Choosing Worship

Wasn’t this Sunday’s message on worship wonderful? It is so good to be reminded that there are a variety of ways we can and should praise the Lord! I felt the Spirit move and the joy of the Lord course through my heart as I have not for a while. I was very convicted that I had allowed my circumstances with miscarriages and fertility struggles over the past couple of years to influence my desire for the Lord. God is good all the time, and He is always worthy of my praise, even when difficulty comes and life is not as I had hoped.

Now, we have this precious little baby boy to love and care for, which brings us great hope. Yet, we do not know if he is to be ours forever or for just a time, which can cause us fear if we dwell on tomorrow. The Lord has certainly been challenging me to find my joy and contentment in Him alone and not my circumstances, but even more, He has been challenging me to worship and praise in the midst of difficulty and uncertainty. Whenever we have sung the song that says, “You give and take away. You give and take away. My heart will choose to say, ‘Lord, blessed be Your name,’” I have to ask myself if that is really true of me. Is there anything that would cause me to not praise the Lord if He took it away? We must guard our hearts against such idols, even seemingly good things.

I was reminded today of one of my favorite verses on desiring the Lord. Psalm 27:4, “One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.” As we praised the Lord together this morning, I remembered that passion and joy in the Lord. I need to take more time to praise His name, to remember that I always have my great and loving God.

What about you? What is taking away from your worship of the Lord? What is challenging your desire for God? Perhaps the next time we notice that struggle, we should turn up the praise music and remember who our God is and how joyful it is to seek His beautiful face and to remember that He will take care of us in the midst of our struggles. This is by no means to make light of serious struggle, but to remember how great He is over the most difficult times!

Judith Graham

Hands Full!

“You sure have your hands full!” This comment came from an elderly gentleman at Wal-Mart. I had just walked in with one of those monstrous grocery carts, that has an attachment allowing me to put my three- and two-year olds in the front. My 6 month old was in his car seat in the basket portion of the cart. (‘Where do the groceries fit?’, you might ask… Good question.) I smiled at the gentleman and replied, “Yes, a good kind of full.” And I meant it. My children had not complained this time about having to go to the store; they got right up into the cart, my baby wasn’t crying, and I was enjoying the time out of the house with them.

But what about two days prior? Monday had been a different story – perhaps one of my hardest parenting days to date. My older two had been fighting all morning, resulting in a pretty deep scratch on my oldest’s neck; my middle child, in the midst of potty-training, had had three “accidents” by 9:15 a.m.; my baby was unusually fussy and I could not console him. Just when I’d get him to sleep and put him down, he’d wake right back up. What about then? What if someone had been able to peek into my home that day and make that same comment, “You sure have your hands full!” Would my response have been the same, “A good kind of full.”? Of course, regarding the existence of my children, yes, a good kind of full. My children are one of God’s greatest blessings in my life, and I thank the Lord daily for them.  But what about the actual circumstances: fighting children, cleaning up accidents, screaming baby? Was that a ‘good kind of full’?

Philippians 1:6 tells me that God is working a good work in me. It is the work of sanctification, being made more like Christ. This, of course, makes me think of James 1:3-4, “Count it all joy, my brothers (and sisters!), when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”  I am supposed to count it all as joy, in other words, see it as a ‘good kind of full’, because of the work God is doing in my life. He is making me perfect and complete, so I will lack in nothing. My trials with my children are nothing like the trials of persecution those believers were facing, but that Greek word trials refers to trials of various kinds, not just the persecution kind. And, for me, that Monday was full of trials (though minor, I know).

That Monday, I lost my patience again and again. I was frustrated, because I was not able to accomplish my agenda. And God needed to expose my sinful heart, the idols I was worshiping in those moments. That is a good thing. As I saw my sinful responses, I could cry out to my Father, asking for forgiveness, and clinging to Him, knowing that I cannot parent in my own strength. I can learn from those times, reminding myself of Christ’s sufficiency in the midst of my need. And, in that process, God is conforming me to His image.

So, what is causing your hands to be ‘full’ this week – your employment, family situation, illness? Though the circumstance we deal with may in itself not be a good thing, we can know that God is always at work in the lives of His children, doing a good work. He causes all things to work together for good (Romans 8:28).So, yes, even that Monday, in the midst of the difficulties, my answer can, and should be, “a good kind of full!’.  

       – Amy O’Rear

Blessed Quietness

Blessed Quietness

          When I had five small children and a husband who often worked out of town for extended periods, the following was a typical scenario when he arrived home from one of his trips.  It is only slightly exaggerated!

Me:  Hi, Honey.  So glad you’re home.  I love you.  Bye.

          And out the door I would go.  When I arrived home, my children would say:

Children:  Where did you go, Mommy?

Me:  The park.

Children:  What did you do?

Me:  Nothing.

Children:  Mommy!  What did you do?

Me:  Nothing.  I sat.

          And that was literally the truth!  I would go to a park and sit on a bench or at a picnic table and do nothing.  I simply needed quiet.

