Tag: Peace

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All is Calm, All is Bright

Dear sister,

Are you familiar with the phrase; “the calm before the storm”? That little ditty creates an anticipation of fear doesn’t it?  It tells us to watch out when we experience peace because fury is sure to follow in its steps! How sad for us when we are in the midst of silence and serenity to fear that all hell may break loose at any moment?  This is not how our Heavenly Father works.  Instead, when chaos surrounds us and peace seems to elude us, He speaks and it brings forth order to our messy lives. How sweet and awesome is His grace!

This year as I prepare to celebrate Christ’s first coming, which serves as a reminder to me of His second coming, I want to concentrate on this Truth. Perfect Love has cast out fear!! God has not given us His Son so as to then yank the proverbial rug out from underneath us! He has sent His Son, that those who trust in Him will have peace…everlasting peace…peace that passes all understanding. He delivers us from the tumult of sin and gives us rest in our hearts which guards our hearts and our minds. (Philippians 4:7)

Tis the season that you and I scramble about to prepare for time with family and friends to share in the celebration of this glorious truth.  Yet, the longer our lists grow the more stress and anxiety elevate, until there is no peace of mind and heart to be found. I have decided to take a few minutes each morning before my day begins (somedays before my feet hit the floor next to my bed) to thank God for this costly peace.  For it has come to us through His precious Son Jesus Christ who stepped down from heaven (He stooped or condescended to us) that we might know Him and His peace.  In other words, like the hymn Silent Night says, in the stillness of the night when the world was lurching in the chaotic mess of sinful darkness, Jesus came, and all was calm and all was bright.  Let’s be still and know that He is God, the great giver of ALL that is calm and most definitely ALL that is bright.

“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” Hebrews 1:3

Peace Be With You,

Susan

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Patiently Waiting

My dear sister,

“I want it now!” is what I find myself saying to God tonight as I selfishly and impatiently relay to God all the reasons why I should have this thing that has become so important to me. “I don’t want to wait until Thursday. I don’t want to wait for more wisdom. I know what I want and I want it now!”

At times I find myself pondering the thought that God might be looking down at me and laughing at the predicaments I get myself into and the impatience that I typically respond to those circumstances with. I have also noticed how often in God’s Providence the topic for which I am about to write is the very thing that is testing my faith! All that to say; How gracious it is of God to allow me to be struggling with patience this month as I sit here writing this to you!

Are you going through a particularly difficult time in your life? Has the Lord responded to your prayers simply by saying, “Wait.”? Are you struggling to be patient through this time of uncertainty? If yes, then I am right there with you. Waiting on the Lord is hard and being told to wait may even be worse than a flat out no. Having to trust the Lord through the in between times is not terribly fun. It’s actually really hard.

I was at my aunt’s house about to babysit my cousins on Saturday night. Before my aunt and uncle left my 4 year old cousin was repeatedly asking for a cookie in a less than pleasant voice. “You have to stop whining if you want a cookie, ” my uncle said. “I’m not whining!” my little cousin whined in response.

Wow. Do I sure feel like my little cousin this week. I know what I want and I think that everyone else should cater to my desire and give it to me now. How selfish! And how immature! I’m acting like a four year old! Even more than being selfish, my attitude tells God that I’m the one who knows what’s best for me and that I should be the one calling the shots. Could I be anymore arrogant?

Remembering the events of last night regarding my own personal situation, I realized that I said some things to a dear friend that I should not have said. I think, “If I had only been patient I would not have acted so selfishly!” But unfortunately I let my desire overtake my reason and instead of waiting upon the Lord to bring about the final results in His timing and in His way I took matters into my own hands. What a mistake that was, dear one.

Romans 5 has been my companion through these last few days. It says, “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Are you going through a trial right now, dear one? Has the Lord told you to wait when you don’t want to wait? Remember this verse. God is working in you and teaching you things now that will be for your good and to your advantage in the future. Remember that Romans 5 is true and that we will need endurance, character, and hope no matter what the Lord calls us to or what circumstances He puts us in. Trust and be encouraged by the truth of Romans 8:28 that the Lord does indeed work all things for the good of those who love Him.

I know what you’re going through right now is difficult and I know that you don’t want to be here very long but you need to wait. You need to, as the psalmist entreats us, ‘be still and know that I am God.” Pray for patience and pray for peace. The Lord will grant you both and remember ‘not one good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly’ (Psalm 84:11) God has our best interests at heart no matter how the circumstances may appear. Trust Him to bring the rainbow through the rain.

Under His wing,

Kayla

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Parfait Please, With a Cherry On Top!

My Dear Sister,

Kindness is a delightful virtue that smiles often, never frowns, is not self-absorbed and  is always received with gladness and, sometimes, with surprise.  As a distinct fruit of the spirit, following a list of virtues—love, joy, peace and patience, (Galatians 2:22) kindness is the cherry on top of the parfait!

Kindness is the ignition to selfless, altruistic performance:  help for the helpless, provision for the needy, encouragement for the distressed, gentleness to the sarcastic.  Random acts of kindness are never counted or measured.  People just do them, for family and for strangers, stretching beyond their daily routine or work, sometimes incurring a financial expense, sometimes resulting in back pain and, yet, they expect nothing in return.  One does not even think about a simple kindness extended.  Small acts of kindness are as meaningful as any.  The loveliest aspect of kindness is that it is received and extended without expectation either way.  We all experience that feel good feeling from kindness, but we must never forget that kindness of every degree flows from the one source of true love—God!  Have you received kindness this week?  Have you extended kindness today sister?

You and I could always use an example to help us understand. God gives us a beautiful model of kindness in His word.  Consider the kindness of the Proverbs 31 Woman.  She exudes the virtue, doing her daily chores selflessly and joyously.  She rises early and retires late so that her day is long enough for her to pour out as many acts of kindness as possible: she works with her hand in delight (v. 13); she extends her hand to the poor, and stretches out her hands to the needy (v. 20); she opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue (v. 26).   Ah, that is it—she teaches kindness by her talk and her walk!

Dear sister would that my talk and walk were as drenched in kindness as hers!  Oh, I rise early and go to sleep late, but do I extend kindness in that time?  Am I wasting precious kindness opportunities by treating others as if they owe me something?  Do I create my agenda with a continuum of give me, get me, or do for me?

Recently, a man was featured on television for his commitment to one act of kindness daily; Just one act.  He was being admired and praised across the nation.  Imagine that—just one act of kindness!  Just ONE act of kindness, really?

As a Child of God, saved by His mercy and grace, it is my duty and privilege to live my life to His glory!  That means that my every moment should be one of obedience, selflessness, and praise to Him in everything that I do. There are so many ways to please God through kindness today, kindness done only in His presence. I can write a Get Well card.  I can sing a hymn while doing an unpleasant, neglected chore.  I can respond gently to a harsh word.  I can bless a homebound person with a phone call.  I can pray.

Oh, how I want to be a constant flowing fountain of kindness!  But I am not.  This is where I fall short of the glory of God.  Dear sister, please pray for me, that my daily tasks are not accompanied by resentment, that my contributions to the poor and needy are done without fanfare, and that what I say is never abrupt or hurtful.  Pray that the seed of kindness that was planted in me by God’s grace would begin to grow and blossom. I want to extend as much kindness as the Lord will permit—to my husband, to my family, to my friends, even to those who dislike me.

Proverbs 31 ends with praise for the woman who fears the Lord.  May this holy fear be ours today with praise to God in every kindness that pours from our being.

Kindness is such sweet fruit.  Like the cherry on a parfait!

With Love in our Kind Jesus,

Mimi

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The Beauty of the Cross and Self Control

Dear sister,
 
Greetings in the grace and peace of our dear Lord and Savior!  I pray you are finding joy in the journey, even as you struggle with this topic of self-control.  It is one that has perhaps been lost from the dialogue of our culture.  Control myself, what?  The idea of controlling any of our selfish and self-centered appetites seems to be beyond what should be expected of the average American.  Forgive me for my strong words, but do you not agree?  Is not a lack of self-control the very evil that plagues our government, as their spending catapults us all nearer every day to disaster?  I pray that it will not be so, but it seems that even our leaders are blind to the fact that taming our desires will bring the joy we crave, rather than giving in to every whim and fancy, be it labeled ‘benevolent and/or necessary’ or not.  
 
With that being said, I dare say you shudder at the thought of your own fleshly desires taking control of the Spirit-led nature you hope to foster.  Certainly, though you struggle, you are cognizant of the calling we have as Christians, to be controlled by our blessed Master and the Spirit He has left in us to guide and direct us while on this earthly journey.  I urge you to recall the proverb, chapter 25, and verse 28, “Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.” (NIV)  I do hope and pray that the walls of your soul are not ‘broken through’ as a result of your own careless whims.  How deceitful is the sin that lives within us!  We are so easily led astray, and I know that I, for one, can so easily justify my actions and thoughts, rather than submit them to Christ.  
 
But is not self-control restrictive, you protest?  Ah, yes.  I understand.  I really do.  This concern had been one of my own in years past; particularly as I thought about how I would someday submit to a husband.  Will he not tell me every small thing that I must do?  Will he micro-manage my day, my life?  Will I not be my own person any longer?  And from this side of that altar, I do say, submission to my husband and Christ is better than any freedom I ever had as ‘my own person’.  I will argue this point to any modern woman who declares she will never allow a man to ‘tell her how to live’…and though my dear husband is imperfect, I have experienced that it is much better to trust his leading as guided by Christ, than to insist on my own way.  Just the same, I feel this is the battle we face with self-control.  Will we live according to our own fleshly desires, or submit to our Maker and Husband, Jesus Christ, who endured the horrible cross to make us his own?  

I have been meditating on the Cross, and its beauty, as expressed in our Savior Jesus Christ.  Read with me in Philippians 2:5-11:
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (NIV).

This is the only real and lasting motivation for submitting ourselves to the control of the Holy Spirit, for He took this path before we ever were asked to follow.  He has taken me, a wild rose, and grafted me into the True Vine, controlled by His loving Spirit—you too can find this joy.  You must simply repent and ask for His strength.  He is faithful to provide all we need to walk this road of self-control.  
 
Be blessed,
Ruth