children

Children are an heritage of The Lord.
As a Father, I realize my great responsibility, and inability. I recognize my continual need for Jesus to be in control of my life. I realize that apart from Him I can do nothing. I am in constant need of His mercy and grace, and so are they, that they are little(or big) reflections of me, and that if I am irritated with their behavior, it is probably something they either learned from me, or I allowed into their life.

I couldnt have said it better myself~

Jesus draw me ever nearer
As I labour through the storm.
You have called me to this passage,
and I'll follow, though I'm worn.

May this journey bring a blessing,
May I rise on wings of faith;
And at the end of my heart's testing,
With Your likeness let me wake.

Jesus guide me through the tempest;
Keep my spirit staid and sure.
When the midnight meets the morning,
Let me love You even more.

Let the treasures of the trial                                 
Form within me as I go -
And at the end of this long passage,
Let me leave them at Your throne.
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I am human

  I've often heard friends say of me " I'm glad you're normal " " nice to see you're human". Those comments are usually the result of me confiding in them,an area where I'm struggling. 

  That's hilarious really. I assure you Im more than human. I'm a sinful person whose ONLY merit can be found in the blood of Christ and the fact that my name is written in the Lambs book of life.

  I'm quick to share my faith, triumphs and failures alike. One can draw encouragement from all of those things I believe. 

  Well lets talk about my " human" week. It has been HARD. I have been desperately trying to put on as nice of a wedding as possible for our faithful, beautiful 20 year old daughter. I'm doing it on limited funds and far more limited brain cells!

  It seems like we no sooner suffered the tragedy of Charity's home going, then Abby in her hurt left home- and now a wedding. Wow. That beats all soap operas I ever heard about!

  This last week though it seems we're all missing Charity so much. Little Sam cried  and questioned one night, then little Ella cried so pathetically another night. Then I was up til 3 am one morning and couldn't hold back the tears any better than if I had tried to hold back the Grand Canyon with a Kleenex. I heard afterward that Brett, the next day, cried all of the way home from Adam,our sons house.

  So what's the deal? Well- I think it's part of the journey. I have to welcome these hard moments. I have to view them as something to remind me of what's important on this earth. The souls of my loved ones, and not so loved ones. 

  There are so many mysteries to the Christian life. We work and live life abundantly yet hold loosely and love not the world. We strive and work daily and do our  work as unto The Lord yet we know this world is passing away. We die that we may live, we give up that we may gain. We are refined by trials grief and heartache that grieve us here but are for our eternal good. 

  We just have to take each moment, triumph and trial as from the hand of God for our good and our refining. Remembering that He does all things well. We don't have to know, like or understand what He is doing to trust Him.

  Well soon the wedding excitement will be over. Machaira will go and so will the guests. I'll wake up one morning and truly all three of the girls will be gone from our home. I expect some difficult days to follow. I figure I will be a changed person forever. But change isn't all bad. No discipline seems pleasant at the time. I surely will not forget that HE is our ever present help in time of need. 

  Theory is nice. However there is something sweet about the promises of God truly fulfilling what they say they will first hand. I am so grateful that He truly has been our ever present help in time of need. Psalm 46:1Blessed be the name of The Lord.

Are you God?

  After Charity put off this wordly tent for immortality, I (even more so) declared Christ to others.

  Until.... That one day- I was sitting there minding my own business when I thought," Wait! What if Im talking to a person whose lost loved one was unsaved! Or what if they lost a child and weren't sure of their salvation" The very thought of it closed my mouth for days. Never would I want to rob anyone of their hope. 

  Thankfully a few days later my dear friend Lulli Akin came over and I confided in her my dilemma. -Now Let me interrupt my dialogue to say that if Lulli Akin isn't a dear friend of yours like she is mine then I'm sorry for you. She shoots from the hip, loves The Lord and overflows with wisdom. Her and Todd have been an enormous blessing to our life in innumerable ways-

  So I looked at Lulli and told her my problem. In true Lulli fashion she said " Oh. Are you God?" !!!!!!!" No ma'am!"  She continued," Who appointed you to determine if someone is born again? You have no idea what occurs in the heart and mind of a person when they reach the end of their life or their life flashes before them..."  She went on and told me a personal story of hers and others which showed me that The Lord is able ,His word will not return to Him void and He is still God in our last hour and He is able to save to the uttermost. He is able to accomplish in a moment what we fail to perform in a lifetime. 