          On those terrible days when it was raining or very cold so that the park was not an option, I would go to a store or a mall and just walk around.  I was not shopping; I had no money.  I would actually ask God not to let a sales clerk approach me and not to let me see anyone I knew.  My soul was desperate for quiet.

          The Christmas season has just passed with children home and then a short visit to a daughter’s house and I found myself playing that song again—I need quiet!  Of course I enjoyed the visits!  Of course I want to see my children!  But my soul craves quiet.

          Some people seem afraid of the quiet.  They turn on the radio or the TV just to have noise.  But I believe we need periods of quiet to enable us to focus.  Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.”  The noise can distract us from an awareness of His presence.  In a passage addressed to Israel, but also applicable to us, Isaiah said in chapter thirty, verse fifteen, “Thus says the Lord God. . .'In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.’”

          When I am stressed and overwhelmed, I need to quiet to refocus and calm myself to help me regain strength, to help me turn my life back over to Him.  John Greenleaf Whittier said in his poem Dear Lord and Father of Mankind,

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,

Till all our strivings cease.

Take from our souls the strain and stress

And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Thy peace.

          Oh, Lord, give us quietness and peace!

                             

                                                  ~~Faith Himes Lamb

All the Pretty Little Horses

One of the great things about growing up on an Iowa farm, poor as we were, was that we had ponies. We rode in Fun Shows – rodeos without the cattle or bucking broncs. We rode in barrel races, pole bending, and keyhole races. Barrel racing and keyhole required speed in a specific pattern around barrels or poles and tires; pole bending was a long, figure-8 pattern around a line of poles. Speed was the required factor for winning, but knocking over any of the equipment or failing to fulfill the pattern was grounds for disqualification.

Our ponies were wonderful. Um, that may be hyperbole. Gyp wasn’t much of a race horse. Dad said he was appropriately named. A big friendly Paint, he just didn’t like to move. The only race he ever “won” was due to my little brother James’s skill at tying the baby goat after Gyp plodded out to the goat in record slow time.

Cocoa wasn’t that great, either. He was a Shetland pony, faithful to their reputation as ill-tempered beasts. He bit us and chased our visitors. He wasn’t much to ride, either. Our teen-aged feet dragged the ground if we actually sat on him.

We had more hopes for Zip, brother to Gyp. He was fast, with a comfortable gait. Unfortunately, he worked against us at every opportunity. The only time I was injured on a horse, Zip had a hoof in it. Later the same day, he tried to dislodge my brother John from the saddle by running at jousting speed through the barn door – the small one. John might have been killed if he hadn’t been quicker than the horse.

Usually at the Fun Shows, we didn’t win, place, or show. We just had fun. But Fun Shows changed when Dad brought home Beauty, a tall, lovely quarterhorse. If our feet were on the ground, we had a sweet and gentle friend. If our feet were in the stirrups, we were astride dynamite in horsehair. Beauty outran the wind. If we thought about turning right, we were already turning. If we thought about going faster, we were. The only thing Beauty didn’t like to do was stop. But if we thought about stopping, we had better be ready, because we were stopped. Right here. Right now. I never did understand how she knew what I wanted before I signaled her. John and I have stacks of ribbons, all earned by Beauty’s instant response to our will.

My memories of our horses used to be cheerful ones. Now they are convicting. God’s Word tells us not to be weary in doing well. (Gal 6:9 and II Thess. 3:13) How many times do I respond to God as Gyp responded to us – just don’t want to move? Or like Zip – always an argument or a contrary choice, hurting people in the process. Or worse – maybe just plain mean, like Cocoa. What if I always responded to God’s leading as did Beauty – instantly, joyously? What could I win for my Savior?

--Lynda Shenefield

Follow the Leader!

Well, friends, it's 2016. This is the year we elect a new President.  This is a big responsibility and a great privilege we have as citizens. I'm not entirely sure I would have been on the side of the revolutionaries back in 1776 (Don't judge; it's a complicated matter), but I am so glad that we have the freedom we enjoy. God's hand in our history is unmistakable.

It is with some fear and not a little trembling that I approach this coming election. The desire, of course, is to elect someone who is a person of integrity, someone we can confidently follow as the leader of our nation. Who might that be? I am forming some opinions, but here's the difficulty: Whenever I think I have settled on a candidate, I learn of some small feature in the person's policy that I am uncomfortable with.

The situation is not unlike being involved in any organization---including a church or a school.  We sometimes may be puzzled by or may disagree with a particular decision or way of handling things. But the question I have put to friends is this: Can we trust our leaders? Are these honest people who are seeking God's will and trying to follow Him? If so, then I will follow and rely on God to do the leading.

Now about the President. Whom can we trust? I am still working on it. How about you? Let us pray sincerely and then support an individual of integrity, even if we may quibble with fine points of policy. I'm looking for someone who has "clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to vanity nor sworn deceitfully" (Psalm 24:4).

I'm also trying--by God's grace--to be that kind of person, for someone is following me.  Let us move forward in this new year with care but also with confidence. Our God is "the King of glory" (Ps. 24).

--Sherry Poff