Heirs of Righteousness

The story of Noah is one most of us are familiar with, whether you're a Christ follower or not.  And there are many lessons to glean from his life, but one has really stood out to me lately and struck something deep inside.  Perhaps it is because it is the very thing the Lord has been impressing so heavily on my own heart.  Or maybe it is because it is a message that we all need to take seriously.  It is something I believe we need to really chew on, deeply consider.

Often when looking at the story of Noah, it's remarked that in the many, many years it took for him to construct the ark that no one was converted and believed on the Lord.  Which, if you're familiar with the story, you know God brings about the great flood and Noah and his family along with two of each animal are the only ones spared (Genesis 6 and 7).  This can be a depressing statistic, and let's be honest, we are a culture driven by numbers.  We are constantly reporting and keeping data, monitoring progress.  It can feel suffocating at times, especially when we work and work and work and do not feel as though we have made much progress.  This is even true in church culture.  But there are some things I feel are immeasurable, invaluable, perhaps the most important.  And we will miss this if we aren't careful.  We will only see the forest, not the trees.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. 

-Genesis 6:9 (emphasis mine)

Noah walked with God.  He did not just claim God in his life, but he chose to walk with Him daily. This was something his family saw played out in his life.  And guess who was saved?  His family.

By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.  

-Hebrews 11:7 (emphasis mine)

The most important thing we can do is witness to our family, not just by giving them the Gospel, but by living it out before them and letting them see that it is a reality in your life.

"Whether you are a preacher or not, if you have a family, that is your congregation." 

-Dr. J. Vernon McGee

Distraction and pride are two major tools the enemy of our souls loves to use against us.  He loves to keep us busy, many times with good things in and of themselves, but they leave us for little time with the people the Lord has entrusted to our care.  

"If the devil cannot make us bad, he will make us busy."

-Corrie ten Boom

Pride can also easily manifest itself as acts of service, but when we get down to the heart of the matter, which is our own hearts, sometimes we find ourselves compelled to do things out of selfish reasons such as recognition, praise, and achieving victory.  And all of this takes away from pouring our lives into the people we have been given as family.

Let us not miss the importance of the time we have to give and the value we place on our families.  May we be people who are mindful to walk with the Lord as Noah did so that we, along with those we love, may become heirs of righteousness according to faith.  

Encourage

As the Saturday morning sunlight spilled through our foyer, the yellow lilies adorning the entry table (which was my grandmother’s old sewing machine) glowed with a vibrancy so bright.  It immediately lifted my spirits.

These flowers were delivered the night before along with an unexpected, greatly appreciated hot meal from a friend and neighbor who knew my heart had been heavy and spirit bruised from the past few weeks.  Life is not always kind, is it?  Grief, heartache, and pain always seeks us out.  It can come from family, friends, work, or even our own selves.  I am sometimes my own worst enemy.  I had had my share of pain and disappointments recently and was wallowing in my own self pity.  My friend noticed and asked God how she might encourage me.

Encourage.

“Encouragement is infusing hope or courage into another’s life.” -Kelly D. King
 

That’s what I want to do.  I want to encourage. I want infuse hope and courage to someone other than myself.

This world is already hard enough.  I don’t want to make it any harder on someone as I try to prove a point, work an agenda, boost my own pride.  I want to be like my friend.  I want to seek to encourage someone the best that I can.  My friend’s selfless act of kindness moved me in ways that gave me hope.  I knew God had heard and answered prayers I’d been saying over the past couple of weeks.  He sent her at the exact right moment.  Her gesture gave me strength to keep pushing when I felt like I was burnt out.  I could lift my head back up as I heard God whisper, “Look up, child.”

You see, not one of us is perfect.  No, not one.  Yet we walk around constantly comparing ourselves against others in hopes to boost our own confidence.  And this is where we have gotten it all wrong.  If you want to make a difference, encourage someone.

As I told my friend how much she had blessed me, she reiterated to me that she was the one who was blessed.

By encouraging others you will help yourself.  Your focus will not be solely on you and your circumstances, but rather choosing to see someone other than you.  It is an act of humility and service that will leave you blessed.

