Sunday's on the Way!

Saturday mornings are one of those things I thank God for.  Actually I thank him for the whole weekend.  When I started job hunting again, that was included in my prayer.  No weekends!  I needed my Sunday church time.  I really needed it!  Because without it I can’t make it through the week.  My Lord knows my weaknesses and He never fails to deliver me a message on Sunday that gets me to at least Wednesday.  So while I am sitting here enjoying my laziness, I was thinking about Jesus dying on the cross yesterday and then we jump to Sunday and “Up from the grave He arose” but what about Saturday?  I just can’t hardly imagine what it was like that day;  The day when there was absolutely no nope anywhere for anyone.  When people realized what they had done.  No way to undo it.  How must they have felt when they realized “Uh oh He was who He said he was!”

This is one of those random thoughts in my head, did they go to heaven?  Jesus said forgive them for they know not what they do!

Luke 23:34 (KJV)

³⁴ Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

I am sure they must’ve asked and believed after that terrible fateful day for them. Were they forgiven?  How must they have felt when they looked Jesus in the eyes again after what they had done?  We are no different.  Every time I sin I think, Lord, how can you forgive me for that?  For this and this and this?  So many things!  But time and time again I fail and He with the same loving eyes says it’s ok, I forgive you.  So unworthy.  We look to Him, in the shadow of the cross, looking for open arms and every time finding them!  In his suffering, he thought of me, you, the soldier driving the nails, yes even him.  He’s the same yesterday, now, forever.

Hebrews 13:8 (KJV)

⁸ Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever

That Saturday so long ago did they know, did they have any hope of a forever, a tomorrow?  Sometimes I feel like I am in a Saturday after that Friday.  No hope of tomorrow or forever, but I am so glad it doesn’t last long.  Jesus reached out so far stretching his arms wide open to love us that He died right there.  But to get us that hope of tomorrow and forever, on Sunday He came right up out of that tomb.  How his arms must’ve been stretched then!

Our Saturdays, some worse than others, are our seasons of grief, depression, anxieties, addictions, anger, divorce, broken families…just plain brokenness.  But because God sent his son, He lived, died, rose again; we can all have our Sunday.  Whatever you are going through, it’s time for resurrection, deliverance!  Jesus made a way for us, it’s enough, and it’s all we need.  We can’t let that go to waste!  By golly grab hold of it and pull yourself up!  Look what he did, at this point he is saying,

 “It’s your turn now!  You can do it. I have my arms still stretched out waiting for you!  I am here to take your pain, your grief, your addictions, your brokenness.  Look at the scars on my hands, when you feel like you can’t do it anymore, I already did it!”

God is so gracious, merciful, and loving.  Let this Sunday, be YOUR Sunday!

Romans 5:8 (KJV)

⁸ But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us

Remember that no matter what you are going through He already paid the price and He is there with arms wide open!  Sunday‘s on the way!

Isaiah 53:5 (KJV)

⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed

1 Corinthians 6:14 (KJV)

¹⁴ And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.

Topsy Turvy

This day is too beautiful, the sun too bright, the sky too blue, the clouds too white, the breeze too warm, the birds too loud…with all those things going on outside, who wants to be inside?  Not me!   So here I sit, acting like a sponge trying to soak it all up.  With our crazy weather I am afraid it won’t be here much longer.  Sunnty today snowy tomorrow.  So the housework will have to wait. 

Have you ever had that feeling of being topsy turvy?  I don’t know how to describe it but I just saw a leaf go by with the wind in control and all tips of it were touching the pavement but it went over and over until it fell flat. Topsy turvy!  That’s how I feel inside.  My feet are on the ground but I feel like something else is in control and I am rolling along.  Every once in a while I land and it seems like I have it all under control but inside I whirl around.   Never landing!  I have encountered many people today.  Friends, acquaintances, strangers and I have wondered, how is that leaf blowing in your own life?  I always wonder am I alone in feeling like this?  Everyone else seems to have it all together and I just can’t seem to get it right.  I grabbed my journal as I left the house today and it found the familiar place in my purse.  I asked God to pick me out a beautiful place to just sit and write down the words that are crowding out the stuff in my head.  So as I finished my errands in Lewisburg He tells me to go up 219N, so I drive.  I got to the bowling alley turned off and turned around.  It was pretty but no where I wanted to get out and sit.   So I headed back to I64 and then I got the voice in my head, turn around, so I did.  And as I did the thought of the airport came to my mind.  So I pulled in and saw a couple airplanes nestled there against the mountains.  As I got out everything was so quiet, the breeze was blowing ever so gently and warm, the sky is so blue with fluffy white clouds dotting it everywhere!  So I grabbed my journal and made my way to the chairs down front where you can watch the airplanes.  As I listened to the birds sing I thought, “Thank you God,” this is that place I was asking for.  Sometimes it’s nice to let those topsy turvy thoughts fly around in your head, and now that leaf as landed.  Many thoughts are going around in my head and one that has been troubling me for a while keeps coming to the forefront.  I am very judgmental of people AND critical. Lord knows I pray specifically for that area!

Matthew 7:1

Judge not, that ye be not judged.

This is not something I delight in sharing with the world, but it’s like this, for me to overcome it, I have to put it out there.  My faults are many but I guess God wants me to clean them up one at a time.  I know with His help I can do that.  We all sin; we all have sin in our life.  It’s just different kinds of sin.  We as humans look down on “certain” types of sin.  Some sin we let slide by because we say well it isn’t hurting anyone.  Some sin we keep hidden so no one else knows about it. Some sin is obvious.  Some sin is socially accepted and actually favored and encouraged.  And then there are the sins that we think of as unforgiveable.  All these sins and the different types is where we try to sit in judgment of those that are doing the sinning.  In my limited mind space, I see God looking at us and just seeing SIN!  He doesn’t differentiate the sins.  And neither should we. It’s human nature I think but we have to ask for God to remove that, not to delight in it. Trust me its taking up a lot of space in my heart.

1 John 2:17

The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

The will of God; who knows what that is? God talks I listen.  I ask He gives.  But sometimes I ask and it never comes.  So I wait wait and wait some more.  I know it’s His will.  He told me.  But how do we get to that place and what’s even harder is how do we stay there?

Acts 20:35

In everything I did I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak remembering these words the Lord Jesus Christ himself said, it’s more blessed to give than receive.

To be more like Christ; we give of our self, our time, our stuff, our money, we become less, He becomes more.  That’s how we stay in the center of His will. We constantly ask, is this where I am supposed to be?  Listen for His spirit to nudge you this way or that.  I have felt like I was nowhere in the center of His will lately.  Not even on the sideline of it. So I had to get back in the battle.  That’s exactly what we are in, its war.  And when that realization dawned on me I looked at things differently.  As I slip up the devil takes it over, takes little pieces of me, piece by piece until one day I wake up and I wonder why I pray, what good is it doing?  I wonder, why ask God what my direction should be?  It doesn’t matter.  Have any of you ever had a faith crisis?  It’s no fun.  I sat in my bathroom floor and cried out.  He heard me, just as he always does.  Even when we think He isn’t listening, He is!  He sent me to Souled Out with the youth.  Well I always receive more from those rally’s than I ever expect.  I wasn’t disappointed.  God puts us where we need to be right when we need it.  He pretty much told me to get in the battle, its war and we are gonna slay giants!  So Sunday morning we had 2 missionaries at church, KIDS!  God is showing me how He will make a way.  The way!  My way!  I believe my mission trip is His will; I just can’t seem to figure it out.  But that’s the good thing about God; we don’t have to figure it out.  He’s got this; we just have to let him.  So what do we do with all this hurt and unfairness we encounter along the way in our journey?  That is what I am still trying to figure out.  But if you find yourself on your bathroom floor go ahead and cry out!   It worked for me!

Romans 8:1-2

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

It often takes the darkness of a storm to show us the light of God’s presence            Tony Edward

2 Corinthians 12:10

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong.

 

 

Trish