This Day Ordained

(a variation on an original posting from 10/6/08)

I don't have much time here today, but wanted to share with you just a little of what God is putting on my heart. My time with the Lord has been so precious lately, and it seems that every little piece of scripture speaks right to my heart and where I am now. The ever-changing application of scripture always makes me think of Isaiah 55:10,11:

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Indeed, the Lord's word will not return empty! I would also like to HIGHLY recommend this book for praying the scriptures: Kenneth Boa's Face to Face
My mom recommended it to me and I have loved it. For me, it is the best book I have found about consistently praying the scriptures, not just when you need to pray over a certain stronghold. It never fails to bring tears to my eyes.

Today, one of the prayers included a portion of Psalm 139:
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Psalm 139:13-16

I had to pause over the last sentence in v. 16: All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Ordained: one definition is, "confer holy orders on".

This day. This Tuesday. This Tuesday that has changed plans minimum 15 times and it's barely begun. This Tuesday full of insurance claims, my aging body, boxes to pack, laundry, missed deadlines and looming deadlines, movers to schedule, and 12 other things I feel certain I have forgotten. This day has been ordained for me and written in His book. All of the clutter and dirt and bills and obstacles are all part of the day He ordained for me.

They are blessings and distractions, responsibilities and privileges, all capable of being offered up as a sacrifice of praise. I must have forgotten Beth's encouragement to us to get up every morning, look in the mirror, and say, "I am a PRINCESS! I have an inheritance!" I AM a princess, and today my inheritance is to do the little things with holiness. For today has been ordained for me.

I have become convinced, more than ever, that God's glory is in this day, just like every other. My prayer through all of this craziness in my life is not to miss it. May my eyes be trained to seek out His glory and goodness in this day. This day ordained for me.

Tuesday became Monday

I think it was when we had MLK day back in January that someone commented that the rest of the week seems to want to pay us back for missing a day. Indeed, yesterday felt that way! I had a pretty tight schedule, but I was packed and ready to go. I was not, however, prepared to walk out of the gym and find this:

Bummer. Not in my schedule.

Y'all, I can change a tire. As a matter of fact, I changed a friend's tire in college after chapel, causing quite a stir by the chivalry-wanna-be's walking by: "Uh.... y'all need any help?" "Nope. Got it." "Ooooh-kay..." But that was when I drove a cute little compact thing, spare and jack neatly under the mat in the hatch. In this instance, I did what any other woman on the planet would do: I called my husband on the brink of tears.

He very wisely told me I was going to have to move it from the incline it was on to change the tire. Oh, right. Check. But I'm here to tell you, if it were up to me to figure out how to get the spare out from under an SUV, I would still be there. In tears. Thankfully, I had not, as I have threatened to do on more than one occasion, thrown our fancy-schmancy hydraulic jack that weighs approximately 142 pounds out on the side of the road after shuffling it hither and yon inside the car trying to put groceries in there. Did you know that the jack that comes on a 2000 Ford Expedition (yes, my car is older than all of you, I know, but IT. IS. ALL. MINE!!) will not actually jack it up? Hence the fancy-schmancy hydraulic jack that weighs approximately 142 pounds.

So bless that sweet man, he drove all the way across town (yes, all 15 minutes for you D/FW readers -- it's a LONG way here, okay?) changed my tire. It took both of us and our college degrees to figure out our fancy-schmancy hydraulic jack that weighs approximately 142 pounds, as well as the spare-removal deal.

Spare, of course, had about 12 pounds of pressure in it. Went to the nearest 7-11 to put air in. Fed the air machine $.75, in quarters, per instructions. Nada. Limped along to my tire place. Tire place fixed my tire (nail) and filled my spare and switched them both out.

Boom. Done. About 1.5 hours later, I was on my way. I completely missed my haircut. The forecast is ponytails for the rest of the week.

So, I went on my way. I made my Meals on Wheels run, and spending just a few extra minutes with one of my folks absolutely blessed my socks off.

Got home and had a few minutes before getting Ashley to the orthodontist. I had email after email that, in short, let me know that God heard. Yesterday, as I fretted and worried, God heard. Last week, when I poured out my heart, God heard. Months ago, when I dared to dream big, God heard. And yesterday I was reminded of all the ways that God heard. He didn't magically fix everything -- and certainly there was an ultra-flat tire in my day -- but he heard.

And I was reminded again of this day ordained for me. A day of not-much special, full of God and His work. A day of irritations and surprises, God in it all.

The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry;
The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;

Psalm 34:15-19

And can I get an Amen on that?

This Day Ordained for You

Well, where in heaven's name have I been? Gracious -- I even had some blogs written up, and never got in here to even press 'post'!! (and don't tell me I can schedule them to post -- it doesn't work on this blog! straight from 'scheduled' to 'draft' for some reason and I've given up trying to solve it -- I'm just working around it). Had a wonderful weekend with my parents coming in to see Ashley's volleyball tournament and Riley's soccer game. A phone call from the nurse on Thursday canceled out the soccer game! Riley twisted his ankle, but thank goodness, no break and he even ran his laps today at school. Actually, it greatly un-complicated our Saturday! It was straight volleyball, Mann Falcons 1st place -- both the 7th grade and 8th grade teams. Obviously, I'm proud beyond proud of my Mann Falcon, but I'm also very grateful for the coaches Ashley has, and sweet teammates. Her coach speaks kindly to her team, and the team speaks kindly to each other (for the most part -- they are 7th grade girls, after all). In my world, that's the way it works: nice coaches + nice team = 1st place. I know it doesn't always work that way, but it does in my happy little world!

I don't even have much time here today, but wanted to share with you just a little of what God is putting on my heart. My time with the Lord has been so precious lately, and it seems that every little piece of scripture speaks right to my heart and where I am now. The ever-changing application of scripture always makes me think of Isaiah 55:10,11:

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Indeed, the Lord's word will not return empty! I would also like to HIGHLY recommend this book for praying the scriptures: Kenneth Boa's Face to Face
My mom recommended it to me last year and I have loved it. For me, it is the best book I have found about consistently praying the scriptures, not just when you need to pray over a certain stronghold. It never fails to bring tears to my eyes.

Today, one of the prayers included a portion of Psalm 139:
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Psalm 139:13-16

I had to pause over the last sentence in v. 16: All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Ordained: one definition is, "confer holy orders on". This day. This Monday. This Monday that has changed plans minimum 15 times and it's barely half-over. This Monday full of car trouble, my aging body, my son's wobbly ankles, laundry, missed deadlines and looming deadlines. This day has been ordained for me and written in His book. All of the clutter and dirt and bills and obstacles are all part of the day He ordained for me. They are blessings and distractions, responsibilities and privileges, all capable of being offered up as a sacrifice of praise. I must have forgotten Beth's encouragement to us to get up every morning, look in the mirror, and say, "I am a PRINCESS! I have an inheritance!" I AM a princess, and today my inheritance is to do the little things with holiness. For today has been ordained for me.

Here I Am to Worship...

So, last week I laid it out there: I don't go to church to worship. *gasp*

I actually started that post (and the next) to talk about worship, and got side-tracked about church. I started thinking on those things for several reasons. First, the church where I worship has started making an intentional difference in our two morning services. The second service is 'less traditional' in nature. And our 'more traditional' service is struggling over some bumps of its own. This, as you might imagine if you are a regular attender somewhere, has ruffled a few feathers and created some exciting end-of-the-pew discussion. I have also been included in some committee discussions regarding planning worship. Our 'corporate worship' time has been on my mind lately.

Someone is unhappy with the song choices. Or song tempo. Or song leader. Others aren't happy with the screens/ temperature/ preacher/ what-have-you. And -- true confessions -- I'm right there with them in many regards. As I mentioned -- you can't plan a perfect worship for me, especially if there are people involved!

