Category Archives: Life

To Count It All Joy is a Real Life-Change

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TRUST

I’m so thankful to have coasted through life without a major illness, broken bones or high blood pressure, or anything else. I’m never ill and instead of medications in the medicine cabinet there are vitamin supplements. I love to run and work out at the gym but now all of that has come to a screeching halt. I’ve not been able to pick up a thin brush to watercolor paint, nor able to sit at my desk in front of my computer because of excruciating nerve pain. It has not been easy to deal with this trial.

I understand that no one is exempt from difficulties and trials. The business you work for is downsized and suddenly you find yourself facing the trial of how to provide for your family when you are unemployed. We hope our children are given a pass from hardships, but they are not exempt from a serious illness or being bullied by a cruel kid at school. Every individual and family will have their share of trouble and stormy seasons to plod through.

Trials should be expected. But you don’t know where your heart will go until you’ve been hurled into a specific trial that will cause a life-change. This life-change can be one of bitterness and constant complaining or it can be a life-change of joy and perseverance that keeps you in the boat, steadily rowing against the headwind, perhaps exhausted but not without hope. (Mark 6:45-52) There are moments when we’re crying out, “Where is the grace of God?” and we’re getting it. But it’s not the grace of relief, and it’s not the grace of release. Largely, those are to come. We get them in pieces, but largely they’re to come, because what we need right now is the grace of refinement. We better become committed to teach, comfort, preach, and encourage one another. [1]

I’ve been close to losing hope and have the weight of depression over this unfortunate situation. I once wrote a post about being a “Mat Carrier”…the service of intercessory prayers, carrying my friends to Jesus when they can’t walk to him on their own. (You know the story in the bible of a lame man being carried on his mat by four good friends so that he could meet Jesus and be healed.) In my state of despair and weariness, I realized that I am like that lame man in need of help from my family and friends to carry me to God through prayer.

The faithful and consistent prayers of family and friends on my behalf has helped renew my strength to persevere, to be hopeful, to experience more grace from God to stay the course…to be steadfast with rowing, making headway painfully for the wind is against me. (Mark 6:45-52)

I would like to say that I’m a brave person, able to face any challenge, but I’m actually afraid to face the unknown. I’m frequently asked, “How are you doing?”  So, instead of saying that I feel awful, I answer with a brave response which I believe they would rather hear. I think being afraid and wanting to be brave all in the same heart-beat is quite normal. Being angry or sad and asking God, “Where is the grace?” is quite normal. “If you have a body, you are entitled to the full range of feelings. It comes with the package.” (Anne Lamott, Grace (eventually): Thoughts on Faith)

What isn’t normal for me (or perhaps for anyone) is to have my first response to a trial as the apostle James exhorts us to do in James 1:2: …”to count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds.” Contrary to the way many believers sometimes think and act, Christian joy does not mean that we ignore or deny the pain of suffering and grief. Nevertheless, suffering and grief can lead to joy, for trouble provides an opportunity for us to deepen our relationship with Christ and to learn how to walk more intimately with Him. [2]

And there’s the rub! Suffering and grief can lead to joy…there is an opportunity for us to deepen our relationship with Christ and to learn how to walk more intimately with Him. I must make the choice to pray to God for more grace to be able to count it all joy. My life-change is becoming a deeper story of knowing Jesus more intimately and holding on tight to the gospel of grace.

Sure, I’m asking God, “Why now?” and “How long will this continue?”  I don’t know the answers to those questions  but I do know that the key to rejoicing in suffering is to trust that God is good and is sovereign. I am asking God for a life-change of deeper faith, a faith that is not just something I do with my brain (head knowledge) but the way that I live my life. [1] I am not being forsaken. I am not being forgotten. I am being refined. I am loved.

A memory I have from my childhood home is seeing the phrase, “Count it all joy” written on index cards and taped to the fridge, or in the corner of a bathroom mirror or on the dashboard in our car. My mom would also write those words in perfect calligraphy, framed and displayed on our family room wall. My mom suffered through chronic pain and illness for most of her life. Those four words, count it all joy, reminded her that God is good and she will lack nothing. I once read that joy is the best makeup [3] and mom wore it well. Truly, I am depending on more grace from God to strengthen my faith before I can even begin to smear on joy.

