valued & loved ...

Ravi Zacharias told a beautiful story today that I wanted to keep in my heart but most importantly to share it with a co-worker who gets weary being a devoted divorced mom to two high functioning Autistic boys. Plus, another way to share God to her...

Ravi was flying somewhere and read about a silk school in Japan. He was so intrigued by the story of one boy who wanted to weave waves of silk to cover all the oceans. Ravi decided to check out this school for himself. He discovered that all the students of this silk school were Down Syndrome kids.

Ravi got to meet the young man who weaves waves of silk and other artwork. He also got to meet the mother. This mother was so proud of her son and conveyed a very moving story. Foreigners are willing to pay top dollar for his art and this young man is excited to had over every bit of it to his mother saying 'thank you for being here. With you here, I am here to make this art and give this money to you.'

Ravi goes on to say that we are here as well because God values us. How heavy is that? Am I living, giving, sharing, delighting with a God-Joy that I am eager to rightfully give God the credit? Do I truly know my worth to Him? Or am I in the mud mucking about? God gave His Only Begotten Son to pay for my sins! Huge value placed upon my head.... Am I giving Him honor in all that I love to do? and even in the mundane stuff?

( I hope I remember the story right. Must remember to get the podcast to hear it again.)

Ravi Zacharias

Are You not ...?

I always love a good outline for a letter. Letters are important way to communicate. You are alone with your thoughts and you are forming thought into words and trying to reach out. Prayer is like letter. Ravi pointed out that Johoshaphat's prayer took on a form and questioned what we would put into our letter/prayer to God.

~II Chronicles 20:1-30 for your own read~

Dear God,
Are You not _____________?
Did You not _____________?
Will You not _____________?
from me.

I love having something to chew on and this really makes you think and seek out God in His Word. It makes you look at the Great Stories of Promise and Blessing and pull them into your life. It is 'talking back' the Word. It is putting your faith on the line and then seeing God work His way in your life.

dead ends ...

I stumbled upon a really good book at the library that came to me at a really good time - 'God Works the Nightshift' by Ron Mehl. I loved this book as well as the 'Tender Commandments' that I went on a buying spree two years ago and got all his books.

Ron is a pastor who has leukemia. He knows the tender and dark side of living this life for God. Need some simple TLC? Read his books and maybe you will want to have him in your library. I feel that I can go back to his books over and over again. It is like a 'book soul mate'! Can that be? =)

I recently reread his book 'Surprise Endings' and now reading the last of his books I haven't read -'Dead Ends'. I am there feeling like I have been on a dead end for some time now but really has intensified in September. Tonight's chapter was about waiting rooms. Ahh, he really gave a good visual. Imagine that in your waiting room there is 'Noah reading a boating mag waiting for rain' etc. In my waiting room Noah is checking out my company's boat brochure as I am waiting to break out of a numbers job and into a writing books. {smiles} Oh, Ruth's in that waiting room too! She is waiting on a husband and Redeemer so I guess I am with good company.

God never ever said to be discouraged! Go ahead try to find it in His Word. Nope, it is always DON'T be afraid. DON'T be discouraged. Take heart. Be of Good Courage.

So here is to dead ends, nightshifts, and surprise endings...
*

wonder ...

Ravi notes:

Are you seeing with your eyes or through your eyes?
In this day of visuals you better be seeing through your eyes instead of just with. You need to be using your thoughts do you are not duped.

In reality beauty is most pure and delightful. In imagination evil is most alluring!
Wow! Very true. No wonder Proverbs and the NT letters is always reminding us to stay pure. It is hugely noticeable in this day in age! Watch for it!

The older you get takes more and more to fill your heart of WONDER and God is the only One Who is big enough to fill it.
Super true. I lost my wonder and I finally have it back. Yet, as I know this truth, I look forward and know I must always cling to God. I do not want to ever lose this wonder...

What is up will come down?

I can't get on blogger? What is going on? Is anyone else having issues?

I have been preoccupied with getting more instruction on my looms and haven't been mentally ready to write. Bummer, too. I need to write to be sane. A lonely existence needs outlets as well as a creative.

