TerryLema

I have been dealing with a pinched nerve in my neck for over a week now. I try to move cautiously because when it gets angry, it ain’t fun!

I had another MRI (4^th one this year) last night and now I am waiting for word on what exactly is happening in my spine. Much of the day the pain has been miserable, and I have not been able to do much. And it is funny how pain diminishes my patience. (Just ask Bob!)

I’ve had more than a few talks with the LORD. Then a few days ago my morning verse of the day reminded me that God has not forgotten me. “For God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you showed for His name when you served the saints—and you continue to serve them.” [Hebrews 6:10 HCSB]

God “will not forget.”

 Often times when we are not as “active” in service, or as “visible” to the world, we are forgotten. We fade into the shadows. But there are no “shadows” in our God. He will not forget us. Even if we cannot continue to serve the saints the way we used to do … our God remembers our work and the love we showed for His name when we were able. Thank you, LORD!

One of the greatest joys in my life is when I am asked to share. I guess you can take the preacher away from the pulpit but can’t take the pulpit out of the preacher! Last Sunday I was honored to share with the Dream Team at church prior to the service.

I used a quote from Mia Hamm. Mia Hamm was the face of women’s professional soccer for years, 2 gold medals, 2 world championships. She said, “Somewhere behind the athlete you’ve become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back… play for her.”

I also used a quote from Jesus to the Church at Ephesus. First, He acknowledged what they were doing. “I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance … You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.” But then He told them … “You don’t love me as you did at first.” Or as some translations say, “You have left your first love.”

I am at that stage of my life where my body will not allow me to do much anymore. The “hard work” is behind me. But I don’t ever want to hear the LORD say to me … “You don’t love me as you did at first.”

For me, it is no longer “DOING,” that characterizes my life. It is “BEING” a child of God. Finding my worth in His love, my Joy in His presence.  If I may paraphrase Mia Hamm: “Somewhere behind the maturing Christian I am becoming and the work God has asked of me and the mentors who have pushed me – is a young woman who fell in love with the LORD and never looked back… I play for her.”

Have you ever wanted a “do over?” I watched the PGA Championship last week and was reminded that in golf, a do-over is called a “mulligan.” It is a second chance at a shot with no penalty, played from the same spot as the previous shot. It’s not allowed under the rules of golf but is often used by players in casual games.

Have you ever wanted a “do over,” a “mulligan” in life. A second chance to go back and do it over again but retaining the wisdom you have acquired (probably by not doing it right in the first place).

There is much of my life I would do over if possible. Things like buying houses when the market was high and selling them when the market was low. Or more important things like being a more understanding wife … or a better mom …  or like finding the LORD sooner and serving Him more diligently.

Unfortunately, there are no actual “mulligans” in life. To think that I can go back and do it again better than before is fanciful thinking. All I can do now in these far fewer days in front of me than what I have behind me is to keep going forward. Or as Paul said … “reaching forward to what is ahead.”

“Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.” [Philippians 3-13-14 HCSB]

May 19

Trust, Rest – Part 2

I wrote yesterday that “the thing about resting is that it is nearly synonymous with trusting. We rest only where we can trust. There is no rest if there is no trust.”

David wrote: “I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.” [Ps 13:5 NIV]

Solomon wrote: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” [Prov 3:5 NIV]

Isaiah wrote: “Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.” [Isa 26:4 NIV]

Jesus said: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” [John 14:1 NIV]

There truly can be no rest where there is no trust.  The Scriptures are clear that God is trustworthy, that He is faithful and true.

Still, I must acknowledge that there have been times when I really wondered about God’s faithfulness and trustworthiness. There have been times when difficulties continued to abound, times when God appeared faraway. May I say this … there have even been times when God seemed not to have noticed the troubles brewing around me. I remember thinking once that God had gone on vacation and left a not-so-bright trainee in charge!

Still, even in those times when I could not understand what God was doing … even in those times when I could not sense His presence with any part of my being … God was faithful. God was present. God was trustworthy. God was good. 

I am still tired from our trip, still needing to rest more than usual. As I thought about needing physical rest, I began to think also of spiritual rest, about resting on the promises of God and what that involves. The thing about resting is that it is nearly synonymous with trusting. We rest only where we can trust.  There is no rest if there is no trust.

 Another thing is that in resting on, trusting in the promises of God, faith will always face obstacles. As soon as we claim a promise such as, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” we are going to find obstacles in our pathway that try to distract us, difficulties we must conquer, impediments that appear problematic or impossible to overcome. It doesn’t seem to matter what the promise is, our faith will be challenged. It must be exercised and stretched.  [Philippians 4:13]

Ever started an exercise program to build muscle and strength? Remember how you moved and stretched, and how your muscles ached the next morning? You probably wondered why bother if it is going to hurt like this every time. But you learned that eventually with consistent exercise and stretching your muscles it quit hurting, and your strength increased.

