Love Came Down

When I was walking through a very difficult time in my life, it was hard to see what God was doing in the moment. I had to continually speak the truth to myself and believe Him, no matter what I was feeling.

This is a well known verse from Lamentations-
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness."

Here are some of the verses surrounding that one...
"my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, 'My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD"...But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in Him.' The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD." (Lam. 3:17-18, 21-26 ESV)

Today God flooded me with memories of his faithfulness to my family through great hardship and trials that He allowed us to experience. I shared them with a new friend. As the words and stories left my lips, tears crept up in my eyes. Faith filled my heart as I remembered His goodness. I will declare that His love is great. His mercies never end. He is faithful. He was faithful then, and He's faithful to me today. I do have hope.

This song is extremely significant to me. I hope it blesses you today.
(If receiving this via email, click on the title of this post to view the video.)

Training My Brain

There's so much to look at and listen to. It doesn't matter if I'm on Facebook or simply examining myself and my own thoughts. I can get easily tangled in a "web".

I want to train my brain to think in healthy ways. I want to have self-control, wisdom, and discernment about what I meditate on. That means I have to be intentional about what I set before my eyes, and what I listen to with my ears. I have to recognize if I'm feeding fear, bitterness, or lies. I need to repent and replace! I have to "put those off", and put on faith, thankfulness, forgiveness, truth, etc.

If I'm careful and diligent to guard my mind, take my thoughts captive, and mediate on truth (according to God's word)...that will show in my words. Lord willing, the light that fills me can come out and pierce through a little bit of the darkness in the world around me. A bit of the darkness in others' souls. I won't even have to try, it will happen naturally.
The mouth speaks out of the overflow of the heart.

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer." (Psalm 19:14 ESV)

"...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." (Phil. 4:8 ESV)

Glory Through Grief

As I look back on my life, I see the rich blessings God has given me through my most painful experiences. I am blown away. How does He do that? How does He bring glory through grief? I don't think I will ever be able to wrap my mind around it. His ways are far above mine.

What I do hope is that I will learn to trust Him more completely, and overcome fear. He loves me. He is with me. He uses all things for good for those who love Him and are called to His purposes.

Contentment and peace come when I desire His glory and His purposes, more than my own ideas and plans. He will be glorified. He will accomplish what He sets out to do.

My heart must crave His glory. In Him, I will not be disappointed.

I need to remember what He's already done in my life, be satisfied in Him right now, and have hope for what's ahead. He will never leave me. He is amazing and His ways are perfect.

I wrote this poem smack in the middle of one of the hardest years of my life. He was definitely with me!

Victory

Little by little, You give me victory.
Little by little, You set me free.

I must be patient,
And continue to call on Your name.
I don't want to go through the fire,
And at the end come out the same.

The trials I go through,
Can be for Your glory.
All of them put together,
Are telling a story.

A story of Your majesty,
Your love and Your grace.
Oh, how I long for the day,
That I may see Your face.

I don't want to experience
Shame on that day.
"Well done faithful servant"
Is what I want to hear You say.

I must stop worrying, fretting, and fighting,
The work You're doing is everlasting-
That's exciting!

I must trust You and know,
You will finish what You began.
All I must do,
Is surrender to Your plan.

(Rachel Ranae 6.23.10)

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (James 1:2-4 ESV)

Diligence

As a new year begins, I start hearing and reading the word "goals" everywhere. I don't really get into writing resolutions, perhaps because they're typically the same, and I'm usually not accomplishing them. I have a running list in my head, and deep desires in my heart that I don't forget. Why is it that I have trouble living them?

My kids hard at work :)

For starters, good intentions aren't enough. I have a lot of good intentions that haven't gone anywhere or accomplished anything.

I've also realized it's not about having more goals, or better goals.

What I need is diligence. 

When I hear the word diligence, these words come to mind: strength, perseverance, discipline, focus, press, steadfastness, overcome, don't give up, and just do it!

There's more to it than simply "trying harder". I must have discernment, deliverance, and direction. 

Discernment

There are different reasons I don't accomplish my goals, some of which are actually good. Perhaps my goals are misguided or not realistic for my current season of life. They need to be let go of. However, I think more often that not, the cause is laziness and lack of self-control. It's hard to develop new habits and let go of old ones. It's important to know when to let go and when to persevere. 

As I live out my days, I pray that I will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading. If He's telling me to let something go, then I don't want to strive to make that thing happen. And if He leads me to "give up" on something, I don't want to wallow in self-condemnation.

Deliverance

There are places where I know I need to persevere, but I've been lazy. I need to recognize those places, confess, and repent (turn in the opposite direction). If I don't start there, I don't think I'll ever move forward! I feel so stuck in certain areas...not doing what I really want to do...and often it's because I need divine deliverance. I need to be set free. He's the only One who brings true, lasting freedom!

Direction

Deliverance doesn't always happen instantaneously. Most times it has to be worked through. When I'm walking in humility, acknowledging the Lord, following His lead one baby step at a time, freedom comes. I need direction from Him, in the every day moments. I must not ignore His promptings and His word!

Diligence

So this year, I want to focus on growing in diligence in all that God has for me to do. I know I can only do that with discernment from Him, by the deliverance He brings, and direction He gives. As I mature in what God has for me, I'll go from wobbly little steps to running! My hope is in Him.

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." ~ 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 ESV

(Photo credit: Rachel Ranae)

Staring at the Wall

Yesterday I asked one of my boys to please pick up the Cheerios that their baby brother had dumped all over the carpet. I told him a couple of ways he could attempt to do this. He then stood staring at the wall like a statue.

I gave him a good 20 seconds to think before saying, "Why aren't you doing it?" He answered, "I'm thinking about the best way to do it." I responded, "Well stop thinking about it, and just do it. I don't really care how you do it as long as it gets done." As those words left my mouth, an epiphany occurred. Those were the exact words I needed to hear for myself.

So often, in many areas, I am just like my son...staring at the wall thinking. I actually love just thinking about the best ways to do things. That's one of the reasons I like reading books, or at least buying them and putting them on my shelf. Sometimes I just stare at them, hoping the titles will change me.

I have to start doing. I may not do things the best way, but at least I can have the satisfaction of going somewhere. And the great thing is, I will learn along the way.

While I admit a part of me loves just reading and thinking, I hate the feeling of not moving - being stuck. I don't necessarily need to know more, I need to start doing what I already know!

Maybe this is a January theme for me. I wrote something quite similar to this January 2012...Just Learning or Living? Perhaps I will need to be reminded of this throughout my life. That's okay, as long as I keep moving forward!