Tonight has been particularly difficult. Not that in my "Life with Autism" I've had it particularly easy. But it's always hardest right after I thought it was getting better and then abruptly found myself slapped upside the head with disappointment. "Seizures are less frequ......... Well, hold that thought, never mind..." You'd think I would learn to not get my hopes up by now, but thank goodness I'm stubborn. I still get them up. I often crash and burn, but to me that's still better than sitting in the parking lot not moving at all.
After Brandon got settled after a particularly rough seizure, I sat at my desk and reflected on something I had read in a book of quotes by Oswald Chambers. It was about being broken bread and poured out wine. Jesus was that. He was broken bread and poured out wine for us. For me. For my son. He calls us to be that as well - in the hand of God. He allowed himself to be bruised, beaten, and crushed for my sins. That's perhaps the only thing that truly gives me sanity in this Life with Autism and Seizures we must live. That no matter how broken up and poured out I feel, he's been through worse. Who am I then to not allow myself to be so 'stomped on and crushed' so to speak in how He would choose to produce wine through me? Oswald says, "God can never make me wine if I object to the fingers He uses to crush me with." Which for me is that relentless autism, those relentless seizures.
The thing about true faith, true HOPEISM to me, is just that. We don't get to choose the manner in which God will teach us, or who he will use to teach us. Allowing yourself to be broken bread and poured out wine for God is in staying where God put you or enduring for however long you must, whatever situation he has put you in... It means allowing yourself to be used by him through whatever manner he chooses to use you. It means so many things, but most of all it means staying the course and never giving up. I think the most frustrating thing for me is to see those with lesser burdens giving up so quickly. If prayer isn't answered, they give up. If something doesn't go their way, they leave. They want to experience the throne of God without ever having first experienced carrying His cross. To yield to God is to draw ever closer to him as your Shepherd and have faith in Him and in what he will do in your life by being the broken bread and poured out wine he desires to use "to feed His sheep."
It is hard. It is hard to continually have your prayers go unanswered, to continually have to battle day in and day out. To watch not just your life be broken bread and poured out wine -- but your child's life be that in God's hands for a purpose you cannot know or understand in this life.
I'm just so very thankful that what I have learned, is that when I think I can't be broken any more, he gives His mercy. When I feel there's nothing left of me to pour out, he fills me with His grace.
I guess to more fully appreciate or experience the 'muchness' of God that I seek through this journey, I must first fully understand what it is to allow myself to be 'mushed' by God.
And I think that's where we lose folks.
It's too hard to do that.
It takes too long.
So they quit.
It is hard.
But for no matter how long -
I will Never Quit.
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Friday, July 18, 2014
From Sin to Salvation
The New Testament
The Coming Messiah -
A New Covenant -
A New Church.
From humanity's fall to its restoration --- the fulfillment of the law of the Old Testament.
Jesus is the Jewish Messiah whose life, death, and resurrection fulfilled the prophesies of the Old Testament. Salvation is for everyone, and it is forever.
The New Testament gives assurance that he will be with us in the middle of challenges or disappointments or failures, and we are to press on and humbly serve God and others, even when it hurts. Especially, when it hurts.
The New Testament is about
Restoration -
Reconciliation -
and a new
Relationship.
HOOYAH & HALLELUJAH to that!
The Coming Messiah -
A New Covenant -
A New Church.
From humanity's fall to its restoration --- the fulfillment of the law of the Old Testament.
Jesus is the Jewish Messiah whose life, death, and resurrection fulfilled the prophesies of the Old Testament. Salvation is for everyone, and it is forever.
The New Testament gives assurance that he will be with us in the middle of challenges or disappointments or failures, and we are to press on and humbly serve God and others, even when it hurts. Especially, when it hurts.
The New Testament is about
Restoration -
Reconciliation -
and a new
Relationship.
HOOYAH & HALLELUJAH to that!
Saturday, June 28, 2014
A doggie bag for God
Day 68
Zechariah
Malachi
It seems disrespectful to have such a title for this post, but when I reviewed these readings and my notes from them, it just fit. Especially with some verses in Malachi...where I can picture myself at God's table, eating the finest of his blessings, then asking the waiter to box up the leftovers for me to take back to God, --the One whom all blessings came from in the first place. He provides the best for me, and I often only have time to give stale, soggy leftovers in return. I feast on my obstacles and worries, and put my faith in that doggie-bag!
Egads!
I guess with that said, it's fitting that one of the first lines in today's reading, was this in Zechariah 1:2 where it says, "The Lord was very angry......" Yep, I would be too. God is and has been telling them, us, me, --that he is not to be shortchanged. That he is to be respected and honored. That he wants our sincerity and our obedience. Our faith. And we've not listened. It goes on to say, ".......'Return to me,' declares the Lord Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the Lord Almighty." He calls us back again and again as in Zechariah 3:6 where it says, "If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here."
Yet time after time we choose to stand over there with our sins of doubt, or off yonder on our own. Or maybe that's just me. I sometimes feel off yonder on my own even when I'm trying to stand in the courts with God! But I'm reassured in that God notices. He notices our attempts, imperfect though they may be, to live in sincerity, honor, and obedience of him. He notices those who faithfully honor him and he repeatedly says that if we return to him, he will return to us.
So many challenges lately, so much waiting, so much praying. So much trusting! I love God's words of, "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit."
My prayers will be answered, my tasks accomplished, not by my might and certainly not by my power - but by God's Spirit.
I must trust in that.
That these things we hope for will happen if we diligently obey the Lord our God and give him our first and our best. Not what's leftover, not our doggie bags, but our best.
Zechariah 6:15 says, "..........This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God."
God will fulfill his plan and purpose for us. God can move any mountain or person who stands in our way of that.
God will be faithful and righteous to us as our God.
The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew.
I will save you, and you will be a blessing.
Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.
These are the things you are to do:
Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment, do not plot evil against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely.
When we do these things, obey God, honor him, give him our first and our best each day, he will honor us...
Zechariah 9:11 says, "As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. Return to your fortress, O prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you......and make you like a warrior's sword."
In Zechariah 10 it says these statements:
I will strengthen...
I will restore...
I will answer...
I will redeem...
The surging sea will be subdued...
Zechariah 13:9 says of those he brings into the fire, "I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people, 'and they will say, "The Lord is our God.'"