I have been running into glictches. My iTunes needs my iMac updated and when I go to upgrade it takes alllllll day and even into the night then it gets a networking error - timed out (-1001) Before that I had to delete old systems to make room. Guess what? My currant Appleworks is messed up because of me! And the fourth break down is blogger not allowing me on and it smells of Safari not working with Blogger.

On the looming side of things, I have made progress on finding a great instructor. She creates small projects that really make for great impact! She labors over the instructions more than the actual creation. What dedication! I am too new at looming and have no back ground in knitting or crocheting. I doubt I will ever to create anything that far out. I can make some creations and maybe when I am over my frantic need to grasp everything, I will be able to really have some creative vision instead of relying on patterns.

At work the auditors have come. Grrr. I know that they are there to make sure we measure up yet it feels like 'big brother' breathing his grimy breath down my exposed neck.

All the while God still whispers that He is still there and reminds me what is important for the Eternal. Swindoll has been taking about 'living life exceedingly, abundantly, beyond'. It came at the right moment. It that amazing of God? It is flying over and seeing all the crazy chaos below and not being touched by them nor hindered. This learning sticks to my bones. I care very much about how I do things and the tools that I use but I don't get bogged down. Not necessary. Not eternal either.

Another thought came this week and I think it was Swindoll again. ''The struggle in coming around is as important as doing what God asks'. I so often get frustrated with others when they are struggling and just don't do it as well as getting frustrated with my ownself. I do come around to excepting it. Hmmm, a struggle isn't it. The struggle is 'holy mud'. It fashions us into being a better reflection of God.

What won't kill us makes us stronger. eh?

second hand suffering ...

Last year I heard about second hand stress and connected with it. Just this week listening to the story of Job's wife and how she suffered from second hand suffering. These types of suffers suffer more than the one who is sick or in pain! I believe it.

Often the Bibles gives bare facts needed for the reader's journey. That is where mediatation helps you slow down and discover more. I never really like Job's wife until now. Job was an upstanding man and father in the community that is until Satan came into God's court spouting out that Job only loved God because He poured out blessing and favor upon Job. ''Oh, really?'' God said. ''Let Me show you how much Job loves Me. I will do as you say. I will take his blessings and gifts.'' God knew that Job would not renouce Him.

Ok, look at Job. There he is sitting in the town trash heap covered in ashes because his skin was itchy and on fire. All his cattle and his sons and daughters are dead. Job once a rich and wise man now is hardly a breath. His wife comes to him and says to curse God. Why would she say that? What I thought was lame I see as how she really cared about his suffering. She knew that if she couldn't take much more of his suffering, he must be reaching his breaking point. If he cursed God and said enough, Job would break the cycle of tribulation that rested upon him. Job being patient said, ''don't talk like the foolish women. Rember God's Faithfulness.'' There is nothing more said here about Job's wife. The story ends where he is blessed again with sons and daughters. Job's wife stuck around! Interesting!

So did she see Job's remark piercing her spirit ever fierce and gentle at the same time? Did they hug after this tiny discussion? Did they cry tears of pain laced with joy as they recounted the blessings given to them in their days together? I believe so...

Yet as I see Job's direct precision on his wife's pain for him, he stilled had to have God's ever direct precision within his own life. God's directive was much longer and stronger! God spoke out of a storm! Job's story is still a mystery... When you read what Job said you marvel that he was wrong to say these things... just more to meditate on...

and how much more humble I need to be... We know not what is going on in God's courts but we shall see all the annuals of heaven. I can't wait...

Back to second hand suffering... I believe good help meets struggle with this. What a story to really take in and live out...

joy strength

Here are some of Swindoll’s quotes … they might be paraphrases but good to keep:

You can’t complain if you are praying.
You can’t worry if you are singing.
It is easier to be a witness if you are a joyful believer.
It is easier to release all if you have joy.

the Joy of the Lord is my strength! - neh 8:10

resourceful believer's pack ...

I live where I have 3 Christian radio stations to listen to but I would not listen. They did not fill the void I had. This past summer another Christian radio station became the fourth! I fell in love immediately. I now have my Hymns! no commercials either! Nothing soothes my heart like the Hymns. Plus, it is an international language of believers like the story Ravi told:

A man was walking down the street and he heard someone hum a hymn. He started to speak to this believer and found he could not because they spoke different languages. But they hummed together and smile giving each other hugs. What power!


