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Saturday, December 8, 2012

Peace - Unveiled!



      Sometimes things just get…complicated. We wrestle to be free, like the proverbial fly caught in the spider web. (Eww… I just compared myself to a fly… why couldn’t it be a butterfly?) When we finally give up, or are about to…and sit still long enough, we realize it was hopeless all along, and only one thing can save us: Calling out to God.

     ‘How can I be so stupid?’ I momentarily muse; then remember quickly that my adversary has great skill at this, and can use 14-year old boys of small stature to bring down giants as much as God can.
     “Why do I hate enforcing rules?” I asked my wise and wonderful daughter last night. It was a bit rhetorical; I just wanted her to know that I recognize my fault, my struggling and striving and failing.

     “Because you hate having to HAVE rules, and so do I.” That’s pretty much the story. I’m not a rule follower; I keep in my heart what is right and true and endeavor to live in that relationship of Love. I just don’t understand why anyone would think there is any other way worth living. So, there it is: reasoning with the unreasonable. Light dawns: Some folks just want to do wrong and get away with it. For them, it’s a game to see how much they can get. And when someone is yielding to that, there is no reasoning. Trying to do so sucks you right into the web and they sit there smiling smugly at you thinking they have won. 

     So, God reveals I had already set the bar and somehow he slipped under it all the time. And such great peace follows! I am free! Free of the pondering and wondering and struggling! Free to think and ponder the other things God now wants to reveal:

     Things like going to the big Christmas ‘production’ and never once feeling a tinge of wishing and hoping that I was part of it...Things like the assurance that I chose the right path...Things like (do I dare say it?) learning to play the guitar and maybe even the keyboard, and sing God’s songs in the simplest, purest way possible! These marvelous thoughts reveal things I once considered impossible, as if a veil has been removed.

     Some might call it God’s timing, but I see it as the wonderous work of being brought from faith to faith and glory to glory … of being able to yield, more and more, through the circumstances of my life, to the God who makes Himself real and worthy of my love and devotion, day by day.
“So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord--who is the Spirit--makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. (2 Cor. 3:18 NLT)

     So, on this kick-back Saturday morning as I give quiet time to the Creator who lives in me, I am so grateful for the things he has taught me and brought me through. I am grateful for His skill at untangling webs and cutting me loose once more! I am grateful for the peace of ‘nothing missing, nothing broken,’ that passes understanding, and I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Christmas is here!


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Well, it really is beginning to feel like Christmas and I'm loving it! It took a few hours today to get a box ready to ship to Namibia, while playing Christmas music from Women of Substance Radio (via live 365). I'm so blessed that they selected 'Rock of Ages Lullaby' to play. It really is going around the world.

Earlier this morning, I wrote a new communion song for believers, and while I was folding laundry (of all things), I began following an inspiration for a new Christmas song!
    
I knew I was due for a breakthrough, because the enemy was fighting a fierce battle this week. In fact, Thursday was such a ridiculous mess, it was laughable! Was it easy? Oh my, no! But every victory of faith makes me stronger!

This evening, Gary and I went to our favorite local family restaurant, where he made arrangements for his CAP Christmas dinner. Then he went to shoot a football game while I came back home to work on this card. He arrived home just as I was finishing it to give his approval. And while he was working on his photos of the game, we shared a tear or two over the ending of "It's A Wonderful Life." I guess you could say we feel very rich!

 I hope your Christmas season is richly blessed with the favor of Christ who came to earth to live in us! Take Him in this Christmas!