I See You Now For Who You Truly Are

I can honestly say that the last few years have been the hardest I've experienced but yet if you were to ask me, "What would you do differently?" I don't know if I would do it differently or ask God to change it.  It has been the most trying of times but truly the best of times.  I can look back the last four years and see God so clearly sustaining, guiding, instructing, stretching, providing His will for my life and my family. 

One of the books God used to mightly in my life was "Trusting God" by Jerry Bridges.  I read this book right after I got married in 1992.  What does that tell you about me? I remember it had a huge impact on me to the point that when I wanted to start a Bible study with the young ladies at church that was the book I went for and grabbed.  What unfolded was God displaying His magnificent power and beauty of His sovereignity to me in ways that I've never experienced before.  As the world as I knew it seemed to be shaking and crumbling around me, God used that book to remind me of who He was.  A good and loving God who was in control of every detail of my life who wanted me to trust Him with every aspect of my life even though it might mean that my life as I know it would change completely but it was for my good and His glory.  God used that book to show me the idols in my heart.  I was trusting in those idols not in Him.  At the end of the day, it was my flesh and it was what others thought of me.  I learned that my hope was tied to this world instead of the living hope of Jesus Christ.  God began to strip me of these idols.  It hurt.  Hurt so deep that the only way to get out of this deep hole was to look up and say, "all I have is Christ."  I am thankful for a loving God who is using everything in my life to refine me into the image of His Son.  Who created me, who knows me and loves me that nothing escapes His plan for me.  As the ground beneath me was shaking (not literally) acting like Job and asking and questioning why God would allow this in my life.  I felt as though God was saying to me, "do you trust me?" Bridges goes through the attributes of  God and shows us who God truly is and uses the truths of Scripure to back it up.  I am convinced that you cannot know God if you don't believe who the Scriptures says He is.  It's not until that you view yourself rightly compared to the God of the Bible that you can completely understand His beauty, splendor and majesty to where you completely surrender your life wholely to Him and be able to say, "yes Lord, I trust you!"  Job understood this completely in Job 42: 1-5

"Then Job answered the Lord and said, "I know that You can do all things,

And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. Who is this that hides counsel

without knowledge?  Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand,

Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Hear, now, and I will speak;

I will ask You, and You instruct me.  I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;

But now my eye sees You;"

See Him for who He truly is,  the one who holds every detail of your life in His hand.  His name is Jesus.  



What Controls You?

There is a reoccurring theme that I can't seem to get away from.  Whenever I open the Word of God, there it is illuminating from the pages.  When I go to open a book to read, it's popping off the pages.  When I hear sermons on the radio it seems to be the message of the preacher as he speaks to me in my car as I am driving.  God has me focused on His love.  I don't think I've ever had a theme verse, but I would have to say that 2 Corinthians 5: 14 has me hooked.

"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, there all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."

The question that keeps going around and around in my thoughts and heart is, does the love of Christ control me? What does control me? What rules me? What motivates me? What brings a smile to my face? Is it the love of Christ? Christ's love drove him to the cross.  His love for me is why I may live.  If I am controlled by Christ's love than I no longer live for myself but for HIM.  When people meet me or speak with me do they experience the love of Christ?  Do my children experience the love of Christ because of me?

"The secret of the early Christians, the early Protestants, Puritans & Methodists

was that they were taught about the love of Christ, and they became filled with a knowledge of it.

Once a man has the love of Christ in his heart you need not train him to witness; he will do it.

He will know the power, the constraint, the motive; everything is already there.

It is plain lie to suggest that people who regard this knowledge of the love of Christ as the supreme thing are useless, unhealthy mystics.  

The servants of God who have most adorned the life and the history of the Christian Church have always been men who have realized that this is the most important thing of all,

and they have spent hours in prayer seeking His face and enjoying His love.

The man who knows the love of Christ in his heart can do more in one hour than the busy man

can do in a century.  God forbid that we should ever make of activity an end in itself.

Let us realize that the motive must come first, and that the motive ever be the love of Christ."

Martin Lloyd-Jones, The Unsearchable Riches of Christ, 253

I want to sit and bathe in the love of Christ.  I don't ever want to leave the foot of the cross that displays His love for me.  The wrath of God is no longer for me because I am washed by the blood & love of Christ.  Are you controlled by the love of Christ?

A Letter From Mary Love - My Dear Heart

I first heard of Mary Love's letter to her husband when my family and I were at the Resolved Conference a few weeks back in late June.  Rick Holland read her letter within his sermon, The Believer's Right Response to Difficulty.   I don't think there was a dry eye in the audience, but that's not the reason for me posting her letter is to make you cry.  If I were to have a poster child for my blog, other than Jesus Christ, it would be Mary Love. Let me set the scene for you.  Mary Love is married to Christopher Love, a brilliant young Welsh preacher.  She is 8 months pregnant with their 5th child, two living and two deceased.  Her husband, Christopher Love is imprisoned for treason by the English government and as far as she knew to be executed the next morning.  These were the last words that she had for her husband. 

My Dear Heart

July 14, 1651

Before I write a word further, I beseech thee think not that it is thy wife but a friend now that writes  to thee.  I hope though hast freely given up thy wife and children to God, who hath said in Jeremiah 49:11, "Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive, and let thy widow trust in me."  Thy Maker will be my husband, and a Father to thy children.  O that the Lord would keep thee from having one troubled thought for thy relations.  I desire freely to give thee up into they Father's hands, and not only look upon it as a crown of glory for thee to die for Christ, but as an honor to me that I should have a husband to leave for Christ.

I dare not speak to thee, nor have a thought within my own heart of my unspeakable loss,but wholly keep my eye fixed upon they inexpressible and inconceivable gain.  Thou leavest but a sinful, mortal wife to be everlastingly married to the Lord of glory.  Thou leavest but children, brothers, and sisters to go to the Lord Jesus, they eldest Brother.  Thou leavest friends on earth to go to the enjoyment of saints and angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect in glory.  Thou does but leave earth for heaven and changest a prison for a palace.  And if natural affections should begin to arise, I hope that spirit of grace that is within thee will quell them, knowing that all thinks here below are but dung and dross in comparison of those things that are above.  I know thou keepest thine eye fixed on the hope of glory, which makes they feet trample on the loss of earth.

My dear, I know God hath not only prepared glory for thee, and thee for it, but I am persuaded that He will sweeten the way for thee to come to the enjoyment of it.  When thou are putting on they clothes that morning, O think, "I am putting on my wedding garments to go to

be everlastingly married to my Redeemer."

When the messenger of death comes to thee, let him not seem dreadful to thee, but look on him as a messenger that brings thee tidings of eternal life.  When thou goest up the scaffold, think (as thou saidst to me) that it is but thy fiery chariot to carry thee up to thy Father's house.

And when thou layest down they precious head to receive thy Father's stroke, remember what thou saidst to me: Though thy head was severed from thy body, yet in a moment thy soul should be united to they Head, the Lord Jesus, in heaven.  And though it may seem something bitter, that by hands of men we are parted a little sooner than otherwise we might have been, yet let us consider that it is the decree and will of our Father, and it will not be long ere we shall enjoy

one another in heaven again. 

Let us comfort one another with these sayings.  Be comforted, my dear heart.  It is but a little stroke and thou shalt be there where the weary shall be at rest and where the wicked shall cease from troubling.  Remember that thou mayest eat thy dinner with bitter herbs, yet thou shalt have a sweet supper with Christ that night.  My dear, by what I write unto thee, I do not hereby undertake to teach thee; for these comforts I have received from the Lord by thee.  I will write no more, nor trouble thee any further, but commit thee into the arms of God with whom ere long thee and I shall be.

