Category Archives: Christian Life

Christmasy links

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Nannykim suggested I post some pictures of the “misfit ornaments” I mentioned the other day. I would so love to do that! I think it would be a lot of fun, and I’m in the mood for it. I’d love to do that today — but I must exercise self-disciple and get some things done. I’m kicking myself not so much because I am running behind, but because it is my own fault. So I am thinking maybe Saturday — though weekends are usually low blog-reading days for many — maybe early next week. If WordPress would support Mr. Linky I’d even think about setting it up where others could post links (but then that would be assuming that other people save their misfit ornaments like we do!)

This is a busy week — ladies’ group party was Monday (fun!), Jesse’s first basketball game was Tuesday (more on that tomorrow, hopefully), prayer meeting at church last night, Jesse’s piano recital tonight, then another basketball game tomorrow night. Plus some of my stuff to do from last week didn’t get finished then. So it’s been “lite” posting this week, though there have been some deep thoughts along the way. 🙂

During the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, my blog stats go way up because of several things I posted my first year of blogging. I had a lot of poems, quotes, etc. gleaned from several years of compiling our ladies ministry newsletter, and evidently people do a lot of searching for that kind of thing this time of year! I didn’t know some of you then, and I didn’t want to repost them but thought I’d post the links if any of you has time and inclination to look around. I’ll post some of my links first and then some other links around the blogosphere that have caught my eye recently.

My Christmas links:

Christmas links I have seen elsewhere lately:

One word about Christmas crafts: I see all these cute ideas during during December bur don’t have time to try them then. So the past few years I have made some in the week or two after Christmas. I’m still in the mood and the stores still have some Christmas supplies (though you could get the supplies earlier, if you’re afraid they’ll run out, and just make them when you can).

Happy reading!

Frustrations and forbearance

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  • You know how it is when you’re going to pass someone you know on the sidewalk. You look away, you look around, you look at the person to see if they’re looking your way, and when at some point your eyes meet, you smile and say hello (or am I the only one who does that? It seems most people do the same thing from my observation.) Last night I was about to pass a man I know on the sidewalk, all ready to say a friendly hello, and he walked right by me staring straight ahead. This happens every time we happen to pass each other. The only time he ever looks at me or speaks to me is when he has to, on business with the groups we’re both involved in, and he seems friendly enough then. I have heard he is really shy, but I’ve often wondered if he actively dislikes me for some reason. I don’t mind not being close personal friends with everyone I know — that’s just not possible for any of us — but if someone seems to dislike you, you can’t help but wonder why and feel bad about it. And in a situation where it feels like you’ve been snubbed, it does hurt a little, even if you tell yourself the other person is shy, maybe didn’t see you, certainly didn’t mean anything by it, etc.
  • A woman I know seems to dwell under an emotional dark cloud all the time. Almost every situation and many an innocent remark is turned to mean something negative against herself. Almost every event she’s involved with at some point will have some kind of drama and crisis and hurt feelings. She doesn’t practice Proverbs 18:24a (“A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly”) yet feels that no one is friendly to her.
  • A man takes a strong and good stand on the side of righteousness, yet even little points where there is room for differences are treated like hills to die on, and any difference from his own view on anything is treated with disdain and condescension. After just reading this morning from Ephesians 4:1-3 (“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”) I saw an incident between him and another totally lacking in humility, longuffering, forbearance, or grace.

These are all people I’ve known for years (none of them reads my blog, yet I’ve been purposefully vague “just in case”) and with whom a “situation” has arisen within just the last 24 hours, leaving me feeling down and frustrated. The last two did not affect me directly this time, yet seeing the same reactions yet again have stirred up the frustrations of my whole history with them.

The common thread with each situation is that there is nothing I can do about it, except in the first situation I can extend myself and be friendly even if it is not reciprocated. I’m not a confrontational person, even when I should be, but a part of me wants to take each one by the shoulders and say, “Do you realize how you’re coming across?!” I don’t think it is my place to correct the men (the last one does not receive correction from anyone anyway), and the woman would only feel persecuted and misunderstood (I used to think she just needed someone to listen to her and sympathize with her, but that doesn’t work).

I can pray, of course. Not the complaining type of prayer (“Lord, would you please speak to so-and-so about this…”). But the type of prayer Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:

14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

The goal isn’t for so-and-so to get whatever problem they have fixed (so that it doesn’t rub me the wrong way any more — an entirely self-centered focus), but rather that “we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).

I can exercise forbearance in love as mentioned earlier in Ephesians 4:2. One former pastor used to call forbearance “just good old-fashioned putting up with one another.” And we’re not just to “grin and bear it”: we’re to forbear one another in love. We’re all going to have our faults and failings until we get to heaven and if we don’t know how to interact with love and forbearance and grace, we’re all going to be pretty miserable…not to mention a poor testimony to others. We’re commanded to love others as Christ loved us, and He loved us “while we were yet sinners.”

And I can remember, work on, and pray over my own faults. I have plenty to deal with without worrying about anyone else’s. There’s probably something I do or don’t do that sets someone else to stewing sometimes.

I am sorely tempted to delete this, now that I’ve gotten it out of my system. But I think I’ll leave it, for now at least. All is not always rosy here in the land of Stray Thoughts, and I want to “keep it real,” as they say. And we all have to deal with this type of thing, so maybe my reasoning with myself here will be a help to someone else.

Friday’s Fave Five

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Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts a “Friday Fave Five” in which we share our five favorite things from the past week. Click on the button to read more of the details.

So here are a few favorite things from my week:

1. 50% off coupons and gifts cards — in general! — but especially when with them I got:

2. These clear stamps for free:

Clear stamps

You just peel them off and put them on the clear block, stamp, wash it off and put it back. I love the idea of being able to see exactly where you are putting the stamp — the old ones were on wooden blocks and sometimes it would take several tries to get it straight and exactly where I wanted it. I haven’t tried these yet but I am itching to.

The gift card was to Michael’s from Jesse for my birthday — can you believe I’d had it since August and hadn’t used it yet? But I am glad I saved it for now.

3. This stuff:

My two older sons love the Sticky Fingers restaurant in the town where they commute to school, but the rest of us had never been there — there is not one in our town. We finally did go over there and eat a few weeks ago, and I LOVED this sauce. And they sell it in some grocery stores!

I have a couple of baked dishes with barbecue sauce, and it didn’t really work well for that — we liked our regular Kraft BBQ sauce better. But as a condiment it is out of this world.

I made a new recipe (to me) called Saucy Pork Chops in the crock pot last Sunday, and it was just ok to me. It seemed to be missing something, though the rest of the family liked it. But we had more pork chops than I had thought were in the package, so I pulled the meat off the bones of the rest of it and Monday got some onion rolls for sandwiches, and with the Sticky Fingers Carolina Sweet sauce — oh my — mouth bliss!!!

4. Texas Toast. I had seen this in the stores for ages but just had never gotten any. But I got some this week because in the store I couldn’t decide between the onion rolls or Texas Toast for the BBQ sandwiches. Then I made French toast with them one morning for breakfast. I haven’t made French toast in ages, but now I am planning on making it for the family this weekend. More mouth bliss!!

5. One of my favorite moments this past week occurred last night. Often the messages from the BJU chapel service come on the radio around the time I am cleaning up the kitchen, and I enjoy listening to it while I am working there, but usually when I am done I turn off the radio and leave the room. Last night, though, the message was on a passage I had just read that morning (from Eph. 4 about grieving the Holy Spirit), and it was really speaking to my heart, so I stayed in the kitchen while it was on. While I was listening I decided to do some of those “extra” kitchen jobs like cleaning out the microwave and cleaning the crumbs from the bottom of the toaster oven, etc. Cleaning is not my favorite thing, but I do enjoy the results, and listening to something profitable while my hands are busy enhances the time. In fact…in some ways I listen better when my hands are busy. If I am just sitting I tend to get drowsy or distracted or fidgety. I know of mission churches in primitive areas where the people had no concept of any kind of public meeting with one speaker, much less church, and the idea of sitting still and listening when they had so much to do was preposterous to them, so they brought their basket-making or rope-making or net-mending or carving or whatever along with them to church. I’ve thought that’s really not a bad idea! But I can’t see our American churches going that way, and I don’t think I would really be ready for them to.

I’m digressing, but that whole time was a blessing not only in getting some things done that aren’t part of my daily routine (I so enjoyed using my gleaming microwave this morning!), but even more than that I enjoyed a message that really spoke it my heart in a way that it hadn’t been spoken to in a long time and opened up the passage a little more for me. I have still been thinking about it this morning.

Then earlier I caught a brief clip of a message while in the kitchen for a few minutes that has also stayed with me, about the fact that King Darius’s eyes were opened to see that “the God of Daniel…is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end” (Daniel 5:26) primarily through an unfair situation — the “set-up” that landed Daniel in the lion’s den. It really gives a new perspective that the Lord may have us in situations like that not only to teach us something, but to manifest something of Himself through us. Paul and Silas singing while in jail would be another example — an unfair situation that led to the salvation of the jailer and others. And Joseph’s life. I wonder how many opportunities like that I miss because I am inwardly grousing over the unfairness and injustice of it all instead of trusting the Lord to work in the situation.

So…it looks like it was a good week for being fed — spiritually, creatively, mentally, and spiritually.

“With one look at self…”

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In the e-mail devotional of Elisabeth Elliot‘s writing that I received this morning, there was an excerpt from her book, Keep a Quiet Heart, which told of a letter her father received from an old missionary friend, E.L. Langston, concerning some troubles that Elisabeth’s father was facing. After discussing the probability of spiritual opposition, Mr. Langston went on to discuss the discouragement that can “come from the flesh and self-introspection.” He went on to say,

“It is good for us to look at self and know how loathsome it is, but with one look at self we must take ten looks at Christ….”

How true that is. We are called to examine ourselves and take what we find there to the cross, but too much morbid introspection can be discouraging. We need to “turn our eyes upon Jesus.”

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. II Corinthians 3:18.

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…Hebrews 12:2a.

Praying when you don’t feel like it

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From today’s reading in Joy and Strength:

Praying in Spite of Yourself by Mary Wilder Tileston

Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it.
–MALACHI 1:13

My soul cleaveth unto the dust; quicken Thou me according to Thy word.
–PSALMS 119:25

Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
–EPHESIANS 5:14

THERE are some who give up their prayers because they have so little feeling in their prayers–so little warmth of feeling. But who told us that feeling was to be a test of prayer? The work of prayer is a far too noble and necessary work to be laid aside for any lack of feeling. Press on, you who are dry and cold in your prayers, press on as a work and as a duty, and the Holy Spirit will, in His good time, refresh your prayers Himself.
–ARTHUR F. WINNINGTON INGRAM

Yielding

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I just finished reading Romans several days ago and Galatians this morning, and truths from both of them were in my thoughts.

There are two verses in Romans 6 that talk about yielding:

“Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (Romans 6:13).

“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Romans 6:16).

While I understood and agreed with those verses, there was one aspect that troubled me in regard to my “besetting sins,” and that was the word “yield.” I was thinking of it as a synonym for “let” — in other words, don’t let yourself sin, but let yourself do right. “Let” seemed appropriate for yielding to sinful impulses — it is all too easy to let the flesh do what it wants to do — but it seemed I couldn’t just “let” myself do right. I rather needed to make myself do right, often with a lot of prayer and struggling with the flesh (remember, this is in the context of those “besetting sins” I have a continual problem with).

Tied in with those verses from Romans was this one from Galatians 5:16-17 that I just read this morning:

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”

I thought of the word “walk” in terms of taking a series of steps, and walking in the Spirit as taking those steps under the Holy Spirit’s control and direction while verse 17 acknowledges that confluict between flesh and Spirit.

