yet

it's a very small word in our english language but oh such an important three letter word!!!

miss maryann whom i mentioned to you just last week uses yet a lot when encouraging others who are upset about this or that not having happened. two examples might be a loved one hasn't come to Christ or there hasn't been justice in a situation. she says sweetly and cheerfully something like: honey, it's just that it hasn't happened YET.  not yet doesn't mean not ever and when we thank Him in advance of what we want to happen, we prove or demonstrate our love and trust in Him.

she has many stories of how she prayed for years for the "not yet" and then the "yet" took place and her prayers were finally answered, if you follow me with that verbiage.

what are you waiting for that is in the not yet category? add yet to what worries, concerns or discourages you and it makes a huge difference in your thinking. in fact your thinking becomes more biblical, more hopeful and demonstrates that trust and love for the Lord maryann talks about.  we are to live by faith and the verse below about noah where he acted on faith in things not yet seen points out the faith focus of the yets.

my son isn't walking with the Lord (yet).

my mother doesn't know the Lord (yet).

there's been no justice with that enemy (yet).

i still have no answers to my illness (yet).

i don't know what to do about continuing conflict with a co-worker (yet).

i can't love the person - no i can't (yet).

i know God has forgiven me but i can't/won't accept His forgiveness (yet).

i want to get back into church but it just seems like i never will (yet).

i'm still unemployed and struggling financially, there's no job around the corner (yet).

God is the God who turns our not yets into yets for us when He wills of course, the timing being for our good and His glory.

taking a bit of a rabbit trail, it reminds me of a theological principle of the "already and not yet."  for example, as believers in Christ, we are already spiritually seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty (ephesians 2:6) but not yet there bodily.  one day He will turn this longing to be fully present with him in heaven from the not yet into the yet! a second example taken from the verse in 1 john below is that we know we are children of God but we don't know what that looks like yet until he appears in the future when we shall be like him - when we see him just as He is!

hebrews 11:7

by faith noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark.

1 john 3:2

beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. we know that, when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him just as He is.

z's snoozing

it's a monday, so i thought i'd keep it light today and tell you about the name catching some z's......i think i said way back in october '08 when i started my blog that i'd say more about the blog's name. it's pretty obvious by the title that i like to take naps. and z is an initial in my first name so i've used it to sign emails for years. what more can i say really? okay, the truth is: i can always say more!

as far back as i can remember, i've been a napper. it's a true gift from the Lord. it's sometimes been an escape and i have to be aware of this since with depression, escaping thru naps can actually make the depression worse. but the restorative nap is da bomb!!!

years back someone gave me a daily mary engelbreit calendar and i've saved this one page that sayz

O BED, O BED! DELICIOUS BED, THAT HEAVEN UPON EARTH TO THE WEARY HEAD. 

thomas hood

if you know mary engelbreit's artwork, the illustration is the cutest and it has a little boy waking up in the am with the rooster crowing and the boy's just a stretchin'. a good nite's sleep is o so good and vital to our mental and physical health. but we're talking here about a nap. sometimes even lying down for a few minutes and taking a (viva) cat nap can be just what the doctor ordered but then on sundays i love, truly love, a two to three hour nap if i can get one!

God believes in REST too so i'm pretty sure if He endorses the sabbath rest and the eternal rest and resting in Him, then He's all for resting too while catching some z's.

catching some zzzzzzz's is a wonderful pursuit. enough said!

today is his birthday!!

he's the most godly person i know. he's the most gentle and patient person i've ever known. he's my resident theologian to whom i turn with all my God questions. he is a temperate man and i can count on one hand the times he's lost his temper since i've known him and all with good reason. he hasn't cussed since the 2nd grade when he lived in a housing project and ran with some kids who were rougher than he was used to and he got caught up in their lifestyle for a brief moment. 

he loves to preach as often as he can get in the pulpit and teaches the Word too in a sunday school setting whenever it's his turn in the rotation at our church. he was visiting some friends of ours whose daughter was sick and at children's hospital many years ago before we even lived in little rock. they'd had a chaplain come visit them and the friends remarked "you know, you'd be really good at that. you're so calm and comforting."

after leaving a pastorate and moving to little rock, he began working in hospice settings as a chaplain and soon ended up working as a chaplain at that same children's hospital where his friends' daughter had been a patient. now he runs the department and has for 14 years.

he was one of three boys raised by a single, sometimes-married mama (bless her and may she rest in peace), each of the boys with different fathers. one of his brothers was tragically killed in his twenties in a single car wreck with their first cousin, both killed immediately. drugs and alcohol were both culprits in their deaths. there was lots of alcohol in his home growing up and he knows the ravages alcoholism can bring into people's lives.

he wasn't raised in a christian home. one day when he was in elementary school, not wanting anyone to know what he was doing, he snuck outside to the storage shed to read the king james bible he'd received at school just to see what that was all about. later in high school, he prayed to receive Christ as His Savior at a young life camp in colorado on a cold, winter's nite in a conversation between him and God with a spectacular, clear sky full of stars too many to count.

he's been a wonderful (too inadequate a word) husband for 26 years, the excellent father of two: a favorite handsome son who's 24, a favorite beautiful daughter who's 21.

he is and will be (God-willing for 80+ years) my handsome husband and today is his 55th birthday.

happy birthday sunshine!!!!!!

who am i?

the following is a reading from ravi zacharis' ministry i get via email. on a recent sunday i pulled up to church really late and parked right in front. i felt very arrogant parking in that prime spot!  i wondered about all the many things about myself. am i arrogant? was that the enemy's voice or can't i be arrogant for sure at times? but am i not positionally holy in Him, thanks be to God? who am i really? only the Lord knows. this reading reminds me of the oftentimes weary struggle within to figure all of this out while i'm on earth. i look forward to heaven where the angst will end.

While in prison, Dietrich Bonhoeffer struggled with the many reflections
of his life.  As a seminary instructor he was considered a saint and a
giant.  In America they made him feel like an escapist.  In prison they
made him feel like a criminal.  There were days when he saw himself as all
three and all the stages in between.  It was in such a convolution of
images that he asked:        

"Who am I? 
This or the other? 
Am I one person today, and tomorrow another? 
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
And before myself a contemptible woebegone weakling? 
Or is something within me still like a beaten army, 
Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved? 
Who am I? They mock me, 
these lonely questions of mine. 
Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am Thine."(2)

Our adoption by God is our identity, the picture we hold as children until
the day when there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, and
God will wipe every tear from our eyes.  Neither death nor life, nor
anything else in all creation, can separate us from this love of God that
is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi
Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

http://www.rzim.org/slice/slice.php

more singing and praising

miss maryann at my church is filled with the gift of encouragement and she also knows the Word thru and thru. one day i was pouring my heart out to her about an enemy i was dealing with and she began telling me that i couldn't think of my troubles and sing and praise the Lord at the same time so just stop that stewing and start singing and praising!

she began telling me of an account in 2 chronicles 20 about yet another fix the israelites were in, fighting yet another enemy.  the Lord tells them in verse 15: do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude for the battle is not yours but God's. (you may be familiar with this verse.) but later in verse 21: and when he (king jehoshaphat) had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the LORD and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said "give thanks to the LORD, for His lovingkindess is everlasting." verse 22: and when they began singing and praising, the LORD set ambushes against the sons of ammon, moab and mount seir, who had come against judah; so they were routed!!!!! verse 24: when judah came to the lookout of the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and behold, they were corpses lying on the ground, and no one had escaped.

when miss maryann gives counsel she backs it up with the Word of God. (i aspire to such!)

hip hip hooray for more singing and praising in our lives! it does battle for us with our enemies. imagine that! praise Him for His Word. it is truly profitable for us when we turn to it. 

we can sing praises right back at'Him

psalm 30: 4

sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones, and give thanks to His holy name.

psalm 30:12

that my soul may sing praise to Thee, and not be silent. o LORD my God, i will give thanks to Thee forever.

pslam 63:7b

i sing in the shadow of your wings!

psalm 89:1

i will sing of the lovingkindness of the LORD forever; to all generations i will make known Thy faithfulness with my mouth.

{{{what intimacy we have with our God and King!!}}}

He rejoices over us with singing

zephaniah 3:17

NKJV

the Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet (you) with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.

NASB

the Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

{{{amazing love, how can it be?}}}

cs lewis:  joy is going to be the serious business of Heaven!