Good morning honey,
What a controversial topic for a Thursday morning eh? But, that is how life goes I suppose. Let's talk about it. When I say social justice, do you cringe? Do you shrivel up into a safety shell and get as far away from me as possible? Or, do you feel the fire begin to burn in your soul passionately ready to hold the next picket sign or post the next big debate on Facebook? Maybe you just feel...tired. Exhausted with the conflict, the noise, the tension, the mayhem. All are legitimate emotional reactions to the world's way of approaching the issue. But, not to God's way. Hold on, don't leave. Bare with me a moment. Psalm 146: 3-9 3 "Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. 4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. 5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. 6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them-- he remains faithful forever. 7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, 8 the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. 9 The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked" Isn't it beautiful? Someone who cared about taking care of everyone who was alone, lost, poor, hungry, mistreated, and trapped? This was written way before the idea of "Social Justice" was even in the minds of the people. Before President Trump, President Biden... If someone is a true Christian, they hold by these words as the words of the God they worship. Is that true of us? "We do not put our trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save." Do we depend on the LORD alone to provide justice and to be over the problems of our land. Do we listen to His voice when he asks His body to move on His behalf? Would our world be full of plastic and trash if Christians chose to obey the command from the beginning to take care of the world God has created? Would there be starving children, racism as a nation, people living on the streets, homes without fathers and mothers? I believe only in the places the church could not reach...And nothing is impossible with GOD. So why is our country fraught with so much heartache? Why is the air hard to breathe? Maybe we've become so used to leaving it to someone else to know things, and to do things, and to move things, that we've forgotten that Christ's body is not paralyzed. I am not blaming anyone for anything. I do not despise the church. In fact I treasure and cherish it very dearly. But, it makes my heart ache that I have become so dull to the Lord's correction and conviction that I have taken part in harming His creation. Let us be sensitive. So tender toward His touch that the slightest whisper will cause us to jump into action. Let's practice His presence in every moment...Even in the realm of social justice.
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Hi Honey, it's been a while. But! that's okay. Maybe a little growing had to be done before I listened enough to sit down and write. The goal is once a week but we'll see what Jesus and I figure out. Now, back to business. As a young woman I really fought with a mantra that I heard from many a treasured church lady when I brought up the subject of wanting to be married someday (which was a precious dream of mine from an early age). Here it is..."You should try to accept that God might call you to a life of singleness. Don't cling to that dream. Surrender it." or "I had to accept the idea of being single forever before God gave me my marriage". Now, please please please don't hear a hint of bitterness. Those ladies and their advice meant all the love, care, and goodness in the world, and they were a huge blessing to my development as a woman. But... here's the catch. That idea, or the way I understood it... is maybe not completely from Jesus' lips. The idea that Jesus will strip away your dreams and take everything that means something from you completely disregarding what you care about when you become a Christian is falsehood. The bible is full of people who pursued the deep heart desires and dreams that God built into their souls and received the blessing of those dreams coming to fruition. Abraham with Isaac, Isaac with Rebekah, Hannah with Samuel, David with his Kingship, Solomon with the temple, Anna and Simeon with Jesus. Just to name a few... However, we can't forget that many of these people did not expect the way that God would fulfill their dreams. Abraham was very very old when Isaac was born, and Hannah dedicated Samuel to the temple instead of keeping Him with herself. We also need to remember the difference between what we simply want, and what we desire in our heart of hearts. Jesus does sometimes grant wants because He loves us and adores blessing His Bride, but sometimes that is not what is best for us in the moment and He also cares about that. Those deep heart desires though, He intends to make something great with. The ones that don't fade or desert us when the next want comes around. The ones we pray fervently about, or hide desperately from Him and others because we can't bare they be taken. Fear not darling, He knows how precious they are to you, and He loves it. What can we learn from scripture? That we can trust Jesus to know our dreams, and care deeply about them, but that our timing may not be the timing that He has in mind. And that the way that Jesus fulfills those dreams may be a different flavor of experience than we had originally anticipated. Now, I do get to enjoy the dream and calling that God gave me to be a wife. I am a married woman living a life that is so much more broad, deep, and lovely than I could ever imagine... Because I trusted Jesus with my dream... and I continue to talk with Him about the ones that are still to come. I'm not the only one who gets to enjoy that either. He loves you Honey. And He wants to give you His best. Let Him teach you what that's like. |
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February 2021
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