  As well, the fervent and effectual prayers of a righteous man availeth much. So- what do we do if we have family who is now unsaved and living? Be a righteous person and pray on without ceasing! Too many believers are worried about how " other" Christians dress, act, eat etc instead of realizing that they only have enough time in the day to work on themselves and their family to worry about sanctifying their pew neighbor. And may I remind you that the Lord does lasting sanctifying work in the hearts of others  Not we ourselves. What if we've lost a loved on and just DON'T know if the Lord saved them? First realize- YOU ARE NOT GOD AND YOU DON'T KNOW. number two- He is The Lord and He does ALL things well. 

   Too many times we lose our present by lamenting our past. May I encourage you? Don't stay there. Even if you've lost a loved one- look around, if you're one of the fortunate ones, you have more loved ones still surrounding you. 

  Take every thought captive, think right thoughts, ask The Lord for the blessing of a proper perspective. 

  There's nothing we can do to change the past so lets just not go there- and certainly don't STAY there. It's a new day, full of life and hope ( peppered with sorrow I know) Let us use all of that energy on changing our present and our tomorrow which we CAN affect, and leave an un changeable yesterday in the past. 

Hebrews 12:1 KJV

King James Version

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

I know whom I have believed.....

2 Timothy 1:10-13

¹⁰ but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, ¹¹ to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.^{[a] 12} For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

¹³ Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

  I love that hymn " I know Whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able, to keep that which Ive committed unto Him against that day". John Gill speaks of 'That which I have committed" as of being the souls of men, including Pauls own.

  So we truly do know Whom we have believed~ We Know Christ. Not only a mental ascent but we love adore and worship Him in spirit and in truth because He has graciously revealed Himself to us.

 " We are persuaded the He is able to keep that which we have committed": our souls, the souls of our spouse and children, those who are still with us or have gone on before, "to Him until that day"...

  The mind likes to do odd things when  you have suffered a tragedy or are grieving. It is imperative to always think right thoughts and take every thought captive. I cannot tell you all the times that a hopeless or random 'unbiblical' thought pops into my head. I don't even watch tv! Where do these strange ideas come from? They are only allowed to remain for a brief second before I verbalize the truth. It is truly the truth that gives us hope and sets us free. I am convinced that all of the crazy religions originated in the mind of some hopeless grieving person ..Shudder the thought!

  Through the sadness and temporary loss we truly do have hope. Not in ourselves but in the Lord who is good and is trustworthy and is ABLE.

  So sorrow on if we must but at the end of the day , we know Whom we have believed and are persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that day. Thank you Jesus for that.
  Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.

   

He will revive me again and comfort me......

Psalms 71:20-21 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.

  For those of us who have lost...who grieve and sorrow...these words are of great comfort.

  We trust in the Sovereignty of God so yes it is He who has made us to see calamity and trouble. Not for any arbitrary reason either.

  And with that He too will 'Revive us again'. When you are under the suffering of grief you do feel as if your very soul needs to be revived. Needs to be restored. Your very core feels as if you cannot stand erect again. But, we will. We will revive. He will restore us and we will 'live' again.

  Some of my favorite ancient theologians agree that 'from the depths of the earth' may mean in a physical or emotional respect.

  I think of Robin Marks song 'Make these broken weary bones, rise to dance again'. That is not scripture but it explains well how we feel~ weary and broken and cast down. So Lord cause these broken , weary bones to rise and dance again! He will. He alone is able to turn our mourning into dancing.

  Psalms 71:21 says you will increase my greatness ...(Im leaving that one alone except to say that I believe David wrote these:) That is explanation enough! LOL! it continues ....and comfort me again.

  It is hard to see now ... for a time , it is inconceivable to think that we WILL be comforted again! It is nearly impossible to believe that the despairing sickening desperation will lessen.

  But, taking every thought captive, and thinking right thoughts, and believing Gods word reminding ourselves of it...we know that;

Psalms 71:20-21 You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.

  Gods word is true amen? Ok, repeat after me;You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.

 

  Gods word is true. 2 Tim 3:16 ¹⁶ All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

God is not a man that He should lie. Numbers 23:19“God is not a man, that He should lie,

Nor a son of man, that He should repent.

Has He said, and will He not do?

Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? 

 The Bible is full of His sweet and precious promises to be our Physician and Comforter and Redeemer. We must do our part and let the Lord heal us. Let Him comfort us. Let us make the path easier for ourselves by thinking right thoughts and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is pure;

He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.

Psalm 30:11,12  You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;

You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness

To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent.

O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever

Amen