A picture came to my mind of coming up to a yield sign in traffic. What do you do when you see a yield sign? You put on the brakes and you let the people in the other lane have the right of way.

And suddenly it became clear: the whole idea of yielding to God involved stepping on the brakes of my flesh and letting Him have His way, not just in the big decisions of life, but my everyday walk and choices.

I don’t know if that distinction helps or makes sense to anyone else, but it was a light bulb moment for me.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit ’till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.

– Ad­e­laide A. Poll­ard

(Photo courtesy of FreeFoto.com.)

O teach me what it meaneth

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O teach me what it meaneth,
That cross uplifted high,
With One, the Man of Sorrows,
Condemned to bleed and die!
O teach me what it cost Thee
To make a sinner whole;
And teach me, Savior, teach me
The value of a soul!

O teach me what it meaneth,
That sacred crimson tide,
The blood and water flowing
From Thine own wounded side.
Teach me that if none other
Had sinned, but I alone,
Yet still Thy blood, Lord Jesus,
Thine only, must atone.

O teach me what it meaneth,
Thy love beyond compare,
The love that reacheth deeper
Than depths of self-despair!
Yes, teach me, till there gloweth
In this cold heart of mine
Some feeble, pale reflection
Of that pure love of Thine.

O teach me what it meaneth,
For I am full of sin,
And grace alone can reach me,
And love alone can win.
O teach me, for I need Thee,
I have no hope beside—
The chief of all the sinners
For whom the Savior died!

O teach me what it meaneth
The rest which Thou dost give
To all the heavy-laden
Who look to Thee and live.
Because I am a rebel
Thy pardon I receive
Because Thou dost command me,
I can, I do believe.

O infinite Redeemer!
I bring no other plea;
Because Thou dost invite me
I cast myself on Thee.
Because Thou dost accept me
I love and I adore;
Because Thy love constraineth,
I’ll praise Thee evermore!

— Lucy A. Bennett (1850-1927)

Saturday Sightings

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  • Ever have one of those days, when something seemed a bit…”off” but you just couldn’t put your finger on it…

(This was in an e-mail, so I don’t know the original source.)

If you are familiar with the movie Castaway, here is an alternate ending:

(For some reason when I preview this page, the video isn’t showing up. If you can’t see it you can find it here.)

  • I agree with Gretchen at Lifenut’s reaction to a commercial indicating that mothers who use paper plates are better because they are not taking precious time away from their loved ones by washing dishes. It’s a bad commercial on many points: do we want to designate Bad Moms vs. Good Moms on the basis of paper plates? Especially in these days of “going green,” adding to landfills seems a poor way to spend time with the family. As I commented there, loading my dishwasher takes 5-10 minutes most nights, hardly a dent in the family’s time together, but if we washed them the old fashioned way, we’d spend time together all helping. Families can bond together while working as well as (maybe even better than) playing together.
  • I also agree with Gretchen’s post here “Well-rounded isn’t just for balls.” While sports and other activities are valuable, in all too many instances they seem to just take over a family’s life. I was glad mine only wanted to be in organized sports a few years. I don’t know how parents do it for so many years.

First lessons in trust

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Yesterday we had a consultation with the same orthodontist who shepherded my older two boys through their season of braces.

It seems Jesse has the complete opposite problem they did. They had overbites: he has a pretty pronounced underbite. His teeth have compensated by tipping inward: if they were straight, they would overlap his top teeth.

And that presents a problem: if they straighten the teeth without adjusting the skeletal problem of his jaw, he’d probably be worse off than leaving his bottom teeth crooked.

Thankfully the top teeth are pretty much ok, so when he smiles or when school pictures are taken it isn’t obvious he has anything wrong.

