05.05.2007

1 Chronicles 16:34
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Phillipians 4:4-9
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.


Hello everyone—

How are you? I hope that things are going well for you… For some of you it’s coming to the end of the school year, and you’re eager to not have classes to go to. For others of you, it’s just the time of year when you can enjoy warm weather (well, here in the States at least).

Warm weather is great… which is such a simple thing to say, but I really do enjoy the season of Spring, even as it fades into Summer. Things are alive again, birds are everywhere, colors are abundant, and I can go outside without having to worry about slipping on ice (now I just have to worry about sunburn). It’s so appropriate then, that the Lord has chosen to show me the many more ways in which He is constantly providing for me. Yes, I know; I seem to keep coming back to this whole idea of the Lord providing – how can I not? But rather than having this about providing, I am brought to think about how vast the Lord’s love is for us, and our need to acknowledge it.
Think about it. Each of us probably have a moment (or series of moments) in our lives in which we have either doubted God’s love for us or questioned His love and kindness when we see all kinds of crazy things happening in the world around us. Crazy things happen. We get discouraged, and we are faced with all kinds of questions and what seems like very little answers. However, if God did not love us, I think that the world would be an even more sordid place than it already seems to be. There are little graces that exist that we tend to miss because we allow the bad to overshadow the good. Or we get too busy to take a moment to appreciate the beauty of what God has created – either the people around us, or the nature around us. Many of us fill our lives with so much “stuff” that I think we miss the Spirit of God moving in our hearts to acknowledge that He does love us and is going to care for us, perhaps especially in ways that we don’t exactly expect. We dwell on that which is terrible in the world and will feel overwhelmed and helpless (at least I do)… Or maybe we just get overwhelmed by stress. Whatever the situation, it’s important to take a quiet moment to acknowledge God for who He is and what He has done and is doing in our lives and in the world.

God is big. And because God is big, His love is big. His kindness is big. That should affect the way that we think and act and think, right?

My thoughts seem very meandering to me, and I apologize for that. But I encourage you to find a quiet moment with God this coming week (every day would be awesome, and totally possible). However busy you are or are not, sit with God. Praise Him for His kindness and love, and if you are wrestling with the suffering in the world at large, ask Him to show you goodness and truth. The Lord has shown me in big ways that He is constantly providing for me and affirming me as His daughter – but as someone had said to me, He is providing in little ways too. Not just the big stuff. I want to see more of the little things and not be as cluttered by all the crazy things that happen in life. Maybe we could all do with that.

In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne