Vacation was sweet. Journey to the north was good for everyone. It's been a long time- had to brush up on my Canadian:) It's amazing. It's been only a few days, and I find myself splattering "eh" over everything again. We really enjoyed being with family, and we treasure the moments.
Here's some of my journal entries from the trip:
Isaac came with us to see Grandma at her new place. I followed him down the nursing home hallways to her room. We peeked in. She was sleeping. I looked in again. I've never seen Grandma sleeping in a bed before.
Grandma has always been a busy kind. Always talking to someone or reading, and when she's slept, it was most always in her rocker. We are encouraged to wake her.....We feel the gap of time since we were last here......
Eventually we make our way to the lounge room where there is a piano. We sing. We ask Grandma for a favorite. She says my "Jesus I Love Thee". I smile. Tis one of my favorites.
.......
It's our last night of vacation. Dad and I visit Grandma one more time. She's more perky tonight. We sit on her bed and talk. She asks about the twins who have both gone to bed. She particularly is interested in James who Uncle Peter, the cousins, and now she has nicknamed Jimmy. She says, "He's a nice young lad isn't he?". She asks about Memere and Pepere. She points to the picture on the wall and reminds us of our old grandpa.... But what impresses my heart most is her favorite theme: the goodness of God, His faithfulness, His love. She recounts the times He has been there for her.
She reminds us of how her American father died in the US while she was very young leaving her large family in England fatherless. They were poor, but God provided for all their needs. Their teachers at school had no idea how needy they were. Grandma says, "The Lord blessed and they respected us despite how poor we were."
Then Grandma talks about their time in Africa. "The Lord provided everything we put in our mouths. He took care of us. He really did, and He takes care of all His children as they put their trust in Him. We've just got to trust and obey". She starts repeating the chorus of the old hymn "Trust and Obey". "You know if you're walking with the Lord, you can just walk around wherever you go and talk to the Lord. It's not just a couple of hours here and there. No, it's everywhere you go."
"Walking with God" is no wordy metaphor to Grandma. It's literal. It's apart of her everyday life.
She talks about the privileged of prayer. "We have a Savior who wants us to talk with Him. He does! " My soul thrills as she continues. I love this gospel theme too. It's been Grandma's for many years. I've heard it many time before. Tonight it's fresh. I brush tears from my eyes and stair at the floor. I'm not quite sure why I'm crying.
Dad picks up Grandma's Bible, and asks if she wants Him to read. He turns to John and begins somewhere in the middle. Grandma repeats the verses by memory as Dad reads.
We pray.
We get Grandma Hugs.
We say good-bye.
She won't let us go without seeing us to the door. She stands and waves until we're out of sight...
There are two things that matter to Grandma: her family and her Lord. Grandma is a prayer warrior. We've heard her story of prayer told by numerous speakers who know nothing else of her. Small details are changed as it's passed on by word of mouth, but the core of the story stays the same. It's of a lady in Lillooet that was used by God through prayer. That's a story with results that have been witnessed. How many more will we learn of in heaven?
...............
We hope to be able to go visit again soon. We just have to wait until visas and passports and....++ are taken care of. Oh the joys of being foreigners:)
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Write Them On My Heart
"Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers. Write them upon the tablets of thine heart. "Proverbs 7:2-3
My laws. My Commandments.Without them, happiness would not exist. But though created for the blessing and benefit of creation, they are looked upon as burdensome.
Why? Perhaps it's because they're deeper than the superficial and external- greater than human will can resolve. They're founded on love- love for God & love for man. God love-humanly impossible to attain to.
We might say it's a heart problem. It's a big one indeed because I've discovered that I cannot change my heart. And if the essence of His law is love, though I might be able to grit my teeth and pull it off (for awhile), external obedience will not cut it. I cannot make myself keep His law because I cannot make myself love.
But He commands: "Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers. Write them upon the tablets of thine heart. "Proverbs 7:2-3
Sometimes it takes a few days of mulling over a verse for it to really click in my brain. The 'click' came with two kindergarten memory verses.
"I will put my law in their inward parts, and write them on the tablets of their hearts" Jeremiah 31:33 .
He recognizes our weakness to obey in completeness, and so He says, "I will do it in their hearts".
But get this: "The Lord looketh on the heart."1 Sam. 16:7.
It's an amazing picture to me. God, the same God that wrote those laws with His powerful finger in the tablets of stone, has promised to write them on my heart. Then when He looks at my life, he looks at the very place where He has inscribed His law. What He sees is His own beautiful handwriting, his perfection, His goodness.
Our part in all this?
"The same law that was engraved upon the tables of stone is written by the Holy Spirit upon the tables of the heart. Instead of going about to establish our own righteousness we accept the righteousness of Christ. His blood atones for our sins. His obedience is accepted for us. Then the heart renewed by the Holy Spirit will bring forth “the fruits of the Spirit.” Through the grace of Christ we shall live in bedience to the law of God written upon our hearts. Having the Spirit of Christ, we shall walk even as He walked. Through the prophet He declared of Himself, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Psalm 40:8. And when among men He said, “The Father hath not left Me alone; for I do always those things that please Him.” John 8:29." {PP 372.2}
The last part of this paragraph finishes my trian of thought. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Whatever's in my heart will show in my actions. When God's law is written there, my actions are only the product of the work being done inside.
The Link below is a song by the Bonds--my newest favorite. It sums up this whole beautiful concept. It is my prayer.
Write Them on My Heart
My laws. My Commandments.Without them, happiness would not exist. But though created for the blessing and benefit of creation, they are looked upon as burdensome.
Why? Perhaps it's because they're deeper than the superficial and external- greater than human will can resolve. They're founded on love- love for God & love for man. God love-humanly impossible to attain to.
We might say it's a heart problem. It's a big one indeed because I've discovered that I cannot change my heart. And if the essence of His law is love, though I might be able to grit my teeth and pull it off (for awhile), external obedience will not cut it. I cannot make myself keep His law because I cannot make myself love.
But He commands: "Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers. Write them upon the tablets of thine heart. "Proverbs 7:2-3
Sometimes it takes a few days of mulling over a verse for it to really click in my brain. The 'click' came with two kindergarten memory verses.
"I will put my law in their inward parts, and write them on the tablets of their hearts" Jeremiah 31:33 .
He recognizes our weakness to obey in completeness, and so He says, "I will do it in their hearts".
But get this: "The Lord looketh on the heart."1 Sam. 16:7.
It's an amazing picture to me. God, the same God that wrote those laws with His powerful finger in the tablets of stone, has promised to write them on my heart. Then when He looks at my life, he looks at the very place where He has inscribed His law. What He sees is His own beautiful handwriting, his perfection, His goodness.
Our part in all this?
"The same law that was engraved upon the tables of stone is written by the Holy Spirit upon the tables of the heart. Instead of going about to establish our own righteousness we accept the righteousness of Christ. His blood atones for our sins. His obedience is accepted for us. Then the heart renewed by the Holy Spirit will bring forth “the fruits of the Spirit.” Through the grace of Christ we shall live in bedience to the law of God written upon our hearts. Having the Spirit of Christ, we shall walk even as He walked. Through the prophet He declared of Himself, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Psalm 40:8. And when among men He said, “The Father hath not left Me alone; for I do always those things that please Him.” John 8:29." {PP 372.2}
The last part of this paragraph finishes my trian of thought. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Whatever's in my heart will show in my actions. When God's law is written there, my actions are only the product of the work being done inside.
The Link below is a song by the Bonds--my newest favorite. It sums up this whole beautiful concept. It is my prayer.
Write Them on My Heart
Sunday, November 13, 2011
The Father
It was a most fearful task. Painful. Heart-wrenching. Disgusting. Cruel. Only one other father would have to bear the command. Yet Abraham knew that voice so distinctly. It was God, yet how could it be?
Agony. Confusion. Frustration. Doubt.
All clouded the aged father's mind. What about the promise- the promise that through his son should come a nation so great that they would be numbered as the stars of the sky? Why had God changed?
The Bible records none of the heart-struggle that he must have born- only the command and the action. "And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took his young men with him, and Isaac his son and went up unto the place of which God had told Him." Gen. 22:3
Tears must have flowed down the old man's cheeks as he bound his pride, his joy, his dearest treasure on earth. His hand must have trembled as he held the knife to kill his son. This was for real- no dream, no fable.
The Bible details none of his emotions, none of his thoughts - only an overwhelming faith and obedience, faith that not even the greatest earthly human tie could quench, a faithfulness that nothing could sever.
Then comes the voice. "Abraham, Abraham, lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do anything to him: for I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." verses 11-12
Joy.
Promise.
Faith rarely demonstrated. Calling never so great. Principle forever the same.
It was a demonstration of surrender so complete.
Also, a demonstration never before matched of the other Father. A Father whose love for His Son was so great it was divine, yet who was willing to surrender Him..."For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life".
Agony. Confusion. Frustration. Doubt.
All clouded the aged father's mind. What about the promise- the promise that through his son should come a nation so great that they would be numbered as the stars of the sky? Why had God changed?
The Bible records none of the heart-struggle that he must have born- only the command and the action. "And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took his young men with him, and Isaac his son and went up unto the place of which God had told Him." Gen. 22:3
Tears must have flowed down the old man's cheeks as he bound his pride, his joy, his dearest treasure on earth. His hand must have trembled as he held the knife to kill his son. This was for real- no dream, no fable.
The Bible details none of his emotions, none of his thoughts - only an overwhelming faith and obedience, faith that not even the greatest earthly human tie could quench, a faithfulness that nothing could sever.
Then comes the voice. "Abraham, Abraham, lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do anything to him: for I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." verses 11-12
Joy.
Promise.
Faith rarely demonstrated. Calling never so great. Principle forever the same.
It was a demonstration of surrender so complete.
Also, a demonstration never before matched of the other Father. A Father whose love for His Son was so great it was divine, yet who was willing to surrender Him..."For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life".
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