Author: Cherry Finamore

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A Faithful Example

Dear Sister,

We have all had the experience of hearing a new word or learning a new concept or discovering a once unfamiliar place on the planet.  What happens? It seems from that moment on the new vocabulary word or idea or location is constantly heard and one wonders why it was so unfamiliar before. When I was a little girl I recall hearing about Lake Tahoe and wondering where that was. A week later someone referred to it. Then I saw the words written in my father’s Time magazine. From then on it seemed to be everywhere.

This year I told you I wanted to write about faithfulness. Of course, the topic “faithfulness” is cropping up all over before my eyes and ears…in articles, in books, in the Scriptures.

Today I began going over the story of Joseph in my Old Testament readings and you know it, faithfulness leaps from the pages. From the text you’d think that Joseph never sinned unless you think he was arrogant in the recounting of his dreams to his brothers and father, telling them that they would bow down to him. God is not shy about telling us of the sins and weaknesses of many characters in His Word. With others,  like Joseph and Daniel, the Lord spares us from the telling of their sin, of which we are all guilty. I believe God wants us to zero in on their faithfulness, for our example, for edification and encouragement to be like-minded.

As I read through Joseph’s story (check it out in Genesis 37, 39-50) I’m struck by his faithfulness to God and His reputation throughout the events narrated in the Scriptures. Joseph was the favorite of his father, thus incurring the jealousy and wrath of his brothers.  He appears to be in submission to his father, obedient in the errands his father asked of him. The brothers’ envy resulted in the pretend death of Joseph and the selling of him to traders on their way to Egypt–We know what happened there. Potiphar, his wicked wife, prison, dreams, the interpretation of dreams, a baker and cupbearer, Pharaoh himself, and Joseph’s eventual rise to a position in the government of the land.

Until Egypt we did not know where Joseph stood in his relationship with the Lord. In his new home with Potiphar we see that Joseph pursues excellence in all that he does. He was unusually gifted and handsome to boot. The Scriptures tell us that his master “saw that the Lord was with Him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight…” and Potiphar made him overseer of all his home, second only to the master himself. “The Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake…” And then Potiphar’s woman came along and tried to seduce this excellent young man. She badgered him day after day but he resisted. His final answer was, “How then can I do this great wickedness against God?” Power and prestige and a woman’s siren call did not do their negative work on this young man. And yet, he is accused of attempted rape and consigned to prison.

Lesser men or women would have thrown in the towel by this time. “Why me?”, we would cry out. “What have I done to deserve this? I was a good son. My brothers hated me and sold me into slavery. Not my fault.  I’ll never see my father again. I did right by Potiphar and where did that get me? I’m in prison. Woe is me!” The Bible tells us, “But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and he gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.” In this dismal environment he is once again noticed for his excellent character and abilities and is elevated to a high position, this time as overseer of all the prisoners.  Again we are told that “the Lord was with him, and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.”

Fast forward…In interpreting the dreams of two of the Pharoah’s servants, now prisoners, he gives God the credit for his knowledge of the meanings. “Do not interpretations belong to God?” Eventually, through a series of events, Joseph is brought before the Pharaoh for more dream interpretation. Again he gives the credit to God. “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”

Please read the story for yourself of how this superb young man is once again raised to a position of power, this time second only to Pharaoh, the king; how Joseph meets up with his brothers again and tests them to give him understanding of their hearts’ condition; his tender meeting with his daddy after so many years, as if resurrected from the dead; his father’s eventual death and his brothers’ fear that now Joseph will seek revenge for their great sin against him all those years before. Classic Joseph: “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid…”  Joseph’s last recorded words were to the children of Israel, “…you shall carry my bones from here” to the land God had promised to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob. In the New Testament book of Hebrews 11:22 we are retold that “By faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instruction according to his bones.”

“Why all this?”,  you say, my sister. We are talking about faithfulness. God’s faithfulness is written all over Joseph’s story throughout all his severe trials from beginning to end. It is only because of His faithfulness to us that we can even begin to be faithful to Him.  But I am also drawn to Joseph’s faithfulness to our God. You and I have copies of the Bible scattered all around our houses. We have phones and tablets and apps and a myriad other tools at our fingertips. We have no excuse for not having a proper theology of God and His character, His ways, His promises for a future for ourselves and our people, not yet realized. Yet we falter and are often unfaithful in one way or another, even in the smallest things, let alone the biggies. Joseph had no copy of the Scriptures to read at night for encouragement when he was suffering. (Moses was not yet born, the author of Genesis.) He did not have Christian counselors or pastors or any books on victory through suffering. He had no family around him to offer shelter and comfort.  No, but He knew God, that He was Sovereign and in control of all things and that he, Joseph, would answer to God for his actions. He learned what he knew of God from his father, no doubt, and a personal walk with the Heavenly Father based on the truths he knew about God. We learn this from the few words of his recorded in the Scriptures, written for us as an example and to be encouraged and spurred on to faithfulness in our own lives.

Forgive me, O God, when I complain about anything in my life. Grant me faithfulness to You as Joseph was faithful–and more so like my Savior, Jesus Christ, the only One who is perfectly faithful.

Love

Cherry

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Always Faithful

Dear Sister,

During this year, 2017, I was thinking I would write to you about faithfulness, mostly God’s. But, in thinking about His faithfulness, I could not help but think about His always goodness in His faithfulness.  And His steadfast love. And His gentleness. And His sometimes severe mercy. All of these are within His faithfulness and trustworthiness. In the chaos of this life, He is all of these things.

As I sit in a hospital room with my dear mother for the second time in the first seventeen days of this new year there is much time to think and to ask God to sort out, not the chaos of the circumstances ultimately, but the chaos swirling in my mind. During my group Bible Study this week we discussed God as our true reference point and we were asked to introspect and determine if we actually live with that truth in our souls or do we revert to ourselves as our reference point?  I’m  thinking about that now as I write. Will I give in to thoughts of how this present hospital room is affecting me, how can I fix this, how will I cope, can I muster more strength for the circumstance at hand? Or, will I surrender my body and soul and weakness and anxieties to the Lord God and trust what I know to be true about Him and His ways according to His Word? My choice.

The other evening I was poring over ancient photograph albums…the kind where the yellowed photos are inserted into four little arrow-like holders at each corner, placed meticulously on black album pages.

As I viewed these familiar pictures and the faces of my birth family at various stages of growing up I was reminded of a prayer from Valley of Vision to our “All-Sufficient King” and wondered why I fret so often.

“Thou has been mindful of me and visited me,

Taken charge of me from birth,

Cared in all conditions for me,

Fed me at Thy table,

Drawn curtains of love around me,

Given me new mercies every morning.”

And that reminded me of Lamentations…The prophet Jeremiah laments the terrible sins of his people and his own.  He sees his and their wretchedness before the pure and holy God.

And that reminded me of me. Wretched, always sinning, impure motives, inconstant, un-even tempered, irritable, idol-worshipping.

Back to Jeremiah. God writes through the prophet:

“Judah had gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude;

She dwells now among the nations,

But finds no resting place;

Her pursuers have all overtaken her

In the midst of her distress…

Jerusalem sinned grievously;

Therefore she became filthy;

All who honored her despise her,

For they have seen her nakedness;

She herself groans

And turns her face away….

The Lord is in the right,

For I have rebelled against His word;

But hear, all you peoples,

And see my suffering;

My young women and my young men have gone into captivity.

The Lord has done what He purposed;

He has carried out His Word,

Which He commanded long ago;

He has thrown down without pity;

He has made the enemy rejoice over you and exalted the might of your foes.”

Faithfulness. Faithful in His judgments. Faithful in His love. Faithful to His promises. What does it mean? We have the usual dictionary definitions:

allegiance, adherence, constancy, loyalty.

Faithful to my spouse. Faithful to my children.  Faithful to care for my mother. Faithful to my church family. Faithful to my country. Following through on all my commitments. Faithful to obey. Keeping my word whether for blessing or for confrontation and discipline (which are also blessings).

God was faithful to His children, Israel. He had promised blessing for obedience and severe chastening for disobedience. And He followed through. No inconstancy with God.

And then, Jeremiah does not leave them in the discouragement and loneliness of exile forever.

Scripture is filled with doxologies after all that has gone on before.

“Remember my affliction and my roamings, the wormwood and the gall!

