PRE-ORDER A COPY OF "LOVE LIFTED ME: THE STORY OF FOUR WOMEN WHO WERE CHANGED BY GOD."

I rejected the world in full knowledge to embrace the Mystery, and the Mystery took hold of me.

Drown me in Your love, and I will thrive.

Disappointment came.

Months of waiting,

Months of hoping,

Silence in my ear,

Though the discourse continued elsewhere.

The discovery made its impact in waves,

Tears welled to the surface slowly,

Then Your gentle whisper,

“Bow down and worship me.”

Bitterness tried to yoke me,

But the gentle whisper stirred me.

“I will bow down and worship You.”

For all the disappointments that are born of the frailty of man,

None can steal the purpose of my life.

None can delay or frustrate it.

My purpose is to live for Your pleasure.

My purpose is to worship You.

In the midst of disappointment the truth became known:

My purpose has never been on hold.

I am at the center of Your will.

I am Your delight.

I will bow down and worship You, still.

I searched for a constant place.

You denied me that, 

So I could learn to take hold of Your constant Person.

How deep You've made the well,

Yet I hear You saying, "Deeper still."

An ocean of Your love remains to be poured in.

You are the Mighty Holy Stream,

I am the lowly riverbed.

Flow through me.

Flow through me.

Our eyes look up to the hills,

Yet we know our help does not come from them,

Nor from anything sacrificed atop them,

Our help comes from the LORD.

The LORD has made the heavens unsearchable.

The LORD has made the heavens, the earth, and their fullness.

The vastness of the universe.

The mystery of the earth and its inhabitants,

Even the mystery we are to ourselves,

All of it should inspire us to praise.

All of it should inspire us to speak well of Him.

He is the Maker of the heavens and the earth.

He is the LORD.

Oh, how I love the vastness of it all!

My frail frame finds such safety in the

The grandeur of our King.

I am made by God.

I am His handiwork.

Jesus Christ was the context in which I  was made,
For in His Holy frame were the ingredients of my new life:
Blood and water,
Bursting from His side.

Blood and water bursting from His side.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10 NIV

This rain has been several days in the making.

It went up like a prayer,

Once audible,

A thing to be perceived,

Until it disappeared so that it could be gathered.

Over time the sky grew grey with its pregnancy.

Suddenly, 

RAIN.

The lights on the hills, 

More precious than the stars.

Lamps of your Holy Spirit,

Blazing in our hearts.

Go low to behold the beauty of the Son,

The Creator of all,

The Maker of our dusty abode.

I showered this morning,

Cleaned from head to toe.

My feet walked the lawns.

My feet took me to the place where I sit still in the presence of God.

My feet took me to the presence of my Mother,

They kept me steady as I embraced her.

My feet took me to my laptop to carry out God's work.

I am tired.

I need to rest.

My feet,

I cannot just retire to bed.

They've gathered so much all day long.

No matter how holy the work,

The feet that carry me all day long are filthy,

They beg to be washed.

I turn the nozzle in the shower,

Not my head,

Not my shoulders,

Just my feet.

I soap them.

I rinse them.

I dry them.

Just my feet.

The stars,

How beautiful they are in the night sky.

The moon,

How it glistens on the evening tide.

The sky,

How magnificent its expanse, in blues and whites.

The birds,

How glorious their singing!

The children,

What a gift is their rejoicing.

The choir and the orchestra,

How excellent their collective efforts.

I want to know more,

The Make of the stars.

I want to know more,

The One who created the moon.

I want to know more,

The Architect who pitched the sky.

I want to know more,

The Potter who fashioned the bird, and every child.

I want to know more,

The One who inspires and sustains every excellent effort.

Ode to You, Maker.

Ode to You, Creator.

Ode to You, Chief Architect.

Ode to You, Potter.

Ode to You, Wonderful and Excellent One.

Ode to You Jesus, who is the Christ.

There is joy as you go. This is what I am learning as I walk, hand-in-hand, with God.   

There is a 32 oz plastic container that sits on a shelf in my bedroom. It is filled with little slips of paper. On each, is an invitation to an adventure. Something to do. Something to see. Something to experience. Someone to grow to know. Somewhere to go. Every week, I lift my head to the ceiling, as I place my hand in this container to see which adventure I will be invited to say yes to.  

One Friday in August, I placed my hand in this container and pulled out a trip to the Grand Canyon! I had always wanted to adventure to the West, to be swallowed in the caverns God created with patience over thousands of years, with each element of nature submitted perfectly to His desire. Now, it was upon me, the invitation to go. And as strange as it might seem, given that I had longed for this chance, I was reticent to say yes. It was inconvenient. I had just resigned from my job and this just seemed too lavish of an adventure. Yet, I heard God’s gentle Spirit whisper, “You’ve entrusted the outcome of every draw to Me. This is My invitation. I will provide.” And He did! For 10 days, my Mother and I enjoyed the warmth of the Nevada people, the comfort of our hotel room, the cool relief of the pool, and the journey to the Grand Canyon.   

The Canyon was breathtaking. It did not disappoint. But what struck us, upon reflection, was that the highlights of our trip were found along the way. The kindness and, almost pastoral care of our tour guide; the joy of the daredevil family on our bus, celebrating the 21st birthday of their son with a trip to the Canyon; the humility of the rolling green meadows, which provided a most remarkable backdrop for the sun’s rising and setting as we traveled; the laughter my Mom and I shared as we watched “Daddy Daycare” for the umpteenth time on the bus; and the gift of a maskless embrace of fresh air as we entered the Canyon.  

For a goal-oriented woman, such as myself, this realization, i.e. that the great joy was experienced as we pursued the mark, has been life-changing. In a way, I had thought that to live life well I must always keep before me the expectant end. (Philippians 3:14). And, this is important. God counts this as the posture of a wise heart-the heart that fixes itself on Jesus Christ (the progressive realization of His work in its life and His promised return when all will be restored). This orientation encourages a sober numbering of one’s days and diligent pursuit of purpose. (Psalm 90:12 and 1 John 3: 1 - 3).  

Yet, Jesus Christ is not just working out His goodwill in my life. He is not just the One whom my heart longs to see face-to-face. He is the One my heart knows today. He is my ever-present friend. He is my ever-present life. (Acts 17:28). He is my ever-present hope (expectation). (Psalm 62). He is my ever-present joy. (Psalm 16: 10 - 11). He is with me. (Hebrews 13: 4 - 6). He is in me. (1 Corinthians 6: 18 - 20). I am His and He is mine. He is here and He is now, so every breath is an invitation to experience the fullness of who He is. Every breath is an invitation to joy. There is joy as I press towards the high calling in Christ Jesus. Joy has not been delayed. 

We love to tell stories. Even when we count ourselves clumsy with words, we can’t help but tell a story. Story is the vehicle we use to share our lives. It’s the way we make ourselves known. 

Our desire to be embraced, in the fullness of light, ushers us all into the world of wordcraft. We try to name the very real, yet intangible, components of our inner life-our true life. Naming makes sharing possible. Naming makes sharing easier. Sharing is the only way we come face to face with each other. 

We use the words given to us, or craft new words, to make known our beginnings, make sense of the middle, and fashion the future. We play a key role in our stories, but it doesn’t take much to recognize that so many components of our stories lie outside our control. The fact that we are here; the details of our essential person; the why of it all, were determined by God. (Colossians 1:16). God is the author of our stories, and the level of satisfaction we find in this life is directly connected to how we grapple with this reality.

There are only two responses to this truth: acceptance or rejection. Acceptance results in an experience of rest, peace, and joy as we find ourselves gently ushered, by the wind of His Holy Spirit, along paths fatted, well-watered, and green. (Psalm 23). Through acceptance we find our lives being uncurled into a straight pointing arrow to Jesus Christ. Acceptance causes us to breathe and step in ways that name our Author. Whereas, rejection leads to unrest, frustration, and sorrow as we seek to forge paths against the Author’s will. The paths we carve in our might are meager, arid, and bare: along them, we cave in on ourselves. (Proverbs 14:12). 

Our love of stories bears witness to the fact that we were created by the Storyteller. Before we were born every single letter of our stories was written. (Psalm 139:16). Our good God, in whom there is no darkness, wrote them. (1 John 1:5). Our God who makes no error attended to every detail. (Psalm 18:30).  We do not need to grasp words anymore, we can learn His. We do not need to force our way anymore, we can be led by His Holy Spirit. (Galatians 5).