Farewell, my dear, I shall never see thy face more till we both behold the face of the Lord Jesus at that great day.

Mary Love

Her letter reveals it all.  Christ is her Husband who is her All in All.  My prayer is that we may be women, like Mary Love, who don't allow our circumstances to shake up our faith but know that our lives our written out by His Sovereign hand, which results in us to stand on the solid ground of Jesus Christ.  At the end of the day,  He is our Groom.

"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21

My Robe That Was Made For Me

Who would of ever thought that I would be turning on the heater because I'm cold in late May.  Isn't it almost June? Shouldn't summer be almost here. Thunderstorms and downpour of rain with mixed hail has been our forecast in the last week. Two counties over a tornado touch and destroyed some farm buildings. On the news you hear about the devastation in the Southern United States caused by tornadoes where people have lost their homes and loved ones.  People are missing and can't be found since the storm.
I remember it as if it was yesterday, I was 23 years old, newly married and my husband and I were serving on junior high staff at our church.  We were studying the book of James in our junior high department.  I was so excited to be serving, learning and sharing with these young ladies.  We'd meet Tuesday nights to go over the lesson that was being taught and preached on Sunday. As leaders we'd use that week to dig deeper into God's Word to prepare to lead our small groups on Sunday. 
In that first Sunday's message I was struck with a truth that I still carry with me today.

James 1: 1-4

"James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes

who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,

knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete,

lacking in nothing."

It's one word "when".  Our junior high pastor said, "it doesn't say "if you encounter various trials", it says, "when you encounter various trials."  Which means there is no question about it, trials are coming!

But yet when they come we act so surprised and shocked.  James gives us the warning siren that the tornado is coming and be prepared but when the tornado comes we are shocked as if we never received the warning at all.  We don't understand why God would allow it.  We question God love, grace and mercy and want to know why.  Trials are all around us.  You can't say that you don't know anyone who isn't hurting in some way or another whether its financial loss, relationships on the brink of divorce, loved ones struggling or even dying of cancer.  It's all around us but we are still shocked and don't understand why.  I know in my own depths of my soul and my heart I've had the thought and said, "I didn't sign up for this. Why are you doing this to me Lord?"  We knew what Christ was offering.  He made it very clear.

Matthew 10:38-39

"And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

He who has found his life will lost it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it."

Luke 9: 23

"And He was saying to them all, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me,

he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me."

We weren't ever promised a lap of luxury in the Christian life but in the recesses of our minds we must think that. The apostle James tells us why! Why are we destined to have trials?  It's the "testing of our faith." God wants to conform us to His image (Romans 8:29).  How can we be conformed to His image if we are so tied to the things of this world? How can we be conformed to Christ's image if we have earthly wants and desires that still entangle us? (2 Tim 2:3-4)

I love, love, love, Elyse Fitzpatrick's book, A Steadfast Heart.  I want to share with you some of the encouraging words Elyse shares from the outcome of  her trials.

"He's used our suffering as the means to reveal to us a new understanding about Himself,

His great goodness, and our considerable need for a Saviour."

'Our trials was fashioned for us by a wise god who knew exactly what kind of suffering

we needed.  The trials we endure are meant to get at the idolatry, self-love,

and independent unbelief that God desires to purge from our life.

They're also meant to cause us to love Jesus Christ more and more, and sometimes

they're not discipline at all but rather part of God's mysterious plan to glorify Himself."

"Peaceful fruit of righteousness" that is the result of God's perfect plan for us

is luscious, and there's only one way to genuinely savor this fruit: through suffering."

"We each have a road marked out for us by the Lord.  Suffering isn't one-size-fits-all.

No.  He's woven the exact robe that He wants you to wear, and it will fit you perfectly,

pinching where it should pinch and comforting where you need it most."