I kinda don't like the kind of "refinement" I've had to go through in this "Life with Autism" -- but I can honestly say that through it, every time I've called on his name, he has answered. Not always how I had hoped, but he has answered.
When God promises all of this for us, how can we possibly live in doubt or despair. How can we sit at the table that is each new day and take in the best of it, and just barely think of him at the end of it? How could we ever doubt his timing, his purpose, his plan?
In Malachi 2:16 it says to, "Guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith."
In all I am going through what better reminder than that.
Do. Not. Break. Faith.
Why? Because of what Malachi 4:2 says next, "But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall."
I can hardly wait!
HOOYAH!
Zechariah
Malachi
It seems disrespectful to have such a title for this post, but when I reviewed these readings and my notes from them, it just fit. Especially with some verses in Malachi...where I can picture myself at God's table, eating the finest of his blessings, then asking the waiter to box up the leftovers for me to take back to God, --the One whom all blessings came from in the first place. He provides the best for me, and I often only have time to give stale, soggy leftovers in return. I feast on my obstacles and worries, and put my faith in that doggie-bag!
Egads!
I guess with that said, it's fitting that one of the first lines in today's reading, was this in Zechariah 1:2 where it says, "The Lord was very angry......" Yep, I would be too. God is and has been telling them, us, me, --that he is not to be shortchanged. That he is to be respected and honored. That he wants our sincerity and our obedience. Our faith. And we've not listened. It goes on to say, ".......'Return to me,' declares the Lord Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the Lord Almighty." He calls us back again and again as in Zechariah 3:6 where it says, "If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here."
Yet time after time we choose to stand over there with our sins of doubt, or off yonder on our own. Or maybe that's just me. I sometimes feel off yonder on my own even when I'm trying to stand in the courts with God! But I'm reassured in that God notices. He notices our attempts, imperfect though they may be, to live in sincerity, honor, and obedience of him. He notices those who faithfully honor him and he repeatedly says that if we return to him, he will return to us.
So many challenges lately, so much waiting, so much praying. So much trusting! I love God's words of, "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit."
My prayers will be answered, my tasks accomplished, not by my might and certainly not by my power - but by God's Spirit.
I must trust in that.
That these things we hope for will happen if we diligently obey the Lord our God and give him our first and our best. Not what's leftover, not our doggie bags, but our best.
Zechariah 6:15 says, "..........This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God."
God will fulfill his plan and purpose for us. God can move any mountain or person who stands in our way of that.
God will be faithful and righteous to us as our God.
The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew.
I will save you, and you will be a blessing.
Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.
These are the things you are to do:
Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment, do not plot evil against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely.
When we do these things, obey God, honor him, give him our first and our best each day, he will honor us...
Zechariah 9:11 says, "As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. Return to your fortress, O prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you......and make you like a warrior's sword."
In Zechariah 10 it says these statements:
I will strengthen...
I will restore...
I will answer...
I will redeem...
The surging sea will be subdued...
Zechariah 13:9 says of those he brings into the fire, "I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people, 'and they will say, "The Lord is our God.'"
I kinda don't like the kind of "refinement" I've had to go through in this "Life with Autism" -- but I can honestly say that through it, every time I've called on his name, he has answered. Not always how I had hoped, but he has answered.
When God promises all of this for us, how can we possibly live in doubt or despair. How can we sit at the table that is each new day and take in the best of it, and just barely think of him at the end of it? How could we ever doubt his timing, his purpose, his plan?
In Malachi 2:16 it says to, "Guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith."
In all I am going through what better reminder than that.
Do. Not. Break. Faith.
Why? Because of what Malachi 4:2 says next, "But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall."
I can hardly wait!
HOOYAH!
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Evil will not last forever.
Day 67
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Nahum:
For the Book of Nahum I like what my Women's Bible says about it in summary:
"Nahum's message firmly asserts that we can stand in respect and reverence before God, knowing that evildoers will have their day of reckoning no matter how powerful or persuasive they may seem to be right now."
Right now where I am in "Life with Autism" that gives me such HOPEISM. There are so many evildoers. Pharma, Vaccine Corruption, the Media who fall for their propaganda.... Hospitals that are supposed to help instead kidnapping children from their parents. Agencies that cut services, insurance companies who don't cover much needed therapy for our children. It's just...overwhelming the amount of evil we must advocate against. It is unfathomable the evil of those who abuse our innocent children, youth, and adult with disabilities. But those words in this title, "Evil will not last forever...." give me such hope. God promises that evil will be destroyed, no matter how rich, how powerful, or how beautiful the enemy is. God promises that in Him, there is always reason for hope.
Nahum 1:3 says, "....the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished."
Nahum 1:7 says, "The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him, but with an overwhelming flood he will make an end of Nineveh; he will pursue his foes into darkness."
It is overwhelming the power Pharma has over this Nation, it is unfathomable the lies and corruption within Vaccine Policy. I know it's not what I should be taking away from this book, but how God will right all these wrongs done to our children is what gives me hope each day...
A companion to this days reading had this summary that I love:
* God takes vengeance on bealf of his oppressed people; he will not let the wicked go unpunished.
* God is slow to anger, great in power.
* God is good and a refuge for his people.
* God cares for those who trust in him.
* God is mighty to save.
These verses...
Nahum 3:5 which says, "I am against you," declares the Lord Almighty. "I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame. I will pelt you with filth, I will treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle. All who see you will flee from you and say, 'Nineveh is in ruins --who will mourn for her?' Where can I find anyone to comfort you?"
Then this book ends with a really big standing ovation as far as I'm concerned, with regard to Pharma and Vaccine Corruption...
Nahum 3:19
"Nothing can heal your wound; your injury is fatal. Everyone who hears the news about you clap his hands at your fall, for who has not felt your endless cruelty?"
Oh, for the HOPEISM of that......
Habakkuk:
God isn't fair. That thought has crossed my mind a time or two or ten thousand over the last couple years..... All the sin around us, the violence, destruction, injustice in courts, and evil outnumbering good it seems. All the struggles and obstacles and unfairness in "Life with Autism," it's just not fair!
I guess I'm a lot like Habakkuk in that regard. I get so frustrated when it seems God isn't righting the wrongs fast enough. Or seemingly at all.
Habakkuk 1:2
How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
I guess the answer then is the same as now....
Not much longer....
