Category: Surrender

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Listen, Memories, Obedience, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Trust, Yield

Henri Nouwen

Lectio 365 wrote this quote from Nouwen on his feast day:

The love that often leaves us doubtful, frustrated, angry, and resentful is the second love, that is to say, the affirmation, affection, sympathy, encouragement, and support we receive from our parents, teachers, spouses, and friends. We all know how limited, broken, and very fragile that love is… The radical good news is that the second love is only a broken reflection of the first love and that the first love is offered to us by a God in whom there are no shadows… The knowledge of Jesus’ heart is a knowledge of the heart. And when we live in the world with that knowledge, we cannot do other than bring healing, reconciliation, new life, and hope wherever we go.
https://lectio365.24-7prayer.com/share/devotionals/2026-09-21/morning?locale=en

It has at times been difficult to offer the love God gives us to those around us. We knew for more than six months that both Chuck and Ginny had fatal diseases. We made an effort to take them meals, visit them when hospitalized, send texts, cut flower arrangements, anything we could think of to cheer them. It was not always easy to extend our hands and hearts to them, but we felt the Lord was asking us to do it. So we did, even when our own hearts were reluctant.

Now Chuck is dead. Ginny is dead. Our local restaurant keeps this sticker on the counter for anyone who wishes to take it home. It has been on our kitchen counter for many months urging us into obedience to God. John Wesley is reported as having said,

“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”

Our time for doing good for Chuck and Ginny is over. He sent us a basket of African violets and philodendron vines just before he died. He had no idea that Bob had recently told me he would like to have another African violet! It is such a gift of love. The card on the flowers reads:
“Thank you guys for your compassion, prayers, and most of all for your love. We love you, Chuck and Ginny” I see the flowers and miss them both.

The house across the street where they lived is empty now. The sons have all gone home to prepare for another funeral or celebration of life, this time for Chuck. I keep getting startled when I realize there is no one there.

Icon of Henri Nouwen by Kelly Lattimore

I hope our efforts reflected what Henri Nouwen wrote. This is not to brag to you, but to show that we never really know what the outcome of our loving, our extending the hands of Jesus to another … we never quite know what the impact will be upon the other person. All we can do is try to follow the example Jesus gives us and obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit. May the God and Father of us all be pleased. (Ephesians 4:6)

Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:15-17 NIV

Posted on in Aging, Challenge, Collection of Quotes, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Look, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Trust, Yield

Fear of Change

A quote from the series “The Hammond Family Farm,” “He knew that teenagers thought everything that happened today meant that was how things would be forever. Boone knew far better than that.”

That is so like our thinking. Even in my 70s I often think like a teenager, grasping things as if they will be this way forever. Good and bad things. I forget things change, whether I like it or not.

Then there is this:

In 2018 I journaled the following. “Change is inevitable. Come to expect it.” If only I had that tattooed on my hand, I could see it daily and perhaps remember that when I am strolling in my comfort zone, that too is subject to change. Perhaps the seasons changing so dramatically are our reminder from God that nothing remains the same except God.”

Life is full of mystery. The mystery is our invitation to let go and to embrace uncertainty with the fullness of our being. This is how hope becomes our bearing. It’s how it becomes our compass in uncertain times. Joe Primo

“Hope becomes our bearing and our compass”

“Joe Primo is the CEO of Grateful Living. He is a passionate speaker and community-builder whose accomplishments made him a leading voice on resilience and adversity. Gratefulness for life, he believes, is foundational to discovering meaning and the only response that is big enough and appropriate for the plot twists, delights, surprises, and devastation we encounter along the way. ” https://grateful.org/joe-primo/

I have come to regard Joe with high praise. He was a Hospice Chaplain for many years. That gives a person a unique insight on the best ways to LIVE. The bold text above summarizes his embrace regarding the importance of gratefulness. Please read it one more time slowly.

The purple quote above says let go and embrace uncertainty with the fullness of our being. I am not there yet! Indeed, I have not arrived. Yes, Lord, I need hope for my compass.

“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.“ Emily Dickinson

Right after I noted this Dickinson quote for the blog it showed up in a TV show. Just like God to send me a reminder. “Let go and to embrace uncertainty with the fullness of our being.”

