The Whole Armor of God

 The whole armor of God as described in Ephesians 6 tells us two important facts: 1) the enemy of God's children is strong and has evil intent for us, and 2) God has planned and prepared our defense against our enemy.  God understands our challenge and knows our weakness so He has made this armor available for us to use.  All we have to do is pt it on in order to be safe while doing daily battle.  We have truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation and the Word of God on our side and at our constant disposal.

                                      

Learning to live a "with-God" life

 My experience with church throughout my life has helped me understand what "with-God living" is.  Our family never attended church until I was 6 years old, but when we began attending a small church in our town, our encounters with the believers there showed us the beauty of the community of believers acting together not only in worship but also in just living life.  They taught us by example how to enjoy God's presence.  They taught us how to put God at the center of everything, even of our socializing together.  They played a huge part in preparing us for our move away from that town and into a totally different situation where we had to make our own way, so to speak.  We were able to continue our spiritual journeys on our own, without their help largely because of what those Christians in that church had taught us about God's presence in our lives.  I continue to grow spiritually through my interactions with other believers in church even now in my senior years.  I know that there are many things that are less than perfect in churches, but they can be powerful tools to help us grow spiritually, and for that I am most grateful. 

I AM

 Jesus' "I am" statements reveal a lot to me about God and my relationship to Him as His child.  They cover the gamut of human life experiences and that alone tells me that God is interested in all aspects of my life.  He wants to be a part of it all, provision of my needs ("I am the Light of the World", "I am the Bread of Life") to guidance and protection ("I am the Good Shepherd", "I am the Way") to security and peace ("I am the Resurrection and the Life", "I am the Vine").  It culminates in His offer of salvation from sin and spiritual death ("I am the Truth", "I am the Life").  The rest of Scripture confirms the truth and validity of Jesus'  "I am" statements and my own experiences in life of seeing those statements fulfilled is all the extra confirmation I need that I am living a "with-God" life.  For that I will be

eternally grateful.

God's encouraging presence

 The promise of God's presence is the most fundamental assurance I have in my faith.  What does this do for my sense of security in life?  It give me courage to face any situation that I find in my life journey.  It has given me enough hope to let things happen and trust God for the outcome even though I cannot see that outcome at the moment.  As I look back on experiences I have had in the past, I find myself surprised at how I responded at the time.  I often think, "I would not respond that way now," but I know that is not true because it was God's presence in my life that helped me then just as I would anticipate God's presence to make that difference now as well.  As I need the help, I receive it, not before and not later, but right at the time I need it.  God's presence through His Holy Spirit provides the peace and courage necessary for every situation.

My Divine Tour Guide

 I was thinking of the metaphor of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, which is a beautiful metaphor but basically meaningless to the contemporary American society because we do not have shepherds.  We do not get the fullness of meaning from it like the people of Bible times, or people in countries that still have shepherds the way they did in Bible times.  The first thing that came to my mind that might be a contemporary metaphor is that of a tour guide.

When you engage a company to take you on a trip, the tour guide has decided the route you will take and the sights you will stop to see.  The guide arranges all the transportation, the hotels, and the places to eat.  They tell you what to expect and they make explanations when necessary as you go along the journey.  If an emergency arises, you call the guide and they help with whatever the need is.  

All the responsibilities of the trip are on the guide.  All I do is pay for the ticket and make personal choices in a few things, but otherwise I just enjoy the trip.

I have paid for my ticket by accepting Christ as my personal Savior.  He is now my tour guide for my journey of life.  Part of His "job" is to plan my journey, where I'll go, how long I will stay at each place, it's all laid out for me to follow along.  He will take care of me and make sure I have everything I need for my trip and will make sure I get home safe and sound.

So far, for 70+ years now, He has done a wonderful job at being my tour guide.  I plan to let Him guide me for the rest of the journey until we reach heaven.

Jesus is my Good Shepherd and my Divine Tour Guide.

It is so unfair!

 I had a conversation this week with some friends in which we were lamenting the increased dishonesty in our society, dishonesty that is known and accepted with nothing being done (so it seems) about it.  Honesty no longer seems to be the best policy.  Consequently, in some settings, hones people are a great disadvantage.  This has been the case for a long time, we all know, but it seems like in recent years it has become more "acceptable."  It is frustrating to the one who is trying to live a godly, Christlike life to be thwarted in your effort to be honest, but that is increasingly often the case.

This morning when I read Psalm 141, I immediately thought of that conversation.

Psalm 141:5 yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds.

David had a lot of trouble that came from wicked people who for one reason or another wanted to harm him and destroy the good he had done or was trying to do.  He was determined to not become like them.  His prayer often included words such as found earlier in this psalm (verse 4): “Do not let me incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies!”  In fact, not only did David pray for his own spiritual protection, he went so far as to pray against the evil deeds going on around him.  I thought of a conversation I had yesterday with some friends about the unfairness we see in our own 2021 society where being honest in one’s dealing so often put you at a great disadvantage.  It is hard to remain honest when you see those who are dishonest gain what looks like the advantage, and nothing is done about it.  How can a Christian manage in such a situation?  I think I see at least a partial answer to that question in this psalm.,  You pray two things regularly: 1) pray that you will not compromise what you know God wants you to be and do as a child of His to be a good example to those around you, and 2) you pray that He will thwart the efforts of those who are dishonest.  We cannot control what others do like we can control our own actions, so we do what we can and leave the rest in God’s hands, just as David did in Psalm 141, we pray against the evil deeds of those around us while we pray for their spiritual renewal.

Using pastel colors

 I discovered this week that I tend to use brighter colors on my cards, which surprised me.  I know that sounds silly ... that I could not discern my own tendencies ... but it just had not dawned on me that this was the case until I decided to try to do a card for the current Retro Rubber Challenge Blog.  The current challenge is to make a card using pastels, and here is my entry:

I had some pastel green paper with small white dots that I used for the background.  I wanted something that would look nice along with the pink with pale green dots that served as the background for the Bible verse stamp I used.  The stamp is from 1998 so it certainly qualifies for that challenge!  I also used a stamp inside that says "From my heart to yours".  It is a 2007 stamp.

Rainbow stripe hello

I have made numerous versions of a striped card but I think this is one of my favorites because of the rich dark blue color.  I had lots of strips of card stock and glitter paper and I chose rainbow colors albeit a bit different from the usual shades I think of for a rainbow.  Starting with the speck of red in the upper left corner, if you look closely you can see red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and purple.I die cut the "hello" from the dark blue card stock then layered three layers of clear embossing powder over it.  Although the photo doesn't show it very well, it is glossy and raised and quite striking in real life.  The inside message says "Sending happy thoughts."

 

God's presence visibly and invisibly

 I was thinking about what signs there are of God's presence among His children, what signs verify the concept of  "with-God living".  In these months of isolation because of the pandemic and able to attend church only through live streaming and/or television, I have become more aware than ever before of the supernatural nature of sensing God's presence in corporate worship.  Even though I was unable to be physically present with other believers, our common effort to worship and praise God, all of us at the same time, is an invisible sign of God's presence to me individually.  That is true even more so when I am able to be present in person.  Our unity of spirit is that sign of the presence of God.

The same is true for my experience with another group of believers, the women in my Sunday School class.  We have genuine love for one another even though we are varied in our life experiences.  They quickly accepted me when I joined the class and have shown love and appreciation to me over the years since then.  We are united in our enjoyment of studying the Bible together and we are united in our desire to glorify God in how we live.  During the pandemic we have not been able to meet together but we have continued to study the Word of God virtually together and knowing we are all studying the same thing is comforting in a sense.  To me, that is a sign of God's presence among us.

Playing with stripes

 I am definitely out of my comfort zone when playing with patterned card stock and paper on cards.  I feel my lack of artistic ability keenly when I try to do something unusual (for me), but I threw caution to the winds yesterday afternoon when I had a piece of orange and yellow striped paper and some deep blue card stock.  This is what I came up with:

I actually was surprised at how it looked when I got it all done.  The word "friend" looks like a different color but it actually is the same shade of yellow as the stripes.  For that matter, the colors on the entire card look muted in the photo but that is because I am NOT a good photographer.  The card is much brighter in real life!

 

Shadow box

 

 I follow Jennifer McGuire and her excellent card-making skill videos almost religiously because she has such great ideas and is so good at teaching the skill in each episode.  This week she had a video about making simple shadow box cards so I tried my hand at it.  Here is what I came up with:

The little bee is attached to a piece of acetate and is glued to the edge of the card so he is "floating" around the little flowers in the background.   Thank you, Honey Bee Stamps for the sentiment and the cute little bee!  The leaves and flowers are from stamps and dies from Hot Off the Press.

The card lays flat in an envelope but stands up easily when taken out.  There is a narrow edge on each side that pulls outward to open the card.  You can just see the edges on each side of the card.

This is definitely not the last shadow box card I'll make!

Rainbow anniversary

 I have really enjoyed following the Alphabet Challenge Blog over recent months but have been putting off entering a card until they got back to the "A's" again and that is this week.  I've been wanting to make a casual style anniversary card for a young couple as well as make another rainbow-style card, so I combined the two with this result:

I stamped the "happy" in several colors and to make it more casual, I added the "anniversary" in rather casual style on the side.

Recognizing God's blessings

 One of the ways I can enhance my spiritual discipline of "with-God living" is recognizing the blessings of God in my life.  When asked the question "How has God blessed me?" a few of them that come to my mind immediately include:

1) God bringing loving people into our family's life, people who introduced us to Christ.  That list would include Ruth, my first Sunday school teacher who taught me about Jesus for the first time and led me to salvation.

2) My language ability, which I had no idea was in me even after studying Latin in high school (and loving it) and French in college.  It was not until I was in Beirut studying Arabic that I saw that blessing from God.

3) My opportunities to learn the art of teaching, which began when I was 13 years old and taught children's church all on my own at our newly established church.

4) The opportunities to develop leadership skills through the years that culminated in a sense with my library work, although I see ways, even now in my retirement, in which I use those skills.  When I remember the low scores my teachers in high school gave me on "leadership" I know without a doubt that the leadership skills I have used since college are indeed a blessing from God!

5) God blessing to me with a husband who is a strong spiritual leader but who also affirms me in so many ways and who loves to see me use my gifts and is not intimidated by that. 

That list does not include the many people who helped me enjoy those blessings, people who encouraged me, taught me, supported me.  I have much for which to be grateful and each blessing is my reminder that I am living a "with-God" life, and I don't want that to stop.

Wavy thoughts

 When I saw the sketch for the week on Freshly Made Sketches I knew I wanted this "excuse" to play with my new wavy dies once again. Here is the sketch: 

 

  I had some glitter card stock strips I'd saved and they mad the perfect backdrop for the opening between the two sides of my card cover, which I put on the front of the card with foam adhesive.  I cut the "you" from some light green metallic card stock and completed the rest of the sentiment with gold heat embossing on black.  The front is a very pale green, almost cream color although it does not show up as well as I would like, due to my own inability in photography!

Celebration of Discipline

 Many years ago I read a book titled The Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster.  It had a huge impact on my walk with God as I considered the many ways in which I could participate with God in developing my spiritual life.  A couple of years ago I discovered a companion book titled A Year with God: Living Out The Spiritual Disciplines.  When we entered into the lock-down in the early Covid-19 months and I had more time on my hands than usual, I decided to work my way through that book and in that way renew my pursuit of spiritual discipline in my own life.

According to Richard Foster, there are eighteen spiritual disciplines: With-God living (i.e., seeing God in my everyday life), prayer, study, confession, worship, service, secrecy, guidance, meditation, solitude, fellowship, fasting, chastity, submission, sacrifice, silence, simplicity, and celebration.  

With-God Living ... a concept I have found myself seeking more and more in my walk with God.  I have found it developing all throughout my life, from the time I was a child right up until now although for many years I was not aware of it as "with-God living."

One way I understand it is the fact that I have been created to share a unique relationship with God and know His presence in a uniquely human way.  That means that I have the ability to see and know God in a way that animals and plants cannot, even though they were also created by Him.  There are times when I see that relationship with Him when reading Scripture that was difficult to understand.  I sensed His presence as He gave me new insight into the passage,  I sense His presence in an encouraging email message from a friend or a note in my mailbox, or a plate of newly baked cookies from a neighbor when I am feeling discouraged.  I see God in the creative activities of making a sympathy card for a friend, or in covering an inexpensive journal with some pretty scrapbooking paper.  It comes as a result of my seeking God in every part of my life, or, as Foster calls it, "With-God Living", and it is spiritually revitalizing.

