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But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.

I Thess 2:7

In the second and third chapters of I Thessalonians Paul is reminding them of aspects of his visit with them.  He and Silus and Timothy birthed the church there and this letter is to clear up some things and to give them some more teachings.  The above verse is an example of the close relationship that he had with them.  These guys nurtured this baby church like a nursing mother.  A few verses later we see that they also treated them like a father with urgings and encouragements.

. . . just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

I Thess 2:11-12

That’s relationship!  It’s also our pattern for discipleship.  Leading a person to Christ is the most incredible thing but we can’t walk away and think our job has been accomplished.  That new believer has just stepped into an entirely new realm and needs a mentor.  Paul is brilliant in his follow-up.  All of his writings in the New Testament are follow-ups to the churches that he planted.  He constantly prays for them and straightens out any problem that may arise.  He also sends friends to check on them if he can’t visit.  This is our example.  This is relationship.

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“Thou art a God that seeth me.” Genesis 3:16

I recently had to force myself to go the doctor. I hate going to the doctor. Loathe it. Despise it. Dread it. Postpone it. Did I say HATE it??? But I had to go. There were 3 little ones in Guyana that needed for me to ‘get checked out’…. for their sake. I had to force myself to do the unthinkable…I had to make an appointment and this time….follow-thru. I had cancelled numerous times in the past. But this time was different. This time there was a greater purpose than my own fear. There were 3 sets of milk chocolate eyes staring at me across the Atlantic. I could feel their glare. I could sense their urgency. I could not sleep as their eyes kept me mindful of a greater good… one that clarified my distorted view of stethoscopes and needles. I sacrificed my phobia for their American citizenship. Their gaze made me mindful of their need. His gaze made my wobbly-knees steady. He sees me; and I am able to move my paralytic fear and wrestle demons under His watchful eye.

For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers… 1 Peter 3:12

Hagar was Sarah’s beloved handmaid…until Sarah used Hagar as a means to expedite God’s plan for her family. Sarah began to loathe Hagar and treat her unkindly. Hagar (an Arab idol worshiper) could not take the shame and oppression so she fled into the wilderness. As she stood beside a spring in that desolate lonely place an Angel of the Lord visited her. He comforted her broken heart and assured her that God Himself was quite aware of the situation. Hagar responded, “You Are the God Who Sees.” Hagar found comfort in her distress that God saw every little detail. God did not remove her burden He made Hagar aware of His gaze. He changed Hagar’s trembling idol worshipping heart. She returned to bear out the consequences in faith (not in an idol); but in the sight of El Roi: The-God-That-Sees.

It is comforting to know that He who “guides us with His eye” sees tomorrow clearer than we see today! -David Bosch

This past month has been a month that required more than I could spiritually withstand. We are STILL in a waiting process for the adoption of 3 beautiful children. Two of my ‘women friends’ had their husbands commit adultery (only to hurt them more deeply) telling them, “I never really loved you.” My daughter just returned from a month long mission experience in Brazil. My younger daughter’s friend lost her mother after a 5-year war with stomach cancer. My husband had an emergency room visit with beginning staph from bug bites via Guyana. My sister has a mother-in-law in a spiral with cancer, congestive heart failure and now failing kidneys. Randy is an only child…so Tammy and Randy are the soul caregivers. Struggle can wear you down. Trouble can cause you to lose sleep. Anxiety can cripple your belief. Hurt can labor your breathing. Disease can damage your ability to love. Absence of a loved one can create imaginary monsters. And we, like Hagar, flee into the wilderness. We stand at desolate, lonely, foreign territory and we crumble under the opposition. We cannot bear the weight of the grief. We want to hide from the heartache. And an Angel of the Lord appears in our infirmity with a message of comfort. “We serve a God that sees everything!”

But the Lord watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love. –Psalm 33:18

Having asthma as a child frightened me. White coats, clip boards, stethoscopes, waiting rooms cause my knees to wobble. Difficult heartaches do not escape the Master’s skillful eye. He came and discovered all our ‘dirty little secrets.’ He sees our intimate laundry and He has great compassion for our situation. His eye misses no detail. Disease, adultery, foreign land, broken hearts are no match for His unfailing love. He carried it, He endured it, and He claimed it. He took it all upon Himself as the nails held all our despair. He does not remove opposition He conquers it in our lives. He is the beginning and the rear guard of our situation. He is our Sanity, our Clarity, and our Victor. Sometimes our cross comes in the form of lingering illness, demand for ongoing toil and discomfort, the overbearing anxiety of a loved one that does not know God. Our cross can come in unbearable waiting (like Hagar and Sarah) and how we respond to the stillness. Behind Sarah’s situation we see His provident permission in her decision making. Through all discipline of life we must believe that God has purpose and wisdom. What God permits is as much His will as what he appoints. The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Psalm 32:8 He knows that through every detail is the potential to bring Him glory. If what we are going through did not have the potential to conform us to His likeness…He would not have permitted it to happen. His watchcare brings an adrenalin rush, a supernatural strength that pins the demons that choke and strangle our joy. His eye will never cease to keep us close. His unfathomable love is our GPS system home. He makes paralytic 54 year wobbly-knees steady under His Fatherly gaze. He keeps me close so He can steady me when I fall. My job is to get to His open arms…that are extended toward me. He coaxes my every tiny step and I am ever mindful that I am never alone. No matter our ‘ugly situation’ His eye is on our greater good…Heavenly Citizenship.

“How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God.” -Psalm- 139:17

. . . constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor or love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you . . .

I Thessalonians 1:3-4

Faith

The bedrock of Christianity.

Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Hebrews 11:6

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Love

The heart and soul of Christianity.

Love never fails.

I Corinthians 13:8

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Hope

Our joyful and confident expectation.

Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.

Titus 2:13

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Faith, love and hope are concepts that are really hard to define.  Paul makes them phrases that leave no doubt as their definition.

Work of faith – If our faith is in God we will do what He says!  Period.  That’s our work – obedience.  It’s not the other way around.  We don’t work to get faith.  You won’t find that anywhere in the scriptures.

Labor of love – When you love someone you labor over them.  You don’t mind doing whatever it takes to make them happy or healthy or whatever the situation requires.  Love compels us to act.

Steadfastness of hope – Steadfastness is the same thing as patience.  We Americans are not very patient people.  Everything is fast.  Fast cars, fast food, fast drying paint, etc.  God’s Word tells us that in order to have hope in what He has told us we must have patience.  Wait for it.

But now remain faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

I Corinthians 13:13

Last night in class one lady said she was told that the reason love is the greatest is because it outlasts the other 2.  We won’t need faith or hope in heaven!  Think about it.  Our faith will be complete.  Our hope will be realized but love, well, God is love and that’s what we’ll be surrounded with.  That’s what will be our theme and song forever.

Don’t let this be the end of your study on faith, love and hope.  God has lots more to tell you about these 3 beautiful words.  Study!

Ready or not . . . here it comes!   It’s Change knocking at my door.  Next thing I know I’m headed toward the Land of Old Age kicking and screaming, tossing and turning the whole way.    Warning!  I’m going to be candid with you so if this is out of your comfort zone, read no further!

The truth is that the older I get, the more I want life to stay the same.  How I miss those days when change was an adventure!  I’ve always loved new beginnings.  There were people to meet, churches to visit, homes to settle into, and God’s work to be done!  How exciting!

Then Change came knocking, using a disguise called Menopause.  It hit me blindside, knocked me every which way, and caused me to dread the very thought of another day.    Somewhere along the way, my brain escaped the confines of my body and my internal thermostat died!  Literally, I thought I had lost my mind.

Change plowed through my life like a bulldozer.

When I lay in ruins, Change looked back and asked,

“What are you doing on the ground?”

Young women, I don’t mean to scare you.  We experience different symptoms with various intensity levels.  Still I wish someone had prepared me for this new stage of life.   I wasn’t ready for the crashing fatigue, weight gain, or the loss of cognitive thinking and concentration.  Or the hot flashes that engulfed me without warning . . .

And then there were the mood swings.   I stopped smiling for months on the inside and began to despair over real and imagined sin. God had always been my strength and courage.  Why couldn’t I rise above this?  Was I ruining my children’s lives?  Was I pushing people away from Jesus by my actions?    How much was I to blame for what was obviously a serious design flaw in women?   I can laugh now but I really struggled over these questions.

Menopause truly is a new stage in a woman’s life.   It is a natural biological experience when the ovaries shut down, menstrual periods stop and estrogen production ends.   It marks the conclusion of the childbearing years.  If your symptoms are severe, you should consult with your doctor for medical options.

Beyond that, there are a few things I learned along the way.

• Real transition is taking place as your hormone levels change.  Your body needs time to adjust to it.  Feeling overwhelmed by the simplest of tasks is quite common.  I cried out more than once to God, “What is wrong with me?  I used to be able to juggle lots of balls at once and now I can’t even keep one in the air!”  Like me, you may need to step back from some of your commitments to reduce the stress in life.   It helps to remember that God designed our bodies to change with age.  He moves us to a new stage of life, one where He will still be glorified as He works through us.

• Your emotions will get the best of you on occasion.  You are not perfect and will fall from time to time.   Relationships are hard when there is so much upheaval going on in your body.  When I failed miserably, Micah 7:7-8 strengthened me and boosted my faith:

But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD,

I wait for God my Savior;

my God will hear me.

Do not gloat over me, my enemy!

Though I have fallen, I will rise.

Though I sit in darkness,

the LORD will be my light.

Pour out your sins of self-pity, anger and discontent to the One who cares.  Confess and ask forgiveness from those you hurt with words and actions.  Claim God’s word to be true, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

• Menopause can cause you to feel isolated from God.  Talk to Him about what is happening so that you can gain spiritual perspective and health.   Renew your mind daily with truth from Scripture; read small segments if you are having concentration problems.  Don’t give up.   In the Old Testament, when Joshua was commissioned to cross over into the Promised Land, God gave him marching orders that can also help us keep our eyes on God:

Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.  Joshua 1:7-9

• The way you deal with difficulty is going to come out during this time.   I withdrew behind my house walls, secluding myself away from friends and relatives to hide.   When enough was enough, however, my best friends refused to let me wallow in self-pity any longer, and they demanded what we fondly call “The Intervention.”  Having no choice, I poured out my woes to them, and they in return promised to come alongside of me and pick up the pieces.  They took over the daily operation of our Women’s Ministry giving me time to get through the transition, and they refused to give up on our friendship.   Let others help you!

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Galatians 6:2

• Finally, be proactive with your health.   For instance, waves of overwhelming fatigue may hinder your ability to function properly.  Ask your doctor to check your Vitamin D level, as the process of aging can deplete it.  There are prescription strengths that restart the production of this vitamin in your body.   Don’t be afraid to ask for help.   No one cares more about your health than you do.

When all was said and done, this transition to a new stage of life brought me closer to my Savior and a better understanding of who I am in Him.

It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

Psalm 119:71

Younger women, I am sharing this with you because God’s word exhorts the older women to teach the younger women the things of life and God.  One day Change will come knocking at your body’s door.  Be prepared and embrace it, knowing that growing older is certainly preferable to the alternative!

I Thessalonians.  A small 5 chapter New Testament book that is largely overlooked.  Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a sermon series or read a book about it.  There are several key passages that are referenced frequently but I’ve never heard the entire book taught.  Too bad ’cause it’s a gem!  There are lots of wonderful spiritual nuggets here.  Paul talks about

True conversion

Suffering

Faith

Hope

Love

Sexuality

Death and

The coming of the Lord.

He had already been to the city of Thessolonica and established the church.  Some time after he left, he sent a co-worker to check on them spiritually.  He’s encouraging them and revisiting his time with them.  In chapters 4 and 5 he gives them more instruction and teaching.

The overarching theme seems to be the second coming of Jesus Christ.  This topic is mentioned in all 5 chapters with more details in chapters 4 and 5.  He wants them to be blameless at Christ’s coming and proceeds to instruct them in that regard.

Next time we’ll look more closely at chapter 1.  Read it over and over soaking in the commendation that Paul gives to this church.  Is there anyone that you can encourage in their spiritual walk with the Lord?

We will begin on Tuesday, January 18th!    Have a warm and blessed day!

For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.

I Thessalonians 2:13

I hope your holiday was filled with joy and wonder.

Happy New Year!!

