The Most Wonderful Time...

Ah yes, the lyrics are in my head, "It's the most wonderful time, it's the hap...happiest time of the year".  Is that really true?  Is it really the most wonderful time of the year for you? Personally I waver back and forth between good and sad!  I have had some good Christmases and some very sad ones.  Most of the difficult ones have come from some very poor choices I have made in my life.  At those places I was either a little girl in an unhappy family setting, a lonely runaway when I didn't even know it was Christmas and then in a marriage that was very difficult where my family suffered from the results of alcoholism. These were times when Christ was not in my life.

There have also been times when even as a believer that Christmas has been sad or difficult.  I have a prodigal son who has caused much sorrow because of his poor choices.  Many years we have seen him come and go without any change in his lifestyle or more "stuff" added to the baggage he continues to carry. This makes for sadness for his family as we watch him struggle to keep his head above water.  These are times when all the sentiment and family time just doesn't take away the pain of watching a loved one flail through life.

However, deep inside the recesses of my heart, I really do have peace and joy.  And it is because of the Christmas story.  An incredible expression of love that was lavished upon mankind as the Creator of ALL, humbled Himself and came as a little baby, being birthed in a lowly manger just so that we could once again have fellowship with the Lord, restoring what was broken in the Garden of Eden.  This extravagant love, poured out in the form of a baby, then child, then man, the Christ, was God's greatest work from a desire to once again have fellowship with us.  As it tells us in Genesis 1:26,27,

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 

We have been created in God's very own image!  That is sometimes to big for my comprehension but...I have accepted this truth and accepted the Christ who came yet was crucified, died, and buried (defeating death) when He rose on the third day! All for those who will receive the loving offer of redemption through His blood.

So in the midst of your Christmas, I pray you will know the peace that surpasses even the difficulties (and there are so many things that try to rob this peace from us) whether death of a loved one, divorce, prodigals, sickness, financial loss, hunger...remember, Christ is the one who fills us completely with His peace and purpose in spite of the former mentioned.  Come to Him and let the humble baby in the manger fill you with peace and joy unspeakable as you ponder and reflect on the "Christmas Story".

With love and a blessed Christmas to you all!

Kimberly Dawn

Being God with Skin On

Are you a mom with kids still in the home?  Or a mom who has grandchildren?  Whether or not, every one of us has a unique opportunity to be God with skin on.  Jill Savage, founder of the Hearts at Home Ministries and author, views motherhood so practically as the ministry of availability.  Gloria Gaither, songwriter, singer and author, speaks about divine interruptions.  I have really come to appreciate that perspective especially when I get the calls from certain people or meet people at various gatherings.  Women like Jill and Gloria, have allowed the Lord to change their perspective on those (big and little) people annoyances that get in the way of our agenda.  He takes those times that we lovingly respond to and makes God opportunities out of them.

I don’t know about you but sometimes my ministry dreams are much bigger than they need to be! We all know that time is such a rare commodity today and that there is just never enough of it to go around and especially when it comes to ourselves!  I have discovered such a love for writing out my “lessons from the field” being passionate about sharing my heart and all that God is teaching me. But...managing a home, being a wife, mom and grandma and working full-time really makes for skimpy hours left to do my writing. Then on top of it all there are those interruptions from other who also need attention. Here is where ministry really begins.

You see...each one of us who have been redeemed, have been given this wonderful opportunity to reach out and touch others--lonely others, hurting others and needy others--because this journey as God’s child has called us to reach out and comfort those in need from the little people to big people. The need is so great and yes, we have to be careful and exercise healthy boundaries but not for selfish reasons. Here is the Scriptural mandate Paul gives us:

2 Corinthians 1:3,4 (ESV)

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

Now this can certainly be applied both emotionally and physically as a child comes needing a bandaid to cover a wound or a lonely elderly lady you may meet at the grocery store who would love to have the ‘touch’ of a kind and caring word spoken to her. On a grand scale? Probably more practically speaking through our own hands, arms and words, given to those in our very own sphere of influence.  Mommies, you most likely have a husband and possibly little ones who especially beg for your attention. But oh how we long for our moments of quiet and rest. Mothers, life just seems demanding especially when we are running here, picking up this kid, running that kid there...you probably feel as though you are going to be split in two as you are pulled from every direction. Then the thought enters, where am I going to find time to work on my friendship with my husband and closest friends?