The joy is not in the trial but in the work of the gospel transforming and changing my heart. God is giving me more grace, albeit an uncomfortable grace. I visualize myself in that row-boat with Jesus’ disciples, fighting the headwind and struggling to row through the storm.  And there Jesus is, walking on the water towards me.  “I AM” is here! The One on whom all the covenant promises rest. The One who’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. The One who created the world by spoken word. The One who holds it together by his power. The One who is sovereign over every experience I will ever be in. The “I Am” has invaded my life by his grace. [1] This testing of my faith will produce steadfastness and I will lack nothing.

Throughout life, our faith must grow. We start with a small faith, but as we live the Christian life our faith becomes stronger, enabling us to trust God more and more. As the disciples once did, so too must we ask God to increase our faith (Luke 17:5). This He will do by bringing us through various trials so that our faith will produce the steadfastness of perseverance, guaranteeing that our sanctification will be complete. [5]

I’ve been writing this blog post for a few weeks, already, taking a few quick moments here and there to type a few lines or to share a few quotes from authors and pastors that communicate my thoughts precisely. This trial is not over and is bound to change in time, in some way. What will never change, however, is God’s gift of grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. His grace is filling and satisfying my faith. God’s grace is enabling me to count it all joy. That’s a real life-change!

God will take you where you haven’t chosen to go in order to produce in you what you could not achieve on your own. ~Paul David Tripp
Count it all joy…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)

Footnotes

 [1] The Difference between Amazement and Faith |Faith is not just something you do with your brain; faith is the way that you live your life. | Paul David Tripp. [2] Counting It All Joy | Reformed Bible Studies & Devotionals at Ligonier.org.  [3] Anne Lamott  [4] Anne Lamott |Grace (eventually): Thoughts on Faith. [5] Trials of Various Kinds | R.C. Sproul

The Saturday Assortment #9

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The Saturday Assortment

The Saturday Assortment is a collection of unrelated and random things that I find interesting, challenging, motivating and sometimes quite out of the ordinary. It’s an assortment of meaningful things that caught my attention throughout the week.

Faith and Doubt. Doubt and Faith. Both are present in every believer. I recently shared with a group of friends that I have doubted God’s faithfulness to keep his promise. I have doubted his love for me and his sovereignty. I have doubted God’s word to be true.

I remember that time in my life as very challenging and very depressing, yet has now become the most significant nurturing and building blocks of faith in my life. I had to go to the source that I doubted to find the answers to why I doubted.

God is always faithful even when we are not faithful.  God demonstrates his patience by loving us more and to rescue us with more grace…even when we are not asking for more love and have no idea that we need rescuing from doubt…that’s more grace!

If you are struggling with doubt and faith as I have, the following posts will encourage your faith as you sift out the doubt.

1. I Believe in Doubt by Oz Guinness Just because we have a deep faith in God and in the scriptures, doesn’t mean that we will bypass a struggle with doubt and unbelief.  “Faith is much more than the absence of doubt, but to understand doubt is to have a key to a strong faith, a sound mind, and a quiet heart. Yet more confusions surround doubt than many Christian believers realize.” Here is the link to an article I read from Ligonier Ministries that is very helpful with understanding the good reasons for doubt and how our faith will be made stronger because of it.   http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/i-believe-in-doubt/

2. When Doubt Becomes Unbelief by Alister McGrath When does doubt become unbelief? Answer: When you let it. When you cling to unrealistic ideas about faith, when you get hopelessly preoccupied with the doubts that are a natural part of the Christian life, or when you fail to allow your faith to grow. These pitfalls can all be avoided. Don’t feel ashamed about your doubts. Talking them through with older and wiser Christians can be a vital safety valve which stops a head of doubting steam from building up—a head of steam which could eventually lead from normal doubt to the hopelessness of unbelief.    http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/when-doubt-becomes-unbelief/

Confia en Dios!

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“Confia en Dios!” I heard those words everyday by the sweet and resounding voices of children, exclaiming very loudly and heard on the streets beyond the concrete walls. I, too, repeated those words over and over again throughout the week. When I woke up in the morning and as I fell asleep at night. “Confia en Dios!”

Trust in God. Trust in God, no matter what.

