Mending....

Mending.....

Last winter we had some very high winds which were constant for a long period of time. During that time my wooden board fence broke at a weak place. I called the original  builder to have it repaired and he told me that he would get to it "sometime", never came as he has been so busy building new fences...I can commiserate with him as I don't like to mend either.  It is much more fulfilling to build new rather than try to fix sake thing that is broken or needs rebuilt or mended...

When my children were growing up, my mending pile of clothes grew and grew waiting until they outgrew them, so that I didn't have to mend...while I totally enjoyed creating new garments even as the other mending pile sat idly by, waiting to be taken care....

My grandmother "darned" socks so that they would last longer...she didn't just go buy new ones when there was a hole in the toe..she patiently put a wooden darning tool in the sock, wove cotton threads back and forth to fill in the offending hole.  It might not have been the right color, but the hole was filled..and the sock ready for use again...a nightly chore while listening to the radio, there being no TV to watch...

Mending...it takes time, to go back and redo, to figure out how to make it work again, what pieces need repaired, to find the replacements...and it doesn't feel as creative as starting from scratch and making something new...

 

We talk about "mending fences" in relationships as well. Mending those hurts that can occur along life's paths..regaining trust, regaining love lost over brokenness, bad decisions, unforgiveness, misinformation, etc, etc...and it takes some serious work to mend relationships...it takes humbling ourselves, putting down our pride, forgetting the past, waiting, patience, changing old habits and so much more depending on the "offense"..

And prayer...and maybe even letting go...

Thank YOU that You came to mend our brokenness, to help us repair broken relationships....to make us new creations, usable in Your world...setting us on the path that you have for us...transforming us into Your image day by day...

Psalm 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. 

Ecclesiastes 3:7 a time to tear and a time to mend,a time to be silent and a time to speak, 

Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. 

2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 

My fence finally got mended, sturdier than it was before, more concrete, a stronger main post...no more swaying in the wind, leaning, creaking or moaning from its brokenness...transformed into something better....just as God is working in my life...and anyone else's who desires mending....

believe....

I purchased this stone from a local store a couple of years ago.  With wind, snow, rain, ice, it has deteriorated  to this cracked stone which is slowly breaking  apart and will eventually have to be thrown away...the dove in the middle is barely discernible and the word, "believe" is fading as well..

Not a really good stone to show a strong belief..., man-made plaster from a mold...manmade.....

There are events and times in life that look like this stone ....cracked belefs...falling apart...deteriorating ....thrown away ....or wrong beliefs....when times are tough, or maybe times are great and flourishing....or not enough time for basics...

Many events can draw us away from our core values...and break up our believing...manmade decisions, circumstances, a multitude too many to even mention...

There comes a time when we have to decide what is our basic, bottom line beliefs...who is our foundation..in whom or in what do we believe...what foundation do we want to hold us up...
not a broken,  manmade plaster of Paris mold....
But, real, solid, firm foundation that does not fall apart with the forces of nature or world circumstances...
Who is our rock? Who is our core?

God has given us free will to choose ....but he desires that all would come to Him for their foundation...their rock..their cornerstone...He alone doesn't break , fall apart...

Thank YOU for your solidness, your firmness...Your care...


1 Samuel 2:2 “There is no one holy like the Lord;there is no one besides you;there is no Rock like our God.

Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect ,and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

2 Samuel 22:3a   my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,my shield and the horn of my salvation.He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior—....

Psalm 18:46 The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock!Exalted be God my Savior!

The color red....

The color red....

They say that the color red is a power color...that men are attracted to red over other colors...

"Red is the warmest of all colors. Red is the color most chosen by extroverts and one of the top picks of males. On the negative side red can mean temper or anger. In China, red is the color of prosperity and joy. Brides wear red and front doors are often painted red. Red is Tuesday's color. Red roses symbolize passionate love. Ruby rings should be worn on the left hand...." Yahoo, the meaning of red...

My husband always tried to get red trucks, he liked the color.  He never wore red, though..he tried to talk me into red cars, but I didn't  like them...so mine were softer, restful colors...I felt too flashy in red...too standoutish....I am not an extrovert by any stretch of the imagination...

I just thought it was interesting how many times the color red is mentioned in the Bible...

The red blood over the door frames so that the angel of death will pass by...

