Last night I went to bed with a splitting headache. Those are very rare for me so my husband and I prayed just before I fell asleep around midnight. This morning at 3:00, my husband woke up to the banging of our cat trying to open the bathroom cabinet. A few minuntes later, he was standing in the middle of the bedroom and I woke up to a rumbling sound like thunder and my bed shaking like the MRI I just had. After the initial rumblings, there were a couple wavy sensations and it took a while to get back to sleep. But when I finally got out of bed to start my day today, this passage from I Kings 19:11-13 came to mind and I started singing Robin Mark's song Days of Elijah.
“And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’”
So what are YOU doing here? Elijah was at the end of his ministry as a prophet thinking all his work was a lost cause and that he was all alone with no one to stand by him. He went to hide in a cave. Where are you and what are you doing there? Are you hiding from God? Taking His name in vain by living like He means nothing to you? Do you call on God as a first resort in crisis, or a last resort? Do you praise Him always, not just after surviving a natural disaster? Are you hanging onto hurts or are you seeking His healing? Are you keeping your lamp lit and ready, or have you let your lamp burn out? What are you doing here?
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
For everything there is a season...
Do you have a God-calling that you do on any kind of regular basis? Do you find that as regularly as you do the thing, you are met with very obvious opposition by our spiritual enemy; so regularly that you've come to expect it? I do. As I prepare for this one particular ministry, I am attacked in exactly 3 ways: I get a virus, my family has nightmares for 2 full weeks before, and my bloggings and emails get intercepted by little aliens in cyberspace. Okay, they're not aliens, but call it what you will, my messages disappear. Mind you, it's only the ones that bring God the most glory, of course. All this to say, I really have been trying to post here on this blog, but.... well.... you know how it goes.
I previously tried to post to let folks know that we are alive and well here in our neck of the woods in eastern Missouri. We have not had property damage by the tornadoes, nor have we attended any funerals. My mother lives very near Joplin and has seen the devestation first hand. She said no one can possibly imagine what the television isn't showing. It's too awful to describe. Having been there so many times over the years, it seems so unimaginable what it must look like now with nothing but earth and rubble where stomping grounds once stood.
Today I commented to my mom that it's so sad that when natural disaster strikes, people need someone to get mad at so they pick God since he created nature. Mom piped in to explain that she hasn't seen that at all. I like how she said it, "This is still the Bible Belt, Lisa! If anything, people have clung to their faith and are so grateful to be alive!" That was encouraging. I am sincerely hoping that someone there will erect a billboard or memory stone in the town with the inscription of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. See what you think. From the New American Standard Bible, it reads like this:
There is an appointed time for everything.
And there is a time for every event under heaven –
A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.
It's not just Joplin, MO, that has suffered this year, although it has been such a tremendous loss. So many people and places have suffered loss and it's no mistake that we have a very real enemy as described throughout Scripture and in Ephesians 5-6. My hope is that wherever you are at in your own life, whether directly affected by these natural disasters or in your own personal turmoil, may you find comfort in these words from Ecclesiastes 3. We all have our false securities that must be uprooted, often by a grinding force that pulls us together as a family or group or people or nation. How does this apply to your own life today?
I previously tried to post to let folks know that we are alive and well here in our neck of the woods in eastern Missouri. We have not had property damage by the tornadoes, nor have we attended any funerals. My mother lives very near Joplin and has seen the devestation first hand. She said no one can possibly imagine what the television isn't showing. It's too awful to describe. Having been there so many times over the years, it seems so unimaginable what it must look like now with nothing but earth and rubble where stomping grounds once stood.
Today I commented to my mom that it's so sad that when natural disaster strikes, people need someone to get mad at so they pick God since he created nature. Mom piped in to explain that she hasn't seen that at all. I like how she said it, "This is still the Bible Belt, Lisa! If anything, people have clung to their faith and are so grateful to be alive!" That was encouraging. I am sincerely hoping that someone there will erect a billboard or memory stone in the town with the inscription of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. See what you think. From the New American Standard Bible, it reads like this:
There is an appointed time for everything.
And there is a time for every event under heaven –
A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.
It's not just Joplin, MO, that has suffered this year, although it has been such a tremendous loss. So many people and places have suffered loss and it's no mistake that we have a very real enemy as described throughout Scripture and in Ephesians 5-6. My hope is that wherever you are at in your own life, whether directly affected by these natural disasters or in your own personal turmoil, may you find comfort in these words from Ecclesiastes 3. We all have our false securities that must be uprooted, often by a grinding force that pulls us together as a family or group or people or nation. How does this apply to your own life today?
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