11.15.2008

Hello friends,

It’s been a long few weeks, busy and not exactly full of rest (as in sleep and as in Sabbath rest). But I hope that you are doing well and that even as things get busy you have been able to find the places that God is teaching you, challenging you, and affirming you of His care.

As I’ve been going through some personal processing about what I mentioned in my last Weekly email, I’ve been learning again that tense circumstances are often a breeding ground for learning and opportunities where God stretches us. Such is the case as I email you this time, since I’ve learned an awful lot about myself – and while I won’t divulge details I will say that God is using what is happening in another person’s life to reveal the places in my heart that I’ve tried to hide from Him and from myself as well. I’m sure that many of us have felt the sting of past wounds recur several years down the road, never fully dealt with because it didn’t seem worthwhile or it seemed quite silly that we hurt in the first place over it or it’s quietly kept under lock and key somewhere in our minds.

I don’t think God wants us to live that way though. I think what we’re called to be free. Free from sin, free from the guilt of past sin, free from the sin of others imposed on us, free from the sin that indirectly affects us. I think of when Jesus says, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” I think of when Jesus says, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” Some have experienced more burdened than others but I think if you level the playing field we each have experienced weariness of some kind. We’re sick and we need Jesus’ healing… and the joy we can only have through Him. With some of the things I’ve been processing lately I deeply feel the need for this.

Seek the kind of healing only Jesus can offer… through prayer, through a close friend or mentor, through quiet time. And then celebrate redemption with laughter, prayer, and worship of our awesome God. I pray you can find these things for your own burdens in your life right now – and if there are none, I praise God with you!

In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne

11.3.08

Hello friends,

Much has been happening, and please forgive me that my attention and energies have been drawn into other places over the past few weeks! But regardless I hope that you’re doing well, and even if you are not that you are able to see God’s goodness.

Most recently I’ve been wrestling in seeing God’s goodness in dark circumstances not involving myself, but a loved one. It’s difficult to see sin acknowledged, but not changed or even a willingness to change, and where I struggle with that is how God’s Word addresses such things. It’s the kind of thing that makes me ask, “Why is this happening? Why are you, God, allowing it to happen?” People will ask similar questions when suffering persists or harm is being done to them - and understandably so. It isn’t wrong to ask that in faith—many writers from Psalms questioned the way God was doing things plenty of times. However, where I know I need to bring myself back is when it comes down to praising God in spite of those things.
For example, in the book of Daniel (chapter 3) you’ve got Shadrach, Meschach, and Abendego who, when threatened to be thrown into a fiery furnace and killed, said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it. … but even if he does not, we want you to know O King that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” While this is definitely an example of standing firm for God, I know I’ve overlooked that whole “but even if he does not,” part. Even if God did not save them from being killed, they would still worship Yahweh. It’s not like these three men were super-humans and had this amazing supernatural gift to be able to say that. They were people like you and me. So it’s not impossible for us to pray, “I know you CAN do this, but even if you do not do it…” I think it would be fair to pray for that kind of faith and that our hearts can praise God like that, and me too. I know for me that prayer looks a lot like, “I know you can do this, but I don’t understand why you’re not.”

I will pray for that for each of us, and I pray that you are moved to do the same. God is so good in all that He does! I also pray that we are assured that it is OK to ask questions, to wrestle and even doubt… but I also pray that we are brought to praise God through it.

In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne