A New "Old Friend"

Recently, our "second car" came to the end of its long life.  We had had the 2003 Honda Pilot for almost 14 years and had driven it over 270,000 miles.  It was more than an old friend; it was like a member of the family. Our family vehicle that preceded the Pilot was a Toyota van, which we drove for over 240,000 miles and kept for over 10 years.  The Honda Accord prior to that I drove for over 10 years.  I'm currently in year 6 with the family's "best car"...  Hubster also has a dilapidated 1987 Chevy truck which he drives only around town. You get the picture.  We drive the fool out of them.

Well, when the Honda gave up the ghost last week we were in a quandary.  Son #2 had been driving the Pilot, for the most part, sharing it with his dad.  There were many times when we were using all 3 of the previously described vehicles.  So, what to do?  We truly were not ready to let the Pilot go, but had no choice.  It could not be resurrected without spending way more than it was worth.  Son 2 and Hubster were grieving; they loved that Pilot!  Between the three of us, we had been out looking at used and new vehicles within a 60-mile radius, with no satisfaction.

This afternoon was such an occasion.  Hubster and I went up the road a ways, to two dealerships.  On the way home I was feeling very discouraged.  What on earth were we going to do?  Both of us had prayed hard over the car/truck purchase and had asked our Christian friends to pray as well.  Yet, it seemed God was silent.

We had put on our blinker to turn onto our little road when Hubster looked in the rear view mirror to see .... the Pilot's TWIN!  Yes!  It was a 2003 Pilot, same color as our old one.  And, lo and behold? There was a "For Sale" sign in the back window!  "FOLLOW THAT CAR!", I yelled, as cars were zooming by us on the right.  Hubster managed to collect himself and off we went, in hot pursuit. Finally, although there was a car between us, I managed to read the phone number in the rear window.  The owner answered, soon pulled over into a nearby parking lot and allowed us to inspect her car.

It is not as spit-shiny as our former friend.  (After all, Hubster babied that SUV.) Needs a paint job. But, with some TLC, it should serve us well until we are well-and-truly "empty-nesters".

I keep thinking of "gratitude", my theme for this year.  What are the chances an almost-identical vehicle to the one we lost would simply...happen by?  Almost zilch!  We look at it as a miracle of provision from Jehovah-Jireh, our God who Provides.  Not only that, but He cares about His children's every need.  We are SO grateful!

Jehovah-Jireh is one of the many Old Testament names for God.  Literally translated "God Will Provide", it appears first in Genesis 22:14, when Jehovah-Jireh God provided the ram caught in the brambles, an animal which Abraham then sacrificed in place of his son, Isaac.  In that story, God provided a substitute.  Today, God provided not only a replacement, but exactly what we had been seeking.

Jehovah-Jireh is a name of God that contains promise.  It encompasses the love of a Father God who enjoys giving good gifts to His children.  The story of Abraham, Isaac and the ram foreshadows the sacrifice of God's Son, the Lamb of God, for us on a hill called Calvary.  Again, and forever, God provided ... Jehovah-Jireh.  Hallelujah!

In Him, our Savior, God the Father gave us all manner of blessings, starting with our miraculous, eternal salvation.  He always provides exactly what we need, even if we think we don't need it, or think we need something else.  Then, there are other glorious times when He gives us exactly what we ask for, sometimes in ways that defy human explanation. He's a good, good Father!  Hubster and I give our Jehovah-Jireh all the glory for His sweet provision today!

At All Times

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” 

Proverbs 17:17 (ESV)

One of the three Greek words for friendship is “phileo”, from which our city of Philadelphia is named.  Friendship is a double-edged sword.  A true friend loves at all times, the Scriptures say.  This was one of the first Sunday School verses I was ever taught.

“All times” means in happiness and in sorrow, in abundance and in need, in sickness and in health, in bewilderment and in joyful amazement.

Day before yesterday I finished studying Philippians; and then, yesterday, honestly, I was too busy to write a post, as the day was consumed with the team’s preparations for a church-wide “dinner on the grounds” to honor our pastor and his family.  There has been a supernatural degree of upheaval at our church recently.  Because of this, it was very important for the church family to join together and love on our pastor and on one another.

God showed up.

Rarely, have I had the opportunity to, first of all, have such awesome and true friends.  Every single one of my pastor’s family members, from the very youngest to the most senior, sets my spirit ablaze!  It is my privilege to co-minister with them all, to pray for their ministries, work in their ministries, financially support their ministries because, they are “the real deal”.  I know that God has amazing plans for each and every one of them, and I just pray to continue to have a part in what He is going to do.  (Romans 8:31)

So!  A party for nearly 500 people…outside at a public park!  You know, there is a time to plan and to coordinate and to request help and …. to just then step out of the way. 