This particular type of problem is one that, when fixed orthodontically, can revert back if he grows significantly within the next few years. And at age 15, he probably does have a great deal more growing to do. So for now we wait and see what happens with his growth. They have their measurements from the x-rays they took, and we’ll go in about every six months to see how things are going. Once there has been no major growth within a six-month period, then we’re probably safe to start treatment.

Hopefully some of the jaw problem will grow in the right way. But if that doesn’t happen, or if the jaw situation gets worse…then we are looking at possible surgery to remove part of the jawbone. The doctor hopes that won;t be necessary, but felt he needed to mention the possibility in order to give us the complete picture. If he didn’t mention it now, and then brought up the need in a year, we would wonder why it hadn’t been mentioned.

I was wishing, however, that he hadn’t told me all of this in front of Jesse. I don’t want him to worry about the possibility for the next year especially when we can’t do a thing about it except wait and see how he grows.

As we got in the car afterward. I asked Jesse, “You’re not worried about the possibility of surgery are you?” He seemed to have taken it in stride.

But he answered, “Yeah, I kind of am.”

So we went back over what the doctor had said and discussed the need to pray about it and hope for the best, but to also trust the Lord that if He allows it, He will help us through it.

Later I got to thinking that this may well be the first major issue Jesse has had to pray and trust the Lord for. He’s too young to remember when I first got TM, and though we have prayed about things as a family and for our church and friends, and I have shared answers to prayer with the boys, but this is the first big thing to affect Jesse directly. And in the grand scheme of things, of course, it is not as big a deal as cancer or a heart transplant or that sort of thing, but, still, facing any surgery can be scary.

My heart’s desire all along for all of my boys has been that they develop their own relationship with the Lord. They have all made professions of faith and I think have seen the Lord work in our family. But part of that relationship is trusting the Lord through trial, or, in this case, learning to give the situation over to Him and trust Him for it while waiting for the outcome. In my desire as a parent to ease my children’s way through life, I can’t shield them from everything. And that is probably a good thing, because if I want them to be mature spiritually when they leave our home, they will have to go through some of these kinds of situations.

So, though if I had had the choice I would have shielded Jesse from the possibility of surgery, God in His wisdom allowed it as a first experience in learning to trust.

Elisabeth Elliot: A Quiet Heart

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This is an excerpt from Elisabeth Elliot’s book Keep A Quiet Heart which was also sent yesterday as a part of Back to the Bible’s e-mail devotionals from Elisabeth’s writings.

A Quiet Heart

Jesus slept on a pillow in the midst of a raging storm. How could He? The terrified disciples, sure that the next wave would send them straight to the bottom, shook Him awake with rebuke. How could He be so careless of their fate?

He could because He slept in the calm assurance that His Father was in control. His was a quiet heart. We see Him move serenely through all the events of His life–when He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He knew that He would suffer many things and be killed in Jerusalem, He never deviated from His course. He had set His face like flint. He sat at supper with one who would deny Him and another who would betray Him, yet He was able to eat with them, willing even to wash their feet. Jesus in the unbroken intimacy of His Father’s love, kept a quiet heart.

None of us possesses a heart so perfectly at rest, for none lives in such divine unity, but we can learn a little more each day of what Jesus knew–what one writer called the negligence of that trust which carries God with it. Who would think of using the word negligence in regard to our Lord Jesus? To be negligent is to omit to do what a reasonable man would do. Would Jesus omit that? Yes, on occasion, when faith pierced beyond reason.

This “negligent” trust–is it careless, inattentive, indolent? No, not in His case. Jesus, because His will was one with His Father’s, could be free from care. He had the blessed assurance of knowing that His Father would do the caring, would be attentive to His Son’s need. Was Jesus indolent? No, never lazy, sluggish, or slothful, but He knew when to take action and when to leave things up to His Father. He taught us to work and watch but never to worry, to do gladly whatever we are given to do, and to leave all else with God.

