I have been pondering thoughts about “systems” and have discussed them at length with my husband. The first system that we have discussed is that of the church. We are currently out of the traditional church and are attempting to meet from house to house. (I will discuss my thoughts on other systems in another post)

But I am coming to the point of realizing, it is not about what we create “each week”. It is about being available to do whatever God is instructing us to do in “each day”. Letting go of some of the bondage of what is required according to church structure has been very liberating for us….also very difficult. We want interaction with like-minded individuals, desperately. But we also realize it is not about what we can create ourselves. We must be available to go as God guides us or wait when He tells us to do so.

So, today, we wait…

Alan, at The Assembling of the Church, has some excellent thoughts on how we can step outside of our box and be the church, in his post, The Church Meets Here… His thoughts on this issue have encouraged me today. I am sure they will encourage you as well.

So, today, I ask you. How can we be the church to others? In what ways can we come out of our comfort zone and be uncomfortable in order to love someone else?

What does a mother do to express her love?

When I came into motherhood, I had a picture of how things would be. You know the picture I’m talking about. Endless nights of reading and playing, children obediently following directions and life filled with smiles and laughter. Hmmm—Something else happened on the way to the nursery!

What I found out is that my perfect picture was not necessarily destroyed, but was molded into a picture that brought more clarity. See, what I was bringing to motherhood was an idea that I created. But, what I found out was that my son was not another “me”. He was created by God to be an individual. I can’t make him into the man I picture. God is molding and shaping him into the man He wants him to be.

Perspective change– I see my child for who he is and all that he has brought into my life. Just when I think I have figured him out, he does something different. (This keeps me on my toes!) Just when I think I can’t handle another wild idea, he hugs me and tells me he loves me. (this encourages me to be thankful for his love). Just when I think he is still a child, I look at him and see a young man. (this helps me to appreciate each moment).

How do I show a child that has brought such meaning to my life, the depth of my love for him?

I can hold him, tell him I love him, spend time together (for a teenager, sometimes that’s not desirable!). These are the ways I know to show a tangible love to him. But what I desire most is to lead him to a relationship with Christ. And I don’t think that means leading him in a prayer and walking away thinking everything is taken care of. I believe that means living a life before him that shows my love for Christ—showing him that everyone has worth, relationships do matter and loving one another is our true calling—all else just falls into place.

This is how I want to love my child, with the love that Jesus has shown me. Then, His perfect picture can become clear and all will see why this child was created.

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled or let it be fearful.”

It is so easy to become consumed with the everyday responsibilities and demands that are placed on us. I know too well the stress that can result from busying ourselves with “things”. But these things only bring us temporary feelings of accomplishment and contentment. These things cannot fulfill the deepest longings in our heart and soul. Christ alone can fill that need.

It is also easy to trust God when things are going well. When you have enough money in the bank, when your health is well and when everyone around you is happy. But your faith and trust in Christ really becomes clear when you are faced with some “not-so-pleasant” issues and you can still say “I trust you, Lord and I love you, no matter what the outcome”.

My riches are not found in this earth. My riches are in Him and in the relationships that He has given me. There is nothing material on this earth that can be taken away from me that should cause me to worry or fear. Nothing! This is the lesson that I am learning today. Isn’t that the coolest thing about God…we can feel that we have it all figured out, but He lovingly shows us a better perspective-one that brings us life and freedom that surpasses anything we ever experienced before.

I love being a follower of Christ.

Let us rest in the peace that Jesus has freely offered us. Not in the peace that the world attempts to give us, but the kind that is only found in seeking daily the Prince of Peace.

We all have had the experience of knowing others that pass through our lives with which we have a special connection. In fact, we may have several important people that we surround ourselves with, even now. For me, I have been able to find that connection with many people in my life and quite a few of those people stand out as extraordinary. One such person is my grandmother.

What a woman! She had an uncanny ability to show love to everyone she met. It didn’t matter who you were, she loved you. She just radiated the light of Christ that made you want to be with her, all the time. She was quite a role model for me as I grew into my teenage years.

When she was diagnosed with cancer, I began spending even more time with her. On one occasion we were discussing music, particularly spiritual songs, and I asked her the name of her favorite hymn. It was then that I found out that her favorite hymn was How Great Thou Art.

Her prognosis was not good. In fact, she passed away several months later. But having the knowledge that this song was important to her, my uncle and I were able to put together a presentation of how important she was to each member of our family by performing this song at her funeral. (I was using sign language to “sing” the hymn, my uncle and a dear friend played the tune and sang along as well)

So, this post is dedicated to my grandmother, a woman who was an incredible inspiration to me and who I wish could see how wonderfully happy I am today.

How Great Thou Art

A song of great reverence and adoration to our God, the One who has created in us a love for others to share life with, the One who leaves us in awe daily as we acknowledge Him and His unfailing love for us. This hymn speaks of the gratitude that we have for that beautiful love.

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: “My God, how great Thou art!”

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

Carl Gustav, from Sweden, was the author of this poem. As he was taking a walk, he was caught in a severe thunderstorm. As the storm began to calm, he could see in the distance a clear bay and heard a church bell ringing. Then the words began to form in his heart and a peace began to consume him. This “poem” was published in 1891. It was later translated into German and in 1927, a Russian version was published.

Stuart Hine, an English missionary to Ukraine, translated the poem and sang it at an evangelistic meeting in England during World War I. The first three verses were translated into English and Russian in 1949. He later added the fourth verse.

At the website, All About God, Author Lucy Adams, writes:

Of the hymn’s importance he said: “When we reach that heavenly home, we will fully understand the greatness of God, and will bow in humble adoration, saying to Him, O Lord my God, how great thou art.” May we all live in such a way that we will be ready when Jesus Christ appears to receive the saints. Our heavenly home awaits us, all of those who have received Christ in obedience.

Edwin Orr brought the hymn to America and in 1954, Cyrus Nelson of Gospel Light Publications copyrighted and published the hymn. Also, in 1954, the hymn was sung by George Beverly Shea at a London Billy Graham Crusade. It became quite popular as it started appearing in many songbooks.

This hymn is a perfect one to focus on the risen Christ. It is one that, as we read it’s history and bask in the truth of all that God has provided for us through Jesus Christ, should cause us to pause and peacefully think on the depth of His love for us.

Take the time to listen to this wonderful hymn and let it consume your heart with the love of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.

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I have been listening to some news reports that really leave me with a sadness in my heart. The subject is one that many women deal with daily as they support their husbands in their ministry to pastor a church.

The recent story about the pastor’s wife from Alabama that disappeared after a Living Proof conference in Louisiana is one that is sad and has me wondering if this is a real concern among pastor’s wives as a whole. Obviously, this story and the one in Tennessee are isolated events that should not lead us to point fingers at a wife’s calling to support her husband in this ministry, but I believe we should begin to look at the toll that this takes on the women, and the men that they support, as they put their lives out there for all to question.

I am not the wife of a pastor, so I cannot presume to know what exactly takes place “behind the scenes”. However, I have talked with many pastor’s wives that indicate that this is not an easy road to walk. Listening to people criticize their husband, expecting to fill the duties of a pastor’s wife (nursery worker, organizer, pianist, greeter, supporter, etc.) but most of all the loneliness that is produced by trying to fulfill all these roles (you can’t be everything to everyone) could make anyone wonder “Is this really the way it’s supposed to be?”

What can we be doing differently? How can we support and encourage those that believe this is God’s calling on their lives? My husband and I do not take part in a traditional church setting (we are in fellowship with other believers, but we meet in each other’s homes), but I have many friends that are or used to be a pastor’s wife. I want to be able to encourage them and be a source of comfort (which I can do because I’m not in the system–many families that minister within the traditional church setting find it difficult to get close to others within that same system–but that’s a discussion for another post) If you are within that system, though, what can you do?

• Encourage each other
• Show love
• Seek peace
• Exude Joy
• Pray for one another
• Be transparent
• Be like Jesus

I don’t know the personal situations of the families that we hear of in the news, but I do believe it is a sad commentary for Christians to have a person hiding behind the persona of a pastor’s wife, but dying inside for a lack of true companionship, relationships and love.

May we have our eyes opened to the “person” behind that persona and reach out to them with the love that has been so freely granted to us by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Some recent decisions that I have had to make have caused me to think about identity and where we find it. Living in an American culture, we tend to find our identity in “what we do”, as in what we do in the workforce. I have had to face this concept in an area of my life.

Last year, I was teaching in a Special Education classroom. I taught 5 beautiful children that I absolutely adored. This year, I am teaching in my home, my one and only son who I adore even more. When I left my classroom last year, I took a year’s leave of absence from my position and the time is coming, very soon, to make a choice whether to go back to that position or to stay at home.

This has surprisingly been a roller coaster ride for me. I love teaching my son at home, but something has been tugging at me to return to my position in the school system. I have been rather perplexed with the whole situation until I started asking myself, “what am I to gain from returning to teaching in a classroom?”. The answer to this question was not about financial security, or benefits…no, the answer seemed to be that teaching in this particular school system was a source of identity for me.

My family has quite a history in this school system. My mother has taught for almost 40 years. I have two aunts that taught in the classroom and went on to become administrators in their respective systems. My grandparents were key players in the creation of a center for exceptional children in our community. The list continues… All that to say, I took a lot of pride in being a teacher because it connected me to my family and thus created an identity for me. This all started to be exposed when out of necessity, we began to homeschool our son this year. I have begun to rethink many things about American education and have many questions, but still the pull is there to return.

Now, I have not made a formal decision one way or the other in this situation, but it certainly has produced some thinking on my part about identity and where we should find it. As a Christian, we are taught that our identity should be in Christ, but what does that mean?

This scripture comes to mind:

“It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that is our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore as it is written: ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord’”

I Cor. 1:30 NIV

Could it be that we can simply trust our relationship with Jesus and in Jesus to provide the wisdom we need in situations such as the one I am facing? And could it be that keeping that focus at all times, without allowing the pressures that surround us to receive affirmation for our talents and skills, on the one who provides us with those talents and skills?

I’ll be the first one to say that receiving affirmations according to the talents that you have, is very rewarding. It gives us a sense of accomplishment that honestly feels very good. But is it really worth “feeling good” if it is only for self satisfaction and apart from God’s will? That is not a place I want to be –apart from Him.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lived in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 NIV

Seeking His wisdom each moment,

As I was bringing up the idea of highlighting different music, my good friend and fellow blogger, Amy, reminded me of the song, Friend of God by Israel Houghton and Michael Gunger. It is a simple song, but one that encourages us to realize who we are in the eyes of God.

Who am I that you are mindful of me
That you hear me when I call
Is it true that you are thinking of me
How you love me it’s amazing

I am a friend of god
I am a friend of god
I am a friend of god
He calls me friend

God almighty, lord of glory
You have called me friend

He calls me friend
He calls me friend…

Here is a sample of the song and the story behind the song (in the words of Israel Houghton)

When I first heard this song, I was attending a women’s conference. Singing this song, along with thousands of other women, was really one of the highlights of that conference. Now, if we can live as we believe the words that we are singing within this song, the confidence that we have of ourselves in Christ would be astounding! To know that we are a friend of God is a concept that we don’t think of often enough, but that is exactly how He sees us. He wants the intimate fellowship that we crave to be with Him, so that we may share that same intimacy with others.

“Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 NIV

This is a verse that I have heard over the years, and when I heard it (because this is what I was taught), I believed it meant that if I trained my child in the ways of God, in the end he would not stray from those ways. As I have looked at it closer, the verse seems to say much more to me. One version of that scripture says:

“Train up a child in the way he should go[and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 AMP

In keeping with his individual gift or bent… this seems to indicate we should be directing our children to discover their gifts or bents in addition to encouraging them to seek God’s direction in using those gifts to glorify Him.

While this may not seem to surprising to some, it came as a new revelation to me. Sometimes as parents, we tend to have thoughts in our minds of what our children should become. We have thoughts of experiences, friends and social situations that fit our idea of what “our” children should be doing and what they should emulate. We have thoughts of college and acceptable vocations. What I am realizing , though, is that these children that we have been graciously given by God, are His and He will direct them in areas so that their gifts can be used to serve others.

Is it just me or is this knowledge freeing to others as well? To know that our job is to help our children discover their gift, encourage them in that gift and trust God to manage the rest, brings me such peace.

We went to a homeschool conference this past weekend and my son was asked what his “bent” was by another adult. It was encouraging to know that I was not surprised at his answer: music. He said without hesitation, “I like to play my guitar”. I know, as his mom, I must encourage him in that direction. The fact that he has incredible skill in this area is confirmation that this particular gift will be a continuing passion in his life.

As I was leaving my house today, I looked down to see the flag that we currently have in our front yard. It says “Peace on Earth”. It has a snow covered landscape with a church pictured in the center. I immediately began humming the tune to the song, “Let There Be Peace on Earth”.

Don’t ask me why that particular song came to mind…but I started singing it out loud, listening to the lyrics as I sang:

Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me;
Let there be peace on earth,
The peace that was meant to be.

With God as our Father
Brothers all are we,
Let me walk with my brother
In perfect harmony.*

Let peace begin with me,
Let this be the moment now;
With every step I take,
Let this be my solemn vow:

To take each moment and live each moment
In peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.

