Open my eyes and let me see…. January 1, 2011

 I don’t usually make New Years resolutions because all too often they just keep me frustrated and failing. They promise gain but lack the substance to produce it, most likely because all too often I have tried to bring about a transformation by my own fleshly effort instead of by the power of God. Total change and victory occur only when I exercise my faith in the transforming power of God.

So instead, each January, I ask God to show me a specific Scripture He wants to use to reshape my heart during the coming year.

The Scripture that speaks to me over and over as of late is found in the book of 2 Kings 6:15-17

¹⁵ When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha.

 ¹⁶ “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” ¹⁷ Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.

God is my God of HOPE. When I struggle with disappointment I have to consciously go to the source of hope~I must go to Jesus.

When old pain resurfaces reminding me of my losses or what is missing~ I must run to Jesus. When my situation or circumstance seems bleak and the way seems hidden~I must go to Jesus.

This verse reminds me about hoping in what I cannot yet see. It reminds me that God’s care and love, His protection and provision have been there all along even when I can’t see them. Those who are with me are more than who are against me.

My prayer is that I will daily trust God, who is with me, more than the circumstances that I face. This year I am asking God to open my eyes so that I can see who He really is and the powerful protector, shield and defender that He promises to be.

The story line of my life over the past several years continues to be one of changes. Along with that theme is my hearts desire concerning a continuing, intentional move towards authenticity. As I sit at my desk this first day of the New Year I ponder what it also means to take time for the important not the urgent.

Perhaps at this season in my life it is time to have courage and tenacity in order to take an honest inventory, to see what needs to go and what things need to be strengthened or added. Perhaps it is time once more for the fulfillment of the delayed dreams and promises of my life.

It’s time to fall in love again- to believe that the next part of life really is the best- and to have a sense of wonder once more about the world around me.

Its time to have a fresh understanding of my calling, to have the boldness to say no to some things in order to say a burning yes to risking steps of faith- to experience wonderful new adventures with God.

In the quietness of this day coming to a close my spirit whispers a silent prayer to my Lord Jesus, laying my heart before Him, asking that my heart be filled with love and gratitude for all He is, and all that He has done for me.

Like Mary with the alabaster jar, I pour out what is most precious to me- and that is my life.

It is my desire that my priorities, my relationships, my choices and my actions reflect His amazing love. May my Lord give me fresh eyes to appreciate what can happen through the changes and tests of my life. I pray that my Savior will give me once again the faith of a child to trust Him for good things!

“Thank you Jesus for reminding me that I am precious in your sight, and that You do indeed have a good plan for me. Help me to enjoy the journey with You, Lord, and to see it as an adventure, not an endurance contest. Thank you for reminding me to dig deeper, to know You in a fresh way…….to trust You and Your perfect timing.

I pray that the eyes of my heart may be enlightened so that I can know the hope to which You have called me.  Jesus, You are my hope. When I feel lonely and forgotten~You are my hope. When my spirit is discouraged~You are my hope. Help me to put my confidence in You so that I do not have to fear disappointment and failure. Help me to rest in Your faithfulness and Your everlasting HOPE. Your hope does not disappoint. Your hope O Lord is the anchor for my soul. In the light of every disappointment, suffering and loss, You are my eternal and everlasting HOPE…. In the name of Jesus, Amen”

I wonder what God is up too…and where this journey will take me?

Is God Sovereign? April 6, 2008

What does it mean to me when I say God is sovereign in my life?

Have you ever thought about this question for yourself?

 Genesis 35: 16-18, “Leaving Bethel, Jacob and his clan moved on toward Ephrath. But Rachel went into labor while they were still some distance away. Her labor pains were intense.  After a very hard delivery, the midwife finally exclaimed, “Don’t be afraid—you have another son!”  Rachel was about to die, but with her last breath she named the baby Ben-oni (which means “son of my sorrow”)The baby’s father, however, called him Benjamin (which means “son of my right hand”).”

Every time I read this story I think of my mom.  I, like Benjamin, was the child left behind. Like Rachel, my mother’s death was totally unexpected and I can’t help but wonder what her thoughts were as she took her last breath. Were they of her children she was leaving behind, were they of her husband?

Isn’t it when extreme tragedy steps into our lives, leaving heartache in its path that we ask ourselves if God is truly sovereign? This is when we question if God is truly our ruler in the good times and the bad? Is it not in these times that our faith is tested?

 It’s easy to say God is the sovereign ruler of my life when all is going well, when everything is just peachy. Its then I can sing or proclaim that “My God Reigns” because He’s got everything under control.

Yet it’s when tragedy, disappointments or heartaches strikes that I am faced with the tough questions. Will I question His sovereignty in the midst of calamity? Can I trust Him? Is He still the sovereign King in my life?

It’s often at these times I find myself thinking, “If I just tried harder, if I was just a better person, then maybe bad things wouldn’t happen.” Do you ever get stuck in the pit of-if I do better then bad things won’t happen?

Yet when I read the story of Job I begin to get a different picture. “Though he slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13: 15). 

 That’s trust in God’s sovereign rulership even in the worst of times.

 

 If good works keep us out of trouble then when I read the countless stories of people today or people in the bible I should see people who lived lives of smooth sailing but instead when I read biographies, I find stories filled with traumatic experiences, appalling events and major disappointments.  Yet they testify as to the sovereignty of the God they love.

 

I don’t know what you are facing today…but I do know that our sovereign God has a plan for you. A sovereign God overruled the hardships life threw at me, because God had a plan – God ruled!

 The same God that was watching over Rachel when she whispered the name of her boy as she died is the same God who watched over my mother and her children when she took her last breath. That is simply amazing to me.

As we read the story of Joseph, Rachel’s first child we find that he ended up saving millions in Egypt from famine and her child Benjamin is where we find out about God’s sovereign rule in his life. Paul, in Philippians 3:5 writes that he was from the tribe of Benjamin. Here was the apostle to the gentiles, the apostle whose writings have continually upheld Christians to this very day was from the lineage of a baby boy left orphaned at birth…..but a sovereign God held this baby in the palm of His hand…just like He holds you and me…wow…our God rules!

 

I like this quote by Dave Brown- “We often don’t always know why things happen to us and others in a given situation or circumstance but we know why we trust God who does know why.”

 

“Trust the past to God’s mercy, the present to His love, and the future to His providence.”

St. Augustine