January 24, 2014 Family Friday, Abram, and Aching Heads

Some days are hard. Today I am battling through a headache, home issues that need to be fixed, and other things. My temptation is to skip today and make up tomorrow. However, I know the importance of habit, but more than that, I know when I can't find Him, He can still find me.

 

PRAYER

Lord, there are people in our families do not believe in you, who do not believe they are in need of salvation. Make your truth known to them.

BIBLE READING

Genesis 13—Things to note: Lot took what looked better, but in the end, it nearly killed him.
Abram built an altar wherever he was, and he just kept getting blessed.

Genesis 14—The conversation between the king of Sodom and Abram still impresses me. Abram refuses to take anything that might even hint that he was blessed or increased because of wickedness.

Genesis 15—And Abram believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

MEMORIZATION

I have spent most of my day with a headache throbbing behind my eyes.  I have gone through verses I know, but I have not worked on anything knew. You?

 BIBLE STUDY/JOURNAL

 I am challenged by Abram and his faith. I have nothing to say. Just pondering.

January 23, 2014 Genesis 10-12, Being the Blessing in Our Community, Jeremiah 29, When Everything Changes

Pretty chilly in my neck of the woods this morning. On mornings like this, it is easy to curl up under the covers and hide. While you’re hiding, hide in Him, and while you’re at it, hide some other folks with you.

PRAYER

Thursday morning and we are hiding our communities with us in Him.

Father God,

This morning I am lifting up my community to you. I know several of them but certainly not all. Of the ones I know, a few truly follow you. A few attend church, and some know you exist but nothing else. I am asking you to bless my community through me. Show me how to strengthen friendships and love them like you do. Show me how to be a support to them. Give me the right words, not my words because they come from my small human knowledge, but your words because they come from your knowing all. Help me to love them like you do. Even when I don’t agree with their choices or lifestyles, strengthen me not to judge but to love, and, Lord, work in me to be an example of a Christ-lover and Jesus-Liver so they see you and know the power you have in a life.

Holy Spirit, be at work in my community to prepare hearts to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. I know there will opposition in the spiritual realm to the advancement of your kingdom, and I am asking you to fight on behalf of these people. I am asking you to protect my family as we seek these hearts for you. Give me courage and strength to never back down from the right thing, to never stop loving, and when someone slaps me on the cheek, because we both know it’ll come, give me peace to love them anyway.

And, Lord, forgive me if I grumble because it seems too hard. Thank you that some folks I’ve known fought for me and my soul and didn’t find it too hard. I pray I would have the same tenacity as they had. Thank you for loving every single soul in my community. Thank you for the chance to love them and serve them. To you always be the glory. Amen

BIBLE READING

Genesis 10—About the second or third time I read this through, I decided to do a family tree to see where all these people went because I knew they were important. I knew they were not just random names but had impact on the future generations. I couldn’t make it big enough. However, I am still fascinated, and every once in a while, the idea crosses my mind again.

Genesis 11--⁶ The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” I want to keep this thought in front of me. I’ll talk about why in a minute.

Genesis 12—

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

² I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.
³ I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.”

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him…

I really need to add this to my memorization list. This is so rich in promise and challenge.  For me, this is very personal right now. As some of you know, a little over 3 ½ years ago, our life changed radically. At one point, I told someone, “I still live in the same house. I still have my kids. Everything else has changed.” It was true. Now, we have moved and are not even in that area. It seemed like God was just destroying everything we knew and cared about, but that is not God’s nature. God is not a thief. God is a giver. He started the world with giving. He gave the perfect environment. He gave an amazing garden. When mankind blew it, He gave them covering, and eventually, He gave them a road back in through Christ. God is a giver. It is the essence of who He is. What looks like God taking Abram out of all he knew is really God giving him a new place to flourish. He’s giving him a new way and place to be blessed. He’s giving him a great name, a great life, and a great promise.

In our lives, God did the same thing. Yes, a lot was taken away, but we’ve been given a new life here, a place to bless people, new relationships that bless us. He has given us promises for this place that are just as real and certain as the promises He gave Abram.