Habakkuk 1:5
"Look at the nations and watch -- and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told."
I guess that's what keeps me somewhat sane and filled with HOPEISM. That one day when our faith meets God's faithfulness, when his plans and purposes for us come to fruition, we will be utterly amazed. God's neat like that. Not just amazed. Utterly amazed. It makes the not understanding the "why's" and "wait's" of now kinda worth it. Just knowing and trusting that my Sovereign God has a Sovereign plan to prosper me. My sons. My family.
I like how "The Message" states Habakkuk 1:13. I've caught myself saying a time or two or ten thousand, this very thing....asking God "are you serious?" after another seizure, another regression, another weight plummet, another all-nighter..........
But you can’t be serious!
You can’t condone evil!
So why don’t you do something about this?
Why are you silent now?
This outrage! Evil men swallow up the righteous
and you stand around and watch!
But, as I'm slowly learning the hard way, I must simply trust in God through those hard times. When God closes a door, he always opens a window. Though sometimes it's tough waiting! And God is always, always, always working in us and through us while we're waiting. If I know anything at all about hard times and waiting, it is that. God is there. I am not alone. There is purpose. I must trust in Him no matter what happens. God is powerful. More powerful than any injustice or challenge we face. In Habakkuk 2:18 it says, "Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak."
In Genesis 1:3 "The Message" it says this: God spoke: "Light!" And light appeared.
How powerful is God that he merely speaks something and it is formed, created!
That sure silences my complaining, just the sheer realization of his power.
I need to trust in Him and wait for His timing.
Zephaniah:
The day of the Lord is near....
Very near for the autism community, as in today the new CDC prevalence rates of autism were announced as 1 in 68.
Zephaniah 1:15 says, "That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the corner towers."
Just as the Lord warned the people of that time of the coming destruction if they didn't change their ways, so too have we autism parents warned our government that the epidemic of autism will only get worse in time.
Some days are so discouraging when you are in the position you are in not because of your disobedience, but because of others greed. And like it says in Zephaniah 2:3, we must simply "Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord's anger."
We must remain obedient, remain steadfast, remain hopeful.
Zephaniah 3:17
The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.
He promises in 3:19, "At that time I will deal with all who oppressed you; I will rescue the lame and gather those who have been scattered. I will give them praise and honor in every land where they were put to shame."
Hang on Brandon........
Hang on........
Haggai:
It's a lesson I always learn the hard way. God's presence is the key to restoration. Not doctors, not books, not anything else but God. God must come first.
This is a short book, short versus, but thought provoking ones.
Haggai 1:7 says, "Give careful thought to your ways." It goes on to say, "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away." Why? declares the LORD Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house."
It's a lesson I am still learning. Building God's temple is the key to the restoration of God's presence. Then, and now. Putting God first is the key to restoration in everything in our lives. I know that, yet it is so easy to overlook. When God's house is in order in our heart and in our mind, then our house will be in order. God must come first.
And when we do that.......
Haggai 2:9 promises, "'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house. And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the Lord Almighty."
I can handle the present being more glorious than the past.
And more peaceful...
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Nahum:
For the Book of Nahum I like what my Women's Bible says about it in summary:
"Nahum's message firmly asserts that we can stand in respect and reverence before God, knowing that evildoers will have their day of reckoning no matter how powerful or persuasive they may seem to be right now."
Right now where I am in "Life with Autism" that gives me such HOPEISM. There are so many evildoers. Pharma, Vaccine Corruption, the Media who fall for their propaganda.... Hospitals that are supposed to help instead kidnapping children from their parents. Agencies that cut services, insurance companies who don't cover much needed therapy for our children. It's just...overwhelming the amount of evil we must advocate against. It is unfathomable the evil of those who abuse our innocent children, youth, and adult with disabilities. But those words in this title, "Evil will not last forever...." give me such hope. God promises that evil will be destroyed, no matter how rich, how powerful, or how beautiful the enemy is. God promises that in Him, there is always reason for hope.
Nahum 1:3 says, "....the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished."
Nahum 1:7 says, "The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him, but with an overwhelming flood he will make an end of Nineveh; he will pursue his foes into darkness."
It is overwhelming the power Pharma has over this Nation, it is unfathomable the lies and corruption within Vaccine Policy. I know it's not what I should be taking away from this book, but how God will right all these wrongs done to our children is what gives me hope each day...
A companion to this days reading had this summary that I love:
* God takes vengeance on bealf of his oppressed people; he will not let the wicked go unpunished.
* God is slow to anger, great in power.
* God is good and a refuge for his people.
* God cares for those who trust in him.
* God is mighty to save.
These verses...
Nahum 3:5 which says, "I am against you," declares the Lord Almighty. "I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame. I will pelt you with filth, I will treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle. All who see you will flee from you and say, 'Nineveh is in ruins --who will mourn for her?' Where can I find anyone to comfort you?"
Then this book ends with a really big standing ovation as far as I'm concerned, with regard to Pharma and Vaccine Corruption...
Nahum 3:19
"Nothing can heal your wound; your injury is fatal. Everyone who hears the news about you clap his hands at your fall, for who has not felt your endless cruelty?"
Oh, for the HOPEISM of that......
Habakkuk:
God isn't fair. That thought has crossed my mind a time or two or ten thousand over the last couple years..... All the sin around us, the violence, destruction, injustice in courts, and evil outnumbering good it seems. All the struggles and obstacles and unfairness in "Life with Autism," it's just not fair!
I guess I'm a lot like Habakkuk in that regard. I get so frustrated when it seems God isn't righting the wrongs fast enough. Or seemingly at all.
Habakkuk 1:2
How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
I guess the answer then is the same as now....
Not much longer....
Habakkuk 1:5
"Look at the nations and watch -- and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told."
I guess that's what keeps me somewhat sane and filled with HOPEISM. That one day when our faith meets God's faithfulness, when his plans and purposes for us come to fruition, we will be utterly amazed. God's neat like that. Not just amazed. Utterly amazed. It makes the not understanding the "why's" and "wait's" of now kinda worth it. Just knowing and trusting that my Sovereign God has a Sovereign plan to prosper me. My sons. My family.
I like how "The Message" states Habakkuk 1:13. I've caught myself saying a time or two or ten thousand, this very thing....asking God "are you serious?" after another seizure, another regression, another weight plummet, another all-nighter..........
But you can’t be serious!
