Pondering Isaiah 7, I am stuck on verse 10. "Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm." It's not all God's part. This "thing" is a relationship. It takes two...
How often do I look at my life and think that God just didn't come through? This one little verse reminds me that I have a part to play. It's not about a god in total control of an uncooperative, unwilling puppet. Living is about a real trust placed in a real being according to the depth of the relationship.
How firm can my faith be if there is little or no personal experience with whom I am placing my faith? Trust is incomprehensible without knowing the person being trusted. Relationship is where it's cultivated.
If I want to stand firm in the face of fear, I must have a firm faith. Firm faith in God occurs only through knowing him deeply, intimately in the context of real relationship.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
Listening
It's been so long since I've sat at these keys writing it almost seems foreign to me. Life now leaves little time to spend here. I am flabbergasted at how much time I was putting into this place. Sadness would have overtaken me many months ago if I knew just how little writing I get to do now. But, instead I get to love on two amazing little boys who fill me more than they drain me. (Did I just say that?)
So, I sit at too late an hour pondering thoughts to put on the page knowing it is because my husband urges me that I am actually taking the time. It is so quiet. All is well in the house, at least for this moment. And I write... I write... Yet in this stillness I am beckoned to His feet to listen. It is not my turn to speak. His voice is faint. Can you hear it?
1 Kings 19:11-13
11 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Our world bombards us with NOISE. In the quiet, if we ever find it, we often have no idea what we're doing there. The NOISE occupies us... What am I doing here? My God calls to me, and I will listen.
So, I sit at too late an hour pondering thoughts to put on the page knowing it is because my husband urges me that I am actually taking the time. It is so quiet. All is well in the house, at least for this moment. And I write... I write... Yet in this stillness I am beckoned to His feet to listen. It is not my turn to speak. His voice is faint. Can you hear it?
1 Kings 19:11-13
11 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Our world bombards us with NOISE. In the quiet, if we ever find it, we often have no idea what we're doing there. The NOISE occupies us... What am I doing here? My God calls to me, and I will listen.
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