Heroic Hope

Hope is heroic.  To have had your heart broken, disappointed, destroyed and then to hope again takes courage, trust, and endurance.  These are all qualities of a hero.  Without hope, we walk in darkness.  With hope, we have light to guide us, pull us, push us to keep going.  Hope is knowing the sun will rise.  Hope is enduring the present pain because you know the joy of restoration.  Hope is dreaming of good things and believing they are bound to come true.  When I put my hope in God, I am assured and secure.  The Light of the world becomes my everlasting light of hope.  And so I wait quietly before Him for the good things that are sure to come.  Believe in Him.  Believe Him.  Hope heroically.  The sun will rise.

Purely Powerful Faith

"Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation."
Isaiah 12:2

Dwell on that phrase from Isaiah 12 with me for a moment: "I will trust and not be afraid." That's a pretty powerful statement. In fact, I don't think you could say anything more powerful than that to God. Take a look at our past patriarchs. They exemplified this kind of faith. Abraham, Noah, Moses, Joshua, Daniel, Elijah, Gideon, and many others trusted in the Lord and were not afraid.

My favorite story of all that shows this kind of pure faith is from Daniel chapter 3. This is the story when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow down and worship any other god than the Lord God Almighty. Listen to their statement of faith after they were told they would be thrown into a fiery furnace if they did not bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's gods or idols: "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king." (verse 17) They go on to say that even if God doesn't save them, they will never worship the king's false gods. This truly is an example of the purely powerful faith, "I will trust and not be afraid."

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's faith in God was so deep, so unadulterated that the possibility of death didn't make them quiver one iota. They even knew that if God wanted them to die in the furnace, then God knew best. They trusted God's decision, God's control, God's purpose in this matter. How about you? How about me? Do we have this kind of faith, this trust? Do we really believe God knows what's best for us? Can we like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego proclaim God will save us from this cancer, this debt, this tragedy, this heartbreak, this job loss, this divorce?  Can we proclaim that even if He doesn't, we will still serve Him?

This amazing story ends unexpectedly. Those three walked right into the furnace. (Oh, to have that kind of faith!) They did not die. In fact God was with them, literally, in that furnace. When they came out--here's the coolest part--not a hair on their heads was singed and there was NO SMELL of fire on them (verse 27)!  Awesome! Praise the LORD!  POWERful faith!  POWERful God!

Have a some purely powerful faith in your life today, whatever you are facing. Know the God the Almighty, whom you serve, is faithful and just and He will deliver you.  Even if He doesn't, still serve Him.  He knows best.  He knows more.  His deliverance may not be here, now, and the way we want; but trust this: HE WILL DELIVER.  Amen.

Rock Solid

"There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one
besides you;
there is no Rock like our God."
1 Samuel 2:2

A couple of years ago I traveled to Israel for the first time. I was amazed by the beauty of the land and the pride of the people. What amazed me even more was the constant presence of rock! When I signed up for the 10-day tour through the Holy Land, I had no idea that I would be hiking up rock, crawling through rock caves, digging through rock, observing rock structures, and arriving back to my hotel at the end of each day covered with sediments of rock. As the trip came to a close, I had a whole new appreciation for rock and a whole new understanding of the phrase "the LORD is my Rock."

Rock is everywhere in Israel. It surrounds, hovers, and upholds cities over there. Rock is used to build with, to build on, and to build out of. It is visible and plentiful. Certain rock in Israel is fought over because it is sacred. Rock is a resource familiar to all, available to all, and needed by all.

Likewise, the LORD is everywhere: "The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good" (Proverbs 15:3). He surrounds, hovers, and upholds us: "The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold" (Psalm 18:2). The LORD, knowing the purpose and lasting power of what He builds, desires for us to use Him in our building process if not be our Builder: "Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain..." (Psalm 127:1); "For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything" (Hebrews 3:4). He is visible if you have divine eyes to see, and He is plentiful in His love, His grace, His mercy, and His forgiveness. The LORD our Rock is most certainly sacred, and He is familiar, available, and needed by all: "The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them" (Isaiah 41:17).