Great-Grandma's legacy

Ruth 1:18 Naomi saw that she was determined.

 The Bible handbook says that the book of Ruth was written after King David’s rise to power but that no one knows for certain either the author or the original purpose for writing the book.  That got me to thinking about the displays of faith we see all throughout the story of David’s grant grandmother Ruth and great-grandfather Boaz.  David has a strong faith heritage in them and that may be part of why he became such an example of faith himself.  Ruth did not have that strong faith-in-God heritage, but she was determined to follow what she had seen and heard in her husband and her in-laws.  To be determined means to be resolute, accepting no excuses.  So Ruth was not going to be deterred from following Naomi.  Her Moabite family ties did not stop her nor did her idol-worshipping up-bringing.  She had seen something that made her resolute in following Naomi’s faith in God.  She already had strong faith when she arrived in Bethlehem with Naomi and everything that happened after that only served to strengthen and grow her faith.  I can imagine little boy David hearing about Great Grandma Ruth from his father Jesse and when he was older, passing that story along to his children, perhaps this time in written form.  Maybe the prophet Samuel gave the written narrative to David in the earl years as he mentored the young man he had anointed to become king one day.  Ruth probably never knew her great-grandson David, at least not as an adult, but he certainly knew about her and her faith.

This is a picture of the two people who influenced my own journey of faith, my mother and father (I'm on my Daddy's lap).  My great-grandparents and grandparents were not strong faith examples but when my parents gave their hearts to Jesus, they, like Ruth, became the first in what they prayed would be a long line of faith-filled descendants.  Now my grandchildren have the same example David had of great-grandparents of faith.
 

Capital R Rock vs. Little R Rock

Deuteronomy 32:31 For their rock is not as our Rock; our enemies are by themselves.

What a picturesque way to express the vast difference between the godly and the ungodly!  We who are the family of God have a Rock (capital “r”) that is our refuge; one who fights for His people, who guides them, who protects them, who guards them, who delivers them, who answers their prayers (all these characteristics are found in Psalm 91). 

In comparison, the ungodly have a rock (little “r) upon which to rely.  In this version (the ESV), the verse says that the enemies of God and His children have only themselves upon which to rely.  In other versions that phrase talks about the fact that those enemies are judging for themselves or conceding that yes, indeed, the Rock of the children of God is more reliable, better, and stronger than they are.    

We must always remember in humility that the ungodly who surround us are trying to rely on their own wisdom and power because that is all they have while we, on the other hand, have a Rock (capital “r”) upon which to rely.  In these days of frustration with government at all levels, this is such a powerful reminder to me to be humble in my response to decisions and actions taken by politicians and other leaders when I do not agree with them.  This does not mean that I compromise the way of truth but rather that I recognize that there are many leaders who are "by themselves" because they have only a little-r-rock to rely on.

Moving on

 I have written so much and made so many cards since last August yet somehow I had lost myself in terms of keeping up on this blog.  I regret that in many ways, but at the same time I recognize that we all go through stages and this has been one of those times when I just did not have the heart for it.  That stage in my life seems to be coming to an end so I think I'll just pick up where I left off and move on.

Speaking of moving on, that is exactly what I saw in my devotional reading and study this morning.

Joshua 3:7 The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so will I be with you.”

 Our dear friend Billy passed away last week and all week long it seems like almost every activity has reminded us of something related to him.  Many conversations bring him up as we continue to mourn his death.  The first three chapters of Joshua seem to have that same kind of thing in them.  Almost everything that happens has Moses in the conversation.  We know Moses’ death played heavily on Joshua’s mind in those early days of his new leadership role.  God Himself as well as the Israelite tribal leaders told Joshua that they would support his leadership just as they had supported Moses.  Joshua in turn reminded the leaders about things that Moses had said.  Then, here in this verse, for one final time, God tells Joshua that his leadership is going to replace Moses’ leadership.  It looks like this is the last time Joshua’s leadership is spoken of in terms of Moses’ death.  Joshua has apparently been able to move on from living in Moses’ shadow and is able to be a confident leader on his own and even those under his leadership recognized that fact.  I am certain that Joshua never forgot Moses but he would remember Moses in terms of memories rather than in mourning.  That is how I see God work in my own experiences of mourning.  It is how, with God’s help, we move on even though we have lost a dear fiend or relative.