I just returned from a fantastic week of adventure in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, MX. What a privilege it was to be at Iglesia Bethel (in the above photograph) and help with a basketball camp, VBS, and serve the community. It was the most fun I’ve had on a missions trip in a very long time. Actually, it’s been a very long time since I’ve gone on a missions trip!

My husband has been to Monterrey much more than I have. For years he has encouraged me to go and see how God is working in the communities through the church planting efforts that we are passionate about. I usually had a number of good reasons or excuses for not going, but at this particular time I felt called to go…the persistent thought to stop delaying the inevitable–just GO! After a lot of prayer and pushing aside the rush of anxiety about the unknown, I purchased a round trip flight to Monterrey, MX. Now I was definitely committed!

On the way to the airport, my husband asked what I hoped to learn and what I hoped to accomplish while there. I replied that I didn’t have expectations for accomplishing anything, however I did hope that God would accomplish something unique and extraordinary in me. I was going to see first hand how God has answered our prayers, to celebrate the growing ministry of Bethel in their community of Apodaca and to live in the midst of life-on-life ministry for a fast and furious week. I wanted to experience traveling with a group of people whom I hardly knew and to hang out with Mexicans that I’ve never met before and [attempt to] communicate with them when I don’t know Spanish.

I am humbled by the generosity of the family I lived with and the extraordinary gift of God’s grace that was evident every moment of the day. The adventure was fantastic…more than I ever imagined! I hope to return to Monterrey to see the smiling faces of my new friends, to sweat together while running around a park with children from the neighborhood, to break bread and commune in fellowship.

There is too much to unpack about the week in a few paragraphs here and I’m sure I will write about the lessons God taught me in the weeks to come.  And regarding “unpacking” stuff…my suitcase was full of items that I never used! I have a long list of, “What not to pack” (FYI: no need to bring a roll of toilet paper or a small personal fan!)

While there, I met Sam Ferrand, a photographer documenting the church planting efforts of Mission to the World in Monterrey, MX. I love how she writes about Monterrey, photographs the mountainous landscape, while capturing the essence of a neighborhood and the precious expressions of lovely people. Check out her blog here: Keep Calm and Drink Teaquilla!  http://samferrand.blogspot.mx

You may also enjoy reading these posts I wrote about preparing for this trip:

Imagine the Adventure!   https://donnaharris.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/imagine-the-adventure/

A Simple Devotional About More: https://donnaharris.wordpress.com/2013/07/02/a-simple-devotional-about-more/

To Be Present: https://donnaharris.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/to-be-present/

Here are a few photos from the week:

An Unexpected Reunion that Rekindled A Promise

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40th reunion

I just got back from a great weekend celebrating a 40th high school reunion. It was fun to listen to everyone talk about the crazy times they had together and allowing us a glimpse into their life stories since graduation…try to pack in 40 years of life stories in a few hours! You hear the best and worst…the stories that possibly had the biggest impact in their life. I enjoyed observing the camaraderie and friendships renewed. The laughter was contagious.  I was glad to be a part of the reunion, even if it was not my own.

It’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever experience my own high school reunion. It’s unlikely because I attended three different high schools within a span of four years. I wonder if there are other people who fall into the “three-high-schools-in-four-years” category.

There is a good reason for attending different schools…we lived in a particular school district for freshman and sophomore years; in my junior year, segregation laws required that I attend a school on the other side of the city; and my father took a new job out-of-state at the beginning of my senior year.

If I had a choice, out of the three high schools to attend a reunion, I would choose the one that holds the fondest memories…freshman and sophomore years. My junior year was a brutal race to survive–I couldn’t wait for the year to end…it was a rough experience for a good many students.  At the end of my senior year, I remember standing in  line, alphabetical order, with people (that I didn’t know) with last names that began with the same letter as mine. I recall introducing myself to them before we walked onto the stage to receive our diplomas, but quickly forgot their names after throwing my cap in the air. I was relieved to get in my car and drive away from high school.

The memories of my high school years are a compilation of bliss and anxiety. Whatever joys or hardships that I experienced during those years of change, helped to shape and define my character and to mold a resolute will to stay the course. I can’t take for granted that God is the author of my story. What I didn’t know then, but do know now is that God was faithfully rescuing me with his generous grace. I wouldn’t trade my life with anyone else.