Passing through the Red Sea on dry ground, to safety....

Red dyed ram skins in the tabernacle...

A Scarlet cord to save a believing family in Jericho....

Sins of scarlet washed white as snow with belief ...

Wine to represent the red blood of Christ who gave his blood for my salvation...

Red blood saved...the passing through the Red Sea saved...red is a picture of the blood shed for sins, which can be forgiven by the blood of Christ....to make us as clean as snow...quite a contrast from blood red to pure white...from sins to sin free...forgiven...and saved...

Thank YOU for your pictures again and again of Your saving grace....

Exodus 12:7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 

Exodus 14:13, 16, 29, 31 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.

 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.

 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 

And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant. 

Exodus 25:5 ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather; acacia wood; 

Joshua 2:18 unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. 

Isaiah 1:18-19 “Come now, let us settle the matter,”says the Lord.“Though your sins are like scarlet,they shall be as white as snow;though they are red as crimson,they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient,you will eat the good things of the land; 

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 

Second son....

Second son....

In 1986, we were chosen to have the opportunity to adopt our last child...a 18 month old little blond boy...

He had had a hard start in life, being born prematurely, life flighted to another city, and eventually put into foster care...

He had been available for adoption for several months, but for some reason was lost in the paper shuffle.  

They contacted our family and we said "yes"... There would be a twelve year difference in ages between our first son and our last...

We made the trip, were brought up to speed on his records, his health, his life to this point and then we went to the foster care home...we rang the bell and were met with this little blond haired boy with his arms outstretched, welcoming us.. Our hearts melted at the sight and knew that he was going to be our next child...with this gesture...he wanted hugged and a permanent home...

The foster parents had been taking care of several babies ready for adoption and preparing them for homes for their own...they lived under the flight pattern for the local airport and our  new little one was always pointing to the planes and saying, "plane, plane", his first words...he continued that word for a long time, always finding planes even when we couldn't...

We chose the name, "Matthew", meaning "gift of the Lord" because he had truly been a gift to us...which he has been throughout his life in our family...

He is the daredevil, riding motorcycles, Broncos, Bulls, ....he is the one who tested our limits...to the greatest, bringing us to our knees more than any of our four children...but, he loved babies, working with children at summer camps, a great soccer player and wrestler, a salesman through and through, loves story telling, a  big help to many who know him...and now is the father of four precious little ones with an amazing wife...

Thank YOU for Matthew...Your gift to our family...through the years....You prepared him just for us...

These are the verses that God gave me for this son...

Jeremiah 29:11-13 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 

Jeremiah 31:16-17 This is what the Lord says:“Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,”declares the Lord.“They will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your descendants,”declares the Lord.“Your children will return to their own land.

Happy birthday!!!!

Earthly tent...

An earthly tent....

As I said yesterday, I was to attend a funeral of a friend...his earthly tent had given out and he went to live in his eternal home...

It had seemed that he went too early, younger than many, leaving behind family and friends who will miss him.  But, he went in God's time, called to walk those gold paved streets with my husband...and others ...I wonder if they look at those streets of gold and wonder why they strived and searched for gold here on earth when it it just pavement there...

It goes along with making wise the simple or other oxymorons that we may find in life...Gods thoughts are much more complex and infinite than ours...

An earthly tent...I liked Mr. Stedman's analogy of living in this tent....as well as the Word's...the structure of a tent is so temporal...manmade materials which can be heavy canvas or the lightweight nylon...waterproof or not, metal or wood struts and stays, small or large in area, quickly collaspible or semi permanent, windows or not, multitude of colors and shapes, inexpensive or very expensive ....replaceable ...and it wears out after much use...made for the side of Mt Everest or as a play tent in a toddler's room...so varying in use...just as we all are...

Thank YOU for this earthly tent..help me to take care of it, use it wisely, and to let it go when it's use is over...and for those tents around me...remembering that You take care of the Soul ....

Ecclesiastes 12:1-5 Remember your Creator In the days of your youth,before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say,“I find no pleasure in them”— before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark,and the clouds return after the rain; when the keepers of the house tremble,and the strong men stoop,when the grinders cease because they are few,and those looking through the windows grow dim; when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades;when people rise up at the sound of birds,but all their songs grow faint; when people are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets;when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags itself along and desire no longer is stirred.Then people go to their eternal home and mourners go about the streets. 