On Tuesday, Jan 11, 2011, I’m starting a Bible study on I Thessalonians.  I’ll be sharing some of that study on this blog in the coming weeks.  If you would like, you can start reading the book of I Thessalonians.  It won’t take very long as there are only 5 chapters in it.   Paul is the author and he is encouraging and instructing the Christ followers of Thessalonica with the view that Christ will return to the earth.  The next time He comes it will be radically different.  See if you can find what Paul mentions at the end of each chapter.

This book is full of teachings concerning our faith.  It’s about walking blameless – walking in a manner worthy of our calling in Christ.  Take time to meditate on this book.  Let it soak into your heart and mind.  Here’s my prayer for you (I actually stole this from Paul!):

And may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.

I Thessalonians 3:12-13

I was reminiscing with Father God this morning, sorting 2010 out in my mind and considering the journey.    I wouldn’t want to do it over again!    There were too many days when life was crashing into me.  All I could do was tread water and keep my nose above the waves.    It was a rough one, that’s for sure, but I made it through to the end.

Reflecting with Him sparked cherished memories of family and friends, reminding me of the laughter that came with the tears.    I observed my spiritual growth and recognized my failures.   I realized that I am in a new position to minister to women…because I experienced 2010.

One thing I am certain of.   Last year was under the protection and power of Almighty God.   And my life, complete with the good and bad, was filtered through the hands of a loving and personal God…

Just as 2011 will be.

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.  And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored One!  The Lord is with you.”  But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.  The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid Mary; for you have found favor with God.  And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”  And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.”  And the angel departed from her.

Luke 1:26-33, 38

Do you ever wonder about things in the Bible?  I do.  I have zillions of questions.  This text makes me wonder about that angel Gabriel.  We see him several times in the scriptures and he seems to be a messenger from God to man.   He brings very important messages about the first and second advents of Christ.  In this particular text he’s telling Mary, the mother of Jesus, that she has been chosen to bear the Messiah.  What a message!  And while the message is monumental I wonder at what thoughts Gabriel might have had.  Did he study Mary?  He must have marveled that God would trust ANY human being with the birth of His Son.  Did he wonder what must have been going on in her heart and mind at his proclamation?  Did he wonder what kind of mother she would be to his King?  Did he wonder how his King would condescend and become a human?  And then, did he marvel at her response?  “Behold the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.”  Maybe his parting thoughts about Mary were, “Surely our God has chosen well.”

Just wondering. . .

“And if your brother sins; go and reprove him in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.”

Matthew 18:15

Reprove – To severely chide, admonish, reprove; to find fault with, correct (This Greek definition is from www.blueletterbible.org)

I just finished teaching an 11 week course on The Sermon on the Mount.  It’s found in Matthew chapters 5-7 and just might be the most beautiful teaching that Jesus gives us.  One of the main points that He is making is to show what a righteous life in His Kingdom looks like.  Several times I had ladies saying that they wished there was more accountability in our Christian circles: accountability to each other as we walk this righteous path that Christ calls us to.  In an ideal world it would be there but I’m afraid that we are too concerned with what others think about us rather than what God thinks and therefore we simply WILL NOT be vulnerable to each other.  I’d like to issue a challenge.  How about letting someone know you?  I mean know you well enough that when you sin they see it and then have the freedom to call you out on it (that’s what the meaning of the word reprove looks like).  That’s how we repent and are reconciled to God and each other.  God uses us in each other’s lives for this very purpose.  I know just how risky this is.  I’ve experienced it working beautifully and I’ve experienced it crashing and burning.  I’ve done it right and I’ve done it wrong.  I’ve been on both ends of the spectrum.  To be honest you have to be careful who you choose to be vulnerable with.  It needs to be a mature believer that you trust: someone that prays for you and wants the best for you.  That way when the day comes that they have to come to you because they see sin in your life, you know it’s because of love.  It’s because they want reconciliation.  There is no judgment AT ALL.  Their only concern is that you be reconciled to God and whomever the sin is against (if it involves someone else).

I have a couple of people in my life that I have that kind of relationship with.  I know it’s rare.  That’s why I value it so much.  It still hurts when someone points a finger at my sin.  The question is then, do I want to continue in sin or be right with God?  I’m thankful for those who have invested in my life in this way.  I’m also thankful for a God Who NEVER gives up on any of us.  This God is always ready to reconcile.  Always ready to forgive.

If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?  But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.

Psalm 130:3-4