Scars and Bends and Burnings

If you’ve been to the Colorado mountains, you’ve seen what my husband and I fell in love with during our 30 years of living there.  And I expect you, like Ron and I,  were absolutely amazed at the beauty our God put into this world. 

The mountains are majestic, the rivers and lakes are beautiful, but the trees tell me a story - and that’s what I’d like to talk about. 

As I looked at the trees surrounding our house, sometimes I would imagine them standing on the hillside where they were born years before I came to be there, I imagined them whispering to me the story of their lives.

There’s a tree on the west side of the lot that is lying completely on its side, but the branches have reached upwards to become three large trees growing out of the one set of roots.  That tree couldn’t stand up straight, so he became the means for others to stand.  There’s quite a story in that for us, isn’t there? 

One pine near the house is about 70 feet tall. He’s missing all his branches on one side about half way up and he has a funny bend in his trunk.  From that you can picture the years he spent trying to get around a tree leaning against him.  He is also blackened on one side where a wild forest fire tried to snuff out his life.  He’s certainly not the straight beautiful pine you see in pictures or Christmas trees.  He’s not perfect, but still he grew and for all the scars and bends and burnings, I see him as more beautiful than the straight, full trees surrounding him. 

Those twists and turns give him character.  The black burn place is a beautiful contrast to his lighter brown bark and I think he’s beautiful. 

I wonder if, when he was but a sapling – a skinny piece of wood and needles, the heavy snows of winter came and covered him so completely that he seemed to be just a bump in that white landscape. Did he wonder if he would be crushed by that blanket of snow? Or when the elk herd marched through the forest, would he be trampled underfoot?  Or when the hot dry summer came and all the green grass was parched and dead, would a hungry deer eat his branches?  

I believe all of these things happened to my brave tree, and I think about the story of his growing – he did grow.  Winds, winters, fires and drought assailed him.  Still he grew.  His roots searched deeper and deeper for something to hold him fast.  They reached for water and nourishment. 

And since God created Him, (if he could think) he would know that God found a way to hold him fast.  And my friend, God will hold us fast as well.

Jeremiah tells us
But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.”

It’s the same way for us in this world.  We are planted here.  We sprout and grow and when we’re in the dry times of our lives, we must send our roots deep enough to reach the water of God’s love.  We need God to hold on to and grow and stand firm.  

Paul prayed in Ephesians 3 (TLB)

. . . I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,
the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 
I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources
that He will empower you with inner strength
through his Spirit.
Then Christ will make his home in your hearts
as you trust in him. 

Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 
And may you have the power to understand,
as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high,
and how deep his love is.  
May you experience the love of Christ,
though it is too great to understand fully.

Friends, your battles may also have been, or may still be, against pain, sickness, loneliness or emptiness. And, like the tree, there have probably been fires in your lives - hard times that came suddenly, and sometimes all you could do was stand.

God’s love gives us power and strength to stand as the fires burn, and to become beautiful in the eyes of the One who made us.  Your scars and bends and burnings make you into a tool for God to use to fulfill his purposes.   

Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good 
to them that love God,
them who are the called according to his purpose. (the purpose He has set out for you.)  

I believe that trees, or yes people, with scars and burns and bendings are more interesting and more beautiful than just perfect Christmas trees.  I wonder if you do too.

Love, Diane

Ask

 Jesus said a lot about prayer, and He did a lot of praying.  In His sermon on the mount He said,

 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” 

Then Jesus used this analogy, “Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”  Matthew 7:7-11

God promises to give good things to his children when they ask.  But God doesn’t say that He gives His children precisely what they ask Him for. 

An example for us is shown in Genesis 17.  Abraham was promised a child who was to be the seed of many nations.   Abraham fathered Ishmael by Sarah's servant because of his impatience. He asked God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” In other words, Abraham asked God to let Ishmael be the chosen seed, which was not God's plan.  God had already told Abraham that his wife Sarah would conceive and bear a son.  So God said "No," and this is God's response. 

”But as for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.” 

Abraham had asked God in prayer for Ishmael to be the son of promise. But God explicitly said “No.” 

Now, God might have just left it at that, gone on, and done with  Ishmael whatever he was going to do. Instead, he takes pains to say, “I have heard you." 

Basically I believe He was saying, you have asked me to bless Ishmael, and I will bless him, and although I’m not going to do it the way you asked, "I want you to know that I’m doing it because I heard you.”

Now, what we learn from this encounter speaks clearly to those times when God says “no" to our prayers,  Even when He says no to the specific intention of our prayer, it does not mean that He didn't hear or care, and it doesn't mean that there will not be, or has not been an answer in response to the prayer. 

And whatever answers we receive must be good, because our Father is good.

Deuteronomy 7:9

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

----

Are you looking out the window, and seeing nothing there?
Are you waiting for a miracle to reach you from somewhere?

