Eternal Perspective

This morning I am, once again, brought face to face with eternity.

My Uncle Paul is free from his broken body and in the presence of Jesus.   I found myself asking God and wondering... "What is like to, in a moment be in Your Presence?"  pondering, "What is it like to be eternal?"

My finite mind is so limited... I cannot truly grasp eternity, even though I know it is what is truly real...

II Corinthians 4:16-18 tells us...
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,
while we look not at the tings which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

My Uncle Paul now sees clearly.  His body no longer decaying.  We are left with looking through a glass dimly...
I wonder if he and my dad are talking...

Eternal Perspective

Oh, how this earthly mind of mine

Is so limited with its understanding.

The here and now loom large in my vision

and seem so real...

The tangible is what is so easy to see.

But as the words in II Corinthians say -

real, is not what we see.

Eternal perspective.

I can only see it a bit...

As if I'm looking through a glass dimly lit.

Dad.  Uncle Paul.  

You have now joined the eternal.

The ones who live on forever.

We are grateful you no longer

need to suffer

But our hearts are left with an ache

because of your absence.

We grapple with eternity in our finite, limited minds,

As we release you to the eternal world.

We choose to trust the 

omniscience of our Heavenly Father

who know all things.

He knows and sees all things clearly -

Past, present, future...

You have now joined that eternal perspective,

And, too, can see all things clearly.

Lord,

Give us another glimpse of the

perspective of eternity,

As we release another love one into Your Presence.

It's hard.  We struggle.  We rejoice.

It's so easy to 'see' the here and now.

Give us Elisha eyes that see beyond,

Catching a few more glimpse of what is really real ---

Eternity.

This world is not my home.

I'm just a-passing through...

Love and prayers to you as you walk this journey, 

Miriam

Drew & Yvonne

Ethan & Melissa

II Chronicles 14:11

"Lord, there is no one besides Thee to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in Thee, and in Thy name have come against this..., O LORD,..."

Freed to be YOU

Is there a secret to being YOU???

We've all said and heard another say it too, "I like being with you, because I can be myself."

That was something I either said or thought of as I interacted with people.  It was something that either set me free or paralyzed me to be me.

A few questions/thoughts that I roll around are:
Being yourself, Is that always a good thing?? (Sometimes myself needs to be refined... it's not always a good thing to let loose :))
Can I be myself, even if I am misunderstood or not gotten?
Do I reject someone just because I can't be myself with them?

When we hinge 'being ourselves' with someone, then the people around us, control us...
But when we hinge our self on Someone, then we are controlled by a Force and Love greater than ourselves, and we can be our true self wherever we are.

Yes, there are people who we can relax with more than another.
Yes, there are people who we are more comfortable with and enjoy us.
Yes, there are people who 'get us' where another may miss us.

And THAT, is a gift!  I love being with people like that.

But that is not the case with all people and I don't think it's meant to be...

So, how can you can be you wherever you are?
What's the key??  Is there are key?
And why do I say, "secret"?

Because I believe it's in the quiet of our connection with Jesus that our selves are truly found and secured.  It's alone with God, that we find out who we truly are.

The secret to being YOU is secured in the secret places with God.

We are loved.
We are beautiful, created perfectly by God.

Sin has marred that perfect creation.  And we may feel like the daisy pictured below, missing petals, scarred among others who we think have it all together.
So, it is that when we are with Jesus, we re-member who we are.  We are put back-together.  We are put back together by the One who put us together.

Let's look at the life and story of Jesus...

The Son of God.  The Man who lived in perfection, created perfection.

He left perfection for brokenness and pain.

Why??  Why would anyone want to enter a world of pain and brokenness??

For YOU.  For ME.
To set us free from the bondage that grips our hearts.

His earthly story begins when He entered the womb of a virgin.  Mary.
His earthly story begins with the shame of a virgin bearing a child and is riddled with rejection, death, denial, and being misunderstood among the people who got Him, among the people who loved Him.  (It's easy to focus on the negative instead of the positive)

Yet, He didn't withhold Himself or love to anyone.  He gave in the midst of pain.  He loved in spite of the rejection.

We find Jesus, many times, being intentional in His time alone with His Heavenly Father.  I believe it was in those times alone that gave and kept His perspective and mission clear and He was reminded of Who He was. (if Jesus needed reminding... I believe the man of God needed it...)

It's not the absence of pain where we can be free to be, but it's in the middle of it and knowing Whose we are.
He did it for YOU.  for ME.
He knows and understands our pain and when we turn to Him He sets us free from the bondage and fear that grips our hearts, to set us FREE TO BE in spite of and in the midst of heartache and misunderstanding.

Jesus, is the component needed to be truly YOU!  Not the validation or lack thereof of people tangible.  It's so easy to wrap our identity in what people around us are saying or not saying because that's what we see and hear.

