Tag Archives: Jesus

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The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

 

And the peace of God,  which transcends all understanding,

will guard your hearts in Christ Jesus.

-Philippians 4:6-7

Pictured above is my niece Jessica.  She and her husband Jacob, a couple dear to my heart, have had an incredible first year of marriage.  Though Jacob suffered a life-threatening injury in September, he graduated from Hardin Simmons University this month starting a new chapter in their life. One year ago I had the privilege to witness the vow made to devote themselves to a lifetime together; a vow that was made unbeknownst to what the future holds.  Guided and upheld  by the hand of God I have watched a peace that passes understanding unfold in their lives.  They are a testimony to a love inspired by the power of prayer and to the work of a loving God.

As we faithfully close our eyes in prayer for marriages, both our own and others', may our eyes be opened- revealing the beautiful work of the same God.

Happy Anniversary Jacob and Jessica, May 21

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Sweating is gross.  I don't do that.

-Words from Rylie when getting the kids from school Wednesday

 .  I wish it were that simple.  If only I could banish certain experiences and attitudes by deciding they were gross or undesirable.  I love her thinking.

Some things are just going to happen.  I'm going to sweat.  I'm going to have my occasional fails with my supper experiments.  I'm going to have bad hair days and the sinus infections will come and go.  No amount of determination and experience will rid me of these parts of life; I guess I can live with that.

Then there are those things I do-I choose to do, that I just can't seem to stop; that's a different story.  For instance, I choose to be grumpy.  Being sarcastic with my kids and Jason is a choice, I don't have to do that.  Watching unwholesome movies and shows on TV is a conscious decision, unlike sweating.  With each of these undesired behaviors I know, if not before, right when I'm doing it, that I shouldn't be doing it.  Why can't I stop?  Why do I even start?  I'm encouraged that Paul had the same problem.  Listen to him in Romans 7>

18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c]   For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 

 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

We MUST come to a place daily, where we recognize that there is no good in us apart from God.  Try as we may, we are a resevoir and conduit of sin.  When we continue to try and free ourself from the clutches of sin we find our effort fruitless and frustrated. The- "If at first you don't succeed -try, try again" mentality is like banging your head against a brick wall (nothing is accomplished and you're left feeling damaged).

I think the problem may be that we focus too much on what WE can and can't do on our own effort.

We have a sinful nature, and we're going to, for the remainder of our time on this side of eternity.  Our hope, and any good that we can do comes only from Jesus.  His death on the cross was enough.  He said "it is finished".  He meant it. It's obviously good to try and refrain from wrongdoing. There is merit in trying to do good. But REMEMBER, trying to do good apart from a relationship with God is in vain.

 

Our effort must dissolve into a passion to know Christ more fully.  His grace covers our failures.  His goodness flows through our veins. 

 If we make Him our true focus, we have nothing to sweat.

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   Track season is just finishing up.  Track was not my favorite sport back in my school days, but in a small school everyone is encouraged to participate.  As an eighty-something pound seventh grader I was signed up to throw shot put and discus. The only logic I can see in my coach placing me in those events was that I couldn't jump. That left shot and disc and coaches like to make sure that all the name blanks are filled on event entry sheets.   I guess the coach always had the hope that my competition might get a sudden virus or that I might drop the shot-put on their toe rendering them unable to compete.

I also ran the two-mile, the mile, and the half mile. I can still feel the butterflies that took flight in my stomach as I positioned myself on the track. I can still hear the gun being fired signaling time for take off.    I. was. not.fast.   BUT, I had endurance.  I might have been called the Energizer Bunny if he had existed then.   I did pretty well considering how much I disliked it.  I guess I was running away from running.

I remember in practice, my coach gave me Velcro-bags to strap around my ankles. Maybe it was just on one occasion, but I thought getting to use the weight bags was the coolest.  The bags were full of pennies.  It provided weight around my ankles.  I was to run around the track once with the weight.  Then I was to take off the weight and run.  I remember running after taking off the weight.  It was amazing; almost difficult to keep my feet on the ground.  I was so light.  It felt like running had been made a thousand times easier.

I can’t imagine why coach let me use the ankle weight bags just that time or two.  I’m thankful though, as it provided the perfect example of the effect sin has.  It also showed the remedy. The lap I ran with the bags was treaterous.  About ten yards into my run, I was hurting and exhausted.  The weight not only pulled at my ankles, but my whole body wanted to dissolve into a puddle much like the witch in Oz who was doused with water.  Similarly, sin weighs us down.  I tend to lose things fairly often, but I keep an excellent record of my sin.  My own sin, combined with the sin around me is just too much to bear.  I told Hallie I would make her lunch, but I forgot.  I was sarcastic with Hayden again.  Where was my patience with Rylie?  I am so discouraged by injustice in the world; sin.  Heavily weighted by sin in my own heart, and sin all around me-  I don’t know if I’m being consumed from the inside-out or the outside-in.

Thankfully, Paul has a pertintent word.

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 perserverance the race marked out for us.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…..-Hebrews 12:1,2

Being weighed down in sin is actually a blessing.  I never felt so light, so able to run the race set before me until the weight was unbearable and then removed.  The weight of sin was bore on calvary.  We can add as much weight as we want to our running bags, trying to do life on our own strength.  And we can run much more than a lap if we so desire. But it is when we throw off the weight, casting it to the cross, that we are able to really run the race.  Running with perserverance means that we have to be persistent, steadfast.  We must constantly “cast off”.

Daily life is both practice and the real race.  We have cheering fans in the stand, the men and women mentioned in Hebrews and Christian brothers and sisters with us now.  They are urging us to run unburdened and unhindered.  Weightless, by faith that Jesus has endured it all, let us run.  Let us run before those cheering witnesses with our eyes on Jesus, who is both with us and waiting for us at the finish line.

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At a recent Mom’s prayer meeting we were praying for a couple of moms who were having difficulty getting their kiddos into the car-seat without a struggle.   I remember those frustrating days.  I also remember momentarily feeling some instant freedom when my children were out of car-seats and could buckle themselves in.  But as I was praying with these moms I was overcome with sadness.  My kids aren’t car-seat babies anymore.  And while I don’t have to buckle them in, I CAN’T buckle them in anymore.

Hayden will be sixteen in six months.  I won’t always be able to be in the car to tell him to slow down a little quicker when approaching an intersection.  Soon when he is finding that special someone, I don’t get to tell him she’s not enough like me.  Hallie recently shared a secret with a friend.  When I asked her to share it with me she said NO!  In the last couple of years some tears have been shed.  I haven’t always been next to Hallie, tissue in hand, there to hug her.  When Rylie is at school reading and she comes to a word she doesn’t know, I’m not there to sound the word out with her part by part.  I have lunch with her at school every Monday while volunteering.  Are they always going to let me do that?   Is she always going to WANT me to do that?  The awful part is, physically and later geographically, the distance will grow as time goes on.

I am thankful that even though my children are growing tall and independent, they still lavish me with hugs.  Hayden still puts his arm around me at church. Rylie still crawls in our bed occasionally in the morning.  Hallie, our most independent child, spends special girl time just with me once a week.  And they all still sometimes hold my hand.

 

While in the car alone this evening, I heard a song.  Instantly I thought of my children. There are times when they will face trials and feel alone. There have already been those times. There are times when I can’t be there; times I can’t fix it- I would if I could. There are times I’ve been the one to let them down.  I am more than grateful that I have the blessed assurance that God IS there.  The God who sees is with Hayden when he takes that frightening Math test.  He is with Hallie when she sits alone.  He is right beside Rylie in Sunday School as she is learning who he is.

 

I’m a little jealous that God sees and knows their every step.  He has stolen their hearts, but how can I complain when he has given me eternity with him and with them.  I pray that every day on this side of eternity this song would be the song of their heart:

Click here:  all this time

My phone wouldn't upload this video.  If you have the same problem you can go to the youtube link and search- All This Time Britt Nicole

www.youtube.com

                      

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I get up every morning and grab my phone.  I push the blue “f” app button on my screen and wait.  With anticipation I am instantly connected to hundreds of friends plus my friends, friends.  I see that my friend’s morning started out rough.  I laugh at what my nephew said yesterday.  I learn that my friend’s dad made it through surgery.  I am reconnected to an old classmate.   I see pictures that make me smile and posts that make me cry.  I am on Facebook!

I quickly latched on to Facebook and found myself entertained and acquainted with friends; reacquainted with those in my past. Before we even moved to Nederland, our family was friended by many here whom we had never met (talk about being encouraged).

I must mention that before I had my own Facebook, I shared an account with Jason.  I was kicked off of his Facebook account when I made too many girly comments under his name like –“too cute” and “so precious!!!!”  Not long ago I was on Hayden’s Facebook (yes I’m a nosy Rosie) but I forgot I was logged in under his name.  I remembered I needed to make a birthday announcement so that Rylie could be showered with birthday wishes from hundreds of friends.  It said something like “Our toot and joy; our constant source of laughter turns six today”.  Hayden got lots of comments about unbrotherly language.   I became resolved to post and comment to my target audience alone.

Pretty much everybody has their own Facebook account.  In fact, there more than 845 million active users as of February.  If not a Facebook, you still have a social outlet; an outlet where you discuss injustices in the world.  You share what’s on your mind; maybe it’s about that driver that cut you off bringing about road rage or how you made a killer meatloaf wrapped in bacon.  My Dad, though not on Facebook, has several outlets.  I think he has coffee and donuts with friends a couple mornings a week at the church office.  People stop by his shop on Main Street  just to chat.  He’s even had great conversations with people on the bench at Wal-Mart.  No matter our assembly, we rant.  We rave.  We listen and we learn.   All this brings to light our need to relate.  God made us to be in relationship; in relationship with one another.  We get that.  But do we get that God wants and even yearns for us to be in relationship with him?

God, who never slumbers, waits for us.  Just as we check for notification to see if our friend has responded, He waits for us to wake up in the morning and say - "Loved that Sunrise”!  He longs for us to thank him for a good night sleep and good test results.  He wishes for us to tell him how worried we are about that family member who’s hurting.  And I’ll bet he doesn’t even mind us telling him what we had at Starbucks that morning.  He never scrolls past our name and he never quickly hits the like button.  He always comments.  And he always has his own posts and personal messages waiting to be read.

God has sent a friend request to each person he has lovingly created.  Some of us have accepted that request and find joy in talking to and hearing from him all day and every day.  For some of us, he is still waiting.  Sadly some have hit the ignore request button.  There are also those of us who have accepted his friend request, but have chosen to hide him.  Maybe he has been hidden because he may say something that we don’t want to hear. Do we quickly scroll past when we see his name because he says too much or wants too much from us?   Maybe some have just thoughtlessly added him to their friend list because it would seem wrong not to.

God has a Facebook.  He intimately knows both those who rely on his daily love and those who have ignored his request.  I am ashamed to say that I thrive off of Facebook love. I actually have felt disappointment when a message has not received a response; when a post or picture has gone unliked and without comment.   I love seeing those little red numbers at the top of my Facebook  page.  Upon a click, I can be uplifted and affirmed.  But unlike Facebook whose love quickly fades and leaves me yearning for more, my friend Jesus is always there!

 

 

*Though I have been reminded through Facebook of my constant need for my best friend Jesus, I am thankful for my Facebook friends and family. Like Paul said, “For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in Spirit…” -Colossians 2:5.  It is in that same presence that I have received your encouragement, learned from your experiences, shared in your joys and sorrows, heard your laughter and felt your hugs.  I am thankful for you!

 

 

 

 

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A post from a sweet friend:

From my Kieran's journal today...... 

I want to be a preacher.  Why?   Because Preachers teach about God and tell you God is your Savior.  Preachers are nice.  You can count on them to help you out in tuff times.  Preachers are awesome.  I am happy I am making this decision because Preachers make big differences in your life, like mine and when I am a Preacher you never know, I might make alot of people happy and make lots of differences in lots of peoples lives.  Someday people will know me as Brother Droddy.

Kieran Droddy

March 2012-3rd grade 

This boy is so in love with Jesus right now.  I pray that he will always be.  I never prayed for my kids to be star athletes or straight A students.....never prayed that they would be popular or make the winning touchdown.....win first place ribbons or become famous.....I have always simply and passionately prayed that they love love love Jesus......that they know Him and love Him.....that he order their steps and that they have the wisdom to follow and the discernment to know where he is leading them.....I want them to be good husbands and fathers and good wives and mothers....these words have been my prayers for 15 years of mothering....Fifteen joyful, hard, sad, happy exhausting years of motherhood.....and they will be my prayers for many many more years to come......Tears poured down my face today as he read this to me, tears from a Momma's heart that saw her prayers turning into fruition right before her eyes as she heard her little boy read words straight from his innocent heart, words this his Savior put in his soul and words that he obediently put on paper....I can not wait to see what God is preparing for him!  I hope his sweet words bless you as much as they blessed me and Eric.

I think I may be partial to preachers so naturally I melted when I read this. What sweet words. Kieran wants to be a preacher and I think that's amazing, but its not just because he wants to be a preacher. Hayden shared a few years ago that he was not going to be a preacher. I quickly told him that I do not want him to be a preacher " just beacuse his dad is". I also told him that I don't want him to NOT become a preacher "just because his dad is". My prayer is that he (and Hallie and Rylie) would have a sensitivity to God's presence and work in their lives even now. I pray that they will be so in love with Jesus that they will know Him well enough that following His will in their lives will be natural and a joy. How refreshing that Kieran has embraced what he believes God wants him to do, and he sounds a little excited!

Lisa's recounting her persistent prayer for her children made me smile all the more. What else would we need pray for? {that our children would LOVE LOVE LOVE Jesus}. I could pray without ceasing and not be profiting my children like this prayer. Lord please help Hallie find friends. Please help Hayden focus at school. I pray that Rylie will find joy in reading. These are good and needful prayers, but we can't neglect this simple prayer. And we would do well to pray it over and over. You read the Bible with your kids-super. You pray with them-that's great. You're being a great example of loving Jesus-awesome! Keep it up, but I'm thankful for the reminder to come before our God asking for His help in our children coming to love him in an ever-increasing fashion. I love my husband and I love my children. Embarrassingly but probably not alone I admit that there are many times I have to pray that God will help me to love them. Love them even though I may be mad. Love on them though I may be really busy. Take time to love them even though their way is not my way. Likewise with loving Jesus we need his help to love him in trying and busy times. And I can guarantee that these are the times our children are in. Hope you find Kieran's declaration and Lisa's devotion refreshing as I did.

*Interestingly my next devotion has been written on letting go our golden dream only to embrace the riches God has planned for us. The Parable of the Golden Ticket shows a parallel between Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and hopefully us as we relinquish our "golden ticket" only finding that what we gave up pales in comparison to what God has in store for us. We all want our children to be "A" students with awesome looks and style, superb athletic ability and a host of friends and admirers. Let us not cling to those hopes like we cling to the hope that they would LOVE LOVE LOVE Jesus.