Moving ... Settling in the Valley of Hope

Wow .... so it looks like I'm moving!! No surprises there, for all who know my nomadic lifestyle up to this point! Mum and Dad have invested in a house ... and I get to be the blessed, rent paying occupant!!

So, (and here is the interesting part) ... it looks like I'm settling to become a semi-permanent (you have no idea how weird that word 'permanent' is to write) resident of Hope Valley.

HOPE Valley ... what a wonderful place to live and start a new life! Who would have thought a valley, of all things, could be hopeful? So often a valley represents despair ... or the 'shadow of death'. But no ... God is placing me in a valley of hope! And what a wonderful hope I have.

"See, I am making all things new" Revelations 21:5 ... is the verse that upon waking this morning, came to mind.

How I long and hope for that glorious day ... when all things will be made new. When all the struggling will cease. When every tear is wiped from our eyes, as we dwell and live with our heavenly Father in his renewed and restored Creation.

I am powerless to save myself from the enslavement, ravages and entagling of sin in my own life. This sin is a rejection of, and separates me from, my Creator who is holy and pure in love. In my rebellion - I think I can do it on my own, struggling in my own strength ...but I become a 'pit-dweller', dwelling in the pit of despair. I look around and see the consequences of sin and rebellion everywhere. This world is broken and suffering. There seems to be no hope.

But, this is my HOPE.

I hope in the incredible and gracious love of Jesus, who came and dwelt among us. Suffering; submitting to death, so that all who believe and trust in this incredible grace - are redeemed, rescued and released from the curse and bondage of sin.

I hope in His victorious resurrection - victory over sin and death. ... so that all may rise with him, (out of the pit) into a new life - transformed and re-newed.

And I hope in his coming again, in glory - where he will reign over the re-newed and made new Creation, as our glorious Servant King.

"It is finished"! (John 19:30) ... "It is DONE"!! (Revelation 21: 6) - WOW!

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)

This HOPE is true and sure, and holds me through the struggles of this present life. The Spirit gives me the assurance of Gods incredible love, he pour assurance into my heart - God cherishes me, he cares for me, he holds me, he carries me, he heals me, he sustains me, he delivers me, he provides for me, he knows me, he understands me, he wonderfully made me.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

His work of renewal, (although not brought to completion) is actually happening in the here and now ... and (oh, what amazing grace), is happening in me!

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ . . . . (2 Cor 5:17-18).

For if anyone is in Christ ... they are part of the new creation. Part of Gods reconciling, healing, restoring ministry to our broken, sin cursed world, in the here and now. And 'God’s people are to be, through the work of the Spirit, an anticipatory sign of God’s healing and restorative future for the world.'

What a challenge, what a privilege for the church of believers today ... for me.

He lifted me out of the pit of despair and has put me in the valley of hope! What a wonderful God!!

As I dwell in Hope Valley, my prayer is that all will see where I put my hope ... and will praise and worship our loving, compassionate, merciful God.

Amy Carmichael

I was reminded of this book ('His Thoughts Said, His Father Said' by Amy Carmichael) by a friend who shared about having a blow-fly buzzing around her head. I will have to track down another copy, as I have lost mine along the way ... Amy's writing has been such an encouragement to me in the past.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Carmichael

Leave that book

Her thoughts said, “I have been reading a spiritual book and I am confused and tired with trying to understand.”

Her Father said, “Leave that book and read the Book that thou lovest best; thou wilt find it much simpler.”

Flies

Her thoughts said, “When I would seek Him whom my soul loveth, confusions like flies buzz about me.”

Her Father said, “Press through these confusions as thou wouldest press through a swarm of gnats. Take no notice of them. Be not stayed by them. Be not occupied with them. Be not entangled by them.”

Ye shall be trusted

The daughter knew that if she came to serve the Lord she must prepare her soul for temptation; but she had never expected the particular temptation that confronted her now.

Her Father asked her if she had expected to choose her temptations. The daughter said, “No,” but she longed to have done with temptation for ever!

Her Father said, “One day it shall be so.” “As a dream when one awaketh, so it will be… But thou must learn to endure and to conquer. Blessed is the one who endureth temptation.”

And He told her of hidden manna prepared for the overcomer. “Watch for the hidden manna,” He said, “It will come in hidden ways.”

