IN THE TEMPEST

“Who layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters; Who maketh the clouds His chariot; Who walketh upon the wings of the wind...” Psalm 104:3  

As we in Virginia hold our collective breath and sit waiting with the rest of the eastern seaboard for this latest hurricane, I came across this quote by Willa Cather who said “There are some things you learn best in calm and some in storm.”

And I wondered what lessons lie before us not only with this particular hurricane but also in the wide-ranging storms of this life.  Hurricane Sandy has been much anticipated, so many wisely took the Boy Scouts motto of “Be Prepared” to heart and have everything they need at their fingertips. But sometimes “life happens” through unrelenting squalls that come in entirely unannounced and take our hearts by storm. But whether they are much expected or catch us completely off-guard, I believe that there are at least three lessons that we can learn from this expected gale and the ones that sneak up behind us.

1. Everyone experiences the storm.  Sometimes the most difficult part of a storm is the feeling that we are weathering the brunt of it by ourselves and that we alone are suffering the raging winds and the assaulting rains.  But the truth is many are experiencing the ill effects of this hurricane and additionally on the whole; no one gets a pass for a storm-free life, because everyone includes...well, everyone.  Jesus explicitly declared in John 16:33 that “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.” NLT He doesn’t say that we might, He didn’t hint that we may possibly; He declares unequivocally “you will have many trials and sorrows”...no one escapes it! Thankfully though, Jesus didn’t just leave us with that thought; He goes on to say “But be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.” So although we each can be confident that we will all face our share of storms, in Him there is ultimate victory!

Note: This is also a WONDERFUL opportunity to reach out and support those who are being devastated by this storm AND those who have been ravaged by the storms of this life. It is in reaching out our hand of love and friendship that we are most clearly the children of our Father. The Body of Christ actively caring for those in the midst of storms (be they natural, emotional, financial or spiritual) is one of the clearest and most compelling arguments for our reason for being>>>to LOVE others into the kingdom of God!

2. You are not alone in the storm. The tempests come and fear can grip our hearts because the storm is volatile and unpredictable. The enemy of our souls may whisper to our  anxious hearts that we are staggering alone beneath the wind and waves of any particular storm and the feelings of isolation can drive us to despair.  But we can take heart for the One who gave us existence is also the One who promised to never leave us, that instead, whenever we need Him He assures us that He will come! In John 14:18 Jesus assures us “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” and Paul relates “...God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” Hebrews 13:5 In fact in the original language He uses a triple negative to emphasize the point. In essence He says “I will not, I will not, I will not leave you”.

Now that’s not to say that all will be  “peaches and roses” for our entire life because we talked about that in lesson one; but it does mean that whatever storms come our way and whatever ill effects do befall us...never, never, never are we left to face them alone. He WILL come to us!

Think about dear ones...what kind of father ignores the frightened pleas of his dear children? Even a decent earthly father will take pity on his children when they cry out in fear and our heavenly Father is the best Papa; so our cries will always reach His listening ears and they will never fail to touch His loving heart. No, He will not leave us, ever.  

3. There is a place of calm in every storm. No matter the strength or size of a hurricane, there is always an area where the storm is not raging and the winds lie dormant. It is a position where the tempest has ceased and is untouched by the power and devastation of the storm. In the eye of the storm there is a space of quiet where all that abide there remain unscathed. And Papa promises that no matter the volume of the storm, no matter its magnitude; we can always hide under the shadow of His massive wings while the storm rages all around us. There is a place where we may abide in sustenance and safety and we will find that as the winds whirl around us, as the relentless rains pelt us unmercifully, that that place, that that blessed location is in His pervasive and holy presence.

Oh that we would praise Him for there is no storm so dark that the Light of the World cannot bring a dawn! Oh that we would worship Him for there is no gale so potent that the Omnipotent One cannot silence it! Oh that we would choose to trust the heart of the One who loves us best >>>because there is no tempest so prevailing that the Creator of both the winds and the waves cannot calm them...and us. Come oh Lord for in Psalm 104:3 Your Word proclaims You as the storm walker and in You we find shelter now and forever!  
“Who layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters; Who maketh the clouds His chariot; Who walketh upon the wings of the wind...” Psalm 104:3  

Papa,
Come and hold us, remind us that we are not alone in this hurricane nor in the storms that this life will bring. Help us to rely on You, to trust in Your strong and yet tender care for us. Help us to hear You calling us to come swiftly that we might dwell under the shadow of Your expansive wings. Help us to find that place of calm and safety and to abide there knowing that in Your presence we are loved and cared for. Help us to trust You dear Papa no matter what lies ahead; for in You we are safe and secure...today and for all eternity! In Jesus Name, Amen

“For Now...For Always”

"There is no freedom like not having to impress everybody." ~Joyce Meyer.

I love this quote, but impress everybody??? Even better, how about if we don’t live to impress anybody? : ) Could we, would we dare to believe that I am who He says I am, that I am accepted and loved  because He fully accepts me and unquestioningly loves me...and that that is enough...For Now...For Always?     

