Being billboards for Christ means each decision we make represents the name above all names. Even when we fall short of His glory, someone is looking at us as real life examples of what being Christian is all about. As I'm looking at my insecurities and their roots I'm seeing that things of darkness grow in darkened areas and it's high time I bring all of me into the light of our Lord--especially those secret sins that come so naturally that I miss them more often than not. I can't tell you SonShines what this time in Lamentations is doing for this weariness-prone heart! I feel so set free from my sin and my shame and I don't think I've ever felt this secure. The trick? I've decided to stop trying to be secure in who I am and instead place my security in who God is growing me to be. If I'm growing, then I'm getting watered and my path lit. That's the gauge I'll be using instead of other people's lives and ideas of who I should be--or even my own. The turmoil of my husband's infidelity has left a new sort of insecurity that I never knew had always been around in some fashion. Looking like a fool is one situation I just can't handle very well. I've never been one to try new things in front of others for fear I'll set some sort of record for getting it all wrong in some extraordinarily lame way. Unfortunately, this keeps me from being myself in a lot of situations. Good, safe, and healthy fun is preempted by my worries of being laughed at and not with--or worse being found out for being too lame to love. When I read verse 14 I just sighed. Just this heavy sigh of relief for being known, for seeing how wrong I am about myself, and for feeling the tug to live in my personality because I am wonderfully made! "I have become the laughingstock of all my people, the object of their taunt-songs all the day long." (NRSV) I don't know that anything has summed up the pain of discovering that you missed a million little signs of cheating for years. Everyone in your life knew more than you about your own marriage. No one thought you were smart enough to figure out what was happening in your own home. Deceiving you was part of the thrill. Manipulating the naive little twit was all the rage in your inner circle. You wonder whether they think you were stupid to stay after finding out. You just can't bare to look at how stupid you feel for fear you'll find you really are incapable of forming a solid thought. I felt that verse. I feel it still, more often than I'd like to admit. Today, I feel it letting go of its grip on me and it feels good! I'm not going to talk all morning, I want to hear from you all! One question today... What is God speaking straight to your heart through Lamentation 3 today? Tomorrow we'll be discussing chapter 4 of Lamentations. I hope you'll join us on the pages of Scripture as well as in conversation! SonShines, are you just as amazed by our God as I am right now? If you’re reading along, I’m pretty sure you’re singing His praises right along with me today. Lamentations never struck me as being a book I’d understand. And I was right. I can’t wrap my brain around it, but the Holy Spirit is interceding on my behalf to impart some much-needed wisdom. Praise God for large mercies! I’ll let you in on a secret—God directs me to this book or that and He sends me to studies I’ve never considered taking on. Were I the one choosing what to spend time on and when, chances are I’d have studied Psalm, Proverbs, and Isaiah first instead of James, Esther, and Daniel. Reason being, I’d never cracked one of those books before in my life! I was too blinded by my own notions of the stories that lie therein and I suppose I thought they’d be too heady for me to handle on my own. Boy, was I right…and oh so wrong. Sure, I’d never have made it through any of those studies on my own. Truth be told, I don’t think I ever would have tried it on my own. Had the Lord not lit a fire under my cushy tush, I’d still be sitting here thinking I’d never be able to understand the Bible. Today, it hurts to look at my life prior to living in the Word, but in a good way that reminds me of how God is continually growing His children. What a blessing the Living Word of the Living God is in this fallen world! Lamentations 2 paints us a revolting, heartbreaking image of the realities God's chosen people faced due to that first fall and our resulting bondage to sin. Divorced from the Lord and dejected by the world, they were starved and hopeless as the atrocities ran rampant in their lives. Still, some held out for God's wrath to end in His mercy. Beautifully, these people knew their God and prayed for His love to overcome His anger toward them. Owning their sin wasn't enough, repenting wasn't enough, only Jesus would prove to be enough to mend the divide created by our transgressions. Divided by God, we can barely stand in this world. Delivered by grace, we soar! That grace comes not for our sake, but for God's. He loves us and wants us and continues to give us grace for His sake, we'll never deserve it but our Father finds us worth every bit. I think these two verses speak far beyond the historical documentation they hold, straight to the very heart of our need for the Savior. "My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out on the ground because of the destruction of my people, because infants and babes faint in the streets of the city" (Lamentations 2:11, NRSV). "Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street" (Lamentations 2:19, NRSV). Our utter depravity when left to our own devices is gut-wrenching, heart-shattering, and destructive. Mankind hasn't changed. Devouring the dead in order to cling to life is widely considered a harsh but necessary way to survive in the worst of circumstances, even today. Desperation didn't die with Jesus. Desperation dies when Hope is alive in us. Salvation means never acting in desperation again and it must mean helping others to see they don't need to make decisions they can't live with either. Being the hands and feet of Jesus cultivates an awareness of Christ--it gives Hope to the weary. Here are a few questions to consider as you read and share your heart, but please know you don't have to stick to these suggestions! Share what the Lord is showing you and He will work wonders among us!