The best part about moving to a new city at the beginning of my senior year was meeting my future husband…that would take me to his 40th high school reunion one day! Honestly, I never expected this and for certain, my husband’s 40th high school reunion has never been written on my bucket list, but there it is checked off anyway.

While reunions are a lot of work to plan for a short-lived experience, it can leave a positive impact on those that made the effort to come. Besides making new contacts for business and new Facebook friends or following someone new on Twitter, this reunion unearthed many of the early memories my husband and I have of meeting each other as teenagers and eventually making a promise to one another that hasn’t been broken in almost 40 years.

We arrived together at this reunion with a lot of memories from the past but we left with a rekindled promise, a commitment to each other. We have been married all our lives, but not long enough.

My husband commented about a 50th reunion in the future. My answer to that was, “No thank you, we’re going on a cruise!”

Addendum: After my husband read this post, he said that he couldn’t believe I would choose a cruise over a 50th reunion. So, we’ll do both…especially when I just found out from reading a Facebook comment that I’ll always be a part of their reunion, an honorary “Wildcat!”  (Thanks, Sally!)

 

 

 

Beautiful

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Our day on the lake…just the two of us

Yogurt and strawberries, warm coffee with cream, a morning walk

Sitting on the deck, watching fisherman, reading the bible

A quiet cove, dropping the anchor, reading a book

Floating in still water, talking quietly, smiling

Cold drinks, pulled pork sandwich, ice cream

Sunburn, sunscreen, speeding fast across the water

Our day, on the lake, just the two of us

Beautiful!

Linking up with everyone for Five Minute Friday, where a remarkably encouraging and loving  community gathers to write for five minutes. This week’s prompt is: BEAUTIFUL.

A Forever Season of God’s Faithfulness

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Forever Faithful Seasons of Life

Life is a lot like the weather…it’s seasonal. It has a way of pushing us into the next season whether we like it or not.  And the seasons are constantly changing in our home.

Little ones are growing quickly and want a new adventure to experience everyday while our white-haired loved ones do not want anymore adventures…they just want to tell us about the wild ones they had as young adults and the often challenging seasons of life they experienced years gone by. We have experienced loss, brokenness and desperate grief and yet have celebrated the total opposite of all that.

Regardless of your season in life, you can count on God’s faithfulness. God’s faithfulness is a constant in a season of change.

The word faithful can be illustrated by the image of the strong arms of a father that uphold and protect his helpless child. When the word faithful is used with regard to God, it means that He is worthy of absolute trust, and that we can depend upon Him without doubt or reservation. It is important to understand that God is faithful, not because He does everything we want, but because He does everything that He has promised. [1]

The following are ways you can depend on God’s forever season of faithfulness:

A. The character of faithfulness is ascribed to God:

  1. Deuteronomy 7:9 The faithfulness of God keeps covenant and steadfast love…
  2. Deuteronomy 32:4 The God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright…
  3. Hosea 11:12 The Holy One who is faithful…
  4. I Peter 4:19 The faithful creator

B. God is faithful to do all that he has promised:

  1. Psalm 135:5-7 Whatever the Lord pleases, he does…
  2. Isaiah 14:27 For the Lord has purposed…who will annul it?
  3. Ephesians 1:11 We have obtained an inheritance…
  4. Isaiah 54:10 My steadfast love shall not depart from you…

C. Not one word of all the words that God has spoken has failed:

  1. Joshua 23:14 …not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised…
  2. I Kings 8:56 …not one word has failed of all his good promise…
  3. Isaiah 40:8 …the word of God will stand forever.

D. We can trust God to be forever faithful:

  1. 1 Thessalonians 5:24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
  2. 2 Timothy 2:13 …if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
  3. Deuteronomy 7:9  Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.
  4. 1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

There are seasons in the lives of all when it is not easy to believe that God is faithful. However, remember this: “Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.” Psalm 36:5

We can look upwards to the stars of night, and see the “faithfulness” of God “established” in the material heavens. Our unfaithfulness to trust never alters the faithfulness of God. [2]

“I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” Psalm 4:8

How are you experiencing God’s faithfulness in your season of life? 

