For God so loved...

"For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son..."

John 3:16

John 3:16...one of maybe the best known verses in the Bible. I mean you see it at football games, on street signs, etc. It's everywhere. I wonder if familiarity leads to overlooking the power of a thing? This verse means something different to me and my husband this year. Just the other night Jer looked at me and said something to the effect of "could we give her up?" Just the thought of giving my child for another and at that, for others who don't deserve her or really care that we gave her little innocent life. I immediately thought of the verse "while we were yet sinners...Christ died for the UNGODLY!" WHOA! Not only did God give up His only begotton, He gave Him up for sinners! People that would reject Him, misconstrue His message, take Him out of context, say His name in vain, produce programs proving He didn't exist or that He was just a hoax, nail Him to a cross...those are the ones He gave Him for. I am one of those "ones." We all are one of those "ones." (for ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God) I don't think I could give Zoe up if my life depended on it and that is what He did...He gave His Son for those who didn't deserve Him.

At a time when Christmas is becoming a "Happy Holiday" maybe we should all slow down and really meditate on what He gave. Isn't it unbelieveable that God, knowing all, would do what He did? It blows my new mother mind. May this Christmas bring us to a fresh understanding of His ultimate gift...the God-child, the Man who would die to take away that which we can do nothing about nomatter how hard we might try. The One who lives today...may we find that One in a deeper way this year. Merry CHRISTmas! May it be filled with Jesus, the one perfect gift...

"In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." I John 4:10

shelf life

"His thoughts said, I wonder why these special tools are used?
His Father said, "The house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in building.
If thou knewest the disappointment it is to the builders when the stone cannot be used for the house because it was not made ready before it was brought thither, if thou knewest My purpose for thee, thou wouldest welcome any tool if only it prepared thee quietly and perfectly to fit into thy place in the house." -Amy Carmichael

Lately I have felt shelved. You know like I am on the shelf. Don't get me wrong, I like my shelf spot (home with my baby girl) but I also want so badly to be used for God's kingdom. I won't pretend to assume I should be used or that I am in a place to be used but I really want to b. I want Zoe to grow up seeing her mom and dad contributing and living for the Kingdom of God here on earth! I want to leave her a legacy worth something in heavenly currency. But right now I am on the shelf. Of my own choosing? Of my own doing?

Then comes encouragement like it always does. It comes in the form of written words, penned years and years ago by one of my favorites Amy Carmichael. These little nuggets of encouragement always come in unexpected ways and places and they always seem to speak directly to my need. I am thankful for these nuggets for they remind me of the closeness of our God. He is near. He is involved. He knows our situation and He cares about how we are. He doesn't forget us and He doesn't ever abandon us. For this I am grateful.

So now as I type from my shelf I find that there is a song to be sung and a smile to wear even in the midst of obscurity. He continues to work on me and, like Amy's nugget conveyed to me, I will be grateful for any tool that He might use to truly fit me for His use.

peace

Zoe got her shots yesterday. I have to clarify, my parents did not immunize me nor my 5 siblings until we were much older and due to that I was fearful of immunizing my daugher. FEAR...not right in the heart of a child of God. It's funny how the way that you were raised affects your life. No matter how much we change or how far away we get from our childhood we still are so affected. I see it in my marriage. We call it the cool whip debate...which is healthier cool whip or real whipped cream? Well I would say the "real thang" but my husband (who lost his grandfather when he was only 2 to a massive heart attack) was raised to eat "fat free" (even though my side of the debate is that it is loaded with chemicals ie. how I was raised). My experience with cool whip? nil...well that's not true...Mamah had it and oh I was in heaven sneaking finger fulls of it straight out of the freezer. Yeah...how we are raised definately affects us. Ignorance is bliss...if I didn't know cool whip was loaded with chemicals I might enjoy it and if I hadn't grown up hearing about all the dangers of immunizing maybe I wouldn't have been so fearful for the past 2 months of my daughter's life, absolutely fearing the worst to come out of her 2 month check-up. There is truth to the dangers (we totally researched it-only led to more fear), there are dangers either way. In the end, it is really just a choice, not whether or not to immunize but whether or not to trust; a matter of obedience.

Listen to these verses I was on the trail of this morning: John 14:1 "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me [Jesus]," John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. DO NOT LET YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED, NOR LET IT BE FEARFUL." And again in John 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."
There you have it in black and white. So now, as the little precious one He has given us sleeps, I say to myself "let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Thankfully we can change and make new a new course for ourselves...a course of peace and not of fear. Not because this world affords it, or that we can create it, but because He, Jesus, said it. DON'T BE AFRAID.

PEACE.