I have a robe that was designed just for me by my Saviour, the lover of my soul.  Who wants to refine me into His image and not my own.  Who loves me with a love that will not let me go.  I pray that as I currently hear the storm sirens warning me a storm is coming that I am assured and know there is nothing that comes my way that isn't from my Lord's sovereign hands.  I want to be confident in His love and grace for me, like Daniel, not to be afraid of what's ordained for me but know that God is in it with me. 

Spiritual Mothers - The Goal is Love

      I haven't been bloggin' as much lately.  Life has been rather crazy but in the midst of the craziness I had a great opportunity to share with the women at my church.  A mother - daughter team took on the adventure of putting on a Mother - Daughter Tea.  I was so bummed at first, being that I am a mother of three boys I didn't think that I would be able to go.  An opportunity presented itself and I was able to take two young ladies who I love spending time with to the tea since their mommies were out of town.  I was asked to share about what it means to be a "SPIRITUAL MOTHER."
       This was really hard for me to prepare.  I felt that I could say so much, but I really wanted to focus and get down to the roots of today's topic, "SPIRITUAL MOTHER."  I will share, what it is, who does it, what it is not, but most of all the main ingredient.  I was not raised in a Christian home so I don't share my faith with my mom, but even though we don't have our faith in common, I've learned a HUGE important thing from her.....LOVE!!!
    Love will be our theme today.  LOVE is why Christ was to be born! LOVE is what drove Him to the cross! LOVE is why He is alive and LOVE is why we live our lives for Him.  LOVE!  If love is what motivates Christ for everything He has done, than it should be our motivating force in all that we do as well.

I Timothy 1:5

"But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, and a good conscience

and a sincere faith."

John MacArthur comments on this verse, "This is the love of choice and the will, characterized by self denial and self sacrifice for the benefit of others."

   God calls us to LOVE.  To love Him and to love others.  That is God's will for us, right?

Titus 2: 3-5

"Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious, gossips nor

enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women

to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home,

kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the Word of God will not be dishonored."

There is that word again, LOVE! I am suppose to do that, LOVE! It's everywhere in God's Word, LOVE! I know that I was asked to speak to you and convince you, I am sure to persuade you and to encourage you to be SPIRITUAL MOTHERS, but in the same breath I have to ask you, do you love? What do you love? Who do you love? Why do you love? What is it that you love?

What's the answer? Is it Jesus? Are you in love with Jesus?

Women, if you want to attract other women to disciple, be in love with Jesus!

If you want to be attractive to your husbands, be in love with Jesus!

If you want to be admired and loved by your children, be in love with Jesus!

If you want to be a witness to the world, be in love with Jesus!

I am not going to give you a "to-do" list on how to be a SPIRITUAL MOTHER - DISCIPLER, I am going to ask you what's on your love list?

When the things we love or what we are holding so tightly to are loosened from our grips by trials, we are challenged to ask....what do you love? Who do you love? Why do you love? Is it Jesus?

Life and our loves become very crystal clear in the light of eternity, can you take what you love with you?

You are probably sitting there asking yourself "what does this have to do with being a "SPIRITUAL MOTHER?" EVERYTHING!!!  If the love of Christ isn't what motivates us in every aspect of our life, how are we any different than any other religion?

the goal of our instruction is LOVE - from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith

Our goal in our instruction is LOVE....we teach so the goal is LOVE, because LOVE produces a love for God which produces a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith.  If anyone wants to spend time with me, is it because I love JESUS?  That should be the only reason!

I Cor 13:1 " If I speak with tongues of men and of angels but do not have love,

 I have become a noisygong or a clangy cymbal."

A noisy gong or a clanging cymbal? Is that what I sound like when I speak?

Young women, why do you want to spend time with older woman? Well, she has really obedient children and a really nice home.  There is no recipe, just one ingredient - IS SHE IN LOVE WITH JESUS?

