Month: December 2021

Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it?  I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43:19

I started writing this a couple of weeks ago, and I think it’s still worth posting it now, even though Christmas will already be over by the time you read it.  Here’s how I started writing:

            It’s December, and I decided to start reading the Christmas story to prepare my heart for the season.  I began reading in Luke, chapter 1.  I’ve read it and heard it every year for decades. I was part of many Christmas programs at church as a kid and had to memorize lots of lines of Scripture.  I know a lot about Jesus coming to earth as a baby in a manger. 

But as I started reading Luke last week, I was aware that I was just reading familiar words without my heart even being engaged.  I stopped reading for a while and prayed.  I asked God to break through the familiar words and give me fresh understanding, a renewed wonder and awe of what God has done for us in sending His Son to earth for us.

Recently I picked up one of my journals that I have been writing for many years.  I read a prayer that I wrote On January 1, 2016.

“Lord, this is my prayer for the beginning of the New Year:  Please open my eyes, my ears, my heart, my spirit to all that you want me to receive from you.  And help me to give back to you a heart that loves you with my whole heart, soul and mind.  I don’t want to ever be in a place where I am just going through the motions or caught in a routine when you are desiring more than that.  I want to have a heart of worship that ignites everything I do, every day!”

That is a prayer I want to pray often, especially now with the beginning of another New Year. I realize that familiarity with Scripture can be an issue for me any time I pick up the Bible to read!  I’m reminded now to pray each time I read — to God for fresh understanding and a heart that is ready to respond to the truth I am reading.

            This is the prayer I wrote the next day, January 2, 2016:

“I have so much head knowledge about You after so many years of church and Bible study.  But I long for more of You! Will you meet with me in a new and deeper way of just being with you and falling more in love with you and walking with you throughout every day – aware of your presence – not just as the One who designs each day and empowers me to accomplish your plan, but to just be with you moment by moment.  Please grow that seed of love and worship and cause it to bear fruit for you, and then spread to others.” 

PERSONAL REFLECTION

Can you identify with being so familiar with Scripture that it’s easy to read without having your mind and heart engaged in what you’re reading?

Can you pray the same prayers I prayed asking God for a deeper awareness of His presence and a deeper love for Him?

You may want to write a prayer of your own expressing your thoughts to God.

Luke 1:38

Try to imagine what it would have been like for the young Jewish girl Mary when the angel Gabriel appeared to her with this message from God: Greetings favored one! The Lord is with you.  Scripture tells us that Mary was very perplexed and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.  The angel said,

Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.  And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end (Luke 1:32-33) 

Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most high will overshadow you; and for that reason, the holy Child shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:34-35).

Gabriel also told Mary that her relative Elizabeth, who had been barren, had conceived a child in her old age and was now in her sixth month.  He said, “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:36-37).

I love Mary’s answer to Gabriel: “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).  That is the answer I want to have in my heart when I know God is calling me to do something.  And I want to remember always the promise that “nothing will be impossible with God.”

I sometimes think about how amazing it would be to have an angel show up and tell me exactly what was going to happen, or what decision I should make. But now, as believers in Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit actually living in us!  He doesn’t just appear once in a while and then leave.  He lives in us and promises He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). We are told to ask Him, and wait expectantly for His guidance, to listen for His still small voice saying “This is the way, walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21.

When I knew God was calling me to create a website and begin publishing weekly devotionals, that seemed impossible at first.  I’ve never done anything like setting up a website.  I went to other websites about how to create one, and found promises of “just a few easy steps.”  I think one said in 17 minutes you can have a website up and running.  Well, maybe for some people, but not for me!  I printed many pages describing how to do it, but at times I seriously felt like giving up.  I look back and think, “How did it get done?”  The answer is that God led each step, and brought just the right people at just the right time to help when I felt like giving up. 

The same was true when I knew God was calling me to compile the devotionals into a book. That was not even on my radar screen of things to do – until three different people in about a 3-week period asked if I had ever considered compiling my devotionals into a book.  Each of them knew people they would like to give a book to. Each time I said, “No, that’s not something I’m considering.”  But after three times, I began to think maybe it was God’s plan for me to do that.  I have a dear friend who had already self-published quite a few books on Amazon.  She was more than willing to help me get started, and she was there all along until the project was completed!  Again, I look back and think, “How did that get done?”  And the answer is the same – God led each step and provided what I needed to make it happen. 

I’m learning how important it is not just to pray and talk to God about everything, but to take time to be still and listen. He says that He is our Shepherd and we are His sheep, and His sheep know His voice (John 10:3-4).  He may have plans for us that we would never sign up for.  But think about what we would miss out on if we don’t ask Him, or if we are unwilling to follow His plan.  His thoughts and ways are so much higher than our thoughts and ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).

To know God, to love Him, and follow Him wherever He leads is what He desires.  He doesn’t promise it will be easy.  Think for a moment about what Mary must have gone through, becoming pregnant before her marriage to Joseph.  What would Joseph think?  What would her parents think?  What would her community think?  She didn’t ask for a complete roadmap for the rest of her life.  She simply believed Gabriel’s message, and she gave birth to the Son of God, the Messiah!

I want to have a willing heart like Mary.  I want to say to the Lord, “Be it done to me according to Your will.”  I want to trust Him to accomplish whatever plan He has for my life.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

Has God asked you to do something that seems impossible? 

What would keep you from doing what He asks?

What will you say to Him?

What promises can you claim that will help you take the next step of obedience?

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

 Corinthians 5:17

A figurine of a little girl dressed up in her mother’s long coat, large hat, high heels, and a large purse by her feet.  It was a Christmas gift from my husband many years ago, and I love it!  She stands about twelve inches tall, and it has always been a special treasure to me.  I displayed her in a prominent place where I could see her often.  She did get knocked over once, and there was a little chip broken off.  I was sad, but I glued the chip back into place and I was the only one aware that she had been damaged just a little.

            Not long after that, I found the figurine on the floor.  I didn’t see it happen, but it had to be our cat that was responsible this time, and the damage was much more severe.  One high-heeled foot had broken off, a piece of the purse was broken off, and several other areas were chipped.  I was especially sad this time, but I did my best to glue the pieces I could match up.  I didn’t tell anyone about the damage.  I couldn’t leave her on the original prominent shelf because, in the light, it was obvious that she had been broken in many places.  So, I moved her to a shelf in a darker corner where the cracks were not quite as obvious.

Before too long, my husband discovered the damage.  He asked what had happened, and he concluded that I should throw it away.  But I told him she was still precious to me, and I wanted to keep her, even with all the cracks.  The following Christmas, I opened a gift from my husband, and it was a new figurine, exactly the same as the original.  I was amazed!  These were quite expensive for our budget at the time, and I was satisfied to keep the one with all the cracks.  But he assured me he wanted to give me the new one! This time, I put her on a shelf where I knew she would be protected.  And she is still perfect!

I didn’t realize it at the time, but these figurines now represent what I experienced years later in my marriage and in my relationship with God.  Even though I was a Christian, I made a series of choices that led to an adulterous relationship and eventual separation from my husband.  I knew this was not what God wanted for my life, but it seemed impossible to give up that relationship.  After several months of separation and daily undeniable conviction from God about my choice, I made the decision to return home to my husband if he still wanted me.  By God’s grace, he was willing for me to come home and we agreed to go away for ten days of intensive counseling to work on our marriage. 

That was only the beginning of a long period of continuing to try to “fix myself.” My marriage was broken, I was broken, and I felt helpless and hopeless. 

Finally, several months after returning home, I surrendered myself and my marriage completely to God.  God led me that very morning to make an appointment with a counselor who had been able to help a friend of mine.  For the first time, I felt a small degree of hope.  It was a long and painful journey through counseling, but over time God was able to accomplish what was impossible when I was trying to “fix” myself. 

            Looking back, I see that I was like that broken figurine when I turned away from God.  I tried very hard to patch myself and make life work the way it was supposed to.  But when I completely surrendered to God, He didn’t just patch up the broken pieces and put me on a shelf in a dark corner.  He forgave me, and although it took some time, He created in me a new heart of love for Him and for my husband. Our marriage became stronger than it ever was before!  A miracle that only God could accomplish!  He has made me a new creation, not just patched up with all the cracks still showing!  I have a deeper personal understanding of God’s love, His grace and mercy, and His power to change hearts and lives and marriages.  And, in His time, God has given me the blessing of ministering to women again through writing and teaching Bible studies, offering hope and encouragement to those in difficult life circumstances.

            At this Christmas season, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude that God sent His Son Jesus to be born as a baby on the earth He created.  Jesus lived among people to reveal God to us.  And then He willingly went to the cross to pay the death penalty for the sins of the whole world. 

Our God loves us so much He was willing to pay that price so that we could live with Him now and throughout all eternity!  And He doesn’t just patch us up and try to cover up all the cracks.  He causes us to be born again spiritually and gives us new life.  He wraps us in His robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10).  When we receive God’s gift of salvation through faith in what Jesus has done for us, we become “a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).  There can be no greater gift! 

PERSONAL REFLECTION

Have you received God’s gift of salvation?  Thank Him for that amazing gift and what it cost Him to give it.  If not, you can pray and ask Him to forgive your sins. You can invite Him to be your Savior and your Lord.  Ask God for a friend who is a follower of Jesus who can help you get to know Him.

During this Christmas season, I’m asking God to give me fresh awe and wonder at the birth of Jesus.  I don’t want to let the Scripture become so familiar that it loses its amazing truth.

Is there a circumstance in your life that seems hopeless, that you feel helpless to change?

Be encouraged that if you cry out to God for help, He does hear, and He can do what seems impossible.  It begins with complete surrender to God.  He will even help you to have a willing heart to surrender if you ask Him!

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers… what is man, that you think of him…?

Psalm 8:3-4

In my Bible study this week, we watched the DVD by Louie Giglio called How Great Is Our God! I wish everyone could see it! I just looked on the internet and discovered that you can watch the entire message on YouTube by typing in Louie’s name and the title. (The word laminin also comes up in the title, and that’s the one I’m recommending.) It is a 41-minute video presentation, exactly like the DVD.

Louie Giglio is a pastor in Atlanta. In this video, he focuses on the immeasurable vastness of the universe by comparing the size of the earth to our sun and to 4 other stars. Throughout the video, he uses a golf ball to represent the size of the earth and then tells how many earths would fit into each of these stars. In the largest star he focuses on, Canus Majoris, the number of golf balls would fill the state of Texas 22 inches deep! And the distances measured in light-years are mind-blowing!

Near the end of the video, he changes the focus to the human body, and how we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). He shows pictures of a developing baby at 4 days — only 16 cells, and shares some of the astonishing facts during later development.

But near the close of his talk, there is a punchline, a left hook as he calls it, that should leave us speechless. He tells his personal experience of learning from a molecular biologist about a cell adhesion molecule called laminin. It is a protein molecule that is the “glue” that holds our bodies together. He shows an actual picture of laminin taken by an electron microscope. At the center of each laminin molecule is the shape of a cross! You can Google laminin and see the picture for yourself!

He ends the talk with the message that the cross of Christ is proof that He literally holds us together! When we just can’t go on. When we think we can’t take another step. Jesus is right there with us, giving strength for one more step, and then another step… He promises to never leave us!

I hope you will take the time to watch this video. It will certainly change your perspective about how massive is the universe that God created. It will also strengthen your faith in the God who gave His Son Jesus to save us. He knows every intimate detail of our lives. Read Psalm 139, the whole chapter. Our finite minds can never fully comprehend the infinite love, wisdom, and power of God.  But we can ask Him to open our eyes and our hearts, to reveal all that we can possibly understand. 

During this Christmas season, may we set aside time to remember and be renewed in our awe of God’s plan of salvation for those who choose to believe in His Son. Think about the fact that the Lord, who created this infinite universe, was willing to leave heaven and become a helpless infant born in a stable! Let’s celebrate His birth and Remember the Reason for the Season!

PERSONAL REFLECTION

Again, I encourage you to watch the How Great Is Our God message, on DVD which can be purchased on Amazon.com, or watch it free on YouTube. The message is life-changing. Our response should be one of awe and worship of our infinite, intimate God.