I did not post last Wednesday as I felt I needed another week with my verses. Probably I needed the extra time because instead of choosing two verses I chose one verse and one longer passage. I’ve enjoyed committing these verses to memory, though.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
-Romans 8:1 (ESV)

This verse has been used generously in the book Thin Within, which I just finished going through. I’ll have to write a post about TW later. For now I’ll just comment on how wonderful it is that this verse has come “alive” to me. I knew that I was not condemned for my sins, Jesus paid the price, yadda yadda. But the verse had no personal meaning to me until TW brought it alive, and now I’ve memorized it along with its reference so I’ll always have it close to me! No condemnation. God is not angry with or disappointed in me. His grace, along with his forgiveness, flows unceasingly over me, even while I’m in the midst of doing wrong. He forgives and forgives, often the same offenses over and over and over. With an awareness of that kind of strength of love, it’s hard to continue in sin. It makes me want to change, to do better. It also takes away my need to beat myself up for mistakes. The price is paid, I’m already forgiven, and all God wants is for me to turn from my sins and press ever more into him instead.

“…He has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’
So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’
Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
-Hebrews 13:5b-8 (ESV)

The truth about the Lord is that he is unchanging. He isn’t here one day and gone the next, willing to help you and then  leaving you high and dry at another time. He is forever faithful, and he always has been, and he always will be. So for me this means I can trust him and have utter confidence in him. I’ve learned a lot recently about relying on God and his strength to get me through tough times (moments, weeks, or years). How do I know whether I’m acting on my own strength or on his? Well, have I asked him to strengthen me? Has he promised he’s there, never to abandon me? Then I can know he’s there, empowering me. I can know I’m not going at it all alone, and I can be sure that if I falter, he will hold me up.

What can anyone else do to me in light of that? I used the only associate this verse with physical things – such as the persecution Christ-followers faced a lot in Biblical times. I didn’t see how that applied to me because, seriously, who is trying to beat me up or put me in jail? These past two weeks, however, I’ve been thinking about this in terms to other kinds of affects people can have on me. Emotionally? Sometimes people cause me such pain that I lose heart, I feel like I can’t go on, and I want to run and hide in my bed and not have to face the day ahead of me.

But what can man do to me? How can their painful interactions even compare to the goodness of my God? No matter how hurt I am, he is with me! He never forsakes me. He is there, willing to help me through each trial, and this includes my emotional pain as well as any physical calamity that may come. People can’t crush my joy (maybe my happiness, but not my joy) when I’m standing firm in my God and his promises.

Who has spoken the Word of God to me? My mom, Grampa, pastors, youth leaders, Sunday school teachers, some friends… Thos who have taught me from the Bible – when I look at their lives, I see people who have confidence in God. Strong faith. I see them taking things to God in prayer rather than fretting. I see joy. I see patience and other fruits of the Spirit of God. I see contentment. So, the outcome of their way of life, their faith? I want that! Yes, I’m definitely ready and willing to try imitating THEIR faith if I can get that kind of abundant life from it. Bring it on!

I think this is one of my biggest struggles: to not only trust God with the direction of my life, but to be content and to thrive where he places me rather than just survive. It’s a struggle at all times, but it’s especially difficult during trials. Of course, most recently it has been difficult due to deployment.

I hate deployment! That’s understandable, right? My husband is gone, and not only absent from my every day life but placed in a dangerous situation! I have to miss him and fear for his safety, and most of the time I just want to go to sleep and wake up when it’s all over. I don’t want to live through this year of deployment, but I have to, so many times I have this mentality of needing to simply survive. Do what is necessary to make it through another day, and eventually it will all be over.

That’s okay. I mean, eventually I will have survived the year, Hubby will be back, and things can go back to normal. But I don’t think it’s what God wants from me.

Jeremiah 29: A Letter to the Exiles

God’s people had been carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon and were going to remain there in exile for 70 years. Of all the times to justify that survival mentality, you would think this would be a prime example. But God isn’t satisfied with that… God asks for more. I found this passage really speaks to me and where I am with this deployment… Here’s my paraphrasing:

This is what the Lord Almighty says to those He carried into deployment: “Make homes and settle down; plant gardens and work on other projects. Care for your family and friends. Don’t let yourself whither away. Seek peace and prosperity where I’ve placed you… When your time is completed, I will come to you and fulfill my good promises. For I know the plans I have for you; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. You will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me with your whole heart and find me, and I will gather you from the places where I have banished you, and bring you back.”

God wants his people to know that he can be worshipped outside of the holy land just as well as inside. He is God over Babylon (deployment) just as much as he is God over Jerusalem. As one commentary says, “Real hope for the people, according to Jeremiah, lay not in some immediate relief from social and communal death, but in living through that experience as faithful people, awaiting the Lord’s ‘future with hope’."

Biblical Encouragement

People are watching us, so let’s follow Jesus’ perfect example:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
-Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV)

Thrive, don’t just survive. Think on God and his goodness and all the good gifts he gives. Run with endurance, don’t let yourself whither. Keep praying and pursuing God. This is how you should live, regardless of where he’s placed you and whether or not you want to be there. This is how you get the most out of life and bring God the most pleasure.

Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.
-Phillipians 4:4-9 (The Message)

Thriving

I’m still working on it, but I’m getting better at ridding myself of that survival mentality. It’s about time, since we’re almost five months into this deployment! God is really trying to pound some lessons into me, I think…lol. And I feel like I’m finally ready to start learning rather than burying my head in the ground and waiting for it all to be over. I’m finally ready to hold up my chin and start facing things head-on, with His help. I don’t know if I’m really thriving yet, but I’m doing a little more than just surviving, so I guess that’s good.

Anyway, that’s what I’m working towards, and that’s how I want to go through the rest of this deployment. I want to do more than just survive. So there are my disjointed thoughts for the day.

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I’m glad that God is faithful to me. Without fail, he is always there for me, always loving me, always strengthening me. He will never leave me nor forsake me.

Our culture seems to lack faithfulness. In fact, our culture lacks all of the fruit of the Spirit. These fruit, or qualities, are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23), and there is a very good reason that we don’t find these qualities abounding in society. They aren’t human nature.

Culture

I’m expecting that by the time I have teenaged children, the divorce rate in America will be between 60-75%. The signs are everywhere that marriage is failing. Know what I see all the time in movies and other media? Aside from divorce, what I see is people questioning the very idea of marriage. They ask, “How can I really say I’ll love one person for the rest of my life? How can I promise to stay with one person forever?”

The thing is, people are rebelling against marriage because it’s not natural to them. We all need to have human companionship, but this idea of one man and one woman committing to each other for a lifetime and becoming one flesh is a Biblical thing. Maybe it has been a process. Throughout time, ever since the Fall, creation has been constantly degrading, and maybe things like the fruit of the Spirit will become more and more difficult to grasp the further we fall. I don’t know.

What I do know is that I fear for future generations. Christians need to continue to strive to bear good fruit and set examples for their children and friends!

Our Example and Our Reason

Jesus was both fully man and fully God, thus making him literally a perfect example of how to behave as a human being. For one thing, he was human and someone we can emulate. Secondly, he was God, so he did not fall short the way we will. We aren’t divine; none of us is perfect. But we do have a perfect example, and if we strive for perfection, we may achieve excellence.

Jesus was faithful to his family and friends as well as to God the Father. Even unto death.

“Faithfulness matters because it matters to God. Period. The longer I walk with the Lord and the more I fall in love with Him, the more I am convinced that the core characteristic that He is looking for in us is faith(fulness).”
-Why Faithfulness Matters – BeBroken.com

Living Loyally

As much as loyalty is highlighted as a virtue, it’s not always easy to be loyal. Still, it’s my goal to be known as a loyal person, with God’s help. I hope that my friends know that they can always count on me to stick by their sides and love them. I know my husband believes in me to always love and honor him. I pray that God continues to help me continually draw near to him and glorify him with my life.

But on a personal note, what I’m struggling with lately is believing in others’ loyalty to me. Sometimes it feels like friends are only friends as long as it’s convenient. People only seem to check up on you when you give them cause to worry, and people are only there for you if and only if you’re there for them. It’s a hard thing to deal with, but I must remind myself that faithfulness does not come naturally, even to me. I must remember that where humans fail, God never does. And I must continue striving to be faithful to my friends, not to earn their loyalty in return, but because God expects it of me. He expects me not to live a life that comes naturally, but rather to live a supernatural life, one that I can only live with his help.

I hope everyone had a good Father’s Day yesterday! I did, actually. I spent it with my step-father and mother, who were in town visiting for a few days. This made the first Father’s Day I’ve actually spent with him since they moved away from Texas.

My Father Figures

My mom remarried when I was thirteen, and in my mind, I was pretty much raised and practically full-grown. For years, John was my mother’s husband, but to me personally he wasn’t really anything. I noticed that Mom seemed to have a lot of time for him and not as much for me, so for some time I resented that. During my more rebellious times, there were decisions made by the two of them that I blamed fully on him rather than equally on him and my mom, and that made me resent him more.

But now I’m just grateful.

There was no one else in my life acting as the sort of father figure and male role model that I needed to see. John was more firm with me than my mother probably would have been, alone, and he had a right to be so! He cared about me from the time they got married, and I know now what I couldn’t always see, then – that he did so many things for me out of love, even though neither of us said “I love you” until sometime within the last few years. And now, as I’ve matured enough that he doesn’t have to try to keep me from hurting myself, I’m learning to enjoy our relationship even more. I’m so glad to have him!

My grandfather is the other father figure in my life. He took me to the parks when I was little and played Pocahontas with my friends and me in the woods. He taught me about birds, trees, and constellations. He was the one to teach me how to whistle through my hands in that way that sounds like a dove call, and he was the one so proud of the pig-latin-type language I made up as a child. My father wasn’t there to do those things with me, but Grampa was.

Now that I’m older, Grampa is still a special person in my life. He helped me get my first car and is always willing to step in at times when I need a father’s reassurance or advice. He was one of the key people whose approval I wanted when I was getting married. My husband and I long to spend more time with him and glean what wisdom we can from him.

My Dad

In many ways, my dad was less of a dad for me than the others. But I still honor him on Father’s Day. He isn’t perfect, but he’s my dad. God knew… everything that would happen in my life, and God still demands that I respect my parents.

When I was three, they divorced, and Dad moved away. But every summer when I was young, he was the one who paid to have me fly out to visit him. He taught me to fish, to bait a hook, to love the ocean. He taught me about a different kind of love between man and wife than I would have learned at home. He has taught me that you must make hard decisions in life and then live with the consequences. He has taught me that faith and perseverance can sustain you through many trials. And though he wasn’t here to get to know me and my husband, his sentiments during a phone call when I told him we were dating, and then engaged, were worth as much to me as my Grampa’s approval and John’s willingness to walk me down the aisle.

My Husband

My husband doesn’t get a father’s day card yet, but I’m so happy that he is the man who will be Dad and Father Figure to our children. From the good examples on his side of the family, Hubby has become someone I deeply respect. I have confidence in him to be a great father, and I’m excitedly anticipating the year that I can also give him a tribute!

Previous Fridays

Every Friday I try to post five reasons I love my husband!

1. I love your faith.

2. I love your adventurousness.

3. I love when you tell me I should take care of myself.

4. I love you when I hear our song.

5. I love that you’re reading the Wheel of Time books.

When it comes to Christianity, it seems that one of the biggest common assumptions is that we will no longer face trials. I don’t think many would admit to believing this, but when you watch the reactions Christians show to adversity, it becomes fairly clear that many of us still believe this somewhere in the back of our minds. The thought lingers there, maybe even subconsciously. But the fact is, it’s simply not true.

Purpose – Trials Will Come

God allows trials to come. There’s no question about that. The truth of the matter is that we don’t always know why trials are allowed to come into our lives. Some believe trials are mostly punishment for sin while others believe trials to be much more random than that. I subscribe to the belief – shared by many other Christians I know – that our trials are meant as lessons. Reading about the trials in the lives of people such as Job and Jesus’ disciples, I think this idea is pretty well supported. I know in my life I’ve faced trials that I was later able to see taught me about patience, trust, and love.

Praise: How to Face or Fail Our Trials

I have a note jotted down in my Bible at the beginning of the book of James. I don’t know anymore who taught the lesson that caused me to jot the note down, but I see it frequently and am grateful for whoever it was. The note in the margins I wrote says that we fail our trials by trusting the world’s solutions over God’s solutions. What this refers to, though, is which of those trusts we act on.

Say, for instance, I’m worried about a test in school. I’ve studied, but I know I don’t know the material well enough to pass, and I’m scared that I may fail the class if I don’t do well enough on the test. I think God’s solution would be to study, pray, and try my best, but the world may say that it’s okay to cheat. Which belief do I place my trust in by acting upon it? Say, for instance, I’ve gotten pregnant when I know I’m not ready to raise a child. The world almost unanimously tells me I have many options: I can keep the child, give it away, or abort it and remove the problem. God, however, clearly disapproves of murder. Whose solution do I trust? Say, for instance, I’m getting pulled over for a problem with the inspection sticker on my car. Understanding the importance God places on truth, I know I would be going against Him to tell the officer I was unaware of the problem to try and avoid a ticket, but will I trust the world’s solution over His?

Our trials can also be more than tests that span a single moment of decision. Sometimes our trials are on-going, day-to-day things that seem never-ending. The challenge then is simply choosing: do we face another day by complaining about the difficulties or by praising God for who He is? A friend of mine posted a link to an article about this very issue recently. It reminds us that when facing trials, God doesn’t ask us to be perfect; He asks us to praise. Do I believe that God is big enough? Do I show it by praising him, or do I show that my true faith is placed in myself by becoming discouraged?

Prepare

I don’t think that we should dwell on the probability of trials to come, living each day with a question in the back of our minds: What’s going to happen next? But I do think that we should prepare ourselves for the trials that will eventually come by simply being aware . I think we should practice praising God in the good times, and thanking Him for those times, while being aware that one day we will be praising him in the bad times, thanking him for still being who He is. I think we should also put on the whole armor of God, as it says in Ephesians chapter six, so that we face every day, trial or no, with His mighty power.

What Are You Facing?

I’m going through some trials at the moment. Some are private, but I can share one of the bigger ones. My husband is gone a lot! Most of last month, half of this month, all of at least one month this summer, and after that? Well, after that, he’ll either deploy or go off for training for a very long time. Facing this now, and anticipating the future, gets me down sometimes!

What are you facing in your life? I’d give you what encouragement I can, and I’d offer my prayers, if you want to share. If not, do you have any other thoughts about how to face our trials, or any comments on what I’ve already said?

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything… Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.”
- James 1:2-4, 12

(As a side note, I’ve been putting off this post for a long time, fearing my words wouldn’t do the subject justice. I’m glad to finally have written it, though.)