“I would hasten my escape From the windy storm and tempest.” Psalm 55:8

When I see a storm approaching my first impulse is to flee. I run around my yard, picking up toys, putting away bikes, closing the doors to the shed and workshop, moving small potted plants into the garage, and bringing my border collie, Daisy, into the house. Before I go inside, I shut the garage door.

Once inside, I watch the storm in all its fury play out across my yard. The wind blows leaves and branches everywhere. Lightning lights up the sky and sometimes strikes a tree close to my home. Thunder booms and makes me jump. The rain beats relentlessly against my windows.

Despite the destruction of the storm, I’ve noticed that storms also bring good things.

• No matter how much I run my sprinkler on my vegetable garden (especially this year in the drought), my plants always seem to be stronger and healthier and grow faster after they have been watered by a storm.
• Storms clear the air and bring a refreshing breeze.
• The sun returns after a storm.

Perhaps the same thing can apply to the storms we experience in our lives. Nobody likes bad things –accidents, illnesses, death, divorce, job loss–all of these things are difficult to walk through. Yet just like my garden plants, I find that my times of strongest spiritual growth come from weathering the storms in my life. After I have suffered through my storms, God brings a refreshing breeze of peace. The depression lifts and joy or contentment returns.

What do you notice about the storms in your life? Can you see any good come out of them?

“And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’” Exodus 3: 14

“And He said to me, ‘It is done!  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.’” Revelation 21:6

Don’t you just love how God settles everything?

With these few words, He gets to the root of the matter. As I came across the Exodus verse in my Bible reading today, I had to stop and think about it. I realized that because God is who He is, then I can be who He made me to  be and can do what he made me to do.  Everything I am and do rests on me cooperating with Him and following His plan for my life.

That is the very thing that can be a stumbling block for many people. They don’t want to give up control of their lives, thinking that if they do, they’ll be stuck in a drab, dreary life of boredom, or worse yet, doing something they don’t want to do.

The verse in Revelation should settle those fears. Jesus says that He will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. I was curious about the word life, so I looked up the connotation of the word life in Blue Letter Bible.

The Greek word for life is zoe, and I love it’s meaning. Here are a few of its definitions: a full life; possessed of vitality; absolute fullness of life; active and vigorous; devoted to God, blessed.

This doesn’t sound like a dry, unexciting life to me! On the contrary, a life lived out surrendered to God is a life of passion, fullness, and vitality. Yes, we will also experience tribulations as Jesus did, but it’s a life that is full and rich of meaning and purpose and will reap a harvest for God’s kingdom.

I can trust God to be my I AM in this adventure, especially when I am not …

•    the bold speaker He has asked me to be
•    the attentive wife He has called me to be
•    the brave witness He has asked me to be
•    the leader he has asked me to be, and so on

Because He is I Am, I am too.

Pray on!

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He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3

This has been a favorite scripture of mine, ever since I lost my 11-day-old daughter 22 years ago. God used it to encourage me during a difficult time.

What I found to be true is that God doesn’t leave our hearts in shambles, but that over time He heals us–if we let Him. He is able to put back together even the most splintered, shattered pieces of ourselves that the old nursery rhyme tells us are beyond repair. He binds up our wounds and is able to make us whole again.

Sometimes this is an infinitely slow process. It’s an excruciating day-by-day, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute choice to believe that He is working, that life will not always be this hard, or hurt this much. As we hang in there with God in the nitty-gritty pain in our lives, our hearts begin to mend. God’s radical soul surgery, when viewed on a daily basis, may not seem to be making much of a difference.We may feel stuck, stagnant, and frustrated, blinded by the darkness in our souls.

But when looked at over the course of weeks or months, and definitely years, we can see the evidence of a skilled surgeon who is setting the broken bones and stitching together the unraveled edges of our lives. We emerge with some scars. But what we become is a person made stronger, deeper, and richer, with a depth of maturity that was not there before.

If you’re in despair of where you are now, just make the decision for one more day to get up and believe again that God is working. One more day to care for your family, go to work, clean the house. And then do it again the next day. Your heart will mend, because you’re not being operated on by the all the king’s horses and all the king’s men, but by the King of Kings. He alone can put all of us Humpty Dumptys back together again.

Pray on!

By Denslow’s_Humpty_Dumpty.djvu: W. W. Denslowderivative work: Theornamentalist [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.

Psalm 91:15

This verse stood out to me today in my reading, because it is so encouraging. Initially, it may not seem so. I can’t think of anyone I know, myself included, who thinks Oh yea! Another problem to deal with! I’d rather my life sail along without any obstacles to get in the way of my plans. But I’ve lived long enough to know that problems and tragedies are a part of life, as Jesus tells us in John 16:33.

As I meditated on this verse, the truth of it rang clear in my life, because I’ve also lived long enough to find out that God does walk through problems and tragedies with me. Two words in this verse captured my attention, and I wanted to explore them further: deliver and honor. I think you’ll be encouraged by the nuances of these two words and the meaning that they give to our sufferings.

First of all, the word deliver is chalats in Hebrew. It has some interesting meanings including “to be equipped,” “to be armed,” “to make strong,” “brace up,” and “to invigorate.” This gave me pause. How many times have I thought as I was walking through a trial that I didn’t know if I had enough strength to get through this? Most recently, I remember thinking that when my son was burned in an accident two years ago. As I went through the debriding process with him, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to handle the horror of that procedure. But did you see what God promises us? God equips me, arms me, makes me strong, braces me up, and even invigorates (!) me so that I can withstand the troubles I am in. And He did. It was not easy, but God was true to His word. God will not let our troubles defeat us if we trust Him!

The word honor also has an interesting meaning. It is transliterated kabad, and it means “to be glorious,” “be honored,” and “gain glory.” I’ve never thought of my trials as being a means of honor and glory, but it would seem that in the process of our suffering, God gives us a spiritual honor and glory.

I know it is excruciatingly difficult to walk through times of trials, but I hope that this encourages you today to hold on to God. Don’t let go. He will walk with you, equipping you, strengthening you, and bracing you up for whatever lies ahead. If you feel like you’ve reached the end of your strength, then be even more encouraged, because that’s when the Holy Spirit takes over, if you let Him. He’ll give you a supernatural strength, or He will give you a time of rest to recharge.

Pray on!

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Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.”’ Ezekiel 11:16

I stumbled across this verse as I was reading this morning and was really struck by the phrase “yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.” The Hebrew word for sanctuary also means “sacred place” or “holy place.” God was judging Israel for its sin and had scattered His people among foreigners, yet God still was a sanctuary for them right in the midst of where they were.

Jesus is still doing that very same thing for us today. No matter where we are, through our faith in Jesus, God has planted in us His Holy Spirit who resides in each one of us. Are you a missionary living in a foreign land? God will be your holy place. Are you traveling for work this week? God will be your sanctuary of refreshment. Are you trying to survive in a hostile work environment? God is your familiar refuge. Are you living out your calling in your busy home with little children on your hip or teens coming and going? God is your oasis of peace. Perhaps you’re in your golden years. God is your inspiration for serving others.

No matter where your corner of the world is, remember that God is your sanctuary, your holy place, your home. Nestle your heart in Him and draw from His well of love and security as you serve others today in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Pray on!

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Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

As we celebrate Valentine’s Day this week, I wanted to look at some of the verses in the love chapter of the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13. These verses are wonderful for us to aspire to. Lest we become discouraged of ever being able to live up to the standard that God gives us in these verses, however, I wanted to take a look at what these verses could look like in the real nitty-gritty details of life. I know that we all have times where we fail in trying to keep this high standard of love; after all, Jesus was the only One who ever loved completely unselfishly, but let’s look at some possible ways we could live out each verse.

Love is patient, love is kind.

• I will keep my voice in a kind tone when disciplining my children.
• I will not talk in a sarcastic manner to my spouse.
• I will listen with my full attention.

Love does not envy, does not boast, is not proud.

• I will be content with my house, with my furniture, with my clothes.
• I will not boast about all my children’s latest accomplishments to everyone within hearing.
• I will try to maintain a humble spirit when I do get something new or take that next vacation.
• I will regularly count my blessings.

 Love is not rude; it is not self-seeking.

• I will control my temper when I am driving.
• I will be courteous to slow checkout-lane clerks.
• I will wait my turn in the exit lanes of the highway and not speed up, hoping to wedge myself in at the last second so that I don’t have to wait in the long exit line.

 Love is not easily angered; it keeps no record of wrongs.

• If my spouse responds crankily to me, I will attempt to keep my temper.
• I will not remember everything my spouse or children have ever done to hurt me. I will not hold grudges. What if God did this to me?
• I will strive to have a good relationship with my in-laws.

Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.

• I will speak the truth in love to my family and remember to show them the same grace that I would want extended to myself.
• I will be truthful in my conduct at work, including how I spend my time there. Am I wasting time on Facebook or personal e-mail?

Love always protects, always trusts,always hopes, always perseveres.

• I will choose the decision that aligns itself with God’s word. I will remember to honor my family and not speak badly about them.
• I will not lose hope in God’s ability to work in every situation with myself, my family and my friends.
• I will persevere in prayer.
•  I will remember that God loves me.

Love never fails.

• God’s love never fails. SO, I will extend grace to others and myself when people fail and disappoint me, or when I disappoint myself.

Do any of these verses speak to your heart? What are some ideas you could share with us on living out the love verses from I Corinthians 13?

Happy Valentine’s Day, and pray on!

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