Setting our minds on encouraging others focuses our thoughts on seeing the best in people.  My friend could have looked at me and assumed I was ridiculous or needed to get over my disappointments.  She could have wanted to shame and guilt me as others had done in the past few weeks.  Instead, she chose to see the best.  She chose to see a woman who was struggling and thought how she might be an instrument to improve and encourage my life.  She looked for the best and prayed that it might be brought out in me.

Encouragement is Biblical.  It is foundational.  You can never pour into someone’s life unless there is encouragement first.  Otherwise your words and actions will fall on deaf ears or cause division.  Encouragement unites.  Don’t you think we could all use some unity?

There are so many wonderful examples of encouragement all throughout scripture, but perhaps the one that is most relevant to unity (especially of the church) comes out of 1 Thessalonians 5.  The Apostle Paul is writing here to the church at Thessalonica.  Paul had been on a missionary journey there, but had to leave abruptly and the church was struggling under persecution with little support.  To help, Paul sent Timothy to encourage believers there, to prod them forward to continue and be strong in the midst of persecution.  What a lesson for us!

Encourage.  That’s what I want to do.  I want to encourage. I want infuse hope and courage to someone other than myself.  What about you?  Will you join me in being an encourager?  How might you and I be used as a catalyst to encourage someone today or in the days, weeks, and months to come?

Think on this, pray on this, and let’s act on this.

You Have Filled My Heart

She was in her late eighties, silver hair, make-up beautifully applied, dressed for the occasion.  We will call her "Betty".  The moment I sat in the pew behind her, she turned around, asked my name, and extended her hand in a warm welcome.  We quickly realized we had a mutual friend in common - my husband (who sings in the choir at our church).  "I love to hear him sing," she said.  "We need more of that quartet business that they do."

She was precious.  We talked for several minutes before the Sunday church service began.  During our conversation, she realized that the offertory song for this particular Sunday would be a song sung by a gentleman who performed this same song at her husband's funeral seven years ago.  With eyes wide and a big grin she told me how excited she was to hear it again.

Service began, the message was preached, my heart was stirred on the theme of perseverance.  The Lord had encouraged me through our Pastor's sermon.

And then the offertory song began.  I sat with tears welling up in my eyes as I watched this sweet woman wipe tear after tear streaming down her face, hands lifted as she sang along.  And then I realized that she was an answer to a prayer I've been praying.

Lately I have been overcome with feelings of inadequacy, exhaustion, and anxiety in raising small children.  I have spent an afternoon or two or three sitting on my kitchen floor crying out of sheer frustration.  And I hated feeling that way.  Still, every time I logged onto my social media, I saw no less than three articles about how parenting is so hard, so lonely, so depressing.  It was nice to not feel alone, yet I knew that parenthood was never intended to be isolating and depressing.  Somewhere deep inside my soul I knew it was an absolute lie.  I knew that if I began to let myself believe the lie, which was incredibly easy to do, my joy would be diminished and replaced by some sad sentiment.   And I didn't want that to happen.  I began to pray for God to breathe life into those dark places; help me to feel and see joy even when I was feeling pretty miserable and sorry for myself.

And that He did.  Through this sweet widow woman, my eyes were open to the absolute beauty around me.  As I watched her worship alone, I thought: You know, this phase of life isn't so bad.  I'm surrounded by people I love and those who love me.  I have a husband who works so hard for us, comes home every night excited to see his family.  I have two precious little ones who cling to every square inch of me if possible and want to snuggle with their momma constantly.  I have the opportunity to spend so much time with my little people - reading stories, singing songs, rocking, playing outside, wiping up some type of mess, correcting behavior, molding them into decent human beings.  My grocery bill is high, but that is because I have the honor and privilege of preparing and cooking meals for my family.  There is so much laundry to be done, but that is because I have a house full of precious people who need clean clothes.  This place is a mess, but that's because memories are being made.

This phase of life is insanely beautiful.  And if I'm not careful to acknowledge that, I will believe the lies the enemy wants to feed me.  Of course it is hard some days, but nothing like Betty's hard.  Betty came alone, left alone.  I came with my family, left with my family.  Betty went home alone.  I went home to a full, rambunctious house.  Betty's children are scattered across the country.  Mine are under the same roof.  Betty ate dinner alone.  I got to cook dinner, sit around the table, and eat in the company of my husband and children.  Betty went to bed alone.  I got to read and rock two littles to bed and then curl up next to my husband.  Betty still had joy.  My joy had been renewed.

