New Beginnings
August 21, 2008
Dearest Sisters –
It’s been quite some time since I sent
you a letter and so I thought I’d write to you this morning
to share a bit. I trust the LORD is guiding, blessing
and providing for all that concerns you.
So, here’s what’s been on my heart.
Life has many peaks and valleys – joys and sorrows,
achievements and disappointments and some years seem to be
more productive than others. You see, I say this bcz I
know this to be true – but evening knowing this, I fall into
discouragement and hopelessness sometimes. I fall into
doubts sometimes – thought I know I mustn’t doubt in the
dark what God has shown me in the Light or doubt in the
valleys what He’s blessed me with on the mountaintops.
Maybe you’ve fallen into the trap of doubt
or disappointment or fearing what others think of you when
things in your life don’t match up with the message of your
life. You may feel like your life’s not worth all that
much or that you don’t have all that much to share with
others – well, that’s been my case quite a bit in the last
couple of years. I see a huge disparity in my
“meant-to-to-do’s” and “actually-did’s” lists.
I share all of this – not so much to
explain why I’ve not written much lately, but bcz as I was
reading a book a friend gave me I realized in the reading
that what I’m experiencing, or what I’ve been experiencing,
is quite a common trap for women – and so, I thought I’d
write to you in hopes of encouraging you with some of what’s
been a blessing to me. Truly now, looking back, I
wonder how I could spend so much time listening to the
mocking of the enemy and not walk confidently in faith that
God, the Master Controller of all things, had
not shifted
His gaze, that He is my only
hope and that things haven’t
been as dismal as I have allowed them to
seem.
I’ve needed to just press on toward the mark of the high
calling of Christ Jesus and not heed doubts or listen to the
naysayers who mock God and belittle an earnest desire to
walk in obedience to the Word of God.
Do
you doubt God’s Hand in your life? Do you feel like
your life’s not of much worth or that you’re not of much
value? Well, for what it’s worth, I’ve been feeling a
bit of that, too. I see the things around me that I
haven’t done so well – things I forgot to do or forgot to
keep doing, or I think of the myriad of things I haven’t
gotten done, letters I haven’t written, phone calls I
haven’t made, prayers I haven’t prayed, another
homeschooling year has passed and not enough was
accomplished, passages I intended to memorize but didn’t.
On and on the litany of ‘failures’ goes. I had to take
some time away and just sit at the Feet of the LORD and come
to the point of seeing that these things aren’t done –
didn’t get done – might never get done (at least not in the
way I thought they ought)… and, in humble confession before
the LORD, in earnest desire to simply be where He wants me
to be and in sincere prayer to yield my life to the LORD, I
had to lay those heavy burdens down and look up. I had
to be still and see the salvation of the LORD – to reflect
on His glory and wait in His Word.
It was as if I was totally empty handed
and unable to even offer a meager sacrifice of
accomplishments. And then I was astonished at the
blessing of the LORD. It was this – it’s always this:
He is already there. There is not a time when I come
to the LORD that He’s not already there. And there is
not a time when I pour my heart out to Him that He’s not
already listening to my cry. He knows my downsitting
and my uprising – He is acquainted with all my ways. I
want to please the LORD, I want to walk within my house with
a pure heart, I want to delight myself in the LORD daily and
I want to be a fruitful vine by the sides of my house and
above all I want to, in all my ways, acknowledge Him…
This morning was, as always, a rich time in the Word.
May I share a few of the verses that were quite encouraging
to me from the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah
54.11-14,17
O
thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not
comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours,
and lay thy foundations with sapphires. 12 And I will make
thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all
thy borders of pleasant stones. 13 And all thy
children shall be taught of the LORD; and great
shall be the peace of thy children… 14 In
righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far
from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror;
for it shall not come near thee… 17 No weapon that is
formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that
shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This
is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and
their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD."
Isaiah 55.1-4,
6-12
Ho,
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that
hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine
and milk without money and without price. 2 Wherefore do ye
spend money for that which is not bread? and your
labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken
diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good,
and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 3 Incline your
ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I
will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the
sure mercies of David.4 Behold, I have given him for
a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the
people… 6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye
upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his
way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him
return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and
to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my
thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are
your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For
as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and
returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it
bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and
bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth
out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it
shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper
in the thing whereto I sent it. 12 For ye shall go
out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and
the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all
the trees of the field shall clap their hands."
I pray as I send this letter that you will
be encouraged and lifted up and I pray that you, as I have
been, will be encouraged to lay those burdens down that
you’ve been carrying – those burdens you were never meant to
carry as a handmaiden of the LORD. It is for freedom
that Christ has set us free. If you’ve got things that
are hounding you, trials or fears, hopelessness or regret… I
pray this day you’ll seek the Face of the LORD and rest in
His sovereign grace that He’s already there and you need
only to sit at His Feet.
Stand
fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free,
and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
Galatians 5.1
I look forward to resuming writing letters
to you all each week and trust the LORD will guide my
thoughts and words as I share with you. Until next
week, may the LORD bless you, your home and your family as
you serve them and Him.
If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1John 1.9
with sincere love,
A Christian Home ~ The Welcome Home ©
2008 — Letters to my Sisters
http://www.AChristianHome.org