You can’t condone evil!
So why don’t you do something about this?
Why are you silent now?
This outrage! Evil men swallow up the righteous
and you stand around and watch!
But, as I'm slowly learning the hard way, I must simply trust in God through those hard times. When God closes a door, he always opens a window. Though sometimes it's tough waiting! And God is always, always, always working in us and through us while we're waiting. If I know anything at all about hard times and waiting, it is that. God is there. I am not alone. There is purpose. I must trust in Him no matter what happens. God is powerful. More powerful than any injustice or challenge we face. In Habakkuk 2:18 it says, "Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak."
In Genesis 1:3 "The Message" it says this: God spoke: "Light!" And light appeared.
How powerful is God that he merely speaks something and it is formed, created!
That sure silences my complaining, just the sheer realization of his power.
I need to trust in Him and wait for His timing.
Zephaniah:
The day of the Lord is near....
Very near for the autism community, as in today the new CDC prevalence rates of autism were announced as 1 in 68.
Zephaniah 1:15 says, "That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the corner towers."
Just as the Lord warned the people of that time of the coming destruction if they didn't change their ways, so too have we autism parents warned our government that the epidemic of autism will only get worse in time.
Some days are so discouraging when you are in the position you are in not because of your disobedience, but because of others greed. And like it says in Zephaniah 2:3, we must simply "Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord's anger."
We must remain obedient, remain steadfast, remain hopeful.
Zephaniah 3:17
The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.
He promises in 3:19, "At that time I will deal with all who oppressed you; I will rescue the lame and gather those who have been scattered. I will give them praise and honor in every land where they were put to shame."
Hang on Brandon........
Hang on........
Haggai:
It's a lesson I always learn the hard way. God's presence is the key to restoration. Not doctors, not books, not anything else but God. God must come first.
This is a short book, short versus, but thought provoking ones.
Haggai 1:7 says, "Give careful thought to your ways." It goes on to say, "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away." Why? declares the LORD Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house."
It's a lesson I am still learning. Building God's temple is the key to the restoration of God's presence. Then, and now. Putting God first is the key to restoration in everything in our lives. I know that, yet it is so easy to overlook. When God's house is in order in our heart and in our mind, then our house will be in order. God must come first.
And when we do that.......
Haggai 2:9 promises, "'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house. And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the Lord Almighty."
I can handle the present being more glorious than the past.
And more peaceful...
Monday, March 10, 2014
A second chance to listen to God the first time.
Day 66
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Much like in my "Life with Autism" lately, in these readings it is more the same in battles and destruction. But as always, God brings a bright spot. I just hope upon Hopeism though that one day I can get to the bright spots without going through the other stuff first.
In Obadiah God is giving the invaders a taste of their own medicine. As they have destroyed the innocent, so will God destroy them. In the Lent season I'm in as I write this, oh how I hope that comes true one day for the vaccine industry. For those who have destroyed our children's health and who make our difficult lives much more difficult. I have so many people and situations in my mind as I type this, it saddens me. Innocent children, innocent parents, being invaded by evil men, evil institutions, evil policies. I can do nothing but cling to the passages where God gives them their due. The innocent are avenged.
Obadiah 1:4 says to the invaders, to the evildoers: "Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down," declares the Lord."
Obadiah 1:15 goes on to say, "The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head."
I don't think I should live my life counting on God to destroy every evildoer I come across, but it is sure comforting to be reminded that God is a just God. He can deliver justice. He did. He does. And He will.
In Jonah God continue his message of judgement. And in doing so, he uses a man I can relate to. Jonah. When I know what the right thing to do is, sometimes I just want to run the opposite direction and not do it. It's hard to keep doing the right thing when everything else is wrong. It would be so easy to just give up. When I know I should be praying, I find myself complaining instead. God understands that. This book is about how God gives second chance to those who take even the tiniest steps in the right direction. Sometimes mine are crawls in the right direction. God doesn't care. He'll take that. And I'm so thankful. Compassion and Grace is not what God gives me because I deserve it, I don't. It's what he gives because of those baby steps or crawls toward him. I'm even more thankful for that. Because like Jonah, in the belly of a big fish is where I sometimes deserve to be.
When God told Jonah to go one way, he went the opposite. And ended up in the belly of a big fish where he prayed this prayer:
Jonah 2:1
"In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the deep, in to the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, 'I have been banished from you sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.' The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God."
I've been feeling like that lately. This guppy swallowed up inside a big fish. I am trying to be faithful in prayer, in HOPEISM, and I am wanting so very much for God to bring me up out of that pit and on to the shore of healing for one son, hopes, purposes, potential fulfilled for the other, a season of rejoicing for Team Guppy.
My Bible companion summed up Micah nicely with these truths:
* God is against those who plan evil.
* God is a righteous judge.
* God will rule forever.
* God expects us to right the wrongs in our own behavior towards others.
* God forgives.
Micah 6:8 says, "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
I'm comforted by that. So often I think I need to save the autism community from all it's injustices, and even on a good day, it's an impossible task. Let alone trying to do that among the many bad days "Life with Autism" throws at me. It's comforting to know that God is against those who plan evil. God is a righteous judge. God will rule. God doesn't expect me to save the world, just to do a better job at righting what I can in my own corner of the world.
Micah 7:7, "But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me."
And what better verse for me to have read today during this season of Lent as I sit here sick with a cold and defeated by more seizures Brandon is having to endure while he is sick too.....
Micah 7:8, "Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light."
My Lord will rise again.
My HOPEISM will shine even brighter.
The enemy will be defeated.
HOOYAH
&
HALLELUJAH
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Much like in my "Life with Autism" lately, in these readings it is more the same in battles and destruction. But as always, God brings a bright spot. I just hope upon Hopeism though that one day I can get to the bright spots without going through the other stuff first.
In Obadiah God is giving the invaders a taste of their own medicine. As they have destroyed the innocent, so will God destroy them. In the Lent season I'm in as I write this, oh how I hope that comes true one day for the vaccine industry. For those who have destroyed our children's health and who make our difficult lives much more difficult. I have so many people and situations in my mind as I type this, it saddens me. Innocent children, innocent parents, being invaded by evil men, evil institutions, evil policies. I can do nothing but cling to the passages where God gives them their due. The innocent are avenged.
Obadiah 1:4 says to the invaders, to the evildoers: "Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down," declares the Lord."
