W O M E N
F I N D I N G
Early morning devotion time is one of my favorite times of the day. I love opening the windows and listening to the birds singing while allowing in the freshness of the Spring air mixed with the crisp remnants of winter's chill to welcome the new day.
Spring, to me, metaphorically speaks like The Hallelujah Chorus in Handel's Messiah - singing gloriously to us that death cannot hold forever! Resurrection awaits! -even in our darkest hour - Spring speaks hope - the hope of new life after death. Season after season God is reminding us of this hope. It's all around us in Spring, we just have to be mindful of it. God is showing us this hope He offers of being our unchanging, Omnipresent, unfailing God - season after season - He is showing us His steadfast love. Life can, and will, bring lament, grief, hurt, loss, change - this is unavoidable truth. Look at Psalm 23:3b-4 "He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." These valleys can be very rough times. Valleys can be times where hope can be lost or questioned. Hebrews 12:1-3 "Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." So much hope can be found in the entirety of these verses but look especially at these: looking to Jesus - the founder and perfecter of our faith and Consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. Where is hope found here? by looking to Jesus Why? because he is the founder and perfecter of our faith Phillipians 1:6 "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." He will bring it to completion. There is no doubt here of the promise. He is the founder and perfecter of our faith and He will bring it to completion. How comforting to rest in such a Savior! Here is where Hope is found and season after season, He is reminding us of His promise to complete His work in us. I am personally grateful to walk with such a God. A God who daily reminds us that He is near, unfailing, uncompromising, personal, and unchanging. Blessings, Debbie
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Hallel - Praise
Jewish prayers recited on holidays found in Psalms chapters 113 - 118. On this day as I reflect on the last day of Jesus on this earth as Son of Man I am also taking a moment to consider the events of this day that lead up to the crucifixion. The Passover meal is finished, he shows us the example of humility by washing feet, Judas has left to betray him, the sacraments have been birthed, and the new covenant has been proclaimed. The next steps of Jesus, along with his disciples, shows them leaving the upper room walking toward the Garden of Gethsemane and they would have been singing the Hallel psalms found in Psalms 113 - 118. "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness." Psalm 115:1 As Jesus approached the garden to face the depths of agony in prayer to the Father and the utter betrayal of one of his closest friends, he would have been singing this psalm, "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory..." Here I can see the significance of the scriptures in our lives as we see Jesus leaning into these words and ultimately giving himself over to them after agonizing hours of prayer for the cup to be taken from him. "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Luke 22:42-44 How often in our own lives do we meet with these words, "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory..." Shouldn't that be our prayer in all things? Our heart's desire? "...not to us, but to your name give glory..." This hallel psalm struck my heart on this Maundy Thursday as I was reminded of the great sacrifice of our Saviour and the earnestness of the words "not my will, but yours be done" in direct correlation to my heart posture. There have been many times in my own life that I found myself wrestling with God in certain areas and decisions that had to be made. One of those moments was when Rachel was facing major brain surgery. She had already gone through multiple surgeries, including eye surgery, leg surgery, and so many blood tests that had to be done due to her seizure meds that they couldn't find veins anymore. Having to hold her tiny body while they worked to draw blood was so heartbreaking that I had to eventually let Keith hold her because it had begun to make me nauseous. Our hearts broke for her, and we begged God for answers to help control the daily seizures that had taken control of her tiny life. One of her last grand mal seizures came at home and caused her to be sick while her tiny body was thrown to the floor. I can still see her little sister, Erin, running from the room crying as I went to pick up Rachel's little body and kept her head turned so she wouldn't choke while being sick. We called the ambulance, and she spent a week in the hospital. She was given enough morphine for two adults just to stop the two-hour seizure and she slept for two days without waking up. It was here that I knew we needed help. We felt our prayers were answered by getting an appointment at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. After several appointments and unending testing, we were told that she needed a left lobal hemispherectomy. This is where my "not my will, but yours be done" came. As I laid on a dark hotel room floor for an entire night begging God for this not to be his answer, knowing the suffering she was facing, I couldn't accept this answer or bear watching her suffering any longer. In the very early morning hours, still face down on the hotel room floor, I surrendered to what I knew was His answer and His path for her. What we all faced, as a family, the very difficult recovery Rachel walked through in the days ahead, and the difficult surgeries she still faced, are too long to write here in this post, but what I can say here is - God was right. The surgery was a success. They removed the entire left lobe, which was all scar tissue from her stroke at birth, and she has not had a seizure again. Praise God. She went from the first nine years of her life having over twenty to forty daily petit mal seizures and several grand mal seizures a week to none in over twenty-five years. This answer to our prayers was a very very difficult one for Rachel and for our family, but it was His answer. What if I had not surrendered to His plan? What if my heart posture was not one of "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory." Where would she be now? Where would we be now if our Saviour had not said, "Not my will, but yours be done."? On this Maundy Thursday I am reminded to pray this hallel psalm found in Psalm 115:1 "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness." Prayer: Lord, let our lives be lived in surrender to you, to glorify your name with our lives and our hearts focused on giving you glory as we seek your face. Psalm 34:13-14 Proverbs 16:27-28 2 Corinthians 12:20
A scene from the movie Doubt shows the destructive nature of gossip. A woman was gossiping with her friend about a man whom they hardly knew. That night, she had a dream: a great hand appeared over her and pointed down on her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day she went to confession and told the old parish priest, Father O'Rourke, the whole thing. 'Is gossiping a sin?' she asked the old man. 'Was that God Almighty's hand pointing down at me?' 'Father, have I done something wrong?' 'Yes," Father O'Rourke answered. "You have blamed false witness on your neighbor. You played fast and loose with his reputation, and you should be heartily ashamed.' So, the woman said she was sorry, and asked for forgiveness. 'Not so fast,' said O'Rourke. 'I want you to go home, take a pillow up on your roof, cut it open with a knife, and return here to me.' So, the woman went home, took a pillow off her bed, a knife from the drawer, went up the fire escape to her roof, and stabbed the pillow. Then she went back to the old parish priest as instructed. 'Did you cut the pillow with a knife?' he said. 'Yes, Father.' 'And what were the results?' 'Feathers.' she said. 'Feathers?' he repeated.' 'Feathers everywhere, Father.' 'Now I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out onto the wind.' 'Well,' she said, 'it can't be done, I don't know where they went. The wind took them all over.' 'And that,' said Father O'Rourke, 'is gossip.' *Excerpt taken from the Celtic Daily Prayer ~ Book Two "A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends." Proverbs 16:28 |