Love Notes

 

I reached into my desk drawer yesterday morning looking for something else when I found this.
And maybe because the Lord, in His kindness, knew I needed to read it.
Needed to be reminded.

And I remember the day she wrote it.
I don’t recall the year exactly, but I can see the day… the moment in my mind.

I was having a difficult day.
I was in a challenging season.
And in true Chloe fashion, she sensed it.
Her God-given discerning spirit felt it too.
And as she had done so many times before, the little girl, who was likely not much older than 9 and in the fourth grade, encouraged this momma beyond words.

Two sentences.
On a scrap piece of paper.
Eleven years ago.
And it’s still speaking volumes to my weary heart.

My sweet hubby has often questioned why I “keep” so many seemingly “unnecessary” things.  Why I have a sometimes irrational association to inanimate objects.
We laugh over the fact that one day, upon my passing, someone will have to sort through pages (upon pages) of journals, boxes of notes and cards, and crates of photo albums and memorabilia of days gone by.

And this is why.

Because God uses them to remind me in the difficult days, that He is still good, I am still loved, and that what I have done this side of eternity matters.

It did to a little girl watching from the sidelines who loved her momma, and wanted her to know it too.

Who do you love?
Who matters to you?
Who has made a difference in your life?

Tell them.
Take the time to encourage those God has placed in your story.

Don’t waste another minute thinking your words won’t matter.
They do.

You never know what a text message can do for someone.
Or a hand-written one - like this.

Don’t miss an opportunity to be the person you wish you’d had when you were struggling.

Happy Monday, friends.  Let’s go out and love!

The Breaker

 

Micah, chapter 2. The idea is of Jesus as The Breaker.

The text to focus in on today is 12 and 13, “Someday, O Israel, I will gather you; I will gather the remnant who are left. I will bring you together again like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture. Yes, your land will again be filled with noisy crowds! Your leader will break out, and lead you out of exile, out through the gates of the enemy cities, back to your own land. Your king will lead you, the Lord Himself will guide you.”

Wow.

Such hope for us in 2020 even!

He will gather the remnant left.
He will gather His sheep.
Our land will be restored once again.
Our leader will break us out of captivity.
Our breaker will remove us from enemy territory.
Our God will lead us.
Our God will guide us.

Wow… such hope to claim in this text!

And then I read this in my commentary the other morning…
“Many of us know not the bondage in which we are held. We are chained by sin, chained to the habit of evil with a strength of which you never know till you try to shake it off. Our condition is not only one of bondage to evil, but also one of separation from God.”

The trouble is that most of us have no idea the literal trouble we are in until it separates us from God. Then we feel it.

But we have a Breaker who fights for us… to gather us, restore us, and break us free from chains of evil.

God is a Chain Breaker (Is 61:1-2, Acts 5, 12, 15.)
He is our breaker of chains.
And for those who are called of Christ… those who are His followers… His disciples… His sheep… He has broken the chains of our captivity… so that we no longer have to live in defeat, despair, discouragement, and depression.
We no longer have to live in the habit of evil.

My commentary goes on to say this, “It is not possible that we should be holding of the impotent chains that He has broken.”

And yet - even knowing He is the chain breaker… how many of us live still clinging to things we ought to have learned by now to let go of?

Because after all … He died for that!
 

And I have been thinking this over and over again in the last several months of my life. What am I still unnecessarily holding on to that I need to let go of - because Jesus died for it! He died that I wouldn’t have to carry it around any longer.

You can make your own list!
Things might include:

• depression
• sickness
• fear
• anxiety
• dread 
• regret
• comparison

And these are just to name a few.

I invite you to ask yourself the question too… What are the things I must let go of - because Jesus BOUGHT and PAID FOR THEM IN FULL at the cross!?

He is our Breaker.
And He has broken us free from the weight of all that separates us from Him.

Today… it’s time to live differently!

The Shepherd's Voice

 

John 10:1-5 says this, “I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”

I love the fact that our Shepherd’s voice (Jesus’ voice) is recognized by His sheep (you and me, as Christ followers.)

Jesus... our Good Shepherd is so active as our Provider, our Protector, and our Friend.

He opens the gate
He calls His own sheep by name
He leads them out
He gathers those who are His own
He walks ahead of them

But something else stood out to me in these passages.

It’s found in verse 5. It says this in the NLT, “They won’t follow a stranger, they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”

In the Kenneth Wuest translation, it says it this way, “… they do not know the voice of others.”

I love this.

The reason we “know His voice” is because we have familiarized ourselves with it.

We have read His Word.
We have spent time in prayer.

We have made good use of listening. We stay within earshot, always seeking to perceive His assignment.

It’s a great privilege to be spoken to by the Good Shepherd, and it’s also a tremendous responsibility to actively engage upon the nourishment and security of our own spiritual souls. We must be attentive to what He’s saying and stay attentive to His every word.

My commentary says this, “Nothing is easier than to stop our ears.”

So becomes the things we must focus on:

We must know our need of His voice.
We must familiarize ourselves with His voice.
We must stay aware, awake, and alive.

Everything hangs on our willingness to listen.

AND we must un-familiarize ourselves with the voice of others. De-program it from our consciousness.

Who am I habitually listening to?

Let’s lean in and beg God to make us single-focused when it comes to our attention, our awareness, and our discernment.

May HIS voice forever be the only one we hear!

Between Fruit and More Fruit is a Knife

 

When we moved into this house just over a year ago, the outside needed a lot of attention.
And to be honest, home exterior is my weakness.
Give me the inside and I’m good.
Let me organize the furniture, hang the wall art, arrange the seasonal decor and I’ve got it.
But plant the flowers, pull the weeds, trim the shrubs… that has always proved most challenging to me.

But this year I decided early on that I was going to do it.
I… was going to be a lover of the outdoors.
I… was going to plant flowers.  Oh - and take care of them!
I… was going to focus some time and energy on sprucing up our yard.
I just didn’t know all the work it would actually take.

And truth be told, it’s not where we’d like it be…. but we’re getting close.
We’ve planted the flowers.  And I’ve managed NOT to kill one.  Well… not completely.
We’ve pulled the weeds.  MANY MANY MANY a weed has succumb to my determined hands!
We’ve laid the mulch.  No one told us how often you have to “add” to mulch beds.  Like… seriously… where DOES it disappear to?
We’ve defined the beds around the trees.  This may or may not have been reason for Trevor Bender to have purchased another tool for his repertoire.  It IS a pretty amazing tool though, I must say.
We’ve pulled up pavers that had been grass-covered for years.  One night we spent nearly 3 hours pulling up embedded stones from the original ground covering.  Literally, HUNDREDS of stones were uprooted and transplanted to our rock garden.
We’ve added pavers.  This job took way longer than vision of it gives credit!

And possibly what I am most proud of is a couple plants I managed to “save” from the brink of death.  Like… full on resurrection, folks.  
Oh the things I never imagined were possible!

Earlier this summer I spent a great deal of time on what appeared to be a “giant weed.”
Despite my sweet hubby’s repeated comments to “let the poor thing die”, my thought insisted - “see what this thing CAN be first!”

Then I would decide what needed to be done.

I started with pruning it.
And pruning it.
And pruning it.
I’d come out every day and attempt to “nurse it back to health.”
And every day it simply looked like, “just another casualty” in the long line of horticulture misfortunes that have become a part of my agricultural resume.

But then… one day not long ago… I saw it!
There… in the middle of the green leaves were PINK FLOWERS.
And this picture doesn’t do it justice.
It’s the largest of the plants we have growing along the backside of our home.

There… amidst what once was lifeless and on the threshold of extermination… is the hope of something beautiful.

And it’s in the gardens I am reminded of His life and His words the most.

“He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”  John 15:2.

I had heard a pastor say it some time ago and found it just this morning in a journal.  I opened right to it and it was like the Lord was reminding me.  “He prunes to produce more fruit.  And in between ‘fruit’ and ‘more fruit’ is a knife.”

There have been hard days where what was evident in my own life was not pretty.
Times when God, in His kindness, had to wield the knife to prune back all that does not belong.
And though painful, it wasn’t without purpose and divine production.
Pruning always results in augmentation.  It’s victory is always increase.
And we, who brave the operation, always are the benefactors of His lacerations.
He cuts and we improve by the removal of weeds that no longer have a place in our temple.

Oh He wants to produce much in your life and through your life.
And He doesn’t always do it through blessing… sometimes He has to do it through blade.

