May 5, 2010 | The Good Word
Sometimes when trials come my way, it would be my preference to go around them, rather than through them.
I read this quote in my study Bible the other morning: “The Bible points to the conclusion that instead of taking us out of adversity God is much more interested in taking us through it, using the adversity to effect something good in our lives.â€
The truth is, it’s natural to want to go around a mountain, around a body of water, around an obstacle when we come to it. It seems like the easier route. But the Lord says:
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. (Isaiah 43:2)
He says He’ll be with us as we walk through the trials that life brings our way. And over and over again (sorry, I know I use that phrase all the time) we see Him in Scripture, bringing His people through trials and adversity, not removing them from the situation.
Daniel makes it through the trial of being in the Lion’s den — and God is with him, stopping up the mouths of the lions. Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego go through the trial of being thrown in the fiery furnace — and God is with them in the fire. Esther walks through the trial of being called to deliver her people from genocide — God is with her, guides her steps and gives her wisdom on what to do. The Israelites pass through the Red Sea, and the trials of their season in the desert — but God is with them, parting the waters, and showing up miraculously to provide food and water, and to lead His people.
I often want to go around the mountain that’s ahead of me, but James says:
My brethren count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. (James 1: 2 – 3)
And Romans 5: 3-5 says:
And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
The Sermon in a Nutshell: God’s promise is that He’ll be with us through the trials. So let’s learn to count it all joy, and embrace the gift of the trials we face. Hold on to the hope that God will bring you through. The results will be glorious!
xCC
Apr 9, 2010 | Baby Photos, Stories
The Bear tried on Dad’s slippers the other day. It was of course adorable enough for a picture or eight. We’re first time parents… Everything is adorable enough for eight pictures and some video footage!
I was thinking about how likely he was to fall over if he decided to try to walk, but he just kind of stood there, marvelled in the difference in size, smiled and climbed out before he kept on trucking.
I realized as I thought about it afterwards, sometimes I put on the wrong size shoes.
I’m not one of those ladies who’s a size 6, but 7 feels so good I wear 8. But, based on my comparisons with how other people are living, what they are capable of, what they do, maybe even how they dress or how they look, I begin to want to walk in different shoes — ones that aren’t the right size for me. Do you know what I mean?
It was obvious that the Bear would fall over if he tried to keep trucking in Dad’s slippers. He would’ve been hindered with every step, and it could have even been dangerous for him — his clumsy efforts might’ve landed his front teeth on the corner of the coffee table so that he could have his own fat lip!
When we try to wear other people’s shoes, instead of finding the ones that are right for the feet that God calls each of us to walk in, we are bound to struggle, perhaps even to try to do too much, to the peril of our health and sometimes our ability to hold ourselves together.
Finding the easy yoke, the light burden, the green pastures, the still waters… the right pair of shoes come from following the Lord. Ask Him what your feet should be doing today, and let Him show you what shoes should be on your feet.
We’ll let the Bear stick with these for now…
“Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. ‘Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
xCC
Mar 26, 2010 | Baby Photos, Stories, The Good Word
I mentioned the other day that we were at an end-of-the-fiscal-month-so-nobody-move-till-we-get-paid kind of moment for the past few days. (We get paid on the 25th.) I was also talking about “coincidences” a couple weeks ago and how things come together way too often in my life for me to chalk things up to Mr. Chance any longer. And this Monday I had another one of those experiences that, here it is Friday, I’m finally getting a chance to write down and tell you about. First let me share a Scripture to explain why I want to re-tell this:
Trust in the Lord and do good.
Dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness.
Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
That was Psalm 37:3-4. So. It was an end-of-the-fiscal-month-so-nobody-move-till-we-get-paid kind of day Monday. The Bear had decided he was too cool for Sunday school the day before — meaning he wasn’t cool with getting left with the other kids in the babysitting area. Hero Hubs decided to walk him around outside for a while during church, and he spent pretty much the whole service doing just that. By the time we got home, he had little blisters on his pwecious little toes, and it was obvious it was time for new shoes. He had worn out the ones he got for Christmas with all the car-riding! But like I said, it was an end-of-the-fiscal-month-so-nobody-move-till-we-get-paid kind of week. And we wouldn’t get paid till Thursday.
The issue was, if we didn’t buy the Bear a new pair of shoes, he couldn’t go outside and ride his car, because he drags his toes to brake, and he’ll come home with bloody feet. But if he can’t ride his car, he is as bummed as the day is long. And that thought made me really sad. Going outside and riding his car is like his moment of freedom — and the boy’s a little Scottish, you know, he needs his F-RRR-EEEDOM!
So we were in a bit of a dilemma. But not for long. As we were discussing what to do about the shoe issue, I just happened to look at this card a friend had sent us a few days before that I had on display on our counter. And I just happened to notice something I didn’t see before. She’d put a sheet of stickers inside the card for the Bear, and I suddenly just happened to see some writing behind the sticker sheet, even though I’d read the card at least a couple times already. I picked the card up, looked behind the sticker sheet, and there she’d written us another wee note, and included $50. (THANK YOU, MY FRIEND!!!)
$50 will buy plenty of shoes for Bear Bear in South Africa — his next ten+ pairs!
It gets even better. On our way to buy the shoes, we prayed that the Lord would help us find them at a good price. Our finances are tight, so we were planning to be careful and make good purchases and make that $50 go a long way! So we shopped around the mall for ages and ages to try to find shoes that were the right size (challenge #1) and that weren’t a ridiculous price (challenge #2). Finally, we arrived at a store called Ackermans which has really cute baby stuff. They had a ton of shoes on their “Giveaways” (meaning decent sales) rack and I started hunting. Eventually, I found these adorable sandals (pictured below!) marked R19.00. Yes, that is 19 South African Rand. And in case you don’t happen to know the current exchange rate, ZAR19 is like $2.56!! Or £1.73!!! Or €1.93!!!!
There were several other pairs of the exact same sandals on the rack. I looked through them, and they were all marked R79.00. It was obvious we just happened to find a mis-pricing, but we asked the guy who was labeling and putting things on the racks, and he checked and said, “19 Rand.” So we were able to buy the Bear a pair of sandals, and a pair of trainers, on sale for R59.00, with a ton of cash to spare!!!
The thing about feeding on the faithfulness of God is that He works in different ways at different times. Sometimes it’s a check in the mail. Sometimes it’s a shoe on sale. Sometimes your brother reads your blog post and deposits money in your bank account!! But the faithfulness I want to feed on — the thing I want to chew on and remember over and over again, is that God is good and that He has come through for us — in different ways at different moments — but every time. That means I can trust Him. That means I can be at peace about tomorrow. Because the God who comes through for me is already there.
So I just happened to take a moment to share this with you this morning. I hope you just happen to be encouraged by it, and perhaps to believe that more often than we think, things don’t just happen. 🙂 Has anything special just happened for you this week?
Without further ado… BearBear’s new shoes!!
Here’s The (Practical Application) Sermon in a Nutshell: We’ve been recording testimonies of God’s goodness and provision in a special little journal for a while. Although we haven’t been writing them down nearly as often as we should, it is really, really encouraging to open that journal up and feed on God’s faithfulness in moments where we need encouragement. Perhaps you can start writing down things you want to remember, so you can feed on that faithfulness, too!
Mar 13, 2010 | Baby Photos, The Good Word
When I first started walking with God, I prayed and things happened. I asked Him for things and they were there. I must be the greatest Christian ever! I thought. It was so encouraging to feel like God was so near.
When I read God’s Word and I didn’t understand, I asked Him to help me. Sure enough, through a sermon or at a Bible study the next week, He helped me understand in response to my expression of desiring to know Him more.