Are you willing to try it this week? And the week after that? And the week after that? I am praying that the next time you see a feather you will remember Emily and Joe, see the hope that perches in your soul, embrace uncertainty with the fullness of your being.

Peace is an invitation in daily life to breathe deep, right here, in the uncertainty. MORGAN HARPER NICHOLS

Peace. Hope. Uncertainty. They are our companions. “We Can Complain Because Rose Bushes Have Thorns, or Rejoice Because Thorn Bushes Have Roses.” No one is certain who created this sentiment, but many encourage us to be grateful for life and embrace the changes that come our way, uncertain though that way may be.

Bob Dylan is quoted as having said, “There is nothing so stable as change.”

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Challenge, Faith, Nature, Obedience, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Surrender, Yield

Who Could Have Imagined?

Such devastation from floods, fire, drought, scorching heat?

“Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal. The number of record high temperature events in the United States has been increasing, while the number of record low temperature events has been decreasing, since 1950. The U.S. has also witnessed increasing numbers of intense rainfall events.” https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/evidence/

Floods from a portion of glacier breaking off, sending water and mud to wipe out people and towns? Total devastation and enormous loss of life. Earlier no one in my generation would have thought this was even possible as a result of climate change. Yet, here we are.

Water from tremendous thunderstorms inundating portions of America. Cars, homes, towns underwater. Wind and storms continue with hurricane season arriving earlier each year.

Prayer certainly helps as people face the loss of everything they own. Some even suffer the loss of loved ones.

As I watch a goldfinch hang upside down on a “volunteer” sunflower in our flower bed, I am reminded that we are given the responsibility to be keepers of the earth. For the most part we have done a lousy job through our greed and overall disregard as to the effects our consumerism has on the planet. Lord God Almighty, forgive us and help us mend our ways I pray.

Look at shells on sidewalk. Then focus above the shells to see the bright yellow bird! (I could not capture the image of the bird upside down.)

This report in the L A Times says: In the Rocky Mountains, years of extreme heat and drought have baked the landscape, drying up streams that feed the Colorado River and desiccating pastures where cattle graze.

The unrelenting dryness has brought hardship upon cattle ranchers, who say their livelihoods increasingly are under threat.

As the U.S. Supreme Court considers a case in which major oil companies are being sued for the effects of global warming, a group of Colorado ranchers is voicing support for the the idea that the fossil fuel industry should be held to account.

The ranchers depend on snowmelt that feeds the Colorado River and its tributaries to nourish grasses and hay pastures for their herds. But this year the Rockies had the least snow on record, and they’ve watched springs dry up and creeks dwindle.

The lack of water has ravaged grasslands and left ranchers unable to grow enough hay, forcing them to buy feed for their cows at high prices.

It’s been so dry that Valdez no longer can get water in his irrigation system for his animals to drink. He has turned to buying water and hauling it with a tanker truck to fill troughs for the cows.

Floods, drought, storms,record high temperatures, wars and rumors of wars … Lord, deliver us and forgive us we pray. Help us to recognize our part in this massive destruction. Show us each how to amend our ways and live with an awareness of our responsibility for the calamity.

Book of Common Prayer Page 827, Prayer 41. For the Conservation of Natural Resources

Almighty God, in giving us dominion over things on earth, you made us fellow workers in your creation: Give us wisdom and reverence so to use the resources of nature, that no one may suffer from our abuse of them, and that generations yet to come may continue to praise you for your bounty; though Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Posted on in Aging, Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Joy, Just do it, Music, Praise, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Trust, Worship, Yield

Rumi

Seems like wherever I turn these days folks are seeking direction and fulfillment for their everyday lives. I keep returning again and again to Rumi, the poet, theologian, Islamic scholar, and Sufi Mystic. I am not looking to replace my Christian faith, but this guy understood the depths of mysticism and genuine faith.

Merriam-Webster defines mysticism as a religious practice based on the belief that knowledge of spiritual truth can be gained by praying or thinking deeply. I know Jesus would agreed.

Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop. There are quite a few dead leaves dropping around here and summer is not even complete. How about the things we fill our lives with that do not fulfill us? Can we drop some of those and be more like the tree described in the Psalms?

Happy are those
    who do not follow the advice of the wicked
or take the path that sinners tread
    or sit in the seat of scoffers,
2 but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law they meditate day and night.
3 They are like trees
    planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
    and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper. Psalm 1:1-13 NRSVUE

Whatever lifts the corners of your mouth, trust that.  There is a local billboard that states “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.” It is powerful advice. Our worship service has children participate especially in collecting the offering. There is also a special children’s sermon that is delightful. I am always refreshed by the children. And they know how to smile!

Before I had the recent foot surgery if I saw someone in a wheelchair I made an effort to get on their eye level and greet them with a smile. Since I have so recently driven electric wheelchair shopping carts in so many different stores I am even more inclined to do that. It is an entirely different world down there. Most people just hurry past and ignore those who are seated. Try giving those folks a smile of yours! If you have never driven one of those carts, the next time you see them lined up for charging you should try one, just to gain a new perspective! Of course, if there is only one or two please leave it for those of us who cannot walked the area of American mega-stores! There are some people who would see me reaching for an item and ask if they could help me with it. There is still kindness all around us!

Hard, but oh so true. Constantly flowing, never clinging, always embracing the new. Wowsers. Here are just a couple of short songs to keep you in the ways of a river today.

And an even better one is Ever Flowing!

Posted on in Book quotes, Faith, Just do it, Obedience, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Trust

Sensible Shoes Series

This series of books written by Sharon Garlough Brown features 4 women on their spiritual journey, ending with Book 4, entitled An Extra Mile. I finally started reading book 4 and have been staying awake longer at night due to the story. Brown is a terrific author! Once a librarian told me you know it is a good book when you wonder what the characters are doing when you are not reading.

In part 2 of this book, Page 166, a couple of the women are experiencing an experiential prayer journey to the cross on Holy Saturday. The fourth prayer station is described as follows:

Three dead trees were secured in five-gallon buckets with duct tape and rocks. Draped through the bare branches of the trees was a long black cloth, at the top of which was painted the silhouette of a weeping woman. Blue beads and crystals representing tears hung from the branches, and at the base of one of the trees was a puddle fashioned from turquoise tulle.

“Jesus Speaks to Weeping Women”, the sign read. Beside it was the Scripture text from Luke 23:27-31

A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then

“‘They will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
    and to the hills, “Cover us!”’

31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

I have read the Bible through several times and studied particular books many times. I did not recall this passage at all. See why I like her writing? The image of the dead trees, the way the woman’s tears were depicted; certainly her church must have had this display once?

Two characters stop at this prayer station. The author writes out their experiences. These two paragraphs drew me enough to turn down the page in my book (rather than look for a pen or pencil as I read into the night). Page 170

But I can’t fake joy, Lord. What I have right now to offer you is sorrow. Gratitude, too, but also sorrow. I miss ___ _____.I miss my work. I miss my space. I grieve what was. I grieve what will never be. I grieve.

But I’m not the only one who grieves. I sit and stare at these dead trees watered by tears and find myself strangely comforted at the thought of being part of a community of the brokenhearted and the disappointed who keep watch for redemption. For resurrection. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Let that be true, Lord! Not just for me. For all of us.

This has been a difficult summer in our household. Recovery from the foot surgery. Storms. Multiple deaths in our neighborhood. Storms. Bob got really sick and is on multiple inhalers and treatments for his lungs. Another death looming. Garden going to seed despite the efforts of friends and both myself and Bob .

It has been refreshing to read Amy Carmichael writing to those who are ill and struggling, see https://treasuresinplainsight.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=23617&action=edit Sharon Garlough Brown writing about those who are grieving and ways to take our eyes off our own discomfort and place our eyes upon Jesus once again.

Again Sharon Garlough Brown writes on Page 174

I know you invite me to trust you as Redeemer, Lord. Not to expect you to be the God who fixes broken things or prevent brokenness from happening but to trust you to be the One who redeems broken things, makes your presence known in the midst of all that is broken, and keeps us company as we grieve. You do make all things well. Like Julian of Norwich’s prayer. All shall be well. And all shall be well. And all manner of things shall be well. Someday. No matter what.