Obadiah 1:15 goes on to say, "The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head."
I don't think I should live my life counting on God to destroy every evildoer I come across, but it is sure comforting to be reminded that God is a just God. He can deliver justice. He did. He does. And He will.
In Jonah God continue his message of judgement. And in doing so, he uses a man I can relate to. Jonah. When I know what the right thing to do is, sometimes I just want to run the opposite direction and not do it. It's hard to keep doing the right thing when everything else is wrong. It would be so easy to just give up. When I know I should be praying, I find myself complaining instead. God understands that. This book is about how God gives second chance to those who take even the tiniest steps in the right direction. Sometimes mine are crawls in the right direction. God doesn't care. He'll take that. And I'm so thankful. Compassion and Grace is not what God gives me because I deserve it, I don't. It's what he gives because of those baby steps or crawls toward him. I'm even more thankful for that. Because like Jonah, in the belly of a big fish is where I sometimes deserve to be.
When God told Jonah to go one way, he went the opposite. And ended up in the belly of a big fish where he prayed this prayer:
Jonah 2:1
"In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the deep, in to the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, 'I have been banished from you sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.' The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God."
I've been feeling like that lately. This guppy swallowed up inside a big fish. I am trying to be faithful in prayer, in HOPEISM, and I am wanting so very much for God to bring me up out of that pit and on to the shore of healing for one son, hopes, purposes, potential fulfilled for the other, a season of rejoicing for Team Guppy.
My Bible companion summed up Micah nicely with these truths:
* God is against those who plan evil.
* God is a righteous judge.
* God will rule forever.
* God expects us to right the wrongs in our own behavior towards others.
* God forgives.
Micah 6:8 says, "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
I'm comforted by that. So often I think I need to save the autism community from all it's injustices, and even on a good day, it's an impossible task. Let alone trying to do that among the many bad days "Life with Autism" throws at me. It's comforting to know that God is against those who plan evil. God is a righteous judge. God will rule. God doesn't expect me to save the world, just to do a better job at righting what I can in my own corner of the world.
Micah 7:7, "But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me."
And what better verse for me to have read today during this season of Lent as I sit here sick with a cold and defeated by more seizures Brandon is having to endure while he is sick too.....
Micah 7:8, "Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light."
My Lord will rise again.
My HOPEISM will shine even brighter.
The enemy will be defeated.
HOOYAH
&
HALLELUJAH
Monday, January 27, 2014
Of Amos and Autism Advocacy...
Day 65
Part Two: Amos 1 - 9
Wow. I think the book of Amos could be about autism advocacy. It's about exploiting the poor and selling justice to the highest briber. Sounds exactly like what we battle against with Pharma and the Vaccine Industry.
And just like with the autism community, God is not using professionals and the highly esteemed to do this work, he is using a lowly farmer to deliver such powerful messages.
Again, just like the grass-roots advocacy of Warrior Mom's and Dad's in the Autism Community.
I love my Bible's commentary on Amos:
Amos boldly speaks God's words and denounces the sins of the people. His example is an excellent one for us today, encouraging us to speak up when we see injustice, to change our ways that conflict with God's ways, and to find hope in the knowledge that God will honor those who are willing to walk with him in righteousness.
I really like Amos. He urges people to do what is right and to reform society. Reform Pharma. Reform the vaccine industry.... I'm so tired of seeing complacency and silence. There are things worth fighting for and there are far too few warriors who will stand up and speak out and fight for them.
In Amos 2 the Lord says: "Because they have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods.......... They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed....... Now then, I will crush you as a cart crushes when loaded with grain. The swift will not escape, the strong will not muster their strength, and the warrior will not save his life. The archer will not stand his ground, the fleet-footed soldier will not get away.... Even the bravest warriors will flee naked on that day," declares the Lord.
Raise your hand if you want to see those responsible for the desolation of our children's health to flee naked!
Ha ha ha, I sure do! I know it's wrong to think that. But this book is about how corruption is going to stop one way or another. Prosperity at the expense of others is not a blessing. The Lord will level the playing field. God will punish those for exploiting our children's health for profit and selling lies to the highest bidder.
Amos 5:14 warns to "Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts.... Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!"
Oh how I long for such a famine of truth throughout the vaccine industry!
Amos 9:11 says, "The days are coming," declares the Sovereign Lord, "when I will send a famine through the land --- not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord."
"In that day I will restore David's fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be...."
"The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman, and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills. I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them," says the Lord your God.
Oh Brandon. Did you hear that? That day is coming...... We will win Brandon. The truth will prevail. One day...... One day soon.....
To HOPEISM....
Part Two: Amos 1 - 9
Wow. I think the book of Amos could be about autism advocacy. It's about exploiting the poor and selling justice to the highest briber. Sounds exactly like what we battle against with Pharma and the Vaccine Industry.
And just like with the autism community, God is not using professionals and the highly esteemed to do this work, he is using a lowly farmer to deliver such powerful messages.
Again, just like the grass-roots advocacy of Warrior Mom's and Dad's in the Autism Community.
I love my Bible's commentary on Amos:
Amos boldly speaks God's words and denounces the sins of the people. His example is an excellent one for us today, encouraging us to speak up when we see injustice, to change our ways that conflict with God's ways, and to find hope in the knowledge that God will honor those who are willing to walk with him in righteousness.
I really like Amos. He urges people to do what is right and to reform society. Reform Pharma. Reform the vaccine industry.... I'm so tired of seeing complacency and silence. There are things worth fighting for and there are far too few warriors who will stand up and speak out and fight for them.
In Amos 2 the Lord says: "Because they have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods.......... They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed....... Now then, I will crush you as a cart crushes when loaded with grain. The swift will not escape, the strong will not muster their strength, and the warrior will not save his life. The archer will not stand his ground, the fleet-footed soldier will not get away.... Even the bravest warriors will flee naked on that day," declares the Lord.
Raise your hand if you want to see those responsible for the desolation of our children's health to flee naked!
Ha ha ha, I sure do! I know it's wrong to think that. But this book is about how corruption is going to stop one way or another. Prosperity at the expense of others is not a blessing. The Lord will level the playing field. God will punish those for exploiting our children's health for profit and selling lies to the highest bidder.
Amos 5:14 warns to "Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts.... Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!"
Oh how I long for such a famine of truth throughout the vaccine industry!