Are you longing for a sweet release,
or wishing for some inner peace,
or praying for the pain to cease?

Child,
don’t let those anxious thoughts break through.
Let God’s sweet peace fall over you
as you go to Him in prayer.
Know He holds you in His care,
 and His answer will be there.

Love Diane

Does He hear and Does He answer?

 I’m convinced that God takes our prayers seriously.  I know that my skeptical brain wants to say otherwise; like why would He care about one of us human people when He has the whole world to do something with?  Why would He – even though I know He could - take my little life and use it to glorify His name?

But even with those thoughts, I still believe and KNOW that He does care, and not only that, I believe He answers each one of my prayers.

The thing is that God still allows pain to enter into the lives of His children, because He has a plan. And if my pain can make a difference in someone else’ life, or even in my own spiritual growth, He will ask me to endure it. And since God is the Creator and sustainer of this world, and since He is my Father, the only true GOD, I want to be used in any possible way for His Glory. I want to --- when I take His word seriously.

If we pray about the pain, and the trials of this world, we may wonder if God really is answering our prayers. Tonight I used the handy Bible Gateway and came up with the following scriptures. All are encouraging, all helpful and all applicable to the questions we have. If you want to look them up, they all come from the NIV version of the Bible. There are many more, but I’ll leave those for tomorrow’s post. We’ll look at what Jesus said about prayer, and one event where an answer to a prayer has had ramifications even until today.

1 Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them,
for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.

Psalm 33:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose.

Isaiah 26:3-4
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, 
because he trusts in you.  Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

-----

Sometimes life’s storms split my world in two,
or the riptide of fear steals any peace that I knew,
and the pain then mirrors myself and not You.

But,
I’m told You’re the Rock.
You’re the God who cares,
who answers prayers.

That tide grips my life and I’m racing behind.  
This world’s noises torture my heart and mind.
But in this I will pray that Your peace I will find.

So I pray to the Rock.
You’re the God who cares,
who answers prayers.
 
Yes, I know
 You’re the Rock.
You’re the God who still cares,
who loves all His children and answers their prayers. 

Thank you Father. 

May God bless you dear friends.

Diane

Why God?

Isaiah 40:28-31 (NIV)

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

 but those who hope in the Lord  will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,

    they will walk and not be faint.

How many times do we ask “Why” in our daily lives?  We see hate and crime.  We see a heartbreaking news headline.  We see disasters.  We see people pushing grocery carts in the street, and we ask “Why?”

Why, God?  Why do you not “fix” it all?  Why, God?  Why do you not make life easier?  Why God?  Why?

When you read the book of Job in the Bible you see the man Job facing a heartbreaking, painful time, and he and his “friends” also questioned why.  

Sometimes I mistakenly think that, if I ask God to do it, He will straighten my thinking out – straighten it all out -straighten the world out.  But God knows me.  He knows what I need.  He knows what the world needs, and much of the time the answer is not “rescue from the hardships!“ 

Many times, those hardships are just what we need to point us in the direction of His arms.  But friends, our hardships may not be sent just for us; instead it may be that they are being used to point others to the arms of our Father. It may be that these troubles have a role in bringing someone else to the knowledge of God’s love for His Children.  I think, (although, I confess I don’t always feel) that others should be my paramount concern.

So,
If I ask “Why” when skies are black, 
and angry clouds spill anxious tears;
if I ask “Why” the pain grows constant,
and night dreams preach of groundless fears.

If I ask, “Why this world seems up-side-down,”
and in its face there is a change.
People’s smiles - replaced by frowns,
and I ask. “Why God?”
There’s so much pain!”

But in all this I know 
God’s presence, His comfort, His love is so plain.
and
In His word He will speak tender hope in my pain.

If I listen to His heart I truly do know
that God can and will use
my grief and my woe.

If I only ask “why,”
but don’t look for God’s plan,

I’ll never see His tender care
 as He gently dries my anxious tears

and heals my little world again.

He’s in control!  He is able!  He is willing!
He loves You! 
He is God!

My God, My God

 Psalm 22:1-2 – a Psalm of David

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

    Why are you so far from saving me,

    so far from my cries of anguish?

 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,

    by night, but I find no rest."

David wrote this Psalm at a time that he felt abandoned by God.  I wonder if there are days and nights that we feel this way.  We cry out to God, but we don’t seem to hear His answer.  He seems so far away.  We cry to him at night and sleep doesn’t come.  We’re looking for light – the shining, brilliant, light of God’s presence – and we don’t see it.

This morning, in our devotion, Allister Begg spoke of God being with us in the dark.  An interesting side note was his description of a child being afraid of the dark.  The light that the child wants is given to him at first, bright and full, but as he learns to trust, the parent allows less light until finally, the child can sleep without a night light – because he has learned to trust his parent. 

I wonder if I am able to trust our God that completely as I "grow up" in my knowledge of Him? 
 
