God's Land

I made a solo road trip to Kelowna this weekend, the scenery when I could see it was amazing. On the way there, through the mountains, the roads were clear, edged lightly with fresh snow, the trees along the way on fire with yellows and shades of orange.  The grand mountains towering above everything were frosted with snow; majestic is the name to describe them.

How majestic is your name in all the earth…those words came to mind.

Before long I was driving through the rolling yellow flatlands, dry and long grasses swaying in the wind interspersed with lone tumbleweeds, then on into the hillsides dipping in and out of the valleys, at some points it seemed I was driving through the tops of the trees, their height hidden below in the valleys and then there, a change and I was driving alongside them.  Amongst them were bare hillsides, empty places surrounding circles of trees that stood alone somehow saved from the ravages of the pine beetle…there will always be trouble.

It was a freeing feeling driving solo, taking in God’s creation, processing life’s circumstances, clearing my mind, straightening out choices, right or wrong…hashing it out with God, Him listening, me talking, Him comforting and confirming, me listening.  There is nothing like a drive to clear up your mind from the fog of life.

I drove through some fog on the way there and again on the way home, it is a little scary, just when you are noticing the beauty of the world around you, there you are socked in, the world faded away from around you and there is nothing.  It actually becomes hard to breathe when you find yourself in the fog it is all you can do to stop the panic from entering in.  Interesting don’t you think, one moment you are entirely clear and the next moment all is gone, clarity, peace, safety, any sense at all, gone.

 

When the mountains have had a dusting of snow every detail becomes clear, the lay of the land becomes more pronounced, every crevice, valley, rock face and sheer cliff side stand out. Every forward, back and far slope revealed. Every place where trees have been lost lay low, every rockslide bare and every logging road traced out for all to see, the truth of the land, God’s land, God’s truth.  And then the fog comes down covers and fills every space, every detail, the very air we breathe, it’s like you lose track of the truth.

Ah, but the truth is, don’t panic, there will always be trouble, the fog will lift…it will.

And then, what a beautiful world we will find ourselves in, when we trust God to take us from place to place.  Trust Him, grace is just around the corner through the trees, over the hills, through the flat lands…into God’s land...into God's truth.

I love that.

Run the race, Finish well

This morning my daughter ran in the Niagra Falls Marathon.  This particular marathon is known to have one of the most beautiful places where you can end a race.  In fact it is considered one of the most beautiful finish lines in the world, not to mention one of the wonders of the world.   The particular race she participated in was the Half Marathon, 21.1 kilometers.  Devon said the day was beautiful, blue skies radiating off the water that stretched the length of the route and the trees that were scattered along the way were colors only Ontario knows, vibrant in their beauty.  And my beautiful daughter running through it all taking it in, I wished I had been there.

I told Devon the night before the race to enjoy it, to go with God…to have fun, to laugh and to cry. Tears of joy…tears of emotions met…these are some of the best tears.

I have just finished talking with my girl and shed some of my own tears as she relayed to me the details of her run, her half marathon.  To me it almost seems an oxymoron to call it a ‘half’ marathon.  A Marathon, just the word requires thoughts of work. While you are running, your heart rate goes up and your oxygen level thins, it is hard work and all the parts of your body have to be prepared and trained.

Though I have never been a runner let alone a marathon racer, I understand how it works, how it affects the body.  Nearly 3 years ago my husband was in a marathon, yet he was not a runner at all, but his heart took him into one.  His heart rate for two weeks, day and night, was at the pace of a runner in the middle of a marathon.  His heart was racing so fast that his maximum oxygen capacity was being utilized. Nothing could be done to give him enough oxygen to supply his hearts need…the need in order to finish this mad marathon he was on. Yes, he endured the race and by the grace of God, he finished well.

My daughter, running her race, thinking of her marathon and finishing well, brings me back to all these memories. And it is an honor in a way; it is a reminder of how we can show honor to those who have gone before us, run the race…finish well.

When I told her what was on my mind, she said “Mom, Dad was running right beside me”

 I love that.

        “…and let us run with endurance the race that is set out before us.”   Hebrews 12:1

Love you with everything

Something came up in one of my meetings last week; it was inside of a discussion of Kay Arthur’s words in our study guide.  It had to do with sinning, with repentance and forgiveness.

   

I am all about asking for forgiveness of sins, past and present, but once this is done, we do not have to keep asking for forgiveness; forgiveness comes once and for all.  We need to stop fighting a battle that has already been won.  Unless of course we want to go back to the battle time and time again…sinning again, the same sin again, and again. This is a different issue, but if you have asked for forgiveness and gone forward sinning no more, then that is it…done, the battle is won. Do not be guilted, bombarded, pounded with not being good enough…you are done, it is finished, the battle is won.

