Taking time to be still

It's quiet time in our house right now. One is napping. One is making a box about how God made her and why she is special.  And I am reflecting on this quiet time, this time to be still, this time to listen.

There are not too many times in the day of a child or an adolescent or an adult, that we'll CHOOSE to be still and stop thinking about past or  future to just be, right here, right now.  As an adult, you might be familiar with Psalm 46:1o:

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
   I will be exalted among the nations,
   I will be exalted in the earth.”

Many focus on the part 'be still' and quickly give up because it's impossible to be still, it's so hard to not let the mind wander or to think of the to-do list. And this is true for me, in the sense that I cannot find a place where my mind does not think about anything, my mind cannot be still. And so that is something I pray for.

But right here and now, the part he's pointing out to me is not the stillness but this... 'and KNOW that I AM GOD.'

KNOW - that's a definitive, concrete word; he didn't say 'contemplate, wonder, figure out if I am God'

NO, he said 'KNOW' that I am God. That leaves no room for doubt. The rest of Psalm 46 speaks of the power and majesty of GOD.

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
   an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
   and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
   and the mountains quake with their surging.^[c]

 ⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
   the holy place where the Most High dwells.
⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;
   God will help her at break of day.
⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
   he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

 ⁷ The LORD Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.

 ⁸ Come and see what the LORD has done,
   the desolations he has brought on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease
   to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
   he burns the shields^[d] with fire.
¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
   I will be exalted among the nations,
   I will be exalted in the earth.”

 ¹¹ The LORD Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.

He is a refuge, he is strength, he will not fall, he is our fortress, he is Almighty, he is an ever-present help - this is what he wants you to KNOW (not wonder about, not doubt, not think maybe this is what he is but I don't know for sure).  Therefore, DO NOT FEAR (vs 2), but be still, still the innards, calm the butterflies, chase away the fear because you KNOW who God is.

And you want to KNOW who else he is:  (from Exodus 34 - God is describing himself to Moses)

⁵ Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. ⁶ And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

He is GOD. He reigns sovereign in each of our lives from beginning to end. To KNOW him means to have faith in him, without doubting who he is. To KNOW him means to have faith in what he can do, which is far more than anything we could conceive of ourselves, to KNOW him means not to limit him by putting him the Bible Box and telling him he can only do what he has shown he can do in the bible.

To KNOW God means to not know what your tomorrow brings and to trust him with your today.

So put to rest the fluttering, the worrying, the list-making and ACCEPT that he IS GOD. KNOW HIM.
Practicing quiet time for everyone, adults and kids alike, allows each one of us to observe how God is working in our days and helps us to turn over the control, giving back to the one whose hands it is best in.

A life that lives for God's glory is FREE

A life that lives for the glory of God (that in all and through all he will reign majestic) frees, is freeing and is free.

Today we got to experience some of the cutest of God's creation, some beautiful horses, ducklings, chicks, bunnies, a very friendly and cute goat (yes, this goat was cute!) and chickens.

This was such a gift to us! A woman, committed to God shared her abundance with us.  She runs a daycare and a summer camp at her home, which is on several acres of land. And she gives God all the glory for the way he's turned her gift for children and her passion for animals into a livelihood.  She was not shy to declare this today and it was awesome to experience.  And because of her devotion to our Father and the faithfulness she witnesses each day working out all the details so that she can keep doing what she's doing, she extended God's grace to us and allowed us to come share in it as well.

Though she always has her financials in mind, as her husband has been out of work for two years and the bills still need to be paid, she did not ever ask for a dime for us to come and share in God's gifts.  She could easily charge a fee to each person that comes to visit her but that is not what God asks of her.

Although she has to face her financials and look her unemployed husband in the eye each day, her trust in the Father allows her to be free, unencumbered by the money. God's faithfulness frees her from having to be a 'penny pincher' because to her, she's been given these gifts of time to share, passion for animals and kids and she is just giving back what God has given her so freely.

And in turn, we, along with all the others she entertains at her place, got to give our children a gift, that all too often is unaffordable when payment is required. We got to let them spend time being free with our Father's creation, to experience the joy his precious animals can give, all soft and furry, cuddly and playful as they are. And it was absolutely Free. As a mom on a very tight budget, moments like these, are memories I cherish forever.

