The Security of God's Presence - Dinner #62

     I’m SO grateful that God has chosen to give another Little Blessing to our home! I’m rejoicing in the fact that God reached down from Heaven and is making my body ABLE to carry another baby, despite the world warning me differently!  But there are so many times, when I look around me and wonder, can I really do this?! I’m struggling right now, just dealing with an active 13-month-old who’s had runny diapers and been staining outfits left-and-right for the past week!  HOW ON EARTH will I EVER do dishes or keep up with laundry when I’m back to sitting on the couch, nursing for 8 hours out of the day? Or how will I EVER properly correct and discipline as Brooklyn moves into the 2-year-old stage? Am I really READY for two children? I think I need to re-memorize Psalm 57:7 – “My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.” And then there’s my special verse in Psalm 113:9 - “He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children . . .” A JOYFUL mother of children!  Yes! Ok! I can do this! I just have to trust in the Lord! I’ll be joyful! It will all work out! And then I begin to question and doubt again . . .

    What other thoughts have been plaguing this expectant mother’s mind? I have no idea where this baby is going to be born!  Is the Lord suddenly going to supply the job, the house, and the money required, for us to make a long-distance move? If we stay here, can we possibly fit two cribs in that one small bedroom? How can I start planning, rearranging and decorating for this poor little one, if I don’t even know where we’re going to be in the next few months? Will I even still be here NEXT month, to find out the baby’s gender, or will we be caught in the middle of an insurance transition? My mind just wants to go CRAZY sometimes with all of the wonderings, the fears, and the “what ifs”!

     Do you know what I KNOW that I need, more than anything, right now? THE SECURITY OF GOD’S PRESENCE.  Psalm 36:7 declares, “How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.”  Our daughter Brooklyn usually cries HYSTERICALLY if someone is vacuuming in the house, but if someone else is HOLDING HER during the vacuuming, she’s perfectly fine!  How often are we just like that? Completely flipping out when we’re overwhelmed and scared, unless we STOP and realize that we are being HELD by our Heavenly Father! Psalm 34:17 “The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.” Psalm 34:4 “I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” Not just one of my fears – ALL of them! How I need to hold onto that verse, once again!

     If I feel alone with my fears, Psalm 139:7 reminds me, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?” Why have I chosen to write about these things, tonight, as my baby girl is sleeping and my husband is working? Perhaps, because it is during the quiet moments, that we tend to THINK and to FEAR the most.  The month of July has threatened to choke my heart with fearful discouragement, this year.  I wrote this devotional because I NEEDED to write this devotional! I NEEDED these verses, this month! Are you, too, in need of the security of God’s Holy Presence, tonight? Then may we pray the words of Psalm 61:1-2, 4: “Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I . . . I will trust in the covert of thy wings.”  God Bless, Dear Sisters, and Goodnight!

A Same But Different Sea - Dinner #55

     Sometimes we’re faced with a brand new trial, we’ve never known before.  Sometimes we’re faced with a trial that is the same, yet, somehow different.   Joshua 3:4 says, “. . . that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore.” My own family is facing a “fork in the road”.  We have been for several months now.  Some weeks we feel as though we have peace about a step in a certain direction, and then, all of a sudden, things change again.  As a woman, my heart desires  STABILITY!  I have the peace and the certainty that my husband wants what is best for our family, but any talk of moving ANYWHERE or changing ANYTHING has been very unsettling to me, lately.

      This past Sunday night, I had the opportunity to hear some of the Crown College “Preacher Boys” in our pulpit.  One of them preached from Matthew chapter 14.  “And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go . . . But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.” (Matthew 14:22, 24-25) This young man pointed out that some of these disciples had done this before! They were fishermen, and had gone across this sea many times - but this time it was different.  That thought really stuck with me.  You see, I, too, have a “sea” before me that I’ve crossed many times – but this time, it’s different . . . My husband keeps talking about the possibility of us moving or changing jobs.  That is NOT a new sea to me!  I’ve moved SO many times in my life!  My dad was in the military! But this time, it’s different . . .  I don’t want to leave the first home of our married life! Everything from the carpeting to the cabinets has been just right for us! We’re close to grocery stores, a library, parks, church, friends . . Perhaps, God won’t have us actually move.  But, even if we don’t, a job change is frightening, too! I’ve been through job changes before, but we have a baby now! What about health coverage? What if we find out we’re having another baby, before new insurance goes into place? In many ways, we “have not passed this way heretofore.”