Then to the daughter it was given to taste of the manna hidden in a word she had not found before: ‘Put your trust in the Lord God, and you shall be trusted.’ The daughter was greatly delighted with that word, and she prayed that she might be made worthy of so great a thing as the trust of her Father!

A breath may be a prayer

Her thoughts said, “Suddenly a question is asked, suddenly a decision must be made. The answer and the decision affect the lives of others. In me is no wisdom at all. Sometimes it is as if I could not even pray.”

Her Father said, “A breath may be a prayer; I hide not Mine ear at thy breathing. But be a simple child with Me. Ask for the thing you need most. I will not upbraid you. [I will not criticize you.] If any lack wisdom, let her ask. And as thou goest on thy way thou shalt do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee. Do you lack strength? The Lord of hosts will be strength to them that turn the battle at the gate.”

Wearied with Her journey

Her thoughts said, “I could do better work for my Lord if it were not that I'm tired. I am tired of being tired.”

Her Father said, “Jesus, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well. Are you not willing to be wearied with your journey? Many are wearied in the service of self, the world, earthly glory -- you are loosed from that bondage. Rejoice in the liberty to be weary for God's sake, the One who loved you and gave Himself for you. Abide in His love, and you will learn to give as He gave, even in weariness; to live as He lived, more than conqueror over the flesh.”

The age-long minute

Thou art the Lord who slept upon the pillow,

Thou are the Lord who soothed the furious sea,

What matter beating wind and tossing billow

If only we are in the boat with Thee?

Hold us in quiet through the age-long minute

While Thou art silent, and the wind is shrill:

Can the boat sink while Thou, dear Lord, art in it?

Can the heart faint that waiteth on Thy will?

So, Incredibly Sad

I filed the papers for the Divorce at the court yesterday ... it was sickeningly easy. Easier than applying for a Centrelink payment. I couldn’t stop the tears, as I watched the lady stamp the papers and enter the data into the computer. There is no funeral, no ceremony, just a five minute hearing at the courts in a months time.

No rigmarole - the end of nearly 10 years of ‘marriage’.

It is so, incredibly sad.

I messaged him before I headed in - just letting him know what I was doing ... and that I was doing it with sadness. ‘It’s up to you’, was his reply. Yes .... it is up to me. If only he could have at least seen once, that it had actually been up to him. No begging for me to reconsider. No declarations of love. No tears and remorse. No repentant life changes. No responsibility taken - for anything ... ‘it’s up to you’. Why does even that feel like a blow, on the dullness of my despondent heart.

It took me weeks to even print the papers off - I felt sick, just looking at the title. In the end my sister did it for me. It took me several more, to fill in a simple 6 page document, the majority of which was circling yes or no. How could this ‘self-driven’ process, be a gift out of Gods hands? It felt so mean. So nasty. So cold. So uncaring. So unloving. So final.

The same accusing thoughts come flying in and clash with the painful memories and the justifications. They wage war, wear me out, confuse me. My emotions swing like a pendulum. One minute I defend myself, the next I accuse myself of blowing things out of proportion, of not being willing to forgive, of not being willing to love enough, to work hard enough .... The thoughts whirl around and around - they swarm and attack. My heart feels like lead, my head aches - there is no relief.

Then a clear voice speaks, again and again, over and over - soft and kind ‘listen to me, listen to me’. It whispers peace, peace in the Cross. And as this peace washes over me, the other voices go quiet ... and the joy in His grace fills me again.

The Veggie Patch

The soil in the veggie patch lies cold and fallow,
as the steely winter’s sun, slants through the leafless boughs of the plum tree.
The air is icy and still ... the silence broken,
only by the ‘coo’ of a pigeon, perched within its naked branches.


Many growing seasons have gone before,
some producing an abundance of harvest.
But, the last veggie crop had become sickly and diseased.
The tomato vine, spindly ...
a creeper, having woven its way through;
tightly wrapped tendrils, disfiguring the slender shoots.

The red fruit, few and hard to find, among the twisted chaos of creeper and vine-
had yellowed; shriveled dry, dropping seed into the sunless soil below.

Creeper and tomato, so thickly bound, differentiation became impossible ...
the tomato plant, unrecognisable in the tangled, knotted, organic mess.
The flow of life, slowly sapped, in the tight confines of squeezing power.

