Joy for a Suffering Soul: Just Be Held!

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Joy for a Suffering Soul: Just Be Held!

Twenty-plus years ago, our family began to walk through the trial of our lives. Our precious son Jeremy began to have obvious issues that led to a diagnosis of thyroid cancer on February 13, 1998. My goodness, he was only 20 years old, athletic, handsome, healthy (or so we thought). As his mom, I experienced pain that I had never felt before or since. I watched my gorgeous "baby boy" walk through the trial of his life with courage and grace, despite his normal fear.

As I now look back to that time, the one thing I always say is "God carried us!" And I guess that is all I can say ... we were held and carried! And there is a bittersweet joy in that kind of deep trial ... when all there is to make it through is HIM and His loving Presence.

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Joy in January: A Value Shake-up!

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Joy in January: A Value Shake-up!

A friend recently posted an arresting thought on facebook:

Your value doesn't decrease, based on someone's inability to see your worth.

Truth!

Where does our value lie? Our value is based on our Creator's opinion of us...which is love and grace and glory!

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 1 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

He has planted His own life in us through His glorious Son.  So whatever our Father God thinks about His beloved Son, He thinks of us also!


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Joy in January: Greater!

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Joy in January: Greater!

. . . The Lord Jesus Christ in you! The Lord Jesus Christ in me! What glory right here...right now!
The Sovereign Creator of the Universe lives in each of His children! His life courses through our spiritual veins! What glory for this life as well as the life to come!
And so this week in the midst of has been a year of upheaval, let's celebrate and enjoy the joy of the One who is Greater by far!…

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"It's crowded in there!"

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"It's crowded in there!"

… In the midst of our conversation, he said with a shy little laugh, “You may think this is silly, but I thought to myself, ‘it’s crowded in there!’ ”

No, he wasn’t referring to his physical residence in the retirement community. You see, my brother in the Lord, who has known and taught the word of God for decades, was coming into a deeper and richer experience of those treasured truths he had known and cherished for so long. And it is capturing this heart and mind.

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Digging Deep ... Living in Union with Christ

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Digging Deep ... Living in Union with Christ

While all around us leaves us unsettled and empty, let’s reflect on the One who fills us … and has always been the stabilizer of our souls.

Here is a piece I wrote several years ago in answer to a dear friend’s question : How does this whole thing called the Christian life fit together.

I would love to hear your thoughts as you interact with the truths that follow … and may you be encouraged and challenged by what you read!

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Am I My Brother's COVID-Keeper?

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Am I My Brother's COVID-Keeper?

Do you reach out to those in need? Feed the hungry? Clothe the “naked”? Help the homeless?

Do you pray for the sick? Bring meals to families during health crises? Comfort the bereaved and check up on the lonely?

Do you believe that these acts of service are examples of Jesus’ call to “love one another as I have loved you”… to “love your neighbor as yourself” … to “do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider[ing] one another as more important than yourselves; … not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others”? (Philippians 2:3-4)

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Reflections on the MAGI: the Blindness of Biblical Literacy Alone

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Reflections on the MAGI: the Blindness of Biblical Literacy Alone

. . . The Gentile seekers were led to Jerusalem by a celestial phenomenon, the star. They were not experts in the Scriptures, but they were driven to learn more about what God was doing in their day. And they undertook an arduous journey that probably took months to find the answer to their question.
Israel’s wise men knew the Scripture, yet they were not motivated to find out for themselves what God had done. They weren’t motivated enough to travel five miles to Bethlehem to see for themselves.
I love the Scripture, I’ve known the Scripture since I was a small boy. But I understand that Bible knowledge alone cannot generate spiritual vitality. . .

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Epiphany! Shining Light or Drama Queen?

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Epiphany! Shining Light or Drama Queen?

… we are like the star that led the Magi to Christ … or we can be. We can, in our very person, be the light that points another to the King. You and I have the King of Kings living within us. But as always it is our choice whether we allow the King to live through us and manifest His presence to seeking hearts who are walking in darkness all around us.

Author Tim Chester, in his lovely Advent devotional on Philippians 2 The One True Gift, caught my attention when he pointed out from Scripture one way that God says we can shine like stars …

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A Socially Distanced Christmas

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A Socially Distanced Christmas

…Well, rather than nixing our family Christmas Eve tradition of “Poppi’s Christmas devotions,” my darling husband John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, used what has been happening in our COVID world to share with the grands and their parents (in our hybrid celebration) the glory of the Incarnation.

So here is my favorite “Guest Branch” John, revisiting his message to our family this past Christmas Eve . . .

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A WORD of the Year Informs my Days and my Life

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A WORD of the Year Informs my Days and my Life

Here we are again, friends. Another year has past, and for many it’s a time for the infamous “New Year Resolutions.” But a few years ago I turned away from that often hopeful, but dreaded “setting up for failure,” tradition to a new thing altogether.

And thank God, because 2020 has destroyed any expectations and traditions I may have expected to rehearse again this year. So my yearly quest to discern my God-given word of the year stood me in good stead during this year of amazing change … never quite knowing which end was up.

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Are You Shipwrecked or Landlocked at the Stable?

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Are You Shipwrecked or Landlocked at the Stable?

The shipwrecked at the stable are captivated by joy and wonder. They have found the treasure in the field of Bethlehem. The pearl of great price is wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Everything else is cheap, fake, painted fragments of glass. . . .

Jesus Christ is of no importance unless he is of supreme importance.

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A Cappella "Mary, Did You Know?"

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A Cappella "Mary, Did You Know?"

While we were traveling to be with our daughter and family for Christmas, a dear friend shared a link to this article from GodTube via Facebook. Even though I had already posted about this wonderful song, I couldn’t resist passing on the backstory as well as this unique rendition of this most moving of contemporary Christmas songs.

Why not meditate afresh as you read and listen. And a blessed Christmas to you and yours?

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4th Week of Advent: I Wonder as I Wander

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4th Week of Advent: I Wonder as I Wander

My friend Penny is a walker (a very serious, fast walker, by the way).  But Penny doesn't just walk for exercise, she also "walks" closely with the Lord.  So when Penny shares, I listen. And when she shared about a favorite Christmas carol, it made me take notice. Why?  Because while walking, Penny has been doing what this song describes.

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Advent Devotions: Hail, the Incarnate Deity!

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Advent Devotions: Hail, the Incarnate Deity!

We would give up everything we've ever written to have penned this one verse, a stanza that comes as close as is humanly possible to capturing the splendor of who Jesus is. 
Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ, by Leonard Sweet & Frank Viola, p. 173-174

What is that one verse? that one stanza?  Authors Sweet & Viola are referring to the last stanza of the well-known carol, Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.

In my opinion, however, it isn't just the last stanza that is all glorious with the splendor of Christ...it's the entire song. In fact, even the stanzas that were removed* from the older version are splendid indeed.  But I'm getting ahead of the story.

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