IT'S ALL GOOD!

This morning, I was sitting at my kitchen table enjoying the sunrise and reading The Word. I went back to Genesis 1 and read again about the creation. As I read about what God did each day, I was really struck by the fact that He is all about not just renewal, not just regeneration, but GENERATION! He created out of nothing. The earth was void, blank, nothingness and He made this incredible complex place with all these incredible complex pieces that work together for RE-generation. After He created each day, he looked back and said “it’s all good” (my paraphrase). It seems like we hear so much about regeneration and renewal – which are the essence of His presence in our lives. But why do I forget about the generation part – creating something out of nothing? When we are taught about using our gifts to serve somehow or another in ministry, does that limit us? Does that put God in a box?

My husband and I had a prayer counseling ministry when we lived in another town and we loved it! We are feeling called into ministry again and I think we have this concept that it will be really similar to what we did before – that our gifting will again be used and our ministry renewed. But maybe He wants to generate a new ministry with gifts that we never thought we had. That is kind of a scary thought, huh? Yet, when hearts are tender and yielded to God, people follow Him to amazing miracles in their lives. I don’t think the fishermen who left their nets and followed Jesus had any idea the gifts and experiences they would receive. They were not taught what their gifts were – they just followed to see what Jesus would do and they joined Him in what He was doing. Wow – how unorthodox that was!! Did they stop and say, “wait – let me see what my gifts are before I decide what I will do for you”? NO – they just went along! Oh – and what miracles they saw - and what an incredible journey they took. Was it all fun? No – sometimes it led to death and there were many trials, but in their relationship, and in their willingness to follow, I believe that God said “it’s all good”.

I am so excited that He is calling me to something new! I don’t know what it is yet, but I just want to follow, no matter what I think my gifts are and see the miracles He produces at every turn along the way. I hope that no matter where this takes me, and even in the hard places, I can look at Him and say along with Him “IT’S ALL GOOD”.

God's Economy

It has certainly been an interesting time in our history these past few months, culminating into a wake-up call to to people of many nations about the economy of this world. The stock market dabblers and forecasters don’t seem to have a clue what will happen by the end of each day - let alone in the long term.

I have friends who have money in the stock market and they are a bit freaked out right now. But my husband Ralph came to me the other day and said “well I looked at our stock this morning and it is doing just fine!” Here is a picture of our ‘stock’.




Some day we will inherit the cattle on a thousand hills, because my glorious and wealthy Father in heaven owns them all!!

I have been watching all the anxiety and fear in the news and on Wall Street lately and I am glad that I know that God is my source.

Does that mean good Christians will always be prosperous financially? I don’t think that is true, but we can know that as we go through hard times, He will be with us and wants us to focus on Him rather than the physical world we live in. We can believe His promises – that he is our provider, our strength, our peace, our healer, our helper, our friend, and so much more. It is when we take our eyes off Him and look back at ourselves and this world that fear and other negative emotions invade our lives.

The first chapter of Joshua is often used as an encouragement and a promise - that the Lord will be with us wherever we go. Period. But sometimes we forget that with promises and blessings, there are some things that God puts in as disclaimers – “if’s”. In verse 7, God tells Joshua to be sure not to turn from the Book of the Law - THEN he will prosper wherever he goes. Verse 8 says he should meditate in it day and night, observe and do according to it – THEN he would be prosperous and successful. God then commands Joshua to “be strong and courageous” and to remember that God is with him wherever he goes.

This whole chapter is a series of IF –THEN principles. The New Testament teaches us that since Jesus came, our sins are washed away and we have no guilt or shame. I truly believe all that when it comes to salvation and an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. However, at times we seem to forget that God’s principles still apply.

How many times have I claimed God’s promises, yet forgot to pay attention to the commands that God gave to Moses and Joshua. Then, when the promises don’t come to pass as quickly or in the way that I would have wanted, I get discouraged. Though it is true that When Jesus died, the barrier between us and God was destroyed and the Old Testament law was abolished, there are times when I put up my own barriers between God and myself, creating quite an obstacle course for those promises to overcome. When I allow the enemy to controls aspects of my life or when I get too busy for God, I am clogging up the conduit through which those blessings flow. We are not bound by the law anymore, but it is true that if I have not spent time with the Lord and His word, it becomes much harder to hear his voice and to be strong and courageous. Fear creeps in – then worry, then fretting, then anger, then pride, then shame – and on and on and on. Because many of the Israelites turned against God, worshipped other Gods, and forgot His commands, they were not allowed into the land that God had promised. Consequences!

