I Being in the
Way...
pamela spurling
To my sisters in the
LORD… Welcome Home!
Today I’d like to share a little with
you about life along the way. It
is a joy to me to sit down here at my desk
in the kitchen to
write to you each week. I do praise the
LORD for this opportunity. I wrote earlier to a friend of
mine---sharing my heart, telling her of my desire to walk in
obedience to the LORD and yet feeling totally inadequate to share
wisdom and understanding. Thoughts and messages nearly bubble over
each day and my compelling desire to share becomes more intense with
time. But then, I have no
message, I have no superior
ability or understanding, I
see I
fail to be utterly obedient to God.
I fail at accomplishing the most basic tasks some days. Each day as
I come before the LORD, I seek His Will and seek to be used of Him.
And you know what He says?
Follow Me.
Learning day by day, my hope in the LORD
is strengthened day by day.
As we
grow older, and the inevitable changes come in our home and
marriage, I’m determined to learn to love my husband
through life changes, to fulfill his
needs and desires as they inevitably change. Our home isn’t perfect
and my skills are still
lacking in
different areas---but I am striving to
learn and apply techniques and use tools to better order and
maintain our home. Our children range from young toddler to married
with children
and
another away from home, their
needs are very different one from another. Additionally, they range
from very obedient to the LORD to wrestling with the LORD. The ones
who’re
obedient to the
LORD are very easy to direct and pray
for, my heart aches as I pray for
one who still wavers in his walk
and I
implore the LORD on his behalf. I tell
you the truth---I pray no half-hearted Christians in our children
but that they would each one be completely sold out to Jesus and
that none would esteem lightly the great and awesome price He paid
for our life and salvation. So, then, the emotions of the past
six years have ranged from heartache to
sheer joy. Nevertheless, no
matter what happens, the LORD is on the throne, all God’s ways are
good: *that*
my soul knows right well.
So my dear sisters in the LORD, if one
of your children is not walking with Him, or one is trying to keep a
foot in church and a foot in the world, if one is wandering, if one
doesn’t hear the Call or rejects it all together-------then may I
encourage you today my friend, keep on praying keep pressing on and
give thanks unto the LORD, for He is good and His mercies endure
forever. I can truly
rejoice that God loves
us so much that He has allowed us
some years of dark waters and heartaches
concerning a wandering son, for I once thought I’d die if one of my
children rejected me or the God I serve. I thought the
embarrassment would kill me when he left home. I thought the shame
would destroy me if others knew we had a son who no longer wanted to
live here. O, but God who Heals
and God who Hears has walked along with us all the while and has
provided for every step of the way---this son is at once the joy of
my life and the aching of my
heart. Maybe you have a similar
situation with a son or daughter. Maybe your heart feels like it’s
splitting in two. O, sister in the LORD, I pray that as you read
this, you will know the peace of God that passes understanding and
that you will trust Him to complete the good work He has begun in
you. Our son heaps praise on us and thanks us for the things we did
for him and his compliments seem unending… but I still see him
wavering in his beliefs. I still see him resisting a wholehearted
walk with the LORD. I have
literally wished away years
praying to see the salvation of the LORD.
Yet, if the LORD had answered my prayers
and had taken me away, then I
would have missed the chiseling and pounding and molding and
reshaping by the Master Potter in my life in this and many other
areas. I praise the LORD for His mercy because only the LORD has
sustained us. If your heart is
breaking, please know that He will sustain you, too. No matter what
the circumstances are, you can trust in the LORD as He only allows
what is ultimately good for us and we are not to think it strange
the fiery trials that come upon us.
The LORD has mercifully
shown me that He can still use this cracked pot to pour out a
blessing and that is my greatest desire: to be a vessel the LORD
will use. A vessel that will pour out a fragrant blessing to my
husband, to my children, and to my sisters in the LORD. I pray that
each week as the LORD prompts a message, that I will be able to
minister to you in such a manner as to be an encouragement and a
blessing to you; and then my prayer for you is that you also will be
a vessel the LORD will use.