BBN has actual radio stations all over the Americas (North, Central, & South) but they do not have radio stations else where. However, you can listen online. They broadcast in the following languages: English, Espanol, Portuguese, German, Russian, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Japanese, & Korean.

Another great resource is using iTunes and signing up for podcasts. I am in the process of downing loading my favorite speakers which I will often write about here like Charles Swindoll, Ravi Zacheriah, Joel Osteen, Stephen Davey etc. They are free and you don't have have an ipod. You can listen right from your computer. You can even get a podcast of the Spoken Word. I will have to check it out some more!

BBN also has a Bible Institute where you can take Bible courses in English or Chinese Simplified/Traditional.

people you serve ...

'In this life you are measured by the amount of people who serve you.
In the next you will be measured by the amount of people you serve.'
~ Ravi Zacheriah paraphrased

Ravi has been speaking about taming your passions and gifts .. always keep a true humility which means that you are dependent on God. False humility is self bashing.

As I prepare for 2007's theme, I am leaning on LOVE .. more about the 'service of love'. Ravi's thoughts are an added boost to this new year's path.

Joseph, model of letting God ...

I was sitting there doing my work listening to Steven Davey on the radio speak of Joseph and how he dealt with being in prison and with the betrayal of his brothers. Now Joseph is placed in Egypt taking care of the food provisions during the 7 years of famine that he predicted in the dream God had given the Egyptian king, when his brothers come to seek food. Joseph knew them straight away. They did not know this him as a clean shaved Egyptian dressed official. He never came out and told them off. He was in the position of power. He could have made their lives pay triple for the things they had done to him. Rather he chose to be very gracious in his dealings. I am sure those brothers felt very uncomfortable with this ‘stranger’ knowing ways like when Joseph invited them to eat. The seating arrangement was in the birth order. Oh, how they must have squirmed! There were several times Joseph had tears consume him where he had to excuse himself. When he finally revealed who he was, he hugged them in a bear hug and wept over them. What an act of forgiveness!!

I felt God tap me. I had someone very dear – like family dear – decide to rid himself of me. I have had many feelings – some of frustration, some of pain, yes, some anger. I often wonder how I would react if I could just capture his attention...

This past year I have grappled with my anger. Through it all I have learned more about myself. I know mentally what I need to do. I know in my heart how I do feel about him. I still like him. I don’t think there is anger. Sadness is still there. Wonderings are still there. A couple of weeks ago, I felt God say ‘keep an expectant heart’. No, not that he will come back but of the workings God has for my path. Looking at His nudges, sure there is always a possibility of him coming back into my life. So what will I do about it?

I want to act like Joseph. Like my prayers during our 3.75 years, I always acknowledged God’s hand in us. The time in my ‘aloneness prison’ has God’s hand in it. It isn’t about my lack of value in another’s life. It isn’t about rejection. Rather it is about God’s hand on satisfying my needs and yes, his needs too in His perfect time. I must act like Joseph. I must walk as if on hollowed ground because IT IS!!

Heavenly Father of Joseph,
I again am awed by how Your master plan is working the best when all seems lost on our human level. Oh, how devalued (plutoed) Joseph must have felt when his own flesh and blood tore his coat and sold him as a slave! Oh, how Joseph must have felt when he chose to flee the boss’s wife and her advancements only to end up in prison. Oh, how Joseph must have felt when he asked his prison mates to remember him when they were freed after interpreting their dreams. All of these ‘dead ends’ was the act of You setting into motion a way to care for Your chosen people. Joseph was the keeper of Your Master Plan. To even grasp that honor, just blows me away!

I want to keep this forefront. ‘You are before all things’ even at human level dead ends. ‘And in You all things HOLD together.’ (col 1:17) When everything is wrong and I can’t help but thing that it can’t get any worse, I want to remember You work best in these moments. My hope is in You ALONE. (Ps 62:1-2)

I want to be a Joseph when I need to forgive. I need Your help as I figure out my depths, my service, my rhythm and how I begin and maintain interactions with others. How does this fit in? I am expectant …. Thank You for Joseph. Thank You for my path and the mystery You placed there…
~ always Your child chosen