January 14, 2012

My meditation for the day has been Psalm 121: "I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore."

A somber passage to be my January soul-song, my driving anthem for a new year. Yet this year of all years I am reminded that sin is present, that suffering is rampant, that hurt is acute. I am reminded that sadness, loneliness, bitterness, and tears are part of the package of a sojourner in this land. I am reminded that our plans, ideals, and desires really mean nothing in light of eternity. The fact of the matter is that we are a people who have wrecked havoc on this land through our selfishness and pride but that there is a God, and He reigns over all with a omnipotent, sovereign, yet merciful and loving hand.

So while sacrifice and pain and ridicule and fear will always be a way of life on Earth, while dreams dashed and plans gone awry will always be mingled with joy, while feelings and relationships will always be hurt, we have a promise of comfort.

In the midst of conflict, even I, with nothing to resent nor complain about, will shed tears and fear the future. Yet in this moment of darkest night, I have felt more comfort and un-alone than I have felt in months. For indeed, I realize now that trials are not necessarily to test our faith or to ensure the depth of it. This trial, at least, is giving me sight of the fruit of my faith. This evening as I sat on my bed, eyes dry and a-burning from tears and body exhausted from a day-like-eternity, I felt the presence of my God. I felt Him, I saw Him, I spoke to Him. He saw me, He embraced me, He spoke back.

Faith is a struggle, dear ones. Never will we sojourners come to a point in this foreign land when faith will be easy or constant. Faith is a fight, a fight 'gainst great beasts of the Enemy. But faith is a fight well worth the taking. For -- listen and believe, friends -- in times of need, our faith will be rewarded with peace, comfort, hope, and sight.

I do not understand everything;

I do not welcome every piece of my life.

But there is hope beyond understanding,

And there is peace to be found in strife.

Take heart, O downcast soul,

Take heart, again I say.

For tomorrow the dawn will come,

Tomorrow will be a new day.

There will be time for tears,

But there will be time for laughter.

If not in this life and world at present,

Then in the Promised Land ever after.

Loving God with Our Minds

God made our minds to love Him. We do this by first coming to the cross of Christ for salvation, where, as the hymn says, "sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains." We love God with our minds by being renewed through His Word and thinking about excellent, lovely, wholesome things. Did you know that when you study birds (ornithology), bugs (entomology), words (etymology), the human body (anatomy), and just about any "-ology" you can think of, you are loving Him? "The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them," wrote the psalmist. We love God with our mind when we admire smoothness, strangeness, structure, inticacy, fragrance, complexion, motion. "Glory be to God for dappled things," exclaimed the poet-priest Gerard Manley Hopkins. - Suzanne U. Rhodes, The Roar on the Other Side

About two years ago I confessed my habit of analyzing my consistent, vivid dreams. Yesterday morning, my eyes abruptly darted open after a particularly painful one. No evil men seeking my life, no failed pregnancy, just shame. I proved inept and so suffered ridicule, not from strangers, but from my family. This dream will never become reality -- inept though I am, my family will never spurn me because of it. Nonetheless, this troubling dream unsettled me. I started to consider my ways. Do I practice enough? Am I making a fool of myself? Should I give up and start something else? What if my dream put into words all the things my family is thinking?

My soul was completely disquieted, so I turned to the Word, the Bread of Life, my sole Comforter.

Psalm 147:10-11

His delight is not in the strength of the horse,

nor His pleasure in the legs of a man,

but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him,

in those who hope in His steadfast love.

The passage doesn't say that the Lord savors good musicians, or strong bodies, or stifled emotions, or even obedient children (not to say that He doesn't take pleasure in those people).

No, the passage says, "those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love."

Can we ask for any better? What a glorious God we serve!

Simple Pleasures...

Of the last twenty four hours:

~ staying up late with Mama and Daddy (even if it was biology homework...)

~ leaving the doors open and hearing all those lovely "night noises"

~ slipping on fuzzy socks for bed (Did you notice that I *love* fuzzy socks?)

~ waking up because I was cold in bed

~ wandering about early in the morning with a beloved friend

~ greetings from others with amiable cheerfulness

~ munching a pear (One day I hope to own this.)

~ opening the windows and doors of the house

~ identifying an elusive flower

~ watching leaves fall off a tree (Yes! I have found a tree that sheds leaves in FL!)

I also stumbled across this poem:

Out in the Fields with God

The little cares that fretted me,

I lost them yesterday,

Among the fields above the sea,

Among the winds at play,

Among the lowing of the herds,

The rustling of the trees,

Among the singing of the birds,

The humming of the bees.

The foolish fears of what might pass,

I cast them all away,

Among he clover-scented grass,

Among the new-mown hay,

Among the hushing of the corn

Where drowsy poppies nod,

Where ill thoughts die and good are born --

Out in the fields with God.