Amos 9:11 says, "The days are coming," declares the Sovereign Lord, "when I will send a famine through the land --- not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord."
"In that day I will restore David's fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be...."
"The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman, and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills. I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them," says the Lord your God.
Oh Brandon. Did you hear that? That day is coming...... We will win Brandon. The truth will prevail. One day...... One day soon.....
To HOPEISM....
Of locusts and a call for loyalty...
Day 65
Part One: Joel 1 - 3
An army of locusts and the prophecy of destruction.
Where Hosea was a book about the unfaithfulness of God's people, Joel is a book where God is calling for loyalty and committed relationship with Him. In a companion book to help me better understand the books of the Bible, I like this commentary that says, "Prophecy is more important for what it reveals about God than for what it reveals about the future. Fulfillment is sure, but the message is primary." Yes, the prophecy is a bit intimidating, but I'm more worried about getting my house in order before that judgement!
The message of Joel is to repent. That the day of judgement is to be feared, and that fear should motivate us to change our ways, repent, and respond to him wholeheartedly.
Joel 1:15 says, "For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty."
God holds the Nations responsible for how they treat his people. I think we as a Nation would do well to take that seriously. We will be held responsible for how we treat God's children. Each other. There will be such reckoning for those who have harmed our innocent vaccine-damaged children for nothing more than profit. I just long for the day of that repentance. For them to acknowledge the harm done, and stop doing it.
But, I digress......
In those times I need to remember the words of the Lord in Joel 2:13 and "Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love...."
For all that has been taken from my son by autism I must remember the words of Joel 2:25 that promise, "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten........"
Through it all I must "Praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you...."
God truly has worked wonders. Today, a Monday of all days, it's been hard to see that. I've let satan steal my thoughts and all I can think of are the unanswered prayers of the last three years. All I can think of are the seizures my son is having today. All I can think of is how many times I've had my hopes up, only to have them shot down in disappointment.
I need to remember more than any prophecy of the future, the right here and right now God I love tells me in Joel 2:27, 28, 32 that "I am the Lord your God."
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Joel 3:16
"But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel."
I need that refuge today.
I need the Lord's stranglehold on satan.
(And his stronghold on me...)
Part One: Joel 1 - 3
An army of locusts and the prophecy of destruction.
Where Hosea was a book about the unfaithfulness of God's people, Joel is a book where God is calling for loyalty and committed relationship with Him. In a companion book to help me better understand the books of the Bible, I like this commentary that says, "Prophecy is more important for what it reveals about God than for what it reveals about the future. Fulfillment is sure, but the message is primary." Yes, the prophecy is a bit intimidating, but I'm more worried about getting my house in order before that judgement!
The message of Joel is to repent. That the day of judgement is to be feared, and that fear should motivate us to change our ways, repent, and respond to him wholeheartedly.
Joel 1:15 says, "For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty."
God holds the Nations responsible for how they treat his people. I think we as a Nation would do well to take that seriously. We will be held responsible for how we treat God's children. Each other. There will be such reckoning for those who have harmed our innocent vaccine-damaged children for nothing more than profit. I just long for the day of that repentance. For them to acknowledge the harm done, and stop doing it.
But, I digress......
In those times I need to remember the words of the Lord in Joel 2:13 and "Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love...."
For all that has been taken from my son by autism I must remember the words of Joel 2:25 that promise, "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten........"
Through it all I must "Praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you...."
God truly has worked wonders. Today, a Monday of all days, it's been hard to see that. I've let satan steal my thoughts and all I can think of are the unanswered prayers of the last three years. All I can think of are the seizures my son is having today. All I can think of is how many times I've had my hopes up, only to have them shot down in disappointment.
I need to remember more than any prophecy of the future, the right here and right now God I love tells me in Joel 2:27, 28, 32 that "I am the Lord your God."
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Joel 3:16
"But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel."
I need that refuge today.
I need the Lord's stranglehold on satan.
(And his stronghold on me...)
Of Unfaithful people and Unending idols
Day 64
Hosea 1 - 14
Spiritual adultery, foreign Gods, and idols unending seem to be the theme. Honestly, I sit here and think, "How dumb can they be" with all their foreign Gods and idols and refusal to just obey. God has said, "Just Don't Do It" for like a million pages now. Yet they still do. And then I think, "Am I that dumb" too with my idols, the things or people in my life that I place before God?
Is my God just one god in a gallery of gods in my life? Autism, Facebook, Autism, anything but God? I would never even consider adultery against my husband, but yet by having other idols in my life, that's what I'm doing to God. Egads.... The book of Hosea says spiritual polygamy is nothing but adultery. God loves us as we love our children. No matter what sins they commit, we still love them unconditionally. Yet there is a punishment that must occur as we wait with HOPEISM that our prodigal children will return to us. To obedience.
My God telling Hosea to marry Gomer, an unfaithful, adulterous wife, He is letting us know what it's like for him and his covenant with the unfaithful people of Israel who continually defy his decrees of obedience.
Hosea 4:1-3 says, Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed."
That sounds familiar in this day and age, sadly.
Hosea 4:12 goes on, "....They consult a wooden idol and are answered by a stick of wood. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God."
One thing I can say in my favor, is that I have come to the realization that man's medicine and physicians are no longer my idol. I have consulted them "as a wooden idol" and trust me, it was even less than "a stick of wood" that answered. That has been the most rewarding thing in the healing of my son. To not put those people above God. When most are even lower than a snake in their profit-seeking and their own refusal to think on their own.
I have to laugh at how many "wooden idol's" I have sought as greater than God. Self-help books, programs, methods, medicine, even the best intentioned and bestest of friends are not to be sought out first before seeking out God.
Hosea 6:1-3 says, "Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."
In Hosea 13 and 14 I can just see myself saying some of those things to my son when he was young. The old, "I brought you into this world and I can take you out...." lecture.
Hosea 13:4
"But I am the Lord your God, who brought you out o Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but me, no Savior except me. I cared for you in the sesert, in the land of burning heat. When I fed them, they were satisfied......"
I know God isn't a snarky God, but I can so totally see Him wanting to smirk just a bit when he asks in Hosea 13:9, this question: "You are destroyed, O Israel, because you are against me, against your helper. Where is your king, that he may save you? Where are your rulers in all your towns, of whom you said, 'Give me a king and princes'?"