     The young man preaching on Sunday night, went on to say that this sailing in the boat was a journey to COME TO CHRIST!  Matthew 14:28-29 “And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come . . .”  Lord, if it is YOU . . . I must be assured in my heart, that if GOD has us move or change jobs, then it will be a journey to DRAW US CLOSER TO HIM!  In Exodus 33:13, Moses begged the Lord, “Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee . . .” Is this what You would have our family do, Oh Lord?  Please show us the path to KNOWING YOU MORE!  Exodus 33:15 continues Moses’ conversation: “And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.” If You’re not going with us, Lord, then please don’t move us! May we only move or make a change, if YOU will be with us! That should be our prayer!

     Are you facing a familiar sea with a different type of storm than before?  Praise God, that our Lord is the OVERCOMER of storms!  “ . . . for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.” (Luke 8:25)  “He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.” (Psalm 107:29) Jesus may tell us to “go” out into the sea, but He will also be there to reach out His hand, and to say unto us, “Come” . . . As a lovely Wild’s song says, “Draw me close to Thyself, O Lord, And give me peace in the midst of my storm...”  If it is a sailing journey of GOD’S choosing, then it is a journey to draw us closer to Himself!

Unknown Changes - Dinner #10

     I was reminded more than once this past week, how very little we truly comprehend the work that God is doing in us.  So often, unexpected events, unknown twists and turns, take place, altering our lives forever.  When these “jolts” in life come, we must remember that only God can see the complete picture – a beautiful tapestry before Him and a perfect plan that He alone is in control of. 

     Perhaps everything seems as though it is going along at a steady pace, and then, suddenly – BOOM!  Unexpected things happen to people every day, sometimes changing the course of their entire future . . . a new job moves you to a different state, a child is hospitalized, a parent finds out they have cancer,  a tornado rips through your house, a spouse dies in a car accident . . . Does anyone really see events such as these, coming their way?  In Psalm 31, David writes, “But I trusted in thee, O LORD; I said, Thou art my God.  My times are in thy hand . . .”  The Christian knows that God is in control!  He holds these times in the palm of His hand! 

     Most women do not appreciate change very much.  We love and long for security wherever we can find it.  But Psalm 55:19 declares, “ . . . Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.”  Change is actually very good for us!  If we get too settled in our own little worlds, we can soon forget to fear the Lord!  But are these tumultuous things pleasant to go through?  Of course not!  We do not ENJOY pain, and we do not ENJOY change.  Psalm 119:71, says, however, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.”  Such times serve to draw us closer to our Savior and to His Word! Psalm 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”  We may not know the way, but God does! Psalm 142:3 “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. . .”

     You might say, “But my husband just lost his job!”, or “My infant has to undergo surgery!”  Does God really know what He is doing?!  Psalm 138:8 holds the very dear promise, “The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me . . .”  Philippians 1:6 declares, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”  This present change in your life is part of His GOOD work in you!  Psalm 145:9, 17 “The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works . . . The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.”  ALL of them!  Every single one!  He is in control, and whether you can see it yet or not, He is only seeking to do you good! Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

     You may think you have all your “ducks in a row” for a lifetime.  You may think you’re going to stay put in one place or serve on one particular mission field until the day you die, but God says, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)  Sometimes God will reveal to you, that He has other plans than you have for yourself - HIGHER plans!  Sometimes God wants to bring you CHANGE.

     Where can we find joy in the midst of these unsettling changes?  Where can we find joy when our security is taken away from us?  Psalm 16:11 “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”  Stay close to the Savior’s side, and you will find joy in the unexpected days!  Malachi 3:6 says, “ For I am the LORD, I change not . . .”   In the midst of an ever-changing life, remember always that our Lord DOES NOT and WILL NOT change!  No matter what you may go through, God will be right by your side!