Ever Changing...

But they will not change; 

       they do not fear God. ~ Psalm 55:19b NCV

I really knew how to enjoy change when I was younger. Not only did I accept change ...but I often desired it. Now, however... it seems I have to not only work at my acceptance of change, but I also have to be deliberate in desiring it! 

Here’s what I mean...

When I was a young girl I enjoyed the change in my growing height as my dad would measure me against the doorway post with the mark of his pen. 

Now...the nurse at the doctor’s office measures the change of my lowering height on my health chart with the mark of her pen.

When I was young, I enjoyed the change in my age at each birthday celebration and the new privileges that came with each one. 

Now... each birthday seems to add another age required health exam of some sort. Instead of  fond privileges of youth...I’m now closer to entitlements for the aged!

As a school girl I enjoyed changing out my closet of clothes that no longer fit and replace them with something new and perhaps more stylish.           

Now...I stare at my closet full of stylish and new clothes and resent the change in my size that has me in need of buying something new that fits!

And... I enjoyed the changing seasons a lot more when I was younger.  Each one delighted and invited me to experience some wondrous activity that could only be enjoyed in it’s unique design. Whether the day was hot or the leaves had fallen or the snow was packed high or the blossoms were blooming I enjoyed each one. 

Now...The change in seasons I most enjoy are warm to hot. I’m resistant to any change in the climate that doesn’t involves these two elements alone. (Ok...maybe this one has been a resistance to change a lot longer than recently!).

In my younger adult years...I enjoyed being single and the career that had me flying to all sorts of different places...but then I loved the change that came into my life when I married. 

Now..I travel less often and the change from married to widowed...well...that is a change I resisted the hardest.

All of our experiences bring change. None of us can honestly say we are the same person we were as a child, or even as recent as a year ago. Our bodies are changing...and so too our minds and our hearts. Our habits change as do our personalities change from the experiences this life brings. Even relationships we cherish go through changes as well. With all this change going on around us and in us...we need to be aware that we do have a choice to make in how we accept these changes and also the direction our choice leads us towards...

"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ..." ~ 2 Peter 3:18 NIV

Although I may briefly resisted a change in my circumstances or even a change in the way I am feeling...I am thankful that my desire to love God is greater than my desire to remain unchanged by Him!

 For it is true that our choosing to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” reflects our love for God... because those who love Him are changing every day! Don't be afraid to make some changes in your life that God is guiding you to make, and don't be afraid to let Christ change you from within. As we surrender (change) our will to God’s...we're being transformed into the image of Jesus. 

All of us are looking with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror. We are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." ~ 2 Corinthians 3:18 CEB

No matter what stage of life you are in right now...God doesn’t desire to leave you unchanged! Trust God in all the changes of this life. By faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior...”we are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to the next...”     

Now that’s a change I can really rejoice in!

 Kathy 

Unlimited Power

The LORD said..., “Is the LORD’S power limited? Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or not.” Numbers 11:23 (NASB)   

Who of God’s children has ever found the riches of God’s grace to evaporate in the heat of a fiery need? Which of his children has ever had to mourn that the unsearchable riches of Christ has failed to supply his or her need?  Amazingly, when it comes to our plea for God’s grace, the unanimous verdict is that God’s Grace is more than enough...He is still Almighty and that He fulfills all his promises!                                                                                       

What can there be in our thoughts or carried in our hearts that should lead us or any of his creatures to say,“Is the Lord’s power limited?”  How is it, that God should ever ask such a question of us? Of all God has created there is only one creature that God made that has ever doubted him. 

It's not the angels... for the angels of God never doubt him, nor do the devils either:devils believe and tremble!  

The little birds do not doubt God;  ...“Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest, they don't have storerooms or barns...”.Yet they sweetly sing at night as they go to their nest, not knowing where tomorrow’s meal will be found. 

Yikes! Talk about stubborn. We even read in 2 Peter 2:16  about a donkey’s trust in God; "But a donkey corrected him for the wrong he did. Animals don't speak. But the donkey spoke with a human voice. It tried to stop the prophet from doing a very dumb thing". Man is good at taming and training animals (James 3:7) but they have a thing or two to teach him about God. (2 Peter 2:15-16; Luke 12:24)

Yet, here it is in mankind, the most favored of all God’s creatures, whom it is found to mistrust God. Our doubting the power and faithfulness of Jehovah, began long ago with the rebellion in the Garden with Adam, and it continues today. Out of all the beings that God has ever fashioned, it’s important that we understand that we dishonor the Lord by unbelief, and we tarnish his honor by mistrust. 

Yes...Praise God! The Lord still loves us when we worry and when we doubt...He understands our weaknesses and He is compassionate. He forgives. However...when I allow worry to dominate my thoughts, when I live in doubt of God’s goodness because life seems to be throwing too much “bad” my way...I need to know...I want to know... how my doubts and worry affect the Heart of God, because I love Him too. 

So, how do we overcome our mistrust and doubts? Pray...ask God to help you overcome your unbelief!  

And then rest and trust in your belief of God and who He says He is. He is faithful and He keeps His promises...His Power has no limit.

Glory!

Kathy

Faithful Love

When reading and studying God's Word, I will often look up the Scripture I am reading in different translations. This method has helped me greatly in grasping more clearly the heart of God as I pray for Him to, "Open my eyes that I may see the wonderful things in your law"(Psalms 119:18). As I read Hosea 6:6 this morning I felt that I had been invited in to see the heart of God as I clearly heard Him speak to my heart saying...

 “I want faithful love 

      more than I want animal sacrifices. 

   I want people to know me 

      more than I want burnt offerings.” - Hosea 6:6 NCV (Italics mine)

I think we can all relate to having the desire for a “faithful love". Who doesn’t want that? I can not imagine even one person on this earth saying they would be content with a spouse, friend or family member who only promises to love them unfaithfully! 

I also feel certain each one of us has a great inner need to be known by those we love and who love us...an intimate kind of knowing that reveals our faithful love is accepted fully through their understanding of who we really are.

So,I do not find it all that strange for God who created us and is faithful always to love us, actually desires for us to give Him our faithful love in return. How revealing is the heart of God in just this one verse that was spoken to His prophet Hosea to proclaim. God wants to be known by me and all His people. Through our understanding of His love and faithfulness, we discover that just like us...God doesn't want a gift that camouflages unfaithfulness or words and deeds that deceive our true feelings. No... The One who created us gave us a heart like His...and our hearts know...you can't buy faithful love. 

Dear friends, we should love each other, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has become God's child and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love to us: He sent his one and only Son into the world so that we could have life through him. This is what real love is: It is not our love for God; it is God's love for us. He sent his Son to die in our place to take away our sins. 1 John 4:7-10

Glory!

Kathy

Fiery Furnace of Affliction

It seems that in the past year, an extraordinarily high number of people I come into contact with, have a loved one experiencing cancer or some other life-threatening disease. The deadly diseases of this world have no regard for the age of it’s recipient, or whether they believe in God or not. No, sadly the affliction of cancer and it’s deadly cousins, do not care for whom they harm or kill...they just strike out and hope to destroy not only their victim...but also to inflict great pain into the lives of those who love them. Although these deadly afflictions care not whom they touch...God cares. 

I am currently in the first weeks of an in-depth Bible study by Beth Moore on the Book of Daniel. It was after one of her lesson, concerning when people of God face a fiery trial, that I wrote to a friend in Christ, whose young son is battling a life-threatening health issue. He doesn’t have cancer...but the threats to his well-being are serious. A portion of what I shared with my friend came from what I learned from Beth’s teachings. Most comes  from what God has given to me as insight for understanding from my own experience of having gone through a “fiery trial of affliction” along side my husband.

I would like to share with you an edited portion of what I wrote to my friend...for I feel certain that some who are reading this, are either currently going through a fiery trial, or will be called to experience one in the future. 

"Dear friends, don’t be surprised about the fiery trials that have come among you to test you. These are not strange happenings."                       ~ 1 Peter 4:12 CEB

I wrote...

“Sometimes I think people assume that God has "chosen" only His "warrior" children to go through the type of affliction you and your family are going through. But I don't believe that for one minute. I would not have counted me in that category, that’s for sure, when Brad was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer! Yet, I often heard people say to me how "strong in faith I was".  Not unlike you and Karen right now...I also found my strength in faith came from my firm belief that God is always with me and He alone can deliver me (us). This kind of faith I think, is not really so uncommon to most followers of Christ....but perhaps it has just not been tested in the same manner as we have been tested.

No one, regardless of their strength of faith would think to ask or ever choose to step into the furnace of afflictions...why, even Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were tied up and thrown in!  Yet...it was their faith that allowed them to face the fiery furness rather than turn and run from their belief in God's love and deliverance...no matter what the result of their faith would bring upon them. They were willing to allow God to take the responsibility for their lives and for what would happen to their earthly being. They  were trusting that God would deliver them safely either on this side of death or into His Presence. 

What splendid security is found in this kind of faith! I searched for security all my life...in the people I loved...the jobs I worked..the money I saved... And yet, it was through a fiery furnace of affliction that I found it. In Jesus alone. Accepting Jesus's love for me as ‘more than enough’ is where my search for security ended in finding this treasure... for it is in that truth, my security can never to be taken, lost, or stolen from me again. Glory!

I pray you and Karen continue to feel the love and prayers of all who would do everything possible to keep you from going through this trial if we could. If we so flawed a friend feel this way about you... how much more God does! The good thing about God loving you more than family and friends, is He also has the power and strength and determination to walk through this fiery trial with you and refine your faith like gold... never to leave any doubt that you are His...allowing you to shine so that His glory is seen by others in you! 

Please know...I continue to pray for your blazing furnace of affliction to be opened very soon and for you to hear our King shout; "Toby, Karen, Sawyer...come out! Servants of the Most High God,come here!” (Daniel 3:26). 

I pray that like our friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that the fire of affliction will result with you finding no harm has been accomplished to your bodies and that the fire did not burn you or leave you smelling of it's smoke! May only the precious fragrance of the Rose of Sharon who was always right there in the furnace with you, be the only smell left upon you all forever and always." ~ Kathy

I pray that these personal words of love and encouragement that the Lord gave me to share with a friend also touches your heart and encourages you as well. Perhaps, you too are going through a blazing furnace of affliction right now. I pray that what I have shared here may help to encourage you to trust this truth as well...                                                                          

What touches God’s children ~ touches God! 

“...Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 NIV

In His Grace,

Kathy 

Worship in Heaven...Isn't Boring!

When you imagine Heaven...do you experience even a tinge of an inward cringing at the thought of spending eternity crowding among other believers in a boring worship service? 

Well, if you do, be assured those feelings are not from God but just another illusion designed by the devil. We will be worshiping in Heaven...but it will not be boring! Our worship there will be exhilarating!

     Give to the LORD the glory due His name;

      Bring an offering, and come before Him.
      Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness!

 30 Tremble before Him, all the earth.
      The world also is firmly established,
      It shall not be moved.

 31 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
      And let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns.”

 32 Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;
      Let the field rejoice, and all that is in it.

 33 Then the trees of the woods shall rejoice before the LORD,
      For He is coming to judge the earth.

 34 Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
      For His mercy endures forever. ~1 Chronicles 16:29-34 (NKJV)

We will delight to worship God!

We’ll never lose our fascination for God as we get to know him better. The thrill of knowing him will never subside. To imagine that worshiping God could get boring is to impose on Heaven our bad experiences of so-called worship. Satan is determined to make church boring, and when it is, we assume Heaven will be also. But church can be exciting, and worship exhilarating. That’s what it will be in Heaven. We will see God and understand why the angels and other living creatures delight to worship him.       ~Randy Alcorn 

Theologian Sam Storms writes, “We will constantly be more amazed with God, more in love with God, and thus ever more relishing his presence and our relationship with him. Our experience of God will never reach it’s consummation...It will deepen and develop, intensify and amplify, unfold and increase, broaden and ballon.”

Christ desire for us to see his glory should touch us deeply. What an unexpected compliment that the Creator of the universe has gone to such great lengths, at such sacrifice, to prepare a place for us where we can behold and participate in his glory. 

Will we ever tire of praising Him? Augustine writes, “As there is nothing greater or better than God himself, God has promised us himself. God shall be the end of all our desires, who will be seen without end, loved without cloy, and praised without weariness.”

Glory!

“Look! God’s dwelling is here with humankind. He will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples. God himself will be with them as their God. 
~ Revelation 21:3 CEB


Glory! 
Kathy 

Destination Known

I love to travel! I firmly believe that God Himself placed this desire inside of me and then blessed me by giving me a career as a flight attendant to explore and enjoy numerous places and its people. Not only did I go to places I desired to visit...but I also experienced (and enjoyed) places I would never have thought to go visit, if not for my flight schedule which took me there! 

Regardless if my destination was one I had on my “desire” list or was on the company’s list for scheduled over-nights...I most often looked forward to exploring or discovering something new about each place. One of the great benefits of being a flight attendant was being able to return to a favorite destination repeatedly and either explore it in a new way or relax in the familiarity of it.

My love for travel has not been limited to my life as a flight attendant, thank goodness! I have since retired and continue to enjoy the adventure of traveling to places I have never seen before... or revisiting a place as familiar as an old friend, yet still holding a few secrets I long to discover. 

Perhaps like me, you plan your vacation trips by researching what you can expect to see and perhaps imagine what you will do while there. Even plans to revisit a familiar place will have you “googling” for ideas and events or areas nearby to visit. This kind of research always heightens my excitement and increases my anticipation for what I will see and find to do.

When anticipating my next travel destination, not only do my thoughts travel... but I will be found talking often about them as well. I will talk with excitement in my voice and I will share how wonderful and beautiful this chosen place is! Because of my excitement, the one who is listening to the details and descriptions usually ‘catches’ a portion of my desire to be there too. I have to admit, when I have finally put on my calendar that long awaited trip to a place I’ve desired greatly to see and experience...I spend time every day thinking and dreaming about the different aspects of my adventure... beginning with the day I will arrive! 

Soooo....I can’t help but find it interesting that for someone like me who enjoys the anticipation of an exciting travel destination almost as much as the trip itself...that I have spent so little time in researching and exploring what Heaven will be like. After all, Heaven is the most exciting future destination I have waiting for me!

So, I have decided to change that. Beginning this year I have immersed myself in reading and exploring books and sermons about Heaven. I desire to have greater wisdom and understanding and to increase my excitement about where I will one day live! What joy this pursuit has brought me!  

Perhaps the reason so many Christians are not heartfelt excited about Heaven is because they only think of Heaven in the abstract like I once did. You know... like the ending of a love story that closes with the thought or words: “They lived happily ever after...”  When we hear about Heaven...do we think about it in an abstract form and remain unable to envision what being “happy ever after” in Heaven will look and feels like?  For some...perhaps they even fear that Heaven might be boring...at least compared to what we know here. Or... that we will lose the wonderful and fulfilling relationships we share with our loved one here.

I strongly encourage you to join me in reading books about Heaven. Ponder, explore, and reflect on what great biblical teachers and scholars and Christian writers have to say about Heaven. God through His Word reveals to our hearts and minds many of His wonderful promises and gives us beautiful descriptions of what Heaven will be like. 

I have a new excitement of how we will relate to each other in the New Heaven and New Earth... The things we will see and the things we will do. Our abundant God who has given us such beauty here on earth...who has given us such diverse interest and talents and people to love... Would this abundant God give us less in Heaven? Would our abundant Father remove all our passions and desires and enjoyment in seeing and exploring life? Are these things only for our earthy pleasure? No... God does not give us a “boring” beauty in Heaven...one we will grow tired of seeing. Heaven will hold many hidden treasures to discover ~ explore ~ and experience. We will also have emotions that fill us with joy and laughter and excitment. Our hearts will know the purest of love...and we will feel its power pulse through our whole being! 

 Yes... I am immersing myself in thoughts and prayers about Heaven...and in doing so I have discovered a heightened sense of anticipation for heaven in me!  Glory! I love anticipating my final destination...It will be the Destination of a lifetime! Will you join me? I would love to be there with you....

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,

   “No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
      and no mind has imagined
   what God has prepared
      for those who love him.”

But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.                                     ~ 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 NLT

Glory!

Kathy 

Cancer... Godly Optimism

Cancer... It turned my life upside down and inside out.  I often found myself on a roller coaster of hope and fear during Brad’s illness. One test delivering hope...the next...filling me with fear. 

I eventually became very aware that my confidence on any given day (or portion of ) was likely tied to what I fixed my understanding upon. I found myself repeatedly asking; “Am I looking for assurance and relief from my struggles from my understanding of what the doctors are telling me or in what God has promised me?”

“Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.”   ~  Matthew 11:28 CEB

I was blessed to have my husband Brad, whose faith encouraged my own in our struggle over  God’s Providence. I strained so hard to hear and I failed to understand the things God was revealing in the midst of it...yet Brad seemed to understand His every word. When Brad would attempt to describe it to me...his words strangely became a language I could not decipher fully it’s meaning... But just the same I felt eager to know it too. I think God had given Brad some holy “One on one” time as a precious gift for what was happening and for what was to come. Although I may not have grasped a clear understanding of what God was doing...I found some comfort in knowing that Brad was at rest in it. But I wanted...I needed more...

So...I went to the only source I felt certain God could “break through” my deafness and feelings of defeat... His Word.  It was there I found a very clear message that God was not forsaking me and He had not abandoned His post over mine and Brad’s life by allowing cancer to enter our lives. As hard as it was for me at times to accept... I knew that God is the one who had allowed this disease into Brad’s body. I also knew, it is God who will either defeat the cancer or call Brad home by it’s effects. 

For me, there was never going to be a “good time” for Brad to leave me ‘behind’...but I knew that whether the Lord gave us many more years together or took Brad “too soon”, that God would work this out for our good. Brad often said he was in a “win - win” situation. Brad was eager to remain here and enjoy more years with his loving wife and continue serving the Lord here on earth. Yet, if God called him home...Brad often pondered the day he would be with Jesus and see his Savior face to face.  

I remain to this day unable to answer why God allowed Brad to die from such a wretched disease...but I feel confident that Brad’s death which was ‘too soon’ for all of us who loved him was not one moment early or one second late according to God’s Providence for Brad’s life here on earth.

In this precious understanding...I have been given peace. In God’s grace, I continue my desire to seek Him more and more; and in my search, perhaps I too will discover what God revealed to Brad when I sought so hard to understand His Providence in the calamities of cancer which changed my life forever.

Although there was a brief time I doubted God’s goodness, I can proclaim with great certainty now, that the adversity of cancer and Brad’s death by it..our God remains faithful and He is good. 

When Brad was diagnosed with cancer, I prayed for healing. Countless were the prayers from our family and friends, even people we didn’t know, for God to make him well. Yet, woven into each prayer I made for healing I found myself praying perhaps what I see now as a ‘better’ prayer. I often prayed that I would be the wife Brad needed me to be in all circumstances...to be faithful and trustworthy ... compassionate and giving. I prayed to be ‘strong’ so as not be worrisome to him, and I prayed to bring my husband laughter, contentment...and joy. 

I also prayed asking God to help me to trust Him. Although I wanted Him to see that keeping Brad here with me would be better for the whole world and not just me...I also wanted God to increase my faith and help me to believe that it really was less important that God see things ‘my way’ or for “God to believe me”and more important that I believe God and His promises. 

You have searched me, LORD,
   and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
   you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
   you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
   you, LORD, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
   and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
   too lofty for me to attain.

 7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
   Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
   if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
   your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
   and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
   the night will shine like the day,
   for darkness is as light to you.

 13 For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be. (emphasis mine)  ~ Psalms 139:1-16  

Nothing that touches our lives can make the number of our days here on earth last one day later or have us leave our earthly dwellings one day earlier. Cancer cannot determine when we will go home. Only our Father can.

“They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.”    ~ Revelations 22:4 CEB

Glory!

Kathy