A growing relationship with God is a lot like growing up. As a baby, you have all your needs met immediately. Nobody tells you to be patient. You cry and someone comes to comfort you. You fall and someone helps you up. Your daily bread (or milk) comes often and regularly, and you don’t have to do anything for it.
But eventually we all grow up, leave the milk behind and start feeding ourselves. We need patience, because we learn that the world doesn’t revolve around us… dang! We may even begin to dare I say it…work for our food. Sadly, the packed lunches with a bag of chips and a love note on the napkin come to an end. Yes, I had an especially wonderful Mom who packed my lunch from kindergarten through my senior year in high school and sometimes wrote a note to tell me she loved me on my napkin!
Perhaps through chores or a part-time job, we begin to make a contribution to our own sustenance in one way or another. Eventually, it is more and more up to us to make sure there’s food on the table. (Our daily bread is a provision of God, but we are still required to work for that provision in one way or another.)
It’s a lot like our walk with God. Patience is a necessity. I pray for things now, just as I did ten years ago, and they don’t always magically appear. By patience, possess your souls. I might have to wait six weeks, six months, six years…and sometimes it might not happen the way I hoped it would.
Does God love me less than He did a decade ago? No. As a matter of fact, He trusts me more. He trusts that I am able to handle the waiting. I won’t faint, I won’t pass out when the thing I’m longing for is not immediately presented. The patience teaches me perseverance, and when the longing is fulfilled, it is so much more precious and meaningful than it would have been had I prayed and received it instantly. The Lord also knows that I’ve grown up in the generation of those who pace in front of the microwave, and it is very good indeed for me to learn patience.
It’s similar when it comes to learning God’s Word: I shouldn’t expect a Sunday sermon to answer every question I’ve come up with during the week. It sure would be a long and discombobulated message! We need to learn to go after God — to seek wisdom and look for understanding the way you might look for a treasure if you knew you could find it. Having a study Bible helps. Having resources like Matthew Henry’s Commentary (a personal fave) and Spurgeon’s Treasury of David online are also incredible resources for gaining understanding of the Word, the ways and the will of God.
If you have the ability to read, you have teeth. And if you have the Bible, and clearly you have the internet or else you couldn’t read this, you have meat..and hearty condiments to help you enjoy the meat! Don’t settle for the milk of a sermon once a week. Don’t settle for letting someone else tell you the Word, the ways and the will of God. Sink your teeth into the steak, the lamb chops, the glorious bacon cheeseburgers of a personal relationship with the Living God. Let Him tell you who He is. Let Him feed you in green pastures by still waters. And ask for His help, if you find you’re not hungry. If you knew how good it is, you would be!
xCC
An end note: I’d like to start digging deeper around here, together. I have some ideas a-stewin’ and a-brewin’ about how this space might allow us to encourage each other deeper in God. If you think you might like to write a guest post about going deeper, please let me know!
Mar 6, 2010 | Baby Photos, Stories
As promised…I have a great story to share! Part of the reason it’s great is because of readers like you! Shall we get started?
So. My Mom sent a gift, a Happy 18 Months, Bear! slash we didn’t get to see each other at Christmas slash Happy Valentine’s sort of gift. She is great like that. And as I shared with you previously, there was drama surrounding the receiving of said gift, involving a very high customs and duties fee being demanded by South African Revenue Service (SARS). We were at the end of a tight month, really working to stay inside our budget, and five days away from payday, the thought of the gift being held ransom was rather discouraging. And I shared all that with you.
What I hadn’t shared yet was that over the course of those few days when we were discouraged and trying to figure out what to do, I was spending time reading the Bible (I like to do that, ya know) and I found myself in I Peter 2, which has a discussion of the importance of submitting to government. For a few days we’d been speaking with FedEx and their South African partners Supaswift, we’d been on the phone to SARS, and we’d been on the internet trying to discern whether we were actually being correctly charged for my Mom’s gift, since they were asking close to 70% of the gift’s declared value. At one point, FedEx made the suggestion that we could change the customs form to read ZAR 200.00 (meaning 200 South African Rand) instead of $200. And then no customs would be due. To say the least, this felt dodgy. Â We also considered sending the package back to the US and having friends who are coming next month bring it over. But that didn’t seem much different.
So back to 1 Peter 2. This passage says, Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. It goes on to say Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the King. I flipped over to Romans 13 after reading this, to be reminded again that the Lord does indeed instruct us to submit to government. And then I remembered when Jesus and Peter were visiting the temple and they were asked to pay the temple tax. Even though Jesus was greater than the temple, being the Son of God and all, still he sent Peter to the lake to catch a fish, and the fish had a coin in its mouth which would pay the tax.
All of that combined to indicate to me that we should pay the fines, even though they seemed exorbitant and ridiculous. The prayer that followed this was: Lord, You provided the coin in the mouth of the fish for Peter to pay taxes, even though it didn’t seem right. Will you please provide for us to pay the taxes due for the gift from my mother? Help us to submit and properly obey the government here.
And so He did. Without seeing it in any way connected, I shared with you my discouragement about what was going on. Five minutes after this blog post hit the web, I received a Facebook message from a friend who said “Do you have a PayPal account? I’d like to send you some spendable encouragement.” Within twenty minutes we’d been blessed with a financial gift which was just $40 shy of what we needed for the taxes. ENCOURAGEMENT, HELLO OLD FRIEND! But the story doesn’t end there!
The next morning I received an email from other friends who said they wanted to pay for us to be able to receive the gift, and they asked how much we needed. I wrote them back and sad “We’ve already been blessed with this much, and we only need this much more, but really we can cover it ourselves. If you really want to give you can, but you don’t have to worry about it.” There was of course other dialogue and thank you’s but I don’t need to tell you that since you know how long winded I am. I had been encouraged by the gift the night before, and all your emails and comments and messages, and I was full of trust that it was going to come together fine.
AND THEN! The next day I had a voicemail from my Mom saying “Your big brother read your blog and heard about what happened with your gift and he was upset that you were discouraged! He is going to put thus and such in your bank account so don’t you worry! You’re going to get your present!” As you can imagine, this brought me to tears. I didn’t even know my brother read my blog! haha Seriously, I was just really, deeply blessed by this. It has been lonely at times being in a new country, far away from family, friends and familiarity, and this moment just made me feel so surrounded and in community, even if a lot of it is virtual community right now.
Hear me out on this: You might like to chalk this up to coincidence or serendipity, but I have experienced too much coincidence in my life to call it that any more. We told God we would trust Him and walk in His ways, and we asked for His help so that we could do so. And with exceeding abundance, He provided more than enough…in more ways than one!
On Tuesday, my Mom’s gift finally arrived…along with two others! My friend Amiee also sent us a gift, maybe two or three weeks before my Mom sent hers, and Samaritan’s Feet sent us some documents and copies of our founder’s new book…and all of it coincidentally arrived on Tuesday. We opened our gifts and were just so blessed by so much generosity at a time when things have been tight…it was like a second Christmas!
To me, all this is a demonstration of God’s blessing and provision for us when we choose to walk in His ways. Although submitting to the government and paying those fees seemed like a rubbish idea at first, yet the Lord did provide for us to do so, and allowed us to walk with Him through the process. And that, my friends, is the Sermon in a Nutshell.
Since this post has gotten a little long (no surprise there) I’m going to “to be continued” to fill another post with good cheer, happy photos and general prezzie merriment! To arrive in your browser or inbox or google reader very soon! Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. Again and again, thanks.
xCC
P.S. If you’re wondering why the Bear’s outfit changed from picture 1 to picture 2, it’s because we had a little accident that necessitated a gear change and we decided he should sport his new gear for the next set of photos! 🙂
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