God is with us in anything and everything that happens to us in this life. Somehow everything that happens to us in this life can form and shape and prepare us for life beyond this world as well.

If you have never read this series of books I cannot urge you enough to look into them! Book 1 is entitled Sensible Shoes and introduces you to the four main characters. Those characters are developed through the all four books and certainly worth the read.

Author Sharon Garlough Brown

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Challenge, Faith, Focus, Joy, Look, Nature, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Thanks

Let’s Regroup on the Topic of Awe

Do you recall my reference to the TIME magazine article on Brief Health, 5 ways to experience a little bit of awe every day? https://treasuresinplainsight.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=23481&action=edit I also wrote a couple times about Glimmers. I think I mentioned it 6 times? Here is the first Glimmer post https://treasuresinplainsight.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=21104&action=edit

Have you been seeking those experiences? The 5 ways in short are 1. what makes you say “whoa”? 2. Think small. 3. It can happen on a screen, (nature, short lab videos, etc.) 4. Awe is a reset button and 5. Pay attention to goodness.

Our deathly ill neighbors have large flower boxes on either side of the front walk. Last spring, a healthy friend of theirs planted annual seeds in the boxes for them. Ginny has since passed away. I went clumping over in my orthotic boot one day and could not get through to the front door as the sidewalk was overgrown with flowers blooming and falling all over the place. Zinnias that were over 3 feet tall, sunflowers falling down, and under it all a riot of marigolds. I am still trying to offer meals to Chuck. Last Sunday I asked Bob to go with me bearing clippers and a bucket so we could cut back the jungle to get to the porch. We disturbed a parade of butterflies and bees. As I cut one stem I noticed a lovely bug. At first I called it a leaf hopper. (See opening photo) On closer inspection it was more likely one of the zillion kinds of grasshoppers. And as I marveled at its intricate body I realized I was holding my breath for a moment in awe. There it is!

From the bedroom window this morning I could tell the weather has finally changed with lower humidity, MUCH LOWER, and cooler temperatures. Then my eye was captured by the sunlight through the elephant ears. No rabbits lately, but this was indeed a delight. Breathe in the awe with me.

We attended church this morning with me in sandals, left one had top one strap entirely unfastened, no boot! Though the day held delightful weather our outdoor service was changed to indoor due to other issues. After being spread out in chairs under the towering oak trees in the parking lot there was an enhanced sense of intimacy once indoors. I was amazed how many people greeted me with well wishes for thorough healing. The arms of Christ were certainly all about me. The doctor had said he still wanted me to wear the boot in public. I admit I was a bit nervous with all those other feet around me, especially the children. I look forward to serving at the altar again as soon as I can climb the stairs.

What a glorious day of awe and wonder. Instead of rainstorms right now there are small, pure white, puffy clouds floating slowly past in an incredibly blue sky. Life is truly a wonder. The TIME article suggests taking a 15-minute “awe walk.” Just look at the world with fresh eyes, pay attention to the details around you, and engage your senses.” Slow down for the details and let awe capture you!

Consider the work of God;
    who can make straight what he has made crooked?

In the day of prosperity, be joyful, and in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that mortals may not find out anything that comes after them. Ecclesiastes 7:13-15 NRSVUE

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Book quotes, Faith, Focus, Illness and Health, Music, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Trust, Yield

Struggle Continues

I came across this poem set to music after reading Amy Carmichael’s chapter entitled Rose from Brier in her collected writings in the book by the same title. (Pages 51-53) I found it enchanting. The photography, also, especially the raindrops on the pavement! She heard this poem as “a little song that sang within me” as she longed to be at a welcoming service in the House of Prayer, but could not leave her bed.

Amy Carmichael Rose From Brier

She describes the sweetbrier of England in contrast to the roses of India. “I saw a little, low, very prickly bush in an old-fashioned English garden; it was covered with inconspicuous pink roses. But the wonder of the bush was its all-pervading fragrance, for it was a sweetbrier. And I saw one who has long been in the land where no thorns grow, cutting a spray from the bush, stripping the thorns off and giving it to me. May these for whom a rose from my brier may be caused to blow, those who do indeed walk the dear familiar ways of home, and road, and street, as unregarded as a breath of air, but there in love and longing, always there, find no pricking thorn on the stem of this rose from my brier.