This sounds so simple, so basic, but Oh Lord, help us get this truth down to the depths of our spirits! Give us multi-layered rest from every side! Set us free from trying to be "all things to all people", from performing to be valued, from laboring for the acceptance of an unwilling person, when You dear Father are ready, willing and oh so able to fully love and accept us RIGHT NOW-no strings attached! (Jeremiah 31:3)

Papa You become more precious to me as the years increase! For 43 years I have loved you! Of course in the beginning it was just a “little girl love” : ), but now I pray it has become my greatest, my most enduring passion. Everything, even everyone that I treasure pales in comparison to the greatness of who You are! My heart swells in gratitude and devotion for the love that You have offered and yet it amazingly, wondrously is a love that is not only offered, but it is a love that pursues us through the length and depth of this our earthly existence!

How about you dear friend? Are you living today for the audience of One or are you merely existing in a daily, useless trap of performing to be valued, to be loved, when the God who formed you...when the Creator who tenderly fashioned you with His very hands is waiting with open arms? Would you dare to listen to the gentle voice who longs to whisper to your disenchanted heart; “You, my dear one are enough because I say you are?” He earnestly desires for you to recognize, believe and most of all experience; the fierceness of His love through the unfathomable depth of His great sacrifice...all for YOU!

When we masquerade our true self to “fit in” we may well be condemning ourselves to a lifetime of shuffling mask after mask in a vain attempt to achieve “acceptance”, only to realize that those who “receive” us are only giving the nod of approval to our facade and not the real us, which only serves to increase our feelings of isolation, which can in turn force us into a wearying prison of performance! Think about it precious friends! We end up living our lives on a stage where each day showcases our feeble and yet desperate attempt at perfection; a useless exercise that will assuredly drain the very life that God so lovingly created.

Each heart was given its very existence to be loved...every being was formed to flourish in affirming relationship, yet regrettably this life that was purposefully created to be fully known and loved, now expends it greatest efforts in trying to earn those graces that its Creator is waiting to lavish freely upon it. How it must grieve the heart of our Father when we hide His matchless treasure behind a plastic veneer; and so descends the genuine beauty of the cherished masterpiece, which quietly slips beneath a sea of the artificial.

Oh that we would grasp and treasure the opinion of the One who sees our every flaw, who fully knows each failure, who perceives our every doubt and yet stands ready to embrace our weary hearts. One who looks into the deepest levels of who you are now and who He longs for you to one day be and declares with arms open wide that our seeking hearts have found a home...in His>>>For Now...For Always!

Papa, You created us to be in affirming relationships that give us value and a place of belonging; please help us to see that in Your heart ours has found a place of acceptance and worth. Please set us free to be the person You created us to be, not striving for perfection but gladly wearing Your robes of righteousness; a signal to our weary hearts that all striving finds its end in what You have already done for us!. Help us to love you more deeply and receive Your unconditional love more fully. In Jesus name, Amen  

Consider checking out this song linkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF5CjtrIl_c&feature=related “Someone Worth Dying For”~Mike’s Chair

THE ONE GREAT LIGHT“He himself was not the light; he [John] came only as a witness to the light.” John 1:8

Godly relationships are like little lights that springing from Papa, bear witness of the One Great Light! I have found that these other “lights” are fleeting when weighed in comparison to my Father’s eternal light, but still, what a blessing they are! They are like small solar lamps that have no light of their own, but rather absorb from the sun and glow with its light, for a season. These are helpful as I stumble from the car to my front door; lighting the footpath I am on, but when the sun rises, their tiny light is enveloped in the radiance of the brilliant sun. Of course these lights were never intended to take the place of the sun; they merely absorb its energy and then reflect its beauty in the darkness. They are a small reminder of the great light that is coming!

Oh how similar are the lights that other believers bring to us! Papa graces us with them to brighten our walkway when we cannot see Him shining in our life! They have no true light in themselves, but they beautifully reflect His great light and are such a rich blessing from the Father’s loving hands! They are gentle promises of the Radiance that is surely coming to us, though perhaps for now, we cannot fathom the Son illuminating our pathway when the shadows fall heavy and our path seems dim.

Each of experiences interludes of fog and haze approaching; where a light would be most welcome...yet none are found. But we can rejoice in these seasons when our passageway seems draped in obscurity, for this is only Papa’s way of drawing our attention and reliance from others, so that we may focus and rely on Him alone. In those moments we must choose to trust in our Father’s love and care; knowing that in the absence of other light, we can see His most clearly.