But it's by faith that we please God.  It's believing His Truth and going back to His Word when we need reassurance that we are love.
It's in Him that we remember who we are.  It's in Him that we are re-membered.
It's in Him that we remember our mission and gain eternal perspective.

Being rooted and grounded in His love, you can soar and grow to heights you aren't aware of.
Being rooted and grounded in His love, you are FREE TO BE YOU!
Ephesians 3:17-21

A Day at Niagara - The Sound of Big Thunder

What a phenomena of a natural wonder!!!  NIAGARA FALLS.
The power of water - the force of its fall - the mist... is all a part of its splendour.

Our youngest could hardly wrap his mind around it, asking questions of how it was formed... did they get shovels and dig it??  did they take buckets and fill it up???

We smile at those words, but isn't that how our finite minds work, trying to grapple and find answers to the majesty of our God.  our Creator.  our Lover.

We wonder.  We gaze.  And our hearts try to wrap itself around the majestic glory and wonder of our Saviour.

I believe He wants us to gaze.  To enjoy the view.  To be awed and not understand His awesome-ness.  To be swallowed up in all of it.

Scary? yes.
Hard? you bet.
Worth it?  YES!

But to be able to do that... we must believe He is good and His heart is truly filled with love toward us.  We must be convinced, even in the middle of our questions, and give ourselves to the power of His love and trust His heart.

Niagara, the Thundering Falls.
Jesus, the Powerful Lover.

The Call to Be in the Midst of a Doing World

This corner of the world has been a bit silent...  Many things have been happening and schedules a bit turned around since the dismissal of school days to exchange with summer days.

Days of summer have given to grass cutting, husband home and so off we do this or that, biking, chicken coop shopping, tending flower gardens, birthdays, and more.

So, how does one BE in the midst of DOING???

Being vs. doing is a passion of mine because I believe it's a passion of God's.  It's a call from the heart of God and I have caught a glimpse of it, but when there are moments of so much to do and you're in the midst of raising a family, there is simply MUCH TO DO.
When you are given the strength of youth, now is the time of doing and there is MUCH TO DO.

So, how does one BE in the midst of doing?  What is God really calling us to?

I honestly can say, I haven't got it down pat.  I struggle with the reality of staying in the presence of God and working (doing, busy, even good things for God) at the same time...

What I do know is, the name for God that I had recently was I AM.

I AM.
Nothing more and nothing less.  God is who He is.  He needs nothing more to prove anything.

When Moses was to go to the children of Israel and say "The God of your fathers hath sent me to you,"  and he wondered what he should say when they asked what is His name.
God replied, "I AM THAT I AM."

He is and nothing more.  He is ever present in the midst of life and ever aware of us.

Maybe it's our heart's attitude... Is it feeling a need to perform or is it simply resting in the finished work of our Saviour and learning more of Him??

Jesus also says in Matthew 11:28 -  "Come unto me,... and I will give you rest."

Rest.  Rest from what??  Come...

Mary obviously found it as she sat at Jesus' feet.  Present.  Listening.  Engaged to the voice of the Master.
And I believe Martha could have been listening and present while serving the people there.  But she got caught up in the doing-serving instead of the being-serving.

So, how do we live engaged, present in the midst of our MUCH TO DO??

A few points that I have found that help me are:
Intentional living.  Aware of more than what we are doing and remembering Who we are serving. Making a conscious effort to focus on my Saviour, right in the middle of it all.  And to those of us who are introverts to different degrees, that is a bit harder to do, for we like quiet to process.  Jesus said, "My grace IS sufficient for thee,"

Abide in the Vine.  John 15.  Stay connected to Jesus.  His Written Word tells us about Him and brings a refocus to our perspective as we absorb and inhale His Truths.  His Truth sets us free as we believe it.

Jesus says in John 7:38, "He that believeth on Me, out of his belly shall FLOW rivers of living water."
Jesus is the Living Water, and when He is a part of our breath, He will flow out.  It simply is.  It will happen.

I don't believe that being is equivalent to doing nothing.

Being/be, in the Webster's dictionary means to live; to exist; to have a place or position.
Also, a bit of English, being verbs take the place of the action verb.  They connect the subject to the rest of the sentence.

And so, for us, being takes place of doing, doing and it's our connection to do life.
To be. To be present.  To live. Being connects us to Jesus.  It connects us to life.

And when we become doers we forget who we are and wrap our identity in our doing.
We are because Jesus is.  And I believe we must bask in His Presence and snatch those moments to refocus on Him, who loves us.

Ephesians 2:8-9, For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
not as a result of works, that no one should boast,

Am I rambling???  Perhaps. :)  But how does one describe or grasp this truth?

So don't forget to live today in the Presence of Jesus.  Inhale His Truths, absorbing them into your bloodstream, so they may flow out of you today.  Living Water - Jesus.

Be.
Be alive.  Be present.  Be real.  Be connected.
Be a be-doer. 

A bit from the prayer of Ephesians 3:14-21
... and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God.

The Father's Heart and Mine ~ TRUST

TRUST.

A 5-letter word with a BIG calling.  A word that is a bit easy to say, but harder to live out.  A word that in all reality calls us to abandonment.

Abandonment of self. of pride. of control.

What does TRUST mean??
- a firm belief or confidence in the honesty, integrity, reliability or justice of another person or thing. - confident expectation, anticipation, hope

What keeps us from trusting our Heavenly Father??

The opposite of trust is fear and I believe fear is one area that keeps us from trusting the heart of our Father.

Fear of the unknown.  Fear of what may happen.  It's out of our hands, out of our control and we pull back.  We hang on to what is familiar, for the safety of what we know.  We don't want to exchange familiar for the thrill of unknown.  We want control.

Trust is a letting go and placing our confidence in the hand of the One to whom we let go.

So, how do we live in the reality of trust?  How can we move beyond familiar to ride the roller coaster of the unknown?

If I believe that someone is big enough, strong enough, and capable; I can rest, I can let go.

So, anytime I am struggling with resting, trusting, entering into the unknown; it's a stop light for me to stop and check what I am wanting control of or even to ask myself the question, "Do I believe God's heart is good towards me?

Often the answer is "no".  I find myself knowing that God's heart is good, but sometimes it takes a bit for my heart to catch up and believe it firmly.

I John 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear;

Jesus is that Perfect Love and when we believe it, when we place our firm belief in His love; we will trust.

There is 'safety' in familiar, but there is a thrill in leaning into the unknown. There is a stretching, a growing when we take the leap into what is not so familiar.

There is a constant in familiar, but no learning or growing.

There is known in familiar, but an exhilaration in finding something new.

An exhilaration of 'I survived', I did it. It doesn't always turn out the way we think it should or what we think it will look like, but we took the risk and found freedom.

And most of all our knowledge of God deepens.  We learn more of Him and Who He is. I want that, don't you?!?

Yes, I believe we want more of God, but to walk the path that leads to more of Him, we must have a FIRM BELIEF in the ONE WHO IS LEADING.  And that person is Jesus Christ, God, our Heavenly Father.  He is leading and we must firmly believe His heart is good towards us or we will draw back, hang on to what's familiar when something 'looks' scary for us.

Fear is always connected to trust.  We have a choice... FEAR or TRUST...  And when God calls us to trust, He tells us not to fear.

Courage is doing something, even when afraid.

Here are just a few verses that I found on trust/fear...

Exodus 14:13  fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD...
Psalm 27:1 The LORD is my light and salvation whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid. v.3 though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this I will be confident.
Isaiah 35:4  Be strong, fear not, Behold your God will come... and save you.
Isaiah 41:10  fear thou not, for I am with you...

To rise above.  To trust.  We must allow God to save us.  We at times need to stand still and see...  We most of all need to believe Him.  We must believe His TRUTH, not our lies or what we believe to be true.

We need to allow His Truth to be trump.  To be Greater than our reality.  We bring our belief system to Him and ask for His Truth to be heard and then we replace what is false.

Lies feel 'comfortable', it's what has worked; maybe falteringly, but we make it work.
Replacing those false beliefs enters an unknown.

Matthew 10:39 If I find my life (my saving methods) I will lose it;  If I lose my life for Jesus' sake, I will find it. (His life and salvation)

Are you willing to take the leap?  To ride the roller coaster?  To put your hand in the Hand of the Heavenly Father who loves you so?

It really is the only way to freedom.  To living alive.  To living full and at rest.

Learning to trust is a journey, not a destination.  It is a life habit and a learning of it again and again.  It is learning to believe God is good again, in this situation, in this moment.

And the more we 'practice' something, the more comfortable it becomes.  Practice trusting.  Practice believing and that will become more comfortable than our own control.

It's that first step.  That first choice to believe something different, that takes a huge amount of courage.  Take it.  You won't regret it.

Only a Person who Risks is Free�

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To reach for another is to risk involvement.

To expose your ideas, your dreams,

before a crowd is to risk their loss.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.

To live is to risk dying.

To believe is to risk despair.

To try is to risk failure.

But risks must be taken, because the

greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

The people who risk nothing, do nothing,

have nothing, are nothing.

They may avoid suffering and sorrow,

but they cannot learn, feel, change,

grow, love, live.

Chained by their attitudes they are slaves;

they have forfeited their freedom.

Only a person who risks is free.

- anonymous

What are you fearing right now?

Join hands with God, believing His heart IS good towards us.  Bring to Him what you are struggling with, He will bring His Truth and set you free.  Ask Him, in your moments of unbelief, to help you believe.

He wants to.  He came to set the captives free, to bring deliverance.

He LOVES you.  He LOVES me.

~ I'd love to hear your fears and your risks.  Write a comment, send an email to jelsymphony@gmail.com. 
There is a burden-sharing when we are willing to face our fears and we share the journey when we share it with another.  So, call a friend, send a text for prayer, for we know then, we're not alone.