Beyond The End   A daily devotion for September 12th   From your friends at RayStedman.org     Read: 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:5       Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands (2 Corinthians 5:1).       What marvelous words! It is obvious that here is a description of the present body of flesh and bones we live in contrasted with the same body, risen and glorified by the activity of the Spirit of God. When you compare these words with those in 1 Corinthians 15, you can see that Paul is talking here about the resurrected body, that body we shall receive in which he says mortality will be swallowed up in immortality. He uses the same terminology here. It is the body, he says, that we shall enter in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, we will be changed and this new body will be given to us (1 Corinthians 15:52). Here he is contrasting the two. The present body, he says, is like a tent. We are living a temporary experience, as people do when they live in a tent. I sometimes feel uncomfortable in this tent of my earthly body. I am sure you do, too. A tent is not very satisfying. The stakes begin to loosen, the poles begin to sag, the tent itself sags in various spots, the cold penetrates, and it is not very comfortable. Some of us feel that way as we grow older. But we are looking forward to the resurrection body, the permanent building, that which God had in mind when He made us in the beginning, the permanent dwelling place designed by God without any human help, a house not made with hands. Nothing human produces it or adds to it; nothing that the undertaker does while our body is being prepared for the grave adds a single thing to what God will do that will produce the body of glory that is to come. The point Paul makes is that it is already ours in eternity. We have, he says. Notice the present tense: not We will have. We have an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands already there, waiting for us to put on. The apostle says that this new body, the resurrected body, is an experience of not being disembodied but being further embodied. He changes the idiom from the building to the body and says it is like being further clothed, so that it is more than we have at the moment. If you feel like you are clothed by being in a body, then in that body you will feel even more clothed, further clothed. No one wants to float around in a bodiless existence. Paul says your actual experience will be this: You will be further clothed upon death as believers. You will have a new body. That is a weight of glory beyond all description, and it will come instantly, for the one who has prepared us for this very thing is God. I thank You, Lord, that when that moment of glory breaks upon my startled heart, I shall at last see Him whom I have long loved and served.       Life Application   Have we forgotten the expectation and hope of our glorious future, for body, soul and spirit?   Related Message   For more on this portion of Scripture read the message: Beyond the End or listen to the audio by clicking:   Listen to Ray     Previous Devotions for September Next       Want to Subscribe?   Subscribe / Unsubscribe to this Daily Devotion by Email   Copyright © 2014 Ray Stedman Ministries — This daily devotion is from the book The Power of His Presence: a year of devotions from the writings of Ray Stedman, compiled by Mark Mitchell. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice and a hyperlink to RayStedman.org if the copy is posted on the Internet.

 

Open to the public....

Open to the public......

It seems like there are times when whatever we do, we are on display...not really wanting to be, but we just are...and maybe that is the way we feel and may not be a reality..maybe no one is really looking or even cares...but it may be just one person who is looking and that is the one God has for that time...

For whatever reason we are on display for good or bad....not for a performance but just daily living...how we react, how we show Christ or not in our lives...what our words are...whatever...

Today is a funeral for a friend...his life will be on display as well as his wife and children...before a believing and unbelieving world...what is said may effect many, or  it may touch one person's life for eternity...pray that Jesus' name be glorified through all of this...not just the deceased....

Thank YOU that You went on display for us...for the world to see...how much You love each and every person...You died that we might live...you were made low that You might  lift up...You, who created the world, humbled yourself  for us...

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

Philippians 2:7-9 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man,he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest placeand gave him the name that is above every name, 