I hope you'll join us on the pages of Scripture as well as in conversation! “How lonely sits the city that once was full of people! How like a widow she has become, she that was a princess among the provinces has become a vassal” (Lamentations 1:1, NRSV). A vassal. The word just invites you to read further, but let’s linger a moment to grasp the reality of this prophetic scene God has painted through the author many scholars believe to be Jeremiah. Amid the definition of the Hebrew translated to vassal, one aspect leaped off the screen and straight through my heart. Levy. From princess to levy. That’s bound to be profound if we just look close enough. Yes, I really think like that, it’s a tad weird, but it’s rooted in a hope that does not disappoint. We’re dealing with an infallible God and His word selection is just as incapable of falling short of Divine. Time for a bit of definition. No matter how familiar a term, digging is sure to unearth some Scriptural treasure! That’s Biblical booty, for you pirate types. By definition, a levy is an imposing or collecting, as of a tax, by authority or force. God is collecting the debt of our sins by force due to our inability to redeem ourselves. He’s out to repo the souls lent us the moment He first breathed life into man. For your good and mine, by force but not against our will. We’ve got to accept salvation, but it is the sheer grace and force of God that brings it to fruition. The southern church girl in me just needs to interject a hallelujah here! Can I get an amen? SonShines, I am finding this book absolutely fascinating. Being a poet at heart, all books of a poetic nature just shake my soul. When you add the power of prophecy to the writing, you know you’re in for a real and True treat--and Jesus is buying! Debt paid in full. Let’s keep sight of that gift as we tap into our own lamentations. We can’t ignore our pain or our sin, but we can give every bit of it over to the Lord and He doesn’t mind our lamenting. Am I the only one relieved by not having to pretend things are fine when I’m talking to my Father? God wants the real us, the true to the soul us, and that includes are unique voices. The Harper Study Bible’s introduction to the book tells of how “all chapters except 3 have twenty-two verses; chapter 3 has sixty-six” and “part of the book follows an alphabetic acrostic.” The Author’s Word, the writer’s voice. I just love it! Enough from me, let’s talk about this first chapter! Here are a few questions and thoughts to ponder, but don’t feel limited by them. Share your heart! See you in the comments!
I hope you'll join us on the pages of Scripture as well as in conversation! Seven Days in Lamentations::Intro 03/08/2010
All too often, I hear heavy hearts admit they rarely read Scripture. It's a confession I've bashfully made myself and I get it, really I do. I get that mornings start rough or smooth as being shot through a cannon. Later turns to when I can and soon the promise becomes tomorrow. I've been there. I've lived there most of my life, actually. That's what these seven days are all about. I want us to know how possible it is to crack the Bible before taking a crack at the day, and how life changing. I want us to stop letting the enemy deceive us into thinking our days are filled with importance that takes priority over our Father. I want us to trust that God will make time enough for us on those days we've made time for Him. Of course, simply getting in the Word is our main objective here--by getting to know our Father, His Son, and the advocate we have in the Holy Spirit, we will know Truth! As an added goal this week, I'd love for us each to strive to make God first in every day. Whether with this study or with Christ alone, let's race to see our Lord each morning this week! I know how easy it is to skip breakfast as the day takes off in a blur and how sometimes it's even easier to skip Jesus in the zip of it all. Have you ever noticed the way each food decision is affected by skipping that first meal? Once your body catches up to the day even that cardboard thingy around your Frappa-whats-a-majig seems like a better meal than none. Bad food decisions will be made, or at least harder to resist. Skipping Jesus eventually leaves us spiritually starved and wide open to bad spiritual choices. I know you've seen what I'm talking about. Maybe you've seen the inverse, too. Stepping into the presence of God leaves us fueled for the battles ahead, shining bright enough to direct a few thoughts heavenward, and equipped to make the choices best fitted to the path God has carved before us. I know you want that just as I do, so let's lift one another in prayer as we set out to spend this week in Lamentations. May we pursue Jesus, as we let the rest of the world fall away--don't worry, it won't fall apart! We've got a mighty, faithful Father, SonShines! Spending some time in the Word each day this week is sure to bless and nourish our weary souls! Don't leave things between you and the pages, bring your Bible to the feet of Jesus and let Him tell you His story. Before reading Lamentations 1 today, pray for God to lend you wisdom and then linger for a while in conversation with the King of