Friday, August 23, 2013

Friday's Faith - Another Pounding...




"Sometimes in the waves of change we find our true direction."

~unknown



Friday's Faith

Another Pounding...






Tommy and I have been thrown some curves of life lately that have thrown me almost completely off course. Child-loss itself presents a crisis of faith, and as a precious grieving mother recently said to me, it's almost as if we then feel that surely now, we would have a "free pass" --- no more tragedies, no more crises of faith --- as we've already been through the worst that life could offer! 

But alas, there is no free pass. More potentially tragic situations arise, ready or not. It has been a daily, really moment-to-moment, struggle for me over these past two months. God has faithfully met me every step of the way with His incredible sweetness, but for weeks, the darkness itself would not seem to lift for long. But everyday, there were tears before the Lord, and His presence brought very sweet relief with constant reminders of who He really is. But the darkness lingered…

Last night, God provided a breakthrough. Through the noise of this world's constant message that we should be making constant progress through our pain, God sent a quiet but life-changing message that had the effect of a hurtling meteor shattering the morass of my darkness with the stark reminder of the life to which He has really called us. 

Our Heavenly Father's eye is always on the eternal view, while our eye is often stuck in our own short-term struggles. We feel dropped, while He is not stumped at all, knowing exactly what He is accomplishing in our hearts and souls amidst our painful struggle.


We are not called to a life of constant progress from an earthly viewpoint, rather it is to a constant walk of faith, with no sense of our own control over anything. But that does not mean our Heavenly Father is not constantly aware of what is going on, of what challenges we have been thrown, and of what He wants to do in us amidst those challenges…



~~~~~



      7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; 8we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; 9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12So death works in us, but life in you.

      13But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I BELIEVED, THEREFORE I SPOKE,” we also believe, therefore we also speak, 14knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. 15For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.


      16Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.










Picture, thanks to Marilynn Mitchelle via ~Pinterest

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Tuesday's Trust - by His grace...






Tuesday's Trust 

by His grace...

  





"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 

~2 Corinthians 12:9


~~~


by His grace...


We cannot climb into another's pain
Nor imagine their distraught
That consumed their heart to make them wane
And leave them so overwrought,

But we can climb into God's arms
To ask Him ever to hold
Our dearly beloved safe in His arms
And into His heart, to closely enfold.

We cannot know the ways of God,
Of how He holds the fragile sparrow,
Or how He holds our little ones
Who may fall upon His road so narrow...

But we can know that His great love
Overcomes all our weaknesses and fears
And takes us safely to Him above,
Who lovingly awaits to wipe away our tears. 

Such tender hearts belong to Him;
He guards them all the way,
Even, and especially, when days grow dim,
When they can't see the light to find their way,

For He alone created the miracle that brought them here
To grace this earth and be with us awhile;
So too, He alone could return them Home
To restore their souls, and return the gleams unto their smile.

So He alone can come alongside
Us grieving dads and mothers
Who long for our children through this long while
For despite the pain and the angst that still smothers,

He sends His comfort and soothes our hearts,
While our little ones from our sides are briefly torn away…
Restoring the Hope for when we nevermore will part,
On that blissful, Eternal, Life-giving Day.

Thank You dear Lord for Your Life-giving Grace;
May it ever spur us on, as it did our child, 
As You work in each of our hearts with Your mercy mild,
As we, too, falteringly flail on, until we too finish our race,
And then, by Love's great mercy, we'll see You face to face!


~~~


Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.…

~Hebrews 12:1-2 (New American Standard)


~~~




Dedicated to Merry Katherine and all our deceased children, and to Andrew, a friend of Merry Katherine's, a beautiful, bright, and caring young man, captain of his State-Championship high-school soccer team, one-year younger than Merry Katherine, who died just 2 weeks after Merry Katherine had been killed… 

Andrew, along with his brother, had just sent us a sweet note of condolence just a few days after Merry Katherine's death. May God be with precious Andrew's mother and daddy and two brothers who are left behind in their great grief… 

Thank You God that Merry Katherine and Andrew, and so many others of our children just like them, because of Your great love for them, have all been safely escorted Home where we all may meet again.










Poem - by His grace… ~Angie Bennett Prince - August 19, 2013