Allister did say that this night light scenario becomes a bit ludicrous when the child is 27 years old.  Case in point, at 85, and having walked with God for many years, I hope that I have  learned to trust my Father, God.

Light is an amazing thing.  Just as the light of the sun that God created is necessary for our health. The light of the SON OF GOD is beautiful and absolutely necessary for our happiness, salvation and security. 

The analogy continues when we realize that the sun God created is always there.  We don’t always see it – the world turns – the clouds cover it – and sometimes we are unable to see anything.  But that doesn’t change the fact that this sun is always there.

And the SON OF GOD is always there for us.  In the Psalm, David cried out.  He felt that God had forsaken him.  He asked the question we sometimes do – “Why do I not hear your voice or see your face?”

If David, the man referred to as “a man after God’s own heart” questioned, feared, and cried, should we be surprised when we do the same?

But wait!  We need to read on – Psalm 22:3 (NIV) David sang these words, “Yet, you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises.”

David was a student of the Word; he knew our God.  He knew that God was and is able to protect and care for His own.  So in His prayers of anguish he doesn’t forget that GOD IS KING – God is sitting on the throne of heaven.  David doesn’t forget either, that GOD IS HOLY – "the Holy one that Israel praises." 

When we read other verses in the Bible, anthems of praise to God ring out loud and clear.  Yet, we sometimes wish for more of a look into the face of our Father, just as David did.  Don't we?

BUT

Matt 28:20b (NIV) 

Jesus said, “And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Isaiah 40:28-31 (NIV)

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

 but those who hope in the Lord  will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,

    they will walk and not be faint.

My friend, never forget that the sun is always there – somewhere,

and that the SON is always there –
EVERYWHERE! 

In times like these

We’re living in perilous times.  Few of us are immune to its poison.  People want to be assured that all will be well.  They want someone to “fix it!”  We turn to family, to friends, to the government.  But the world has no “magic bullet.” So, where do we go?

In times like these – we feel uncertainty,
although control was never in our grasp.
In times like these we find our way unclear,
and look for something that will last

What better time to look upon our Savior 
as anxiousness and fear would take its toll.
What better time to ponder  
what HE did
to end the curse of sin 
and break the chains of death 
and make His children whole?

He planned with love to pay the price for sin. 
He died that all who come to Him are welcomed in.

While on the cross with holy body broken.
He heard the guards laugh there in cold derision.  
Our Jesus heard the mocking crowd,
but died to free them from their lost condition.

Still from that cross 
He LOVED the haughty and the vain. 
He loved the ones who caused His pain
 His words still echo 
“Father please
forgive them" too.
And child, He even died for you.

He planned with love to pay the price for sin. 
He died that all who come to Him are welcomed in.

So, in these times of peril
we look toward The One.
Look to Him, who can restrain the world He made,
and what we fear,
and death and pain.

So in this world of wild uncertainty.
God took our death 
and gave eternity.

From Luke 23 
 
“When they came to the place called the Skull,
they crucified him there, along with the criminals
one on his right, the other on his left.”

“The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him.
They said, “He saved others;
let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah,
the Chosen One.”

“The soldiers also came up and mocked him.
They offered him wine vinegar and said, 
“If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” . . .

But from the cross Jesus' words still echo, 
“Father, forgive them,
for they do not know what they are doing.” 

They saw Him suffer!  
They saw the blood, 
but they didn’t see the meaning. 
 They didn’t see His overwhelming love.
  

Dear friends, 

I pray today that in these times of trouble and uncertainty each one of us will be assured by this picture – the picture of the cross. The picture of God loving us so much that He gave His own life for ours.

Diane

Calibrate

 It’s time to calibrate.  

My darling husband Ron uses this word – I think it’s the engineer in him. Lately  I've come to think that I need to look at my life and recalibrate.

To calibrate something means to adjust or check it against a known standard in order to ensure accuracy, correct any discrepancies, identify errors, and make adjustments.  This is to make certain it correctly measures or performs the function for which it was designed.. 

I got to thinking about a couple of things in response to this definition. 

The first is a question - What am I checking my life against? The dictionary states it must be a known standard.  So what is the only standard that a Christ follower should calibrate against?  Only the WORD OF GOD fits there.  God gave us His word as a mirror, a ruler, a standard by which we can measure the way we serve Him. We read -

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)

 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Calibration is used for a reason.  That reason is to make sure the item calibrated performs the function it was designed for.

So again, I ask myself – “What is my life designed for?  What am I designed for?”   I go back to the “Known Standard” for this answer. 

 Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

 Isaiah 43:6-7(NIV) 
Do not be afraid, for I am with you;  I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west.
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ 
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’

Bring my sons from afar
    and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
 everyone who is called by my name,
    whom I created for my glory,
    whom I formed and made.” 

WE ARE CREATED 

To do the good works that God has prepared for us.

Created as sons and daughters of God

WE ARE CREATED FOR HIS GLORY