This weekend I was reminded of one of my favorite scenes from the movie The Count Of Monte Cristo. Edmond is full of hate and revenge due to the betrayal of those closest to him and in a very gripping scene, Mercedes, his wife, pleads"I don't know what dark plan lies within you. Nor do I know by what design we were asked to live without each other these 16 years. But God has offered us a new beginning... " and Edmond replies with disdain "God?" Mercedes begs him not to slap His hand away and Edmond fires back "Can I never escape Him?" And she simply says with great confidence and passion "No, He is in everything. Even in a kiss."
This Sunday God was in everything and it was a beautiful day. In reality God is always there, although as Jennifer referenced, sometimes we experience the "dark night of the soul" which is brought about by any number of circumstances. On Sunday every lyric, every word from the pastor's mouth, every word from scripture, and even in my own quirkiness was reason for my thankful heart to celebrate the Lord's total forgiveness. He swelled up in me and my pride was put on hold, if even for a moment. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound! The one line that really got me was from the song It Is Well With My Soul. It sings like this:
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! MY SIN, NOT IN PART, BUT THE WHOLE, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
I am asking all of you to share something great that God is doing in your life as we all join in on lifting up His holy name and glorifying the One who is worthy of all praise and honor. May this not be nearly so much about you as it is about Him.
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Well what can I say....there are so many things God is doing in my life right now, but I guess the biggest thing right now would be the fact that He is giving me the strength to deal with it all. Sanctification is a learning process and in the words of Bono "the more you see the less you know" I feel as though at times I knew more when I first gave my life to Christ. The struggles that I go through sometimes make no sense to me what so ever, but everytime I feel like all is hopeless He brings me back to the cross and gives me hope and strength to just trust that He is God.
"How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalm 119:103
I don't even have the words to describe how incredible God's Word is to me. I just can't get enough of Him. When I open up my Bible and read...I don't want to stop. The Spirit is burning His Truth so deep into my soul that I yearn for more. Time will pass so quickly, and I realize usually I am already late to a certain place. Whenever I close my Bible, I shout for joy,(I really do..out loud!) because my heart is so very grateful for the wisdom of His Word...the love contained within and the freedom that it brings.
Last fall, I really, really..really struggled. Honestly, and quite arrogantly, I was surprised I was struggling so much with my faith,just plain elementary trust in God. I was so shaken, and for no good reason. I looked around everywhere, and I could see how wonderfully He has provided for me; His goodness was there. I have a history with Him, and have seen His faithfulness and redemptive power firsthand, but I was still so frustrated. He was so quiet at times and that made me sometimes mad...and sometimes full of selfish pride or self-pity. I'm not sure which is worse. He just kept saying, "Wait."
And then, I don't know really what happened, because circumstantially nothing has changed. It's ok, though. The clouds just kind of lifted. (So maybe I had seasonal effectiveness disorder spiritually? Ha!) I feel Him again, and I feel full; but, I learned that faith is real faith when its not based on our feelings...again! And, I learned that spiritual disciplines are so very important to keep us grounded and steady in those seasons--or we can become easily distracted and wayward. He's been stretching my spiritual muscles, I suppose.
So, it's so wonderful to be giddy over His Word, to be satisfied just with Him and embrace the notion that He has called me to a long obedience.
And, Paul,Tommy had to drag me to The Count of Monte Cristo, b/c I thought it was going to be cheesey. I ended up loving it, and we've watched it repeatedly. I love the pursuit of God, or rather God's pursuit of man,portrayed in that movie and also that it shows how ugly the prison of unforgiveness can be. I was so sad when Edmond was set on revenge, b/c he was created for so much more...and so are we. I'm glad you had one of those amazing days and pray that it will be contagious to those around you.
Brent..the foot of the cross, what a place of humility, authenticity, pain, power, hope, and love. That's where we realize that we really are nothing except that we were/are everything to Him. So, He counted us as worthy, and "He will be faithful to complete His good work in you."
It's so important to hear from people who are giddy in our own season of struggle and equally important for those that are struggling to share with those that are giddy. What a great opportunity to continue to learn, remember, and pray for one another.
Many of you are reading Jennifer's posts and receiving a great deal from the experience. Please add to the conversation so one person doesn't carry the load. I know you're out there. Your story is important and God desires us to tell our stories so He can receive the glory. So do tell, my friends!
I love the LORD because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy.
Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!
How kind the LORD is! How good he is! So merciful, this God of ours!
Psalm 116:1–2, 5
Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people both now and forever more.
Psalm 125:1,2
I can only tell you what the Lord has been teaching me about Himself by giving you a little background of my story. I didn’t grow up in a Christian home, but my family went to church off and on throughout my childhood years. I remember asking my parents when I was in the 4th grade if I could go to the pastor’s class because I wanted to learn how to be baptized. The Lord, in His sovereignty, was working on the heart of a young girl who had very little Christian influence whatsoever. I’m awed and humbled when I think of how he worked on my young heart! Although I “believed in God“, I didn’t have a personal relationship with Him. A tragedy occurred in my life that would forever change me...I lost my hero, my father, when I was 14 years old. In 6 months our home went from 6 people living there to 2 people in 6 months…my sister got married, my father passed away and my brother got married…needless to say I was deeply affected. I’m the 4th of 4 children with a 5 year gap between my next sibling and me so I basically grew up as an only child. As long as I can remember I’ve longed to be known and loved. Yes, my family loved and knew me, but not how my soul longed to be known and loved. When I was 15 years old I felt Jesus calling me to a personal relationship with Him at a Young Life club at Mid Cities Bible Church (oh the good ole days). Throughout my 26 years of being a Christian I’ve struggled with believing that the God of the Universe really wanted to know me and truly loved me, Karla Pogue. I wondered, “Could I trust this Savior of mine to not leave me and love me just as I am?“ There were times I would understand His love, but then I would let the truth slip right out of my heart. 3 years ago God set me on an extremely tough journey to discover His goodness, love, grace and mercy. I slowly started to understand that, God is love, He will never leave or forsake me, His perfect love drives out fear,and He bends down to listen to my voice. Through the love of amazing Godly friends, the Lord has shown me His most perfect unfailing love. He has taught me that He is trustworthy with every unfulfilled longing, all of my hopes and desires, with my future, my love, my heart, with my fears and He desires to know me intimately. I’m definitely not perfect in this area, but Jesus has brought me to a place with Him that my foundation is set on His love and on Him alone. I have tears in my eyes as I type this because I never thought I would come to the point in my relationship with Christ that I could say, with confidence, “You oh Lord are enough, You oh Lord are trustworthy, and You oh Lord are good!” The worship song “Enough” says everything I am now able believe about my Savior.
“Enough”
All of You is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough
You are my supply
My breath of life
And still more awesome than I know
You are my reward
worth living for
And still more awesome than I know
All of You is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough
You’re my sacrifice
Of greatest price
And still more awesome than I know
You’re the coming King
You are everything
And still more awesome than I know
More than all I want
More than all I need
You are more than enough for me
More than all I know
More than all I can say
You are more than enough for me
What a precious, blameless heart you have, Karla. I love your testimony. It seems that you have much to share on many levels to encourage others to come to Christ. If you don't mind, can I ask if you were close to your dad? And, how did the loss of your earthly father affect your perception of your Heavenly Father?
And, it was so nice meeting you in person the other day. I hope whatever I said was at least half way coherent; I'm so not a morning person. It's getting better, though!
Jennifer, thank you so much for your sweet words. I'm not a morning person either and many of my friends can't believe I'm getting up BEFORE dawn to workout. I just absolutely love it though! It was my pleasure to meet you as well.:)
I was, as my mom says, my daddy's little girl. He was my protector, hero, nurturer, encourager and best friend. My mom had very little maternal instinct so I really feel and know, through much counsel, that my relationship with the Lord was really influenced more by my relationship with my mother. It has been a long road, but I finally have come to the point of believing that my God will never leave or forsake me, has a plan for my life and that he loves me with an amazing unfailing love. I have to keep guard though that I don't slide back into my old beliefs about Him..."Will He always be there for me?, Do I matter to Him?, Is He really good?, Can I trust Him?" I really see how, over the last 3 years, the Holy Spirit changed what I believed about my Heavenly Father. I know there is no way I could've mustered up that deep soul change of my heart and mind. To God be the Glory always...
P.S.
Thank you for asking me that question.
Jennifer,
Here are some great verses for your refound giddyness of His word:
The very essence of your words is truth;
all your just regulations will stand forever. …
I rejoice in your word
like one who discovers a great treasure.
Psalm 119:160, 162
Our God is so gracious to make Himself known to us in such tender sweet ways. I think we encourage each other by sharing our stories of what He is doing in our lives and How is showing Himself to us. I know I'm new to the blog, but I would love to hear how the Lord is revealing Himself to you.
Ok, so here are some of my Friday night thoughts...a week later! (By the way, is it sad that my husband and son are at a baseball game, my daughter is at a school dance that I'm about to crash, and I'm sitting here at the computer allowing myself to get distracted from a paper I need to write and talks I need to prepare? I think not! I'm kind of liking it!)
Anyway, I'm with Karla, my new sister-friend. I want to hear some stories! How good is God to you? How are you seeing Him move daily in your life--in the smallest and biggest of ways? What attribute of His means most to you right now? What pit has He pulled you from recently? Why do you love Him? What is He wanting you to surrender to Him? What is one question you have for Him right now?
Inspire me with your words and thoughts on Him. Sometimes when I'm waiting on God--like right now for the last two years or so--for a certain thing--I just want to know, need to know, He's moving in the lives of those around me in the kindest of ways. I know He is, but I want to hear it. It's also a good measure of my love barometer; like, when I hear how He's working in others' lives, am I truly excited for them or am I envious? That always tells me when I need to shift my focus back to Him.
Anyway, if you have something, bring it! Be bold, be vulnerable, take the time, take the challenge..or not and leave me longing. :)
Bless you!
For the past several weeks the Lord has revealed to me through study and experience that I have some areas that need maturing in Him. It has been on so many fronts that I can't ignore what God has put before me. It seems when you hit a growth spurt in one area He shows you where else you need work. I guess that's called sanctification.
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