Word for the Year?

Many people like to pick a word for the year. In times past when I have done this, the Lord has a way of showing me He had a different word in mind.

I started off the year with "Be not afraid, only believe" as my battle cry. So I focused on the word BELIEVE.

Then in my Bible reading I kept coming across the word ENDURE.

"Endure hardness as a good soldier. "
"...after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise."
"...ye endured a great fight of afflictions."
"...for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible."
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith: who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your mind."
"...endure chastening..."

ENDURE




And this leads me to another word I have been focusing on: BRAVERY.

Audie Murphy said, "I'll tell you what bravery is. Bravery is just determination to do a job that you know has to be done." This quote hangs on my frig. It is a reminder to keep putting one foot in front of another. To do the job that has to be done.  Whether that is dishes, make supper, grade papers, help a son with math, pray with a friend, or battle the enemy in my thoughts.

BE BRAVE.

ENDURE.

BELIEVE.

My Redeemer is Faithful and True

13 years....of widowhood.

And as I remember the night that forever changed my life, and the times since then, these words echo in my mind and my heart...

My Redeemer is Faithful and True

I wrote these words to another widow this past summer:

• Something Pastor told me years ago, that I wrote in my Bible, was that we were privileged to have Jim taken. It didn't feel that way for a long time.

• But God uses pain to help people in ways they cannot understand. And to deepen His relationship with them in ways they never knew existed.

• And when He uses you to share truth with others it is such a privilege.

• God is our Redeemer & He never wastes anything. Not even pain. A mom who was dying of cancer said that phrase "God never wastes pain." It spoke powerfully to my hurting heart.

• The Bible says He collects our tears in a bottle. So I imagine He gathers up the pain too.Then one day when the time is right, He does something amazing with it

• Knowing that doesn't take the pain away, but it gives purpose to it. Gives life to something that is so deadening. Gives hope. And everyone needs hope

• God is the Great Redeemer, not just of my soul & life, but He has redeemed all the deep pain & sorrow and used them to give life to others. I stand amazed He chooses to use little me to do such a thing.

• Through the years I have had to visualize putting my children into Jesus' arms and begging Him to heal them, to speak to their hearts. To fill in the huge hole in their hearts with more of Him, to melt the anger and break down walls. To trust He will redeem their pain too. And He is trust worthy & has shown Himself faithful.

At All Times

Psalm 62:8

Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

Trust.

At all times.

In everything. 

Big or small.

Pause & pour.

Share your heart with the One Who loves it most!

He is safe.

He protects. 

He is doing it now.

And will keep it up.

Trust, child, trust.  

His Love

Love this piano arrangement with lyrics of Reckless Love.

Psalm 42:8

"Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life"

He Delights in Me?

Something powerful that I read in November and continue to think upon is in Psalm 18:19 "...He delivered me because He delighted in me."

I believe the LORD loves me and accepts me. I believe I am forgiven of all my sins. But I struggled that He delights in me. When I read it in my Bible, I literally shook my head and tears came to my eyes.

I know me.

I know my thoughts and self will.

But then I reflected on the fact that I am covered by the precious blood of Jesus. And this delights my Father God. My sins, my wanderings are covered, hidden, gone, seen no more. I don't deserve His delight. But He chooses to delight in me anyway. Just like His love and forgiveness, I don't deserve it. It is all a gift from the Lover of my soul to this wayward child who is such a handful.

Then I studied more on the words "delight" and "rejoice" And Zephaniah 3:17 says “The LORD thy God is the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, He will joy over thee with singing.” Isaiah 62:4-5 speaks of "The LORD delighted in thee.." and "as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee."

After studying on it, I asked the LORD to give me grace to believe that He delights in me. And I have been running back to these verses often when I catch myself doubting this truth. Feelings are so deceptive and tossed around. I am so thankful for the Solid Rock to cling to.

Note to Self

Trust God for WHO He is...

And remember...

Identifying With Christ

Christ understands.

If you ever need to remember a truth this is it:
Christ understands.

Betrayed or wounded by a friend? He gets it. Felt forsaken? Yup, He's been there. Made to look foolish? Mocked by an enemy? Lied to? Rejected? Felt beat up? Deeply grieved? Overwhelmed by anguish & tears? Surrounded by excruciating pain? 

Oh, reader, He knows.
Christ understands.

But the opposite it true too.
You identify with Christ when you suffer.

What do you think hurt the most? 
The stripes on Christ's back or when the disciples all left Him? 

What pierced Jesus the most? 
The nails or His powerful love being rejected? 

What weighed heaviest upon His brow? 
The crown of thorns or the unbelief of those around Him?  

What was loudest, 
the silence of His Father or the accusations from the enemy?

When hurt, sorrow, rejection, or persecution come to you, remember Christ understands & you are learning to identify with Him.

2 Timothy 2:11-13

It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

Philippians 3:10

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;