God's Invitation

Jesus invites us to come to Him.
He wants to offer Himself to us.

Come unto Me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest... Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  Matthew 11:28-29

In the storm, in the busyness of duties that call us, in the joys,  He invites us to COME...

Come...
to find rest.  To quiet our hearts.

Come...
to find perspective.

Come...
to be reminded of whose you are... His Beloved.

Come...
Simply to be loved.  He loves you.

Come...
to weep and cry about the burdens and the storm that overwhelms your soul.

Come...
for whatever need you may have...

Come...

Peace, As the World Gives or As Jesus Gives?

Peace.  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you... Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (nor let it be fearful) John 14:27

Peace of God which passeth all understanding...  Philippians 4:7

Peace.
What is peace, anyway?

Is it when all the house is put in order, clean and toys put away?
Is it when the children are playing nicely and getting along with each other?
Is it when relationships are connecting and we get each other?
Is it when someone sees a need and meets it, we feel peace?
Is it when we are getting our things done in a timely manner?

But what if that is not what is reality?
What if all feels chaotic and stormy?
The children call for me, ONE MORE TIME.
The boys fight.  One tattles on another.
The phone rings, there's another meal to make...
I get mad...
Peace??

What does Jesus mean when He says "Peace, I leave with you, not as the world giveth?" or a Peace of Mine which passes understanding?

That doesn't give me the picture that all is going smoothly and in order.

So, my question is, what does peace really mean in the eyes of Jesus.

Jesus often said as He was with the disciples, "Peace, be still."  The storm was raging, the air boistrous, people were afraid and when Jesus was present, He commanded peace.

I remember one morning as I was filling in for a teacher at school, we were singing and the teacher leading the songs led a song taken from John 14 - Peace I leave with you... not as the world giveth, give I you..; and I, being right smack dab in the middle of a painful and disappointing relationship struggle was struck with that phrase - not as the world giveth, give I you...

PEACE.

Mr. Webster defines peace as -1) freedom from disagreement or quarrels, harmony, serenity, law and order 2) freedom from wars, a treat or an agreement to end a war, make one's peace, reconciliation, end hostilities, settle arguments 3) peace of mind - calm, quiet 4) hold one's peace, silence.

Looking at this definition -points 1&3; would seem like yes, it's when the house is all in order and relationships are connecting that we have peace. (I will look at #2 in another post)
The world's peace is where all is in order and I have it all under control. It's a peace where life feels good.

But Jesus tells us He is giving a peace that is different.
In John 16:33 He tells us "In the world there is conflict; but IN ME there is peace."

In Jesus!  Did you get that?!  In Jesus there is peace. HE IS PEACE.

When we know WHOSE we are (right in the middle of the storm or battle) we can have peace, because we HAVE JESUS!

Isaiah 26:3, "Thou wilt keep him in PERFECT PEACE whose MIND is STAYED ON THEE, because he TRUSTED IN THEE."

Matthew 14:22-32
When Peter said, "Lord, if it's You, let me walk on the water"...  As long as he was focused on Jesus, right in the middle of the storm, HE WALKED.   The minute he took his eyes off of Jesus and looked at the storm, he began to sink.
When we focus on Jesus, the storm takes a back seat, and we are confident in Him.

That's Jesus' peace.  Jesus is giving us Himself.  He is Peace.

We take our pain, our storm, our disappointments and failures to Jesus; laying them at His feet and fixing our eyes on Him.  He brings perspective and calm to our hearts as we trust Him and choose to believe His heart is good intended towards us.  He gives us, HIMSELF.

He, Who is strong enough.
He, Who is big enough.
He, Who loves us much.
He.  Himself.  His grace.  His strength.  Himself.

That is a peace which passes ALL understanding.
- Peter walking on stormy waters.
- Rest in the spirit, while a relationship continues to hurt.
- Forgiveness to the one who has hurt us.
- Calmness and perspective in the middle of busyness.

Because we know who we are in Him.
  Do you know who you are in Jesus?

Jesus defines us with His Love.
In Him we are loved, accepted and belong!  And when that grips our hearts, we can 'walk' on the stormy waters of rejection, chaos, brokenness.  THEY DO NOT NEED TO DEFINE US!
GOD DOES!!!
Having said that, I am not saying it doesn't hurt or that we glibly go along in life; I'm saying that pain should not define us, it should be a stepping stone to Jesus. A gateway to sitting at His feet and learning more of Him.

Sometimes we feel more like the disciples in Mark 4:38-39 ...
As the disciples were rowing, Jesus was sleeping and a storm came up.  The waves were high and filling the boat with water.  The disciples panicked and Jesus continued to sleep.  Finally, they could take it no longer and woke Jesus up shouting,  Master, Teacher, don't you care that we're going to drown?

Jesus awoke, stood up and rebuked the wind, "Peace, be still."  The wind stopped and there was a great calm.

Then Jesus turns to the disciples  and asks them, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

With Jesus in the boat, He would've taken care of the disciples, it just wasn't looking like they wanted it to.

I believe Jesus wanted them to trust Him, to ride the storm with peace in their heart, because Peace was with them.  They forgot that.  Or maybe they didn't understand Jesus yet...  because it says the disciples were terrified, "Who is this Man?  even the wind and waves obey Him"

We have this story to remind us to ride with Jesus, trusting that He will save us in His way.  Trusting that He does notice our storm, even though it may feel like He is sleeping (Psalm 121:3-4 says He never slumbers nor sleep)

The Peace of Jesus often doesn't look like we want it to ...
but may our storm cause us to ask Him to show us His Greater Truth and shed His Light of Truth on our pain or battle.

The peace of Jesus is not a calm life; but a life who Jesus calms in the midst of storm and battle. - Judith Lapp

The Stream and Life

I love to hear the rushing and gurgling of water as it ripples over the rocks of a stream.
In the springtime the streams are swollen with water and life is starting to show forth out of the brown earth around.
In the summer, rains swell the stream with water, brimming and flowing, pulsing with current.

There are two streams, one I see is clear and sparkling, making music over the rocks and around the logs.

Another stream is muddy with water rushing onward, flowing over any obstacle that may be in its path, making music.

Music.  Both streams.

Isn't that sometimes life?  Our stream may be flowing - clear and musical.  Life may make sense and we sing.  It's easy to sing a song of praise and say God is good.

But sometimes, and it seems more times than not, our stream is muddy and life doesn't make sense.  Life's perplexities and questions remain unclear and muddled.  Our prayers seem to go unheeded.  Relationships are muddied and hard.  Jobs may not go as planned.

Can we still choose song?  Can we still choose praise?  Can we still say God is good?

I am reading a book by Jennifer Rothschild - God is Just Not Fair.  Wow.  She says some powerful truths and speaks from her personal journey of becoming blind as a teenager and grapples with the hard questions, bringing them before her Heavenly Father.
Go to jenniferrothschild.com or better yet, purchase a copy of her book, so you can digest and re-digest the truths she shares.
Her life's story is a musical.  Her life's story is hard.

What do we do when our stream is muddied??

We can either flow onward, choosing to stay alive or become a pool, dammed by the rocks and most likely become stagnant and hard.

Common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense; they stand in the relation of the natural and the spiritual.  Can you trust Jesus Christ where your common sense cannot trust Him?  - Oswald Chambers

Like waters in the muddy stream, we can still make music as we flow onward; unless we get stuck in corner and become stagnant waters.
Hard is not wasted when we learn to bring our hard to God, our Heavenly Father.

Song comes when we choose to trust the Hand and Heart of our Father.  It's not a song we force to sing or melody that we labour to produce; but it FLOWS... ever onward and only because we choose to go forward with our Father.  He produces the song through His grace and love and redemption of our hearts.

Habakkuk 3:17-18  "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, YET I will rejoice IN THE LORD, I will be joyful IN GOD MY SAVIOUR."

In the stream, the song is loudest and most musical when there are rocks or waterfalls...
It's peaceful and tranquil when there are no obstacles...

