07.27.2008

Philippians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Colossians 2:7
… just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Hebrews 12:28
… let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”

Hello,

Once again the “Weekly” comes to you in a not-so-weekly fashion, and I apologize for the delay. I hope you’ve been well and continuing to grow in faith, being stretched by God in real ways.
One of the things that has been humbling for me over not just the past few weeks, but for the past two months, is an incident regarding wedding gifts and cards. If you’re not married and hoping to one day, take heed: separating the cards from the gifts before they’re opened makes it terribly difficult to write thank you cards properly. My husband and I didn’t think about this until after the deed had already been done – and many of you attended my wedding, so I apologize for improperly thanking you for gifts!!

Perhaps it’s fitting, then, that it currently makes me think of the ultimate Gift and not properly thanking the Giver (not to be confused with a certain book). Last I wrote, I mentioned my own need to focus on the freedom of Christ more than my focus on the gravity of my sin. If you’re able to relate to that sentiment, this is much along the same lines… I’ve found that to focus on Christ more, I should learn to be more thankful for the salvation He’s given. There are many things that I’m worried about that I forget to be grateful for what I already have; it’s not that I forget that I have it but worry certainly clouds gratitude. I take things for granted because I’m trying to figure out how/when I’m going to get something I don’t have yet. For instance, it’s easy to take for granted that I have food in my home right now when I worry about how things might shape up in the next several months because I can’t see into the future. However, having what I need right now in the moment is something God has made possible and I have to stop myself, pause and be thankful… Gratitude and remembering that the Lord provides is actually helpful in dissipating the worry I struggle with. Many times throughout the New Testament, God’s people are exhorted to be thankful and perhaps the reason why is because it helps us to focus on NOW and not TOMORROW, and it helps us to focus on God and not ourselves.
In a similar way, salvation and the work of the Holy Spirit is a phenomenal thing that sometimes I’m not thankful for when I don’t see it in action. I also don’t think to be thankful for it when I’m wrestling with sin and wondering when in the world it will be over. However, day by day we are being transformed by the Holy Spirit; why shouldn’t we praise God for it every day? God is continually at work, even when we don’t see the work in action… and especially through difficult times. This is where we need to pause and be grateful for the salvation we have. It will probably help to develop a better focus on Christ more than anything else.

If you see a little bit of this kind of attitude in yourself we can be praying for one another… that we would learn to have grateful attitudes towards God (and also towards people!), and that we would praise Him for the awesome salvation that we have in Christ. I also pray that we can all learn to be all the more grateful overall, developing more sensitivity to what God is doing in our world and be compassionate to those around us. We all have amazing gifts to be thankful for.

Love in Christ,
Your sister,
Yvonne

07.14.2008

Ephesians 2:3-5
Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

1 John 3:1
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

Hello,

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer days, although I also hope you’ve managed to stay cool! Also, I hope the Lord has been stretching and growing each of you… I know that God continues to stretch and grow me in much the same ways that I have mentioned in previous “Weekly” emails.

To be candid, I think one of the greatest things I’ve struggled with in my six-to-seven years as a Christian is embracing the depth of forgiveness and grace. I understand both of these concepts in my head and celebrate the fact that we have both of these things from God. Where the struggle persists is in my heart. When I don’t read Scripture as often, or don’t pray as often in a week, it’s hard for me to come to grips that God is still embracing me. Prayer and reading Scripture are good—essential, even—but God’s grace and forgiveness still remains even when we don’t always do those things. I also struggle when I fall into sin’s path (recently it looks like it’s taken a form of pride), and while I know I haven’t fall from the love of God, sometimes I feel like I have. In times like this the joy of Christ seems far from me. Yet I can turn to the assurance that Christ remains; perhaps Paul felt this way when he wrote to the Romans, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Christ still remains through all of our struggles. It is not a pass to continue sinning and take advantage of forgiveness… but how good it is to know that we can turn to Him at any stage in our life -- especially after our initial reaching out and declaring Christ as Lord. Perhaps the key thing is just this, that we always need to declare Christ in our hearts as Lord. There was a book that I read some time ago called “The Discipline of Grace,” that emphasized that we always need to preach the Gospel to ourselves. Grace is amazing, something we don’t deserve, and how good it is to fall into that grace. We must remember the reason Jesus died and raised again, always remember His sacrifice to cover our sins and bring forgiveness of trespass. Grace is easy to forget when we don’t remind ourselves of it, and forgiveness is all too easy to cast aside when our sin is our focus, and not our Savior.

Huh. I think I just figured out why I struggle with God’s forgiveness and grace…

I pray that the Spirit would continually be working in our lives to grasp the height, the depth, and the width of God’s love, forgiveness, and grace. Pray this same thing for me, that we may always be growing as brothers and sisters.

In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne

07.02.2008

Psalm 94:18,19
When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your love, O LORD, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.

Philippians 1:6
… he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.


Hello!

I hope that you’ve had a good week. I’ve been continually learning and re-learning this week all the things I’ve talked about before regarding worry and control, myself, and let me tell you: it’s not easy.

Last time I wrote, I spoke about people in my life that had recently encouraged me. It’s been hard hanging onto what they’ve shared with me (or what I’ve observed from them) though. There are certain heart-issues at hand that need to be resolved within me – most of which deal with trying to control areas of my life that I really don’t have control over. The phrase, “Give it to Jesus,” is a lot easier said than tangibly done …but not impossible, for nothing is impossible with God. Those of you who have been in these shoes know what I’m talking about.

God is good and whatever realm that is in our hearts that nags at us, pulls us down, or discourages us is a realm that God wants to make right. We are not meant to be people fraught with anxiety. We’re not meant for a number of things that are contrary to God’s way – whatever that might be for you. Praise God that He has a merciful and compassionate spirit that works to change our ways towards His ways. I know that because God is in control I don’t have to be worried about anything; living this way is hard, harder than I think I’ve realized before… I keep ending up in the same place just when I think I’m doing pretty good. See, God doesn’t let me (or you) off the hook. Nope. He won’t leave us in the same place that He found us or in the place that we keep falling into. He brings reminders to our ears and eyes to not only bring us back on track but to also let us know that what His intentions for us are good. For example: this Sunday was about finding the peace of Christ by relinquishing control, then Psalm 94 came to my attention when my husband pointed something out in it, and then I heard a song today that reminded me about how God gives and takes (ultimately, that He is the one in control)… then that song brought me to another song paraphrasing Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” I can probably expect more to come.

How good it is for God to bring reminders into our lives and to be continually working on us.
Whatever your personal vice is (i.e. mine is evidently worry/anxiety), God is able to make it right; He will also send you notes now and again to let you know it is something that needs to change. How it can be given to Jesus is probably going to look different for each of us, though. I pray that we can learn to lay our burdens down before Jesus, that we can allow God to open up our wounds for healing, and that He would change our ways to match His ways.

In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne



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