Our faith grows and becomes strong the same way, by exercising it, by overcoming all the obstacles in the pathway as we rest on the promises of our God.

There are many in the world who do not see Jesus as divine, as Savior or Redeemer. They will not accept that He Always Was, Is, And Forever Will Be God’s Eternal Son. They will, however, accept that He was a great teacher.

Down through the church age, the church has battled the perception of Him as ONLY a great teacher. I think we have battled it so much so, always emphasizing the deity of Christ Jesus, that we may have lost sight of the fact that He WAS a great teacher.

Matt 11:28-30: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  [NIV]

Jesus commands us to learn from Him. What are we to learn from Him? We are to learn His character. He calls to the weary and burdened (us) to come and promises that in Him we will find rest for our souls. He reminds us of His nature, gentle and humble in heart. He tells us that He has a work for us, that we will be yoked with Him, but in contrast to the weariness and burdens we try to carry on our own – His will be easy and light.

Jesus has much to teach us about who He is and just how He relates to others. I know we are to study our doctrine, to know the words and principles of our faith. But let us never forget to learn from Jesus. We can know our doctrine and still NOT know our Savior.

Recent ‘Memories’ appeared in my Facebook pages of a trip I took with my oldest grandson to Washington, D.C., 11 years ago. My heart warmed as I looked at photos of that trip, including a visit to the Tomb of the Unknown during the Changing of the Guard.

Ps 63:6-7 talks about memories: “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.” A Psalm of David when he was in the Desert of Judah.

David encourages us to “remember.” Yet as we remember, we will discover that memories may be pleasant, warm, touching the depths of our souls; or they may be sorrowful, wounding, touching the depths of our souls in much different ways.

Yet, whether wonderful or sorrowful I am so thankful for the capacity to remember. One of the saddest diseases is Alzheimer’s, when the capacity to remember is stripped away, and the familiar becomes unfamiliar, the recognizable unknown.

In Psalm 63, David remembered God in the night at a time when his foes were rising against him. He turned his memories to all God is and all God had done for Him. And in those memories David was strengthened.

Sometimes it is the past that provides courage and determination for the future. Often it is in looking back, in remembering all God has done for us that grows our faith in our present and raises sure hope for our future.

Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  [John 10:10 NIV]

Jesus came to bring us not just life, but life to the full, or life more abundantly as other translations render it. The Greek word is perissos (per-is-sos’); meaning beyond; superabundant (in quantity) or superior (in quality). In one place that word is translated as exceedingly abundantly beyond.

That’s the quality of life Jesus brings us – exceedingly abundantly beyond life. That is the kind of life that we must persistently choose. The enemy of our soul works to steal, kill and destroy that life. He works to fill our life with temptations, thoughts, and attitudes that diminish the life our Father wants us to have.

We chose life when God made the offer in Christ. Now we must consistently and persistently choose abundant life. We must choose to reject temptation. We must choose to have our minds renewed by the Word of God. We must choose to have the attitudes of Christ Jesus. We must choose to draw nearer to God each day (think maturity!). We must choose to forgive when hurt, to love when hated, to give when we have little to give.

As we make these daily, sometimes moment-by-moment choices, we see the abundant life revealed more and more in us.

Ps 34:18: “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” [NIV]

Psalm 34 is a song of David, written when David was not in the best of circumstances. He had fled King Saul who was trying to kill him, and ended up in Gath, a small town on the Philistine border. When the king in Gath learned who he was, he wanted David gone. Fearing harm, David pretended to be insane until they drove him away, finally ending up living in caves.

Yet despite the circumstances, Psalm 34 is an extremely positive song, beginning, “I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.”

I have been thinking lately about how deep emotional wounds can go.  They are often much harder to heal than physical wounds.  Physical wounds, if the body is healthy, simply heal themselves.  Emotional wounds need a lot of intentional work.

We must forgive, often repeatedly.  We must want to be healed – not always an easy choice.  We must work through the rejection, pain, and all the emotions that attach to our hearts … and while we are doing this, the enemy of our soul is whispering why we should not!

David understood that we are all brokenhearted, and because we are God draws close to us.  David understood that there is salvation for those who are crushed in spirit by life’s unfairness.  We can, through the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds, be healed of the sorrows and pains inflicted upon us.  God’s promise is that we can be made whole.