I write this post the evening before attending a funeral. The deceased was the dear sister of members of our church. She was young - relatively speaking, and suffered greatly during her last years and especially days. She had been diagnosed early in her life with Type 1 Diabetes and suffered many complications from it. Relief from those complications was found when she was taken to her heavenly home, but she leaves behind loves ones that will miss their sister, wife, tante (aunt) and friend.
Jesus was her Rock - right up to the end. I look forward to hearing more about that Rock tomorrow during the funeral sermon. In those last years much of her hearing and sight had been taken away. Jesus was still there speaking to her in the church pew with the large print bulletin and a speaker in her ear to hear better, supported by her family. She was weak. She too could say, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' ... That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
Mothering Like Mary
The mother interviewed here doesn't seem to have a happy ending all tied up with a bow on it either. Her life she describes is hard. It's unfair, unjust and painful. She too clings to God's promises so that it felt so good to be weak, to be at his feet and know that he - and only he - could give me strength.
What stood out to me after that was her coming to the point of being real in front of my family and my church. She boldly asked for specific prayers and bared her soul for people to see. Too often I see the opposite: we keep problems to ourselves and put on a happy face of "everything is alright" when it isn't. We keep trying to do things ourselves when it just isn't enough anymore. We cry behind closed doors but don't let others hold us, pray for us and minister to us as the body of Christ is meant to do. We don't want to admit that we're weak, myself included!
If we (parents) don't teach them how to draw from God's strength when they are children in a safe home environment, how can we expect them to do the same when they face trials of their own as adults? I praise Him because my circumstances have drawn me closer to Him. (lyrics of faith) When I stay rooted in His Word, it gives me strength, guidance, and encouragement.
Ponder
Not every mom has a "stand-up" guy like Joseph in her life. What encouragement is there for such a mom in this section of Scripture?
Jesus is the Rock we can always depend on and who will never let us down. Our Rock stands between us and trouble and has already won for us freedom from an eternal separation from Him. Jesus is our Helper and Friend. Whether we have a man in our lives or not, it is Jesus who is our Strength!
5 comments:
Once again, many wonderful thoughts to take away from this chapter but I kind of zeroed in on the same point you referred to, Rachel - between me and trouble stands the Rock, my God and Savior. A timely reminder for me right now in my life.
I refer to page 35 and the section "Mary might have found her faith severely tested, but in the end she had to place herself in Gods hands, trusting him to untangle her from wrongful accusation and to defend her in whatever way was necessary, Her trust was not misplaced. Neither is ours when we run to Gods faithful promises and entrust him with our children, our reputations, our livelihoods, and every concern."
Recently I have been falsely accused and my reputation under attack. These have been long, hard months along with many sleepless nights and what I consider inappropriate happenings and conversations. There is a violation of trust that has been severely damaged that only God can heal in His time. I have been reminded of Gods love and concern for all the parties involved and His grace beyond measure and forgiveness as a baptized child of God. But it is hard and hurting and heartbreaking to be in the midst of such tainted circumstances. And yet as I am again reminded here and in Gods Word, I have a Rock between me and trouble. I have His promises. Most importantly I have Gods grace and in the end I have eternal life which no man can take away...prayers, please.
Yes! ... praying for you, all involved and your circumstances
Encouraging you to do what you're doing - stay in God's Word!
Comforting you that you're not alone - Jesus is your ROCK!
Reminding you of God's love and faithfulness
Praising God that he would show you in this lesson that Mary struggled too and that her example is inspiring for us! But no one knows better than Jesus how it feels to be unjustly accused and mistreated. We have a God who suffered that to the extreme extent for us - in our place! Your ROCK knows how you feel and knows you by name. Praying this gives you peace and not just a good night's sleep but everlasting comfort.
Loving you:) XOXO
God bless you, Mommy Su! May he give you peace and untangle your circumstances. I am reminded of Psalm 37. The whole psalm applies, but here are some particularly relevant verses:
"Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.
Be still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil."
In this chapter, I particularly appreciated the image of the cat with the plastic bag caught on his collar, running around all crazy. That is a good image for me to remember when I am frantically (and futile-ly) struggling against the challenges I encounter in my day-to-day life. Stop, pray, ask God to remove the [plastic bag]. And whether his answer is yes, no, or later, for goodness sake, stop the frantic struggling!
It's interesting... regarding allowing our children to see us drawing on God's strength in our painful times... In the previous chapter (paragraph that spans p 27-28) the author encourages us to model cheerful service to God and others so that our children "learn to serve without grumbling or grudging." These ideas (modeling a cheerful attitude while serving and modeling drawing on God's strength in painful times) are two sides of the same issue for me. The former feels like stuffing my emotions down, where they tend to fester; besides, I don't want my boys to grow up thinking that life can be without struggle. I think I prefer what Chapter 6 would seem to advocate - being more honest with my children, myself, and my Lord about what my emotions are, and seeking godly ways to work through them, in full view of my children.
Good thoughts! I agree with you not wanting to put on a show for our kids. I like to keep it real, too! But I wonder if we have to pit the two against each other? Chapter 5 is more of a heart issue, I think. Having and modelling a servant's heart - are we here to serve or be served? And we can show that to our kids in our home life, church life, work life, etc. I think we can still "keep it real" here too - it's a struggle for our sinful, human flesh to push aside our own wants and desires to benefit others around us.
As opposed to Chapter 6 that talks about hard times, life's struggles and finding God is our Rock and trusting him to work things out for our good. I love what you wrote about that chapter - " I think I prefer what Chapter 6 would seem to advocate - being more honest with my children, myself, and my Lord about what my emotions are, and seeking godly ways to work through them, in full view of my children." Well said!
I agree, Rachel. Pit the two against each other. Just another balancing act in the circus of life! :-)
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