My soul still remembers and sinks within me. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope: ‘Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed. Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; GREAT IS YOUR FAITHFULNESS.'”

Right now I’m “feeling” a bit exiled, not because I really am, not because of personal disobedience, but because of God’s perfect ordinations in my life and the life of all my family–and sometimes His ordinations are hard. As a result, this grand doxology from Jeremiah comforts my weary soul. It is as true today as it was for Judah–for those who belong to Jesus Christ by grace alone through faith alone through Christ alone.

My circumstances remain the same this January day but my mind and my heart are beginning to be filled with order again as I am bringing my disorderly thoughts  into captivity to the obedience of Christ.  My present and my future are secured by my faithful God, no matter what course my life or my mama’s life may take. Not because of my faithfulness, but His.

Love,

Cherry

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Fall On Your Knees

Dearest Sister,

Christmas is coming–A joyous time for some–a festive time of twinkling lights, abundant decorations, new gowns, parties, and gifts. Christmas cards keep people in touch with friends rarely seen. Buying frenzies, choosing perfect presents for others (or self) are the order of the season. Young men spend hard-earned wages on sparkly gems for their special girls. Young ladies are giddy with anticipation. Children daydream, write lists, beg, try to be good, rub sleepy eyes on Christmas Eve, hoping to hear Rudolph’s stomping on the roof, depositing Santa and his gift bag near the chimney. The elderly remember wistfully of holidays long ago.

Christmas is coming! A miserable time for some. Broken and dysfunctional relationships result in palpable sadness and depression. Poverty, homelessness, mental instability… Unmet expectations, frustration, anger, hopelessness, fear, confusion.  Drunkenness abounds, attempting to drown memories and suffering into oblivion. That spouse or child or mama or daddy who sat at the Christmas table last year will be absent through death, infidelity and divorce, or waywardness of one sort or another. Broken hearts. Rejected hearts. Confused hearts. Inconsolable hearts.

Where are you, dear sister, on this spectrum between happiness and agony?

For a true child of the One whose birth the world pretends to celebrate or tries to obliterate with their Happy Holidays and X-Mas greetings, Christmas is not predominantly  about festivities and gift-giving. It really is about a Person, as clichêd as that may sound to some.  No matter our station in life, our present joy or sorrow, we must remember and retell the Story of this Person to ourselves and others this season: Immanuel. God with us.

The Old Testament told us the Redeemer was coming, the Rescuer of His people. And, indeed He came. God, the Son, “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:7-11)

Sister, remember, long after all the lovely festivities are over, the generous gift-giving and receiving has joyfully played out and life resumes its everyday-ness,  remember Jesus said He came to give life and give it more abundantly. (John 10:10) When trials and sorrows and sadness never seem to abate, we can turn to the One who suffered persecution, torture, death, and God’s wrath in our place in order to set us free from our bondage to sin and death. Be mindful that He said His yoke is easy and His burden is light–in view of the eternal bliss He has promised.

Sing this song with me this Christmas season, meditating on and rejoicing in the story set in history long ago. Let it warm and encourage your heart and set your thinking right, dear friend. All else pales in light of this old story–Old, yet new and alive every day. Sing–and fall on your knees.
ONCE IN ROYAL DAVID’S CITY
Written by Cecil F. Alexander (1818-1895

“Once in royal David’s city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her Baby

In a manger for His bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little Child.

He came down to earth from heaven
Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable,
And His cradle was a stall:
With the poor, and mean and lowly
Lived on earth, our Savior holy.

Jesus is our childhood’s pattern,
Day by day like us He grew;
He was little, weak, and helpless,
Tears and smiles like us He knew:
And He feeleth for our sadness,
And He shareth in our gladness.

And our eyes at last shall see Him
Thru His own redeeming love;
For that Child, so dear and gentle,
Is our Lord in heav’n above,
And He leads His children on
To the place where He is gone.

Not in that poor lonely stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see Him, but in heaven,
Set at God’s right hand on high;
When like stars His children crowned
All in white shall wait around.”

Reckon the things from His Word to be true–and therefore, be joyful this season and beyond.  The day of His arrival is coming soon. Look up. It may be today.

May your Christmas be bless-ed, my sister.

With love,
Cherry

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Thanks in All Things?

Dearest Sister,

Don’t you find it easy to be thankful when all is going well? We sit around artfully set tables laden with all the goodies of the season, take our piece of corn, and as we place it into the basket provided we take our turn expressing gratitude for particular good gifts in our lives.  “I’m glad I have a job. I’m thankful for my children. I’m grateful for the bounty God has given me. Good health is a blessing.  God kept me safe on my trip. What a marvel I am His child.”

Who isn’t thankful for these good things from God’s hand? But have you ever sat around a table where God was thanked for a severe trial in which one found herself?  For that baby lost? For that difficult person in life? The wayward child who breaks our hearts? The close friend who became a back-stabber? Our difficult spouse? For the disease that ravages one’s own body or that of a loved one? For financial downturn? For the everyday sorts of trials and sufferings which are inconvenient and discomforting? And the enabling to do so was because of the deep-seated knowledge that God is good, no matter what, that He did not capriciously ordain this difficult situation because He likes to watch His children suffer? Are we are able to give thanks because we know that it is in our weakness His strength is made perfect and complete? (2 Corinthians 12:8-10)

Look at Paul, a man marked for salvation by God, saved from a life of prodigious, dead religiosity and feverish zeal against Christ-lovers. God told His fearful and reluctant servant, Ananias, to receive a newly converted Saul (Paul), God’s chosen vessel, to whom “the Lord would show how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” And suffer he did–Mockings and multiple beatings, imprisonments and stonings, shipwrecked three times, sleepless nights, hunger,  thirst, cold and nakedness, persecuted by both Jews and Gentiles.  And yet, it is Paul who tells us of the fruit of the Spirit, contrary to the evil and selfish ambitions of the world…The fruit of the Spirit in light of all his sufferings. Patience? Self-Control? Love? Gentleness? Only one who knows that God is good in His grand sovereignty will exhibit these Spirit-imbued qualities with an appreciative attitude.  Without a heart of thanks in all things in our lives how would we be patient and kind and loving? If we are not grateful for trials we will not be joyful. We will only mumble and grumble or lash out, in essence accusing God of not knowing what He is doing.

During this season designated for Thanksgiving let’s ponder Scriptures on giving thanks.  Here are just a few.

Psalm 106:1. “Praise the Lord! Oh GIVE THANKS to the Lord, for He is good…”

Philippians 4:6. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with THANKSGIVING let your requests be made known to God.”

COLOSSIANS 3:15. “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be THANKFUL.”

Philippians 4:4. “REJOICE in the Lord ALWAYS: and again I say, REJOICE” (A rejoicer is one who is thankful.)

And this from Paul, the sufferer:

1 Thessalonians 5-16-18. “Rejoice ALWAYS, pray without ceasing, give THANKS in ALL circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

A mark of the pagan world around us is an ungrateful heart. Paul tells us in Chapter 1 of Romans, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, NOR WERE THEY THANKFUL…”

Dearest sister, we are not like the world. We are Christ’s and bear His likeness. We might say it begins and ends with this verse from 2 Corinthians 9:15.  Let us, together, with Paul, with all the saints in heaven and in earth, no matter our circumstances, shout for all the world to hear:  “THANKS BE TO GOD FOR HIS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT!” This gift is a person, the Lord Jesus, our sin-bearer, our living hope for the life to come where all our tears will be wiped away.

Giving thanks in ALL things with you,
Cherry

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From Fear to Gratitude

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My dear sister,

“When I am afraid, I put my trust in You. In God, Whose Word I praise, In God I trust; I shall not Be afraid. What can flesh do to me?”          Psalm 56:3-4

I’ve always been a bit of a scaredy- cat about many things. As a child it was chickens (that’s a story!) and being zipped up in duffle bags by mean bullies (good reason).  I was also afraid of leprosy (another mission field experience!). I knew I would contract it and would be sent away to a leper colony forever. My childhood fears gave way to big-girl terrors, fueled by more education and endless reading about the various things which were feared. The biggest anxiety in life was contracting a terminal illness, especially cancer. It hung over the head like Cicero’s Sword of Damocles. Most human  odds were against it due to a good diet, exercise, heritage, etc., etc., or so I tried to make myself believe, yet the fears seemed unconquerable.

We are told that most of what we fear never happens, so quit fearing, they say. And yet, God ordained cancer in my body in 2008.  How ironic, I thought…The fear of the getting was gone. It was here, in all it’s terrifying prognosis. The diagnosis was a dual cancer, aggressive, Stage 3.  The odds of survival were given, with and without this treatment or that.  We opted for the plan which included many rounds of chemotherapy and intense external and internal radiation. The risks of the treatments alone were cause for trepidation.

God’s Word says to “be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7) Easier said than done…Yet God takes our greatest fears and transforms them into His teaching tools for all sorts of deficiencies in our lives. “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes. The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.” (Psalm 119:71-72)

It would be false to tell you the remedies were easy to endure. The fatigue was unlike any other-immobilizing.  Radiation was worse than the chemotherapy. Exactly fourteen days after chemo started, alone in my bathroom, I began pulling huge clumps of hair from my head.  I wept. Then God reminded me He had numbered the hairs on my head and now He was subtracting them for a season. Scripture came alive to my heart in a new way and I was comforted…More valuable than sparrows…

It has been eight and a half years since that diagnosis–a difficult journey with many more scares and procedures along the way, but God has given gentle mercy in giving life, not death, at this time.  The oncologist pronounced me “cured” last year, adding, “I don’t get to say that often.” (Time will tell.) And I said, “All glory to God.”

The best part of cancer, that fearful friend, is the work of God in the soul. He took away the dread of death and replaced it with a longing to see Jesus. He gave a deep love for Christ not known  before; He gave an overwhelming desire to know Him and to be satisfied with Himself above all healing. He gave a deep and empathetic compassion for others who suffer physically and emotionally. Widows and the depressed and the ill have special places in the heart.

God chose cancer, that greatest dread, to teach the sweetest things about His steadfast love, His patience, His tender care. He placed within the soul a deep longing for His return for us–His special people–those whom He has redeemed from their sin to be His very own possession. The greatest fear became a great gift, not to be traded for any earthly desire. We do not often learn God’s lessons for us in the best of times. Suffering is His hard schoolroom and He is the most excellent teacher…for our good…for His glory.

And so, today, prayers for those who are suffering take up pages in a prayer journal.  And they go something like this:

Oh God of gentle and severe mercies,
Please comfort raw hearts, confused hearts, terrified hearts.
Wrap your arms around those of your children as they sleep, as they wake, as they go through lonely days of missing a spouse or longing for better days.
Lift their faces to Jesus.
Give them purpose outside themselves, to reach out to others who are grieving in various losses.
Dear Father, who understands all our sorrows and anxieties and panics, let these people know how very close You are to us, how You have ordained all things in our lives.
Teach them about Your always goodness.
Grant the desire to know You and love You more deeply than physical, emotional, or mental healing, (but please heal in Your good and perfect will.)
Break cycles of besetting sins.
May thoughts be brought captive to the obedience of Christ.
May Your glory be on display whether You give life or death.
Surround each one with loving, godly and gentle people who will nurture and care for needs, who will pray and encourage in the things of Christ.
And for those who do not belong to Christ, those who are helpless without You, give them Yourself, grant them repentance and faith in the One who alone can satisfy their deepest need for forgiveness of sin and eternal life by knowing Jesus.

A hymn-writer has penned:

“Whate’er my God ordains is right: though now this cup, in drinking,
May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it, all unshrinking.
My God is true; each morn anew sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart,
And pain and sorrow shall depart.

Whate’er my God ordains is right:
Here shall my stand be taken;
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
Yet am I not forsaken.
My Father’s care is round me there;
He holds me that I shall not fall:
And so to Him I leave it all.”

Job suffered greatly with the loss of his children and his property, yet he was able to say, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” During his suffering he was able to avow, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust Him.” And at the end of this great trial, after God took his good health and gave him friends and a spouse who were less than nurturing or encouraging, he affirmed God’s sovereignty over all things and proclaimed, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear,  but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.” God gave Job the gift of Himself and he was changed.

Jesus tells us in John 16:33. “…In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

And my prayers end with–“You, O God, are the great King of all kings, the Lord of all lords. You, alone, are worthy to be worshipped and praised. No matter what happens to us, You remain good, always good. ”

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of suffering. To Him alone be glory.

With love,
Cherry