My Pastor's Prayer

Our gracious Father,

As we look forward to this season with all its songs, and Scriptures, and traditions–
As most of us look forward to time with our families over the next three weeks–
As many of us look forward to the children’s Christmas program tonight–

Our hearts are broken to think of the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. We think of the words of Job: “Oh that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea” (Job 6:2-3a).

And the words of Jeremiah: “My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city” (Lam. 3:11).

And the words quoted by Matthew when he recounted another Massacre of the Innocents: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more” (Matt. 2:18).

In the face of such grief and evil we do not know what to do or how to help. But we can pray.

We pray in confidence that you are with us and in faith that you hear us. As it says in Exodus: “The people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning and remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel-and God knew” (Exod. 2:23-25).

We pray for the family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers of the Sandy Hook victims: Dawn Hochsprung, Mary Sherlach, Victoria Soto, Anne Marie Murphy, Lauren Rousseau, Nancy Lanza, and Rachel Davino. And the children: Charlotte Bacon, Daniel Barden, Olivia Engel, Josephine Gay, Ana M. Marquez-Greene, Dylan Hockley, Madeleine F. Hsu, Catherine V. Hubbard, Chase Kowalski, Jesse Lewis, James Mattioli, Grace McDonnell, Emilie Parker, Jack Pinto, Noah Pozner, Caroline Previdi, Jessica Rekos, Avielle Richman, Benjamin Wheeler, and Allison N. Wyatt.

Give comfort to their families. Bring healing and hope to the school and the community. Bear their griefs, Lord Jesus, and carry their sorrows. Show yourself, dear God, as the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort (2 Cor. 1:3).

Bless the teachers who will return to work next week, in Newtown and all across this country.

Bless the students who may be filled with confusion, anger, and fear.

Bless the pastors who must counsel, comfort, and preach to their people the words of life.

Bless your people with hearts of compassion and acts of service, that they might show your love to all who are hurting.

Make us winsome in our witness for Christ, especially those who will be called upon in the days ahead to give a reason for the hope that they have (1 Peter 3:15).

With so many in our nation thinking now of weighty things, give us ears to hear what is true and what leads to eternal life. May this evil be a reminder of our own depravity. May these deaths remind us of our own mortality. And may the loss of life remind us of Him who conquered the grave.

Let us look upon Jesus, our Suffering Servant and sympathetic High Priest.

Turn the hearts of the sorrowful to the Man of all Sorrows (Isa. 53:3). Turn the eyes of the weeping to the Savior who wept for his friend (John 11:35). Turn the cries of all those asking “Why?” to the cry of him who said on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34).

We praise you Father that you sent your Son to share in our flesh and blood, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery (Heb. 2:14). Because of you, Christ Jesus, we do not mourn as those who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13).

We believe you are the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).

We believe you mean for good what a 20-year old murderer meant for evil (Gen. 50:20).

We believe you will one day judge the living and the dead (John 5:27-29).

We believe you will wipe away every tear from our eyes (Rev. 21:4).

Even now in this season as we celebrate your first Advent, we so eagerly await your second. Come thou long-expected Jesus, come quickly. Amen.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/

My only Comfort

What is your only comfort in life and in death?

That I am not my own,
but belong–
body and soul,
in life and in death–
to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven:
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.

(The Heidelberg Catechism, Question and Answer 1)

Your Name

 I wrote this Fall, I don't know why it never got published!

     I spend a couple days a week with two adorable blonds girls and their baby brother. Together we like going on field trips, our favorite lately is going to Jimmy Johns by the capital! As we go on such field trips the girls always ask to listen to "kid music". I have a couple cds in my car for them...one of their favorite songs is a old Sunday School song called Rap: Let My People Go. It is a Hip Hop song that goes through all the plagues of Egypt and the girls sing along!

     On the most recent trip to the Jimmy John's the girls had their Veggie tales Praise and Worship CD. The last song on that CD was Your Name and the girls got really excited and said it was their favorite song. As I drove to their singing (I even turned the music lower to hear those sweet girls better) I couldn't help but think of the rich truth the girls sang to me.


Your Name is a strong and mighty tower
Your Name is a shelter like no other
Your Name, let the nations sing it louder
'Cause nothing has the power to save but Your Name



Indeed little ladies let the Nations sing it louder





 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:11-12

Stories that Marvel at his Majesty

I started this blog with a simple thought...if it reminds me all the ways that the Lord is faithful in my life, purpose served. So I have not written in it a ton  for a while (despite my New Years resolution...I am not good at those). Does that somehow mean the God is less faithful? Of course not! Although it does mean that my bad memory won't remember in as much detail almost the past year....bummer. Here are some things that have happen (if I missed something see bad memory)

•  I have said the final goodbye to a dear uncle. It is from him that I have a longing to be in a boat, on a lake, on a perfect summer day. Some days I wished I appreciated every boat ride he gave  more...though I did appreciate it as much as any 7 year old could! I watched my uncle's body slowly and painstakingly fail him earlier than we hoped. Yet, it has provided me a visible picture that helps me treasure psalm 73:26 that much more, " Though my flesh and my heart may fail, God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
• I have helped welcome three new babies into families I work for and a first child for friends of ours. Clara Joy, Jack, DJ and William have been great joys. It's my prayer for this lady and for the gentlemen and to never know a time when the Lord was not their first and greatest affection and love.  
• Though I long and miss his presence, I have seen a great friend and brother in this glorious Gospel move to Florida to do the Lord's bidding there. We miss him (and his love for a good board game) but are glad to see him faithfully following where the Lord has sent him. It's also a plus for him he never did like the Michigan winter.
• I have marveled at the plans and sovereignty of the Lord in the specific areas of heart attack locations, and leg length. 
• My only living Grandparent is my mom's mom, who lives in Florida by herself. Not sure the absolute details of everything, but long story short my grandmother had checked herself  into the hospital on a Thursday night, as she was not feeling well. She ended up having a heart attack on Friday morning! As it turns out being she was in a hospital, with doctors and medicine close, what would have been a major heart attack (doctor suggested we may not even be talking about my grandmother anymore to my mom) was more of a minor heart attack. She seems to be recovering from as well as any 88 year old woman could!
• My Dad loves basketball. He always has and I am guessing he always will. I remember when I was young he would go play a pick up game of basketball with other adults that loved to play (note if I remember he was older than 40). My dad and I got to go to a MSU basketball game together. In those "spacious" seats (Read- sarcastic) I always realize how long my legs are, 34 inches. My dad who is at least 4 inches taller than me, has shorter legs than me. It was during the warm up for the game I was teasing him about it, we then came to the conclusion that if his leg length were to match his torso length he would most likely be tall enough to be really good at basketball. Knowing his determination and drive to work hard I have no doubt he was a good basketball player (I learned he even played some ball at Ferris). I did  the math (all numbers are based on him being 6'3) if he had a 45-55 ratio for leg length to torso (suggested to be "normal") using his torso length he would be 6'6 and if he had my leg length to torso ratio (above average...who would have guessed) he would be 6'10. At that height with his skills, I'm not so sure he would have walked into the Lansing bar he did (when he was in his late 20s) the night he met my Momma. This makes me realize that even height is a part of God's plan!
• I have also been reminded that when there is times of trial there is only one place to go. I was really stressed one week in early March. I don't remember all the reasons I could guess on a lot of them. I was at church one Wednesday evening helping make dinner for one of the church's ministry called Christianity Explored (basically is a ten week program where you eat dinner and then learn about Jesus, some people for the first time...this ministry has become an international ministry, as 90% of the people have been Asians here for school). I remember getting a call from my mom (who was in Florida helping with my grandmother for 2 months) who seemed really stressed herself and that did it for me...the walls seemed to be caving in, I ran for the parking lot. The evening was a perfect cool spring night, I went around the sculpture thing by the front door and backed in to it. Then it hit me the sculpture "thing" is actually a cross. In my stressed panic I had physically ran to the cross, something my selfish mind had not thought to do. I prayed there in the parking lot that my eyes would be fixed on things above and not on earthy things. Did that make my problem go away? Not right then and there, but it did make me see the glory of Christ suffering slightly better, which is better by far.

"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." Colossians 3:1-4

Faithful when I saw it not

I was just jokingly thinking how I really should change this blog name to He is faithful always, I trust him very little, because that seems to be the reoccurring theme I write. And this my friends is absolutely no different. God has taught me a ton of things in the past 2 months. My silence has not been the absence of God's work in my life, but the slow process of learning about God's character and seeing my Lord clearer.

I have no idea where to start in this post, so I guess sequential order is best. I was discouraged...see August 29th if you don't believe me! One of the great reasons I was discourage is it was like 2.5 weeks before I was getting married and we did not know where we were going to live and a couple great places I thought were for sures, turned out to be nos...It WAS discouraging. It was also encouraging in the way it let me experience a part of God's character that I was less familiar with...God as a great comforter. God as a comforter is better realized when I am sad, when I cry a lot and call out to the Lord in that. Around the end of August time period I wrote this entry, never finished it, never published it.

In the past couple months the Lord has shown me things, things that I want, but things that are not mine. It's a little bit more than a little frustrating/sad at times. True. It is as if I see things through glass...I can see it, evaluate it, picture myself having it and right when I reach for it I'm block because there is in fact still glass. That's when I hear it, the question that matters..."Do you trust me?" A little bit more than yesterday, but no where close to where I ought.

I think that gives a pretty good idea of where I was.

So Did God give me what I wanted? Nope and at the same time very much so. He did not give me the things "he showed me" that I wanted. He gave me a chance to stand by my husband and proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and see it melt frozen hearts. Wow...did you get that?

More about this later.