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Are We There Yet?

 

 My Dearest Sister,

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​Do you remember those long, family road trips as a kid to some exciting destination? You know, the ones where ten minutes seemed like an eternity because you couldn’t wait to get to the beach, or grandma’s, or wherever it was your parents were taking you? You must have asked the phrase “Are we there yet?” about a dozen times, always with the same response of  “Nope, not yet.” It seemed as if you would never arrive, but would be stuck in the car, just waiting forever. Sometimes, that’s what life feels like to me, except now God is in the driver’s seat, not my mom or dad. And even though I’ve matured quite a bit since I was eight, I still have that same attitude of impatience. I have this place in mind where I want to be and I want to be there NOW. I don’t want to wait for God to take the detours to avoid the wreckage on the highway or slow down because it’s raining outside. All I can think about is the destination so getting there in one piece is the last thing on my mind. You know, even as a society we lack patience. It seems as if everything today is available quickly, from fast food to on-demand television, instant download music to same-day shipping. We don’t like to wait for anything, do we? So when the topic of waiting on the Lord comes up, it’s no wonder that our response is similar to that of an eight-year-old on a never ending road trip: “Lord, are we there yet?!”

​Whether it’s a job we want, prosperity we’re seeking in a relationship, or even something we desire to happen in someone else’s life, God doesn’t always answer our requests right away. Sometimes, He asks us to wait patiently for Him to do His perfect work. As I’m sure you already know, having patience in God’s timing is not always a simple task. When there is suffering and heartache at hand and we can imagine a way of peace and prosperity that seems much more fitting, it’s not always easy to understand why God works in the way He does. While the Lord’s plan doesn’t always happen as speedily as we would like, we do have the assurance that His timing is better than ours. Ecclesiates 3:11 speaks about this: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.” The simple truth about God’s timing is that we will never understand it. Even though He has given us a piece of eternity through salvation, my sister, we cannot comprehend His full plan. It is too great and too perfect for our mortal minds to even begin to understand. We do, however, have the hope that His timing makes all things more beautiful than we can ever imagine, even if we don’t see it upon first glance.

​Going back to those road trips as a kid, did you ever just have the urge to climb in the driver’s seat and take the wheel from your mom or dad because you thought you could do a better job of navigating? Of course not! You were just a kid. You didn’t know how to operate a vehicle and even if you did, you didn’t know which roads to take to get where you were going. What’s more, your feet probably wouldn’t even have reached the pedals. So why do we as Christians get so eager sometimes to take the wheel of our life from God? We don’t always know which roads we’re supposed to take. Most of the time we don’t even know the destination; but we still put God in the passenger seat, look over with a smile and say “I’ve got this, Lord. Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.” And then we strap a couple of blocks of wood to our feet, pull out a phone book to sit on, and it’s full speed ahead! Though it’s silly to think of that happening, it’s true. We all have periods in our lives like that. If you’re anything like me, it’s difficult to sit back and relax when we don’t even know where the destination is. We start to worry about the outcome and then the desire to take the wheel from God and find our own way starts to eat away at us.

​To learn patience in waiting on the Lord, my dear sister, we must first learn to trust Him completely with our future. Psalm 27:13-14 exhorts us to do this: “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!” We must remember, dear sister, that the Lord is good! He has our very best in mind and will never fail us in that pursuit. And although God’s timing isn’t always as quick as we desire, He knows exactly when we are ready for Him to move in our lives and exactly when we need to be patient and wait. Maybe you have had a certain concern on your heart that you have been praying about for a very long time and you just want to sigh and say “Lord, are we there yet?”. I urge you, dear sister, not to lose heart, but to remember the promises of our Lord; He makes all things beautiful in their own time. Unlike us, He already knows the destination and the way to get there. We just need to trust that His goodness will see us through to the end. While our own earthly parents may have taken a wrong turn on some of those road trips, God never steers us in the wrong direction. Have faith my beloved sister, and wait, I say, on the Lord!

​Your Sister in Christ,

​Lauren

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Faithfullness: Healing

My Dear Sister,

Sin. Apart from God it does irreparable damage to our souls and our lives. Apart from God we are helpless to do anything but walk in the darkness. It is only when the Lord intervenes in our life and awakens us to His glorious light do we realize that we’ve merely been blindly stumbling through our lives without even a flicker of a candle to guide us. Along with the light, we receive new eyes. We can now see the hopelessness of our old ways and the destruction we’ve left in our path. Praise the Lord that it brings Him glory to save us in our helplessness and rescue us from our own depravity. Sin has wreaked havoc on every square inch of our lives, yet God takes us into His arms and promises to heal us. He takes our broken lives and begins the process of sanctification, the process of healing that will continue throughout our entire lifetime. God promises that once He begins this good work He will bring it into completion. Paul says in Philippians, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it into completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (1:6).

