Love Came Down

When I was walking through a very difficult time in my life, it was hard to see what God was doing in the moment. I had to continually speak the truth to myself and believe Him, no matter what I was feeling.

This is a well known verse from Lamentations-
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness."

Here are some of the verses surrounding that one...
"my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, 'My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD"...But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in Him.' The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD." (Lam. 3:17-18, 21-26 ESV)

Today God flooded me with memories of his faithfulness to my family through great hardship and trials that He allowed us to experience. I shared them with a new friend. As the words and stories left my lips, tears crept up in my eyes. Faith filled my heart as I remembered His goodness. I will declare that His love is great. His mercies never end. He is faithful. He was faithful then, and He's faithful to me today. I do have hope.

This song is extremely significant to me. I hope it blesses you today.
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Glory Through Grief

As I look back on my life, I see the rich blessings God has given me through my most painful experiences. I am blown away. How does He do that? How does He bring glory through grief? I don't think I will ever be able to wrap my mind around it. His ways are far above mine.

What I do hope is that I will learn to trust Him more completely, and overcome fear. He loves me. He is with me. He uses all things for good for those who love Him and are called to His purposes.

Contentment and peace come when I desire His glory and His purposes, more than my own ideas and plans. He will be glorified. He will accomplish what He sets out to do.

My heart must crave His glory. In Him, I will not be disappointed.

I need to remember what He's already done in my life, be satisfied in Him right now, and have hope for what's ahead. He will never leave me. He is amazing and His ways are perfect.

I wrote this poem smack in the middle of one of the hardest years of my life. He was definitely with me!

Victory

Little by little, You give me victory.
Little by little, You set me free.

I must be patient,
And continue to call on Your name.
I don't want to go through the fire,
And at the end come out the same.

The trials I go through,
Can be for Your glory.
All of them put together,
Are telling a story.

A story of Your majesty,
Your love and Your grace.
Oh, how I long for the day,
That I may see Your face.

I don't want to experience
Shame on that day.
"Well done faithful servant"
Is what I want to hear You say.

I must stop worrying, fretting, and fighting,
The work You're doing is everlasting-
That's exciting!

I must trust You and know,
You will finish what You began.
All I must do,
Is surrender to Your plan.

(Rachel Ranae 6.23.10)

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (James 1:2-4 ESV)

Suffering...a road to blessing?

On a recent post I said that I don't desire suffering. Honestly, I don't. However, there are beautiful things that I believe only come through it. Through suffering, I have gotten to know my Savior, my Healer, in ways I wouldn't otherwise. God has done deep things in my soul that wouldn't have been accomplished any other way.

Butterfly resting on SweetHeart's hand

Do I dare call suffering...a road to blessing? It doesn't mean that I desire it any more than I desire to go through the labor pains of child birth. But I do desire the life that is brought about through it, because of Him. And He always heals.

I don't have to seek out suffering, but I don't need to be afraid of it, or avoid it at all costs.

I read this today in "My Utmost for His Highest" (one of my favorite devotionals):

"As a saint of God, my attitude toward sorrow and difficulty should not be to ask that they be prevented, but to ask that God protect me so that I remain what He created me to be, in spite of all my fires of sorrow. We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them. Sorrow removes a great deal of a person's shallowness, but it does not always make that person better. Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me...
If you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people."

I know I'm reiterating things from previous posts, but I need to remind myself of things over and over! I hope that if you are reading this in the midst of suffering, that you will look to Jesus...that you're suffering may not be in vain! May you grow in greater intimacy with Him, and be transformed.

Floodgates of Fear

There are times when I feel like I'm holding back floodgates of fear. It seems, if I let even a trickle in, it will make way for a river to overwhelm me completely. I don't want even "little" thoughts carelessly wandering around in my mind. So I have to focus. I have to intentionally recognize those things, and give them to the Lord. Submit my thoughts to Him.

It doesn't have to be drawn out. It may only take a moment, and then I simply behold who my great God is. Keep my eyes on Him. My Strength. My Rock. My Fortress. My Deliverer. My Shield. My Stronghold. He will still the raging waters. I cannot hold them back in my own strength.

One thing in particular that seems to come to mind, sometimes in the midst of complete fun with my family, is fearing the next hardship we may face. It's like I hear,"You're having so much fun! This can't last too long. Suffering will soon be on it's way!" I hate that. I just want to enjoy these moments, this season.

I will accept suffering, however I don't desire or long for it. I only long for my Lord. He is with me always...in good times and bad. I want to rest in that. TRUST HIM! And I want to fully enjoy this season in which my family is having much fun together, without fear whispering in my ear!

I want to be content in all circumstances. I hear the words of Paul, "...I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." - (Philippians 4:11-13 ESV)

I must not forget the secret of contentment---I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. I can embrace happiness. I can embrace suffering...all because I am embracing Him! He loves me. Perfect love casts out all fear!

God of Comfort

Scripture calls Jesus a "man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief". Through Him we receive real comfort, because He understands. God is full of love and compassion.

Photo credit: Evgeni Dinev

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too." -2 Corinthians 1:3-5 ESV

One of the beautiful things that has come from experiencing hardship in my own life, is the love and compassion that He has developed in me for others who suffer. I feel like I can now genuinely speak true words of comfort from my heart, not just my head. And there are times when I don't have to say anything. Just be there. Or as scripture says, "weep with those who weep".

I am thankful to God for the people that He surrounded me with when I needed that kind of comfort. I am thankful for the way He comforted me in those moments when only He could really minister to my deepest needs. And I am thankful for opportunities to encourage others, with the love of Christ.

He Is Holding Them

My heart is breaking for my dear sister and her husband who are at Children's Hospital for the second time this week. After horrendous circumstances, and their sweet baby boy pulling through, they thought the trial was over. But they are back again today.  They don't know why he is having seizures. I so badly wish I was with them, but I can't be.  I take comfort in knowing that HE IS HOLDING THEM! 

"Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in Him, because we trust in His holy name. Let Your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in You." (Psalm 33:20-22 ESV)

Joy & Sorrow

"And still He seeks the fellowship of His people, and will send them both joy and sorrow to detach their hands from the things of this world and to attach those hands to Himself."
~ J.I. Packer

God has certainly used both joy and sorrow to bring me into closer intimacy with Him, and for that I am grateful.  He is perfect in His ways.  He knows all things and He loves me.  I know that He is for me and not against me.  If I can really believe this in the core of my being...KNOW this...then I can trust Him.  I can delight in Him.  I will walk in His ways.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV)


(Photo credit: prozac1)

My Best Friend

"The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds' feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]!"
(Habakkuk 3:19 Amplified Bible)

God had just given me strength that I could not mistake as my own.  Afterwards, I collapsed on the couch...weary and burdened.  He led me to that scripture, in that version, which I had not read before.  It was perfect.  It stirred praise in my heart.  I love when He speaks to me so specifically.  Then he gave me a song.  He knows how I need songs.  I played this one over and over until I could fall asleep.  He truly is my best friend.

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The Holding Place

In 2010, when God was stretching me so wide on the inside, it seemed as though I wasn't able to do a whole lot other than survive.  I felt as though my life was on hold, and the rest of the world just kept going.  But in reality much was happening, like a caterpillar in a chrysalis.  At that time I was waiting...waiting to come to life it seemed.

Yesterday I came across a portion of Scripture that I had underlined while in this holding place.

"You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth You will bring me up again.  You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.  My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to You; my soul also, which You have redeemed.  And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,"  (Psalm 71:20-21, 23-24 ESV)

I wrote the following poem during that time as well.  As I look back I am amazed at how He would put so much hope to me, in such a seemingly dry place.   He is good!

Journey
You take us on a journey,
A path filled with sweetness and sorrow.
Sometimes we want this life to stop,
But then here comes tomorrow.

The victories aren't always won swift,
But they're victories the same.
The sorrows seem like they will never end,
But they do-and it's joy that remains!

On the treacherous parts of this path,
We've discovered how weak we are.
But this is such a good thing,
We can see You've taken us far.

You're producing in us,
Something worth far more than gold.
Praise You, Lord Jesus,
It's Your hand we hold.

You're faithful to restore us,
When the testing is done.
But we're not the same...
We're better-You've won!

(Rachel Ranae 6.23.10)


(Photo credits:  1 Christian Meyn, 2 dan)

Life Birthed Through Trials

I have had some very intense and difficult times in the recent past.  The kind of times that change you forever, perhaps like how an earthquake can change the landscape of the earth.  There was nothing I could do to change the circumstances.  I chose to cling to Jesus through it all, and take one day at a time.  There was a lot of pressure for about a year and a half.

In some ways it reminds me of child birth.

I would never want to go through those experiences again, however, I also wouldn't want to erase them.  Going through the pain of child birth, is worth the life that is produced.  All that pressure you feel as you go through contractions, has a purpose...bringing forth life.

"Joy sometimes needs pain to give it birth."  (Streams in the Desert)

I wrote this poem about a year ago.  I was in the end of this difficult season.

The birth of BluEyes

Trials   
So often we pray,
"Lord, take this trial away!"
We don't want to suffer,
Not in any way.
Your word says to expect trials,
And to count it all joy when we do.
You use them to produce steadfastness,
We need only keep our eyes on You.
Difficulties, suffering, any kind of pain,
We look at these things with such great distain.
If only we realized how You draw us near,
Through all these things,
You make Yourself more clear.
Your glory is revealed,
In good times and bad.
May we joyfully accept,
And in You be made glad.     (Rachel Ranae 1.3.11)


(Photo credit: Rachel Ranae)

This is Grace