It is rather funny that as I was writing this my husband and I had gone to Florida to visit with my mom and sister over the Thanksgiving weekend.  A quiet moment early one morning gave me this writing inspiration and then my husband awakened. I put down paper and pen and made his coffee (my sister had a new machine he did not know how to run or he could have made his own!)  I proceeded to go back to the writing as I was concluding this piece. Then he started quietly drilling me with conversation and questions. I got a bit perturbed but kept writing although annoyed until the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and basically revealed to me that I was writing about moments just like this. I proceeded to put down paper and pen and zone in on my husband who needed just a little bit of my time to probably just acknowledge his presence!

Now we can look at being used by God to be Jesus with skin on. Practically speaking, every time an interruption comes your way, you have the opportunity to turn it into a ‘ministry’.  You see, ministry may not look like your preconceived notion of what it should be but...when you lay down your agenda and become Jesus to those around you, voila...you can become Jesus with skin on!  Tenderly wiping away the dirt on that skinned knee while you administer love. Helping your husband find that misplaced item (even though you are in the midst of sorting or folding  laundry.) There may be a teenager that comes home hurting from being ignored by a peer group. Stop your supper preparations or ask them to come and help you and be an encouragement to them in their time of feeling very worthless or lonely. There may be Mrs. widow the elderly woman from church in the produce isle. Can you take just a few moments to ask how she has been? We are all in a hurry to get our stuff accomplished but sometimes God wants to use those interruptions to be Jesus with skin on! The following lyrics are the chorus from a song the group Casting Crowns made very popular a few years ago:

But if we are the Body

Why aren't His arms reaching

Why aren't His hands healing

Why aren't His words teaching

And if we are the Body

Why aren't His feet going

Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Father God, I confess that most of the time I am all about me and my agenda.  Will you show me that my “ministry” efforts start in my own sphere of influence--even my own home--and that there are so many that I could reach out and touch with Your love.  Let me see that my family comes first but that it all begins by looking up and allowing You to show me those precious opportunities through Your eyes.  Thank you for the times that I have been on the receiving end of some one’s ministry as they reached out to me.  And for showing me that we are the practical gospel that some will only read and that there are hurting people as well in the body of Christ.  For You have shown me that I am here to be your witness as I wear Your love!

So Much to be Thankful For!

As a child of the King, I am so grateful for new life in Christ!  The Lord has saved me and I did not even realize I needed to be saved or rescued.  But, He restored me and is making me whole.  He looked down on this lost lamb and claimed me for His very own.

I am thankful that I have a Father who has given me more than stuff, He has given me life which He promises in abundance! And on most days I feel full to overflowing with His love.

I am most thankful to have free access to my Father and whenever there is a need He is there to help me.  He even lets me share Him with those who do not know who He is.

Psalm 95:1-6 "Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker."

Not only has God given me life and in abundance but he has given me love and people to share that with, family, friends and even strangers who need to see God's love in action.

You see like King David said, " I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!"  Psalm 27:13,14

I can be thankful for all kinds of stuff for I have so much but I am most thankful for the sacrifice of Christ which made a way for me to know God as my Father, Provider, Redeemer, Peace, Healer...stuff is temporal but this life in Christ is eternal!

Happy Thanksgiving

What in the World is a Lachrymatory?

Oh my, it really is amazing how intimately acquainted God is with His children.  I know the Scripture that says that the Lord is aware of how many hairs are on our heads.  Okay, I don't know about you but I lose hair daily.  If that Scripture means what it says then it confirms God's Omniscience or that God really does know everything and if the Lord is Omnipresent or not limited by time, that means He can know even when those hairs disappear from my head!  This knowledge is just too great for me!  

I recently discovered the word lachrymatory, and I wondered if it had to do with cremation or something and I thought this isn't such a pretty word (at least by its sound.)  But as I did a study on these verses in Psalm 56, I discovered that this lachrymatory is actually a tear bottle.  Why in the world anyone would use a tear bottle.  (And my friend Peggy actually brought me back a replica of one from Israel when she was there several years ago.)

Psalm 56:8-13                                              

" You have taken account of my wanderings ; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your Book?  Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call; this I know, that God is for me.  In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? Your vows are binding upon me, O God; I will render thank offerings to You. For You have delivered my soul from death, indeed my feet from stumbling, so that I may walk before God In the light of the living."

