My Jar Runneth Over

         The past few years I have been hearing of some neat ways to record God’s blessings in a way that can be an encouragement to your whole family, and I love that! One example takes the idea of a stone of remembrance after the Ebenezer stone. Family members find a rock and paint, draw, or write something on it to remind them of a great blessing or answered prayer. Then, they put it in a decorative bowl or jar for all in the family to be able to remember what God has done.

         The most recent one I heard about is decorating a jar and putting notes in that record the blessings/answered prayers. I love the thought of reading through them when you are discouraged, and even more, I am thinking about starting a family tradition of reading through them on New Year’s Eve or Day to remember all that God has done the previous year as you look to the New Year. 

         As I said, I have been contemplating this for awhile because I know how good and encouraging it is to remember what God has done. And my current circumstances prompted me to be thinking about God’s sweet blessings!

         As Ben and I prepared for Sean’s adoption, Ben ran across a journal entry that he wrote shortly after we picked Sean up from the hospital over two years ago. He recorded that as he practiced the sermon for me, he asked a question about something that I was wanting, and I said, “A baby!” A couple days later, we brought Sean home. I didn’t remember that, but because Ben had journaled it, we had that awesome remembrance of a big answered prayer. 

         Now, as we finalized the adoption, we talked about what our hopes were for a sibling for Sean. We both expressed that while we would be fine with whoever the Lord brought to us, but we both hoped to have a little girl. Fifteen days after the adoption, we got a call for a baby girl! Of course, we don’t know if she is to stay in our home permanently, but it still felt like God was affirming that He was listening and caring about the desires of our hearts.

         We can absolutely see God’s preparation in all these things. I had worried about how Sean would respond to a new sibling, and God had provided a little baby boy that we had been babysitting. It felt like a great preparation for Sean to get used to having a baby around, and it was helpful for us to remember how to take care of a young baby again! Plus, I had already pulled out most of the baby things and done baby laundry. So even though we had only 3-4 hours between the time we found out about Marie and picking her up, we were already somewhat prepared, other than a quick run to Walmart. 

         Later on that same crazy day, we found out my dad was at the ER, initially thinking it was just a bad virus, but they discovered he had pulmonary embolisms in both lungs. Those can be so dangerous, even fatal, if not found quickly. We are so grateful the Lord sent him great advice to take the semi-minor symptoms seriously, and he was out of the hospital in a few days!

         Because of these events, I am keenly aware of God’s goodness and protection, and I don’t want to forget that. I especially will want to remember these things on days when life is throwing harder things my way again to encourage me. 

         So what about you? How do you record and remember what God has done for you, His blessings and answered prayers? Is this a practice you need to start to keep an attitude of thankfulness? God is so good to us in the difficult times and the blessed times, but in our humanity, we often like the Israelites can lose sight of all that God has done. We need reminders of God’s good works in our good and bad times to keep us strong in our faith. Our jars runneth over, but sometimes we need that physical reminder! May you all have a blessed week as you gratefully remember what He has done for you!

I Thess 5“¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Psa 78:35 They remembered that God was their protector, and that God Most High was their deliverer.

Psa 77:11 I will remember the works of the Lord.Yes, I will remember the amazing things you did long ago!

Joshua 4:6 The stones will be a reminder to you. When your children ask someday, ‘Why are these stones important to you?’ 7 tell them how the water of the Jordan stopped flowing before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the water of the Jordan stopped flowing. These stones will be a lasting memorial for the Israelites.”

The Battle is Real

The classic novel The Hobbit is about a fictional creature named Bilbo Baggins who goes on an adventure to help reclaim a treasure from an evil dragon. He is a very hesitant member of a party of fourteen on a journey that proves very treacherous and challenging. Throughout the journey, as he encounters trolls,  wolves, and giant spiders, Bilbo often longs for his comfortable chair back home and a nice meal. The group finally makes it to the Lonely Mountain, the home of the dragon and the immense treasure, and after seeing proof of the treasure there, they excitedly talk about all the gold and jewels. However, the excitement is short-lived as they remember the dragon guarding the treasure. The author Tolkien comments, “It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.”

As I am teaching this book to my 7^th and 8^th grade English class, I am finding that I am very much like Bilbo Baggins. I like comfort; I’d prefer to stay home and not engage in any adventure that could be frightening. Yet this is where The Hobbit ties in to real life and what the Lord has been teaching me lately. (You’ve been wondering where this is going, right?)

There is a battle raging. There is a dragon afoot.  And I can’t stay in the comfort of my couch and a warm meal, oblivious to the battle or pretending it doesn’t exist. I have been reminded of this as I, along with many women at Grace, am participating in the Bible study on the Armor of God. In this study, Priscilla Shirer is challenging us to open our eyes to the battle, to be on the alert, and to be prepared against the enemy’s attacks. The study centers on Ephesians 6 where the Bible tells us about this battle that we are in, against whom we are fighting, and what we should do about it.