It is finished, I love that.

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Stephen brought up an interesting point in his sermon Sunday morning.  He talked about the Israelites coming out of Egypt only to enter the desert for 40 years and then to be given a so called promised land, a land that was promised but not so promising, a land of milk and honey, but not so much. It was a dry land just a step better than the desert they came out of, there was little rain and this land was filled with giants. So these people of God went from slaves in Egypt to wandering in a desert to a land that was filled with giants.  Each step required faith and trust to believe God. Now, these were hard steps to take, to believe God, to trust Him, they had a hard time doing it, some of them never did, some of them never made it into that promised land.

And then Stephen pointed out that this is how God leads us, even today.  He takes us from a situation that is hard, a situation where we have nothing to do but trust God to a place where all we have is to trust God! This is what God does; He makes promises that require us to trust Him, to depend on Him.  Think about it, each new accomplishment, each small failure, each giant step and every small step that we take puts us into a situation where we need to trust God again.  Trusting God never ends.  Trusting God is a never ending story of faith, of love, of peace and joy.

Asking for forgiveness frees us, trusting God saves us, and believing Him is life.

I want to live this way; free, trusting, believing…living; with every breath I take, with every step I make.

“…every breath, every moment life beats in my chest, let my life praise you…

                                                     love you with everything.”                                                                                                                                   Gungor

                                                     

I love that.

God's Grace

This weekend has been a celebration of Thanksgiving, the holiday where we remember how far God has brought us.  How much He has given us, the blessings we have received, the ones that are there for the world to see and who will rejoice along with us and the ones too, that are seen only by our own heart and soul.

I love both kinds of blessings.

 

I have just written beside #659 in my journal of thankfulness, the book where I record the gifts I am thankful for in the moments of my day. I am aiming for one thousand written down gifts and recorded messages of thankfulness. Mostly I am thankful for God’s Grace and these words are written in unseen script aside each and every entry.

God’s grace.

For this Sunday morning service our church put together a slide show of our people, saints in Christ, holding up signs that are written with words of the things they are thankful for.  It is a beautiful showing of thankfulness, love and blessings.  Some were thankful for books and toys, there were those that were thankful for family and for friends.  Some were thankful for nature, for health and for provision. I cried when I read that my daughter was thankful for her husband.

I am thankful for husbands too, the two that are married to my daughters and for my son who is one. I am thankful for those who have been lost in body but are so present in heart and soul, Kevin, Gord and my own…John; those that have been saved by grace to a better place.

Saved by grace.

Each and every day I feel the saving grace of God, how He wraps His strong arm around me and holds me up, through every circumstance, every failure, every accomplishment, every win, every loss, with my friends and with those that are not so much.  His saving grace is always there, in my sadness and in my joys.  These last few months have been good and I really have been blessed, I have so much to be thankful for.

#659 I am thankful for all the joy in my life…and God’s grace

I love that.

My Confidence

Confidence, I have come across this word several times in the last few weeks, among other things, it reminds me of a conference I went to, maybe two years ago.  The message of the conference had to do with having self confidence, keeping it, and holding on to it, knowing we are worth something, being confident in our selves, knowing who we are and what we stand for.  The conference speaker used Hebrews 10:35 for the basis of the message...

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.”  

                                                                                                                          

The thing about this verse is that it has nothing to do with us, but everything to do with what we believe; our faith, do we believe in something that is true?  Is the God we believe in true? Do we believe in His son, who died for us? Can we be confident that we can trust Him, believe that He is who He says He is?  Do we have confidence that He will do what He says he will do?

I am not always confident in myself, I fail, I make wrong choices, I am human, and I am far from perfect.  Sometimes I trust myself to be wise and true and good, to know who I am and to stand up for myself and what I believe.  But sometimes I lose all the confidence that I could possibly hold on to…as far as I am concerned.  Yes, I fail and I make wrong choices and it leaves me wondering “what was I thinking?”

Well what I am thinking is that I am so thankful that the confidence I have in myself is not what counts.  What counts is the confidence I have in my faith, my God.  He will be my right hand, He will hold me up, He will give me grace when I fail, He will say this is the way walk in it, He will see me where I am, He will hold me in the palm of His hand, though I walk through the valley of death He will comfort me and He will carry me on the wings of an eagle to give me strength. He turns my sadness to joy and He rejoices over me with singing! My confidence is in Him, He is my confidence.

This past week our study spoke to having confidence in your faith…

 

“…if you cling to Gods word, believe Him, not turn away no matter how difficult it gets, you will be able to persevere, to possess your soul. Your soul is what makes you, you. Faith wins!”

I love that.

“Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me…bless the Lord oh my soul ten thousand years and forever more!