There's no question about it; rock is certainty. After my first day's experience with the rock in Israel, I knew I could count on one thing: I would encounter it again and evidence of it would be on me. So it is with Christ. "Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal" (Isaiah 26:4).

A Fresh Start

This is an excerpt from Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life.  It's a refreshing reminder that our past does not dictate our future or who we are today. May the truth of this puncture your heart with hope... 
"We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it. God's purpose is not limited by your past. He turned a murderer named Moses into a leader and a coward named Gideon into a courageous hero, and he can do amazing things with the rest of your life, too. God specializes in giving people a fresh start."

Gunk

When I purchased my condo back in March, my garbage disposal was making this terrible grinding noise.  The inspector had said it was probably a bent blade.  I hadn't had a garbage disposal in eight years, so what did I know?  After a few weeks, the grinding turned into humming which turned into no sound at all.  Thanks to my sister having a similar issue, I knew there was a reset button at the bottom of the disposal. I pressed it and.....it turned the humming back on and then tripped it off again.  So, I researched some informative how-to videos on YouTube because I was determined to save myself some money and fix it myself.  Don't all new homeowners think this way?

After trying the reset button, according to the several videos I watched, I was to cut the power off either by unplugging the disposal or switching the breaker to 'off.'  After cutting the power, I placed a 1/4" allen wrench in the hexagonal hole at the bottom of the disposal.  According to the videos, you should be able to turn your wrench left to right, clockwise and counterclockwise.  This loosens up any gunk or debris that is causing the jam in the part of the unit that is called the flywheel.  (The humming noise is an indicator that there is a jam, so in every video each teacher said this is an easy diy fix.)  Well, I couldn't even budge the flywheel.  I'm talking no movement, period.  I used all my might, in fact, and almost ripped the disposal off the sink completely.  Whatever was causing the jam, was jammed so well that I couldn't see how I could've fixed this on my own, after all.  But little did that disposal know, I am not a girl who gives up easily.

I did some more research and read helpful tips on websites that talked about using a broom handle in the sink to help loosen the flywheel from up top.  Well, I didn't have a broom handle, so I used my rolling pin.  (I found out later that a wooden spoon is a good option, too).  Picture a determined woman with a rolling pin down the hole in her sink pushing with all her might to make the flywheel budge and....nothing.  I was afraid I was going to break something.  I was close to waving my white kitchen towel in surrender, when I came across another blog.  Some guy had similar issues.  He, too, tried everything.  He even tried some WD-40. (Aha!  I have some of that! I thought.)  He was successful after the broom handle trick.  I was determined WD-40 was my answer.

I sprayed some WD-40 down the hole around both blades and the center.  I got down on my knees for what I knew would be my final attempt before I conceded and called a plumber.  While down on my knees , I prayed a simple request for God's help.  I also prayed that I wouldn't break anything.  Sounds silly, right?  But as I was on my knees, I thought God cares about every hair on my head, why wouldn't He care about being involved with this?  After that prayer, I had confidence and strength, and I thought okay, God, this is in Your hands.

I turned the allen wrench to the left and...it budged!!  I turned it to the right...it budged that way too!  I couldn't believe it!  I got so excited I started to laugh and got up to see if it really was moving, so I tried the rolling pin down the hole again.  Sure enough, it moved!  I stuck my hand down (I know all the videos said not to ever do this but the power was completely off), and I was able to turn the flywheel!  I danced around the kitchen with excitement.  Whatever gunk and debris that caused my disposal to jam was now cleared out!  I turned the allen wrench several times clockwise and several times counterclockwise just to be sure I loosened everything up.  Then, I turned the power back on, and voila!  My disposal sounded as good as new!  The blades weren't bent at all!  My guess is that there was a lot of broken glass from the previous owner that caused it to jam up.

Aren't are lives a lot like this?  We jam up our hearts and minds with a lot of gunk and debris.  Pretty soon that gunk causes us to stop functioning properly.  What's worse is that it causes our spiritual flywheel to stop spinning.  We need to let go of the gunk.  We need the freedom of Christ to help us to function properly again.  We need to let Him come in with His power and might, to reset our spiritual buttons, and to bring us back to full power to do what He designed us to do.  Let us live our lives clear of the gunk.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us."

Hebrews 12:1