“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (vs. 11-12)

This is battle language; Paul is warning all believers to stand firm and stay on the alert, realizing that our enemy, though unseen, is very real. This enemy is Satan, along with a host of evil followers. Of the three enemies the Bible tells us about (Satan, the world, and our flesh), Satan is the one I overlook in my personal life. I’m very aware of the sin I battle in the flesh as well as the world’s temptations, but I do not stay on the alert against Satan’s tactics.  Yet First Peter tells us that he “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” This is serious. Tolkien’s statement above applies well here: “It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.”

Recently I was talking to Kelly about some fears I’d been dealing with in my mind that had really overwhelmed me. He gently said, “Amy, that is not God’s voice. That is the enemy; he knows where you’re weak and is attacking you in that area.” Wow; that gave me perspective. I didn’t have to listen to those feelings or fears; I had to fight against them with the truth of God’s Word. Up to that point, I hadn’t seen it as a spiritual attack. Yet, I believe that is what it was. The spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places were battling for my mind, my thoughts, trying to get me to take my eyes off God. We must be on the alert.

Yet, sisters, here is the good news. The best news. God has already won this battle! The dragon knows he will not win. He will be defeated. And in the meantime, as we live in this fallen world and must fight against Satan and his spiritual forces, God has given us armor that works. We too can be victorious! May we be on the alert, arm ourselves for battle, and keep our eyes fixed on the One who always leads us triumphantly in Him.

--Amy O'Rear

How Does Your Garden Grow?

There is a Mother Goose book full of happy rhymes, one of which says this:

            Mistress Mary, quite contrary,

            How does your garden grow?

                        With silver bells

                        And cockle shells

            And pretty maids all in a row.

For the Christian woman, her garden is not full of silver bells or cockle shells but rather beautiful, fragrant, cultivated graces of kindness, selfless generosity, and useful actions. Hers does not grow unprofitable weeds which sap nutrients from her plants.

Wintry blasts cannot kill her garden of graces. She desires--even longs for--visitation from the warm south winds to comfort and blow on her garden. She cannot endure to be unproductive or unprofitable in her graces.

She prays even through the bruising of life's trials. The power and plan of her Savior waters her garden with fresh blessings. Jesus himself finds comfort in her poor, feeble graces.

In the corner of my guest bedroom, now my makeshift painting studio, I have a rocking chair, a lamp, Polly's Portrayals, and Bible books. Each morning I pray, sing, and sometimes cry with tears of gratitude to my Heavenly Father for His everlasting graces to nurture my garden. May I be fragrant with blossoms of faith, love, patience, hope, and joy surrendered to the sweet hand of the Faithful Gardener.

Blow warm winds upon our gardens, Dear One!

--Polly Kettenring

Confound It!

Confound: to perplex or amaze, especially by a sudden disturbance or surprise; bewilder; confuse.

The Bible tells us in Genesis 11 that the people of the earth, all of one language, wanted to make a name for themselves and did not want to be scattered on the earth. The idea did not please God, so He said, “Let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.” The result was the scattering of the people “upon the face of all the earth.”

For 15 years or more, a few Grace members have been dealing with the confusion that God instituted, by trying to help people from all over the world learn English. I often think He could hardly have thought of a better plan to scatter people. It’s a lot of work to try to learn a new language. It’s a lot of work to try to communicate when we don’t know each other’s languages. It takes patience, kindness, perseverance and a lot of other qualities we don’t want to work on.

The other day as I tried to give a devotional talk at English classes, I was stopped cold by a student who misunderstood what I said and refused to accept it. She objected vigorously and loudly. She thought I had said something untrue about God and she would not let it stand. I was proud of her for standing up for God! We tried to clarify, and the rest of the talk substantiated her view, so I hope she was satisfied. But we never know whether we have gotten our point across.  On the way home, I told God, with tears, that He has to get us through this mess He made. We need Him to give understanding of our English words as well as of spiritual truths.

My husband’s niece, Judy, spent her young adult years in Europe, smuggling Bibles into “closed” countries with Brother Andrew’s organization. She learned several languages and later married Peter, a Swiss man who also knew several languages. But they had no common language! After Judy’s mother, Peggy, had visited the newlyweds in Switzerland, she told us that each time Peter and Judy spoke to each other, they finished their communication with, “Do you know what I said? Do you understand what I mean?”

Peggy wisely observed that all marriages would be better if we all asked these questions when speaking to our spouses! Maybe we all should say those things to our friends, our children, our co-workers – and our other-language friends.

Let us be careful in our use of our own speech, patient in our reception of other people’s word usage and diligent in trying to understand the true meaning of God’s words.

--Lynda Shenefield

Let God be God

Salvation is of the LORD.

Let it happen. Let God be God.

We want to make it happen. I have heard it said, and I have said the same: "If the job is to be done, I guess I'll just have to do it myself." Then action flies into doing, and there is force behind the action. We force our way, thinking others should fall into our plans, and our expectations are at full speed. We may manipulate so that we see the result of our control. We control by our words, actions, and expectations. We plunge headlong into what we want to see accomplished.

Where is it seen that salvation is of the Lord? Where is letting the situation happen in the control of God and in the Holy Spirit's timing? Where is the patient dependence on letting God be God? Do we wait in patient prayer? Do we feed on the Word while we wait?

"But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." James 1:4

May this grace rule and abound in me and in you today.

Salvation is of the Lord. Let Him do His work!

--Polly Kettenring