This week’s topic at The Loft is “Still”.  (You can find The Loft at leahadams.org) We can plan and plan and then be anxious over our planning.  (I prayed Philippians 4 a lot yesterday!  Again, God had me in His Word exactly where He needed me to be…)  But, things go best when we obey His leading to exercise the gifts He gave us, and then still ourselves to simply “let God be God.”

There were miracles last night.

First of all, the main entrée was hotdogs, which we invited Sunday School classes to donate.  Our church runs approximately 700 in worship in recent months.  About 450 hotdogs were donated, and only about 200 people had rsvp’ed to the event.  We were laughing about all those hotdogs!  But, you know what?  Like the loaves and fishes, less than 30 “dawgs” were left over.  God knew how many we would need.

I went through the food line last and was still able to fix myself a hotdog and a full plate of food, plus dessert!

Did I mention this event was held outside?  In mid-July?  At 5:30, it was 95 degrees.   By the time the event began at 6:30, though, the shade had overtaken the area, with a gentle breeze had begun to blow.

And, at the end, when the last speaker was sharing about deep, decades-long friendship and the closing prayer was being prayed, the wind whipped up as if the Holy Spirit Himself was blowing through the souls of the people as they stood to bless this precious group of loved ones. (Numbers 6:24-26)  I believe He WAS there, blowing through our hearts throughout the evening.

Miracles occurred in hearts.

“Be still, and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the heathen.  I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10)

Abba Father, when we seek Your will, to align our meandering wills with Your perfect will, and when we follow You in obedience, then it is time to step out of the way and be still…to be still and watch You do Your marvelous, spotless, grace-filled miracles.  The greatest miracle of all is how You love us with a love that will never be fully understood by us, because it defies our human capabilities.  I am not only grateful for how You have loved me, but more so for how You have given me the opportunity to love others, in Jesus name.  May Your name be praised, today and through all of eternity. Amen.

A Dead, Hollow Tree

I'm moving on through the wonderful Romans 12 and focusing on verse 11 today.

11Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord.

Thinking on this scripture verse I was reminded of a dead tree.

Yesterday afternoon after church a friend called to ask if I wanted to go see that new movie, "Miracles from Heaven".  Delightedly, I said "yes".  We also dragged our Hubsters along.

Spoiler alert!  If you have not heard anything about this movie and don't want to know, stop reading now!

So, the gist of the movie is that this very, very sick little girl...sick to the point of death fell headfirst 3 stories down through a dead, hollow tree, and was miraculously healed by God.  Crazy, huh?  Based on a true story...  Crazier still!

What does this have to do with today's verse?

Remember that Paul was talking to believers, Christians.  In this verse he was exhorting them to use their time, gifts and talents in service to the Lord.  Most of the time, most Christians have no problem doing that.  They actually long to do that.  Other times, though, usually because of adverse life circumstances, Christians believe they no longer have anything to offer.

The little girl in the movie, for instance, Annabelle Beam.  She told her mother she wanted to die, because of her ever-present pain.  Yet, at the time she thought she had nothing more to offer, God used her life to touch the lives of millions.

The mother, Christi Beam, temporarily lost her faith during this time of dealing with her daughter's devastating illness.

Yesterday I was reading a testimony from a friend who lost her beloved husband, her dearest friend, six months ago.  Another hollow-tree experience.

Did you catch that the title of the movie is "Miracles from Heaven"?  The healing of Abby was not the only miracle.  The movie was full of miracles, brought about from ordinary people allowing God to use them.

Aren't you glad God uses ordinary, flawed people?  (In fact, that's the only kind He creates...) The Bible is full of stories of God choosing to use Everyday Man, Typical Woman.  Then, He makes them extraordinary, by His saving grace and power!

He can even use someone who appears to be "dead", because He raises the dead in the same way He raised His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Some truly ARE dead, as the Bible says, "dead in our sins".  I pray that if you have not yet encountered Jesus Christ and accepted Him as your Savior, that you will do that today.  I just can't back away from this because it is absolutely foundation, inescapable and crucial!  There is no true joy apart from Jesus Christ, only pale imitations.  He is the only One who can bring the dead to life, forgive our sins eternally and make us spiritually alive in Him.  This is life's GREATEST miracle!

…4But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,…

Ephesians 2:4-6 

One final point to Christians:  Note that Paul did not exhort the Christians to wait until they felt good about zealously serving the Lord.  If we wait until we "feel like it", we won't step out in obedience. You are not going to necessarily have that "joy from serving Jesus" until AFTER you allow yourself to be filled with the Spirit and used for His glory.

