Trials for Others

John 9 As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him..."

This morning I read these first 3 verses in John 9 and just had to stop and set the book down. I was struck, maybe for the first time, by Christ's response to this man's ailment. "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him..."  As a believer I have often found that my mentality towards trials is that they are a direct result to sin and disobedience in my own life, but here is a verse that directly proves that mentality to be wrong. Yes, it is true that the Lord disciplines those whom He loves. Yes, it is true that He puts us through the fire to sanctify us and make us more like Him. However, it is also true that sometimes trials come to us for others, that they might see Him displayed in us. 

Be not discouraged when trials come and you don't understand why, whether it be that you can see no sin in an area, or you have felt you were walking closely to the Father, sometimes a trial comes and you have no idea how it is helping others. 

Press on, Beloved Ones.

Treasures Produce Worry

Do not worry! Earthly goods deceive the human heart into believing that they give it security and freedom from worry. But in truth, they are what cause anxiety. The heart which clings to goods receives with them the choking burden of worry. Worry collects treasures, and treasures produce more worries. We desire to secure our lives with earthly goods; we want our worrying to make us worry-free, but the truth is the opposite. The chains which bind us to earthly goods, the clutches which hold the goods tight, are themselves worries.

Abuse of earthly goods consists of using them as a security for the next day. Worry is always directed toward tomorrow. But the goods are intended only for today in the strictest sense. It is our securing things for tomorrow which makes us so insecure today. It is enough that each day should have its own troubles. Only those who put tomorrow completely into God’s hand and receive fully today what they need for their lives are really secure. Receiving daily liberates me from tomorrow.

~40 Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Luke 12:34

The King of Love My Shepherd IS

The King of love my Shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never,
I nothing lack if I am His
And He is mine forever.

Where streams of living water flow
My ransomed soul He leadeth,
And where the verdant pastures grow,
With food celestial feedeth.

Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
But yet in love He sought me,
And on His shoulder gently laid,
And home, rejoicing, brought me.

In death's dark vale I fear no ill
With Thee, dear Lord, beside me;
Thy rod and staff my comfort still,
Thy cross before to guide me.

Thou spread'st a table in my sight;
Thy unction grace bestoweth;
And O what transport of delight
From Thy pure chalice floweth!

And so through all the length of days
Thy goodness faileth never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise
Within Thy house forever.
~H. Baker

I was very much blessed by this sweet hymn this evening. I was especially blessed with the thought that though I enjoyed my sin and never gave thought of coming to Christ, except for selfishly wanting to save myself from pain and  misery, He in love sought me and brought me home, rejoicing!  Beloved, can you believe it! The Creator of the entire universe rejoiced when He brought you into His kingdom.  It is too much to bear. When I realize how sinful I really am and how unworthy I am of any good thing it can only bring me to my knees thanking God for who He is, the King of Love and my Shepherd.

Beloved, forget not your King, remember all He has done for you, and rejoice in Him as He rejoices in you.

IF Only There Were Mountains

If Only There Were Mountains

I stand, on this dreary seashore of my life, looking over this dreary backwash bay.  Nothing invigorating or inspiring. Nothing hard enough to inspire anyone.
"The whole of my life is like that these days--not hard, just dull. A challenge that would make me want to achieve at any cost. It's this useless feeling that's so devastating.
"I must confess, my spiritual vision has failed, what with waiting so long upon my God."
"So long? You need to grow in patience. For after you have done the will of God, you must learn to wait to receive the full extent of His promise.
"It is written: 'As for me, when I am poor and feeling heavy, your help, O God, will lift me up.  I wait patiently, trusting that you will lift me up.'
"So I ask: Have you tried to face your life--those dull, dreary days--with the lifting power of praise?"

Lift my sights, Lord. Let me see today, and each duty in this day, as You see it.

~Amy Carmichael

The Other Side

"...He said to them, 'Let us go across to the other side..." (Mark 4:35)

"...They came to the other side..." (Mark 5:1)

Just a reminder that when the Lord says something it will come to fruition no matter what obstacles come and seem to block the way.  We can take God at His word because He always follows through with what He says!

Wasted

Perhaps I am one of a few who worry about this, but there are times when I feel like I am wasting my life as the world would see it.  I have no full time job, no college degree, I still live at home, and it looks unlikely that my situation will change very soon.  I often struggle with this worldly mindset of "needing to do something" with my life so it "won't be wasted".  True, I am still young and have a lot of time, but as we all know, years start to pass away like months and months like weeks and before long it will be "too late" for me to do anything "worthwhile" with my life.  

As I was meditating on the lack of accomplishments in my life I read these verses in Mark 14: "And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”" (Mark 14:3-9)

This woman is absolutely incredible!  She took what was probably the most costly and important thing in her life and she gave it to the Lord! She gave it freely, it was not demanded of her, it was not asked of her, but she gave it of her own accord.  After she had given such a precious gift, she was chastised for not using it for a "better" purpose. 

Is this not the same reaction the world gives when they feel someone is "wasting" their lives. The world feels that a person who doesn't strive to become successful or use their resources to better themselves is a fool and disappointment.  If one's life is given to the Lord how can it be a waste? A life given for the glorification and service of God is the only kind of life worth living.  All other things will pass away.  Success does not last it is at the whim of the people. Education is only useful when one remembers what they have learned and often it will mean nothing when memory becomes less and less dependable. Money is only as good as the government and nations shall rise and fall.  The only thing that will last forever is the life that has been lived for the Lord. 

My conclusion:    Just as Jesus came to Mary's rescue when she was criticized for her imprudence, so shall He come to mine when the world's mindset starts to infiltrate my own thoughts.  I refuse to be ashamed of my lack of earthly accomplishments. I refuse to be bullied into thinking that I am worthless because I have not attained a certain standing in the world, or lack a certain degree, or am not striving for something more. These things can never satisfy my heart or give me a real and long-lasting sense of purpose.  My aim is so much higher than the here and now, my aim is eternal, it is for God, Himself, to love Him more with each passing moment, to know Him more than I have, to live more for Him.



P.S. Just so everyone knows, I am not against people getting an education, working in corporate affairs, or being successful.  I just think it can be easy to get into the mindset that this is what needs to be done rather than allowing for the Lord to lead and trusting Him when He leads us away from such things.

Ordinary Life

Lately, I have been struggling with being okay with ordinary.  My life hasn't really changed by way of circumstances in the last 3 years and that is very hard for me to be ok with.  The monotony of it starts to get to me and causes me to grown restless and crave some sort of adventure or anything different than what is right now and I am discontent with this mundane life of mine.
It seems, however, that the Lord has other plans for me; He has told me to wait at a time when I would rather move ahead full speed into the next "adventure".  Why has the Lord put my dreams and ambitions on hold? I have no idea, but I do know that He does have a plan for me, a plan for my good and one to glorify His name (Jer. 29:11-13).  I also know that no matter how mundane or exciting my life is, Christ wants it all, He doesn't care what kind of job I do or don't have, it doesn't matter what kind of influence I have, all that matters to God is am I right with Him and am I willing to follow His lead, if the answer is yes, then I have nothing to worry about, adventure or no, I'll be living a life that is worth living; a life sold out for Christ.

Here is a message by Mason Vann that helped me tremendously in this time of living my ordinary and mundane life.

(I'm sorry a lot of this is jumbled and doesn't really flow...just listen to the message, you won't regret it :) )