Lord of All Seasons

Why is it so hard to surrender all in the midst of such fleshly struggles? I am always so amazed at how deep and dark and hopeless my fleshly struggles can be and usually are. My faith doesn't seem to equip me with the tools to pull myself out... this morning as I read from a book I just began reading a few days ago by Elisabeth Elliot called Keep a Quiet Heart I listened as she relayed this message from the Lord to my stubborn sometimes unwilling to conform heart...

"If I can't give thanks, trust, and worship the Lord in every "season", in the face of any set of facts which may touch my life, I am not really a believer. It is here, in my corner of God's earth, that I am assigned my lessons in the School of Faith."

Does the gospel have anything to do with the little struggles we face everyday? The little battles that we pick up our swords and fight? The gospel has everything to do with those. I sinfully and naturally only include the gospel to the BIG things in my life and leave the gospel out of the small things. Small things like difficult people, children who push the boundaries of disobendience, computers that refuse to copperate, days that don't go as planned and fits in the middle of the school supply isle at Walmart. In those moments of seemly insignificant struggles that the gospel of Jesus Christ need not be apart of, that we find ourselves daily struggling to have perspective remember this...

"...Jesus died for me! He's risen and coming again! He ahs given me an inheritance that nothing can 'destroy or spoil or wither' (1 Peter 1:4, NEB) and a Kingdom which is unshakable (Hebrews 12:28). That's the gospel."

And it has everything to do with children, people, computers and unplanned days... so let's include Jesus Christ... His death, His burial and His ressurection in our small fleshly battles all through out the day, they are significant to God and to our sanctification. Those deep, dark and hopeless fleshly struggles I face become shallow, lit and hopeful when Christ is seen as Lord of ALL and then I am able to surrender ALL.



Let us surrender ALL as we seat Christ as Lord of ALL, small and large, significant or insignificant. Have a truly glorious day.

JOYfully in Him,

Our week in pictures

Last Friday we, as a family enjoyed a local highschool football game. The littles of course loved it. It had been 2 years since our last appearance as a family to a football game. I enjoyed the thrills of watching the game and my children.

Here is a little peek into our week along with some quotes that encourage and express the struggles of my heart right now:

Trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment;....but trust in GOD, and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity.

Dwight L. Moody

If I cannot hear "The sound of rain' long before the rain falls, and then go out to some hilltop of the Spirit, as near to my God as I can and have faith to wait there with my face between my knees, though six times or sixty times I am told "There is nothing', till at last there arises a little cloud out of the sea, then I know nothing of Calvary love. (Read 1 Kings 18:41-45)

Amy Carmichael

"Stand still" - keep the posture of an upright man, ready for action, expecting further orders, cheerfully and patiently awaiting the directing voice; and it will not be long ere God shall say to you, as distinctly as Moses said it to the people of Israel, "Go forward."

Charles Haddon Spurgeon





Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;

Psalm 37:5-7a

Contenment on Fire

"Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God."

Jim Elliot

JOYfully in Him,

Spiritual Strength

Faith is a living, bold trust in God's grace, so certain of God's favour that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it. Such confidence and knowledge of God's grace makes you happy, joyful and bold in your relationship to God and all creatures. The Holy Spirit makes this happen through faith. Because of it, you freely, willingly and joyfully do good to everyone, serve everyone, suffer all kinds of things, love and praise the God who has shown you such grace.

Martin Luther

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according tothe riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge, that you may be filled with all fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:14-19

JOYfully in Him,

Prayer Reflection

Prayer is the breath of the Christian life.

Martin Luther

(Don't forget to breathe today)

JOYfully in Him,

Surrender

Lord, I am no longer my own, but Yours. Put me to what You will, rank me with whom You will. Let be employed by You or laid aside for You, exalted for You or brought low by You. Let me have all things, let me have nothing, I freely and heartily yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You are mine and I am Yours. So be it. Amen.

John Wesley

JOYfully in Him,

A Sunday Quote

Experience has taught me that the Shepherd is far more willing to show His sheep the path than the sheep are to follow. He is endlessly merciful, patient, tender, and loving. If we, His stupid and wayward sheep, really want to be led, we will without fail be led. Of that I am sure.

Elisabeth Elliot

My Lonely Heart...

Love reckons hours for months, and days for years; And every little absence is an age.
--John Dryden

Days of absence, sad and dreary, Clothed in sorrow's dark array,
Days of absence, I am weary; She (He) I love is far away.
--Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Our hours in love have wings; in absence, crutches.
--Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

I feel like this seperation will never end, there is not gleam of light at the end of each day, just me and my bed and a few "friends" to drown out the absence of my beloved. I am relying on prayer and His presence to get me through this short but long moment in time. I really feel like I am missing something as severe as my right arm, I still have 2 1/2 more days! In all reality a piece of me truly is missing...

Pray

“Of all things, guard against neglecting God in the secret place of prayer.”

William Wilberforce

Our Precious, Our delight

"His delight is in the law of the Lord." He is not under the law as a curse and condemnation, but he is in it, and he delights to be in it as his rule of life; he delights, moreover, to meditate in it, to read it by day, and think upon it by night. He takes a text and carries it with him all day long; and in the night-watches, when sleep forsakes his eyelids, he museth upon the Word of God. In the day of his prosperity he sings psalms out of the Word of God, and in the night of his affliction he comforts himself with promises out of the same book. "The law of the Lord" is the daily bread of the true believer. And yet, in David's day, how small was the volume of inspiration, for they had scarcely anything save the first five books of Moses! How much more, then, should we prize the whole written Word which it is our privilege to have in all our houses! But, alas, what ill-treatment is given to this angel from heaven! We are not all Berean searchers of the Scriptures. How few among us can lay claim to the benediction of the text! Perhaps some of you can claim a sort of negative purity, because you do not walk in the way of the ungodly; but let me ask you—Is your delight in the law of God? Do you study God's Word? Do you make it the man of your right hand—your best companion and hourly guide? If not, this blessing belongeth not to you.

Charles H. Spurgeon, Psalm 1

Selfless Ambition

“If there was more true abiding in Christ, there would be less selfish abiding at home.”

Hudson Taylor

Truth about reality

True spirituality covers all of reality. There are things the Bible tells us as absolutes which are sinful-which do not conform to the character of God. But aside from these the Lordship of Christ covers all of life and all of life equally. In this sense there is nothing concerning reality that is not spiritual.

Related to this, it seems to me, is the fact that many Christians do not mean what I mean when I say Christianity is true, or Truth. They are Christians and they believe in, let us say, the truth of creation, the truth of the virgin birth, the truth of Christ's miracles, Christ's substitutionary death, and His coming again. But they stop there with these and other individual truths.

When I wasy Christianity is true I mean it is true to total reality-the total of what is, beginning with the central reality, the objective existence of the personal infinite God. Christianity is not just a series of truths but Truth-Truth about all of reality. And the holding of that Truth intellectually-and then in some poor way living upon the truth, the Truth of what is-brings forth not only certain personal results, but also governmental and legal results.

Francis A. Shaeffer, A Christian Manifesto, pp. 19, 20.

Pails on Fire

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." - William Butler Yeats

What happens when you fill a pail? It sits there. It sits there and waits to be poured out. As a teacher I do not desire to just fill a pail full of water knowledge to just sit in waiting to be poured out. I believe education is more than that it is or rather should be that of lighting a fire, a burning desire for the knowledge not a passive inferior cistern. I believe that just filling the pail, the mind of our children with information we are failing to supply them with a real education. They will not come out of it thirsting for more but dry and weak, or at least this is how I "see" it. All I know is that they attempted to fill my mind for 9 years and I didn't come out thirsting for anything other than water.