“I think that when He whom our soul loveth comes so near to us, and so gently helps our human weakness, then what Madame Guyon wrote more than three hundred years ago becomes a present truth. We are borne over the oppression that would hold us down, we mount up on wings, we find a secret sweetness in our brier. But it is not of us. It’s Love that lifts us up. It is Love that is the sweetness.

“Is the one who reads this in a great weariness, or the exhaustion that follows a sore hurt, or in the terrible grasp of pain? He who loves as no one else can love understands to the uttermost, is not far away. He wants us to say, He can give it to us to say, “My Lord, my Love, I am content with Thee.”

Beautiful pink and yellow flower of dog-rose, sweet brier

In America we often call the same plant a Dog Rose. My neighbor has them in her backyard. I will have to experiment next spring to find out if the foliage is also fragrant as the internet reports!

I find the fragrance of Amy’s writings a gift to my soul.

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Focus, Just do it, Look, Rest, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Thanks, Trust

Amy and Tamara Inspire Again

I have been experiencing this and trying to express it since the surgery on June 15. Still clumping around in the boot and hoping this cheers those of you who are struggling.

August 15 Amy Carmichael from Edges of His Ways
For the tempted. (1)
Psalm 77:3, P.B.V.: When I am in heaviness, I will think upon God.
“Have you noticed how, when you are in heaviness, you are always tempted to think about yourself–your uselessness, your failures, your nothingness–yourself in one way or another? I have known this temptation and have constantly found it tormenting others. To draw one’s thoughts to oneself is a long-tried and most successful wile of the devil.

“Straight against this is the word we have in this psalm, “When I am in heaviness, I will think upon God.” I will turn my thoughts from myself to my Father who loves me and does not stop loving me, though I am useless and a failure and less than nothing at all.”

The meditation app Calm on the same day brought forth the idea of how we fixate on certain things as required for our contentment. We are ever reaching for one thing or the other than what is for our happiness and contentment. Both Amy Carmichael and Tamara Levitt encourage us to find peace right where we are. Right now. With things as they are.

Tamara says, “The stories we tell ourselves about our lives suggest there is always something missing, some incomplete piece keeping us from happiness.” She reminds us that it is “unhealthy to place our happiness on some ever-elusive external goal.” She challenges us to find satisfaction with who we are right now. Amy stated we might feel “useless and a failure and less than nothing.” Tamra suggests we turn loose of the idea of something missing and cling instead to what is here, right now, as enough.

Tamara says, “When we rely on external factors as the key to happiness we only perpetuate our discontentment. She quote B. Grace Bullock as saying, “Once you shed your distorted lens and self-doubting beliefs, there’s a good chance you’ll discover that you’re pretty awesome. And that the light burning within you is a far more accurate reflection of who you are than the stories you have been telling yourself.” That is when contentment becomes possible.

Shed your distorted lens

So my struggle the last couple of months has been to stay in the present, realize that even with physical limitations I can turn my heart and mind towards God. If I stop telling myself distorted stories and think upon my God, contentment is possible. Just now.

As I am.

Right here.

Give it try!

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Challenge, Faith, Illness and Health, Praise, Rest, Surrender, Thanks, Trust, Worship

Limitations Can be Fun?

Everything, even the hard things, are wrapped up in the loving kindnesses of the Lord, and His loving-kindnesses “have been ever of old.” Psalm 25:6 I have searched, but I cannot find the place Amy Carmichael is quoting from with this passage about even the hard things.

I have been trying to sing “Li-mi-ta-tions can be fun,” but through the sarcasm I try to realize the truth of the matter.

Amy quoted Isaiah 63:7: I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He hath bestowed on them according to His mercies, and according to the multitude of His loving kindnesses. Douay-Rheims 1898

I am truly sick and tired of the limitations after foot surgery. Then Bob and I both caught a VERY NASTY cold. What a mess. Doc said it is not covid or the flu. Likely a virus. I wondered about covid as I coughed so hard I feel as if I tore all of my abdominal muscles. You know it is bad when you wonder if it might be less painful to cough with a corset on? So yep, holding my belly and trying not to cough though coughing has been productive and gunk is clearing out of my sinuses and throat. Doc said 7-10 days until I feel better.

