THE DESTRUCTION OF WINTER

Yesterday, I got an email which included an article someone had written about the awesome truth that there were two minutes more of daylight than the day before.  

Daylight is conquering the darkness... two minutes at a time.  

It is happening RIGHT NOW -  while we are in the MIDDLE of WINTER, while the roads are icy, and while the snow keeps falling and the temperatures are reaching record lows in some places.  Spring and Summer have risen up and are beginning their annual destruction of Winter.  Just because all you can see is evidence of Winter doesn't mean a thing. Winter is going down... being destroyed... one minute at a time.

I did some scientific research for this blog... ( I "Googled") and asked: 

"What time will the sun go down today?" and the answer is "5:01 PM".

I asked a second question: "What time DID the sun go down yesterday?" and the answer is "5:00 PM." 

I will have an extra minute of daylight today.  Get the barbeque grill ready, folks!  Summer is coming.

In the same way, no matter what "season" you are in right now it will change.   You may be in a WINTER season right now, where everything is dark, and cold and difficult.  It may seem like God isn't doing anything to change your season...  But that's only if you look at what you can see with your eyes.  If you choose to ONLY look at what's going on around you, you will never believe that God is changing your season.  
OH... but HE IS..
HE IS..

I am OLD ENOUGH now to look back on my life and understand that God is MORE FAITHFUL than Summer.  God is MORE EXCELLENT that the flowers in the Spring.

You may not see your season changing, but God is changing it one minute at a time.  The sun is setting later and RISING EARLIER.

Hang in there. 

If you have called out to Him, if you have asked Him for His intervention in this cold, depressing, discouraging"Winter" season... be encouraged!    Your "winter" is being destroyed. New life is getting ready to be revealed.  Even as you read.

"Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning."

Psalm 30:5 (NLT)

FOUR WORDS. JUST FOUR WORDS

Of all the things I love about God is that He isn't a phony.  He doesn't try to hide things from us.  He doesn't paint a picture of the heroes of the Bible as MORE THAN we are. He shows us the humanity of humans. 

They doubted. They wondered. They balked.  They walked away.  They came back. They failed.  They wanted Him, but not as much as He wanted them.

I love all the stuff He didn't take OUT of The Bible.  

I am especially encouraged that He let us see that in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus struggled with God's Will.
Who can blame Him? Who wants to be nailed to a Cross for the very people who want You nailed to a Cross? 
I wouldn't. 
 
And though He asked for a way out....
..... in the end....
four words... changed my future.
Four words.... gave me life everlasting.

"Thy.  Will.  Be. Done."

He submitted His will to God's will.
AND RESURRECTED US ALL FROM SURE AND CERTAIN DEATH. 

Four words.
"Thy will be done."
Are they easy to say?
No. Excruciating. Will we struggle to say them?
Yes.
But whatever we are facing, 
they are the four words that will resurrect us. 

I don't usually post link to songs.. but.. this song is a good example of what we should say when we doubt what God is allowing.  A friend who is going through a very, very difficult season sent it to me because God is using the song to get her through.

Here you go.

THY WILL

YOU HIDE. HE SEEKS.

Don't you feel sorry for the guy hiding under this box? It's pitiful that because he cannot see, he believes he is not seen.  I would like to suggest that hiding is the secret weapon that our enemy uses to weaken the Body of Christ.

Hiding is something we all do from time to time because when we are hidden away we believe we are safe.   Like Gideon hid in a cave because his enemies were too strong for him.  Like David hid from Saul.  Like Adam and Eve hid from God.  When things around us become too much, too scary, too challenging, it's just easier to hide.  

Why do we hide?

Sin makes us hide.  The first thing sin did when Adam and Eve disobeyed was cause them to hide from God.  Like the guy in the picture, they were only fooling themselves. They weren't hidden even while they were hiding.  Hebrews 4:13 says, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."   When you hide, you cannot see the glory of God, you cannot see His plan for victory and joy and freedom in your life.  But just because you can't see God, doesn't mean He doesn't see you.

Pride makes us hide.  We have believed the lie that somehow we are supposed to be perfect. Our marriage is supposed to be perfect. Our families are supposed to be perfect.  We are supposed to be perfect. So when we - they -  are not, our pride makes us hide.  Fear of rejection from the very Holy Family that God has given us to get through life together.

But that's not the picture of the Family of God that God describes to us. 

"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." 1 John 1:7

There can be many explanations for the pathway to hiding. Gossip is a big one.  But.. even so.. we are called to walk transparently before one another, knowing that any weakness, any failure, any less-than-perfect part of our lives is purified by THE BLOOD OF JESUS.  

When we are walking in the light THEN we have true fellowship with one another.  People who hide themselves are often unaware that people around them can "see" their struggles. People around them are longing to be there, to be love, to be help and compassion.  

The fact that we rarely do this is not reason enough to believe we should not.  
I would like to encourage you to answer honestly, speak truthfully and simply be who you really are.  It's better to have one person who loves the REAL YOU.. than a thousand people who love a hidden, not-genuine you. 

Hiding - our weaknesses, our failures, our problems -  seems easier.  So we take a box and put it over our heads.

But just because you cannot see, doesn't mean you aren't seen.

Come out, come out where ever you are.

"Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn,if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me,your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you."

Psalm 139:7-12

2017? REALLY? ALREADY?

Every year on New Year's Day, my mother would think of a rhyming saying for that year.  In 2015, her last year on earth, her phrase was, "May Jesus be seen in two thousand fifteen."  

She meant that she wanted the world to see Jesus in her and through her that year.  It was the same desire every year.   She was unaware that Jesus would be seen, in reality, by her, face-to-face in 2015.  If you knew my mother (and father) you would know that 2015 was the best year they ever lived because it was the year they saw the face of Jesus. 

For me, however, 2015 was a difficult and sad year.  
My parents were the anchors of my family, and I knew now that life would be about sailing on unfamiliar waters.  

2016 was happier, for sure, even though their absence left a big hole that no one can fill.  I learned that Jesus can fill every void.  And He did.  He is faithful.

As I look forward to 2017, I realize that next year, on New Year's Day 2018 I will know how 2017 treated me and the world.  

But today, I just have hope that the same Jesus who has been faithful every year will be faithful in 2017.  For me. And for you.

And my motto this year?

"May Jesus be seen in two thousand seventeen."

In me.  Through me. By me.

"Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,whose hope is in 

the Lord their God. He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and 

everything in them—he remains faithful forever. He upholds the cause  

of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets prisoners free."

Psalm 146:5-7