My Ever Present Help in Times of Trouble

                                                                                    

C.H. Spurgeon states that "The custom in old times was, when a person was ill or in great distress, for his friends to go to see him, and take with them a tear bottle. Then, as the tears rolled down the cheeks of the sufferer, they were caught in these bottles, sealed up, and preserved as a memorial of the event."  Henceforth, we have tear bottles or lachrymatories.

From the study of the Scriptures I have picked up that the Israelites were always big on remembering.  I believe that came from the Lord who didn't want them to miss a thing lest they would forget the goodness of the Lord each time He delivered, provided for or healed them. Seems as though God knows just how easily we forget those times when the course of our lives is changed and for the better outcome!

Can you, as a child of God's, think of the times that you have shed your tears?  Some of us cry often and for not even a real reason except that we are "emotional" about everything.  Some of us have poured out our anguished hearts for very good reasons.  There are also those tears that roll down our faces from too much laughter and joy.  I am not certain about whether or not God collects those tears of joy but why not remember great times also...?  If the joy comes from the Lord and His goodness, yes!  We will remember.

As I think on the times in my life when I have wept over my varied difficult situations I am choosing to remember the goodness of the Lord in the outcome of each of those situations.  It is always easier to review after coming through!  Because that is when I can see the Lord's goodness poured out in each situation.  Like David says in the verses above, "...in God I will put my trust."  My shed tears are the remembrance of how He takes an impossible situation and turns it around so that I can "Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD" Psalm 27:14!

Your tears do not go unnoticed by our God, to the point that they are collected by Him and reveal His tender mercies toward His children in their hours of distress.  You are greatly loved by the Father and He will bring you forth as gold as you wait and be strong in Him.  Fear not for God is with you and not against you because He loves you!

The Tool of Worship

I have always known that worship is a powerful 'thing'.  How do you describe just what it is?  It is a verb as it is used to describe something that we do.  We worship when we give of our time and talents, when we turn our hearts in adoration to our Lord and focus on all that He is. Our godly actions of time, tithe, devotion and ministry (just to name some) are all an act of "worship".

Here is a look at worship as a noun when it becomes a tool, yes, it is a tool.  It is used to accomplish some vital things in our surrounding as well as in our heart.  When noted in the Old Testament, the tool of worship is used to prepare the atmosphere so to speak, in preparation for battle.  Familiar verses in 2 Chronicles 20 tell us of a time when the singers (worshipers) were used to prepare the atmosphere for victory.

They rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa ; and when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the LORD your God and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets and succeed."  When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the LORD and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said,"Give thanks to the LORD, for His lovingkindness is everlasting."Then they began singing and praising, the LORD set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were routed. 

God then stepped in and overwhelmed the enemies and wiped them all out.  I also believe that when we begin our time of worship in the Lord's house that we accomplish the same purpose because we focus on the Lord and we vocally express in word and song our thanks to Him and acknowledge that His lovingkindness is everlasting.  This clears the air so to speak, to make a way for the presence of the Lord to be welcomed in our midst.  

Now lets look at how worship is a tool that is used to change us.  I can personally testify to how the Lord did a big work in my heart as I learned to worship Him.  Adoring Him for who He is according to His Word and praising Him for all He has done and will do.  In that sense, the Lord has and does use worship to realign who we are.  It is in times of intimate worship that we are able to see ourselves--after looking at our perfect Father--like Isaiah saw himself, as a man (woman) of unclean lips dwelling in the midst of people of the same.

Isaiah 6:5-7  "Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."  Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.  He touched my mouth with it and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven." 

Wow, once in the presence of the Lord, I am able to realize just how unclean I really am!  So this tool of worship can start the process of 'cleaning' me up as I see Him and His holiness.  Now, a vital part of this 'tool' is that God now uses it to also equip us for our seasons of difficulty. Not only will we be ineffective for His service and use but we also will not be able to withstand the seasons of trial.  Worship, and all that it does for us--being saturated in the Lord's presence--is that which will equip, empower and allow us to stand firm in seasons of difficulty.  So Oswald Chambers says it very succinctly "If you have not been worshiping as occasion serves, when you get into work you will not only be useless yourself, but a tremendous hindrance to those who are associated with you."  It is here that the act of worship becomes the tool used to enable us to continue on for Christ's sake.

Let the Worshipers Arise!

Father, I want the deep work done in my heart for your glory only.  Show me Your face and then I will have the courage to keep on until Christ returns.  Show me Your face and I will be able to withstand those times of difficulty that will come my way.  I humbly ask for Your presence to invade my life that I might be Your worship warrior for today, for right now, in Jesus' name.