All Our Hearts, All Our Ways

 By: Joanne Viola

The verse was stuck under my skin for a few days. Turning back to the familiar words, I sit staring at them and wondering what am I to glean from them in this moment.

It’s a verse we lean on when we are facing challenges or decisions. It’s a prayer we offer up when choices are hard to make, and uncertainties loom before us.

Yet this particular morning, when not in the midst of decision making, it was thought provoking.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 
In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.” 
(Proverbs 3:5-6, NASB) 

We so desire our paths to be straight. No detours. No delays. We know it is God alone who can make straight paths.

The words begin to stand out …

• “with all your heart.” We are to attach ourselves fully to God. It brings the idea there is a safety which comes from the attaching; a firm ground. There is a security found in God alone as we give Him all our heart.
• “in all your ways.” Instead of wanting our own way, we will search and out His will. Will we not depend on our own understanding, but patiently wait until He gives direction.

It is as we give Him all of our heart,
in all of our ways
that He will faithfully direct our paths each day.

 

Reflection: 
Upon reading the above verse, the question came: Is there a part of my heart that I am holding back? Is there an are of your life where you are resisting God? May God bring assurance to all our hearts that we can place our trust in Him because He is trustworthy.

 

 

Image by Michal Křenovský from Pixabay

 

 

Friendship with the Lord

By: Lauren Thomas 

Friendship with Jesus. What do you think when you read that? Maybe you’ve never thought of Jesus in those terms. Maybe you grew up in a church that highlighted this. Or maybe you grew up in a church that highlighted the fear of the Lord over friendship with the Lord. But they can both be present, and there is biblical support for thinking of Jesus in terms of friendship. 

Here are just a handful of verses that speak to the friendship Jesus offers us:

 

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Revelation 3:20 ESV

 

He wants to commune with you – to be with you and speak with you. And the closer you want to be, the more you want to invest, the deeper you want to go? He’ll gladly go there with you. 

 

for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,

 

“The Lord is my helper;

    I will not fear;

what can man do to me?”

Hebrews 13:5b-6

 

He will never leave you. He will always be there for you, any time day or night. He’ll be ready to help when you ask for it.

 

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.

4 Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

Psalm 139:2-4 ESV

 

He knows you intimately. He could finish your sentences. He knows what you are thinking. He knows where you go and what you do and how you spend your time, as any close friend does!

 

15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

John 15:15 ESV

 

He calls his followers friends.

 

And he offers this friendship willingly to all who would have it. In his time on Earth, Jesus was known as a friend of sinners. And even now, he offers sinners an opportunity to become followers and friends. 

 

If you aren’t availing yourself of friendship with Jesus, why ever not? Let him be your greatest friend. Let him fill up your loneliness. Let him heal all the hurts that human friendships have inflicted on you. Let him call you friend. 

 

Reflection: 

Search for the words of the hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” and reflect on these words. What comes to mind or heart when you think of friendship with the Lord? Are you engaged in friendship with Jesus? 

When Mother's Day is Hard

By: Jenifer Metzger

Mother's Day is only days away. For many women, they are looking forward to the day. A time with their loved ones. A day of being showered with love and appreciation. Yet for others, they are dreading the day. It's a day of painful reminders.

The truth is, Mother's Day isn't an easy day for every woman. It's a time when she grieves the loss of her own mother deeply. It's a time when she grieves the loss of her child. A time when she mourns a barren womb. A time when she is reminded of the brokenness in her family. Yes, Mother's Day can be a painful day.

If you are in the category of dreading Mother's Day, friend, I am so sorry. My heart aches with you. Here are a few ways to help you cope with the day:

Lean on God. He knows your heart and He knows what you have faced. He knows where you are grieving and He even knows where you are angry. Be real and honest with yourself and with God and lean on Him.

God is our refuge and strength,

a helper who is always found

in times of trouble.

Psalm 46:1 CSB

Give thanks. Yes, give thanks. Give thanks for the blessings God has given to you. I know you are facing pain and finding something to be thankful for may be difficult. But sister, dig deep. There is always something we can give thanks for. When we are expressing gratitude to God, our mindset shifts and we can find joy.

 Give thanks in everything; for this

is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 CSB

Shift your focus. While we have been trained to look at Mother's Day as a day of being honored and celebrated, shift your focus to honoring and celebrating others. This could mean joining with another woman who struggles with the day and honoring her. Maybe honoring a woman who has recently lost her mother or child. Maybe celebrating a single mom. Even honoring your pastor's wife. The old saying, it is better to give than to receive is true. We can find joy when we honor and celebrate others.

Carry one another’s burdens; in this

way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Galations 6:2 CSB

If you are in the other category, the one who loves Mother's Day is and is anticipating all the day will hold, I am so happy for you! What a blessing! But I want to encourage you. Among your celebrating, reach out to a woman who may be dealing with pain or loss. Bring her a small gift of flowers or maybe slippers and a candle, just something to brighten her day a little. If possible, invite her to lunch or take her out for coffee. Help her feel seen and loved.

Mother's Day invokes many feelings and emotions in all of us; some positive and some negative. Whichever side we fall on, we can still enjoy the day and find pockets of joy.

I wish all of you a blessed and beautiful Mother's Day. Whether you are a bio mom, adoptive mom, foster mom, step mom, grandma, auntie, spiritual mom, mother figure, or whatever your situation may be, Happy Mother's Day.

Discussion:
1. Is Mother's Day a day that you've been looking forward to or dreading?
2. Either way, how can you find pockets of joy in this holiday?

Names of God Series: The Lamb of God

 By: Rebekah Hargraves

Photo Courtesy of: David Bumgardner

"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'"

~John 1:29

As we come now to a new week in our Names of God series, we come to the name "The Lamb of God", which points to the fact that Jesus is the sacrifice for sin. As John says in our passage for today, He took away the sins of the world.

Perhaps you know that Jesus is our substitutionary atoning sacrifice and died on our behalf so that we might be forgiven of our sins, but perhaps you don't understand this "lamb of God" reference. Maybe it's new to you or maybe it's a term you haven't heard in a long while or don't remember the implications of it. Whatever the case may be, it is worth revisiting!

This name of Jesus harkens us all the way back to the Old Testament times and points to Jesus' being the Messiah, the promised One. In the book of Exodus, we read of when God's people, the Israelites, were slaves in Egypt. The Pharaoh of the time was a pagan ruler who hated both God and His people. To make a long story short, in an effort to judge the Pharaoh for repeatedly refusing to let His people go, God sent down a series of ten plagues upon the people of Egypt. 

The final and worst of the plagues was the death of every firstborn son in Egypt. In His grace, God spared the firstborn children of the Israelites as long as they had the blood of the Passover lamb painted on the doorpost of their dwellingplaces. 

This passover lamb and its blood were the symbol of the Christ Who would one day come and shed His own blood as a sacrifice for sins once and for all. It is this lamb of God, Jesus, Who is our sacrificial atonement, our Messiah, our Savior.

Glory be to the lamb of God! 

Reflection Questions:

1) Were you already familiar with this name, "Lamb of God?"

2) What stands out to you about it?

3) What aspect of this symbolism is most meaningful to you and why?

When Laundry Brings Good News

 By: Joanne Viola

 

Laundry. Most days it gets done without paying attention to much as it gets done routinely.

And then there are days, where the most ordinary of tasks stirs thoughts.

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, 
we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, 
purifies us from all sin.” 
(1 John 1:7, NIV)

I have done a few things in my life for which I am not proud of, and would not boast on either. Truth be known, I would rather not even think about them. But every once in a while, they come back to mind. You know why?

Because “sin whispers.” In the still of the night, when we are all alone, sin comes with its hiss bringing up the past, the silent reminder.

It is in the silence, we must remind ourselves of God’s forgiveness through the sacrifice of His Son on the Cross.

We are no longer a people who are living habitually in sin. We do not enjoy the darkness which once encompassed us. Now we live in the determination to choose God’s light as our place of dwelling.

When the regret and shame come to haunt us, we can respond j, “He is faithful to forgive us and we stand purified, clean from it all.”

Let’s return to the laundry for a second …

When doing laundry, an article of clothing may be soiled or dirty. After going through the wash cycle, there are times when a faint outline of the stain can be detected. But when Scripture uses the word purified, it means significantly more.

“Purified” carries a powerful thought as explained by John Stott:

“The verb [purifies] suggests that God does more than forgive; he erases the stain of sin.”

 (as quoted in What Love Is by Kelly Minter) 

There is no ring or mark where the stain used to be.
It is as if the stain never happened.
And that, my friends, is the Good News of the gospel!

 

Reflection: 
Does sin ever come whispering to remind you of the past? How do you handle those moments? Today may you walk in the assurance you are forgiven and God no longer sees your sin.

 

“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, 
and remembers your sins no more.” 
(Isaiah 43:25, NIV) 

 

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay