Three Things to Remember for Hope

Everything I'm knowingly facing today can be summed up in this Psalm. I'm so grateful for God's Word (the Bible) because it brings me such great hope when my physical eyes cannot see a good plan.

May I never loose sight of these things;

1. God is greater. There is NOTHING over Him. 

2. He sees me and my circumstance, He knew about it a long time ago, and He still allowed it to happen for my good and His glory. 

3. God loves me completely. I will never know a deeper love than His. 

My prayer is that as He reminds me of these truths and I share them, that your heart will be encouraged as well!

Here is my anthem for today: 

Psalm 33

Let the godly sing for joy to the Lord; it is fitting for the pure to praise him. 

Praise the Lord with melodies on the lyre; make music for him on the ten-stringed harp. 

Sing a new song of praise to him; play skillfully on the harp, and sing with joy. 

For the word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything he does. 

He loves whatever is just and good; the unfailing love of the Lord fills the earth. 

The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born. 

He assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs. 

Let the whole world fear the Lord, and let everyone stand in awe of him. 

For when he spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command. 

The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations and thwarts all their schemes. 

But the Lord ’s plans stand firm forever; his intentions can never be shaken. 

What joy for the nation whose God is the Lord, whose people he has chosen as his inheritance. 

The Lord looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race. 

From his throne he observes all who live on the earth. 

He made their hearts, so he understands everything they do. 

The best-equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a warrior. 

Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory— for all its strength, it cannot save you. 

But the Lord watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love. 

He rescues them from death and keeps them alive in times of famine. 

We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. 

In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. 

Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.

How to Win Every Day

Several months ago I had the privilege of talking with my friend who struggles greatly with a painful (and sometimes debilitating) illness.  She shared several creative ideas God gave her for raising her (now grown) children despite her illness, but one of them made me smile big!

"Crystal," she said, "every morning, I would sit down at the piano, and we would sing praise songs.  That way, if we got nothing else done that day, we would at least praise God."

What wisdom!

Over and over and over again, we are told in scripture to praise the Lord!  It matters not if you wake up and play a piano, play a song on your mp3 player, or make up a praise song of your own. What matters is this: that you praise God.

Praise can take on a lot of different forms (and that is an entirely different topic), but know this: when you start your day out praising God, placing Him as leader of your life, you win.  Immediately, you win.  You've put up a sign on your heart that says, "God is worth praise today, despite everything I lack."

Soon after my conversation with my sweet friend, I heard the song "You Are Good", sung by Kari Jobe on Gateway Worship's album Wake Up the World.  With lyrics like "Everyday I'll awaken my praise and pour out a song from my heart", I recommend this one for any morning routine.

Winning starts now.  Are you ready?

If you'd like more information on the benefits of praise, in great detail with scriptural references, I recommend this article by Watchman Nee.

**Leave me a comment below with your favorite praise song!**

Transformation (Scripture Notes: Psalm 30)

“Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.” 

-Psalm 30:4-5 (NLT)

I find it refreshing to know that, while God has a time for everything, He gives little of it to anger and weeping. Rather, He dwells on the good: favor and joy. Favor for a lifetime and joy in the morning.

Notice that He doesn't promise to shelter us from His anger or from the weeping that this world brings, but He does bring favor and joy that far outlast the time spent in anger or weeping. And not only that, but He transforms us by the bad into something good. His anger becomes the action that leads to Him disciplining us because He loves us. Our weeping and mourning become joyful dancing.

Why does He do this?

So that, out of our great thankfulness, we will finally see a bigger piece of His great love for us.

vs. 11-12
“You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!”

Bloom Where Planted (A Reflective Entry on Nehemiah 05)

I was driving a friend to dinner one night and happened to have a conversation with her over the phrase “bloom where you are planted”.  You may have grown up with the phrase, like I did, but she is from a different country and was unfamiliar with the phrase. 

“Bloom where you are planted. Basically, it means to grow wherever God puts you. You know, like a flower blooms in the soil.”

Then, my friend made a very valid statement, “But sometimes, the flower dies.”

Ah, yes.  Sometimes the flower dies.  Sometimes the plant withers and the heart breaks.  Sometimes the dream is turned to dust.  Sometimes the walls are destroyed.  Let me be a little vulnerable here: sometimes I don’t bloom.  Sometimes my dreams are crushed and sometimes my walls are destroyed.  Sometimes, all the work of my lifetime that I have put into a task or a project is looked over and I’m left wondering, “What is left?”

Well, a fragment.  Fragments are left.  Nehemiah’s city was fragmented.  And what did he do with the vision God placed in his heart?  Nehemiah led his fellow countrymen (and women!) into a strategic plan to rebuild what was fragmented.  The key to their success was to take what was in front of them and build it up based on the threats that were specific to their part of the wall.  Each person was responsible for a little part, and their little part, in turn, helped fortify the whole city.

God has a vision for rebuilding us, too.  When you or I find ourselves left with pieces of a fragmented dream, or even a reality that went badly wrong, God will step in to redeem these fragmented pieces and build something even greater out of them, if we let Him. 

Garden of Gethsemane, Israel
May 2012

You see, sometimes the flower dies, but sometimes it only dies for a season.  Sometimes it just needs to be replanted into richer soil (like when you lose a job and are relocated), fertilized with the right nutrients (like when you become sick and have to cleanse your body of the sickness), watered (like when you are simply drained from life and need to take time to rest and recuperate), or placed in the right light (like when you have a bad day that helps you see a different perspective). 

Chapter 3 of Nehemiah shows us that God’s plan for our success involves not just where we’re at, but it is also about taking advantage of the other resources He has given us in this place.  Also, we learn that no success is found alone – there are always people surrounding us and God directing us.  As in blooming, I may be the best gardener ever, but God alone sees that the seed opens and life comes forth.

Blooming is not easy.  Blooming requires lots of growth, lots of change, lots of waiting, and lots of weather changes.  But this process also develops strength and beauty that cannot be found in a closed seed sitting in soil. 

Dare to pick up the pieces of what is left.  Dare to go to God with a fragment and work with Him as He rebuilds what has been broken and lost in your life.  Dare to bloom where you have been planted.

Questions for Reflection

• What things in your life have been shattered (seemingly) beyond repair?
• Can you see where God has had a divine purpose in allowing these things to happen?
• How might God use your broken walls to draw people closer together? How might God use your broken walls to draw people to Him?  What makes the difference in bringing people together and bringing people to Him?
• Are you willing to let God restore what has been lost in your life?
• What is holding you back from daring to live a life of Christ-honoring influence in the place God has planted you?