Where is your fix-all book that will fix all for you? Where is your doctor who will cure what only I can? I just have to laugh. Truly, where are all those idols we put above God, when we need them? I guess just like in adultery, we run to others or to things or to new churches or new doctors to fix what only God can. We follow the latest and greatest and not the tried and true.
But alas, HOPEISM always shines and God is in the business of restoration for those who return and repent.
Hosea 14 says:
"Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God."
"....return to the Lord."
"Forgive all our sins..."
"I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them."
I love this line and sit here reminding myself of it as it applies to my own idols that I put before God...
Hosea 14:3
"We will never again say 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made......"
I love how this book ends...
Hosea 14:9
"Who is wise? He will realize these things, Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them."
To walking with God and not stumbling with satan,
HOOYAH!
Hosea 1 - 14
Spiritual adultery, foreign Gods, and idols unending seem to be the theme. Honestly, I sit here and think, "How dumb can they be" with all their foreign Gods and idols and refusal to just obey. God has said, "Just Don't Do It" for like a million pages now. Yet they still do. And then I think, "Am I that dumb" too with my idols, the things or people in my life that I place before God?
Is my God just one god in a gallery of gods in my life? Autism, Facebook, Autism, anything but God? I would never even consider adultery against my husband, but yet by having other idols in my life, that's what I'm doing to God. Egads.... The book of Hosea says spiritual polygamy is nothing but adultery. God loves us as we love our children. No matter what sins they commit, we still love them unconditionally. Yet there is a punishment that must occur as we wait with HOPEISM that our prodigal children will return to us. To obedience.
My God telling Hosea to marry Gomer, an unfaithful, adulterous wife, He is letting us know what it's like for him and his covenant with the unfaithful people of Israel who continually defy his decrees of obedience.
Hosea 4:1-3 says, Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed."
That sounds familiar in this day and age, sadly.
Hosea 4:12 goes on, "....They consult a wooden idol and are answered by a stick of wood. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God."
One thing I can say in my favor, is that I have come to the realization that man's medicine and physicians are no longer my idol. I have consulted them "as a wooden idol" and trust me, it was even less than "a stick of wood" that answered. That has been the most rewarding thing in the healing of my son. To not put those people above God. When most are even lower than a snake in their profit-seeking and their own refusal to think on their own.
I have to laugh at how many "wooden idol's" I have sought as greater than God. Self-help books, programs, methods, medicine, even the best intentioned and bestest of friends are not to be sought out first before seeking out God.
Hosea 6:1-3 says, "Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."
In Hosea 13 and 14 I can just see myself saying some of those things to my son when he was young. The old, "I brought you into this world and I can take you out...." lecture.
Hosea 13:4
"But I am the Lord your God, who brought you out o Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but me, no Savior except me. I cared for you in the sesert, in the land of burning heat. When I fed them, they were satisfied......"
I know God isn't a snarky God, but I can so totally see Him wanting to smirk just a bit when he asks in Hosea 13:9, this question: "You are destroyed, O Israel, because you are against me, against your helper. Where is your king, that he may save you? Where are your rulers in all your towns, of whom you said, 'Give me a king and princes'?"
Where is your fix-all book that will fix all for you? Where is your doctor who will cure what only I can? I just have to laugh. Truly, where are all those idols we put above God, when we need them? I guess just like in adultery, we run to others or to things or to new churches or new doctors to fix what only God can. We follow the latest and greatest and not the tried and true.
But alas, HOPEISM always shines and God is in the business of restoration for those who return and repent.
Hosea 14 says:
"Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God."
"....return to the Lord."
"Forgive all our sins..."
"I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them."
I love this line and sit here reminding myself of it as it applies to my own idols that I put before God...
Hosea 14:3
"We will never again say 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made......"
I love how this book ends...
Hosea 14:9
"Who is wise? He will realize these things, Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them."
To walking with God and not stumbling with satan,
HOOYAH!
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
The Sovereign Savior who Saves...
Day 63
Daniel 1-12
I would love to be Daniel. Would love the ability to interpret dreams. To have such insight. But that's not the way it works, as is shared in Daniel 2:26 when the king asked Daniel, "Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?" Daniel replied, "no wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries...."
I have many mysteries I need revealed. Why such disappointment in things, such hardship, such unfairness. Such suffering in my son's seizures.
The book of Daniel partly answers that with sovereignty. Yahweh is a sovereign God. He is able to deliver us from anything, yet at times for reasons only HE knows, He chooses not to. And I just need to be humbled by that. How God is sovereign over kings, nations, empires, and yes, even autism. He is in control and there is purpose in all things He does, or doesn't do. In the book of Daniel that kingdom they were waiting for would take longer than expected. Kinda like the autism recovery and seizure healing that I have been waiting for for over a decade now. But in the meantime we must live out our faith, or HOPEISM, in the midst of an unbelieving world, trusting in God for deliverance and protection. For me in the case of "Life with Autism" -- I must live out my HOPEISM in the midst of defeat after defeat, setback after setback...... Trusting God for deliverance and protection.
I am encouraged by what Daniel 2:20 says:
"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him....."
He is Sovereign...
In Daniel 6:26 --
"For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions."
God's sovereignty is such that He can, will, often does, rescue me and my son, as He rescued Daniel from the den of lions.
I love the story here in Daniel about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace... In Daniel 3:17 it says, "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it... But even if he does not...we will not serve your gods."
They were saved by God. In a blazing furnace and not a singed hair on their head. My son was helping a widow in our church one summer. Mowing and cutting down brush and limbs. He was doing his best as a teenager to serve in a way that he could. He had all that brush and grass and stumps and limbs in a huge pile to burn. He poured way too much gas on the pile and as he lit it, the wind picked up and a huge heat bubble engulfed him. From in the house, the widow said it sounded like a bomb was dropped in her yard. The heat in his face scared our son, rightly so, and when he came home and I saw his red face we immediately went to the Emergency Room. I was afraid blisters would form, scars, disfiguration, etc. But he checked out fine. Some singed hairs, but no blisters, no burns, no scars. Nothing. Like with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, -- there was most certainly an angel in that brush pile shielding him from the brunt of that heat bubble. The Sovereign God that could have allowed for him to be burned, had rescued and saved him. Performed signs and wonders for him to stand in amazement of that day.
I will always remember that miracle.