-Unknown

And, of course, I'm glorying in that oft spoken, yet simply glorious psalm:

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

~ Psalm 19:1 ~

I'm one blessed girl. :)

The Old Testament

What is the significance of the Old Testament? If we look at the Old Testament, we see there [are] all kinds of information in the Old Testament about creation, about people, about history, about human conflict. Wars, migration, slavery, sin, all kinds of things are taking place in this dramatic history.

But the Old Testament is not simply a history book because, above all things, what the Old Testament accomplishes, beloved, is the self-disclosure of God. The chief character in the Old Testament is God, and it is in the pages of the Old Testament, as God reveals his law, as He reveals his promises, as He interacts with his covenant people, in everything that he says, in everything that he does, every event that is recorded in the Old Testament serves in some degree to remove the veil from the face of God and disclose his pure character to us.

So how in the world could a Christian ever come to think that the Old Testament was irrelevant? To be irrelevant would mean that the character of God is irrelevant, and He is the chief character. In a very real sense, the Old Testament is the autobiography of God, God as He relates to the world that he makes and the world that is fallen.

Dust to Glory by R.C. Sproul

A Day

As dawn casts its morning rays

onto the world, into my eyes,

pictures and dreams come as I lay,

and on the wind tosses a cry.

With groaning, pain, and tears of joy,

I see a child slip onto this earth.

Mother's eyes often watch the boy

and moisten still, knowing his worth.

The golden sphere rises higher

as the day travels slowly by,

and I see the boy growing taller

and hear Mama's and Papa's sighs.

They train and pray and pray and train,

teaching and molding steadily.

They know he will not long remain,

so on they press in word and deed.

As the sun casts its evening light

upon the leafy trees beyond,

I dream I see a touching sight:

a parting, the tearing of a bond.

Husband and wife tenderly watch

as son, now man, to battle goes.

Their arrow, sharpened, has been launched

into a world of joys and woes.

"Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate." Psalm 127:3-5

Written while I avoid a pre-calculus quiz.

Isaiah 51:1

"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,

you who seek the LORD:

look to the rock from which you were hewn,

and to the quarry from which you were dug."

If you read on in this chapter, you will find that the author is referring us to our ancestors for guidance and instruction. However, after my first reading of this verse, I wondered if the reference couldn't be toward God. We were made in God's image (Gen. 1:27). To me, it appeared that God was the "rock" and the "quarry." He is our Father and a righteous one, too! Could we possibly find a better example to follow for training in righteousness?

Being made in the image of God is no small thing. We are the only beings like that! This truth motivates me, all the more, to be sure that what I wear and the way I present myself is honorable and respectable. For, in the image of God I was created, and I do not want to dishonor that image.

Psalm 98:7-9

(View from the Great Wall of China 2007)

Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

the world and those who dwell in it!

Let the rivers clap their hands;

let the hills sing for joy together

before the LORD, for he comes

to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with

righteousness,

and the peoples with equity.

Help in the Lord

This passage of Scripture has oft been turned to in a rather hectic time of the year. I hope it encourages and edifies you as much as it has me! Praise God that we have been delivered from the torrent of temptation and circumstances, but thanks be to Him that He has broken the snare and showed us the way of escape: Jesus Christ!

Psalm 124: Our Help is in the Name of the Lord

If it had not been the LORD who was on our side --

let Israel now say --

if it had not been the LORD who was on our side

when people rose up against us,

then they would have swallowed us up alive,

when their anger was kindled against us;

then the flood would have swept us away,

the torrent would have gone over us;

then over us would have gone

the raging waters.

Blessed be the LORD,

who has not given us

as prey to their teeth!

We have escaped like a bird

from the snare of the fowlers;

the snare is broken,

and we have escaped!

Our help is in the name of the LORD,

who made heaven and earth.

(Emphasis mine.)

Joy Comes in the Morning

"I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up

and have not let my foes rejoice over me.

O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,

and you have healed me.

O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;

you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.

Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints,

and give thanks to his holy name.

For his anger is but for a moment,

and his favor is for a lifetime.

Weeping may tarry for the night,

but joy comes with the morning. 

As for me, I said in my prosperity,

'I shall never be moved.'

By your favor, O LORD, 

you made my mountain stand strong;

you hid your face;

I was dismayed.

To you, O LORD, I cry,

and to the Lord I plead for mercy:

'What profit is there in my death,

if I go down to the pit?

Will the dust praise you?

Will it tell of your faithfulness?

Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me! 

O LORD, be my helper!'

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;

you have loosed my sackcloth

and clothed me with gladness,

that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.

O LORD my God, I will give thanks to  you forever!"

Psalm  30

Give Them Liberty

I just read this in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine. I am so very glad that this isn't the way my parent's view things. I pray that I won't follow the world's pattern for children my age. (By the way, my thoughts are in blue.)

Don't take personally your teen's efforts to ditch you. How comforting...teens are trying to ditch their parents -- the very people God has blessed them with for guidance and discipline. Lord, help me to never ditch my parents. Help me to honor them like You command in Your Word and to listen to their advice. I don't want to be a fool...or have my eyes plucked out by ravens and eaten by vultures. (Yes, that is in the Bible. Proverbs 30:17.) Help me to be a dutiful daughter who listens to my parents direction. Teens need to define who they are apart from you. Uhh...no they don't. What happened to sons and daughters adorning and being a part of their households? Check out Psalm 144:12 and this post to better understand what I am saying. I want, most importantly to be defined by God, but I definitely don't want to be a rebellious daughter...who wants that identity? Give yours some solo time -- and a practice run at adulthood -- on your next family vacation by letting him visit a tourist spot alone or take his own day trip. Uhh...that's really messed up. They are called teenagers for a reason. A time between childhood and adulthood. Parents are there for a reason. Teenagers aren't ready for adulthood. There is a time for everything. Ugh.

Hopefully this doesn't come across as self righteous. I don't want to be that way.

Random Things in My Head

"Man of Sorrows! what a name
For the Son of God, Who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;
Spotless Lamb of God was He;
Full atonement can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die;
"It is finished!" was His cry;
Now in heaven exalted high.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew His song we'll sing:
Hallelujah! What a Savior!"

-Man of Sorrows

"O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh longs for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your poser and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you." Psalm 63:1-3

Psalm 78: 38-39

"Yet he, being compassionate,
atoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
and did not stir up all his wrath.
He remembered that they were but
flesh,
a wind that passes and comes not
again."

Praise God!

Psalm 148

1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord form the heavens;

praise him in the heights!

2 Praise him, all his angels;

prise him, all his hosts!

3 Praise him, sun and moon,

priase him, all you shining stars1

4 Praise him, you highest heavens,

and you waters above the heavens!

5 Let them praise the name of the Lord!

For he commanded and they were created.

6 And he established them forever and ever;

he gave a devree and it shall not pass away.

7 Praise the Lord from the earth,

you great sea creatures and all deeps,

8 fire and hail, snow and mist,

stormy wind fulfilling his word!

9 Mountains and all hills,

fruit trees and all cedars!

10 Beasts and al livestock,

creeping things and flying birds!

11 Kings of the earth and all peoples,

princes and all rulers of the earth!

12 Young men and maidens together,

old men and children!

13 Let them praise the name of the Lord,

for his name alone is exalted;

his majesty is above the earth and heaven.

14 He has raised up a horn for his people,

praise him for all his saints,

for the people of Israel who are near to him.

Praise the Lord!

I had this passage (in song form) ringing in my ears yesterday morning. Wonderful verses to have "stuck in one's head," don't you agree?

Corner Pillars

I came across this verse in my quiet time the other day. I was really convicted about it.

"May...our daughters (be) like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace." Psalm 144:12b

I have often heard what this verse means, but more often do I fail to live it out. A corner pillar has both a supportive and a decorative role for a building. Remember the magnificent Greek and Roman ruins that we are all so familiar wit. If just on of those columns were to be removed, the palace would fail. This illustrates the importance of a daughter in her home. She has the critical job of coming alongside her family to keep the household running smoothly. Do I always support my family the way God wants me to?

Going back to Ancient Greece and Rome, imagine if those stunning pillars were just concrete slabs, covered with dirt and cobwebs and dust. What kind of impression would you be left with after viewing that structure? Not a very nice one, I am sure. Similarly, a daughter's role in her home is to beautify the home with her gifts and person. Do I always grace my home with a sweet countenance? No. But- I love that word, B-U-T, it means that is not the end; there is hope- but, "God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us of all unrighteousness." He will not begin a work and leave it undone.....I am sure of it.

Great is Thy Faithfulness!

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see.

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

I was reading Psalm 142 this morning and I was struck by verse 7. "The righteous will surround me, for you will deal bountifully with me." I found great comfort in those verses. God IS a faithful God; He will not forsake us! He has been faithful before and will be faithful again and again! Read verse 3 of the hymn:

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,

Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

You "lay your hand upon me"

Read these sweet words:


Psalm 139: 1-18

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.

3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.

5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.



7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from you presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,"

12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.



13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are you works;

my soul knows it very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of the,
the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.



17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

18 IF I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.



I read this Psalm in my quiet time today. The words are beautiful, full of praise and thanksgiving to God! Such comfort in knowing that God has His hand on me and that he will "never leave me nor forsake me." What sweet verses! "...even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as day..." Nothing can keep my Father and Friend from being with me! What joy!