Consider the lilies

The owners of the retail center in which our tax office is located are really great at keeping flowers out front of the businesses and such.  At Easter time, they gave each business in the center a potted Easter lily.

As tax season grew to a close, the lily in our office began to look as we were feeling. :)  Our office manager asked if I'd like to take it home and plant it for next year, so I did.

Honestly, I don't know anything about planting things.  Everything I've ever planted, truly, has ended up dead.  Robert enjoys gardening and has had some success, especially with his raised vegetable garden (anyone need a zucchini?), but our grass never looks great; the peach tree that we planted with Pop and for Pop has died; the plum tree has died; the tree that came with the house in the front yard is just about dead; and pretty much every plant ever given me has not survived.

Still I brought it home, and with no expectations whatsoever, gave it to Robert to take care of.

Truthfully I didn't even know that he had planted it in the ground.

We have had a beautiful summer this year, with a little (or a lot, depending on who you ask) less rain than we usually get over the summer.  It hasn't been California-style hot, but has generally been pleasant and uneventful.

So this lily... this EASTER lily, mind you... well... see for yourself:

I carpooled with a couple of girlfriends to Bible study this week, and in the car, I said, "So, I know nothing about gardening, but I would think since an Easter lily is called an Easter lily, it should only bloom around Easter time.  Do they ever bloom in late September?"  Both my friends said together, "No!"

When we returned, I saw the lilies blooming and pointed them out to my friends.  They were both astonished by it.  The original lily is dead, really, at the base of the plant, but there are six or so heavy new blooms.  They are absolutely beautiful. 

My friends seemed to think it could be some kind of sign or something from God, certainly a blessing at least, as this is most unusual.  I'm not sure what to think about it.  This week marked the change of seasons into fall, where (what I do know about plants!) flowers and trees pretty much wrap it up for the winter.  Certainly our little family has been in a season of life that has felt more like fall than springtime.  So what do you make of this spring flower blooming here at the beginning of fall?

This is my Father's world

The birds, their carols raise,

The morning light, the lily white

Declare their Maker's praise

- M Babcock / P Mickelson

Humbled, buoyed, and blessed

It is crazy to think that it has been nearly two weeks since we've heard that Chris is being sent home, and nearly four weeks since she's been gone in all.  This military machine is bigger than I can understand, composed of millions of parts, and movement, therefore, is small and slow.  Did that make sense to you?  It did to me.  It means we are still waiting, still trying to be patient.

I have been ~ nay, WE have been ~ comforted in many ways in the past two weeks.  We still have our moments of full-on emotional brokenness, much of which I think will be healed when we can finally wrap our arms around our daughter and remind her face to face (perhaps reminding ourselves, too) that it really is going to be okay.

Two different friends recently reminded me that

... the God of all comfort,

Who comforts us in all our affliction,

so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction,

with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God...

2 Corinthians 1:3b-4 esv

... that God comforts us.  We have found comfort in a myriad of Scripture verses shared with us; we have been comforted by so many friends who have reached out to us; we find comfort in knowing that many more people across several states have lifted our family up in prayer.  I have been ministered to by music (most recently Mandisa's "Stronger" and Steven Curtis Chapman's "Glorious Unfolding" ~ you should definitely check them out if unfamiliar, especially if you are in a time of difficulty) on the radio and music that lifted my heart in worship.  I have been encouraged by messages both preached from the pulpit and taught among a few hundred other people.

When you stop to think about it, it's actually quite amazing, really.

I will share that, based on the few letters we have received, I am not sure that Chris is feeling the same level of comfort.  I will humbly ask that you will "turn up" your prayers for her especially.  She is very alone, despite being in a barracks with over 100 other girls.  She has been attending chapel and praying... but I am praying that God will send a supernatural peace to envelop her so that she can not doubt His presence with her.

Recently I shared how worshiping God in a time of broken heartedness really drew me close to Him.  I was reminded that this week when I read some thoughts of Charles Spurgeon.  He calls it contemplation of the Godhead; I call it worship.  Regardless, check it out:

No subject of contemplation will tend

to more humble the mind, than thoughts of God...

But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it...

Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound;

in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief;

and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore.

Would you lose your sorrow?  Would you drown your cares?

Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea;

be lost in His immensity;

and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest,

refreshed and invigorated.

I know nothing which can so comfort the soul;

so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief;

so speak peace to the winds of trial,

as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead.