Will we let Him make the necessary cuts?
The finished product will be so… so worth it!

Trust me.
No… trust Him!

What Stars Are Visible?

 

I remember first coming upon it when I was going through the book of Isaiah at the start of this pandemic. And for whatever reason, God has brought me back to it on more than a couple occasions since.

It’s Isaiah 21, verses 11 and 12. They say this,

“This message came to me concerning Edom: Someone from Edom keeps calling to me, 'Watchman, how much longer until morning? When will the night be over?” The watchman replies, ‘Morning is coming, but night will soon return. If you wish to ask again, then come back and ask.’”

I was reading in a commentary by Charles Spurgeon and it says this, “let us observe the signs of the times, and prepare for conflict.”

And I have to be honest that I struggled with that when I first read the words.

“Prepare for conflict.”

And yet I know it’s true.

Conflict and hardship is promised to the believer of Jesus Christ.

“In this world we WILL have trouble.”

It’s a promise straight from His Holy Word.

But I wonder as I continue on reading Spurgeons words, “Watchman, what of the night? What stars are visible? What precious promises suit out present ease?” And further reading, “Watchman, when comes the morning? Are there no signs of His coming fourth as the Sun of Righteousness? Has not the Morning Star arisen as the pledge of the day?”

“What stars are visible?”

I know so many of us right now are in a season of “waiting.” And I know many of us - if not most of are - are looking for the question to be answered, “How much longer until morning?”

We’re asking it in these uncertain, times of trial and unrest…. “When will the morning come? How much longer will we have to endure the night?”

And to that I return to his words in the commentary… “What stars are visible?”

What do you see?

What can you see in the midst of the darkness?

What beauty can still be witnessed in the darkest, blackest night?

God has given us promise after promise in His word.

He has been so faithful to provide for us - rest in the chaos.

Joy in the pain.

Laughter through the tears.

And morning is coming.

But while we wait… what stars are visible????

Remember Me... Remember Them

Nehemiah was a great leader who given an assignment by God to help the people of Jerusalem rebuild the city's walls in spite of great opposition. It is a tremendous book that gives numerous insights of leadership, hard work, dedication, and ultimate success.

The key focus on much of the book that bears his name is PRAYER. Nehemiah based his service to God on the foundation of prayer.

Six times throughout the book of Nehemiah, he uses a repeated word - and one I happen to love.
The word is - REMEMBER.

As he prays, he asks God several times to, “Remember” him or others.

You can look for yourselves here:
5:19, 6:14, 13:14, 13:22, 13:29, and 13:31.

The two centralized “remembers” here are:
remember all I have done, God.
remember the evil done against me, you, and others, God.

The word “remember” here is the Hebrew word “zakerah” and it means, “to mark.”

In other words, Nehemiah is asking God to remember him… to mark him for “all I have done for these people”, “all the evil things they have done”, “my good deeds”, what we have tried doing as others are “defiling the priesthood”, “this, my favor.”

And so it becomes our pattern of prayer we must consider.

Remember, oh God.
Remember all that I have done.
Remember all the evil they have done.

Asking God to “remember” us is understandable.  Of course we’d want Him to remember the good we have done.  But if I’m being honest, the one that I struggled with at first, was Nehemiah praying that God would “remember” the evil others did.

Nehemiah served so well… so faithfully and so devotedly. And while he did, he struggled as he witnessed all kinds of evil being done - particularly against God. So when he asks the Lord to remember their evil, he’s basically saying - “Remember it, so I don’t have to. Remember the evil doers, that they will ultimately come into conversion for themselves. But I take it out of my hands and into yours, God. It’s too much for me to carry on my own and belongs in your hands of judgement.”

And it’s so much needed in our world today.
When we look around and all we seem to see is evil.  Hate.  Disgust.  Shaming.  Blaming.  Criticism.  Anger.  It might be easy for us to point to it while insisting on remembering it ourselves.  
But we learn so much by his prayer.
Nehemiah says it best, “Remember the evil they have done.”
Remember it so I can let it go.
You and I were not created to haul around with us the memory of evil.
We can simply acknowledge it and then pray to God, the ultimate Judge, to take care of it.

It might be time to pray differently.
God - remember me.
God - remember them.