Maybe the hard times of this phase prepare us for what is to come if we're blessed with the gift of longevity.  So, I will savor and revel in the grandeur of this moment.  As we are told, it goes by so fast.

Thank You, Lord, for hearing and answering my prayers.  Thank You for filling my heart with joy.  If I'm not careful to seek Your help, I know my heart can quickly be filled with something else.  Help me to always choose joy.

Scars

I met the sweetest young lady in the checkout line at a local store the other day.  She welcomed me through her line with, "Hey honey, how ya doin' today?"  As we chatted briefly while she rang up my purchases,  I noticed her tattoos on her arms.  Now, this may be odd to some, but I love to ask people what their tattoos represent.  I have found that there are usually pretty cool stories behind them.

As I chatted with her about her ink, she pointed to the one on her bicep, which was mostly covered up by her shirt, and said, "Well, I designed this one myself.  It says, 'Life is a beautiful struggle.'"  I thoughtfully considered that message and shook my head in agreement as I responded, "Amen, love.  I know that's true."  She then went on to tell me how she's overcome cancer and struggles daily with an incurable disease. 

I'd say that she knows life is a struggle.  But it was her wording of a beautiful struggle that I could not get out of my head.  It's been swimming in there ever since. She was a beautiful representation of realness and rawness that I believe we all crave in other human beings.  And her acknowledgment of struggles being beautiful completely resonated with me.

I've been studying the book of Job for several months now and one of the lessons I am gleaning is that life is filled with trials and struggles.  But they are beautiful in a Holy kind of way.  And we need to acknowledge them.  There is beauty in the breakdown.  Facades fade, glitz and glamour are gone, only realness and rawness remain because when you are facing a struggle, you don't have time or energy to care about the image of perfection anymore. 

And this is exactly when Jesus shines brightest in us.  Humility becomes beauty.  Through the cracks of our brokenness, His Holy light shines through, penetrating the darkness that threatens to scar us more.  He bends to pick up His children who have fallen, bruised and skinned up.  He dusts them off and puts them back on solid ground.  And then He tells us to proudly display our scars.  They were not all for naught (2 Corinthians 1:3-7). 

The Cross points us to the beauty of scars; to the truth that life is a beautiful struggle.  But it's all worth it.  The scarring of his hands and feet are proof that you are worth it.

The Perspective

Several weeks ago, I laid my son down for his morning nap and went to turn on his video monitor.  As the monitor powered on, the picture on the screen was so dark that I could not even make out his image.  I was a little irritated because what's the point of a video monitor if I can't even see the video, right?!  How am I supposed to make sure he's breathing if I can't even see him?

I started thinking about possible causes for the picture to be so dark.  Was his room too light?  No, his room was as dark as could be without any lights on, his blinds shut, and blackout curtains pulled closed to keep out extra light.  That wasn't it.  Then it occurred to me...maybe if I changed the perspective of the camera, I could see the imagine on the monitor.  So, I quietly crept into his room and shifted the camera from one corner of his crib to the other.  When I came back out and looked at the monitor, lo and behold, I could see the image perfectly clear.

Don't worry, it's not really 76 in his room.  The temperature gauge has never worked correctly.

Problem solved!  Now I could keep an eye on him and go about my business.  But as I went about my morning chores, a simple thought occurred to me.  Perspective is everything.

Nothing about the situation of my son's video monitor had changed other than the perspective of the camera.  His blinds remained closed in the same way they were before, I hadn't touched his curtains, I didn't turn off any lights.  Literally the only thing I had done differently was move the camera so that the image would be seen from a different direction.

This is Jesus in the mundane and ordinary of everyday life.  It's a moment when Heavens whispers that He's not far away from us at all if only we'd stop to see Him.  Everything that happens to us, everything that we are engaged in can be seen from one of two perspectives; the light or the dark.  And being intentional about our way of thinking is life or death to our state of mind. 

The apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 4:8 that, "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." (emphasis mine)

 Training our minds to focus on the positive gives us life.  

On the flip side, if we choose to look at things through a negative lens, that brings about grief and destruction and increases anxiety and fear.  As Jesus so wisely described on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:22-23, "The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!"