Praise the Lord for His great faithfulness. He will never forsake us, and even when we fall He will continue healing us. I’ve seen God been faithful in many ways but if there is one point that His faithfulness is essential it is in making us more like Christ. We will never get there on our own. There are too many broken pieces to put back together, too many jagged edges to smooth away.  If we ignore the damage sin has done to us we will never be healed. Known sin that has not been confessed has the power to devour us. If we make no effort to extract it from our lives it will remain there, eating away at us. Therefore, we must confront it head on. It will not be easy but it is essential for your growth. For we have not been called to impurity, but to holiness (1 Thess. 4:7).

In the Psalms, David cries out to the Lord, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled” (6:2). In Lamentations, Jeremiah writes, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” (3:22-23). The Lord is ready to flood you with His mercy; not just today but every day for the rest of your life. His steadfast love will never cease; it will go on for all eternity. With Him by our side we have the power to conquer the sin in our life and He will give us whatever we need to accomplish that end. He will be faithful to renew our souls and heal us with His gentle hands.

The passage in Lamentations goes on to say, “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.” Because the Lord has extracted us from the darkness and has plunged us into His glorious light we now have hope. God is our hope, our Savior and our Light. So hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Confront your sin and ask God to help you pull the root of it completely out of you. He will be faithful; He will give you the strength and He will heal you.

May you be blessed in the year to come,

Kayla

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Good Gifts

Dearest Sister,

The week between Christmas and New Year’s usually boasts of talking heads heralding the highlights of the year. I actually enjoy getting their particular bents as it lends me to reminisce about forgotten headlines both global and personal. For instance, I heard there were twelve natural disasters in America that cost over a billion dollars each. Who could forget the congressional fights over debt, loved ones who were forced to foreclose, or those still without jobs? Then there were the deaths of Osama Bin Laden, Kim Jong Il, Steve Jobs, and Andy Rooney. There were earthquakes in Virginia to Japan and flooding in Thailand and the Philippines. And the war in Iraq officially came to an end with a quiet prayer one day and bursting bombs the next. Sadly, the pains of life are more noteworthy than the smiles.
Closer to home I experienced a move to a new country seven months pregnant and without a job for the first time in my life…my new role being the spouse of a Navy officer. My husband now had his first full time job since he began his quest to Chaplaincy eight years ago which immediately sent him on his first deployment a month after we stepped off the plane in Okinawa, Japan. We then were blessed with the birth of our first baby girl who came after a 24 hour labor filled with lost medical records, being turned away because there was no room in the ward, a broken labor bed which lowered my head with a jolt, and an earthquake that shook the hospital from the bottom up. There were two other deployments that sent Barrett away for months at a time, a tsunami warning, typhoons, and the tsunami that actually hit mainland Japan. My parents were both admitted to the hospital after trips to the ER with abdominal pain and they moved from my childhood home in RI to VA. The hardships in my year seem to have topped my own highlight reel as well.
Each of you have similar pains, sorrows, and joys of your own from this past year. It reminds us that there is evil in this world and bad things do happen. We still are seeing the effects of a choice to sin in a beautiful garden so many years ago. But we also can experience the same hope and joy that was offered after Adam ate that delectable but deadly bite. Yes, the penalty of the sin I do every day is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ his Son. The Word of God says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom 10:9). This is good news! It gives us hope in a messy world filled with fights, heartaches, bad decisions, and death. It gives meaning to sorrows and highlights the Savior who understands them all and answers them with hope.
Israel consistently left stone markers/alters in their lives to remind them of the faithfulness of the Lord and His promise of a Redeemer. Their celebrations of battles won, big and small, reminded them of their promised Savior. As I see a sunset on the seawall while holding my little Annabelle close, I am reminded of this gift from our Lord. When I see Barrett wave from the bow of the USS Germantown I am reminded of the kindness of the Lord in bringing him home. As I see Annabelle’s pudgy arms reach for Barrett with a wide grin my heart is thankful to the Lord for this good gift. All good gifts come from the Lord.

This year may I be more aware and thankful for these good gifts, may I pray and serve all who are near and far, may I lean into my Comforter in hard times knowing he sacrificed his all for me, may I trust my Redeemer when I feel all is lost knowing He died and rose again so I have Christ for eternity, and may I be thankful for my Savior who is the ultimate example and servant of all.