There are many times I've felt scorched by my son's seizures. Burned by autism. But that day when my son survived such an explosion, walking through the fiery furnace with not a burn, reminds me that there have been many more days that I haven't been burned. Many more times my son wasn't hurt by seizure falls than the times he was.
This book reminds me that obedience is rewarded. And even in the times it seems it isn't, I'll still be obedient anyway.......
I'll still obediently serve the Sovereign Savior who Saves.
There is such HOPEISM in that...
Daniel 1-12
I would love to be Daniel. Would love the ability to interpret dreams. To have such insight. But that's not the way it works, as is shared in Daniel 2:26 when the king asked Daniel, "Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?" Daniel replied, "no wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries...."
I have many mysteries I need revealed. Why such disappointment in things, such hardship, such unfairness. Such suffering in my son's seizures.
The book of Daniel partly answers that with sovereignty. Yahweh is a sovereign God. He is able to deliver us from anything, yet at times for reasons only HE knows, He chooses not to. And I just need to be humbled by that. How God is sovereign over kings, nations, empires, and yes, even autism. He is in control and there is purpose in all things He does, or doesn't do. In the book of Daniel that kingdom they were waiting for would take longer than expected. Kinda like the autism recovery and seizure healing that I have been waiting for for over a decade now. But in the meantime we must live out our faith, or HOPEISM, in the midst of an unbelieving world, trusting in God for deliverance and protection. For me in the case of "Life with Autism" -- I must live out my HOPEISM in the midst of defeat after defeat, setback after setback...... Trusting God for deliverance and protection.
I am encouraged by what Daniel 2:20 says:
"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him....."
He is Sovereign...
In Daniel 6:26 --
"For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions."
God's sovereignty is such that He can, will, often does, rescue me and my son, as He rescued Daniel from the den of lions.
I love the story here in Daniel about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace... In Daniel 3:17 it says, "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it... But even if he does not...we will not serve your gods."
They were saved by God. In a blazing furnace and not a singed hair on their head. My son was helping a widow in our church one summer. Mowing and cutting down brush and limbs. He was doing his best as a teenager to serve in a way that he could. He had all that brush and grass and stumps and limbs in a huge pile to burn. He poured way too much gas on the pile and as he lit it, the wind picked up and a huge heat bubble engulfed him. From in the house, the widow said it sounded like a bomb was dropped in her yard. The heat in his face scared our son, rightly so, and when he came home and I saw his red face we immediately went to the Emergency Room. I was afraid blisters would form, scars, disfiguration, etc. But he checked out fine. Some singed hairs, but no blisters, no burns, no scars. Nothing. Like with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, -- there was most certainly an angel in that brush pile shielding him from the brunt of that heat bubble. The Sovereign God that could have allowed for him to be burned, had rescued and saved him. Performed signs and wonders for him to stand in amazement of that day.
I will always remember that miracle.
There are many times I've felt scorched by my son's seizures. Burned by autism. But that day when my son survived such an explosion, walking through the fiery furnace with not a burn, reminds me that there have been many more days that I haven't been burned. Many more times my son wasn't hurt by seizure falls than the times he was.
This book reminds me that obedience is rewarded. And even in the times it seems it isn't, I'll still be obedient anyway.......
I'll still obediently serve the Sovereign Savior who Saves.
There is such HOPEISM in that...
Friday, January 10, 2014
Renewed, Rebuilt, & Restored...
Day 62
Ezekiel 35 - 48
It's fitting that I'm on the last day's reading in Ezekiel this first week of January. A new year. Clean slate.
The people of Israel are experiencing that as this book ends. A rebirth. A new era. A clean slate. God has returned and will dwell among his people. He will be their sanctuary. Their Yahweh. To match the greatness of the destruction they experienced, even greater will be His glory than ever before.
Are you needing that this New Year? I know I am. I want that. I so desire it I can feel it. I want the past few years of seizure destruction to be restored to even greater health than Brandon has ever seen. I want the destruction of disappointments we've faced to be restored to even greater glory that what we could ever imagine.
I want that new heart - as God promises in Ezekiel 36:24
"I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all you impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh......you will be my people and I will be your God."
Ezekiel 36:33
"On the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will resettle your towns, and the ruins will be rebuilt."
Ezekiel 36:36
"Then the nations around you that remain will know that I the Lord have rebuilt what was destroyed and have replanted what was desolate."
Ezekiel 39:27
"When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will show myself holy through them in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord."
I just love the timing in this. Beginning the New Year with such HOPEISM of restoration, renewal, rebuilding. The temple being rebuilt to grander glory and filled with an even greater Glory of the Lord Himself.
Ezekiel ends with these words:
"And the name of the city from that time on will be: The Lord is There."
Yes, He is there...
And I'm so thankful that for me, my husband, my son, my family -- for this New Year and for all our hopes and dreams for this New Year --- He's here too.
HOOYAH
&
HALLELUJAH
Ezekiel 35 - 48
It's fitting that I'm on the last day's reading in Ezekiel this first week of January. A new year. Clean slate.
The people of Israel are experiencing that as this book ends. A rebirth. A new era. A clean slate. God has returned and will dwell among his people. He will be their sanctuary. Their Yahweh. To match the greatness of the destruction they experienced, even greater will be His glory than ever before.
Are you needing that this New Year? I know I am. I want that. I so desire it I can feel it. I want the past few years of seizure destruction to be restored to even greater health than Brandon has ever seen. I want the destruction of disappointments we've faced to be restored to even greater glory that what we could ever imagine.
I want that new heart - as God promises in Ezekiel 36:24
"I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all you impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh......you will be my people and I will be your God."
Ezekiel 36:33
"On the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will resettle your towns, and the ruins will be rebuilt."
Ezekiel 36:36
"Then the nations around you that remain will know that I the Lord have rebuilt what was destroyed and have replanted what was desolate."
Ezekiel 39:27
"When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will show myself holy through them in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord."
I just love the timing in this. Beginning the New Year with such HOPEISM of restoration, renewal, rebuilding. The temple being rebuilt to grander glory and filled with an even greater Glory of the Lord Himself.
Ezekiel ends with these words:
"And the name of the city from that time on will be: The Lord is There."
Yes, He is there...
And I'm so thankful that for me, my husband, my son, my family -- for this New Year and for all our hopes and dreams for this New Year --- He's here too.
HOOYAH
&
HALLELUJAH
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