We need both in life...   moments where we can sit and hearts take a deep breath... calming, rejuvinating... restoring...
and the rocks and mud, they keep us humble, dependent; reminding us of our need of God as we move with Him.

And it seems, in those hard moments, when we choose to stay with God, trusting His heart is good towards us; our song is the truest.
It's melody purest when we believe His Greater Truth in the muddied waters of life.

Let God make your life His musical masterpiece; turning beauty and song out of the joy and sorrow of your story.

Just Because...

Just because some pictures are worth keeping.
Just because so much beauty must be recorded.
All because we spent a day at Lake Ontario in July.

Thoughts to Shift our Perspective

I enjoy quotes.  Words matter.  They inspire or tear down.  

- Be a thermostat and not a thermometer.
(a thermostat controls the temp - a thermometer reflects the temp around it)

- Blowing out someone else's candle doesn't make you shine any brighter.

- Courage does not mean that you are indifferent to or immune from the fear of doing so' it just means that you do it - scared!

- F alse
  E vidence
  A ppearing
  R eal

- How lucky I am to have something that makes saying good-bye so hard.  - Winnie-the-Pooh

- In adversity we must be alert, for God will find a way, somehow, to touch us.

- In God's eyes, no amount of "Christian service" can ever replace the simple and pure love we can offer Him as His children.  - Beverly LaHaye

- It's not important WHO you are, but WHOSE you are!

- It's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years.  - Abe Lincoln

- Seeds are miracles waiting to happen...

- "Sometimes you don't realize how much you have to share until you begin sharing." -Todd and Beth Whitaker (Teaching Matters)

- These hard places give us the gift of intimately knowing God in ways that would never be possible in our comfort zones.

- We're in the God zone when we're out of our comfort zone.

- You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left.

PAIN

- Pain closes the door of our heart.

  Fear clicks the deadbolt but;

  God's GRACE opens the door.

  ( Matthew 10:8 - ... Freely you have received, freely give.)

WEARY IN WELL-DOING

- Must I be giving and giving again?

  The weary wondering question came.

  "No," said the angel, piercing me through,

  "Just stop when the Lord stops giving to you."  -Anonymous

(Matt. 10:8... Freely you have received, freely give.)

Why Do You Love Someone??

Because I've been struggling through the reality of a prayer that doesn't seem to make a difference and it's been the cry of my heart for the past 2 years...
disillusionment and sarcasm and bitterness creeps it's way into my heart.

First, I struggled with Lord, You don't love me...

Then, it was, You don't care about me...

Next, I am like, Lord, why pray, does it matter?  does it make a difference?

I'm not important.... and the thoughts circle on.

Recently, I heard a talk on God and loving Him and how that  we can be with Him and not know Him.  A comment was made in that talk, that did the people follow Jesus for the loaves and fish?  Did they follow Him to be healed?  Did they follow Him for the miracle?

Or did they follow Him for Who He is?

That thought stayed with me...

Am I following and loving Jesus for what He can do and does do for me?  Or do I follow Him because I love Him and for who He is??

I want to be loved for more than what I can do.
I want to be loved for who I am.

Jesus is the same.

He commented on the people who sat at His feet.
The woman who washed His feet.
The people who caught a glimpse of Him and worshiped.

Why do I love someone??
Why do you love someone??

An honest look at that question revealed that I tend to love wholly and freely if there is something in it for me.  If I 'feel' loved or cared for in return.  If not, I want to walk away or at least distance myself...

But can I say with Habakkuk - though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren
even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty,
(that's pretty much a fail of any life security)

v.18 YET, I will rejoice IN THE LORD!
I will be joyful IN THE GOD OF MY SALVATION!
v.19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength!  He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.

Even though....

Yet,
I will worship God.

Yet,
I will love God.

Yet,
I will choose to believe His Greater Truth and greater plans.

Maybe, the reason for my prayer going the way it has, is to reveal a greater need of my heart.. to learn to love wholly, no strings attached...
to love, simply for WHO God is and not WHAT He does.

Maybe, I'll never know...

Why do I love someone?
Why do you love someone?