Occasionally, we are even asked to trek the long and winding path in seeming darkness- for a brief season...but we can take heart, for He who loves us promises to never forsake us and He vows to not leave us in the shadowy places! (John 12:46  “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” John 12:46) We are never really alone in the dark, for His love and light cover and guide us...for even when our eye cannot distinguish it, our hearts can discern it...for it is the Daystar, the bright and Morning Star; whose light will break forth and shine brighter than the noonday sun; for it is a Light that lives in our hearts! “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” II Corinthians 4:6

(Also see Revelation 22:16, II Peter 1:19)

Papa, Thank you for the light of others that you have blessed our lives with; let them serve as reminders of Your great light. Grow in us the love and light that comes from You and let it glisten brilliantly as an outward witness from within our hearts, drawing every eye to You, trusting You to light our path and theirs. Amen.

Although God spoke this particularly to Israel, it also applies to us in a more general sense. "Ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; for all the earth is mine" (Exodus19:5).

I laughed out loud when I read this verse and I said to no one in particular “I could be a poster child for this verse...I am nothing if not peculiar” : )

Now don’t get me wrong I am not “knocking” myself, just taking a healthy dose of reality...I am a little peculiar and in case you haven’t realized it...I am happy to inform you that YOU may just be too!

Peculiar. It’s an unusual word...it’s fun to say...try it with me...seven times REALLY fast and look how it’s spelled P-E-C-U-L-I-A-R. It almost looks like>peck you liar...which could, but thankfully won’t come into play later in this blog : )

Is it bad to be peculiar? The world thinks so! They’ve come up with alternate words to soften the blow of being peculiar...they say “eccentric”, “idiosyncratic”, “distinctive” and my favorite “quirky”. However what they usually really mean is “odd”, “strange” and “weird” lol

In fact the dictionary defines peculiar as “Strange, odd, unusual” or “slightly and indefinably unwell” (See I told you!)

The world is uncomfortable with peculiar people, it tells us to conform, to be just like everyone else. And sometimes we buy into that. We change how we dress, the way we cut our hair, the words we use, and even sometimes the friendships we cultivate, all to fit in. But I gotta tell you being like everyone else is way overrated! God made each of us unique. Admittedly some of us more unique than others : )

I know I’m peculiar; some prime examples include my aversion of opening the refrigerated biscuits that come in a tube. Now rationally I know that they won’t actually harm me...but I still call Lee into the kitchen to open them for me>peculiar. Another one is my dislike for wooden pencils, I dunno why I don’t like the feel of them, I guess it’s just me being peculiar...again : ). I’m sure I have more peculiarities that I could bore you with...but I’d rather hear about YOURS in the comment box...because I feel certain that yours are way more interesting than mine: )

I am poking fun at my “specialness” but the truth is not only does the world want us to conform; the enemy of our souls takes every one of our “uniquities” (this falls into the “not a real word, but should be” category and if you have your own blog, you too, can make up words at will: ) and tries to use them as a weapon against us. He whispers to us; “If people knew the real you, they’d reject you, If others saw how different you _____ they’d avoid you.” (Insert nearly anything here like “think”, “act”, “feel” etc) and my personal favorite “If you were only like (insert any name here) people would accept you.”  Satan is adept at taking what God intended to be a blessing and twisting it into something ugly, something that divides us instead of bringing us together.

Sure Papa could’ve made us like cookie cutter people, all the same. But He didn’t. Did you ever wonder why? I have. It’d be easier at times if I was just like everyone else, but how incredibly boring would that be for God and for us?! Besides, it is the diversity of who God created us to be that brings beauty and color into our world. When faced with the choice, dare to be different and pick peculiarity!  

Earlier we looked at the negative definitions of peculiar, but thankfully it also lists it as “belonging exclusively to” and “particular; special” and it’s these second definitions that remind us that being peculiar is actually a good thing in God’s eyes and has always been a part of the Father’s plan in our creation!

The Father intentionally designed you-which means your life has great meaning! You weren’t some “happy accident”, in fact; YOU were first birthed in the heart of God! If we dusted you for fingerprints we’d find His fingerprints all over you! So we are His exclusive treasure because we belong solely to Him! In Him we have the freedom to be peculiarly special!

He actively chose to make us distinctive, because each of us was created to showcase a different facet of who God is. Like a single facet on a matchless diamond, each life was brought into being to display His glory in a way that is peculiarly its own. You are His rare jewel, His Masterpiece; because you are a “piece” of the Master!

When He crafted you, Papa in His wisdom placed within you every gift and talent needed to accomplish His perfect plan for you. No one in this present, past or future world has ever or will ever have exactly the same mix of gifts, talents and life experiences as you. So just like your fingerprints; you are unique and irreplaceable! 

That means that you are peculiarly qualified to bring honor to the Father by walking out His plan for your life. No one else can walk it out like you or for you! It is our divine purpose to showcase a small facet of who He is: but only if we choose to be peculiar! Peculiar? Yeah, I’m peculiar and I hope you are too!

Let’s pray...

Papa, Thank You for actively creating us to show forth a unique facet of who You are to the people You cause to cross our paths! Help us to see that we are a product of our Your love and creativity...strengthen us to walk out this life’s journey in a God-honoring way that peculiarly showcases who You are! In Jesus name, amen.