Day 173 - December 4 - Life Verse
I was reading my Bible this morning, and I huffed a big sigh as I read 2 Corinthians 12, where Paul is writing about a man he knows. This man, he said, was caught up into heaven and there he "heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter" (2 Cor. 12:4). The first thing I thought was "Man, it must be really terrible! To be given a glimpse of heaven firsthand, but then when somebody asks you about it you have to say 'Sorry, but I can't talk about it because the things I heard cannot be told'". What a bummer that must have been! But the reason I huffed out a big sigh was that, when I read that, I thought to myself "Oh, what I would give for such a vision. To be allowed to interact with God at that level - what a magnificent thing! Oh Lord, let me see the things of You like that someday." And the thought came back to me that I see the things of God right in front of my face every day, but I can't recognize them for what they are. That right there was when the sigh showed up, because He's right (like usual). The last week or so, I've been really struggling with the status quo (Alright already, so I've been struggling with the status quo since June 16 - bear with me!). Connor's progress and our life and home situation isn't at all what I want it to be, and I often get frustrated by what appears to be glacially slow progress, and I get downer and downer (my English-teacher-grandmother, hanging out with Jesus in heaven right this minute, is probably groaning in frustration at that grammar!)
Now, each day that goes by without the boy leaping out of bed sometimes gets hard to take, if you know what I mean. When that happens, I end up posting less and less because I don't have anything to tell y'all, and so my blogs get more and more infrequent. So I pray a lot that the Lord would show me what to post up, and as I read this morning I got the sense that I was supposed to post about this. So here I am.
Once I was done reading in 2 Corinthians, I popped over to Psalms for my daily dose of my favorite book. I read Psalm 26, and it really struck a chord with me today. I long to see God glorified, and my faith vindicated, by God stretching out his hand and setting Connor upright again. When I started reading Psalm 26, it was if I was suddenly in a peaceful bubble - all the turmoil, all the exhaustion, all the hard-won hope inside me; it all just quieted down and got still. It was 'way cool! And I thought to myself, "Self, this you can blog!". And then I got to the last two verses...
11But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12My foot stands on level ground;
in the great assembly I will bless the LORD.
...and my soul went "plunk", and for few seconds, I was right smack in the midst of "everything is alright".
And I decided that regardless of storms, and crashing waves, and screaming winds, I will remember that my feet stand on Solid Ground, and I WILL testify to the goodness of God.
It's good to remember sometimes.
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posted by Eric Williamson @ 1:17 PM
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8 Comments:
Amen
God is Good -all the time- and He will never change!
and on our part it is so undeserved! How mercyful of God to know everything about me, my thoughts, motivations, actions, and not smite me!
and then for us He's chosen...it baffels me.
-Bethany, in Fresno
Wow!!! Only the Lord's Holy Spirit can move in you like that, Eric, in light of your situation! Humanly, there's NO WAY one can have the attitude you have, to see God working here, and wanting HIM to be glorified. It's the Holy Spirit working in you, and that gives so much hope and comfort!
It's so encouraging to me and other's that may be going through tough times, to see God work in someone like this. There's so much hope and security in that. God really can and will take us through tough times, He sure is with you and your family. Doesn't mean we won't have our "down," or "frustrating" moments. But He's always there for us. Thanks so much for sharing all this! Very meaningful!
Praying!
Kim
I have such admiration for you and your family...and we don't even know each other. You are walking upright every day...and so is Connor.
Your words and the pictures of Connor laughing with Joelle sit on my fridge and I have so many people come by and read them. I am able to minister to people in my home because of you and your family. Praise God how he uses us frail humans to spread his grace and glory.
Do not despair Eric...each day is a blessing. THIS is the day the Lord has made, Rejoice and be glad in it. He give us our DAILY bread...just today...be happy you are doing a mighty work for our Lord. Bless you and your family today.
Kathleen
You have blessed my heart this morning!
We are still praying!
Oh Man! You did it again. In the midst of my pitifully minor ailments,you've steered my focus on how blessed I am.
Been following the blog faithfully, but gotta sign off.Seems something is fogging my vision...again.
Mark T.
Modesto
God is good. Your a strong person and God sees the amazing things you have done, and just wait and see what God does with this whole situation.
Jason Shields
Reno, NV
Eric- Just a thought and hopefully a little encouragement to you today. The Lord has been teaching me lately that as Christians we often measure our faith by whether we "feel" happy while going through trials and on whether we can keep a positive outlook on things. I wanted to submit to you another way to measure your faith, one that I think is scriptural and can be very freeing. In Matthew 17:20 Jesus says to His disciples that if they have faith as small as a mustard seed that they could say to this mountain Move from hear to there and it will move. Nothing would be impossible for them. There are many times in scripture where God uses different people, in mighty ways, who had very little faith. I think that the evidence of their faith was not necessarily the fact that they always felt like God would change their circumstances, nor did they know that he would , but it was evidenced by their OBEDIENCE. In Daniel 3:17-18 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king by saying, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this manner. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." They believed that God could save them, yet even if He didn't they would not disobey the God they served.
Eric- I am thankful for your obedience to God by continuing to seek Him in prayer and in His Word even when you may not see the results you would like sometimes. May you and your family continue to obey even when you don't feel like it.
Blessings Connor and family,I read this Max Lucado devotion and it really touched my heart so I decided to share,
Learning to Trust the Master
by Max Lucado
A man and his dog are in the same car. The dog howls bright-moon-in-the-middle-of-the-night caterwauling howls. The man pleads, promising a daily delivery of dog biscuit bouquets if only the hound will hush. After all, it's only a car wash.
Never occurred to him--ahem, to me--that the car wash would scare my dog. But it did. Placing myself in her paws, I can see why. A huge, noisy machine presses toward us, pounding our window with water, banging against the door with brushes. Duck! We're under attack.
" Don't panic. The car wash was my idea." "I've done this before." "It's for our own good." Ever tried to explain a car wash to a canine? Dog dictionaries are minus the words brush and detail job. My words fell on fallen flaps. Nothing helped. She just did what dogs do; she wailed.
Actually, she did what we do. Don't we howl? Not at car washes perhaps but at hospital stays and job transfers. Let the economy go south or the kids move north, and we have a wail of a time. And when our Master explains what's happening, we react as if he's speaking Yalunka. We don't understand a word he says.
Is your world wet and wild?
God's greatest blessings often come costumed as disasters. Any doubters need to do nothing more than ascend the hill of Calvary.
Jerusalem's collective opinion that Friday was this: Jesus is finished.
Such is the view of the disciples, the opinion of the friends, and the outlook of the enemies. Label it the dog-in-the-passenger-seat view.
The Master who sits behind the wheel thinks differently. God is not surprised. His plan is right on schedule. Even in--especially in--death, Christ is still the king, the king over his own crucifixion.
Can't he do the same for you? Can't he turn your Friday into a Sunday?
Some of you doubt it. How can God use cancer or death or divorce? Simple.
He's smarter than we are. He is to you what I was to four-year-old Amy. I met her at a bookstore. She asked me if I would sign her children's book. When I asked her name, she watched as I began to write, "To Amy ..."
She stopped me right there. With wide eyes and open mouth, she asked, "How did you know how to spell my name?"
She was awed. You aren't. You know the difference between the knowledge of a child and an adult. Can you imagine the difference between the wisdom of a human and the wisdom of God? What is impossible to us is like spelling "Amy" to him. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts" (Isa. 55:9).
I keep taking Molly to the car wash. She's howling less. I don't think she understands the machinery. She's just learning to trust her master. Maybe we'll learn the same.
Maybe we will 8-) It's so hard being human but thank God we know who's in control.
Blessing to you all as you look forward to a very special birthday, I think this Christmas will be your best one ever for the love of Jesus has been poured out in all our hearts even in the suffering (especially in the suffering)through Connor Watch Christmas will take on a new meaning for so many who have seen Jesus for the first time, your suffering is not wasted, Connor you are so loved and IM sure your reward will be great.
For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Isa. 55:12
Abandon yourself to His care and guidance, as a sheep in the care of a shepherd, and trust Him utterly.
Hannah Whitall Smith
Praying in Downey
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