While all of this ha-rumphing was fresh on my mind, I sat down and encountered notes from a worship conference I attended last summer. This was on the top page:

Evaluating worship based on doing the right things in the right way or 'did it make me feel good' is having low expectations. Instead, evaluate worship on whether or not God showed up. There is NO worship renewal without expecting to meet the Almighty God. (Randy Harris)

That quote makes me feel better about not feeling like I am really able to worship at church. Oh, I feel certain the Almighty God is THERE -- but I am only able to worship Him by serving His people while in 'the assembly', not by chatting with Him and listening to Him. The best part is -- I'm not missing my time with God if I don't get it inside the church building. The Almighty God shows up to talk to me and walk beside me on my morning walk. He listens so patiently while I fold the clothes. He blesses us again and again while I pray over carpool. My entire life -- SHOULD I CHOOSE TO DO SO -- can be a time of worship, complete with the presence of the Almighty God. Because He will ALWAYS show up -- I just have to show up, as well.

And while the songs sung or words said or images displayed at church may or may not stir my soul, I can still worship because I will be in the presence of the Almighty God.

May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. Psalm 141:2

Going Home

by Sarah Stirman
on heartlight

The phone call came on a Tuesday morning, just as my family was yawning awake to face another busy day. Not at all unexpected, but unwilling to verbalize what was reality, my dad simply said, "Well, you know why I've called." And I did. My grandfather's victory was won: he was finally free of a body imprisoned by pain.

I set about my day making plans for leaving my home — getting my children's school work squared away, church obligations taken care of, and substitute plans in place for my absence. My husband performed the same juggling act for his work. The next morning we packed up here, my "grown-up home" where I have a family and a job and a mortgage and friends and church family and church obligations — and headed to my childhood home. We left West Texas, with its scrubby mesquite trees and arid climate and drove to my childhood home, the claustrophobic embracing trees of North Louisiana with its oppressive humidity and heat. We gathered to celebrate the life — earthly and eternal — of my grandfather, a crucial part of my heritage of faith.

The morning we left Louisiana, I took a walk as the rest of the world came awake. I watched the sun rise over the bayou and cherished this place, my home — the place that knows my people, my kin, the place that knows from whence I came, the place that has known me and loved me from the beginning. It is so comfortable here. Here I feel so much "at home" ... but not quite.

My thoughts turned to my "grown-up home," where I would be going later that day — the place where my friends surround me and love me in spite of my weaknesses, the place where I raise my family and serve the Lord in His church. So much "at home" ... but not quite.

Then I thought of my grandfather. He was finally home. He was where I long to be. The world says, "You can never go home again." Scripture says, "I am going to prepare a place for you" (John 14:1-3). We haven't even been home yet! The world says, "Home is where the heart is." Scripture says, "Set your mind on things above" (Colossians 3:1-4).

Our heavenly home knows from whence we came:

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb (Psalm 139:13).My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,your eyes saw my unformed body.All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:15-16).

Our heavenly home also loves us in spite of our weaknesses. Better yet, "My power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Paul reminded the Philippians of our citizenship in heaven (Philippians 3:20-21). Each time a precious saint of this earth passes into heaven, I am reminded again that this earthly house and body that I am blessed with are only meant to be temporary shelter, not a permanent dwelling (2 Corinthians 5:1-10).

Lord, don't let the attractions of this world block the beauty of my eternal home. Remind me daily of the things of You that are truly important and lead me to recognize the things of this world that are simply burdensome distractions. Put on my heart a longing for my Home.

Glimpses of Grace

More, this time from my OWN department of obvious information: Parenting is hard. If you've been a parent for 30 seconds, you have that figured out! Whether a parent by birth or adoption, just getting the child into your arms is a LOT of work.

Lately I have thought about the stages of parenting. The diaper and pre-school years are boot camp. You are pushed to your physical limits of frustration and exhaustion, wondering why in the world you signed on for this gig, with giggle fits and jelly hugs to remind you. In later single-digit years, you're on a little bit of a roll. Maybe as if you have received your assignment after boot camp. You have some drills to ready you for combat, but for the most part you've got a little bit of a respite from the physical demands and mental exhaustion of boot camp. Later, I have come to realize, you get sent for combat duty.

My children are currently 10 and 12. We are on combat duty. Not combat with the children, of course (though somedays we forget who the enemy is). Combat against the lure and attraction this world offers, fighting against what "everyone" is "doing" or "thinks is cool" or "gets to see" or thinks is okay. I feel like I have come into a time of parenting when I must stay on high alert at all times, listening to each piece of conversation for teachable moments, reminding moments of Whose we are and Who we believe, as well as what's really important. Most times I feel waved away like an irritating fly, or just as understood as Charlie Brown's teacher. And I confess to a mother's constant struggle: worry. I try to pray instead of worry, but I worry a LOT about how this war will end up.

Recently, however, the Lord has allowed me tiny glimpses to be reminded that His grace extends to parenting. I have been reminded that He can take my pathetic little widow's mite of parenting skills and turn my little blessings into wholly His. And, of course, the temptation when I'm not worrying, is to tithe some of His glory and be prideful that any of this is because of things I have done. But the reality is that anything the Lord does with my children is in spite of me, not because of me. So, for now, I am ever-so-thankful for the glimpses of His grace I see in my growing children. I had to put it here to remember -- and remind me -- that this parenting business, this combat duty, doesn't rest in my hands. When I try to make it into a work of my hands, it will fail. When I place it firmly in HIS hands, He will make it (and my children) into a thing of beauty far more than I can.

If the LORD delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm;
though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand. Psakm 37:23,24

Claimin' It!

Troy and I went here this weekend. Amazing. Humbling. More later. Maybe.

While there, Judy led us to this scripture, which we've both read before but needed NOW. Troy and I love it and are claiming it!

Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;

do not fret—it leads only to evil.

Psalm 37:1-8

How Beautiful

by Sarah Stirman
on heartlight

She drove to mid-week service in a stupor. Stress of the day and physical weariness consumed every fiber of her being. She tried to relax, breathing slowly and praying.

The praying became pleading, "Lord, I am honored to participate in my ministry — signing for those who are hearing impaired, but Father I am so physically weary. I know it needs to be done tonight. I know others are depending on me for their worship experience. Father, let me remember that it is for You. It seems like it's for others, and taken for granted that I will do it; but Father, let me always remember that it is service to You. Continue to lead me to serve You faithfully."

She made it to the church building and wandered inside, smiling wearily at the church family she encountered. Her heart still prayed; her body still weary.

With a few blissful moments before duty was required, she reveled in the singing voices around her. With closed eyes she joined in the songs of praise and prayer, still pleading with the Lord for a clean heart (Psalm 51:10-12).

With the first few lines of the next song — "How Beautiful" by Twila Paris, see full lyrics below — she was sure the Lord was speaking directly to her:
How beautiful the hands that served
the wine and the breadand the sons of the earth.
How beautiful the feet that walked
the long dusty roads
and the hills to the cross.
How beautiful
is the body of Christ.

She began to pour forth praise that she was a part of the body of Christ, that she was able to serve, and that the Lord was reminding her through these words, which come from HIS word (Isaiah 52:7), that serving hands are beautiful hands to Him.

The tears flowed freely as the song continued:
How beautiful the radiant Bride
who waits for her Groom
with His light in her eyes.
How beautiful when humble hearts give
the fruit of pure lives
so that others may live.

How beautiful
is the body of Christ.
How beautiful the feet that bring
the sound of good news
and the love of the King.
How beautiful the hands that serve
the wine and the bread
and the sons of the earth.
How beautiful
is the body of Christ.

Yet again, the Lord was so faithful to pour out His Spirit and fill her empty soul. Not only did He give strength to the weary (Isaiah 40:29), He reminded her that she was beautiful in her service to Him! And every woman loves to hear that she is beautiful. The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord (Psalm 45:10).

He was enthralled by her beauty. The beauty was the beautiful hands that were serving Him. The beautiful, serving hands would honor Him and praise Him for the rest of her days.

TWILA PARIS lyrics