The secateur blades cut deep,
tearing the now lifeless plant,
from the menacingly tight grip of creeper.
The agonising work of separating limb from limb ...
somehow, excruciatingly relieving.
Browned canes crack and are tossed on the rotting heap of compost.
Until, finally there is no sign of vine or creeper;
of the tortuous, intertwined life that had been.
Only sickly soil, hiding the bitter and unspoken.


The fork pierces through unyielding clay -
suddenly overturned in a flurry of confusion.
Exposed and raw,
roots are heaved out of the ground,
dirt flying, a gaping hole left in its wake.

A spade of grace, lifts and fills the empty, exposed spaces.
The solid clods are broken and gently turned,
air is breathed within the now surrendered and crumbling earth.
Sour soil, is mixed with the sustaining food of compost and manure,
giving off the fresh, wholesome aroma of active and organic ... life.

Finally, brown fallow earth lies ... alive and still.
Peaceful, waiting, hoping, trusting.
Vulnerable beauty - barren and bare.

As the cool of winter days pass, with the billowing of grey clouds,
the seeds lie hidden, dormant, seemingly dead ...
until the joyful pink of blossom in the plum tree appear.

The warmth of sun and refreshing cool of rain,
soaks deeply,
penetrating through hard shells ...
awakening shoots of new life,



- the hope of a fresh harvest.

“My life is like a faded leaf,

My harvest dwindled to a husk;

Truly my life is void and brief

And tedious in the barren dust;

My life is like a frozen thing,

No bud nor greenness can I see:

Yet rise it shall — the sap of Spring;

O Jesus rise in me."

'Gracious Father, fill the garden of my soul with the wind of love,

that the scents of the Christian life may be wafted to others;

then come and gather fruits to your glory.

So shall I fulfill the great end of my being -

to glorify you and be a blessing to others. Amen'

What We Need is More Life - by George MacDonald

Let us in all the troubles of life remember that our one lack is life - that what we need is more LIFE - more of the life-making presence in us making us more, and more largely, alive. When most oppressed, when most weary of "life", as our unbelief would phrase it, let us remember that it is, in truth, the inroad and presence of death we are weary of. When most inclined to sleep, let us rouse ourselves to LIVE.



Of all things, let us avoid the false refuge of weary collapse, a hopeless yielding to things as they are. It is life in us that is discontented. We need more of what is discontented, not more of the cause of discontentment. Discontentment, I repeat, is the life in us that has not enough of itself, is not enough to itself, so calls for more. He has the victory who, in the midst of pain and weakness, cries out, not for death, not for the repose of forgetfulness ... but for strength to fight, for more power, for more consciousness of being, more God in him.



The true man trusts in a strength which is not his, which he does not feel, does not even always desire. He believes in a power that seems far from him, that is yet at the root of his fatigue itself and his need of rest - rest as far from death as is labor.



To trust in the strength of God in our weakness; to say, "I am weak; so let me be. God is strong"; to seek from him who is our life, as the natural, simple cure of all that is amiss with us ... power to do and be and live, even when we are weary - this is the victory that overcomes the world.



To believe in God our strength in the face of all seeming denial; to believe in him out of the heart of weakness and unbelief, in spite of numbness and weariness and lethargy; to believe in the wide-awake reality of his being, through all the stupefying, enervating, distorting dream; to will to wake, when the very being seems athirst for a godless repose - these are the broken steps up to the high fields where repose is but a form of strength, strength but a form of joy, joy but a from of love.



"I am weak," says the true soul, "but not so weak that I would not be strong, not so sleepy that I would not see the sun rise, not so lame but that I would walk! Thanks be to him who perfects strength in weakness and gives to his beloved of his very life even while they sleep!"



What Life Might Be!



If we will but let our God and Father work his will with us, there can be no limit to his enlargement of our existence, to the flood of life with which he will overflow our consciousness. We have no conception of what life might be, of how vast the consciousness of which we could be capable.



If every sunlit, sail-crowded sea under blue heaven flecked with wind-chased white - filled your soul, as with a new gift of life ... think what sense of existence must be yours if he, (whose thought has but fringed its garment with the gladness of such a show), were to make his abode with you ... and while thinking of the gladness of God inside your being, let you know and feel that he is carrying you as a Father in his bosom!



'Discovering the Character of God' by George MacDonald



Jesus said "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.' (John 10:10)