This means that how and what we see affects our whole being.

I am reminded that I am in charge of my own thoughts.  I cannot control what happens to me, but I can control how I respond to what happens.  I must choose to see situations through the positive perspective.  And to be honest, I stink at doing this in my own strength.  I must ask God constantly to help me see the good, help me be thankful.  Choosing otherwise leads me to darkness in my thoughts, in my heart, and then ultimately my words or actions.  I must guard my heart, for everything I do flows from it (Proverbs 4:23).

This reminder came at the perfect time for me.  And maybe you need this reminder too.  Maybe you have been consumed with negative thoughts or are facing a really difficult situation or trial in life.  Your grief overwhelms you.  You just cannot seem to catch a break.  But there is a way out.  It's through the power of your thinking.  And oh, is it ever powerful.  The Lord gave us a brain for a reason.  Let us use it to shine light in our own lives which will then overflow into others.

Perspective is everything.  It's through how we choose to see that affects our thoughts, words, and actions. Ask God for help every step of the way.  Let us remember that a shift in perspective can suddenly bring everything to light.  And let us choose to see situations that way instead of focusing on the negative and dark way of thinking.  Light gives life. 

Run Through Sprinklers

There are sobering moments in life when everything shifts into its proper perspective.  It's easy to get caught up in our everyday hustle and bustle, our self centered-ness, our "woe is me" mentality when in reality, life is pretty sweet.  We feel lonely, depressed, hopeless.  And I am learning that often times it is self inflicted. We can't see past the end of our own noses.  The enemy puts blinders on us, distracting us from seeing all that's good and important and wholesome.  And the result?  A life that never meets its full potential.

I am seeing more and more how life is a vapor, a quick moment in time.  It's a precious gift that can be gone in an instant.  Our local community was rocked with a terrible fatal accident yesterday that claimed the lives of two innocent, precious, beautiful girls; one seven, one seventeen.  It makes you stop and think...that could have been me and my family. 

So what is one to do?  Do you go about like nothing ever happened?  You could.  Do you live in fear?  You could do that too, (But take it from someone who has learned from experience; it is crippling.)  Or you could decide right here and right now to really start living; to make your days count.

Run through the sprinklers.

Bury the hatchet.

Read one more story before bedtime.

Hug your mom and dad.

Spend quality time with your family.

Put the cell phone down.

Look to Jesus.  He is the Way, the Truth, the Life.

Do something kind for your spouse.

Make everyday truly count.

Realize that the small things are actually the big things.

Focus on what is true, what is lovely, what is good.

 

Our days are limited.  Let's not spend them wasting precious time on ideals that don't really matter in the end.  Sometimes we need a reality check to remember what is truly important.

Tearing Down Strongholds

It's hard to live this and it's even harder to write this.  Oh how my soul has been in despair for months now.  As I have been preparing to share this part of my story, the enemy continues to whisper in my mind that I'll be judged, I'll be ridiculed, people will think less of me.  Oh well, here it goes anyways.  I'm not letting him continue to have this power over me.

We recently had a health scare with our daughter that brought all of this to a head.  Praise God everything seems to be fine, but it was a scary week with so many uncertainties, questions, and thoughts running wild.  It gave us a small, small glimpse into the lives of parents of children fighting terrible illnesses.  My prayer life in this area will be forever changed.

On our way home from the hospital yesterday, Jared and I began to talk about what God showed us through all of this.  I feel like I could write a book on the many lessons I learned in a short amount of time, but one glaring theme that I've had to address in my own life is spiritual strongholds that I have let the devil have on me for far too long.  This is a message that's not only hard to write, but hard to receive too.  Lord, let their hearts be softened.

My struggle with anxiety began when I was 14 years old.  I can take you to the exact moment.  It was like a switch flipped in my brain.  Since then, I've worked through managing and learning how to deal with it without medication.  But many people are not as fortunate.  And since knowing Christ, He has helped me overcome many obstacles.  It's a silent "disease", if you will.  A person can look completely normal and content on the outside, but inside is a different story.  And I almost feel as if anxiety is so flippantly used today because the feeling of anxiousness is so widespread and felt by so many people.  So let me be clear.  I'm talking about anxiety in the sense that it is crippling and paralyzing to the point where it affects your everyday life; not just a case of the butterflies from nervousness.  You can't leave your house some days because of this anxiety.  Your relationships suffer because some people do not understand.  This is real and it's a stronghold that I have let control my life for far too long.

God's Word tells us in James 1:17 that, "Every good and perfect gift is from above..."  If something is not good and perfect, frankly it is not of God.  And as a believer, that points me to who it is from - the devil.  That may sound like crazy talk, but it's true.  The devil is real and he is alive.  He seeks to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10).  He wants to kill my confidence in Christ.  He wants to steal my joy with my family.  He wants to destroy my testimony, my character, my relationships, fill in the blank. He has bound me in chains through the word "anxiety" so much so that he had convinced me that all of my fears would become a reality if I even so much as voiced them.  Do you know how crippling this is?  I couldn't even talk about worries I had because I was afraid if I even spoke the words, it would happen.  I know that sounds crazy, but I also know I am not alone in feeling this way.  That is why I feel so compelled to share.

The ways in which I've found the enemy to work in my life are through fear, isolation, and my introverted nature.  I buy into his lies that he feeds me, which then makes me fearful.  I'm already isolated as a mom of an infant and a toddler because I simply cannot go and do whatever I want whenever I want.  And because I'm a natural introvert, I will sometimes hole up and stay that way.

But...GOD.  He is greater and He is stronger than any of this.  And this week took me to my knees in ways I could never put into words.  And through this, I learned a few ways to break these strongholds.

1.  PRAYER.  I battled in prayer.  The more I talked to people, the more anxious I became.  Why did the doctor have that frown on her face?  Why didn't he say everything would be okay?  Even with the best of intentions, most people in their reassurance made my anxiety worse.  And it's not their fault, they were only trying to help.  The only one I could talk to and feel a sense of calm from was God.  When I spoke to Him, I knew He was listening.  I knew He was working. 
 
Also, the prayers of His people are more valuable than gold.  When someone asks you to pray, it is not because they do not trust God.  It is because these battles are won in prayer and prayer is a lifeline to God.  There are spiritual battles all around us.  Read 2 Kings chapter 6 to get a glimpse. 

 

2.  MEMORIZING SCRIPTURE.  His word came alive to me in ways I have not experienced before.  I have not done an excellent job in memorizing scripture.  I am much better than I was, but I still have a long way to go.  I cannot tell you how powerful it was to be talking to God and reciting His word back to Him saying, Lord, you told me in Philippians that Your peace would guard my heart and my mind (Phil 4:7).  I need that right now, Lord.  Thank You for bending to hear my prayers.  Because of that, I will pray as long as I have breath (Psalm 116:2)!  You've told me satan is a liar (John 8:44).  He wants to kill, to steal, and to destroy (John 10:10).  But You have overcome that!  He bruised your heel, but you crushed his head (Genesis 3:15).  The power I felt in these prayers was like the force of a bulldozer uprooting a tree.  I could feel the chains breaking.  Memorizing scripture is now something I will be diligently working toward.

3.  SPEAK OUT FEARS.  This was the hardest for me to learn.  Even through the power of prayer and calling out God's word, I still felt choked down by fear that if I even voiced my thoughts raging in my mind they would somehow come true.  But as I began to realize I was buying right into satan's snares, I opened up and spilled it all out to my husband.  I could almost hear the chains breaking then.  All of these worries I've been keeping bottled up inside me for months came pouring out.  I could breathe!  I could talk!  Someone would listen and not judge me, not ridicule me, not make me feel stupid.  Why had it taken me so long to figure this out?

The answer was strongholds.  I had let satan plant seeds of doubt in my mind that grew into fears and sprouted lies.  And the more I kept silent, the more I watered his poisonous plant to the point that its roots became chains on my life.

But...GOD.  He is greater and He is stronger than any of this.  My chains are gone, I've been set free.  My God, my Savior has ransomed me.  And like a flood, His mercy rains.  Unending love, amazing grace.

I pray that any strongholds you have in your life will be uprooted, sawed in half.  It may not happen overnight, but God is faithful.  He is strong.  He is true.  Trust Him, lean on Him, learn from Him.  He will direct all of your paths and fill your heart with joy.  Even in the midst of struggles you can say, it is well with my soul.