(Charles Spurgeon via Knowing God/JI Packer, p.18)

 

My friend lost a child once, a few years ago.  I didn't know her then; in fact, it happened almost a year to the day before I met her.  She gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, who then went home to Jesus just days after her birth due to a heart condition.  She came through that heartbreaking event feeling, as she puts it often, "humbled, buoyed, and blessed."

 

That phrase has stuck with me over the years that I've known her.  And certainly, separation from the Navy is nothing compared to the death of a child.  But that feeling, I can recognize it now.  It's a feeling of knowing that you're being carried in the arms of Jesus, supported by other believers who, flawed though they may be, hold you up in love and comfort.  What an amazing blessing that is, and people who don't know the Lord don't have it nor will they understand it.  I'm praying that Chris will feel it, too.

 

This friend ... I should tell you more about her some day because she made an amazing impact on my life in such a short time.  But today I'm just going to embrace that phrase of hers, because it's exactly how I am feeling right now as well:

 

Humbled.  Buoyed.  And blessed.

Have you met my brother?

Today marks the third anniversary of when he was taken to prison, an American citizen, on foreign soil.

He has been beaten, tasered, and known far more physical abuse than I could even begin to claim. 

His health is not good.  He has been denied treatment on numerous occasions.

His crime?  Confessing Christ.

The Iranian government has recently threatened that if he does not deny Christ and return to Islam, more charges will be added to his current 8-year sentence. 

Today, on this 3-year anniversary, people around the world are coming together in prayer for the release of Pastor Saeed Abedini.  Will you join us?

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ

you should not only believe in Him

but also suffer for His sake.

Philippians 1:29 esv

 

For I know that through your prayers

and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ

this will turn out for my deliverance.

Philippians 1:19 esv

Good article - http://aclj.org/persecuted-church/three-years-later-pastor-saeed-remains-in-chains-for-Christ

Please pray for our brother, Pastor Saeed ~ for his release, his health, his ministry, his family.

Please pray for the persecuted church as a whole today.  We are very insulated in our comfortable (even though it may be changing) U.S. of A.

Please pray for revival, for boldness among Christians.

Please pray for a focus on God, on His plan and His work in this, His, world.  Pray that we will not be so egocentric that we miss the bigger picture. 

However God leads, please pray.

Mom didn't get the joke

Over the summer a family joke was begun by Joshua and is heard at our house just about every day.  "Good news, everyone.  Grace got the joke!" or, "Bad news, everyone. Mom didn't get the joke."

Unfortunately, this week we had some bad news, and even more unfortunate than that, there was no joke to get.

Christianne is being processed out of the Navy due to medical issues. 

It has been a heartbreaking few days since we got the news on Wednesday afternoon.  There is a lot of pain, disappointment, discouragement, and confusion ~ even some anger.  I am mostly confused because I just really believed God was in this plan for her.  Why take her so far to send her home now?

Funny enough, Robert sent me a devotional on Tuesday based on this verse.

He is not afraid of bad news.

Psalm 112:7 esv

And when I woke up on Wednesday, I had a knot in my belly all day that felt like anxiousness, even though I didn't think I felt particularly anxious.  Bad news, everyone.  Mom didn't get the joke. 

It was Christianne who called that afternoon. Imagine it.  Such excitement to see a Chicago number show up on my caller ID...  such excitement to hear her sweet voice say, "Hi, Mom."  And then a feeling like being punched in the gut as she told us the news.

It was a crazy 24 hours.  We have been trying to process all of it, as I am sure she is.  Many tears were shed ~ are still being shed.

On Thursday, I headed to Bible study.  A familiar song came on the radio ~ "After All" ~ and I felt compelled to just turn the volume all the way up (I'm an old fogey and I rarely like my music loud) and worship Him.  A second song came on and I did the same.  By the time I got there, although I was still very emotional, I felt a peace come over me.

Someone (it might have been Angie Smith) once said (after hearing news that her child wasn't going to live) something to the effect of, "The God I worshipped before I heard this news is the same God right now after knowing this."

God is still God.

On Thursday, she called again while I was at Bible study.  Ro spoke to her this time, and said she sounded better.  That said, she might remain in Great Lakes up to 20 business days!  Wow.  Hoo-stinking-yah.

But during the study, God brought another verse to my mind.

Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.

Job 13:15a esv

This morning, as I thought about that initial devotional Robert sent me, I looked up the actual verse.  In its entirety, it says:

He is not afraid of bad news;

His heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.

Psalm 112:7 esv

So there you have it.  I am confused and hurt and about a hundred other emotions, but... BUT... God is still God, and I will still hope in Him.  I will still trust in Him with all my heart, and lean not on my own understanding.

God is still God.  He is still the same God.