Posts Tagged: purpose

I’se the B’y Who is So Happy

Psalm 112:1Praise the LORD!
            How blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
            Who greatly delights in His commandments.

Yesterday Daniel preformed in his first strings concert. He was practically floating as the performers made their way to their chairs for the first song. This boy, who has loved the violin since he was three, is most certainly created to make music, among many other things. He was praising God, for making him love music, the whole way home. I have to admit, his joy is contagious.

When we are in tune with the gifts and talents God has blessed us with there is a delight that spreads like wildfire. God has made us each uniquely gifted and heaven draws close to us when we move within that gifting. Eric Liddell, a runner featured in the movie Chariots of Fire stated, ” I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.” Do you and I feel God’s pleasure?

It has taken me a long time to be at a place that I can honestly say, when I write, I feel his delight in me. I start with a blank page and words bring images of God’s love, grace, justice and forgiveness to life! Words are clay in the hands of our maker. I love to watch His love take shape, uniquely designed for you, my reader.

We can waste a lot of time believing that we are worthless or, we can pick up our fiddle and play to the delight of our Father’s ear.

 

Daniel’s First Strings Concert: I’se the B’y

 

Depression Ghetto

The house shivers and sighs, naked bones exposed.

Groaning against gentle breezes, wishing  to collapse,

but the skeleton stubbornly holds.

Sunken eyes devoid

of life stare out, judging the

world who so cruelly neglected intended purpose.

White picket fence, the last defense from

decay, remains locked tight,

taunting passersby’s with KEEP OUT

-as if anyone wants to COME IN.

But, the weary WELCOME mat still invites

us in . . . if we triple-dog-dare

to know the ghost of who you once could be.

 

 

 

 

 

Suffer Like It Means Something: Allowing God’s purpose to be revealed in my seizures

Turn the Page: Sunday Edition

2nd Corinthians 1:3-7 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

What an amazing passage! We do not suffer alone. What an precious gift your friendship is to my family and I. Learning to comfort in our affliction means that we look beyond our circumstances to God’s purpose in our sufferings. I share in Christ’s sufferings, but I also share in his comfort. As an added bonus I get to share that comfort with you.

When the seizures started yesterday morning I begged God to take them away. I thought that they had stopped completely several years ago and their return was more then I could bear. “Even in this, I have a purpose.” Was God’s answer to me. I have to decide if I trust him with that purpose. Do we look at our weaknesses as afflictions or God’s opportunity to work in and through us?

One of my favorite women is Joni Eareckson Tada. At tie age of 17 she broke her neck in a diving accident and became a quadriplegic. Does she suffer? Definitely! But oh what she is allowing God to do with that suffering. Painting with her teeth, ensuring that others get the wheelchairs they need, speaking, singing, writing, and serving God in whatever way he calls her to.

So God has a purpose in my seizures! May Jesus comfort you in my affliction that you may not grow weary in your own sufferings. Hugs and encouragement to all of you. I’d much rather give those hugs in person, but will be staying home to rest. I love you dearly!

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