Self-Sacrificing Love

Sexuality is a mysterious representation of God's love for us and of the stunning fact of our union with Him.  It makes us aware of our limitations as men and women:  each dependent upon the other, both dependent upon God for life and meaning and fulfillment, yet marvelously compensated in those limitations by the fact that fulfillment means union.  As we share the life of God and enter into His own intimate life and joy, so in the marriage relationship we share each other's lives and enter into the deepest human union where our masculinity and femininity are most gloriously expressed and completed.  

Elisabeth Elliot, The Mark of a Man

page 149

Elisabeth goes on to say in this chapter that 'making love' refers more to a performance which technically does not require real love at all, nor anything remotely characteristic of it.  Love is more easily recognized and contrasted when those who profess love first learn to leave 'self' behind.  Love is expressed by abandoning the will for the sake of the other.  By this example, so long as this couple's love is expressed in obedience and consecration to the Giver of this good gift, will the truth of Christ's sacrificial love for the Church be illuminated.  Love loses in order to find, gives so it may receive, and dies so that it can be born.  This is a three faceted redemptive paradox that Christ demonstrated, and it is nonetheless characteristic for the Follower of Christ who lives to love the same way.  Sacrificial living is the essence of what love looks like. 

Oh, Lord, how I desire that it be said of me, because of You, that my aim and practice has become that which Paul describes in Ephesians 5... 

Walk in Love

1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 

2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 

3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 

4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 

5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 

6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 

7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 

8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 

9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 

10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 

11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 

12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.

13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 

14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,  "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." 

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 

16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 

17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 

18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 

19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 

20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives and Husbands

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 

23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 

24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 

26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 

27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 

28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 

29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 

30 because we are members of his body. 

31 "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." 

32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 

33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

"...My Love, There is No Spot in Thee"

      May, 1986- Lake Swan

Try to remember the vision that "being in love" gave you of what that person was.  You found no fault in him or her.  

"Behold, thou art fair, my love, there is no spot in thee," Solomon said to his beloved. Is it blindness to see a sinful man or woman thus?  I think it is a special gift of vision, the power to see for a little while what God meant when He made that person.  You find, after marriage, that the person is in fact a sinner, has flaws you never suspected.  Try to remember then what the vision showed you.  Thank God for it, and treat him or her with the sort of respect due one who will some day manifest most gloriously the image of God. 

Charity Is the love of God. 

There is no other way to control passion.  

There is no other way to purity.  

There is no other route, finally, to joy.

Elisabeth Elliot, Passion and Purity

The Link in the Chain of Gray Generations

Marriage is more than your love for each other.  It has a higher dignity and power, for it is God's holy ordinance, through which He wills to perpetuate the human race till the end of time.  In your love you see only your two selves in the world, but in marriage you are a link in the chain of the generations, which God causes to come and pass away to His glory, and calls into His kingdom. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Thankful for the faithful spiritual legacy of my dear Father-in-Law, October 8, 1927- September 27, 2012. 

1 I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. 

2 Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. 

3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. 

4 One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. 

5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. 

6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. 

7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. 

Psalm 145:1-7, ESV

Love is...

February 14, 1987- We spent the day in St Augustine before he asked me to marry him later that evening. 😍

"Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing.  There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life.  It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling.  Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity, or even to last at all.... In fact, the state of being in love usually does not last....But of course ceasing to be 'in love' need not mean ceasing to love.  Love...is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by the grace which both partners ask and receive from God.... They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be 'in love' with someone else.  'Being in love' first moved them to promise fidelity:  this quieter love* enables them to keep their promise.  It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run:  being in love was the explosion that started it." 

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Elisabeth Elliot included this quote in her book, Passion and Purity.  In the chapter, "Out of Love and Into Charity", she states, "...If you're looking for some kind of feeling that will be consistent day in and day out, forget it. The kind of love that sustains a marriage is God given, but it is also a daily choice.  For the rest of your life.  Never forget that...."

Elisabeth Elliot, Passion and Purity

Thankful for Our 29 Years Together

O Lord, by all Thy dealings with us, 

whether of joy or pain, 

light or darkness,

let us be brought to Thee. 

Let us value no treatment of Thy grace simply because it makes us happy or because it makes us sad, because it gives us or denies us what we want; 

but may all that Thou sendest us bring us to Thee, that, knowing Thy perfectness, we may be sure in every disappointment that Thou art still loving us, and in every darkness that Thou art still enlightening us, and in every enforced idleness that Thou art still using us; yea, in every death that Thou art still giving us life, as in His death Thou didst give life to Thy Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Phillips Brooks

This may seem odd to most couples, but our celebration tonight was shared with our four children by going out to eat. Sitting around the table and sharing memories of our honeymoon was the ultimate of fun for me... laughing and hearing the interjected thoughts of our four children who have yet to experience being married.  Maybe you can imagine some of the humourous "You should have..." and "If it had been me..." varieties of our stories. <smile>

Our dinner ended much too quickly, but soon after arriving home, our friends, the Waters family, came over with four half gallons of our favorite ice cream! 

I'm soo very thankful for the Lord's faithfulness and love through all of our married days, for a husband who has proven himself enduring and faithful to me, for our children who aren't embarrassed to tag along and celebrate another blessed anniversary with us, and for new friends of four years who still look for special ways to encourage us and live real life with us! 

Thank you, Lord!! 

 

Fear Not...

For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, "Fear not, I am the one who helps you."

Isaiah 41:13

A Treasury of Prayers

A treasury of prayers laid up for our children, may stand them in better stead than thousands of gold and silver laid up for them. 

Matthew Henry

My heart has taken on a refreshed motivation to pray while washing, drying, folding, and ironing the laundry... 

Lord, This evening I pray for my family. Please cause us to realize the great value of living out our days with an humble submission to your sovereign reign in our lives. 

Please bless us, that we will always know the rewards and blessings of living according to Your word. 

I ask, Lord, that You would open our eyes to see Your glorious truth and wondrous ways.  Help us to remember as sojourners on this earth that we desperately need Your commandments for guidance!  May our souls be consumed with longing for Your rules at all times. 

You rebuke those who are arrogant and ignorant, those who wander away from Your commandments. Please rebuke us when we wander.  Please do not allow us to enjoy and continue on a wandering path. 

You remove scorn and contempt from those who keep Your testimonies. 

Please remove all scorn and contempt when we cherish and proclaim Your testimonies. 

May Your testimonies always be our delight and counsel when we are scorned and plotted against. 

I ask that You will cause us to realize the sweet meditation Your counsel brings when we are opposed. 

I pray this according to Your word from Psalm 119:17-24.

Alive Together with Him!!

“The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.”

Elisabeth Elliot

This is how I live to overcome the enemy of death and destruction in my life... 

one faith step at a time!!! 

Ohh glorious truth, and joyful living!!

Colossians 2-

6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 

7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 

8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 

9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 

10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 

11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 

12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 

14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 

15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

One day when Heaven was filled with His praises,
One day when sin was as black as could be,
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin,
Dwelt among men, my Example is He!

Refrain

Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried, He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever;
One day He’s coming—O glorious day!

One day they led Him up Calvary’s mountain,
One day they nailed Him to die on the tree;
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected:
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He!

Refrain

One day they left Him alone in the garden,
One day He rested, from suffering free;
Angels came down o’er His tomb to keep vigil;
Hope of the hopeless, my Savior is He!

Refrain

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer,
One day the stone rolled away from the door;
Then He arose, over death He had conquered;
Now is ascended, my Lord evermore!

Refrain

One day the trumpet will sound for His coming,
One day the skies with His glories will shine;
Wonderful day, my belovèd ones bringing;
Glorious Savior, this Jesus is mine!

Refrain

Words: J. Wilbur Chapman, 1908

Thy Faithfulness is GREAT!!

19 He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting. 

20 You make darkness, and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest creep about. 

27 These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. 

28 When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. 

...

Psalm 104, ESV

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, 

Sun, moon and stars in their courses above 
Join with all nature in manifold witness 
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Thomas Chisholm

What an encouragement this is to me!!

He is faithful to show me each and every new day, and night, how tireless, and consistently, unchanging He is!!  