I’m telling you this because 1) I have had a few mentally challenging days, and I need to hear this. I need this in MY journal in capital letters, and believe me, it is, but 2) I think there are some out there who are watching life changes in radical ways, ways you would have never chosen. I understand. I wouldn’t have chosen ours either, but I want to encourage you that change and having what has always been taken away isn’t always punishment for something you’ve done, and it certainly isn’t because God is just cruel and likes to see if He can wreak havoc in your life. If He is taking you out of something or away from something, it’s because He is taking you TO something, and His intentions for you are always good. His heart for you is good.

It may not look like it is good or His plans are good, and I’ll tell you one woman at a previous church said that to me at the wrong time, and my response was raw and ugly. Right now, you may have a raw and ugly response, too. That’s okay. I’ll take it. I’m not asking you to love this or the process you are in at this very moment. Sometimes those moments are hard and excruciating. All I’m asking is for you to ask Him to show you something good about where you are and where you are going and keep looking for the answer. It may not come in a second, but if you keep looking, you’ll find it. If you seek Him, you will find Him because right now, at this very second, He is seeking you because He wants to be found.

In Abram’s case, he was offered the easy choice move. Some of us don’t get it easy, and we don’t get a choice. The floor is totally jerked out from under us, but the promise is the same for both: I will turn this into a good thing. I will bless you. I will make you a blessing.

This is where we do have a choice. We can trust Him, follow Him, and let Him bless us and make us into a blessing, or we can hold onto the hurt and anger and close our hearts to Him. This is where the temptation to do it our way likes to take a foothold because if that is the best He can do, we can do without Him. Trust me on this. You will never see the best of anything from a place of anger or rage. You will only see the best of Him when you follow Him and trust Him and let Him give you the good things. This is the place where our faith is tested. Abram believed Him and look at the results. A nation was created…a Savior was born.

The question then becomes: do I trust Him to bless me like that even when all I see is what it looks like I’m leaving or losing? Do you?

 

MEMORIZATION

Why do we memorize? Because God is one big picture, not a 10,000 little pieces. The verse I’ve been working on this week is the same thing God could have told Abram back in Genesis.

“Abram, I know you are leaving everything you know. I know this looks crazy. I know you always assumed your future was here, but trust me. I know the plans I have for you, Abram. I plan to prosper you and not do you harm. I plan to give you hope and a future.”

 Who knows? Maybe if Abram had really understood that middle part about not doing harm, he wouldn’t have asked his wife to life to save his bum. Why memorize? Because when the hard things come that knock us to our foundation, our foundation had better be Him.

 This is what the Lord says,

“When seventy years are completed for Babylon,
I will come back to you and fulfill my good promise
Bring you back to this place.
For I know the plans I have for you,”
Declares the Lord,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
Plans to give you hope and a future.
Then you will call to me and come and pray to me
And I will listen to you.
You will seek me, and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
 

BIBLE STUDY/JOURNAL

I think it is safe to say, I covered this part already. And so you know, the above is being posted without edit. I don’t edit when I journal, and I am not editing here. This is not about my being a perfect writer or getting bogged down in words or delivery. It’s about being real, and sometimes, it’s about being really raw. I know I said I wanted to get back to the verse about their being one and nothing being too hard. I will see about writing about that on Undaunted Reality later today or maybe I’ll write it up and post it here. I do want to get it written because it is powerful, and it is a concept our world doesn’t comprehend. Marriages, families, and the body of Christ in general are coming apart because we don’t understand the importance or power of oneness. Stop! I’ll end up writing another page for you to read. Don’t worry. This is too important not to discuss, but I don’t want it competing with the power of the promise of blessing we just discussed with Abram. So for now, thanks for hanging out with me while I spent time hanging out with Him. Hope you take Him right into your day with you.

Blessings,

Jerri

January 22, 2014 We the People...Who Give Lavishly, Genesis 7-9, Jeremiah 29

Today as I write this, I don't want to be writing it. What I want to write is about the loss of a beautiful man. Jack Clark taught agriculture (AG) and shop classes for decades where I went to school, and today he passed on. I have no idea how many of us are feeling the gaping hole tonight, but honestly, I just want to think about him and what a blessing he has been to so many and how much better our lives are, and I've been trying to figure out how to shift my gaze from Mr. Clark to our nation, and how do I pray for our nation when I hurt for his family? I think I know.

