simplicity. It doesn't matter that people aren't trustworthy, because God is. I can trust God. I do trust God.

I trust that He is on the perfect side of good all the time and cannot be otherwise, ever. I trust that He has a plan that He is working out down to the tiniest seen and unseen details every day according to His sovereign, omniscient knowledge of the big picture. I trust that even when I make mistakes, when I've believed lies to be truth, when I've failed myself and others, when other people are cruel and unreasonable and have failed themselves and others, God in His glorious grace and limitless mercy, can and does work in and through those things.

A Word at Walmart

Have you met God? I mean really met Him? There is no joy or glory in life that can even come close to comparing to really knowing God intimately.

So much of what I see and hear from people leads me to believe that, while they may have accepted Christ as their Savior, while they may think they believe certain things about God, their vision of Him is merely a shadow of the True Beauty and Magnificence that He is.

God gave me a word at the valley Wal-Mart in January, 2006. He started speaking to me near the east entrance by the carts, and my heart started racing, my hands started shaking, and as the words were being birthed in my mind and heart, there was an incredulous part of me that was sitting back watching, going, "Wow, this is really happening, you're really receiving a word from the Lord. In Wal-Mart of all places!" I'd heard of people receiving words from the Lord before, and I had had moments of inspiration that I took to be words from the Lord, but this was unique in that they were exact words, phrases and sentences instead of vague and wordless pictures or concepts.

I took a piece of paper and a pen out of my purse with shaking hands and wrote as fast as I could so I wouldn't forget what was being said. I had goosebumps and a grave sense of being in the presence of holiness, of greatness, and of the importance of what was being said. He continued to talk to me as I was walking through the store and finished when I was back by the milk. I was so filled with joy and wonder and excitement that I took a few moments to praise and thank God in my spirit. I was smiling gleefully and the people around me must have thought I was crazy. They would look at me and I would just smile at them like I had just won the lottery or something.

Then, because joy, pleasure, and triumph are usually not complete until they've been shared with other people, I called my husband and told him what had just happened.

Here it is, and God has spent the last 2 1/2 years of my life teaching me what it really means:

January 21, 2006

God desires radical obedience.
Radical obedience is an automatic by-product of knowing God intimately.
Because when we know Him intimately, we can’t not trust Him.
And when we trust Him absolutely, His words, commands, laws, and principles become life and healing and wholeness to us.
Jesus said His yoke is easy and the burden light.
Do you feel burdened down by what you feel are the “have to’s” of a Christian Life? Don’t!
Make seeking to know God more your most passionate daily pursuit, and all the rest will fall into place.

I'll say the last line again, because God has taught me, in the deepest part of my heart, that this is what all of life is about:

Make seeking to know God more your most passionate daily pursuit, and all the rest will fall into place.

Wow.