“Everything, even the hard things are wrapped up in love.” I have been searching for the love wrappings here. At times that wrapping is difficult to discern! Over a year ago my granddaughter gave me a bunch of crocheted squares that she grew tired of. She thought perhaps I could join them into a blanket, “or something.” They were placed in an area with other unfinished crochet projects. With this arthritic right thumb I have to be careful how much I actually crochet or I aggravate the joint into throbbing pain. When I grew tired of making hats for children I began putting an edge on the squares and noticed right away the increase in thumb pain. So I did just a bit a day. Soon I had the squares joined and began to plan how to increase the overall size.

I had purchased similar yarn to join the squares. I even have a deep turquoise but uncertain I will use it. I did not try to match the yarn she used. Besides, she had thrown away the wrappers, so I could have searched for a long time and would likely never find it.

Here I am seven weeks into this recovery. It has been difficult to pass the time without losing my cotton pickin’ mind. There is some what of a routine, but I would gladly toss that routine out the window for the ability to function without foot pain and swelling; from 4:00 PM on is the worst.

There are times I wonder if doc implanted a chameleon foot in place of my other one? It can turn the most awful shade of purple if I leave it hanging down for too long.

The other day I was remembering how I used to be able to pick things up with my toes. Those days are gone at least for the left foot! Looking for chameleon photos just now I wondered if this new toe could fetch me snacks like this chameleon is about to enjoy?

Love those little front paws/hands!

Nope, I have not learned origami though I started one piece. When the pattern got difficult I realized I was losing my patience and put it aside.

I have been able to do more things around the house than those first few weeks. Bob tells people he used to have to do 200 things for me everyday. Now he is down to about 40? Sometimes if I ask him to do something he will tease me saying, “45!” Such a clown. My strength and endurance is increasing.

Several friends have come from time to time to work on my list of things to do that I cannot do. They have been such a blessing to us both! Their help reduces the things I require from Bob. Lord knows, he has been doing PLENTY!

I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord,
    the praiseworthy acts of the Lord,
because of all that the Lord has done for us
    and the great favor to the house of Israel
that he has shown them according to his mercy,
    according to the abundance of his steadfast love. Isaiah 63: 7 NRSVUE

Grateful for the healing that is occurring. Grateful for a loving husband willing to do whatever I ask during this time of recovery. I praise God for church family who lift me constantly in prayer and in person, through texts and greeting cards, always there with me through this long season of recovery.

Posted on in Book quotes, Faith, Illness and Health, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Thanks, Worship

Amy Carmichael

Have I told you how much I treasure her book The Edges of His Ways? Oh what a challenge and encouragement and comfort her writing is to me. I think I will tire of it and another year passes with me reading a passage each morning and pondering the meaning for each of us in the current year.

Is this passage she writes:

“As I read the New Testament over and over, I am more and more impressed by the way suffering was taken for granted as something appointed; but always there is the thought of joy not far off. In our Lord’s private talks with His disciples there is continually and clearly that “Must” of suffering, and the joy to follow. We often act as if the place that is called Calvary had been taken out of the landscape of life, or were an accident there. It is not so; but just out of sight is the joy that is set before us, and there is the power which can enable us to treat the invisible as visible, the promised as present.”

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2 NRSVUE

That describes suffering we more than likely will never have to endure.The example is set for us though by our Savior. Whatever the suffering, endure it. Disregard or despise any shame involved with that suffering. Always reach for the joy set before us. What joy you may ask? The joy of eternal companionship with the Trinity. The joy of the promises of Jesus: we are never alone. We will know His voice. EVERYTHING we need has been given to us.

My friend Chuck who has an acute form of leukemia recently texted me, “Our faith and the good Lord’s strength are what gets us through each day. I still have a big hallelujah even on the worst day.”

So I sent him the song Hard Fought Hallelujah performed by Brandon Lake, John Batiste and Jelly Roll.

I have no idea what the purpose the water on stage was, except maybe to symbolize the Holy Spirit?

“And there is the power which can enable us to treat the invisible as visible, the promised as present.” Thank you Amy and the folks who continue to make her writings available.