Do you feel like that big, dead, hollow tree today?  In the movie, Anna asked her mother why God had not healed her.  As Christi told Anna in the movie:  "There are so many things I don't know.  But, I know God loves you!"  Amen to that, and praise Him for His miraculous love!

Loving Father, I was dead, so dead in my sins until You rescued me!  I can't thank you enough for saving my soul, making me alive through Jesus.  It's hard to explain and even harder to understand how that works in the spiritual realm.  But, then, we don't have to understand everything.  Faith means taking you at Your word, trusting in Your promises.  I pray specifically this day for those who have never met Jesus, have never thrown all their sins on Him, who feel hopelessly trapped.  Speak to them, Father, through Your holy Word, by Your Holy Spirit and/or through one of Your redeemed, one of Your beloved.  I pray that these will find Your love to be inescapable!  For those beloved who already know You as Savior, but who yet feel like that huge, dead tree, speak to them today also, in the depths of their hearts.  Reaffirm Your love for them in tangible ways that let them know You have not left or forsaken them.  And, empower us all, Father, to step out in obedient service to You so that Satan's adversity which beats and bruises us does not overcome us. (Revelation 12:11) In Jesus' name, amen.

Source:

http://www.enzasbargains.com/miracles-from-heaven-movie-quotes/

Minor and Unlikely

One of the many, great paradoxes of the Bible is that the only wise God, the omnipotent, omniscient God is also the God of the Minor.

Don't you just love it when we tell each other our stories?  I love to listen for God working in them. Just last week a friend had open-heart surgery.  Afterwards, there was a scary time when it was feared he had had a stroke.  God chose to answer the prayers of many of His children on this friend's behalf, and now he is almost "back to his old self".  We are praising Him for that.

I am so glad that He is concerned with, what on the world scale, must be considered "minor incidents" or "the little people".  I am so glad that He chooses "minor characters" to become the heroes in history ("His Story").  If He can choose and use Zechariah and Elizabeth, He can use anyone.  Their story is found in Luke 1:6-17.

Zechariah and Elizabeth, both of the Levitical tribe, that is, both descendants of Aaron, were (beyond that) just an ordinary, old couple.  Most folks paid them little attention, I'd guess.  In a society where most things centered on the large, extended family, this old couple had none.  This is because, while they should have been at least grandparents and perhaps great-grandparents, they had no offspring, no descendants.  They were pretty much alone.  To their credit, we read in verse 6 that, despite what had to be this deep disappointment, they continued to honor God with their lives.  Two ordinary, old people whom God chose to play a leading role in mankind's redemption story, not in their timeframe, but in His.

At the beginning of the A.D. era there were approximately 7000 Levitical priests serving at the Jerusalem temple.  These were laymen, who only served there two weeks out of the year.  One of Zechariah's "weeks" fell during the feast of Yom Kippur, during the year in which this story is set. Of the hundreds of priests serving that week, Zechariah's name was drawn "at random" to go into the most holy place of the Temple ("the Holy of Holies") and make an incense offering.  This was a very rare honor.  Most priests like Zechariah would live all of their lives without having their name drawn. You might say he "won the lottery".  Then, if that were not miraculous or unlikely enough, he sees an angel, who delivers to him a miraculous message.

It is very significant that there had been no "word" from God since the book of Malachi was written, 400 years earlier.  There had been no recorded angelic appearances, no prophets. Don't be fooled, though.  God was not idle, even if He was "silent".  I am sure that many had decided that Jehovah's dealings with the Jews were "ancient history" and irrelevant to "modern people".  Not Zechariah or Elizabeth, however.  Their faith had not wavered.  What an inspiration they are!

Even so, when Zechariah saw the angel Gabriel and heard his message, his faith wavered.  Who can blame him?  Certainly not me!  (Most likely I would have pulled a "Sarah", and laughed.)  At any rate, Zechariah (whose name means "God Remembers") and his wife Elizabeth (whose name means "My God Keeps His Word") conceived and birthed that promised son.  And, Zechariah, who had been struck mute in the most holy place, found his tongue freed to praise the King of Kings and Lord of Lords when asked about the name of his newborn boy.  John - - - an unusual, one-of-a-kind name - - for an unusual, chosen boy.  This boy was filled with God's spirit while still in his mother's womb, causing him to leap for joy there when he heard the voice of His Savior's mother for the first time. God is sovereign, faithful and good.

In today's picture the old woman's hand holds the hand of her toddler son.  There are no "unlikelies" with my God.  Nothing is minor to Him.  You may be praying, as I am, for a Christmas miracle this season.  Keep praying.  God is listening.  He bends down to hear the whispered prayer of the broken, the anguished, the weary.  Keep praying.  He longs to give us not only our needs, but the desires of our hearts.

Oh Lord, Seer of All Hearts, You know our needs.  And, You know our deepest desires.  Your grace begins with giving us more of You, and Your blessings flow from that priceless gift.  None of us, none of our needs are either minor or unlikely.  Thank you for meeting them in the most unlikely of ways.  I love You, Lord, and praise You for Your goodness.  In Jesus' name, amen.  

Source:

Voskamp, Ann. The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas. 

Sledgehammer Seasons

Today’s post comes to you from the interior of my car.  No, I am not typing and driving, though some of you would not put it past me.  Hubster is at the helm, and we are traveling to the funeral of one of his long-time friends, a dear one he has known for over 45 years.  A dear one who now rests in the arms of his Savior.  And to Jim’s friends and family today feels like a sledgehammer day.

What is a miracle?  Some would say that it is some grandiose event that causes people to gasp in amazement at the sheer goodness of it.  These are flagrant, outrageous miracles.  Some miracles ARE like that…stupefying.  Often, a miracle is defined as God doing what we want Him to do in a situation that threatens to beat us into the ground, leaving us lying there, a bloody mess.

The greatest majority of miracles, though, go unrecognized, unseen.  Ann Voskamp reminds us of Naomi as an example of a sister who had been so hammered by the heart-rending events of her life, she was blind to the miracle unfolding around her.   I can’t self-righteously condemn Naomi because I have reacted the same way to adversity, haven’t you?   Been so wracked with pain that I could not see God’s hand of redemption, could not see how He was using my situation for His glory, could not see how He would ever, ever restore what had been lost?

The other night I watched the autobiographical movie, produced by Dolly Parton, called Coat of Many Colors.  There was a Naomi story, for sure.  Dolly was about 8 when her mother became pregnant with her 9^th child. (I may be misremembering the numbers...) She and her husband had been very fertile, and Mrs. Parton had birthed a new baby just about every year for several years.  Still, the family was very excited about the new baby on the way.  Mrs. Parton had told Dolly this baby would be “hers” to help raise.  They had guessed he would be a boy, and they had named him “Larry”.  God, in His sovereignty, chose to call Larry home, before he could fully develop.  Larry died shortly after birth.  What a sledgehammer moment!  In addition to that, the Partons were, as Dolly’s daddy described it, “the second poorest family in Sevier County”.  But, the truth which dragged Dolly’s mother down the most was the knowledge that her beloved husband was not a believer in Jesus Christ.  All of these circumstances conspired to throw her into a deep depression and to rip apart her relationship with her husband and family.

When she began to emerge from this, she took the baby blanket she had made for Larry, ripped and rearranged it, and made a “coat of many colors”, a patchwork coat, for Dolly.  Such a beautiful picture of how God takes the most broken pieces and weaves them into something new and spectacular.  Dolly had her own Naomi road to walk, as she grieved for her baby brother.  It took her a long time to see God’s hand at work.  What Satan meant for evil, God transformed for good.  Mrs. Parton’s gifted daughter went on to become the songbird God had created her to be, one who has inspired millions.

God delights in doing His greatest works with the least “resources”.  I’m reminded of that verse, “He has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the mighty.”

For many, the “holiday season” is particularly brutal; the hammer hits particularly hard.  JOY is abundant, swirling around the broken like a suffocating mist.

 It is in our own personal weaknesses that we must look for His miraculous power.  He has not left or abandoned us in those Naomi times.  Just as Advent is the promise of His coming, just as He brought Great Light to a hopeless people, those “who walked in darkness”, He is busy, doing His impossible, perfect work.  Ann says, “Brilliant people don’t deny the dark; they are the ones who never stop looking for His light in everything.”  I don’t think she means “brilliant” in the sense of “extremely smart”.  I think she is referring to those who are so radiantly filled with Jesus, the Light of Life, that they shine brilliantly, resplendently, exploding with God’s Spirit, the Divine Sledgehammer who is able to break all darkness into pieces.

Father, I love the story of Ruth, Naomi, Boaz, Obed, Jesse and David.  Out of one woman’s greatest loss, your blessings came rolling on, like a tsunami wave.  And now, she is known not as Naomi the Bitter, but as Naomi the Blessed, Naomi the Great-Great-Grandmother of David, the greatest king the Hebrews had known, the one who was only eclipsed in glory by his descendant, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  What redemption!  What restoration!  What glory! May His blessed name be forever praised, amen.

Source:

Voskamp, Ann. The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas.