I love the book of Isaiah, it’s a favorite.  I’m thinking of one short verse in particular today, 21:11-12. To skip the history lesson (oh how I dearly love a history lesson – but I’m sparing you today!), these people were in great fear and darkness.  They call out to the night watchman. They say in Isaiah 21:11, “Watchman, what about the night?”  They actually say it twice, that’s how desperate they were to find some relief from the darkness surrounding them: “Watchman, what about the night?  Watchman, what about the night?”  The watchman answers them, and the answer brought relief and dread at the same time.  He replies in 21:12, “The morning comes, and also the night.”  Happily, the morning (light, knowledge, peace) was coming – sadly, the night (darkness, lawlessness, confusion) was coming too.  These two things were not coming hand-in-hand, they were not coming together – but they were coming simultaneously.  It was going to be absolutely vital that these frightened people be able to differentiate between the light and the darkness.

It’s absolutely vital for us too. We HAVE to be able to differentiate between light and darkness, good and evil, right and wrong…. Let’s come back to this thought in a minute 🙂

I used to travel to California every January with my mom, to visit her mother.  Fun trip each year! However, one year I got air-sickness on the plane.  Not fun at all!  I was sick on the plane, the continued motion didn’t help, and I just couldn’t recover.  I didn’t realize it, but I was dehydrated by the time we deboarded.  I barely made it to the baggage claim, and that was as far as I could go.  I’m embarrassed to tell you: I LAID DOWN in the middle of the FLOOR at Los Angeles International.  Lord help, people had to step over or around me to get where they were going.  My mother didn’t know what to do.  She decided to get me a drink from one of the little shops there in the airport. When she tried to come back to the terminal where I was sprawled out like a vagrant of some sort, she wasn’t allowed back in.  She had already passed the security checkpoint.  Some kind stranger had brought me a trashcan from the ladies room, which (putting this as gently as possible) I took advantage of right there.  Blocked 20 feet away from me, Mom had no choice but to leave me on the floor and take the shuttle to pick up our rental car.  When she returned, she talked a police officer into coming to get me (the description made me easy to recognize: I was the one with my head in a trashcan, lying on the floor in the middle of the LAX baggage claim). The police officer walked up to me, said my name and I got up and went with him (a stranger says “Jennifer” and here I go?  Not usually.).  He took me to my mom and our rental car, where I promptly rolled down the window and hung my head out the side like a dog (first a vagrant, now an animal. I ask you).  Mom found a local urgent care, and once the IV got fluids back in my system, it was like coming to life again.  A man walked in to check on me, cheerfully indicated that I was looking better and he would be back in a few minutes.  I smiled and thanked him, but had no idea who he was.  When the door closed behind him, I asked my mom – she was surprised as she told me, “Jennifer, that’s your doctor!  We’ve been here for hours, you’ve seen him several times already.”    I didn’t even remember getting out of the car and into this small white room. The whole afternoon had been a blur.  Now that I was returning to myself, I was remembering how disoriented I had been all afternoon, acting in a manner that was a complete contradiction to my usual character.  My body just needed water – it was vital.

Being dehydrated as I was brought the usual symptoms: sleepiness, sluggishness, confusion, disorientation.  To put it plainly: I just wasn’t myself!  Once I got fluids back into my system, I was back to my usual self: my feet on the floor instead of my face on the floor, trashcan in the corner where it belongs, my head INSIDE the car and the AC up.  I knew who I was and where I belonged, and I behaved accordingly.  Life was good!

Many times, when the Bible references water, it is a symbol or type of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is to our spirit as water is to our physical bodies, it’s not hard to make the connection: THE HOLY SPIRIT IS VITAL to us as believers in this dark age.  The Holy Spirit is the part of the Trinity that Jesus left here with us when He returned to Heaven.  I like the Message translation here – remember He said, “I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth…. you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!” (John 14:16 MSG).  I know what I am like without water – trust me, not my best day.  I also know what I am like without the benefit of the Holy Spirit and the gift of salvation, too – not my best day.  Not yours either, my sweet friend.  I have a sinful nature, and my natural tendency is not toward grace or sinlessness – I need the Lord’s help for that. The Bible says that all have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), that we all have gone astray like sheep without a shepherd (Isaiah 53:6).  We need the Lord.  Without Him, what are we?  We are disoriented, irritable, sluggish, sleepy, confused.  We can’t tell right from wrong (as unpopular as it is, there is right and wrong).  We forget we who are. We are unaware of proper behavior.  Like I didn’t recognize the good doctor, we don’t recognize the people around us.

The Bible says:

Without water, we become dehydrated.  Being dehydrated brings physical symptoms: sleepiness, sluggishness, confusion, disorientation. Without the Holy Spirit, we become confused, disoriented…. Can you think of an example of right and wrong being confused in our society?  Sure you can.  I can, too. Can you feel assured in your spirit that Jesus is coming back soon?  Me too!  Can you see that the darkness is closing in, and times are harder now than ever before?  Yes, me too.

“What about the night?  What about the night?”

“The morning is coming, and the also the night.”

Do not take the wisdom of the Lord and the benefit of the Holy Spirit for granted – you need it in your Christian walk as much as you need water in your physical body. Staying true to the Lord and oriented to His wisdom is necessary – and it’s harder than you think.  The Lord is generous, and I am praying that you depend on Him today to help you differentiate between the light and the darkness.  The ability to do so, and to recognize the Friend that you have with you always?  Now that is a treasure!

Jennifer ❤

Does anyone remember Inigo Montoya from “The Princess Bride”?  At one point, Westley tells him that he’ll just have to wait, and he replies “I hate waiting!”  Me too.  I always think that now is the best time. Well, maybe not always, but LOTS of the time!

For some time, over a year maybe, I’ve had a sense that a change of season is coming to my life.  This knowing inside brought encouragement that the Lord was speaking to my spirit and excitement over a “new thing” (In Isaiah 43:19, the Lord exclaims: “Behold, I shall do a new thing – even now it shall spring forth!” I can sense the excitement coming off the page in that favorite verse!).  I don’t mind change – I welcome an opportunity to grow!

Of course, as is to be expected, there was an opposition: while my spirit was cheering, my “natural man” was becoming discouraged and dissatisfied.  “Wait for it? Why do I have to wait for it? How long do I have to endure this current season in order to get to the new thing?” I found myself growing unhappy with my current season – when in all honestly, my current season is pretty happy, not a time to merely endure!

I began to seek the Lord.  I praised Him for the insight, and expressed gratitude for His speaking to my spirit.  I recalled that the Lord confides in those who fear Him (Psalm 25:14) and was quietly humbled by the thought that He would consider me.  Mostly, I asked for forgiveness, though.  I remembered also that godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6), and I knew that the contentment part was just as much my responsibility as the godliness part: a discontented spirit indicated that I had taken a step in the wrong direction.

I told the Lord how encouraged I was to be reminded over again and so personally that He had a plan for me (Jeremiah 29:11), but I confessed that the knowledge was making me unhappy today.  Where had I gone wrong?  Gently the still small Voice came again: “the vision was yet for an appointed time” (Hab. 2:3).  It was meant to encourage me that I had a hope, not discourage me that I hadn’t gotten to it yet.  What was I supposed to do today?  Rest in Him, comforted in the knowledge that He is in charge of my today and my tomorrows.  Find joy in His presence (Psalm 16:11), and be just as content with where I am now as in the knowing that I am on my way to a new place.

Jeremiah 29:11 is a favorite and familiar verse for many of us, isn’t it?  Did you ever read what comes before it?  Let’s look at the whole passage together for a minute:

⁴ This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵ “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶ Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. ⁷ Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper…..

¹⁰ This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the Lord….” (Jer. 29:4-7, 10-14).

You see, the Lord knew exactly where His people were, and He knew where they were going – but there’s a big in-between time in there!  What were the instructions?  Build homes and LIVE.  Plant gardens and EAT.  Have children and give them in marriage.  Seek the peace of their NOW, and the Lord would come back – and He would come back with His plans and all the good things they were hoping for.  It was that hope that tied them to the Lord, like a cord pulling them forward.  This hope didn’t only keep them close to a word or to a promise: it kept them close to the One Who gave them that promise, and His presence was a comfort in the in-between time.

Every time the Lord speaks to me, He always comes in agreement with His word.  It’s so important to know the Word of God intimately, as it is the record of His character.  I was to find contentment in His presence NOW, and let the encouragement of his word to me be two-fold: encouraged that I was on the right path today and encouraged that this path would lead me to my next season.

Are you changing seasons too?  Be encouraged that the Lord led you to your current season to lead you through to your new season…. and after that, there will be another new season – if we are continually growing, we are continually changing!

Following the Lord is the treasure: don’t hold too tightly to the right-now or to the promise of the future: hold tightly to His presence and that treasure will always be yours. ❤ Find blessings in today!

Jennifer 🙂

“Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Esther 4:13-14 NKJV

To be honest, it has been a rough summer – if I’m really honest, it’s been rough for quite some time.  I have shied away from public discussion regarding many issues (I can’t think of much worse than a debate over Facebook….. I never thought I’d actually wish for pictures of people’s dinners, but there it is. Tag me in that picture of your pork chops, okay?), but I have not shied away from personal discussions. Do not misunderstand – I have not sought out opportunity to discuss current topics, but I have not avoided subjects if they arose in reasonable conversation.  I’ve been honest, and made effort to seek the Lord and speak wisdom, but….

Jesus said in Matthew 10:16-20, “ “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.  But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you”. (NKJV, emphasis mine)

What you should speak.  You should speak.  I should speak.

I was also thinking about Esther, when a great evil was presented to her.  Mordecai’s words inspired her to action, praise God, but there was most definitely opportunity in his speech for her to make an excuse and stay behind the scenes. Mordecai tells her that “relief and deliverance will arise from another place”.  At that moment, Esther could have taken the path of least resistance and told herself: “Well, if God will deliver them anyway, why should I endanger myself?  Why should I take a chance?”  But don’t miss the most important phrase: “Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time a this?”  That’s where Esther stood up.  That’s where she takes her place in the history that was unfolding around her.  That’s where she accepted that call that God placed on her life.  Thank You, Lord!

Jesus promises that there will be hardship.  Jesus promises that men will persecute and punish.  Jesus is honest and tells us, “You are like sheep among wolves, be careful.”  However, being careful is not the same thing as being silent.  Actually, we should be careful not to be silent.

Be encouraged – relief will come.  God will rescue.  Read the end – Jesus is the Victor and we win!  At the same time, be encouraged – you were born for such a time as this. We are meant to be kind, we are meant to be honest, we are meant to be full of the love of Christ…. but we are not meant to be silent.

I still don’t think I’ll pursue the discussion, but I am asking the Lord to change my perspective.  Mistakenly, I’ve viewed my reticence as merely avoiding conflict.  I think that I’ve been wrong in that.  It’s not enough to avoid conflict – I must speak peace and shine the light of the Gospel at every opportunity.

We never thought it would be easy, but here we are and it’s no surprise to the Lord, is it?  Do not allow your light to be hidden.  We are a city on a hill.  “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:7).  Father, thank You for trusting us with this treasure.  Thank You further for opportunities to share it with the world.

I used 687 words and didn’t really say anything, did I?  I know I’m “preaching to the choir” here.  Fill in the blanks with any current issue that breaks your heart, and ask the Father to direct you.  When He speaks, it is a treasure, isn’t it?

Praying you have opportunities to share your treasure in such a time as this,

Jennifer ❤

I’ve been busy on my own little DIY project – want to see it? Click this link: http://flipagram.com/f/YRwQMoKrwi

At the beginning of the summer, my husband began to consider a small unused space in our church offices.  I decided to jump in with my idea: I need an office!  Our church offices are housed in the former parsonage, and this room is the smallest and in the very back.  Perfect!  (I may have mistakenly thought that this would also mean it was the quietest, but happily I was wrong – let’s come back to that in a minute!)

Once the decision was made and work began, I went to shopping.  Anything from a clearance rack or any forgotten items in my attic or my mother’s basement or trinkets from local thrift stores was fair game – I love re-purposed items, and I love anything with a story.  Furniture was collected and walls were painted.  My little office was quickly filled with treasures!  Chalkboards, bulletin boards, dry-erase boards that will continually be changed (fun!), favorite pictures and favorite books that will stay the same (comforting!). My daughter sewed curtains (darling), my husband painted walls (on his day off, no less – what a sweetheart he is) and I painted trim and hung pictures and sanded tabletops…. I love the finished product!

Since I moved in 3 days ago, my “quiet corner” has been full of activity!  Constant stream of visitors: invited guests as well as friends who know their invitation is always open. A young missionary came to share her heart for her new mission field, and I was honored to pray with her and offer monthly financial support.   One little visitor brought her recorder and her book so we could “practice together” (I gotta be honest – I didn’t see that one coming, but I loved it!).  I am praying that this space will be a respite and sanctuary, a place of ministry and purpose, a place of visits and smiles and sharing, but I have to be careful about maintaining the balance.

You see, we can easily become tied up with “busy-ness” and “things”, and we lose sight of the real treasure.  Luke 12:34 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  The entire chapter of Luke 12 is warnings and encouragements straight from the heart of our Savior Jesus Christ.  In my life, I need to keep my focus on the most important thing: pursuing and growing my relationship with the Lord, and loving His people well. First and foremost, I am a child of God.  All the other roles (wife, mom, teacher, pastor, friend, sister, the list goes on and on) are secondary – and I won’t be successful in any of those other roles unless I take time to quiet myself and spend time in the presence of the Lord for the sole purpose of spending time in the presence of the Lord.

Take a moment for yourself.  Don’t pray to be a better “fill-in-the-blank-for-yourself-here” just yet – just pray about being His child.  Don’t read the Bible so that you can teach others around you just yet – just read the Bible so you can get to know His character better.  Don’t allow your relationship with the Lord to become about serving Him or His people just yet – foster your relationship with the Lord so that you will have a relationship with the Lord.  I know you are busy (me too!), but let’s stop for a minute or two and just be His.

If you can slow down enough to pursue God, you know what will happen?  You will be a better “fill-in-the-blank-for-yourself-here”!  You will be so full of His presence and peace that you will be able to minister to others around you out of your overflow!  You will be a better servant to the people blessed enough to be within your sphere of influence. Remove the self-imposed pressure to be “the best”.  In this same chapter of Luke, Jesus encourages us, “seek God’s kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well” (12:31).

The treasure is the presence of God.  I’m praying that you will take a minute to seek it today, just for you.  I believe the Lord will meet you!  Be blessed by His generous spirit today – He is so kind to us!

Praying that you find the treasure of His presence today,

Jennifer 🙂

Sometimes the treasure is a gift 🙂 sometimes the treasure is a lesson 🙂 sometimes the treasure is a few moments spent with a dear friend ❤

On this particular day, I had the pleasure of chatting with my friend, Pastor Deanna Shrodes. She’s one of my favorites – after you hear a little bit from her, I bet she’ll be one of your favorites too! In my life, Deanna is a treasure!

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pfwomen/2015/04/02/loving-the-people-who-drive-you-crazy