Even beasts and every creeping thing instinctively know the rhythm of His presence and greatness!! 

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,

Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

For this I'm soo very thankful!!

Peace, Be Still

Colossians 3-

12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,

13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 

14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 

15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 

17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Ohh Lord, 

How desperately I need your help...

Please forgive me for not resting in who you are!! 

Please help me to put on a compassionate heart worthy of being chosen, holy and beloved, kind, humble, meek, and patient.

Only because of your shed blood am I able to understand what forgiveness looks like.  Thank you for bearing my guilt of sin on a cruel cross so I can better learn how to bear the burden of another's sin and still say, "I forgive you!!"

Ohh Lord, help me to comprehend the love that perfects and brings all things  into harmony. 

Please bring peace to rule and reign in my heart so that I may be united to the body I am called by! 

Ohh, I have soo much to thank you for!!

I fall terribly short of richly dwelling in your word, to teach and admonish others in wisdom!  

Please give me a voice to sing: 

a psalm of praise, 

a hymn from my heart, 

a spiritual song of joy from pain, 

and thankfulness to my God!!

May all that I do, in word or deed, be committed and accomplished according to the name and reputation of who you are, with still more thanksgiving to God!! 

This is my confession and prayer!!

Amen! 

Thy Will Be Done

“I realized that the deepest spiritual lessons are not learned by His letting us have our way in the end, but by His making us wait, bearing with us in love and patience until we are able to honestly pray what He taught His disciples to pray: Thy will be done.”

Elisabeth Elliot

This has become a reality for me in recent years marked by challenging trials and discouraging losses. 

I am learning through my circumstances that the Lord is nonetheless faithful, loving, and kind to me because He allows and ordains that I be sanctified by my trials!!  I'm thankful He loves me more by setting me apart for Himself!  

Psalm 73-

25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 

26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 

27For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. 

28 But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

Feeling thankful...

According to Your Will, I Pray

Heavenly Father, I lift my family in prayer today and I ask that You would bless us; cause us to walk in and live by a love for Your law, that we may walk blameless.  I pray we would know and acknowledge Your great blessing on our lives. Please help us to remember Your testimonies.  Help us to seek and treasure them diligently with our whole hearts, pursuing no wrong, but find great delight by walking in Your ways! 

You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.  I pray this will be our true hearts' focus, that our ways be steadfast in keeping your statutes! I pray we will not be put to shame, because our eyes are fixed on all your ways.  May we praise You with upright hearts when we learn and treasure your righteous rules.  

Please impress Your statues deeply upon us. This I pray today and always, that You will not utterly forsake us! 

I pray this according to your will and word from Psalm 119:1-8. 

Amen.

God's Medicine: Sanctified Disease

Affliction is one of God’s medicines. By it He often teaches lessons which would be learned in no other way. By it He often draws souls away from sin and the world, which would otherwise have perished everlastingly. 

Health is a great blessing, but sanctified disease is greater. Prosperity and worldly comfort, are what all naturally desire; but losses and crosses are far better for us, if they lead us to Christ. Thousands at the last day, will testify with David, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” (Psalm. 119:71.) 

J.C. Ryle

In little over a month, our dear friend will have another surgery to remove  still more of her small bowel. All that remains is being carefully watched and treated with Crohn's medication, hydration fluids, and nourishment.

I pray and ask for God's healing hand to overwhelm her body, and give her courage to stay in the fight.  She has done remarkably well since her last surgery in late April. Since that time, she's been on a liquid diet, a regiment I'm sure not very many people could endure.  I'm soo thankful she has. 

She is our pastor's wife, mother of their two priceless children, as well as a daughter, sister, and friend to countless who love her and need her.  She has a love and joy for life.  Her example of strength to persevere, and her sensitivity to the Body she faithfully serves is commendable!! 

I am oft tempted to fret for her condition, but she exudes grace for knowing her body is a work in God's hands!   

I am thankful Ashlie continues strong in faith to trust the Lord for the days ahead. Her life is a beautiful story of His faithfulness and grace. 

O LORD, you have searched me and known me! 