Copyright 1955 by Jan-Lee Music. Copyright renewed 1983. All rights reserved.

I tried to remember when I first heard the song. Was it in my early days in the small Baptist church where my mother took me each Sunday (and Sunday night and Wednesday night…) Was it in Girl Scout Camp? In School? All I know is that I heard it a long time ago and I still remembered each word to that song.

It may sound silly, but today I heard it in a new way…as I sang each line of that song, I realized that it embodied what I want as a member of the body of Christ. I want to live at peace with all people that I come in contact with. I don’t want those words to be superficial. I want to live life with others each moment and each day with the love of Christ as the center.

I have to ask myself the question…Is this possible? Can I be a part of something that is only dreamed of? I believe the answer is “yes!” I believe that as followers of Christ, we can live at peace with one another and even more so, we can share the love of Christ in a very real and tangible way. How I long for that to be a reality in my life!

Has anyone ever had thoughts as crazy as these? If so, would you like to join me in recognizing that no matter what is happening in your life, you can come to the feet of Jesus confidently and know that He will put others in your path that will encourage, edify and motivate you to seek Him more and more each day.

“But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall…” Ephesians 2:14-15

Over at Smulo Space, John Smulo wrote an interesting post entitled Lost and Found, in which he asked for input on the following:

I’d appreciate hearing some of your thoughts on this subject. When it comes to discerning God’s direction in your life, which of the following describes your thoughts best?

1. I wait till God shows me a sign.
2. I believe God has given me a brain. I use it.
3. I wait till I have a sense of God’s peace about something.
4. I talk to those who know me best and then follow their guidance.
5. I knock on “doors” and wait to see what opens.
6. I think through the spiritual gifts and natural abilities God has given me, and feel free to do anything consistent with this.
7. A combination of the above, including numbers…..
8. Other

There has been some great discussion there and others have offered input on which number or numbers best fits their thoughts on God’s direction for their lives.
This question really motivated me to think about what I would answer and I came to the conclusion that my answer wouldn’t fit very neatly into one of the categories listed:

Great questions, John and an interesting subject. I may sound really simplistic, but I think the point is to have an ongoing, moment by moment relationship with God. In doing so, you know His voice and He will speak to you in what direction to go. I’m not saying that I always live there, but shouldn’t that be the goal…to have a sincere relationship with God?
Thanks for this post!

As I said earlier, some really great discussion ensued and as I was making another comment, I realized that it was becoming way too long and was better written as a post for this blog.
The question was raised that maybe situations that arise do not fall so neatly into the category I’ve presented. Hebrews 11, 1 Corinthians 13 and the book of Job were used as situations where God did not speak clearly to people of great faith. I’d like to talk about each of those examples:

“All of these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.” Hebrews 11:13

In my understanding of this passage, the focus is on the faith that they exhibited. By faith, they knew the direction to go in their lives because of God’s promises to them. They may have questioned the legitimacy of the experiences they were going through, but by faith they knew what to do.

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” Hebrews 11:1

In 1 Corinthians 13, it is stated:

“For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears” 1 Corinthians 13:9-10

Will there be times where we don’t fully have the knowledge required? I believe the answer is yes. Do we have all that we need in that moment as God reveals it to us? I believe the answer is also yes. I believe that sometimes we tend to think that we need the entire answer to a question or situation. I know that I have attempted to gain answers in that way in my life. But I have come to realize that God has given us all that we need for that moment…whether it be physical, emotional or spiritual. The bottom line is that the end result can be attributed to what we choose to believe and follow according to the will of God.

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t fully understand the book of Job. Job was characterized as a great man of God and suffered unimaginable things during the span of his life. But I believe the bottom line of the story of Job is that God was speaking to Job the entire time, and his desires came to pass after he saw God and submitted before Him. In the end, everything was restored to Job, his health and his wealth… and his family grew. I believe this reveals the character of God, one that desires to reveal truth to His children, not one that is in the business of hiding revelation or gifts from his children. In the New Testament, James writes about Job’s affliction:

“As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy” James 5:11

This is the only reference I could find to Job in the NT, which indicates the importance of focusing on the reality of God’s provision and guidance in our lives, not necessarily what he didn’t receive.

So, to anyone that reads this blog, I leave it open for dialogue. What are your thoughts on following God’s direction in your life?

(I sincerely hope that I have represented the thoughts of others accurately and if not, I am open to correction.)

Be very blessed today!