Well hello, there. Long time no type. I could spend this first paragraph re expressing how hard it is to blog regularly with the two kiddos, household responsibilities, daily to do lists, and other nagging priorities....but let's skip all that yada yada and just cut to the chase, shall we?
Last night I went to the last session of a Beth Moore study I had been doing at our church. If you have never done a Beth Moore video study, you are truly missing out. Even more than her amazing hair is her exuberance for the lord. Truly, something you cant help but be infested with and (if even silently in your head) chime into a few of her Hallelujahs and Amens! I blogged in the past about longing to be called Christ's Beloved. While going through a very intense spiritual battle and a sharpening journey over the last year or so, I saw the words 'Beth Moore study: Beloved Disciple' jump off the bulletin page at me back in September. Its a long study (11 weeks), and intense homework (about an hour 5 days a week), and I wont lie: Im not actually through with the whole book. The class ended, but I am still a few weeks behind in the daily homework. Just more study for me to take in, right?!
There are so many things she taught through this study that Im sure Ill touch on over the years as I blog, share, journal, etc. By no means is this entry intended to sum up all I learned. It is merely one part of many that for today, is making my heart smile. Somebody say Amen, Amen?! (pun intended)
In one of the first weeks Beth spoke about how life can be chaotic and that events and circumstances will try us and in order to survive, we have to chose to put God in front of us. It is a choice we have to make. The enemy is real and he thrives off of chaos in the lives of those who live for the Lord because he knows we have become weak. Remember, we alone are weak, but it is through Christ Jesus that we are made strong. She shared how chaotic or trying events shouldn't make us feel out of control, but merely remind us of how little control we actually have.
There are so many times in life that we just don't understand why things are happening the way they are. It makes no sense to us whatsoever. And in the really trying times; the times when things seem so awful that there is no way God could possibly be controlling it...we have to remember, "Sometimes God calms the storm, other times he calms the child as the storm rages on." John 14:27. God's perfect plan doesn't mean what we have created the word perfect to be. When we think of perfect we think of flawless, beautiful, ideal, the best. When God calls it his perfect plan, it is a perfection we may not see, but he does. To us down here on earth the plan looks so grim, but remember that our creator is watching from above, seeing the whole picture from beginning to end.
I absolutely love the reference Beth shared in this discussion. It is in Exodus chapter 33. I encourage you to read it, paying close attention at the end to verses 21-23. In the chapter God is telling Moses to go and take the land that had been promised to his people. It describes how Moses had gone into the Tent of Meeting and how that when he enters, the pillar of cloud would cover the tent and the Lord would come and stand NEXT TO Moses and speak to him AS A MAN SPEAKS TO A FRIEND. Picture this with me. This is before Jesus Christ walked the earth. This was before the Lord had become flesh and actual humans looked into his eyes. The King of Kings, creator of Heaven and Earth, Abba Father, stood next to Moses as a friend would stand there talking to a friend. Later in the chapter the Lord promises to be with Moses as he goes, '...because (he is) his friend.' God knows that we need intimacy to feel safe. When we ask God to comfort us, its not enough for him to sit on his thrown in Heaven and declare peace upon our hearts (Im picturing like King Triton here, you know what I mean?). No, God knows that we need a friend. And not just any friend, but we need a friend that has the power to make ALL things right.
The last part of this chapter paints this incredible picture. Moses asks to see the face of the Lord, which even while standing there as a friend, he had not seen. The Lord responds to Moses by telling him that no man can see the face of God, for '...no one may see the face of the Lord and live.' And then, here it is friends:
vs21 "The Lord continued, 'Stand here on this rock beside me. As my glorious presence passes by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed. Then, I will remove my hand and you will see me from behind. But my face will not be seen.'"