Footnotes

[1] The One True God, Paul Washer │[2] The Faithfulness of God, John Macduff

Help others and Help Yourself

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Help Others--Help Yourself

Somebody once made the observation that the person who is wrapped up entirely in himself makes a very small package–and the package contains an unhappy person. Think about this: Have you ever known a genuinely happy, self-centered person?

Research indicates that those who consistently (help) show kindness to other people experience less depression, greater calm, fewer pains and better health. They may even live longer. Students who performed five acts of kindness a day increased their happiness and providing emotional support to others significantly decreased the harmful health effects of certain kinds of stress. [1]

Everyone knows the story of the Good Samaritan. It’s about being helpful and showing kindness to other people.  As Luke records it, Jesus told this parable in the context of a teacher of the law who, “wanting to justify himself,” asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus confounds him by suggesting that God requires us to love our “neighbors” in a way that transcends ethnic boundaries. [2] (Luke 10:25-37) Sadly, we often fail to meet Jesus’ ideal of neighbor love.

“If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.”  Philippians 2:3-4 (The Message) [3]

When helping people, find out what’s actually valuable to them. Make an effort to ask them where they need help, and keep that in mind when you see an opportunity. And there are many opportunities to help others. Just don’t make it all about you.

The more you make helping others all about you, the more disappointed, dry and weary you’ll become. And the more you understand that this is about Jesus, and his kingdom, and his crown, and his glory, the more freed up you are to help others.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 1 John 3:16-20 (NIV)

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4 (ESV)

Footnotes

1] liveyourlifewell.org │[2] [843 Acres] The Park Forum│[3] Philippians 2:3-4, The Message │  Photo Credit: sweetmusingsfromthecove.wordpress.com

 You may like this: HelpOthers.org — kindness is contagious. Welcome to a portal dedicated to small acts of kindness.

A Stumble and a Bumble

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Stumble and Bumble
She pulls open the bottom drawer of the dresser and searches for the “colorful bathing suit” to put on. The black and white swim suit will not do. It must be the colorful one. “Let’s go to the pool, Gigi!” Already at three years of age, she talks about being on a swim team one day.

Out the door she bounds…walking too fast, slightly unsteady on the top step. Down she goes! Thankfully there are only two wooden steps to stumble and bumble over, plus there was a thick carpet remnant on the concrete floor of the garage, a cushion for her forehead and nose. After a good cry, lots of hugs and comforting, I prayed with her and thanked God that she wasn’t hurt badly and especially for that cushion of carpet. While driving to the pool,  she said, “Gigi, I did a stumble and a bumble but I’m okay.”

Don’t we all stumble and bumble! And we all want to be okay.  We stumble with anger, anxiety, envy, resentment, self-pity, disgust, or frustration. We bumble through discouragement, lust, irritability, impatience, hard-heartedness, brusqueness, unkindness, or withdrawnness. [1] We hope for a cushion of carpet to break our fall.

And you know…we can be more than, “Okay.”

This is what we must do. We must read and know and think and believe that it is trusting in the blood of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to cover the stumbling and conquer the bumbling. This is the only way we will be more than okay.

I read the book of Jude today. It’s not long…just 25 verses. Here is verse 24:

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.

How awesome is that?  One day I will stop stumbling and bumbling…but not today. John Piper is wise when he wrote, “Whether you are in your twenties or sixties, you probably have some long-standing heart-responses you don’t like. These are like reflexes. You don’t choose them. They spring up unintentionally from your heart, usually in response to the people around you. When any one of these attitudes springs up unbidden, you hate it. You have fought it for years with gospel-faithfulness, trusting in the blood of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to cover it and conquer it. Still it returns. You weep over it, and ask your closest friends to pray for you. There is a short season of reprieve. And there it is again stamping you. Telling you: This is who you are. You say no. In Christ, this is not who I am. His stamp is on my life. True. But O you would be done with this! O to be new, through and through!” [2]

So the key is not to give up. I’m sure God has reasons for why he allows us to fight so long, but he never intends us to give up on Scripture. [1]  Don’t give up when you stumble and bumble.

God’s designs are to bring a surprising verse into your heart in a surprising moment in a surprising situation and do a surprising work of transformation. [2]

Expect a “cushion of carpet!” God’s word is there to break your fall.

Footnotes

[1] See 2 Timothy 3:16-17 │ [2] Is There a Key to Godliness? by John Piper