Tried With Fire

Mother: I've never grown old before. Daughter: None of us have. Mother: Is there a book that I can read that can help me know what to do? Daughter: There may be, but what works for one person may not work for everyone. So we have to trust God. When my sister related this conversation she had with our mom, I had to smile. This is Mom and her methodology to a T. Do the research, learn the rules, then do it right. This showed in her organization, efficiency, and thinking through and planning for everything to the smallest detail. This is how she functioned until the fall in the form of dementia began to manifest. Thus every glimpse that it is still Mom and not the disease is encouraging, But the details are much more elusive now. My mom compensates by jotting down lists on scraps of paper to help her remember what to do. I've come across those lists, and I marvel at her efforts. I also weep a little because, barring a miracle, I don't think she will get her memory bac...

This 1st Q&A from the Heidelberg catechism never gets old. It's an anchor for the soul in troubling and sorrowful times. Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death? A. That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death— to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.  Photo credit: By Heino Ruiso (Eesti Looduse fotovõistlus 2013) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

This is what Jesus prayed in John 17 . If anyone prayed without selfish motives, Jesus did. If anyone prayed in full accordance with the will of the Father, He did. v.1 - glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You v.4 - glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. v.11 - Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. v.15 - I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. v.20 -21 - I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. v.22 - that they may be one, just as We are one v.23 - that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world...

There was a time when the book of Revelation was my least favorite book of the Bible. I thought its main message was to foretell all the horrible things that would happen before Jesus comes back, and those horrors would be my fate unless I achieved a certain level of spirituality whereby God would deem me mature enough to escape them. Cold comfort, indeed! At least, Revelation was at the end of the Bible so I could avoid reading it as long as possible. But what a terrible state to be in. I had no assurance as to my salvation. God and His gospel seemed weak and ineffectual, and I was afraid to read part of the Bible. But I couldn't be more wrong. The gospel isn't the power of God to just get me in the door and then the rest is up to me. What Christ has accomplished covers the beginning, middle, and end of my Christian life. I am not living in a dualistic Star-Wars-like universe where good and evil battle one another on a level playing field. Who in his right mind would cont...

We meet to part, but part to meet When earthly labors are complete, To join in yet more blest employ, In an eternal world of joy. This is the last stanza of the Southern Seminary hymn . Pastor Ryan quoted this in his sermon yesterday on 1 Thess. 4: 13-18 , a text that is typically used at funerals.  But when we consider life, we don't know what our days may hold. This past year, there have been those who didn't expect to lose family or friends.  This coming year, we may say farewell (at least in this life) to loved ones, friends, or this may be the year God calls us to glory.  But though we may part for now, we have the hope of meeting again. God will keep us safe in Christ , whether we go in advance or are alive when Christ returns.   "Therefore, encourage one another with these words." Even so come, Lord Jesus! Listen to the sermon  here . The changes of God's children are for the better. Death to them is but a gathe...

A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation .  Psalm 68:5 (KJV) I have returned again and again to this verse over the last three years.  It's been a great comfort to me in my widowhood of divorce. I've read this with tears of anguish, not knowing if I could believe this promise, and with tears of joy.  Thank God His faithfulness is not diminished by my unbelief.   This verse comes to mind again because I go back to court for the 4th time tomorrow morning.  An earthly advocate will present my case to an earthly judge.   I will admit that I am a little stressed, mainly because I would like this to be over so we can go on with our lives.  I don't know how the judge will rule, but I need to remind myself that my life, my daughter's life, and our provision is in Someone else's hands.  I have an Advocate in Heaven who pleads my case with His own blood before the ultimate Judge of mankind -  a right...

I was listening to Alone from Shai Linne's album Storiez last night. I lost it on the second verse. I was a faucet tap by the third. There is no question about the good that comes out of trials. But the pain of those trials are a reality as well. We're not anesthetized by God to become numb to the pain. If we were numb to the pain, we'd be numb to the joy as well. It seems like my life is a coming together of opposites. On the one hand, there is hurt and loneliness, and yet there is joy and fellowship in Christ. There's rejection, and yet I am accepted in the Beloved. Sometimes I feel very alone, but there is One who will never leave me nor forsake me. Can I take another step, but then grace is poured out to go on in joy. But if my life is the intersection of opposites, what was it like for Jesus Christ? God and man, perfect yet coming to seek sinners, holy and righteous yet made sin on my behalf, beloved of the Father yet stricken by God, always one with God yet cut o...

Pastor Ryan continued the series on the Gospel and the Home. Last week was on the Virtuous Woman in Proverbs 31. This week was on the Gospel Marriage from Ephesians 5. I found myself wishing that I had heard a sermon like this before I ever contemplated marriage. Even in Christian circles, marriage is portrayed primarily as a horizontal relationship. Oh sure, we want God to bless it, but it's made out to be all about the husband and the wife. Well, Pastor Ryan raised the bar. Marriage is a means of portraying the powerful effect of the gospel in two lives made one. It is a pointer to the true reality, Christ and the Church. It's not about trying to stay in love until you die but to keep covenant because Christ will never break His covenant to His Bride. A marriage relationship is as unto the Lord . He asked the question if our marriages are gospel marriages or religious marriages. If we believe that our standing with Christ is only based on His finished work that we receive...

When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul. Psalm 94:19 (ESV) When I read this verse this morning, I recalled the many times that I experienced God's consolations to my soul. There were times when I didn't think I could go on and God was merciful to give me hope. It may have been from my Bible reading, something from Spurgeon, a hymn by John Newton, or Sunday's sermon, but the common theme of what had lasting comfort was that I was pointed away from me to Christ. What better consolation is there when you feel like your world is falling apart then to behold the One who upholds the universe by the word of His power? There is no better consolation than Christ.

I received a call today from a dear, older sister in Christ. I hadn't seen her since September 2008, and she wanted to know how I was doing with the divorce. I was able to testify of God's goodness and faithfulness to her. However, it was very interesting when I mentioned that the knowledge of God's absolute sovereignty was the anchor that kept both my daughter and I. She immediately mentioned how God gives us free will and that my husband made the choice to leave, and he is choosing to reject God. She mentioned that God's hand is always out but he is choosing to not turn back to God. One specific thing she said was "God did not want this to happen." Probably out of respect for her age (she's the same age as my mother) and she needed to go run errands, I did not embark on a heated debate that our free will is a slave to sin, only being able to choose what is wrong. However, her immediate response was very interesting and a little bit sad because it reminde...

And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. Luke 12:11-12 And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in...

1. Whate’er my God ordains is right, Holy His will abideth. I will be still whate’er He does, And follow where He guideth. He is my God, Though dark my road. He holds me that I shall not fall Wherefore to Him I leave it all 2. Whate’er my God ordains is right, He never will deceive me He leads me by the proper path, I know He will not leave me I take, content, What He hath sent His hand can turn my griefs away And patiently I wait His day 3. Whate’er my God ordains is right, Though now this cup in drinking May bitter seem to my faint heart, I take it all unshrinking My God is true, Each morn anew Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart And pain and sorrow shall depart 4. Whate’er my God ordains is right, Here shall my stand be taken Though sorrow, need, or death be mine, Yet I am not forsaken My Father’s care Is round me there He holds me that I shall not fall And so to Him I leave it all

In today's mail, we received a flier from a nearby church which had the following statement, " Heaven on earth...promised to us all! " They put the exclamation point. I changed it to a question mark. Because I thought we were promised... I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 16:33 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 2 Timothy 3:12 If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. John 15: 18-20 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking...

I have been guilty so often of reading the Bible to find out what God says about me and my situation. I think it was on a White Horse Inn podcast, where one of the guys said that we should read the Bible so we see what the Word says about God and His character. Well today, I read Psalm 68:5 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation . On a totally subjective level, I feel like a widow because of my husband's exodus and filing for divorce. I feel like my daughter is fatherless because her earthly father is not here. I would love for all my concerns to be taken care of miraculously. Today of all days, I would have loved to latch onto that verse because I had to give a deposition for the divorce this afternoon. What I am wrestling with is the whole concept of claiming the verse. I believe the verse is true because the Word of God is true. It shows God's character. But, can I say, just because I read it today or because it gave me a certain fe...