Wednesday, September 29, 2010

He is Worthy of our Gaze

Psalm 123:1-2

"To You I lift up my eyes, O You Who are enthroned in the heavens!
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so
our eyes look to the Lord our God, till He has mercy upon us."

So beautiful. Can you see the maidservant standing in the corner waiting, watching for the mistress to look her way or ask for her assistance? She keeps her eyes fixed on her so she won't miss a gesture, a nod of the head, a whisper.

Can you see her sitting at the feet of her mistress? Can you see the servant looking to the hand of his Master?

The Master's hand provides, protects, guides, and rewards. We just have to keep our eyes fixed on Him. We tell Him what we feel and how we hurt. We ask Him what to do and how to serve. I read something from Charles Spurgeon the other day that truly spoke to my heart:

Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye
When none but God is near.

Sometime my heart is so heavy I can't come up with the words to say. But I know where to look; and as the sigh slips from my lips or the tears from my eye, I know the One Who is worthy of my gaze is listening.

To You I lift up my eyes, O You Who are enthroned in the heavens!

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Changing Hats



The last few Sundays the youth of our church have been doing a relationship study. Korey's desire was not just to tell them to wait until marriage to give themselves away, but to tell them why and how to keep from giving themselves away. I've helped him with the teaching as we split up the boys and girls at certain times. Tonight I have the boys. Yikes!

I started thinking about what kind of man I used to dream about as a young girl. What kind of man I wanted to marry when I grew up. My mind went back to the Montgomery Wards store in Denver City. Mom and Dad were the managers of the store and built us a little play area in the back. My best friend Gale and I used to pretend we were married to Green Berets. We played mom's album over and over again and would make ourselves cry when he sang about the soldier dying. This guy laid his life down for his country. We would hold our dolls and cry because their daddies weren't coming home. So sad.

I found the video and watched it. Glad I didn't marry him. I did get a little emotional when he got to the dying part though.

Our dreams sometimes do come true. Michael doesn't wear a green hat but he pastors a church where men care more about hat etiquette than women do about shoe etiquette. Is it time for the black felt or are we still in wearing the white straw? He doesn't physically lay down his life but he lives his life for the people here every day. But I know he would physically give his life for them. He goes to battle spiritually for folks on a daily, sometimes hourly basis. So yeah, I kinda knew back then, rocking those baby dolls, what kind of man I wanted to marry. I have a pretty good hunch that God Himself was putting that desire in my heart to prepare me for my life now.

Glad He doesn't make mistakes.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Planting Trees

Trees were donated to the church a couple of weeks back and the girls and I were going to plant them. Our youth minister, Korey, was with some of the guys so they came out to help. I'm so glad they did. We would have still been digging!

Slowly but surely we are fixing up the front of the building. We just try not to get ahead of God and keep the important things important. In a couple of weeks we will be planting several trees out at the arena in memory of some of the dear people we have lost in the last few months.

Thanks for the help guys!






Wednesday, September 15, 2010

God is Enough

What do you say to a weeping mother who just hugged her 30 year old firstborn one last time before they zipped up the bag? Or to the sister who can't make sense of it all?

What do you say to the young mother who was just served with divorce papers, wondering how she is going to do all this with little ones? How can she keep a sense of normalcy in such chaos?

What do you say to the family who is sideways with each other because of years of unhealthy behaviors? Family who doesn't realize they have the choice to stop those behaviors?

What do you say to the recovering addict, 137 days clean, after years and years of drug dependence? Who is desperate to stay clean?

"GOD IS ENOUGH!"

He is enough to fill up the huge hole in the heart of a grieving momma and hurting sister. He is enough to be the arms to hold a betrayed heart until she falls asleep in peace. He is enough to encourage family to step up and do the right thing by choosing to do what He would do. He is definitely enough to be what feeds the hunger inside when our bodies cry out for what is not best for us.

Monday night at Bible study we were in Psalm 121. Such a comforting place to be in the midst of all the loss and destruction going on in lives right now.

1) I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

I've seen several different interpretations of this. Some think the hills held danger and uncertainty in the journey and the psalmist knew he was needing help from the Lord. Some think the hills represent the holy place of God and the writer has his eyes set on his Deliverer. I've even heard from a La Leche Leage friend that this verse is proof that David was a breastfed baby. Sorry. Couldn't resist.

I personally lean to the hills being full of danger and uncertainty. When my big kids were small we moved to Houston. This small town girl from west Texas was ready to conquer the big city. One day I decided to load the kids up and we were going to see downtown Houston. So excited. There were several things though that I didn't take into consideration:

1. Our car was old and if you slowed down or stopped and the air conditioner was running, the car would die.
2. East Texas is stupid hot. And stupid humid.

We took off and got downtown to all the super tall buildings and people everywhere. All of the sudden we spotted a McDonalds in a building with a parking garage. We thought that was the coolest thing. Wait 'til the folks back home heard about this! I was a tad bit afraid of the garage because it seemed like all the murders that happened on Magnum P.I. were in parking garages. I decided I wouldn't rob the kids of their excitement because of my phobias, so we pulled in and took the ticket, then noticed how much it was going to cost to park. I barely had enough for the meal so I found the exit and came out on a different street than we went in.

Where I was raised, you could see the lights at night of several different towns from the roof of my house. When you are in the big city with tall buildings all around you, you can't even find the sun to know what direction you are going. I was starting to get a little panicy because everytime I would come to a red light in my search for familiar, the car would die. I would turn off the air conditioner but it was so hot the kids were starting to get sick. I didn't want to roll the windows down because I had heard stories of the big city. Yes, panic is a good word for what I was feeling. I've always had a little bit of fear of being lost in the woods and that was what was creeping in. So I fully identify with the interpretation of seeing those hills and crying out for help.

I don't know about you, where you are, or what you are walking through; but I do know this: there is great comfort in knowing that my help comes from the One Who spoke this world into existence. THE ONE WHO SPOKE THIS WORLD INTO EXISTENCE! He listens when I talk to Him. He holds me when my heart hurts. He laughs when I laugh and He comforts me when I am afraid.

I sometimes write down my prayers. Monday morning my prayer was this: "Lord, You know the needs of the ones You send our way. Meet those needs Father. Use our hands, our words, our smiles, and our eyes to show them You." When I prayed that prayer, I didn't know how many people were going to need to see Him in such a short period of time.

He's really my only answer. I'm amazed at His "enoughness".