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 

3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 

4Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. 

5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. 

Psalm 139

Photo credit: not sure who to credit, but it was shared w/us by our pastor. Maybe Grace. captured 

Humble Prayer

  Grassy Pond, 2016

"Firmly believing that my times are in God's hand, I here submit myself and all my affairs for the ensuing year to the wise and gracious disposal of the divine providence. Whether God appoint for me health or sickness, peace or trouble, comforts or crosses, life or death, his holy will be done.

All my time, strength, and service, I devote to the honor of the Lord Jesus; my studies and all my ministerial labors, and even my common actions. It is my earnest expectation, hope, and desire, my constant aim and endeavor, that Jesus Christ may be magnified in my body.

In everything wherein I have to do with God, my entire dependence is upon Jesus Christ for strength and righteousness. And whatever I do in word or deed, I desire to do all in his name, to make him my Alpha and Omega. I have all by him, and I would use all for him.

If this should prove a year of affliction, a sorrowful year upon my account, I will fetch all my supports and comforts from the Lord Jesus and stay myself upon him, his everlasting consolations, and the good hope I have in him through grace.

And if it should be my dying year, my times are in the hand of the Lord Jesus. And with a humble reliance upon his mediation, I would venture into another world looking for the blessed hope. Dying as well as living, Jesus Christ will, I trust, be gain and advantage to me.

Oh, that the grace of God may be sufficient for me, to keep in me always a humble sense of my own unworthiness, weakness, folly, and infirmity, together with a humble dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ for both righteousness and strength."

Matthew Henry

Come Wind and Rain!

O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you?
9 You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.

Psalm 89:8-9

What a comfort this truth is!! Even though 

Hurricane Hermine made landfall around 1:30 a.m. this morning on the west-central coast of Florida.  We've anticipated this storm for a few days knowing it would bring us bad to severe weather today which could linger into tomorrow. 

In the past, I always knew a couple of hours in advance of any storm coming.  Our male Siamese, Prancer, would crouch low to the floor in search for a place to hide. His favorite place was a lower kitchen cabinet that wouldn't close.  I kept the children's school supplies there, so he didn't mind cuddling up with a few of their books. 

Last night, I found Maple, in an unusual spot in our living room as Hurricane Hermine was nearing our state. I was heading up the stairs with a load of laundry, and noticed Maple perched on the top of a living room chair!

"Excuse me, Maple!! What are you thinking?  That is not where you belong!!" The sight of Bagheera positioned on the floor looking up at her made the picture more interesting.  I imagined he either provoked her to that safe place, or attempted to tell her, "Meww, you're gonna get in trouble!!"  >*.*<

Needless to say, I put the clothes down and did the obvious!  I grabbed my phone from the dining room to snap a picture, but Bagheera ran out of the room! He must've thought I'd gone to get the squirt bottle! Ha! 

Eventually, I went to bed wondering whether the approaching hurricane would brew up any trouble for us.  Forecasts predicted Hermine would pass northwest of us, which was encouraging, but everyone knows hurricanes are capable of shiftIng.  I reasoned, "If Maple isn't concerned about the barometric pressure dropping, then I probably shouldn't be either." Otherwise, I suspect she, too, would have searched for a better place to hide! 

For those who might enjoy some light-hearted jest, I posted this picture of Maple as a Public Service Announcement to FB since she seemed to be the perfect picture of 'chill', because usually she's the least "chill" cat we have! <smile> 

This morning, I'm thankful we're seemingly on the outskirts of the storm. We're still getting a good bit of much needed rain, and the wind is still beating in a pretty consistent rhythm on our house. I'm thankful we still have electricity, so we're comfortable and dry.  

The sound of wind and rain through the night, combined with melodius wind-chimes, made for a really good night's rest for me, though I had to get up a few times to satisfy Bagheera's curiosity of what was going on outside. He wanted to be put out and then let back in. <arghh>   He's the most "gotta be involved in everything that's going on around here" cat we've ever had, but I love him all the more for it!!  He has an awesome, talkative purrsonality!! 

For now, he's making up for being on  guard through the night... and he's finally sleeping this wet and windy morning away!