kings! I'll meet you here tomorrow to chat all about what we discover as we read this chapter together! Bring some questions, insights, coffee, and a friend! {ps...each day's participants will be entered in a special Godly giveaway}   God has done some awesome stuff in the span of seven days. He made the world and even found time to rest. All in a week's time. What could the Lord do with your week? Seven days. You've got that kind of time. It's lying around the house, it's sitting in the pick up line with you at your kids' school, it's waiting next to the DVR/tivo majig. It's there and our faithful Father can use it to work wonders in, on, and through you, SonShines! We'll spend a week in various areas that cry out for growth or simply, splendidly soaking up the Living Water through studying His Word a book, a chapter, a verse at a time. We'll make it a SonShine thing. Though the frequency may remain quite random, the goal will be the same. Seven days learning, encouraging, studying to shine! Our next adventure in the Son begins Monday! We'll be spending a week in Lamentations and the time is sure to be worthwhile! In the meantime, if you plan to join in, I'd love to hear from you. Drop a comment with a suggestion for how you'd like to spend seven days with me and our fellow SonShines and you'll be entered to win a secret little something which I will tell you more about soon! Jonah Study Link Up 02/10/2010
Ladies, this time in God's Word has been so sweet. Present company included! Your willingness to grab the Good Book and run with me has been such an encouragement and I'm so grateful for you. I'm going to share a bit of how our Father's been speaking to me through Jonah's testimony and then I'm heading to your place to see what the Lord is saying to you! Be sure to add the link to your post on this time in Scripture so I know where to find you. Don't miss the opportunity to stop by a friend's bloggy place and encourage them as well! As a girl, I understood Jonah to be a missionary who just didn't want to go to Nineveh. The emphasis being placed on that big fish just didn't prompt me to look any further into things. I am so glad we've taken the time to explore the man inside the fish and out! Today I see a guy that was too comfortable in his worldly setting and not comfortable enough in his God given role. Jonah wasn't just a coward, though the word aptly suits him. He was a guy that wasn't standing close enough to the Lord to know that he was never out of God's reach. Show of hands...who's been there? Typing with one hand is hard, so we can put our hands down now. We have all been there. Some of us put up a booth there and sold our sour lemonade to others sitting in the blistering sun of that eastern wind. Jonah's reluctance and his running away all make a new kind of sense to me. I did the same thing all those years that I felt God wasn't with me. Scared to be uncomfortable long enough to adjust to change, and determined to brave this fallen world alone. I was just like Jonah. Only God didn't place me in some fish's belly. Instead, He placed a tiny child in mine. Pregnancy wasn't a miracle cure, but it sure snapped me out of my self sufficient lifestyle. Much like Jonah's time in the whale, I spent some time in motherhood still sitting there in the dark. I had hit rock bottom, been so tangled in the seaweed that I wasn't sure where it stopped and I began. Finally crying out in thanksgiving and all the repentance I could understand at the time, God freed me. Anger came knocking when my personal Nineveh didn't face destruction and it still shows itself when I'm less than comfortable in my own skin. Most days, God shades me. Most days, He sends that sultry wind, too. That's just fine by me. The worm pops up from time to time if I wander too far from the Lord...or race to the ocean side in escape from the call of my Father. Some days I forget I'm not alone. Not forsaken. Today, I'm just praising God for giving His Word and His Son, who makes each promise from God a "Yes" for us! We are redeemed time and again! We are loved. Deep and wide.   Jonah Study: Reflect and Come Back Tomorrow! 02/09/2010
SonShines, I'm gonna make this short as I've got some writing to do today. Pray and pray some more, over the lessons in Jonah, the application of the Word that God is calling you to, and the way that He would like you to share this time in Scripture with your readers. Enjoy the reflection, growth, and outpouring of it all and meet me back here tomorrow to add your link and hear from me on this fantastic voyage we've taken together! Love and stuff! Jonah 4 Heartwork 02/08/2010
I have loved this time in Jonah with you, SonShines! Who knew there was so much to learn in such a small book? When we first began, I had that storybook idea of the man inside the whale and I expected that view to be shattered with the reality of it all. I mean, Beth Moore had absolutely crushed my fuzzy wuzzy sweet lions in the den to bits and I just knew the truth would do the same for Jonah. I don't know that anything got shattered, but girls, my view of Jonah has forever changed! That goes for the book as well as the man. I'll have to expound during Wednesday's link up conversation...there's just too much to think about! First, I'd love to hear your thoughts on Jonah's anger over Nineveh's quiet reprise. No fireworks. No famine. They repented as instructed and God turned His wrath from them. Jonah sat there staring at that city wishing someone would die--him or them--almost an ultimatum, but more a festering. Ooh, what about the bush (or vine), the worm, and that sultry east wind? I don't know what translation you read from, but the New Revised Standard Version jumped right out at me. "The Lord God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush." (4:6) The words appointed and prepared are both perfectly interchangeable here, both being aspects of the Hebrew word manah. Looking at each word as part of the whole point, we see that not only did God create the comfort provided Jonah, He also appointed it for just such a purpose. In verse 7, God appoints a worm that attacks the bush. A tiny, dirt dwelling, blessing withering worm was created with a purpose in the Lord. Oh sisters, so are we! Tiny little, dirt dwelling, us...meant for some great exploits with our Father! Even when those exploits don't end as we envision. God appoints blessings of comfort. God appoints blessings of withering. God appoints blessings of scorching heat to shine on our heads and separate the sin from the saint! They may not all feel good at the time, but they are all blessings--good and perfect gifts from above! Praise the God of second...and third...and fourth chances! I love you and treasure this time with friends in love with the Lord. I'll stop my rambling and chat with you in the comments! Free share today! Share what's on your heart, no specific questions asked. Come back tomorrow for some thoughts and questions to ponder as we prepare to share our hearts link up style on Wednesday! SonShines, this chapter has my mind swimming. After freeing Jonah from his watery prison and placing him on dry land, the Lord again tells Jonah to go to Nineveh. I love that God didn't release him from the belly of the fish and leave him to find his own way to shore. It really says a lot about what Jonah's heart must have looked like from God's perspective. I get the feeling God knew just what He was doing...we all know that to be true in all things, but Jonah's story is really highlighting this truth for me. When you look at the wording of both commands to travel to Nineveh, you can't help but think that maybe Jonah wouldn't have ran away had God said the latter to begin with. Sometimes, it's just downright terrifying to know His plans! Being told to preach against the nemesis of your people, in a city that took three days to cross, had to seem daunting. In the second command, God simply tells Jonah to go to Nineveh and proclaim the message He gives. Whew. That might have spared the fish ride. At first. How much weight would you give to an enemy's declarations of doom? Not as much as you'd give to someone who'd been in the belly of a whale, that's how much. Jonah's testimony put him in a position of power. God's power. The storm, the rock bottom, the entanglement, the days of hopelessness, the confession, the repentance--they added weight and worth and value to the words Jonah spoke on behalf of the King of kings. Sure, we know the true worth was there all along, but sometimes the world can't see past the messenger to find the message. I want to go on and on about this chapter, but I want to leave some goodness for you all to share too! I'll catch you in the comments and we'll dig on the Divine! Here are a few things to ponder...
Jonah 2 Homework 02/04/2010
I really need a better word than that. Homework sounds so promising and so full of things to ponder and learn...I'll have to invent us a word that means thoughts and questions to ponder and discuss and pray over with sisters. One word for all that...I'll need more coffee. "Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish...." THEN. Isn't it just like us to pray once we're already overboard? Once we're already trapped in a vast sea of imprisonment? Jonah, poor silly human. Sinking to the very bottom of the ocean, entangled in seaweed, and growing ever closer to death, Jonah finally cries out to the Lord. Don't look at Jonah like that, we've all been there--where the mountains take root. Lower than low and further from hope every moment. Could it be that Jonah assumed that God would deliver him, so he simply waited for salvation? Perhaps he felt too sinful to ask anything of the Lord he had ran from in disobedience. I would love to hear your thoughts on what Jonah was thinking during those prayer-less moments! Whether his delay in praying came from an expectation he had of the Lord, or shame, deliverance came when Jonah remembered Him. Remembering the almighty God keeps us from drowning in our sin! Today's homework is a bit more personal, please don't feel that you have to share it, but know that you are safe in sharing God's goodness here. No matter what hardship He's brought you through, or bringing you through right now. Even if you don't share your homework answers, I'd love for you to share your thoughts on this chapter!
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