Glory Renewed

 

 October 3, 2016

On Thimbles and Pain

I’ve been doing lots of quilting lately. Not the big, gorgeous, intricate quilting like the artists of the craft do. Just small, cute baby quilts. There are six young women in my circle of family and friends “expecting” within the next few months. I am having fun hand-stitching these little crib quilts and thinking of those new little lives that will be warmed by them.

Thimbles are designed to protect your fingertips as you push the sharp needle through the two layers of fabric and warm fluff in between them. You have to stab blindly through those layers and you won’t know you’re through them until the needle hits something else. For me, it’s my middle finger tip on the other hand and, ouch! I’ve never quite mastered keeping the thimble on the tip of that finger, so there it goes and I hope that it’s not so deep that I put a little bit of red on the fabric.

I’ve developed a pretty good callous on that finger by now, but once in a while an over-zealous needle gets me and it is a harsh reminder that I’ve pushed too hard. Pain has a purpose. Always. Even at times when it makes absolutely no sense to us. Sometimes we can protect ourselves from it, sometimes we just can’t. But if something truly beautiful is getting created there is a pretty good chance there will be hurt.

Pain has a purpose. Always. Even at times when it makes absolutely no sense to us.

New life comes with pain. Just ask any woman who has given birth. The baby just can’t come out of her body without it. How we handle pain is as unique as we are and there can be no judgement of ourselves or others as to how it is experienced. All I know is that God cares about our pain because He cares about us. He’s felt our pain and knows we are human. When others can’t, He understands.

I can put a thimble on or choose not to quilt, but how can I create those quilts without risking some pain? You may be faced with pain that will not go away this side of heaven. There are no answers for that other than Jesus. He promises comfort. “I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you.” (John 14:18)

There was a song I memorized during my last pregnancy, I called it my “labor song” because I sang it in my head during contractions with my youngest daughter. It lasted about one and half minutes and so did they. It goes like this:

“O the blood of the Passover Lamb, is applied to the door of my life,

No power of darkness could ever withstand, the force of the blood sacrifice.

Though Satan will bring accusations, I let him know right where I stand,

For now there is no condemnation, I’m under the blood of the Lamb.

O I’m under the blood of the Lamb that covers the guilt of my past.

By the mercy of God, holy and righteous I stand.

I’m under the blood of the Lamb, safe and secure from the enemy’s plan,

No weapon formed against me will stand. I’m under the blood of the Lamb.”

After 41 weeks and about five and half hours of hard work, I got to see this beautiful, lavender and pink screaming, chubby baby and my heart just about burst. Glory! At that point the pain meant nothing. And that is how I think we will feel when we see Jesus. The Author and Finisher of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2)

Of course, if you’re reading this, you’re not there yet and it’s hard and you’re tired. Rest in His Word. Find and sing a “labor song” and trust Him day by day or minute by minute if you have to. He loves you and will be with you. As much as we wish He would just take the pain away, it could be birthing in us something so beautiful and glorious that we have just not seen yet. I won’t tell you to just “hang in there” because that sounds too much like you can make it on your own effort. And what you’re going through is too hard for you. “Hope in Him” seems like a better saying because He always keeps His promises and has your best outcome planned. (Jeremiah 29:11)

 

 

It’s a crisp morning here at the Turkeyhen Run Road farm. September still, yet the air says “get ready, things are about to change.” My farmer looks out the deck door at the thermometer and I know he’s thinking “time to pull out the long johns.” I’m thinking “Praise God! It’s cooling off.” One of my questions I think I’ll ask on the other side, “Lord, why do opposites attract?” Sometimes it can be annoying.

Fall has always been a time to get back to learning for me, even though we should never stop trying to gain knowledge, most of us take a break over the summer. When Fall leads into Winter, we spend more time indoors as the weather is a little more unpredictable and the sunlit hours are fewer.

I am in the autumn of my life. At sixty I know my moods are a lot more unpredictable, my sunshine moments are fewer and I really need to focus on renewal so I don’t become a grumpy old lady that others dread having around. I need to remind myself that the only way to keep going in a cheerful direction is by doing all I can to keep learning from the greatest Teacher, The Holy Spirit and from the greatest Book, The Bible.

The truth is, it doesn’t really matter where you are in the seasons of life. If you ever think for one moment that you’re okay to just stop where you are, that learning new things is not important, you will become a woman that finds difficulty in many areas of her life.

 

Colossians 3:10 tells us that we get renewed by knowledge and God’s best plan for renewal is to obtain knowledge from the One who created us and knows us best. He doesn’t need to study us, He made us. We need to study Him through His Word to be renewed. What better reward for the effort of renewal than to be a better reflection of His image.

In Genesis, the very beginning of mankind, The Bible says in verse 26, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” That is the image we had when our Triune God first made us. After the fall of man, we messed up that image with sin. In order to be restored and renewed, we need to be re-born. This happens at salvation and from there we need to keep growing by learning and becoming all we were created to be.

If you ever think for one moment that you’re okay to just stop where you are, that learning new things is not important, you will become a woman that finds difficulty in many areas of her life.

Dear sister, if you are feeling stuck, don’t become stagnant. Learn something new today from His Word. Write it down, put it where you can see it throughout the day, record it on your phone or use whatever works best for you and I guarantee you the Holy Spirit will do the rest. John 14 says in verse 26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” Our job, read the Word, His job, teach it into our lives and renew us. That’s a promise that gives me hope, how about you?

Last Saturday morning I saw something amazing behind my house. Something I have not seen in a very long time. A rainbow. This summer, with the long, dry weeks we’ve experienced, has prevented this hopeful vision that has the Biblical meaning of God keeping His promise not to destroy most all of mankind with a world-wide flood. (Genesis 6,7,8) It is a sign that comes after a good washing of rain that manifests itself even today, thousands of years later. God does keep His promises.

Another thing that struck me the other day was how God “washes” our souls with the His Word. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 5:26, when teaching how God cleanses His bride, the church, “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” and who hasn’t been mucked up by living in this world and working too much, or playing too much and paying attention to things that really don’t satisfy the soul that He died for.

I felt dirty the other day and I remembered Lauren Daigle’s hit song, “How Can It Be.” I got alone with scripture and I read and recited and prayed the Word and the dirt started coming out and off of me. The lyric: “these hands are dirty, I dare not lift them up to the Holy One” came to my mind and wow. I saw how it can happen. We can think we are too busy, that the Bible is outdated and powerless to make a difference, that there are lots of other ways to get close to God. That is a lie straight from the mouth of the devil. He wants nothing more than to keep you from The Book that holds all the truth. The Book that can wash you clean and show you promises that are never broken because He allowed Himself to be broken for us.

Spend time in it. Absorb the powerful love and truth that can save you and set you free.

Welcome to Glory Renewed!

For those of you that are new friends, I have been blogging for nearly three years on my first website ever, “You Glory Us.”  Why the reboot? (Aside from the fact that my tech-savvy daughter insisted that my blog needed a new face…) I thought it would be a great time to renew everything and give it a fresh new look. The direction the Lord is leading me in right now is renewal, and I’m at a place in my life where I really need that. I am embarking on a new adventure, continuing with something that truly never can get old for me, the glory of knowing and growing in the Lord.

I am embarking on a new adventure, continuing with something that truly never can get old for me, the glory of knowing and growing in the Lord.

I want this place to be a space where other women can come and experience how much we are alike and loved and gifted by God. I want it to be a sharing place where your comments and questions are welcome, and we can pray and encourage one another on our journey from the now to the not yet.

I invite you to the Glory Renewed Facebook page. There you will discover when there are new posts. Just follow the link and happy reading!