The Life Of Jesus In Mortal Bodies   A daily devotion for September 11th   From your friends at RayStedman.org     Read: 2 Corinthians 4:7-15       For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body (2 Corinthians 4:11).       What we want, of course, is to be like Him. But the power of God is the miracle of others seeing in us, in the midst of our pressures and trials, the character and the life of Jesus. I have always been amused and challenged by the verse in Colossians 1, where Paul prays that his friends in Colosse may be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might (Colossians 1:11a). What are they going to use all this power for? It sounds as though Paul ought to say, So that you can go about doing great miracles; so that you can astonish people with the tremendous magnetism of your preaching and teaching and be followed by great crowds.But that is not what he says. He says, I pray that you may be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience (Colossians 1:11). That is what takes power; that is where the life and the power of God is manifest. That is the life of Jesus. As you read through the gospels, the Spirit of God brings to your mind's eye a far more beautiful and wonderful picture, perhaps, of Jesus' character and life. You see His compassion of heart, His moral beauty that attracted people everywhere He went. You see the serenity of His spirit, how He moves through every scene of anger and unrest with calmness and quietness. You see His disciplined will and His obvious joy in living. That is the life of Jesus, and that is what we want, isn't it? How do you get it? The secret, Paul says, is our consent to share in the dying of Jesus. What does he mean by the dying of Jesus? You know he does not mean that we have to get ourselves nailed to a cross. But that cross is a symbol of something very real in our experience. What was Jesus like on the cross? He was not powerful and impressive and significant; He was not being applauded by the multitudes that listened to His every word. No. The cross was a place of physical weakness, of rejection by the proud and arrogant world around Him. It was a place of obscurity, a place where He was willing to lose everything He had built and to trust God to bring it back and make it significant. Have you been in those circumstances recently, where no matter what you do you cannot seem to get any glory or credit for yourself? That is exactly where God wants you, because out of those times of inordinate pressure, times of hurt and despair and heartache and a sense of being wasted and not used, God is working His will. Others, perhaps, are being given life because of the death you are going through. Lord, there are times when I go through trials. How my heart longs to cry out to You to deliver me from them. May I rather learn instead, Lord, that wonderful attitude of the Lord Jesus, if it be possible, may this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done.       Life Application   Are we being so changed by our relationship with Christ that others who are in our lives see the glory of His character? How can we share in the dying of Jesus?   Related Message   For more on this portion of Scripture read the message: Your Pot -- His Power or listen to the audio by clicking:   Listen to Ray     Previous Devotions for September Next       Want to Subscribe?   Subscribe / Unsubscribe to this Daily Devotion by Email   Copyright © 2014 Ray Stedman Ministries — This daily devotion is from the book The Power of His Presence: a year of devotions from the writings of Ray Stedman, compiled by Mark Mitchell. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice and a hyperlink to RayStedman.org if the copy is posted on the Internet.

 

God remembered....

God remembered...

My daughter sent me the following devotional yesterday...as we are planning to attend yet another funeral of "too young of a friend and colleague". And then I decided to look up the main phrase..."God remembered"

his-love and faithfulness, salvation, promises, covenant, redeemer, their weaknesses....

It is not that he goes away and forgets...He is always there, not in our timing, not in "our" plans, not even in our wildest imagination...or the "whys" and "how come"...

he knows our frame, our weaknesses...all of it...and He remembers ....and takes care of things in His time, in His way...

Thank YOU that You remember me, those around me...You are faithful, You keep your promises...You are my Rock...as we journey through this passing life....

Psalm 98:3 He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 

Genesis 19:29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived. 

Genesis 30:22 Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and enabled her to conceive. 

Exodus 2:24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 

Psalm 78:35, 39 They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return. 

"When the Flood Comes

Wendy Pope

Genesis 8:1 (NIV) “But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.”

Christians have many benefits as children of God, but flood-free lives are not one of them. Perhaps this is one of the most difficult things to accept.

Noah spent his life walking with God, yet he and his family faced a horrific storm. As the door of the ark was closed, Noah’s only hope was to trust God through the unknown.

We all have faced unknown storms. The untimely death of a family member. The uncertainty of our health. Unemployment. Just to name a few. But our key verse gives us a certainty for times that are uncertain.

No matter the severity of the storm or how we arrived in its eye, we can trust two simple truths about God and the floods we face: 1) God remembers His plan for us. 2) God remembers His love for us.

A storm doesn’t mean God forgot us. God remembered Noah and gave him instructions to build the ark. It was Noah’s obedience that kept his family safe when the flood rose.  In the same way, God directs us, and our safety often requires obedience.

Whether we are currently in a storm or just on the other side of one, we can be certain our storm will end. Isn’t it comforting to know that God will be with us through it all?

Prayer: Lord, these two trustworthy truths are simple. Help me to remember them when the flood comes. As Your Word has strengthened my faith"