Yes, we are to “be strong and of good courage.” But we don’t have to muster strength and courage from within ourselves. In these uncertain times, step back, remember that God is for you, not against you. It is times such as this that I need to look back at the triune God and ask “Where are you in this and how do you want me to help you there?” In serving and watching Him at work there are so many exciting things that happen and it helps put things in perspective. Then we can more easily see the big picture through the barriers of the immediate challenges.
I pray for God’s blessings, strength and courage for all of you who read this blog.
Patti

Uncle Larry

My uncle Larry has been fighting cancer and though it has been in remission, recently found that it is in his lymph nodes and liver. He has been a pastor for years and his last couple of e-mails have so amazed me. This is a person whose focus is on God and his faith remains unshaken. Let me insert an excerpt from his last e-mail as an example.
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I not only got up feeling blessed this morning but God was speaking words of wisdom and comfort into my heart and soul. He was helping me keep cancer in its proper perspective. It is not the main thing in my life. It certainly is a disruptive thing that I have to deal with and even with its attendant focus on death, it's not the main thing. When I get up in the morning I go about my day just like I did before any of this was ever a reality. Each day is filled with life and living. In the midst of the disruptions that we face God shows us new ways to serve and give and encourage. It's the living that occupies our minds and hearts not cancer.

Yesterday, Linda and I encountered some senior moments that were lighthearted and funny that got us to laughing and just enjoying and delighting in life and each other. We are doing ok. Today, to celebrate Yom Kippur, October 9th, seemed like a good as reason and any, we're making a tub of homemade ice cream. Actually we're just celebrating another day of life. It just happens to be Yom Kippur.

I've decided as I did the first time around that Satan is not going to win. In saying that I don't mean I won't die with cancer. That's not Satan's victory. His victory is when I quit living, give up, become discouraged and despairing. There isn't a week goes by but that I read about, hear about or encounter someone who has struggles that are far greater than mine.

Again, we don't know why God chose us for this adventure but we do know that it is seamlessly connected to a greater purpose that he has for us.We are seeing some of that worked out as we see our own hearts being transformed by God's love and goodness and grace.Thank you for your care and love and especially your prayers. Thank you for sharing the journey with us.
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Mind you, he is in a second round of Chemotherapy with all its ravaging debilitation - but he still remains steadfast and wants to encourage others!

As I have been writing sections for a retreat I will be doing, I am trying to learn how to always turn my focus on Christ - every minute of every day. Larry's e-mails have given me an example of Christ's outlook. As Jesus was dying on the cross, He was still thinking of you and I.

May His grace always be sufficient for all of you who read this.

Lovingly posted in the name of Jesus Christ,
Patti

Garden Harvest

Yesterday, I knew that it was supposed to be the last really nice day and rain would begin, so I decided to go out and begin preparing my garden for winter. In my mind, I was thinking about how the weather had been so cool that my garden was not the only one that was behind in its production this year. Feeling a bit discouraged that my corn and tomatoes were not very plentiful, I set out to salvage what I could of the fruit of my labors.

I planted 8 potatoes in July and I knew there were some potatoes under there and I wondered if there would be many to store for the winter. Yet, by the time I got done, what a bounty!! I had a whole wheelbarrow full of potatoes and most of them are quite large!! Then I started lifting the vines to see what my pumpkins are doing and I found at least 12 pumpkins of Jack-O-Lantern size. They have not turned orange yet, but they are starting to turn. I was happily enjoying the thought that my grandkids could pick pumpkins from Grandma’s garden this year as I picked another bucket full of green beans.

As I was harvesting and cleaning my garden, I began thinking “well even if the economy falls flat, we will have lots of potatoes, green beans and beef to get us through the winter!” (We have a small herd of beef cows too). Immediately I realized that this cool summer has actually benefitted some things in my garden and has given the cows more to eat, since the grass has not dried up as much this year. Was it what I thought I wanted? Not really,I wanted longer spells of warm weather so my tomatoes and beans would flourish. But God is amazing! He decides what will thrive and what will wither, but He is always faithful and knows what is best, even if we don't always agree at first. Sometimes we miss the miracles and divine providence He fashions, because we are focusing on a specific outcome – like I was with the tomatoes and corn. But if we really look, we realize that there are many underlying miracles that we might have missed if we didn’t choose to look at Him instead of our circumstances.

In this case, it was a simple realization that this actually was better. For instance, potatoes and beans are easy to store through the winter. When I put up corn, I cut it off the cob and freeze or can it. Whether you freeze or can tomatoes, they are much better with the skins peeled off. So corn and tomatoes take more work to store. There is a big sale on canned goods at the local store, so I can go buy canned corn and canned tomatoes fairly inexpensively. Not to mention the fact that the blackberries and blueberries were late this year too; but because my job kept me so busy all through the summer and I now have some time off, I have been able to pick and freeze some of those this past week too. That is providence!

These are just a few minor examples of how the Holy Spirit so faithfully turns my whining into praise and thankfulness! When we keep our eyes on the Sovereign God, He really does turn our mourning into dancing and our sorrow into joy. That's miraculous!

My friend Annie reminded me of this verse as we had lunch the other day, and it so aptly seems to fit our Christian walk in what could be a very scary economic time in our nation: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these" ( Matthew 6:28,29).

Oops I’d better go – gonna make a blackberry cobbler!