Glory Renewed

No, I wasn’t losing it because they put tomatoes on my sandwich when I specifically said “no tomato.” I wasn’t even trying to get some fast food. I was actually at a bank waiting on the teller to cash a check for my mother-in-law when it happened.

I grabbed my mail at the end of the driveway on my way to town to run some errands. I noticed the return address was from a friend that I had not seen in about 20 years. The coast was clear so I took out into the road thinking I’d open it later when I had more time.

First stop, gas up the car. Check. Second stop, cash the check. Check. Well almost. I’ve noticed, if you haven’t, that it seems to take longer and longer to get a check cashed nowadays. There must be about the same number of check-points for a teller to pass through as when a nurse tries to give an aspirin to a patient in the hospital, and true to form, I was getting impatient. So I remembered the mail and opened the little envelope.

It was a homemade card. I could tell because there was no greeting card company logo on the back cover. The front and inside contained glued-on, computer printed greetings. The front proclaimed “If it weren’t for great people like you…” and the inside continued “…there wouldn’t be grateful people like me!” With the “me” underlined three times.

Because of her, I looked forward to getting older, knowing how faith in Jesus looks on a lady who trusts Him with everything.

With the teller still busy clicking through the steps at her computer, I decided to read the personal hand-written note, from an obviously shaky hand. It starts, “My Dearest Vickie”, and I get a lump in my throat and water in my eyes that cloud all the words that come after. My dear 82 year-old friend penned some words that hugged my heart and gave me joy unspeakable and full of glory!

How in this world, could I deserve a gift like that? Truth is, I don’t. But God gave it anyway. You see, this dear godly lady was an older woman that took a younger woman (me) into her heart years ago. Prayed for her, gave her good godly advice and yearly checked on her. She kept in touch, always sharing how good God is at every stage of life. Because of her, I looked forward to getting older, knowing how faith in Jesus looks on a lady who trusts Him with everything.

She was a beautiful example of a Titus 2 woman then and now. Being an example. A woman of great faith, living in front of me a life surrendered to God at every age and stage. Beautifully adorning the gospel. (Titus 2:10)

1^st Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.”

In our small group study, “Adorned”, I challenged each of the Bible Group Girls to think of a lady who had inspired her or helped her at some point to live a life more devoted to God. I suggested she text her or write her a note telling her how important she was and is; expressing how truly thankful she is for her influence. I followed my own suggestion and wrote to this dear lady who had me crying at the bank window. I hoped that my note would reach her okay because it had been 7 months since Christmas Cards were exchanged, and she is “getting on” in years. And it did. By the words she returned to me, I could tell that it provided a blessing to her.

How about you? Is there someone who has been an encouragement when you were down, pointed you toward the God who comforts all sorrows and can guide all decisions when you didn’t know what to do? Can I challenge you to tell this dear person before it is too late; and we never know when that is. Would you like to share it with others in this community in the comment section? I’d love to hear about her!

My sweet friend closed her note with “Once again, Our Lord is so faithful, He is with us no matter what age. The best friends believe in each other! Encourage one another and build each other up. You did.” She cited 1^st Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.”

I put my sunglasses back on so the poor teller wouldn’t think the wait for her to do her job had undone me. Amazed that a few moments at a bank window brought about one of the greatest encouragements I’ve every experienced. Never underestimate your power to change a day or a life by sharing Jesus’ love.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my anxieties;” Psalm 139:23

I read this morning that the average American adult makes 35,000 decisions each day. If you’re someone who hates to make decisions, that can bring on a tremendous amount of anxiety. I don’t think we realize this because we do so many things out of habit. Yet operating out of habit is a decision in itself. There’s this line in one of my favorite movies, Riders of the Purple Sage, “the habit of life is stronger than life itself.” If this is true, we better make sure we’ve got good habits.

I had a scare yesterday. As my habit is, after I get my husband off to work in the morning, I go to my recliner and spend about an hour in Bible study and prayer. During the last few mornings, when I got up from this chair, I’ve experienced a sickening weak, numb and tingling feeling in my lower body and legs. Yesterday morning it lingered for a longer time and interfered with walking so it got my attention. I’m not sure what is going on other than maybe my herniated disc is acting up when I sit in that chair, at that angle, for that amount of time. So, I decided today I would change this habit.

As I type this, I promise you, I am sitting up quite straight in my office chair hoping this new habit of sitting will prevent any medical attention. When a habit no longer serves you well, change it.

Godly habits are good things as long as we don’t rely on the habit more than the abundant life they were supposed to help us achieve.

To present a spiritual parallel, consider some things we think we do for God without noticing that the life has gone out of the effort. Consider going to church, out of habit, and not being the Church. Isn’t it just like us, walking like the living dead, going through the motions, all the while not being fully present?

And what about our prayer habits. Isn’t it just like us to take our prayer time and spout out requests without taking the time to consider that we are addressing a holy God that blesses those who come to Him in pureness of heart?  (Matthew 5:8)

Yes, Christians should go to church. Christians should pray. But if these good habits have lost their “life” – what has eclipsed their original intentions? Let’s make it our new habit to stop thinking about what we can take out of church and start thinking about what we can bring into it. After all, it is all about Jesus, isn’t it? Let’s sing our hearts out, worship with undistracted hearts and minds, fellowship with our forever family like it really matters. Because it does. Let’s start our prayers with praise and adoration for the God we’re addressing and maybe the request list won’t be so long.

The habits of life should not be stronger than life itself. Godly habits are good things as long as we don’t rely on the habit more than the abundant life they were supposed to help us achieve. Habits are tools we can use for positive change. If the habit is no longer producing the result intended, change it. With God’s help, we can. The habits of our days are well known by God. Read all of Psalm 139 and you will see how well your Heavenly Father knows you.

“Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.” Psalm 139:16

Before we were conceived in our mother’s womb we were known by God. Every day that we live has been fashioned by God. All our days have been creatively constructed by the wisest, most intelligent Creator with so much love for us that He would rather die than live without us.

All our days. The good ones when we hum “Oh, what a beautiful morning….everything’s goin’ my way…” like the Oklahoma musical; and the bad ones when we just can’t get out of bed and we want to smack those hummin’ that tune. Give them all back to Him because He’s with you and knows just what you need and when and how you need it.

Let’s get out of our comfy recliners that aren’t doing us any good, any longer, and do something brand new for Him. God’s searchlight is on us right now, nothing escaping His view.  Let’s fashion fresh, new habits that will help us grow closer to Jesus and help others along the way. I’m in, how about you?

Having one of those days where your body and your heart don’t line up? I know what I should be doing and could be doing, just having a little battle with my bones. My mind wants to have a little sympathy and I just want to say “get over it, the bones are not the boss of me!” Dig deeper and move on. Whine. Whine.

Here’s what I know I should do. I need to be reminding myself of the precious time I am wasting that I’ll wish I could get back. I will always regret later what I could have done while I just didn’t feel like it. If nothing is truly pressing me to get up and moving, how about preparing for some things I know I have coming up? How about preparing for my future? Kids hear this a lot, but don’t we grown up girls need to listen and heed our own advice? There are rewards for those who are “made ready.”

How many times have I come up short on things because I did not use my time wisely to prepare for them and I must suffer the consequences?

Revelation 19:7 says “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.” This lovely verse is prefaced by the truth that when these words are spoken in heaven, they come from a great multitude. There are also sounds of “many waters” and “mighty thunderings.” Wow! This is an announcement to top all announcements! Someone, the bride of Christ, has done something – got herself ready –  and it was beyond awesome.

How many times I come up short on things because I did not use my time wisely to prepare for them and I must suffer the consequences. I dilly-dallied around and wasn’t ready. Oh how I do not want this to be the case when it comes time to being at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

This is my future. As a believer, I am part of the Church, the Bride of Christ. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is the event in Heaven that takes place after the Rapture and after our time at the Judgment Seat of Christ. At this point our lives have been reviewed by Christ and some rewards have been handed out. We will be poised and ready to experience the forever union of the Church with her Bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

So how do I get myself “ready?” My Study Bible takes me back to 1 Corinthians 3:12-15:

“Now if anyone builds on this foundation (salvation through faith in Jesus Christ) with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” (parentheses mine)

Fire, in this section of scripture, is a figurative word that means judgment, “the absolute righteous judgment of God.” This is a refining fire that takes the impurities out of everything we had to offer. If we build on our salvation with things that will not survive the fire of judgment, we will not be meeting our Bridegroom adorned with the beauty a bride desires to display at her wedding.

I need to take the time God has given me to-day, to prepare for the-Day when the church is presented to Christ. The refining “fire” does not take away our salvation, but “burns” away all the stuff we did with the wrong motive or an impure heart. Then we are presented to Him adorned as the bride He is worthy of.

I need to make ready myself and serve Him by helping others to make themselves ready. God has given us the ability to influence other women so that they will be “made ready” for that great Day.

I need to preach to myself that it does not matter if I feel like going about the business of prayer, Bible reading and studying. I should be doing it anyway. I need to be meditating on His Word instead of mindlessly scrolling through social media and watching forms of entertainment that do not enrich my soul, but drag it down. For if I do not get a grip on what I feel like doing, I won’t be ready. I’ll be asking for just 5 more minutes…5 more minutes.

Sisters, we cannot trust our feelings.  Ann Voscamp writes “You don’t judge your feelings; you feel feelings – and then give them to God.” (The Broken Way, pg 179) We can trust God. His promises, His commands, His truths. We do not have to see or feel the rewards now, they will come. It is our faith that will carry us to the “city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Hebrews 11:10)

This offering today does not mean to lay a guilt trip on anyone. I am preaching to myself, really. I am trying to tell myself that I deserve a break and so a lazy day is just what is in order. But I can lay down and read, and I can pray and I can purpose in my heart to make tomorrow better. There is always something I can do to prepare myself for the future even when the now is not all I wish it was.

Someone once said that the difference between not reaching your goals and reaching them is whether or not you are willing to trade what you want now for what you want most. In this type of trade, no one really wins. Live in the moment as much as does your soul good, but not to the sacrifice of what you hope to achieve in the future.

Every single day that passes by is another day we can make ourselves better prepared. I am convinced that God’s promises are true and that they should be embraced until He embraces us with those strong, nail scarred arms in Heaven. “So listen here bones, get up, get ready and get going! It will be so worth it!”

(Scripture references: Revelation 19:7, 1 Corinthians 3:12-15, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Hebrews 11:10, 13)

I took a vacation last week. A beautiful location, out of the ordinary activities and no household chores. I am so thankful for the time away to behold the beauty of a white beach, aquamarine water and stunning sky. I thoroughly enjoyed the company of those I traveled with and the blessings of God as we opened His Word each day. But this was out of my comfort zone. I missed home. I missed the family members who couldn’t come with me. I missed my kitchen, my couch, my bed and my church. I was not “home.”

While away, I took long walks and reviewed the old and recited the new scriptures I am memorizing and, WOW, God’s timing was perfect! I’ve been working on Hebrews 11 and the coincidence of that portion of scripture with the homesickness I was experiencing, had to be a “God thing.”

Hebrews 11: 9-10:  “By faith he (Abraham) dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

Similar to what Abraham felt in verse 10, I feel that the city that I am made for and going to is yet to come. That city “whose builder and maker is God,” is the place where there can be no more homesickness, because I’ll truly be home. This is a place where believers will no longer feel like strangers or pilgrims. It will be our real home.

They recognized that this world was not their home and they believed that God could be trusted to honor His promises. They knew that life on this planet was not “as good as it gets.”

The cities we live in now are manmade. Inhabited by whoever can afford to buy the house or pay the rent. In the city that God promises us, we will feel at home. Because the city we long for is prepared for us by God. The creator and satisfier of our souls. And we will be able to afford it because Jesus paid the price for us to live there, His very life.

Hebrews 11 is sometimes called “The Hall of Faith” because it teaches what faith is, along with giving us great examples of faith in the re-telling of the great stories of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and more. It is amazing that as full of faith these patriarchs were, they died before they saw the promises fulfilled.

They did three things, that we can do as well, that kept their faith in God’s promises alive. “They were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. ” (verse 13) They recognized that this world was not their home and they believed that God could be trusted to honor His promises. They knew that life on this planet was not “as good as it gets.”

To treat my homesickness, I go to scripture that reminds me of my heavenly hope.

And haven’t you felt a little homesick too? Everything can be going real good. Loved ones are healthy, no one is mad at you, the bills are paid. The sun is shining and kids aren’t whining. It’s good. Yet there is something just not right and you can’t put your finger on it. There’s an emptiness that even the greatest thing in this world won’t satisfy. The good feelings don’t last, something has to go wrong and spoil everything. Why? Because we are not really home yet. That city that God has prepared for us is our real home.

Sometimes we can feel the homesickness more than at others, but it won’t truly disappear until He appears or takes us home to glory, where He dwells.To treat my homesickness, I go to scripture that reminds me of my heavenly hope.  I love the USA and am thankful to have been born and raised in a nation that was founded on the principles that have allowed me to exercise my faith; but I am also thankful that this is not my forever home. I am assured that a better country awaits me.

the homesick feeling should remind us of the heavenly home that awaits us

Hebrews 11:14-16: “For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”

Some of you are homesick for loved ones that have gone to their heavenly home. Me too. Live like they’re watching because I believe they are. Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,” Even better, Jesus is watching and cheering us on, verse 2 says, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Day to day life can get to the point that it just has to be endured. Vacations are needed because they can recharge our batteries and can cause us to reflect on the homes we left behind and should love and appreciate every single day. But more than that, the homesick feeling should remind us of the heavenly home that awaits us. This should cause us to live each day in that hope, with joy that is strong enough to endure anything that happens during the journey here.

There’s this song my former pastor’s wife used to sing in church.  I love it so much. A song that transports me to the place my soul longs for. Sweet Beulah Land.

Sweet Beulah Land

Squire Parsons

I’m kind of homesick for a country. To which I’ve never been before. No sad goodbyes will there be spoken. For time won’t matter anymore.

Beulah Land, I’m longing for you. And some day, on thee I’ll stand. There my home, shall be eternal. Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land

I’m looking now, just across the river. To where my faith, shall end in sight. There’s just a few more days to labor. Then I will take my heavenly flight.

Beulah Land, I’m longing for you. And someday, on thee I’ll stand. There my home, shall be eternal. Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land.

The land of “Beulah” is mentioned in Isaiah 62:4 where God is speaking about the deliverance of Zion and the establishment of Christ’s kingdom. My Study Bible says of this scripture, “Righteousness and salvation will burst forth as a light upon the Gentiles. Moreover, the Gentiles will not merely observe this light, but will receive it.”

On our last day at the beach, the bright light of the sun shone full force and its presence had a profound impact on everyone out there. My homesickness eased because I knew I would be back on familiar ground soon. On my last day, or on that great day when Christ returns, the Son’s light will burst forth full force and my homesickness for heaven will disappear as I take my heavenly flight.