And I'm forever grateful for the grace God bestows on us to allow us to have this experience and the grace he bestows on her that she knows him too, and knows the power in his freedom which he freely gives to those who seek him.

Thank you Joan!

The miracle too often overlooked each day -

There have been many situations/events in my life that many would consider 'serious' as far as the implications of the outcome, but God delivered me so much peace, those times almost seemed simple.

Or for instance, it has never been a question for me to wonder if God exists. This is something my heart has always known. More recently, I've opened my eyes to see that not only is God real, but he is really involved in every moment of my life and I want him to be in control. And fundamentally I do not  question this either.

These are graces God has bestowed on me. I realize, not everyone sees God for who he is without questioning his existence and his majesty and the fact that he will reign sovereign to the end, when heaven is made new on earth.

I realize not everyone is blessed with the faith and trust in God that I have been given. God tells us it is time for my husband to quite his FT job - our major source of income.  My response was simply - okay. God allows a deer to total our car, our only car. My response was simply - okay, I know he'll make it right. God says it's time to take on a car payment again and buy a truck for the landscaping business. My response is simply - okay, I know he'll provide for it.  God says he'll provide for us, making a living on two small businesses, both dependent on having clients, both with seasons of ebb and flow. My response is simply - okay, I know he will provide.

This should not be mistaken as a careless, lazy or 'hand-it-to-me' type of attitude. There is a difference in trusting God enough to allow him to be in control and simply sitting back and expecting God to hand the riches down to you. The biggest difference in the two attitudes is your heart.

And he knows your heart, what's really on the inside.  He knows if you are trusting his sovereignty or if you are mocking him. And people around you who do trust God know the difference as well, they can see it in how you live your life. And if you don't trust God to the degree that you allow him to have control and you see someone who claims to trust God and it appears they're just sitting back and everything somehow is going well for them... well then maybe you're missing the boat!

The boat called G R A C E.

Grace is the daily miracle that 99% of the time is overlooked.  God works all things by his grace, all things. Know this, as sinners, we deserve not one ounce of the life we live.  It's God's grace that let's us wake up with breath in our lungs. It's his grace that puts food in our mouths, his grace that gives us a shower to use, clothes to cover us, a car to transport us, a ski show to entertain us, a church building to worship in, a sun to light our days even when it's stormy. It's his grace that's allowed you to have the job you have which provides a paycheck and maybe even health insurance, his grace that affords you the wisdom and knowledge you need to do that job, his grace that has given you the spouse that you love and that loves you. It's also his grace that brings you hardship, because by these hardships he's challenging us to grow and learn - just as we challenge our kids to grow and learn through discipline. He loves us, perpetual sinners, so much that he wants us to grow to be more like him and the only way we simple-minded humans can learn to be more like him is by messing up or facing hardships and coming through them as he designed, by his grace.

Every moment of every day can be considered a miracle of God's grace - but that's an attitude you have to chose.
The other side of it - well it's GREED.
Thinking you deserve the car you have or maybe even a better one, you deserve a raise in pay (telling God what he does pay you is not good enough), you deserve a vacation, you deserve to have more 'toys' or electronics or the latest iPhone or iPod or laptop or the biggest flat screen out there or a summer house on the lake or in another state, or that you deserve more attention at your job or in your family, you deserve to have better food in your fridge or more time to yourself or more money to spend on yourself or more money so that you can go out more often....

Need I go on? The human race is sick with greed and it's God's grace that waits, patiently, giving all of us every last opportunity to turn and see his grace and respect his sovereignty so that we may come to know him for who he really is and accept his son as our gift, to live forever in the new heaven on earth.

For those of us who have been blessed with an inherent understanding of God and his grace, we are able to live lives a bit more free of this greed each day we are still here on this earth.

So each day I choose the attitude of gratitude - cliche - but oh, so POWERFUL. This life is a battle of the mind. When you choose to focus on grace by way of being grateful for every moment of each day, one moment at a time, you are giving the control back to God - where it should be.

If you know me personally, then you're witness to what God's grace looks like played out on this earth. It's not sitting back and expecting handouts, it's giving the wheel back to the one in control and thanking him for loving me enough to spill his grace on me.

Look for your miracle of grace today! Maybe tell me about it in a comment.
Remember, Grace means getting something you don't deserve.