Purity of heart, said Kierkegaard, is to will one thing. The Son willed only one thing: the will of His Father. That’s what He came to earth to do. Nothing else. One whose aim is as pure as that can have a completely quiet heart, knowing what the psalmist knew: “Lord, You have assigned me my portion and my cup, and have made my lot secure” (Psalm 16:5 NIV). I know of no greater simplifier for all of life. Whatever happens is assigned. Does the intellect balk at that? Can we say that there are things which happen to us which do not belong to our lovingly assigned “portion” (This belongs to it, that does not”)? Are some things, then, out of the control of the Almighty?

Every assignment is measured and controlled for my eternal good. As I accept the given portion other options are cancelled. Decisions become much easier, directions clearer, and hence my heart becomes inexpressibly quieter.

What do we really want in life? Sometimes I have the chance to ask this question of high school or college students. I am surprised at how few have a ready answer. Oh, they could come up with quite a long list of things, but is there one thing above all others that they desire? “One thing have I desired of the Lord,” said David, “this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life…” (Psalm 27:4 KJV). To the rich young man who wanted eternal life Jesus said, “One thing you lack. Go, sell everything” (Mark 10:21 NIV). In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus tells us that the seed which is choked by thorns has fallen into a heart full of the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things. The apostle Paul said, “One thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:13-14 NIV).

A quiet heart is content with what God gives. It is enough. All is grace. One morning my computer simply would not obey me. What a nuisance. I had my work laid out, my timing figured, my mind all set. My work was delayed, my timing thrown off, my thinking interrupted. Then I remembered. It was not for nothing. This was part of the Plan (not mine, His). “Lord, You have assigned me my portion and my cup.”

Now if the interruption had been a human being instead of an infuriating mechanism, it would not have been so hard to see it as the most important part of the work of the day. But all is under my Father’s control: yes, recalcitrant computers, faulty transmissions, drawbridges which happen to be up when one is in a hurry. My portion. My cup. My lot is secure. My heart can be at peace. My Father is in charge. How simple!

My assignment entails my willing acceptance of my portion-in matters far beyond comparison with the trivialities just mentioned, such as the death of a precious baby. A mother wrote to me of losing her son when he was just one month old. A widow writes of the long agony of watching her husband die. The number of years given them in marriage seemed too few. We can only know that Eternal Love is wiser than we, and we bow in adoration of that loving wisdom.

Response is what matters. Remember that our forefathers were all guided by the pillar of cloud, all passed through the sea, all ate and drank the same spiritual food and drink, but God was not pleased with most of them. Their response was all wrong. Bitter about the portions allotted they indulged in idolatry, gluttony, and sexual sin. And God killed them by snakes and by a destroying angel.

The same almighty God apportioned their experience. All events serve His will. Some responded in faith. Most did not.

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV).

Think of that promise and keep a quiet heart! Our enemy delights in disquieting us. Our Savior and Helper delights in quieting us. “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you” is His promise (Is 66:13, NIV). The choice is ours. It depends on our willingness to see everything in God, receive all from His hand, accept with gratitude just the portion and the cup He offers. Shall I charge Him with a mistake in His measurements or with misjudging the sphere in which I can best learn to trust Him? Has He misplaced me? Is He ignorant of things or people which,in my view, hinder my doing His will?

God came down and lived in this same world as a man. He showed us how to live in this world, subject to its vicissitudes and necessities, that we might be changed-not into an angel or a storybook princess, not wafted into another world, but changed into saints in this world. The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.

He whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best,
Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.
–Lina Sandell, Swedish

Sorry for the length — I really am aware of the need to make my blog posts shorter — but there was just nothing I could cut out.

Though I have read the book before, parts of it multiple times, and frequently given a copy as a gift, this entry really struck home. I read it again today.

I seem to be able to trust in the Lord’s wisdom and control more for the major trials of life than for the little everyday irritations like getting stuck in traffic or dealing with malfunctioning technology. Even though on one level I know the Lord is in control and has a reason for everything He does and allows, there is still part of me that chafes under certain circumstances that seem like such a waste of time and energy. But even those He allows, and I need to rest and trust in Him. “The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.”