You see, it’s not because of any special
ability, it’s just the way the LORD has worked in us together,
taught us through many life experiences and has worked throughout
our days to bring us to where we are today and will continue His
Work until He calls us home. We know that anything that we do can
only be the LORD. Do you see that *you*
are a proclamation for the Lord Jesus? He loves you so much that
He created you uniquely to give His
message to the lost world and to those who need what only you are
gifted to provide. You were
created to worship Him and bring Him glory and honour.
When I think on this, I ask the
questions: do I live out this proclamation? What does my life
proclaim? Are my motives in accordance with the will of the LORD?
When others see me, are they drawn to Jesus?
What do you see when you look in the
mirror? Do you see a woman who
loves the LORD and is radiant for Him? Is there an inner joy that
dances in your eyes? Oh, I pray so. I pray that as you read this
message today that something I have written will inspire you to seek
the LORD and to ask Him to carry you and to guide you. I pray that
you will rest in the LORD and that whatever the burden is that you
are carrying, that you would give it to Him today and walk in the
freedom of Jesus. I pray joy for you today. Joy in your heart, joy
in your marriage, joy in your mothering, joy in your home: Joy in
Jesus.
Titus 2.5 says we are: “To be discreet,
chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that
the word of God be not blasphemed.”
“…that the word of God be not
blasphemed.” Isn’t that interesting? Our behavior matters. Our
lives matter to the watching world.
What is it about our behavior that would
cause the enemy to speak reproachfully, or what behavior brings
reproach? Could it be that we have doubted God and His Word and
actually worship a god of our own design in a religion of our own
creation? What has led me to think on this are these verses that
give direction as to the behavior of a godly woman and the
interesting portions at the end of each verse: “…that the word of
God be not blasphemed.” and,
“…give none occasion to the adversary to speak
reproachfully.”
1 Timothy 5.14 I will
therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the
house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
This is why I continue to write on the
subject of appearance and behavior.
Our behavior,
and appearance have a direct bearing on
what others think or say about God and about the Word of God.
Though we live under grace and are not saved into bondage, it is
still important---if not more important, that we seek to live
inwardly *and*
outwardly as set apart, clean and fresh and reverent to the LORD.
We represent Him wherever we go…even when we think no one is looking
or noticing. Isn’t this interesting?! I think it is critical that
we get a handle on where we’ve been, where we are now, and where
we’re going. Either we are living in obedience to the Word of God
or we’re not. It’s a narrow path… it’s well defined… it’s direct.
But we blur the lines, don’t we? We seek to widen the road and
redefine the message of the Bible, don’t we? Why? Why, because
we’ve listened to the whispers and we’ve looked around and we’ve
blindly followed the mainstream as we have often left God on the
path. Just like I shared with you
in the past about the dangers of looking
around at other men---not to lust after them sexually, but to lust
after them for what they do or how they *seem*
better than our husband’s. That looking around is probably one of
the most dangerous activities and it is truly no wonder that the
LORD addressed it in the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not
covet……quit lookin’ around. I pray that we would each one be
content with such things as we have.
Oh, dear sisters in the LORD, would that
we be like Abraham’s servant who received instruction and in faith
obeyed it, and the obedience was rewarded marvelously: “And he said,
Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left
destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way,
the LORD led me to the house of my master's brethren.” - Genesis
24.27 I pray that we would in
faith obey the Word of God and that we would trust Him for the rest
of the way. The way of the LORD is perfect. What
“way” are you in that the
LORD may be looking to use you? Will you
allow yourself to be “…in the
way?” I pray so and I pray it’s today.
Thank you for allowing
me to send you these thoughts each week in the Welcome Home
messages. I am so blessed to be able to do so.
“He that dwelleth in the
secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty.” -Psalms 91
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I send you love and flowers
today...
In Jesus, pamela
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