We CANNOT understand why things happen. Even when we trust in the Lord it doesn't mean we will be given understanding. When we are going through trials in life; when our husbands are out of work and the impending bills start to stack up and fear is boiling, when you sit in the doctor's office and the word cancer is slapped across your body, when you begin to see that something about your child just doesn't seem quite right, when your marriage is dissolving and there doesn't seem like any hope to turn it around, or when every aspect of your life seems so chaotic and nothing makes sense and you begin to wonder if there really is a God taking care of you at all. Can you picture it? Imagine that you are standing on the highest peak of a mountian, surrounded by canyons and mountains around you. On this steep peak you stand as a wild storm begins to rage in in front of you. Mountains around you are crumbling and the ground is breaking from beneath you. And yet, the Lord places you in the cleft; a slight little indentation for your feet to stand in. This, my friends, is when the Lord is standing next to you and sheilding your eyes with his hand. As his presence, his plan, his works, are unfolding in front of you the chaos. If you were to look into and see the Why, surely you would not live. We are not meant to understand. We were not created to have all the answers, we couldn't handle it. God's perfect plan will not look perfect to us, but isn't it incredible to know that when that chaos is reaking havoc in our lives, the Lord of all creation is standing next to us, embracing us, and placing his all powerful hands across our eyes to protect us?! We can chose to lean into that, leaning our head on his chest and curling into him and letting him envelope us with his consuming love, or we can fight him, straining to get away, or even worse we may turn our backs to it all completely and run down the hill away from Him and all the chaos.
And don't miss the end of that. "Then I will remove my hand and you will see me from behind." Friends, There. Is. An. END. Once it passes, we will see the Lord from behind. We will see his presence in what just happened. We will see little parts of why it all just happened. These are the things that draw out our testimony. These are the things that draw us closer to the Lord and we see concrete life experience of His plan in our life. This is when we can show Jesus to others.
What ever you may be going through in your life, no matter how chaotic it may be or how impossible it may seem that the Lord is actually orchestrating your life; trust in him. He is not only the Creator, but he his your friend. He loves you dearly. You are his Beloved. He wants to stand next to you and shield your eyes with his loving hands. And please friends, don't make the choice to run away down the hill. If you do, you wont be standing there to see the Lord from behind once the chaos dies down and he removes his hand from your eyes.
Last night I went to the last session of a Beth Moore study I had been doing at our church. If you have never done a Beth Moore video study, you are truly missing out. Even more than her amazing hair is her exuberance for the lord. Truly, something you cant help but be infested with and (if even silently in your head) chime into a few of her Hallelujahs and Amens! I blogged in the past about longing to be called Christ's Beloved. While going through a very intense spiritual battle and a sharpening journey over the last year or so, I saw the words 'Beth Moore study: Beloved Disciple' jump off the bulletin page at me back in September. Its a long study (11 weeks), and intense homework (about an hour 5 days a week), and I wont lie: Im not actually through with the whole book. The class ended, but I am still a few weeks behind in the daily homework. Just more study for me to take in, right?!
There are so many things she taught through this study that Im sure Ill touch on over the years as I blog, share, journal, etc. By no means is this entry intended to sum up all I learned. It is merely one part of many that for today, is making my heart smile. Somebody say Amen, Amen?! (pun intended)
In one of the first weeks Beth spoke about how life can be chaotic and that events and circumstances will try us and in order to survive, we have to chose to put God in front of us. It is a choice we have to make. The enemy is real and he thrives off of chaos in the lives of those who live for the Lord because he knows we have become weak. Remember, we alone are weak, but it is through Christ Jesus that we are made strong. She shared how chaotic or trying events shouldn't make us feel out of control, but merely remind us of how little control we actually have.
There are so many times in life that we just don't understand why things are happening the way they are. It makes no sense to us whatsoever. And in the really trying times; the times when things seem so awful that there is no way God could possibly be controlling it...we have to remember, "Sometimes God calms the storm, other times he calms the child as the storm rages on." John 14:27. God's perfect plan doesn't mean what we have created the word perfect to be. When we think of perfect we think of flawless, beautiful, ideal, the best. When God calls it his perfect plan, it is a perfection we may not see, but he does. To us down here on earth the plan looks so grim, but remember that our creator is watching from above, seeing the whole picture from beginning to end.
I absolutely love the reference Beth shared in this discussion. It is in Exodus chapter 33. I encourage you to read it, paying close attention at the end to verses 21-23. In the chapter God is telling Moses to go and take the land that had been promised to his people. It describes how Moses had gone into the Tent of Meeting and how that when he enters, the pillar of cloud would cover the tent and the Lord would come and stand NEXT TO Moses and speak to him AS A MAN SPEAKS TO A FRIEND. Picture this with me. This is before Jesus Christ walked the earth. This was before the Lord had become flesh and actual humans looked into his eyes. The King of Kings, creator of Heaven and Earth, Abba Father, stood next to Moses as a friend would stand there talking to a friend. Later in the chapter the Lord promises to be with Moses as he goes, '...because (he is) his friend.' God knows that we need intimacy to feel safe. When we ask God to comfort us, its not enough for him to sit on his thrown in Heaven and declare peace upon our hearts (Im picturing like King Triton here, you know what I mean?). No, God knows that we need a friend. And not just any friend, but we need a friend that has the power to make ALL things right.
The last part of this chapter paints this incredible picture. Moses asks to see the face of the Lord, which even while standing there as a friend, he had not seen. The Lord responds to Moses by telling him that no man can see the face of God, for '...no one may see the face of the Lord and live.' And then, here it is friends:
vs21 "The Lord continued, 'Stand here on this rock beside me. As my glorious presence passes by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed. Then, I will remove my hand and you will see me from behind. But my face will not be seen.'"
We CANNOT understand why things happen. Even when we trust in the Lord it doesn't mean we will be given understanding. When we are going through trials in life; when our husbands are out of work and the impending bills start to stack up and fear is boiling, when you sit in the doctor's office and the word cancer is slapped across your body, when you begin to see that something about your child just doesn't seem quite right, when your marriage is dissolving and there doesn't seem like any hope to turn it around, or when every aspect of your life seems so chaotic and nothing makes sense and you begin to wonder if there really is a God taking care of you at all. Can you picture it? Imagine that you are standing on the highest peak of a mountian, surrounded by canyons and mountains around you. On this steep peak you stand as a wild storm begins to rage in in front of you. Mountains around you are crumbling and the ground is breaking from beneath you. And yet, the Lord places you in the cleft; a slight little indentation for your feet to stand in. This, my friends, is when the Lord is standing next to you and sheilding your eyes with his hand. As his presence, his plan, his works, are unfolding in front of you the chaos. If you were to look into and see the Why, surely you would not live. We are not meant to understand. We were not created to have all the answers, we couldn't handle it. God's perfect plan will not look perfect to us, but isn't it incredible to know that when that chaos is reaking havoc in our lives, the Lord of all creation is standing next to us, embracing us, and placing his all powerful hands across our eyes to protect us?! We can chose to lean into that, leaning our head on his chest and curling into him and letting him envelope us with his consuming love, or we can fight him, straining to get away, or even worse we may turn our backs to it all completely and run down the hill away from Him and all the chaos.
And don't miss the end of that. "Then I will remove my hand and you will see me from behind." Friends, There. Is. An. END. Once it passes, we will see the Lord from behind. We will see his presence in what just happened. We will see little parts of why it all just happened. These are the things that draw out our testimony. These are the things that draw us closer to the Lord and we see concrete life experience of His plan in our life. This is when we can show Jesus to others.
What ever you may be going through in your life, no matter how chaotic it may be or how impossible it may seem that the Lord is actually orchestrating your life; trust in him. He is not only the Creator, but he his your friend. He loves you dearly. You are his Beloved. He wants to stand next to you and shield your eyes with his loving hands. And please friends, don't make the choice to run away down the hill. If you do, you wont be standing there to see the Lord from behind once the chaos dies down and he removes his hand from your eyes.