PRAYER

Dear Lord,

Today you chose to take home a man who loved like I believe you love. He didn't teach a subject. He taught young people. He taught them the power of patience by giving it. He taught them they can do great things if they stick to it. He taught them needing a second try was normal, and he taught us to not give up on ourselves and not to give up on others.

He taught us so many things about living well.

Lord, this country is built by people like Mr. Clark, teachers, mentors, leaders, neighbors, folks who step in when parents aren't there, people who give of their lives so living is made more clear. I ask today for your blessing on these people. I ask that you would bless them for how they strengthen this country with their lives. Thank you for their selfless giving. Lord, bring forth more of them.

Thank you for Mr. Clark and Kay and all they poured into each of us. Thank you for the other men and women that other young people say the very same thing about. Thank you for the impact they had on this country through the impact they had on our lives.

Tonight, I ask especially for Mr. Clark's family, for their comfort. Only you can comfort them and carry them through this. Be with Kay as she lives without her best friend's presence. May you comfort those who mourn, and with time and your healing, may they dance again.

With deepest gratitude for those who love like you,

Amen

BIBLE READING

Genesis 7--Did you notice? He didn't take one pair of each animal. He took seven pair, which happens to be the number of pair needed to develop a new population of animals that are healthy.

 

And the very day Noah and his family entered the ark, it started to rain. God's precision timing always leaves me amazed, and sometimes it leaves me annoyed. Just keeping it real.

 

Genesis 8--Instead of grumbling about the smell or the chore or the conditions of life in the ark, instead of walking out the door and bellowing, "It's about time!", Noah made an altar and sacrificed to the Lord. No wonder the aroma was pleasing. No wonder it reached His heart.

 

Genesis 9--God blessed them and told them to increase. Does God ever bless and it not come with increase or obvious fruit? Seriously. Anybody see that in the Bible? I can't think of any instance where that happened. Anyone have one?

 

 

MEMORIZATION

This is hard to focus on today, so I am making sure my verse for the year is solid, maybe because I feel helpless with knowledge of how Mr. Clark's family is grieving. Maybe I need to remember even in the worst places, I can offer a safe place.

Each one will be like a shelter from the wind,

and a refuge from the storm,

like streams of water in the desert,

and the shadow of a giant rock in a thirsty land.

Isaiah 32:2

Lord, grant me wisdom to know how to be a comfort in hard places.

BIBLE STUDY/JOURNAL

 

Today I find it interesting that I read about Noah and the ark. For the first time, I saw the journey we were on as a trip in the ark. God said, "I'm going to destroy everything as you know it, but I've got you," and He did, and He has. Just like the new life He gave Noah, ours is blessed and fruitful and good. It has aspects of what it used to be, but for the most part, it's all new, and we have to learn to live in it differently.

Today the Clark family enters into an ark they will hate, just as we hated ours, and they will ache for what was, but it is gone. They will have to do like all of us. They have to find life on the other side of the destruction. It is a hard thing, but it can be blessed richly.

I wonder how many of you are sitting in an ark knowing what you knew and loved is gone. You can't imagine the future yet. You just know it isn't what it used to be, and the transition to get there stinks and is hard and uncomfortable and miserable, and does it really matter if you get out of bed? I mean, this ark sort of floats itself, you know.

If you are in the ark, I want to you know, I spent a few years in an ark between the life with a husband/dad, mom, extended family, and hopes for a happy ending and where we are now. I hated it, but I realize it had to happen for me to get here. No. I am not trying to candy coat or cliche' comfort.
Some of you are wondering if their is any hope at all, and I want you to know, yes, there is. I know it is hard. I know it hurts. I know this is not the ride you would have asked for, but I also know God is good, and on the other side of this are blessings and fruitful life and increase...and a rainbow with your name on it.

You see, that rainbow wasn't just about the flood. It was a promise for everyone who ever steps into an ark. It's a promise that the rain will one day stop. You'll walk out of the ark, and life will really happen again.

May God grant you strength for the journey and courage to believe in your rainbow.

From My Journal--A Love that Expects Nothing

I'm still stuck on that tree in the Garden.

I can't get it out of my head because here is the thing. God really had to put that tree in there. Think about it. Without that tree, Eden suddenly goes from paradise to a spiritual whorehouse with one doozy of a powerful pimp on a domination kick. The tree had to be there.

Except, it didn't.

If God wanted to play the God-All-Mighty-and-don't-you-forget-it card, He could have. He not only had the power, but He had the right.

Instead, He planted a tree.

To read more, please join me at Undaunted Reality.

January 21, 2014 Praying for My Church, Genesis 4-6, and Jeremiah 29

Technically, we are on day 2 of this adventure, but if you are just joining us, jump right in! Yesterday we read Genesis 1-3 and prayed for our military. Today we are going to pray for our churches and read Genesis 4-6 and give some general thoughts about anything that catches our eye. Ready? Alrighty then. Let’s get going!

PRAYER

You ever try to pray for your church and not pray to fix something? You know what I mean. The pastor who has the bad delivery or the secretary who has the bad attitude. Sometimes all we can see in our church are the things that we want God to fix. Well, maybe today, I need Him to start making my church better by fixing me.

Daddy, we are new to our church, and really everything is shiny and wonderful. Honeymoons are glorious things, but I know honeymoons end, and it is easy for things to become tarnished and dull pretty quickly. I’m asking you to keep my heart open to the joy of my church. Help me to see the ways it blesses my family and others. Help me to see the good things, like the way the way our campus pastor always greets us with a smile after service.

Help me to be a good thing.

 When someone is sitting alone, turn my eyes to them so I see them. I’ve sat in too many services feeling unseen. Please, let me see others.

Give me words to encourage our pastor and volunteers and let them know I appreciate them. When they needed it, prompt me to drop a note or even a small gift of gratitude to let them know their service is being fruitful and making a difference.

Show me where you want to use the gifts you instilled in me to be a blessing to people who attend. I want to be a producer and not a parasite.

And, Daddy, when I am petty, because we both know I can be, give me wisdom to keep it to myself, to deal with it with you, and to let it go. If something bothering me can bless the church by making it better, give me courage to speak to the right person and grace to speak kindly, but if my words only cause problems, I pray you would convict me to deal with my own issue and my own heart.

Daddy, help me be the kind of person I would want to see and speak with every week. Help me to be an answer to someone’s hard week or rough day.

Thank you for my church and the great people who serve and attend there. May you be glorified in us all. Amen

BIBLE READING

Genesis 4—I will not drown in all those names. I will not drown in all those names.
The big picture information:
Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel.
Can killed Abel, and Cain was sent out of God’s presence.
There is a guy name Lamech who decided two wives were better than one and killed someone, too, but not because of the wives.
Adam and Eve had Seth.

Genesis 5—Don’t drown in the begats. They do serve an honest purpose, but right now, for our purpose, it’s just filling in a long blank until we get to important stuff, like Enoch, who was no longer because God took him. Can you imagine?! Then we get to the next major piece of our story: Noah.

Genesis 6—First, no, I don’t know what it means by the Nephilim and sons of God. Right now, I’m not digging into that. Maybe for a personal study, I might, but for this purpose, I’m simply reading. I might highlight it or note it in my journal so I go back and look later, but remember, this is not a deep study, just an overview.

God was sorry He made mankind because it was so wicked. It is hard for me to wrap my brain around that, and it does contradict some theology I was taught growing up, but for me the primary take away is so simple: Dear God, may I never be so wicked that you are sorry you made me. Maybe I always bring you pleasure and not regret.

Noah. I tried to actually draw the ark out once. Then I found a picture in a book, and it had all the dimensions and such already. I felt a bit silly, but I was hoping by drawing it, I would keep getting lost in the description. Finally I realized the importance of the description to me is this: God had a plan. It was a detailed plan that had to be followed to perfection because God does not waste resources. He didn’t waste space, food, animals, or timber. God knows what He wants done and what it takes to get it done. It was that way with the ark, and it is that way in my life.

And why did this ark thing work? Because Noah did everything God told him to do. That alone will sink me to my knees asking, “Lord, am I doing everything you told me to do? Is there anything I’m missing?”

MEMORIZATION

Still plodding in Jeremiah 29:10-14.

This morning I wrote in my journal:

This is what the Lord says,
“When seventy years are completed for Babylon,
I will come back to you and fulfill my good promise
Bring you back to this place.
For I know the plans I have for you,”
Declares the Lord,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
Plans to give you hope and a future.
Then you will call to me and come and pray to me
And I will listen to you.
You will seek me, and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Okay, that last part doesn’t seem quite right. Let me check that very quickly. Slight fix.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Do a few words make a difference? I am tempted to say they don’t, and yet, some words really do matter, and for me, this is also an exercise of excellence. I memorize quotes from books or movies being careful to get them correct word for word, and they just fit my whim with no eternal significance. If I give such diligence to something that ultimately means nothing, how much more diligence should I give to something that means everything?

 I also reviewed previous verses. I try to do that at least one a week to keep them fresh. I write them all in my journal, but my kids type theirs.  

How is your memorizing going today?

BIBLE STUDY/JOURNAL

I’m still fixated on that tree in the garden. When I’m done rolling it over, I’ll pour it out for you to see. For now, anything you want to share that has been roaming around your mind?

Thanks for sharing this part of your day with me. I pray it is a great day for you! And I look forward to seeing you tomorrow!

Blessings,

Jerri

From my Journal--Love That Puts a Tree in the Garden

I find that I am fixated on Genesis 2 and the fact God did all those things--choosing specific plants and food for their beauty and flavor for mankind--out of love. He gave the very best He had because He loved them, and He gave the option not to choose Him.

He put all that great stuff in the garden...and then He put a tree that gave them the ability to reject it all.

Was the very best love, the love that gives knowing someone has the option to leave?

Is the deepest love the one that loves greatly knowing the other may choose not to love at all?

Is that perfect love? If Eden was perfect, and that is the love He gave, it has to be.

To read the rest, please join me at Undaunted Reality.

January 20, 2014, Military Monday, Genesis 1-3, Jeremiah 29:10-14

I still have yet to figure out the details. I know how I would LIKE to do this. I would like to have multiple posts with prayer, Bible reading, memorization and journal, and a whole digest that you can subscribe to according to interests. However, I don't want to drown you in four different posts, and I can't figure out how to set it up so you can subscribe to individual ones. I have an idea, but I need to research it some. If anyone has any suggestions beyond a website I have no clue how to do, I am listening.

BUT, for now, let's get this party started!!!

PRAYER

I try to always start my morning with prayer. Usually before I'm out of bed, my Lord and I have started chatting. I've been asked a lot about how I pray. Simple, I talk to God. Nothing more complicated than that. I'll do a longer post on this some time in the future, but for now, let's get to our prayer strategy topic: Military Monday. One thing you need to know. I take out military very seriously. They are not a nebulous group out there fighting bad guys to me. To me, these are the guards God puts in place to protect the life I value for my children. These men and women keep people with destructive mindsets and plans from destroying our lives by destroying the way of life we have  and the values we hold. In my mind, these are our personal guards set in place by my God, and I speak to Him about them as such.

You can pray these words or pray your own. Up to you. This is just how I pray...

Daddy, thank you for the men and women who stand for my children and me everyday. Thank you for the families who hug and kiss them goodbye and sending them to dangerous places to guard us by protecting us from terrorists and those who would destroy us and what we value. Daddy, today I ask that you would  be with every man and woman serving my children and me in harm's way. Give them courage to believe for good things. Give them strength when they are ridiculously exhausted in every way. Give them comfort when they lose one of their own. Daddy, be with them in a way only you can. Be the brother in arms that holds onto them. I ask for your supernatural protection over them. I ask that plans of the enemy would come to nothing. I ask that bombs and IEDs and grenades would detonate in the hands of those who would attack the men and women you have assigned to protect us. I ask you to be their guard before them and after them. I pray that a thousand would fall at their right hand and then thousand at their left. I ask you to be crazy good to them. And, Daddy, let them sleep peacefully. Still the nightmares. Still the memories. I know you have given them this assignment. Give them peace in the fulfilling of it. I ask for your miraculous healing on the minds, souls, and spirits of these men and women to stop PTSD and other battle related problems so these men and women are not victims to the war but victors over the enemy. Set them free from what would torment them. Bless them with peace, Daddy. Bless them with peace. Lord, you are a God of war. War for them. They need YOU to be the one fighting for them. Thank you for your faithfulness. To you be all the glory, Amen

Do you have a Monday topic? Want to share with the rest of us?

BIBLE READING

I am too ambitious sometimes. I wanted to do three different Bible reading plans: 1 chapter a day, 3 chapters a day, and 5 chapters a day. However, I simply cannot figure that out, and if anyone ends up on a different pace, I want them to be able to easily find thoughts on the chapters they are on, so I think the easiest way is 3 chapters a day. That will get us through the Bible in a year. Since we aren't going for deep stuff here, this is a pretty good pace. Even my teenagers are doing this with me, so, let's jump in.

Genesis 1--Okay, I love this part. "In the beginning, God created." It's totally dark. Nothing is there. No reason to expect anything new. Looks dead as a cosmic tomb. Then, this voice speaks to the tomb and says, "Let's light this place up," and He does. I have no clue how many times in the last 3 years I've meditated on this and flat out clung to it because it looked dark and dead, but my Daddy can take a tomb and create a universe exploding with life. He can make a new life for me too.

Summary of chapter 1: Perfectly ordered creation that God declared was good.

Genesis 2--Whoa! I'm slow! All these years, and I just got this. Check this out. "God planted a garden." He didn't just speak and plants pop up. This was a well-planned, intentional garden. He planted it specifically with these that look good and taste good. This was designed JUST FOR MANKIND. Talk about an attention to detail!! OH. MY. GOODNESS. It is like a suitor preparing the perfect setting for the perfect date!!! If I stopped right there, it would be enough for me to chew on for awhile. God Almighty set up the perfect date. Just wow....

"And the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." So God sets up this perfect date, and then says, "But  I will give you the option not to choose me. Despite how much love I pour out on you and how obvious I make it, I will give you the option not to love me back." My breath has caught in my chest, and I am trying to wrap my mind around this kind of sacrificial love. Someone who loves this wildly and fully...who is willing to not be loved at all...What kind of God is this? Once again, I am...just rendered speechless by the crazy depth of His love and selflessness.

By the way, I'm not afraid of the "helper", man and woman topic, but I'll tell you, this is something the Lord is really speaking to me about right now. The concept of "helper". I won't get into it here because it is a discussion of great theological entrenchment, but maybe I'll talk about it on Undaunted Reality some time.

Chapter 3--Folks wonder how Eve could have been so stupid. How could she trade paradise with God for something so stupid? I don't know. I look myself in the mirror and ask how I do that very thing almost every day.

Some of my thoughts. Yours?

 

MEMORIZATION

Jeremiah 29:10-14 is what I am working on. My goal is to have it done this week. Right now, I have verses 10 and 11 done.

This is what the Lord says, "When seventy years are completed for Babylon,
I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to you
to bring you back to this place.
For I know the plans I have for you,"
declares the Lord,
"Plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.
Then you will call on me and come and pray to me,
and I will listen to you."

I plan to work on verse 13 tomorrow. By the way, this is how I memorize things. I break them down into thoughts or sections of verses or sentences.

What are you working on?

BIBLE STUDY/JOURNAL

 

So much going on in my head right now about Jeremiah 29:10-14. On one hand, I want to be disciplined and cover everything I said I would. On the other, I don't want to get in trouble for being proud of how I perform again, and I'm still thinking this through and trying to listen as I memorize and meditate, so for today, you saw a big bit of my journal on the reading part. I didn't mean to comment so much, but prayerfully, it'll bless someone. For now, I'm going to go meditate on this some more.

What are you meditating on?

Wow. It's done. The first REAL blog post for Gypsy Ponderings is done. Honestly, I could stay right here and spend a few hours, but I don't want to bog you down. I know you are busy, and I am going to spend some time considering Jeremiah 29.

I hope you enjoyed our first day together and come back tomorrow!! Let me know how you are doing on this journey, too. Okay? Praying for you!!!