Older woman, why do you want to spend time with that younger woman? Well, she really needs to learn how to be modest.  Someone needs to talk to her about her clothes.  Older woman, IS SHE IN LOVE WITH JESUS?  Go after her heart not her clothes. 

the goal of our instruction is LOVE from a pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith

If I am in love with Jesus, than I will be modest.  If I am in love with Jesus I will be a lover of my husband.  If I am in love with Jesus, I will love and instruct my children.  Younger women pursue older women who are in love with Jesus! Older women show and be examples to the younger what it is to be in love with Jesus!

I know that I've shared this story before with you.  There was a young woman who came back to our church and I just had this desire to get to know her.  (Ladies, if you get that urge, listen to it)  I asked her to coffee.  We went to coffee right away.  We spent a couple of hours together talking and getting to know one another.  I asked a lot of questions and she told me what she had been up to the last few years.   A month later or so, this same young woman was in my small group at our yearly women's prayer retreat.  After our first session, this young woman wanted to share her heart with the group.  She wanted to say how much she appreciated the fact that when I took her to coffee I actually got to know her and spend time with her.  In uncontrollable tears, she said, "that was the first time an older woman ever took her to coffee without having a list of all the things she was doing wrong." 

When I die and my faith becomes sight, Jesus is not going to say to me, "you can't come in. you have a feather in your hair!" Remember ladies, its not what we do, its what we love!  Are we in love with Jesus?

What does it look like?  It could be a weekly meeting and going through a book.  Sharing a meal.  Having coffee and talking.  Encouraging one another to love and good deeds.  Texting, writing, or emailing Scripture to one another.  Praying for one another.  Just hanging out in each other's homes. Living side by side.  Listening, loving, crying, hugging, grace, mercy, gentleness, patience.  It's getting a phone call from a younger woman in tears, so many she can barely speak.  You tell her to come over.  I am making dinner for my family, but we'll talk.  You get dinner on the table and than go for a walk with her and you listen.  You encourage with God's Word, you love on her, and you point her to Christ. 

Still today I have "older women" in my life that I have had formal times with, but my most favorite are our informal times....when I watch them from sometimes even from a distance.  These are just some of the things I've learned from the "Spiritual Mothers" in my life.  One thing they all share, they're in LOVE with JESUS.

- when I wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep - PRAY!

- when I don't have money to give, open my home and share a meal.

- my home is for ministry

- always wear something soft & silky to bed

- that I can be a strong woman, but still be a submissive woman

- I can have a sense of humor and even snort when I laugh

Let's end with John 21:15-17

"So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of John,

do you love Me more than these?'  He said to Him, 'Yes, Lord; You know that I love you.'  He said to him, 'Tend My lambs.'  He said to him again a second time, 'Simon, son of John,

do you love me?'  He said to Him, 'Yes, Lord; You know that I love you.'  He said to him,

'Shepherd My sheep.'  He said to him, the third time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?'

Peter was grieved because He said to Him, 'Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.'  Jesus said to him, 'Tend My sheep.'

John MacArthur's commentary states, "When Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him, he used a word for love that signified total commitment.  Peter responded with a word for love that signified his love for Jesus, but not necessarily his total commitment.  This was not because he was reluctant to express that greater love, but because he had been disobedient and denied the Lord in the past.  He was, perhaps, now reluctant to make a claim of supreme devotion when, in the past, his life did not support such a claim.  Jesus pressed home to Peter the need for unswerving devotion by repeatedly asking Peter if he loved Him supremely.  The essential message here is that Jesus demands total commitment from His followers.  Their love for Him must place Him above their love for all else.  Jesus confronted Peter with love because He wanted Peter to lead the apostles, but in order for Peter to be an effective shepherd, his overwhelming drive must exemplify supreme love for his Lord."

I think the coolest thing ever, other than Christ returning, would be this:  I walk into Starbucks.  I order my drink and as I'm waiting for my coffee I over hear two women talking.....

Have you ever visited FCF?  Well let me tell you, all those women there at that church are in love with Jesus! The talk of our town would be that the women of FCF are in love with Jesus! Every single one of us, madly in love with JESUS!