It's easy to think that is all we are doing here, filling pails. We are filling pails but the way I think of it is we are also setting these pails up over a fury flame My children, I hope to fill their minds with exciting knowledge but also in the process I hope to set their little minds on fire for not only more knowledge but also and most importantly to extend their minds and the knowledge imparted to them for the glory of the Lord, the center of all knowledge and life. We have the amazing experience and privilege of setting their minds on fire.

So now the questions is "Just how do we light the fire and not just fill the pails?".

This was an extremely encouraging quote for me to think upon tonight and I am anxious to read other's thoughts on it, visit The Heart of the Matter to read them as well.

Perspective

It is a special gift to be able to view the world through the eyes of a child.

Repent

“It seems to me that every morning when a man wakes up still impenitent, and finds himself out of hell, the sunlight seems to say, ‘I shine on thee yet another day, as that in this day thou mayest repent.’ When your bed receives you at night I think it seems to say, ‘I will give you another night’s rest, that you may live to turn from your sins and trust in Jesus.’ Every mouthful of bread that comes to the table says, ‘I have to support your body that still you may have space for repentance.’ Every time you open the Bible the pages say, ‘We speak with you that you may repent.’ Every time you hear a sermon, if it be such a sermon as God would have us preach, it pleads with you to turn unto the Lord and live.” (Spurgeon)

Trust in the Lord: Create in me a Clean Heart devotional

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and he shall make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5

Relax! The Lord is worthy of your trust... He always keeps His promies. When you hear this verse do you feel comforted and secure? I know it is hard sometimes to trust the unseen with certainty, but think about this: how many times has the Lord failed in keeping His promises? The road you are traveling may appear to be heading into a dead end to your limited eyesight but I tell you to stand firm in your faith and hold tight to His promises for He will make your path straight, now to you it may not and probably will not appear so straight. Their may even be a few sharp turns and even some u-turns but I am certain that in the eyes of the Lord they are straight for you see He has a plan for the path that you are traveling and it is good, he says so. Trust Him with all of your heart no matter how difficult or against your natural instinct and advice of others, though it is well intended and He the maker of time will make your path straight.

This verse is very close to my heart and my husbands. 5 years ago we were living a normal life. Expresso was a computer tech or nerd (it has a professional name but I can't think of it) at a local paper mill where we lived, I was a stay at home wife, homeschooling mother and we were Sunday church goers. I was growing continually and quickly in my faith while Expresso was lingering behind stille grapeling with some unsorted things in his mind. Life was good. I prayed nightly for the Lord to open the eyes of my husband's heart and to bring him to repentence. 2 years went by and things only seemed to get worse. Life wasn't as good as it once was but I held on to hope and continued to pray. It wasn't long before God anwsered my prayer, not exactly how I had imagined it but it was perfect. There was a lot of pain and healing that was experienced in those days but I held on with all I had to the Lord and trusted in Him. A few months later my husband was called into the ministry, I still remember the shock of hearing him tell me what he felt he was being called to do. We began discussing things with our preacher/friend and the decision was made after much prayer and thought. My husband only had a heart to serve the Lord, He had given him a new heart. Oh, praise God!! A new heart, one that no longer desired the pleasures of this world but that yearned to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. We began making plans, ha! We... they were all soon detoured. We had decided to leave a life of comfort and security from the world and dive into the unknown comfort and security of the Lord. We were headed to Dallas Texas and seminary school! Crazy... that is what family thought of us and some of our friends, but we were completely okay with that because God put Proverbs 3:5-6 in our hearts and it was not leaving our side. Many things happened like out of the clear blue the school Expresso was going to attend shutting down only weeks before we were to leave, our house not selling and the money that it would cost to attend another school was to much for us. Dead end! Or so it seemed to our feeble eyes, we held on and stood firm knowing that God hadn't brought us this far to forsake us now. Amazingly it all fell directly and perfectly into place just like jagged puzzle pieces. The school that shut down ended up giving us plus a few cents almost exactly the amount we needed to attend the other school and our house sold right in time. Here is a quote that I love that pretty much sums up our every expereince with God:

I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God: first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.

Hudson Taylor

Nothing is impossible with God. No matter what is going on in your life whether it is something great or something very small know that God is with you and that if you trust in Him, He will make straight your path. I believe that will all of my heart, that doesn't mean that it will be easy. He doesn't say anything about the terrain of the straight path just that it will be straight! God is GOOD... believe it, believe Him and trust in His word for your life.

This post is to go along with my personal journey through the Create in me a Clean Heart Devotional that can be found at Dandelion Seeds, be encouraged!

The Bible

But when I come into God's presence and hold His word in my hand, I feel so very ignorant, insignificant, and needy of His instruction. Further, I feel an incredible sense of awe that He would stoop to reveal the secrets of His heart to me. Surely such riches are worth whatever time, discipline, and sacrafice are necessary to mine them from His treasure store. (A Place of Quiet Rest, Demoss)

Oh that we would feel this way about the living word of God! The LIVING word of God. How we have become numb to the awesome fact that our bible is the WORD of God, it is His words spoken to us. Do you realize how blessed you are to own a bible and if your home is anything like ours you probaly own more than one. Imagine living deprived of the word, it is no where to be found. We have grown to take the abundance of the bible for granted, we do not know what it is like to be with out it. It has been apart of our lives since we began to know God and for some even before. Oh... do we realize how precious and infinitely valuble our bibles are! Listen to to the story of Mary Jones and Margaret Nikol and cherish your bible for what it is, the word of God living and active.

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.

Psalm 33:6

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.

Psalm 119:97

I want the heart of the Psalmist! Oh how I love your law! so much that I am willing to make the sacrafices needed just so that I may abide in it! If I must give up sleep so be it, it is well worth it.

Be Quiet first in Worship

"Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, ‘above all that we ask or think’. Each time, before you Intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!" ~ Andrew Murray

~*Happy Thanksgiving*~

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

Psalm 95:2

The heart must be alive with gracious gratitude, or the leaf cannot long be green with living holiness.

—C. H. Spurgeon inFlowers from a Puritan's Garden

I pray that you have a truly blessed Thanksgiving enjoying good food and family.

Giving Thanks Saturday

"Such a blessed people should be a thankful people." Cotton Mather

The week of Giving Thanks at Kelli's is coming to an end today. I have been surprised by the JOY of thanksgiving through this little blogging adventure, wow. I wan't even sure if I was going to do it at first and then decided kind of last minute to step into it. Honestly, I don't like to commit to things for the fear of having to follow through with them but this little challenge turned out to surprise me in the end. I didn't have a problem staying commited like I thought I would and God had a few lessons for me to learn along the way. The journey is not over nor will it ever be and I know that He has many more lessons for me as I continue to walk slowly through each path that He has paved specifically for me. This week has made me realize how much I take for granted in this life and has inspired me to give thanks always...

I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

Psalm 9:1

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Now, I want to share a few pictures from my home:

Here is our "Giving Thanks" tree, isn't it cute? It is the best branch that we could find. Also, the leaf prints are the cards we are going to send out today to family and friends telling them why we are thankful for them.

We had so much fun painting our leaves and then making their prints on the paper.

Oh, I just had to share this BEAUTIFUL baby Butterfly with you!! I love her!

My boys left to go out of town today... it wasn't planned but the opportunity presented itself and we all jumped on it. It would have been selfish of me to pass it up, I miss them terribly but I am thankful that they were blessed to go visit with their Nana and a lot of other family that they love so much and don't get to see very often.


"A state of mind that sees God in everything is evidence of growth in grace and a thankful heart."

Charles Finney

Thanks Kelli for encouraging me to grow in grace and cultivating further in me a thankful heart. I have SO enjoyed myself this week just examining my life and seeing the blessings more abundantly and praising God through them.

I pray that all of YOU who were involved in this Giving Thanks week were as blessed as I was and more!

JOYfully in Him,

Kelli