A Daughter's Love

I love the way my daughter looks to her daddy... for love, comfort, affirmations, etc. She lights up when she's around him! She knows he will back her up, he will provide and he will do what he can to help her.

Now I know not all daddy's today are looked at with such favor, with such a deep love or devoted trust but there is One in whom all can come to, learn from, push into or to nestle close within an indescribable embrace.

This innocent portrait of my daughter's love reminds me of how we should revere the Father in Heaven. He knows all, He sees all, His love and concern for us is ever greater than what our humanness can give, completely receive or hold. Yet, in all these truths, do we sincerely delight in Him?

Our capacity to be stirred

If I left you to your own limitations you would be comfortable where you are and you wouldn't grow; you wouldn't learn.

This is what I told my son the other day as he was frustrated with his school work. It was too hard for him to do in his own mind. As these words came out of my mouth to him, they boomeranged back at me!

Wow! I've had a similar mentality too, and I didn't even realize it! 1st our trip seemed impossible, yet God brought us through. Plus we had a great time!

Yet we came back home to prepare for an audit. Not much fun and I allowed it to overwhelm me once again! Prayers welcomed! Haha!

Truth is, if we didn't face difficult challenges, how could our faith grow? It can't! We get comfortable with what we know and we grow content. In contentment complacency sets in and over time we become stagnant. This is spiritually dangerous!!!

Needless to say, the Lord stirs us! He knows our capacity to be stirred and in His infinite love and mercy, He pushes us to flex our faith muscles! It isn't some form of punishment, rather, He sees our need for growth. He sees our need to rely more on Him than a false confidence we can place in ourselves or in other people.

With all that said, please keep us in prayer... as my son is learning new challenging things and facing new adventures, so am I! God has a purpose and a plan in everything! I pray He is glorified in and through it all!

May we draw near to the Lord as we face the unknown, and cry out as David did.
"My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word." Psalm 119:28

Then hold on tight to Him and His promises! He said, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Isaiah 41:10

Lips zipped! The Lord is our defense!

If I had a nickel for every false accusation made against me, I'd be rich! I know I'm not alone in these trials & experiences. It's likely many of you can say the same.

So could Jesus! While He was being tried by the Sanhedrin, they found their own "witnesses" against Him.

"For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together." Mark 14:56

Not only did they conjure up their own stories, sprinkled with a pinch of truth, their stories did not even match!

What a frustrating situation, right? Our flesh wants to immediately flap our lips in defense! How quickly we can be sucked in to the false witness whirlwind.

What did Jesus do?
"But he held his peace, and answered nothing..." (vs. 61)

He did nothing! As hard as it can be, we must do the same! Just as Jesus trusted the Father with the ultimate purpose of it all, so must we!

Every enemy attack that approached Jesus was met with the Word of God. If we don't trust His Word, we not only loose hope, but we loose our strength which results in our trusting Him to be easily broken.

Here's a bit of encouragement from His Word to cling to during these trying times.

"For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you." Deuteronomy 20:4

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all." Psalm 34:19

"Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee." Proverbs 20:22

There are many other accounts in the Scriptures of others who have endured these things too, yet there are even more promises to keep our focus on the Redeemer rather than the evil at hand. Keep the faith! God will fight and He wins, especially when we stay out of His way and keep our lips zipped!

If you're going through this, will you be still and know that He is God? Will you trust His defense over your limited human abilities?

Learning leadership

"Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.
Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice."
1 Kings 10:8-9

Many of us are familiar with the wisdom and prosperity of king Solomon. Over and over he was told the LORD was pleased to place him over His people. It's TRUE, He was too! They traveled from all over to see with their own eyes and hear with their own ears. Here the queen of Sheba was quite impressed, his stature far exceeded the rumors told to her in her land!

I've read this account many times the last couple weeks. Today, this passage leaped off the pages! The Lord has placed me in leadership too, but my own "wisdom and prosperity" is minimal at best!

I've sought the Lord diligently in recent months regarding this placement and positioning. Though I don't oversee a nation, I'm still in need of His leading! How I desire to 1st please Him and as a result those under me are *HAPPY to be there and HAPPY to hear*!

I know I have a ways to go, but I know the more I'm teachable and maintain a humble spirit before my God,  I'll be able to build up my team and lead by example. Anyone can be a grumbling boss but the aftermath is a busted down team, and often those you need choose to leave.

The journey begins within and the outflow affects all who are near. I may not be where I want to be, but I'm thankful to be God's work in progress.

If you've been placed in leadership (whether in a business, a job or within your family), are you willing to learn from king Solomon too and many other great biblical leaders or are you destructively destroying what the Lord desires to build and create?

Sweet sleep

The other night my daughter was stalling to say her prayers at bedtime. Something I've noticed she's been doing lately, so after we talked with God, I decided to ask her why.

I love her innocence!

She said, "Well I'm not tired before prayers, but after I'm always sleepy."
"Ahhh, I replied, do you know why?", I asked.
She gave a sheepishly quiet "Nooo".

I prayerfully thought a moment and I told her, "When we thank God and give Him our praise, needs & troubles, He gives us His peace. We trust Him. He knows what He's doing and in His peace we can rest. Our minds quiet down and our bodies relax."

After that she cozied herself into her bed even more and I could see she had His peace. I did too! We were both ready for sweet sleep.

Our conversation reminds me of one of my favorite verses.
"When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet." Proverbs 3:24

How often do we truly surrender our cares to Him entirely? Racing thoughts of daily things or that of our needs and the needs of others around us can keep us awake longer than we should. We hold on to them not even realizing it!

I hope our little chat will encourage you to completely let go and truly let God. May His peace grant you sweet sleep too!

Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27

My prayer for you, in Jesus name...
"Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all." 2 Thessalonians 3:16

Reflection upon reconstruction

Over the last 6 weeks we've had numerous people in & out of our home. Construction workers from drywall, carpet, paint, plumbing & insurance have graced us with their skills & presence.

Many have seen the good & the bad in our home. A quarrel or disagreement between siblings, things kids do from time to time. Even how I would act or react.

Today being the last day of reconstruction I reminded them of what God's Word says.

"Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right." Proverbs 20:11

If the good is remembered, that's great! On the flip side, so is the bad. Often, the bad overrides the good in one's memory. True story!

I've had this talk with my children several timed over the years. Kids will be kids, right? Yes and no. Society excuses poor behavior but I want my littles to know they're accountability starts with God 1st, then me or whoever is in authority.

Why? It's His reputation we need to be mindful of regardless of the situation or the company. If we apply this simplicity to our own lives,  are we mindful of how we are known? What about how it reflects upon the Christ we claim or the Creator of all things?

Curses returned, blessings prevail!

Ever feel like the whole world is against you? That no matter what good you give, evil is returned? Take heart!

The Lord has given 3 accounts in the old testament in which He turned a curse into a blessing! Check them out, Deuteronomy 23:5, Joshua 24:9-10, & Nehemiah 13:1-2.

Not to mention, the ugliest curse turned to the most amazingly beautiful blessing was this, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:" Galatians 3:13

Though it may seem little if all hell is returned unto you for the good you've rendered, the Living God WILL turn that curse into a blessing.

Keep holding onto Him, keep trusting and believing and in His time, you'll see HIS reward!!!