Updated on July 3, 2014
His Hands
“From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can snatch anyone out of my hand. No one can undo what I have done.” – Isaiah 43:13
Have you ever been searching frantically for something, only to find it is right in front of you? I’ve searched for my sunglasses before and then realized they are on top of my head!! I’ve searched for my keys and then realized that I was already holding them in my hand! How crazy is that?
I’m so very thankful that God is not human and He does not forget us. We never get misplaced. In fact, scripture tells us in God’s own voice that no one can snatch us out of His hand! Praise God! He holds you right in the palm of His hand, never forgotten, always safe, and dearly loved. He doesn’t treasure us in a chest or lock us away in a vault to be out of His sight. He longs for us so dearly, that He keeps us right in His own hand.
Such care amazes me, humbles me, and brings me to my knees in gratitude. I challenge you today to know that whatever you are going through, You have never left God’s hand. Whether He is holding you, covering you, or nurturing you, He is never far. And you are never forgotten.
Father God, Your hands are holy and they are holding me. Unbelievable! Thank you for your mercy and your attention to me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen…
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Shelly
Updated on November 11, 2013
This Is Only A Test… Or Is It?
This is only a test… if this had been an actual emergency, blah blah, blah. I can’t remember what comes next, but I distinctly remember the sound of that blaring tone announcing the test of the Emergency Broadcast System from the early days of television.
So often lately I’ve been seeing so many people commenting on God’s testing of them. We are all supposed to view these troubles as some great test that we need to pass. In fact, on Facebook I’m seeing it every time I scroll down my newsfeed, over and over again… a picture someone has made to share, and it’s getting passed around like hotcakes… here is what it says, “When you are going through something hard, and wonder where God is, remember the Teacher is always quiet during the test.” Let me share a little secret with you… that saying and that picture makes me want to scream and rip my hair out! Mostly because I know, by the amount of times I’m seeing it, that there are many people buying into that rubbish!
It sounds, at least on the surface, like such a cutesy little saying, and I’m sure it’s meant to bring encouragement to those who are suffering. But it doesn’t, does it? Who among us could possibly be encouraged to think that this great suffering and pain comes directly from our God? And more importantly, it doesn’t line up with what scripture tells us about our Father in Heaven.
Let’s look at a few verses together.
James 1:13 says, “And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.”
We learn in an earlier verse of that same chapter (verse 5), “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.”
And finally, we read, “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” – 1 Corinthians 10:13
I ask you, do any of those sound like a God who sends in the tortuous test to possibly break us, and then sits back in silence to simply observe what we will do? The answer is No! I tell you that this is just the kind of lie that the father of lies would love for us to embrace as truth!! In fact, the verse in 1 Corinthians reveals that God does not give us no more than we can bear, but He allows no more than we can bear. Do you see the difference? Our troubles do not stem from our Lord’s making!
Will we be tested in this world? Certainly! Are we told that the various tests and trials that we fall into can produce good fruit in our lives? (James 1:3, 12) Yes! But these tests do not originate with our Father! Do you hear that? They do not! The tests we take on, the trials we endure are a result of our own desires (if a sin temptation), a simple twist of fate (as is the terminology), or a direct attack from our spiritual enemy!
God has already rescued us from the ultimate fear, and He now waits for us to ask for His aid in defeating what is tempting us to doubt Him! That doubt, that lack of faith, is a temptation to fall into sin and discouragement. The discouragement becomes a crack, which becomes a fissure, which develops quickly into a gaping maw that threatens to swallow us up into darkness. Does that sound like a challenge the Lord would send you? No! It sounds like it comes from exactly where it DOES come from. Do not be fooled, sweet friends.
Dear Lord, help us to recognize Your true nature. Forgive us when we misunderstand in our desperate times. We want to cling to You. Thank You for never allowing more than we can bear. In Jesus’ Name, Amen…
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Shelly
Updated on July 3, 2014
Sunday Scripture: 9/29/13
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.
And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:19-20
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Shelly
Updated on July 3, 2014
Recommendation Saturday: Laughter is the Best Medicine!
He will once again fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. – Job 8:21
photo credit: Airwolfhound via photopin cc
I just love to laugh!! Sometimes it makes my head hurt, but it never fails to leave my heart feeling refreshed! Jeanne Robertson never fails to leave a smile on my face and a great big belly laugh in my heart… Enjoy!
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Shelly
Posted on September 27, 2013
Can God Really Delight In Us? (featured at Rest Ministries)
I am just so humbled and feel very blessed to have my latest devotional featured at Rest Ministries today! I love the servant’s heart of Lisa Copen, the founder of the ministry. I hope you’ll take some time on the site to look around and consider joining the Sunroom, where I’m also a member! We can chat together there, and you can meet others like you who are looking to serve the Lord and find hope in the midst of their chronic illness struggles. Here’s a link to my devo today on their site:
http://restministries.com/2013/09/delight-in/
Enjoy!
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Shelly
Updated on July 3, 2014
Saturate
Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. – 2 Corinthians 12:9
Lead
With tender cries
Beckon
With longing eyes
Cajole
With sincere flattery
Remind
How much this matters to me
Reach
With arms of love
Whisper
From within and far above
Hear
What I don’t know how to say
Respond
With words that will show me the way
Grasp
The hand I’m holding out
Bear
With me when I cry and shout
Understand
As only Your Spirit can
Bring
Me into the shelter of Your hand
Know
What I need, even when I do not
Prove
The difference between need and want
Steady
Me when the ground shakes
Grow
Me to reach others for Your sake
Enable
Gifts I did not know
Nurture
And then let me grow
Ensure
I only seek your Son
Receive
My soul when work is done
Grasp
Until that day comes
Saturate
Me in Your Love
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Shelly
Updated on July 3, 2014
Giants in the Land
But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. “There we saw the giants; and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” – Numbers 13:31-33
photo credit: Paolo Margari via photopin cc
Some days it can truly feel like I am in a land with giants. The giants are fierce, unmerciful, and vicious. Frankly, they are downright scary! In fact, any time that I read this accounting of the children of Israel from the spies who went in to scout the promised land, I find that I can relate all too well to their fears. My giants aren’t actually people, they are illness and disability, pain and challenges, but they are large and feel insurmountable.
Knowing the end of the spies’ story, however, it is clear that it is not pleasing to God if we shudder in fear of our future or refuse to go in boldly to the unknown and claim His promises. So I have to figure out the difference between the 10 fearful spies that I relate to so easily and the 2 who stood boldly and said, “Let’s go at once to take the land. We can certainly conquer it!” (vs. 30) The answer is faith. So simple, and yet so elusive when our minds and hearts are clouded with fear.
Haven’t we, like Caleb and Joshua, witnessed God’s great love for us? Have we not known His awesome power and experienced His wonders? The Israelites had as well! They had walked through the Red Sea on dry land and watched God defeat countless fierce enemies when the odds were impossible. The Lord’s people had been fed with manna from heaven, drank from a rock, and seen Moses’ face glow with the glory of having been with God! How could they now doubt that He would grant them the victory, wherever He asked them to go?
How can I doubt? Have I seen or experienced any less from my God? Do I know know of his power and wonders? Yes, the land He is asking me to walk through, maybe even conquer, is filled with giants. So? I need to raise up my shield of faith here, and recognize Who is going with me! Come at me, Giants! Bring it!
Like Caleb, I will say, “Let’s go at once to take the land. We can certainly conquer it!” And like Joshua, I will know, “As for ME and my house, we will serve the Lord!”
Father, replace my fear with faith. Strengthen me as I learn to depend fully on You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen…
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Shelly
Updated on July 3, 2014
Amazing Grace
For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. – John 1:16
photo credit: Ali Catterall via photopin cc
Grace upon grace. Some days I feel forgotten by God. Do you ever feel that way? Most days I feel much less than graceful, in fact sometimes lacking in grace altogether. I have received none, and I have none to give. But oh, Thank God, this is not the truth!!
Before Christ came, we had God’s good will toward us. He desires us, He chases after us, and before time began He already had a plan in place to rescue us! Wonder of wonders, and matchless grace!!
Certainly this is not anything anyone ever earned from the Lord, this deep devotion He feels for us. It is a free gift, undeserved, the very definition of grace given. Then, almost unimaginably, God sent Jesus to earth to suffer for us, and to show us the true nature and love and FACE of our God.
Grace upon grace. Completing the fullness of this perfect, beautiful gift, Christ came down to walk among us, to die for our sins, and to rise again, where He would prepare a place for us to spend eternity with us.
On these days when I feel forgotten, ungraceful, and unable to extend grace to others, I will do my best to call this verse to mind. I have received, and can extend, not only grace, but the FULLNESS of His grace, and even beyond… to grace upon grace. How awesome, how uplifting, how freeing are these precious words.
Heavenly Father, how majestic You are. Your mercies to us are unfathomable. We praise Your name, and we ask that you help us to not only receive the grace You have extended to us, but to pass it on to others. In Jesus’ Name, Amen…
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Shelly
Updated on September 25, 2013
Watercolor Me
I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver
and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘These are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’” – Zechariah 13:9
Let me start off this blog entry by saying that I am NOT what anyone would consider an artist. I enjoy crafty projects, but somehow they always come off looking like a toddler made them. That said, I really enjoy making watercolor bookmarks to send to those who need encouragement. I find the perfect scripture, choose a great color, add a few flourishes. It’s very therapeutic. In the process of making some bookmarks yesterday, I realized that some of the things I do are a lot like God’s refining process.
One of the things I do is that I use a broad brush to water-paint on the base color. When I do that, my hard-bristled brush actually causes the paper to pill. There really is no other way to do it that I know of, because to use a softer brush wouldn’t give the coloring or stroke marks that I want, and to use dry paint wouldn’t give the soft look to my color. I’ve learned through trial and error that trying to remove the spots of pilling while the paper is still wet only adds more pills. What I have to do is set the pilled paper aside to dry before I can remove the imperfections. Once it’s dry, I take my softest flat-edged dry brush and sweep the pills off. The problem I then encounter is that in the drying process, some of the pills have adhered to the paper and I have to use the edge of my brush to gently scrape at them before I can sweep them away. Because of this, sometimes my paint doesn’t look as smooth as I’d like it to, but I know that those are the areas I will spend extra time and attention on later with my paints, creating beautiful designs out of seeming flaws, or simply covering them with something lovely. As long as I’ve been painting, I have never found an easier or faster way to prepare my paper for the scriptures and designs. So each time I prepare to start the creative process, I know I will have to repeat these steps before I can begin. I simply take a deep breath and start with step one. There is no way to rush the process or simplify it.
Refining is like that, isn’t it? The paper is already there in front of me, but it’s meant for something greater. It’s meant to showcase talent and beauty, surely a greater talent than the one I have to offer, but the point is it is there for a purpose. Simply being paper is not a purpose! Do you see where I’m going with this? God showed me through my creative process yesterday that simply being human, alive and present, is not enough! I am meant for greater things, and I certainly have the Artist of artists, the Talent of talents, to refine me.
The refining process we must go through takes time. There are multiple steps, and God will never put us through one step without being sure we are ready for it. Just like my paper must be dry before the flaw removal can begin, our hearts and souls must be ready before God will begin His next step. Maybe that’s why the process seems never-ending, and just when we think it’s over, we realize this was only a reprieve and the trials are back again; sometimes new trials, sometimes deeper struggles than before, but it does tend to make the process seem endless. It helps me to think of it in this way: the moments of reprieve are because God knows my limitations and my breaking points. He will never ask more of me than I am ready to give. But just I wasn’t ready last week doesn’t mean I am not ready now, and I can trust that God knows when I am ready and how much I can handle at a time.
Sometimes I wish God would use a different avenue of refining me, but just as I as a painter know which brushes will lend the desired effects and how much water will create the look I’m after, God has a thorough understanding of his art and his medium. I can be sure that He has chosen this brush or this much water for a reason, even if it seems some days that I might drown. And even if the avenues He chooses seem to create more problems, more flaws, and more trouble, I can rest assured that, just as I expect the pills to form from the first steps in my creation, God is not surprised when my own “pills” pop up during my refining. And He can much more easily sweep them away than I can with my bookmarks! Sometimes it won’t be right away, because remember, the drying step is an important part of the process! The flaws and problems that have formed may seem permanent to me, as they do seem awfully “stuck on” as I’m drying and listening to the enemy berate the Artist. But God’s brush is much softer and He has a much defter touch, and He can and WILL remove each flaw as soon as He can without damaging me or creating more.
Now here’s the best part! God will now come in and choose just the right colors and flourishes, designs and scriptures, to lay on my life for display. I will now be serving the purpose I was created for… to showcase the artistry and magnificence of God! He will cover each remaining flaw, or turn it into a clever and priceless piece that adds to the whole of who I am in Him. Now I just have to be careful not to mistake the process for the end product. God’s not through with me yet, but watch as I develop and I hope you will see His brushstrokes!
Heavenly Father, help me not become impatient with the process that it takes to showcase You! Thank You for finding me a worthy medium for Your talents. In Jesus’ Name, Amen…
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Shelly
Updated on July 3, 2014
Sunday Scripture 9/22/13
But we worship at your throne— eternal, high, and glorious!
– Jeremiah 17:12
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Shelly
