Faith is what spurs us to reach higher, stretch further, dig deeper, and press our natural boundaries in hopes that we can exceed all expectations.
I saw this story on ’60 Minutes’ last night and it touched my heart dearly. I cried and thought, now that’s what good love looks like. After 75 years and it still seemed like all a dream…
The video is called “A Letter From Fred”. It’s about a song he wrote for his wife after her passing, which ended up winning a songwriting contest held by the local recording studio. http://vimeo.com/70426141
Sometimes I look around and feel like everyone has someone… except me. But truthfully, I know there are those ‘coupled up’ who feel the same way, alone. And as tempting as it is to sit around feeling sorry for myself, God is using this time to draw me closer to Him. It has become a matter of changing my mind and attitude to gratefulness that I have time to spend alone with God.
Jesus often went off by Himself to be alone with God the Father in prayer (Luke 5:16). When I’m alone with God, without the distractions of the world, I can hear His voice much more clearly. Typically, that’s why I fast. Its in this stillness, that I can hear the whispers of His will. When I’m walking in intimacy with God, one isn’t the loneliest number, as the song goes; one becomes a whole number. The great Jehovah-Jireh promises to meet all my emotional and social needs during this time.
I’ve also found that it is during this wholeness I have in Christ that I am able to recognize and reach out to others in need of companionship. I’ve noticed there are so many people within reach that are looking for someone to care about them and many more in search of a savior. My adored Author hasn’t forgotten about me… He’s filling my heart as a vessel during this time to pour into others with desperate, more immediate needs.
I am an excuse-maker. There, I said it. Easily at my worst, but I’ve noticed even at my best! The disease has caught my attention as I’m sure in the days ahead God will begin to unveil the implications of why I’m prone to denial through excuse-making.
Where the rubber meets the road was during an afternoon run. In 88 degree, sun scorching temps, I was making my way along a paved path in an effort to complete a 5-mile round trip. No lie, I thought I was dogging the entire journey, but I kept at it. On the return route, I passed by some people who yelled out ‘nice pace’ and I panted back ‘this is as good as it gets in this weather’. Immediately my mind retracted that statement and I thought ‘God is sustaining me, THAT is the only way I’m still able to keep a pace’. I kept at it and as I rounded out the run, I looked down to see my total run time was 48 minutes! How could that be? That IS a good pace considering the duration! And that’s when it dawned on me…
Sometimes what we see right in front of us is clouded by the exhaustion we feel to get there, but from an outsiders perspective, we’re running at a good pace! And I think once we get to the ‘finish line’ of this race, we’ll look back and too be astounded at the trek we’ve just completed. That wasn’t too bad after all!
So here’s what I’ve taken away after deeper reflection upon this troubling habit. Making excuses for ‘the bad’ is like making excuses for the devil and I don’t want to waste my breath sticking up for the enemy’s work in me, nor give him the satisfaction of doing so. I truly welcome accountability and shining light on the darkness, exposing it so I can be free and uplifted in an effort to be a better version of myself. As for the good things that I still find necessary for excuse-making… God’s work in me is just where He has me and I don’t need to make an excuse for what He’s doing with me. From my perspective, it may appear a bit grueling at times, but I must trust and believe that the great Sustainer has me right on pace!
Do you think God ever becomes overwhelmed by our prayers? That He finds our specific requests too greedy or as a sign of ungratefulness for all He’s already done? Do you think we trust Him with enough of them? NO!
I realized awhile back that I was generalizing my prayer requests to the Lord and not trusting Him enough with the specifics. It’s almost as if I didn’t want to be let down in the event that He didn’t grant a specific answer. My prayers were very unimaginative and looked something like this “Lord, would you bring me a friend”… “God, help me find a job”… “Father, will you take away this pain”. And God spoke back “Don’t you trust me to handle the specific desires of your heart?”
This was a really hard thing for me grasp. I had been let down by many men in my life and quite honestly, much of it stemmed from my earthly father. I started to understand that I was projecting this pain unto my heavenly father and holding my prayers hostage in the specifics to protect my heart from being let down, if God decided not to deliver. Whew! That was a lot to comprehend.
So I mustered up the audacity to get specific. Prayer after prayer, I began to add more details as I witnessed His faithfulness. I started to document the day I started praying for something and the moment He answered. There are times in spiritual growth, my heart’s desire shifts and the prayer changes. Sometimes it takes years of persistent prayer, other times months, days or minutes. But what I do know is that God answers!
Here’s a recent example. June 4, 2013 “Lord, would you bring me a friend… an accountability partner… to work out with at the gym… the one I work out at in my neighborhood… during the times I work out. God, would you also bless me with someone in my profession whom I can connect with in my career… a woman of faith… a friend in a similar place in life as me… someone who enjoys good food but lives on a budget… someone to take fun trips with and whom we can praise your goodness together.”
Following that prayer, I dined with many new girlfriends and could feel God’s love supporting me in new friendships (thank God for girlfriends!), but I was looking for someone more specific. Many times we settle for the good and give up hope for the great. I kept praying for my specific.
Weeks went by and I received an email “Hi, Trisha. I’m a month late doing this, but I found your card on my desk and wanted to reach out. We met at the PRSA meeting last month. I’d love to grab lunch or dinner in the next couple of weeks if you’re interested.”
We went to dinner and here’s who I found sitting across the table from me… a woman of faith who has found herself newly single, works in my career profession just a couple minutes my job, lives near my neighborhood, runs along the same trail I do… during the same time that I do, works out at my gym on the only day, at the only time, during the only class that I do… in the exact same corner that I stand! For the last two months, she had been standing in front of me and passing by me. As I prayed up a storm for my specific friend, God had delivered on time… I just needed to step up and step out in faith knowing He had already done it!
August 7, 2013 “You are the Almighty Provider and once again you have heard the cry in my heart and delivered. May the sound of this praise and testimony declare your goodness so that you get all the glory and others may believe.”
This last year God has been stretching, let me emphasize on stretching my faith. And I’m so thankful for it! What a small view of such an Almighty God I have sometimes. If you’re looking for a specific answer… get specific in your prayer requests. While God knows the desires of your heart, He still wants to be asked, and then trusted with it.
(Excerpt from a study by Beth Moore)
17:5-8 (NET): The LORD says, “I will put a curse on people who trust in mere human beings, who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength, and whose hearts have turned away from the LORD. They will be like a shrub in the desert. They will not experience good things even when they happen. It will be as though they were growing in the desert, in a salt land where no one can live. My blessing is on those people who trust in me, who put their confidence in me. They will be like a tree planted near a stream whose roots spread out toward the water. It has nothing to fear when the heat comes. Its leaves are always green. It has no need to be concerned in a year of drought. It does not stop bearing fruit.”
If you’re familiar with the passage, you are probably more accustomed to wording like the NIV: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man.” The fact that the NET makes God the one “putting” the curse on man makes us squirm. Before we let it tie us in a knot and throw us in a lake of fear, we have to remind ourselves of our position in Christ. We have the glorious benefit of living this side of the completed work of the Cross and resurrection.
Galatians 3:13 says to our great relief: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’”
Jeremiah 17:5 is still tremendously relevant to us because it unfolds the misery of counting on mere flesh and blood. I wonder if the “curse” talked about in this verse is of the same ilk as the one in Genesis 3 that came directly from God to man after the fall in the Garden. If Adam and Eve were doing anything at all when they ate from that tree, they were shifting their trust from God to themselves – mere flesh and blood – by attempting to be God-like. Though the Cross of Christ bore the curse for us, we can still endure the desolation that invariably results from placing our trust and confidence in people rather than God. This gets us where we’re going in our post today. Look back at Jeremiah 17:6 because this is the part that totally captivated me.
“They will be like a shrub in the desert. They will not experience good things even when they happen.”
Read it again if you need to but don’t proceed until you’ve tried to absorb that second sentence. Have you ever been right in the middle of something good happening and yet missed the full experience and joyful impact of it? Surely you’ve said silently to yourself as I’ve said to myself, “I should really be happy right now. What is wrong with me??” You know the feeling. You’re in a celebration or service of some kind or a holiday gathering and yet you almost feel detached from it. You’re there. But you are somehow disconnected from experiencing it. You know “it” (the positive thing presently happening) but you can’t feel it. It’s a good thing but you don’t feel good about it…or in it. What on earth is that about?
Jeremiah would suggest that the experience of good can be disconnected from the good because we are in a season of shifted trust from God to man. When we’ve set our hopes for happiness in how well all our people are doing…getting along…flourishing…affirming us…satisfying us…and all-around-generally-blessing us, and we even get a glimmer of it, we can’t experience the good because we know down deep that we can’t hold onto it. As much as we love all our people, we know that, ultimately, they are not going to come through for us. One shoe will drop. Then the other. The disappointment will come. And the harmony we feel for this moment with our fellow humans could at any second flip upside down into complete mayhem.
Notice the part that says “they will be like a shrub in the desert.” Isn’t it ironic that the more we depend on flesh and blood to come through for us and to fulfill us, the more isolated we become? You’d think that numbers alone would insure company and community. In other words, why derive our strengths and confidences from one God when we could get infinitely more out of all these people? Out of all these communities? Out of all our fellow church members? Out of all our Facebook friends? Our fellow tweeters? Company is one click away.
But it never works that way, does it? We never can let down our guard completely and find any shred of real security from flesh and blood. The person obsessed with us today can turn on us tomorrow and we know it. The person who makes life worth living for us today could die on us tomorrow and we know it. I don’t mean to be morose. I just mean to point out the emotional tightrope we’re walking. Being vastly people-oriented rather than God-oriented always ends up taking us to a place of isolation because they’re invariably busy when we want to play, invariably distracted when we want attention, and invariably more taken with themselves than with us. And so, there we sit, with our trust and confidence in mere flesh and blood and we end up feeling like a shrub in a desert. Just as Jeremiah 17:6 says, “It will be as though [we] are growing in the desert, in a salt land where no one can live.”
Trust in man can seem a great place to visit but no one can really live there and come out calling it living.
It’s so odd to me that the more drawn I feel to God and the more taken I become with His Presence, the freer I am to love other people and the less I hold them responsible for me. Community with God increases our “experience” of good in a community of people. It is its own paradox.
My blessing is on those people who trust in Me, who put their confidence in Me. Jeremiah 17:7 The NET Bible
And what earthly difference would that make? Well, let’s see…
“They will be like a tree planted near a stream whose roots spread out toward the water. It has nothing to fear when the heat comes. Its leaves are always green. It has no need to be concerned in a year of drought. It does not stop bearing fruit.”
Notice a very intriguing contrast hidden in Jeremiah 17:8 – “It has nothing to fear when the heat comes.”
Reflect back on 17:6b – “They will not experience good things even when [good things] happen.”
When we place our confidence in mere flesh and blood, we are shortchanged even when good things happen. When we place our confidence in God, the Immortal Invisible, we have nothing to fear even when hard things happen. The former leaves us a dry shrub. The latter makes us a fruit-bearing tree.
We never get this lesson learned once and for all, do we? Or maybe it’s just me. I still get so tempted to put my confidence in people and to think that, if all my loved ones were safe, well, and flourishing, I could be so happy. The truth of it is, I do want those things for my loved ones but God alone can come through for them and for me. Anyway, at the end of the day, I could have everything this world could offer and all the good that man could possibly do me and still sit back and think, “Why doesn’t it feel better than this?”
My blessing is on those people who trust in Me, who put their confidence in Me.
Only one spot left next to an outlet in the cafe and I collapsed into a chair with an armful of hopeful reads. Before I could draw the phone charger from my purse, a guy next to me asks ‘You want to switch places?’ And a conversation about God’s work in our lives ensued. This actor/fitness trainer/sales rep made a comment that caught my attention in his effort to explain an approaching move to California. “I’m just better than ‘this’,” he said, alluding to his 8-5 job. He talked about the gifts God gave him was above where he’s at.
Two concepts crossed my mind. There are certain commands throughout scripture God outlines for His people. Working to eat is one. It doesn’t matter if you’re out in the field or pushing pencils, we’re required to have a job. If your job doesn’t allow for you to share the gifts God has blessed you with, there are 12 other hours in a day to seek out opportunities to serve with these. I think about the parable of the bags of gold in the book of Matthew. The servant who invests what the master gives Him will be rewarded ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
Here’s the second thing I thought about. Outside of tithing ten percent of your wages to the corporate church, there’s ‘giving’ to the fellowship church, a concept that goes the extra mile. Giving is out of generosity, giving is out of gratitude… giving gives us meaning in ‘life’. The gentleman in the cafe was right you know? He was created for more than just defining his life by an 8-5 paycheck.
I remember during the summer months as a child, my parents would leave a list of chores each day. I’d race through the list and scurry off to the pool. Mom and Dad would come home, compliment the tasks done and remark ‘you know, it wouldn’t hurt if you did more than you’re told’?
In the echo of my earthly dad’s voice, I hear my heavenly Father gently reminding me ‘you know, it wouldn’t hurt if you did more than you’re told’. If you have found yourself searching for something ‘bigger than this’, before you move thousands of miles away only to find your life is still not satisfied, try going the extra mile where you’re at. If we feel we’re ‘bigger’ than where God has us, there’s a great possibility we’re probably not doing enough with what has been given.
God is always on time and gives us just what we need. Where are you investing your time and your talent… not for a paycheck (that’s when you receive the benefit), but for the greater call of Christ? Because you were made for more than ‘this’.
We all have dreams, ambitions and life aspirations; personal goals, career objectives and community/world impact are just a few areas. For the most part, we probably have a vision of what that path looks like to achieve them, but sometimes a bump in the road throws us off. When it happens to me, I run to God with a long list of questions ‘what did I get wrong’… ‘what then are you preparing me for’? The other night though, He answered back, ‘what are you preparing for?’
Here’s a story I was recently told. Famous UCLA basketball coach John Wooden led one of the greatest dynasties in sports history, winning 10 NCAA Championships in 12 years. Toward the end of his life, he was asked what one day from his storied career he would choose to re-live if given the chance. Wooden said he would conduct one more day of practice in the gym because “each day of practice was, by far, the most fulfilling, exciting, and memorable thing I did as a coach. That’s where I taught those under my supervision how to achieve success as members of a team.”
I think about David and Goliath. Before the big showdown, there was the setup. David spent his youth shepherding day in and day out. Even after Samuel anointed him King of Israel, David didn’t take the throne until many years later. On that infamous battle day, David was only a shepherd boy, equipped with a testimony of God’s help in the field to fight a lion and bear in order to protect the sheep. That was the preparation David needed to stand with his sling and shoot down the beast-that was a man God prepared to be king before he ever took the crown.
I think about some of the more ‘simple’ desires of the heart; becoming a great spouse, parent, leader or disciple. When we can’t tangibly see or be in the moment requiring greatness, it’s difficult to find motive for daily preparation. But truthfully, we don’t become a great spouse the moment we say ‘I do’. Every day prior to the altar, we must choose to be diligent in our journey with this goal in mind.
Here’s what that looks like for me. Instead of pouring a bowl of cereal for a single gal, I make a conscious effort to prepare nutritious choices. With that same vision in mind, the company I keep is full of female friendships and wisdom, as I’ve learned to let go of male relationships. Like David, these days are the testimony of God’s preparation in me to be a great ‘queen’ or bride. I’m choosing to walk today in regard to the choices I will make tomorrow.
So what are you preparing for? Tomorrow starts with today.
My future is worth it. Pear, arugula, balsamic flatbread with pine nuts and mozzarella cheese.
My future is worth it- Eggplant, fresh sage and aged asiago cheese. Asparagus, mushrooms, onions, peppers topped with tomatoes, white wine, fresh basil, cracked pepper and olive oil.
I’m watching The Notebook for the millionth time and as I’m putting the dvd in, I question why I like this movie so much. Then I hear the narrative and I remember; the lines in this film tell a tale of the truth about love. At the heart of it, we can relate; we would rather fight with someone we’re so deeply in love with, than make romance with anyone else. Listen to these lines…
“You’re bored. You’re bored and you know it. You wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t something missing.”
“You arrogant son of a b*tch.” “Would you just stay with me?”
“Stay with you? What for? Look at us, we’re already fightin'”
“Well that’s what we do, we fight… You tell me when I am being an arrogant son of a b*tch and I tell you when you are a pain in the a**. Which you are, 99% of the time. I’m not afraid to hurt your feelings. You have like a 2 second rebound rate, then you’re back doing the next pain-in-the-a** thing.”
“So what?”
“So it’s not gonna be easy. It’s gonna be really hard. We’re gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, you and me, every day. Will you do something for me, please? Just picture your life for me? 30 years from now, 40 years from now? What’s it look like? If it’s with him, go. Go! I lost you once, I think I can do it again. If I thought that’s what you really wanted. But don’t you take the easy way out.”
“What easy way? There is no easy way, no matter what I do, somebody gets hurt.”
“Would you stop thinking about what everyone wants? Stop thinking about what I want, what he wants, what your parents want. What do YOU want? What do you WANT?”
“It’s not that simple.”
“What… do… you… want? Whaddaya want?”
For me, that dialogue pretty much wraps up a story I’ve shared with someone and maybe that’s why others rerun the reel as well. Sadly even though this scene may have passed for many, the heart is giddy and kindles a fresh reminder of what it’s like to love so deeply. This line of the movie says it better than I do… “I am nothing special; just a common man with common thoughts, and I’ve led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten. But in one respect I have succeeded as gloriously as anyone who’s ever lived: I’ve loved another with all my heart and soul; and to me, this has always been enough.”
Have you ever tried to do a keyword search for the term ‘happiness’ and ‘Jesus’ together in scripture? It doesn’t exist. And it won’t matter what version of the bible you’re using, I checked them all. Yet, if you listen closely, most of what people are speaking and singing about, even striving for today is this word ‘happy’. Are we happy? Yes, No? If not, why not? What do we need to do to be ‘happy’? Deception starts to creep in through doubt and we make up a pleasant story that God would want us all to be ‘happy’. So we alter our actions to align with this new found theology, aiming for a cheap imitation of the true call Jesus did use… ‘joy’.
If we examined the full body of ‘joy’, we’d find a description more like hardships, pain, trials and tears coupled with stability, serenity and comfort. I like how the dictionary describes ‘joy’ as treasure. Quite honestly, I think most of us settle for a word like ‘happiness’ out of laziness. Anything authentic costs more and consequently has more value; it requires more time and effort than its counterfeit.
I noticed in the dictionary ‘joy’ was also described as ‘greater happiness’. Joy has depth. A person must dig below the surface of happiness to reach the richness of what Jesus was talking about. For the most part, we weren’t all called to strap on some sandals and walk the sands of the earth in search of joy. Instead, we’re left to learn how to live in the ‘in between’; in the pain and conflicts, sometimes in the suffering while experiencing purpose, stability, comfort and contentment.
I can think of no better example than what Hebrews notes as the deeper ‘joy’ Jesus had in His heart, that carried Him to the cross. Isn’t it amazing that if we’re experiencing joy, the real riches of joy, we could actually suffer willingly for the sake of someone else and still be content? That’s something happiness could never do because it’s centered around pleasing oneself.
Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
What the world has to offer is only a rip off of what God can give. So next time you’re tempted to alter your lifestyle around the lyrics and language society says should ‘please’ you, I pray you won’t settle on the surface or short term, but that you’ll dig a little deeper, stay in there a little longer to uncover the livelihood Jesus’s lips spoke of… the authentic life of ‘joy’.
Have you ever tried to do a keyword search for the term ‘happiness’ and ‘Jesus’ together in scripture? It doesn’t exist. And it won’t matter what version of the bible you’re using, I checked them all. Yet, if you listen closely, most of what people are speaking and singing about, even striving for today is this word ‘happy’. Are we happy? Yes, No? If not, why not? What do we need to do to be ‘happy’? Deception starts to creep in through doubt and we make up a pleasant story that God would want us all to be ‘happy’. So we alter our actions to align with this new found theology, aiming for a cheap imitation of the true call Jesus did use… ‘joy’.
If we examined the full body of ‘joy’, we’d find a description more like hardships, pain, trials and tears coupled with stability, serenity and comfort. I like how the dictionary describes ‘joy’ as treasure. Quite honestly, I think most of us settle for a word like ‘happiness’ out of laziness. Anything authentic costs more and consequently has more value; it requires more time and effort than its counterfeit.
I noticed in the dictionary ‘joy’ was also described as ‘greater happiness’. Joy has depth. A person must dig below the surface of happiness to reach the richness of what Jesus was talking about. For the most part, we weren’t all called to strap on some sandals and walk the sands of the earth in search of joy. Instead, we’re left to learn how to live in the ‘in between’; in the pain and conflicts, sometimes in the suffering while experiencing purpose, stability, comfort and contentment.
I can think of no better example than what Hebrews notes as the deeper ‘joy’ Jesus had in His heart, that carried Him to the cross. Isn’t it amazing that if we’re experiencing joy, the real riches of joy, we could actually suffer willingly for the sake of someone else and still be content? That’s something happiness could never do because it’s centered around pleasing oneself.
Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
What the world has to offer is only a rip off of what God can give. So next time you’re tempted to alter your lifestyle around the lyrics and language society says should ‘please’ you, I pray you won’t settle on the surface or short term, but that you’ll dig a little deeper, stay in there a little longer to uncover the livelihood Jesus’s lips spoke of… the authentic life of ‘joy’.