Hello Everyone and Happy New Year!
I wasn’t planning on writing a blog for today. We’ve been on vacation and, well, you know. I was going to wish you all a Happy New Year, tell you that I am very grateful to each and every one of you for reading my blog, and then tell you why I didn’t blog and that I’d be back next week. But, the Lord had other plans.
I read this post on my Facebook page. It was written by the daughter of a dear friend of mine. Her name is Bethany Breckenridge Abrams. This young woman and her family are going through one of the hardest trials life can bring us. Her husband, Nate, has a very rare type of cancer. They are Believers. This was her post on January 2nd. It gives new meaning to the words faith and courage. I hope it gives you both as we all navigate this New Year together. May we always be aware that our Savior is just that, our Savior, and He is always “safe to trust”! Please keep Nate, Bethany, and their little family in your prayers.
This is Bethany’s post ~
” I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry.
He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog
and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.”
~ Psalm 40: 1-2
“I love this so very much! My Bible study this morning had me nearly giddy – both the following tidbit from Oswald Chambers, and the first three verses of Psalm 40. Psalm 40:1-2 is such a beautiful redemption story that reminds me of my own: not just salvation’s redemption, but also both redemption from my own prideful, selfish messes, and from the effects of living in a fallen, painful world of sickness, heartache, and irreparably broken lives and relationships. These smoldering piles of ash that somehow God turns into something beautiful and whole. I think specifically of some life decisions I have made, people I have hurt. I think of the ripple affect of addiction and choice, along with broken foster/adoption systems and painfully severed relationships, hurting children and parents alike. I think of sickness of the mind, emotions, or body. Like Cancer. And then I think of how God as Healer, Counselor, and Artist, erases the globally-permeating affects of the fall and creates something beautiful despite everything. The result? A new song on my lips, and others seeing, fearing, and trusting in my Lord, Jesus Christ!
All of those things are a reminder – sometimes in nuance and subtlety, sometimes in thunderous and breathtaking splendor – that God is safe to trust. That his faithfulness is great. That his mercies are new each morning. That the absolute best place I could possibly be is at the center of his will, pursuing him purposefully and wholly. Deciding to “go out” and follow him unquestioningly. I don’t need to question – I know his character. I have history to prove the wisdom of “going out“, both my own, my families, and others that have gone before me, both in recent and ancient times. It is because of this that I can go in boldness. Blind faith is not so blind. “Going out” not knowing a clear plan or what comes next makes perfect sense. Doing the thing that is absolutely counter-intuitive, that goes against all logic and worldly wisdom, even that of some believers; is perfectly reasonable. It is humbling, and exciting, and terrifying.
I know from history. I know from inexplicable peace. I know from deep and unfailing joy. And I know because his Word tells me so.
Will You Go Out Without Knowing?
By Oswald Chambers
Have you ever “gone out” in this way? If so, there is no logical answer possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, “What do you expect to do?” You don’t know what you are going to do. The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to “go out” in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in constant wonder, because you don’t know what God is going to do next. Each morning as you wake, there is a new opportunity to “go out,” building your confidence in God. “…do not worry about your life…nor about the body…” (Luke 12:22). In other words, don’t worry about the things that concerned you before you did “go out.”
Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do— He reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you “go out” in complete surrender to Him until you are not surprised one iota by anything He does?
Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him. Then think how unnecessary and disrespectful worry is! Let the attitude of your life be a continual willingness to “go out” in dependence upon God, and your life will have a sacred and inexpressible charm about it that is very satisfying to Jesus. You must learn to “go out” through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God.
Not That Big A Deal 