From your sister,
Colleen

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Christmas Hope: Painted on the Scene of Despair

Cheer and hope is in the air this season, as we all flit around giving gifts and taking in the Christmas lights and sights.  But on that cool night in the Bethlehem inn, there was hardship, discouragement, and I’d bet there were even moments of despair.  Mary had been given a joyous task, but I am certain it was a chore to take the journey away from home, quite pregnant, to give birth to the Holy Child, Jesus.  And Joseph had his moments of discouragement and despair, I am sure.  His beautiful betrothed was with child…and before he had the vision to let him in on the what was happening, I can only guess that he was losing hope, having planned to ‘to divorce her secretly’, Matthew 1:19, HCSB…if my wedding had been called off, after all the excitement of planning and preparation, I’m sure I would have been feeling lots of despair.  Even the time in history God chose to paint the landscape of the Nativity Story was a dark one.  The governmental powers and challenges were tense, the rebuilding of the temple was slow and not nearly as grand as the previous one, and there had been no revelations from God for hundreds of years.  [source:  my knowledgeable former-pastor husband]
The events leading up to the birth of Christ were despairing in many senses.  And yet, isn’t this often how God chooses to work?  I know in my own life, numerous times, God has chosen dark times to break forth with the grandest displays of joy and hope.  My mid-twenties proved to be quite discouraging, but this was followed by a season of such joy, meaning, and encouragement.  You’ve heard the saying, ‘the night is always the darkest just before the dawn…” Joy and Hope shine brightest after the darkness of despair.
​But what does this have to do with you, this Christmas?  I believe it not only relates to what was happening on that quiet, holy night in Bethlehem, but it is what happens in each one of our souls on a regular basis.  We are all going through personal and public struggles, fighting against our sin nature, the world, and the devil.  We are striving to put aside our sin and despair, to CHOOSE the hope, peace and joy that are ours in Christ.  This Christmas, may I encourage you to keep fighting that fight?  Whatever your struggle may be, there is always hope in Christ.  Christ came on the scene during a dark time….and I urge you, He wants to come on the scene for you personally this Christmas…to be born anew in your heart, to be the hero for you, for your situation, for this lost and dying world.  That is the joy and hope of Christmas, my friend.  And it is ours for the taking.  
 
Hope is a candle
A light in the window
Showing the way for
A heart to come home
Hope is a Savior
Who was born in the manger
Sent down from Heaven
To rescue our hearts
Our Christmas hope
 
–The Christmas Hope, NewSong
 
Merry Christmas to You and to All You Hold Dear!  Ruth

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God’s Plan Is My Hope

My Dearest Sister,

You may or may not know this, but I am the kind of person who likes to have a plan for everything. Knowing what’s going to happen next makes me feel grounded, secure and like everything is under control. You could definitely say that I am not a “fly by the seat of my pants” kind of person. While this may just seem like a funny little quirk, as I’m sure my husband will tell you it can be a real problem sometimes, especially when my plans start to fall apart. Being an Army wife, it can be especially difficult at times because there’s so much of the future that is unknown. Where will we be stationed after flight school? When will my husband get deployed? How long will it be until I can see my family back home again? It’s hard to plan around the unknown. But if I don’t make sure everything is in order, who will, right? Maybe you have felt this way yourself at some point.

This anxiety about the future has been on my mind a lot lately. It wasn’t until I had utterly “freaked” myself out about what our plans for the future were going to be that I remembered a favorite passage in Jeremiah: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). It was almost as if God was saying “Hey, Lauren, you need to calm down and relax. Remember the peace I have in mind for you. Hope in me and the future I have planned for you, not the plan you’re designing for yourself.” As soon as I read that passage, it was like the floodgates of hope just opened up. God has everything under control. Even if I don’t know the plan, I can be sure that He only has my good in mind. I can always hope and rely on God’s goodness. What a reassurance that was to me! No matter how thoroughly I plot my plans can always fall apart, but God’s plans for me never fail. I always have a hope for the future in Him.

As marvelous as this promise is, the concept of hope extends even further. Not only do we have a reason to hope for our future in this life, but we have a greater and more glorious hope in the next eternal one. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 highlights this hope: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day…. we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” When we are in Christ, we have a hope that surpasses our earthly troubles and worries. Too often we focus on the temporary of this life, the perishing things around us. What we should be focusing on are the spiritual things that are eternal and don’t pass away because that is where our hope is secure. So while the sea of life may be rough and toss us about in its swells, as Hebrews 6:19 says about the promise of eternal life in Christ, “this hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.” Even the waves of trials and heartaches – though they may be great – cannot overcome our hope in Christ. For you see, dear sister, even the pain and suffering on this earth have an end. When we start looking past the temporary and focus on the endless hope we have in Christ, suddenly the temporary isn’t as daunting anymore.

Even though I am trying to hope and trust in God’s plan for my future, it is very difficult sometimes. At least if I write down a schedule, I can see it and understand it because it’s directly in front of me. It is much harder to hope in the unseen things. But as Romans 8:24 so poignantly says “hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one still hope for what he sees?” Therefore, we can only hope in the unseen, the spiritual truths of God, not in the sure things of this life. Oh, how marvelous the Word of God is, the way it challenges us to change! And so, dear sister, I urge you to join me in focusing on your hope in Christ for your future, and not leaning only on your own plans for yourself; to remember your hope is not just in this temporary life, but in the eternal. What a better season to change our focus than this Christmas? Let us celebrate together the birth of the One who brought hope to the world, not just a temporary hope, but an eternal one. For while the visible things of this world will pass away, nothing can take away the hope we have in our Savior.

Your loving sister in Christ,
~ Lauren