04.23.2008

Psalm 127:1,2
Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.

Philippians 4:4-7
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.

Matthew 11:28-29
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Hello friends,

I hope that you’re doing well and that – as always – the Lord is teaching, stretching, and growing you through each day. As it always seems to be, things have been busy here! With wedding planning and trying to catch up with students involved with the ministry, it gets a little hectic.
This is a common theme this time of year, however; as any college student knows, this time of year can be quite stressful. It’s the time to wrap up the school year in which final projects, essays, and tests are issued over the next few weeks. It’s a scramble to get everything together and finished for most!

But whether you’re a college student or someone since graduated by many years, busy times come and go… or maybe they seem to never end. Work, work, work; go, go, go. Generally, that’s the way American culture functions and it even praises the person who can work around the clock without resting. We even work when we’re on vacation! Unfortunately, this is contrary to the way human beings are designed. We NEED rest! Not the kind of rest that induces laziness but the kind of rest that is truly restful, re-energizing, and restoring. In a word: Sabbath. This kind of rest also acknowledges that we are not the ones in control… Sabbath was designed to set specific time aside to point towards the Creator as the one who is in control of all things, and also time to worship Him. When we don’t take that time to focus on prayer, reading Scripture, or simply *being* still, then we are effectively saying that we can do all things on our own and we don’t need a God that directs and guides us.
This is a punch in the gut for me. While I know this to be true, I constantly struggle to take time off to breathe and spend time with my Father in heaven. The “urgency” or “importance” of other things snags my attention very easily—not that they aren’t important, but taking a moment to acknowledge God and ask Him for rest is more important. A common saying that I’ve been using a LOT lately is that if you give genuine time to God, God will give you time to accomplish all those things you need to accomplish. Remember how the Lord took a few scant fish and loaves of bread and fed a multitude? In some miraculous way that I’ve yet to understand, God has the ability to do that with time (but I suppose since God IS the author of time this would make sense)…

So my encouragement to all of you and a kick in the pants for me is to spend some down time with the Lord this week. Take a breather. Be still for a moment to praise God for simply being God. It’s very relieving to have God cast away our anxiety and stress and self-sufficiency. My prayer is that we can find some rest this week, and that the Spirit would work a habit of rest and Sabbath into our lives so that we can be intentional about spending time with the Lord.

In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne

4.11.2008 (written 4.9)

Hello friends-

A lot has been going on between now and the last email requesting prayer as I try to balance my various responsibilities. More and more I’m reminded of the fact that God is in control, and everything will be all right. These kinds of reminders are good for all of us, as are moments of craziness- I really do believe they stretch and grow each of us. Hope you’re also learning a lot in your own life!

A few days ago when I went to walk somewhere, I decided to take with me a freebie-MP3 player that I got a few years ago. On it I found a song that I hadn’t heard in a long time called, “Solidarity,” by Five Iron Frenzy. It’s a very uplifting song both in beat and in lyric. I thought I might share some of it with you this week:

To the brothers and the sisters; to all of the resistors;
all the workers broke and crying on the road that leads to Zion,
the mountain we will all climb-
All of God’s children in God’s own time.
Solidarity (x3)- United we can never fall
Let one voice ring throughout the world
Let truth be told
Let us lay our own lives down,
A greater love was never known.

I’d been thinking recently about how as Christians we can be a severely divided group of people. Sure enough, all of us have probably encountered some situation in which Christians have argued with one another: between the Catholic and Protestant churches, or between denominations, or even between people in the same church building. To be sure, sometimes there are reasons to be divided; differences in church doctrine or major points in theology. Other times the reasons to be divided are nonsensical – and I’ve been at fault for such things. In hearing this song again and pondering all these things, I have to ask my question: am I seeking solidarity?
Although superficially this song would seem idealistic, it calls back to Scripture. Truly! Jesus says in John 13:34-35, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Ephesians also speaks into this idea of being united, when Paul writes about Christ redeeming both Jews and Gentiles – peoples who previously hated one another – and saying they are not two nations, but one nation united in Christ. When we don’t love one another, we act as the world expects people to act. But when we lay down our lives for others we display the love Christ had for us, “Great love has no one than this, that he may lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” (John 15:13,14)

How do you love like that? How can I love like that? It seems ridiculously simple to be told to love others, and I realize the difficulties (boy do I). However, if Christ is our strength and Christ has put in us the Holy Spirit… can’t we also ask how we can love like that and expect to be shown the way? This is my prayer for me, for all of us… That we can learn to love one another despite our differences or sharp disagreements. I pray that we can be people of truth and honesty, united and really standing as one body that doesn’t distort Christ’s love by our fragmentation.

In love and in Him,
Your sister
Yvonne