He is Greater when I am less because it has never really been about me....all to the glory of Jesus.
Take Heart....
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John 16:33New International Version (NIV)
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Take heart. I heard this whisper in my spirit this morning, as I was driving to work, admiring the white fields, covered with snow. I was thinking about the people I know who love winter and snow.....and conversely, the people who cannot stand winter and are miserable until it is over. I like winter. I like it when winter is over. Take heart. Take heart, my beloved, because this is a season and it will pass.....and when the season of winter is finished, springtime comes. The snow melts. The rains start in the Midwest. Little green buds pop out of the Earth and hang from tree branches, promising to bloom into leaves and flowers and plants.......take heart. He tells us, in John 16 that he tells us these things (he gives us the seasons that we can expect and predict and understand) so that we can have peace. This world has trouble. We have trouble. We get coughs and colds in winter. We slip on the ice. We sometimes have a blizzard with 2 snow days in the middle of the week and the children take over the house.....and make me crazy.....and then they don't sleep well.....and I'm exhausted, frustrated, anxious about the workload piling up, the laundry, the messy bedrooms, toys everywhere........oh wait. I digress. Take heart. Take heart my beloved, in this world we will have trouble but He.......He has overcome the world. All of it. Blizzards, rainy seasons, summer fun, autumn beauty.......One Man who was equally human and God......overcame THE WORLD. Take heart, my sweet people who are aching to grow your families through birth or adoption....I am praying for you. The road seems impassible and impossible.....but take heart. He has this. Take heart, my friends who are struggling with marriage, finances, contentment, pride vs. humility. You are not alone. Take heart. He has overcome the world. Next week is Valentine's Day with lots of hearts and love and sweetness.....I like this verse from John 16. Have peace. Take Heart. He's got this.
Today Claire came home from work and we sat at the table for awhile. Oh boy, if my dining room table could talk......there are more memories soaked into this table that I can recount, and more tears and bursts of laughter than I can ever remember. There are more lists and memos and plans etched into it that I could ever save...... She is making her lists for moving to college. It's true that she is only moving a couple hundred feet away to the college in our town, but she is still moving out. She is taking all of the things she uses every day and she is setting up a life in a dorm on a college campus with a new roommate and a whole new world. In 4 days we will move her out. It is so weird. It is the weirdest thing ever. Adding children to our home is not weird at all. Figuring out how to send them out is. I'm less sad and more....conflicted, maybe. I am so excited for her. Moving to college is probab...
Months ago, I bought a book written by the great John Piper called: Reading the Bible Supernaturally.....Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God in Scripture. It has taken me a while to get going in it....it is heavy stuff for me. I can read a bit, then think about it awhile, chew it up like bubble gum, and then when I feel like I have grasped a concept, I can turn the page and chew some more. This week I began to read more intentionally and to also ask God to show me His Glory in my days. I have praised Him for the glory He possesses and shares, I have thanked Him over and over for blessings like legs to walk, a heart to feel, a mind to think, eyes to see and ears to hear.....I don't want to take any of it for granted. John Piper said this in the book, as he was explaining glorify as it can also mean magnify....."Magnify. Yes, that is a good word for glorify. But it is ambiguous. We do not magnify him the way a microscop...
Psalm 37:4 NLT says "Take delight in the Lord and He will give you your heart's desires.". I like this verse in several translations......I like the promise. I like the connection with God. I like the instruction that if I line myself up with the Lord it will be easy for Him to give me a "yes". If I am loving what He loves, He will give me the desires of my heart. Take delight in the Lord........ What does that look like exactly? For me, in June in Iowa, it means noticing and delighting in all the blooming things. Taking pictures. Taking walks. Taking time to stop and notice the beauty of things in bloom, and to smell the flowers and take deep breaths of spring air. ( It means choosing to try to run a bit to try to get into shape.......and then have really sore muscles at night when I realize that I may have aimed too high. Spring and sun got the best of me today.) Take delight in the Lord......take it...pursue it.....le...
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