In a Mirror Dimly

 By: Joanne Viola

Our yard is bordered by woods. Several homes are on the other side of those woods. The change of seasons has always been a blessing to my husband and I as we watch the changes which take place over the course of the year.

 

Winter brings amazement as the bare trees whistle with the blustering wind, and sparkle from the snow laden on the branches. We take delight in the spring when the budding begins to unfold. The varied shades of green spread out, hint at new growth and fullness about to occur. The summer reveals either a thickness or sparseness all dependent on the harshness of the winter.

 

And autumn … We have kept watch as the leaves have changed their color and the shedding has begun. We now have glimpses of the houses on the other side of the woods which will soon be totally visible. For months, they have been totally hidden from our view.

 

Little by little more of the outline of the houses can be seen. Soon we will see the entire houses.

 

“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror,
but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.
All that I know now is partial and incomplete,
but then I will know everything completely,
just as God now knows me completely.”
(1 Corinthians 13:!2, NLT)

We see life from one perspective. We see bits and pieces, and often it does not seem clear. Much is hidden from our eyes and understanding. A situation is a little foggy. We wonder if there has to be more than what meets the eye, and frustration can set in when clarity does not come.

 

Now. We want to understand it all. Now.

 

God is always looking to make us stronger, grow us deeper, and take us further than we thought we could go.

 

His plans exceed what our finite and feeble minds can imagine and handle, so He unfolds life a bit at a time. Throughout all of our lives, He will continually be at work, revealing His plans piece by piece, much like a puzzle forms a work of art.

 

“Vision is the ability to see God’s presence, to perceive God’s power, to focus on God’s plan in spite of the obstacles.” (Charles Swindoll)

 

We only see a part as if through a mirror dimly,
but one day we will see clearly.
In the meantime, we trust God who knows us completely.

 

Reflection:
How do you trust God when you cannot see a situation clearly? What verse encourages you at those very times?

 

Image by Med Ahabchane from Pixabay

 

You Have Time

 By: Grace Metzger

In all toil there is profit,
but mere talk tends only to poverty.
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭14‬:‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

A little over a week ago I had to have surgery on my femur bone. Because of this I am unable to work, babysit, or do anything that normally do takes most of my time up for 3 whole months. I won’t lie, I was very excited at the prospect of having 3 months where I am able to relax and enjoy my time for myself. I had a plan on how I was going to use this time to up my Bible reading, going to start another devotional, basically just going to put in a ton of effort into my walk that normally I say I don’t have enough time for. However after a week of doing the same thing I’ve done before my surgery, I’ve come to the realization that time was never my issue, it was the lack of effort on my part that caused me to procrastinate these things.

One of the most common excuses for people about their faith is the “I’m just too busy” or “I just don’t have time.” I won’t lie, I have used these excuses more times than I would like to admit. It’s easy to look at your day and get overwhelmed with the amount of stuff needing to be done, but because of this God is usually placed on the back burner. We try to justify this by saying that we will do it later when we have time, ignoring the fact that time was never truly the issue in the first place. 

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw
near to God must believe that He exists and that he rewards those who seek Him.
Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Time is an excuse that we need to stop allowing ourselves to use. We have time to play on our phones, time to catch up on our shows, time to hang out with family and friends, but no time for God? We put a tremendous amount of effort and time into things that bring our flesh joy, things that we think will make us truly happy in our life, forgetting about the one thing that brings true happiness to us. 

Having faith is a great thing, but having faith that God is real isn’t going to create or keep a bond with God. If you actually want a relationship with God then it requires effort on your part. God already is putting in the effort to maintain His relationship with you, but you are giving Him the bare minimum because you aren’t wanting to put in the work into your walk?

This isn’t just me yelling at you, I wrote this after the Holy Spirit put a convention on my own heart. This post came from God speaking to me! But I think this is something that we all struggle with in some capacity. It’s so easy in our busy lives to forget to take time to slow down and be with God. That’s why we have to make a conscious effort to devote time to doing it. It’s not going to just happen, you have to make it happen!

I challenge you to block out some time with God every day next week. If you use a planner, put this in your planner, or if you’re like me who can’t plan for the life of me, then put a reminder on your phone. Whatever you can do to block out a chunk of time that is strictly devoted to spending time building a closer relationship with God, do it! Don’t allow anything to distract or disrupt this time, turn your phone off, go to a quiet place, tell those in your house that you are busy and can’t be disturbed, or whatever you have to do to allow yourself to fully give your attention to God. After doing this for a week take some time to reflect on how this changed your week, did you have a more positive outlook during the week? Did your relationship with God grow? Did you feel less stressed about time? Take time to see how it changed your life, cause it will, and then put this into a daily practice! Remember faith takes effort, it doesn’t come automatically!

Discussion Question! 

How do you ensure you make time for God?

Elephants and Crosses

 By: Lauren Thomas

There is a method for eating an elephant, or so I am told. But quite frankly, elephant is not a dish that appeals to me. And while I never plan to partake of elephant, there are many “elephants” that I look at in dread, fearing the undertaking of. I have been told that the best way to approach a daunting task is by taking one bite at a time. There is even some Biblical truth in this.

In each of the three synoptic Gospels, we read accounts of Jesus teaching about taking up crosses, even before he physically hoisted his own onto his beaten back. There are 5 such passages across these gospels. But one of them includes a unique, if subtle, variation:

 

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Luke 9:23 ESV

 

Daily.

 

When I am reminded throughout the New Testament of the self-denial that Jesus encourages in us, I suddenly lose appetite for the elephant. The mere thought of living a life of cross-bearing inspires some trepidation. “No breaks? No days off? No me-time?”

 

And while that little word, “daily,” could be perceived as its own elephant, it is also a divine relief. Because when we shift focus from all the cross-bearing years ahead of us, and instead focus on just today, the load suddenly seems much more feasible.

 

Like diet fads or exercise programs or lofty goals, when we look at the big picture, we are sure to be deflated by discouragement. But when we decide moment by moment to make one small right choice, those moments really do stack up in surprising ways.

 

So stop looking at the spiritual elephants in your life. Instead, choose to eat the bites the Lord places before you today. Over time, you will see success. But don’t worry about that. Just worry about doing it today.  

 

Give us this day our daily bread

Matthew 6:11 ESV

 

Or, “…our daily portion of elephant.”

 

Reflection:

What is one elephant (aka, thing-that-God-is-calling-you-to-that-feels-too-big) in your life right now? How does your perspective change when you focus only on doing it “today”? What will it look like for you to eat today’s portion of elephant?

 

Learning to Listen For God

 

By: Donna Bucher

On a journey of deep listening, my goal throughout the month first centered on hearing God’s voice more clearly, and secondarily gifting others with compassionate listening. Creating space for moments of deep listening for God’s voice, I discovered listening when nature speaks, tunes my ears to nuances of God’s own voice.

Though many imagine the power of God’s voice speaking creation into existence; God’s voice within nature brings incredible peace to chaotic moments.

Yet even more than the power of peace to troubled hearts, listening when nature speaks invites us to hear God and others more clearly through the discipline of hearing with all our senses.

A fundamental principle of listening, silence fosters keen attention while enhancing understanding. Which was perhaps the idea behind James’ admonition to quick listening and slow speaking. (James 1:19-20)

Developing the skill of deep listening moves beyond superficial informational listening to a non-judgmental engagement, which also embraces the silence of the in-between. But listening in this way requires discipline of mind and attitude displayed in patience.

Learning the art of listening when silence speaks, helped me become comfortable in stillness and quiet both before God and while hearing others speak.

Diligent listening when nature speaks, improved my discernment of God’s voice, and increased my ability to engage in deep listening with others.

Nature offers a relaxing vibe pulling me into a place of easy rest, where listening becomes a pleasure filled experience free of judgement, performance, or effort.

Submitting to the stillness of a quiet encounter with creation, tunes my ears to simply hear, without compulsion to analyze or formulate a response. Imagine if we submitted to listening in the same way to God and others?

Of the many lessons God teaches us through creation, the art of listening is one we often overlook.

While some of my most intimate prayer times occur amid a nature walk or “nature rest”; times of deep intimacy and fellowship with God happen while listening in the embrace of creation.

No better place exists for the employment and benefits of mindfulness, than immersion in a nature surrounding.

We all love viewing wildlife, but seeing wildlife is often much harder than hearing wildlife. Stilling mind, body, and soul, heightens the ability for hearing even the faintest whispers of nature.

Create space for heading outdoors this week, whether in your yard, or a nature walk through your neighborhood, local park or woods. Try the exercises below as you open to nature improving your listening skills.

Whether outdoors or indoors, create uninterrupted space, fostering your ability to still, without distraction. If walking, go slowly, pausing now and then to listen. Begin with a time of slow, deep breathing, and prayer.

Petition God for ears to hear His voice within His creation and a heart to receive whatever He has for you in the moment when nature speaks. Keep in mind the following:

Curiosity. Remain open and curious about the sounds you hear, as well as the silence in between.

Non-judgmental. Avoid classification of sounds or experiences as pleasant or unpleasant.

Meditative. Avoid rushing to the next spot, sound, or experience; linger thoughtfully.

Intuitive. Avoid identification of sounds but listen more with your whole body; receive the sound simply as it is.

Receptive. Remain open to anything you hear, sound, word, or emotion.

Learning to listen when nature speaks, transforms the way we listen to God and others. The calming presence of creation teaches us the importance of stillness and rest in listening, while inviting us to go deeper.

Deep listening requires the surrender of analyzation in exchange for the patience of simply receiving, often without response.

Rarely coming to nature with a judgmental attitude or expected outcome, my heart learns the freedom of hearing things exactly as they are. Applying the same stillness, acceptance, and meditative approach, my heart remains open and receptive to God’s voice, and compassionate to the stories of others.

 

Find more encouragement and FREE Resources at Serenity in Suffering!

 

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What Happens When We Abide

By: Jenifer Metzger

I am the vine; you are the branches.

Whoever abides in Me and I in him,
he it is that bears much fruit, for
apart from Me you can do nothing.

John 15:5 ESV

In John, Jesus tells us that if we abide in Him, He will abide in us. He also says that we will bear much fruit when we do this abiding. But what exactly does this mean? How do we abide in Him? What happens when we abide?

Abiding in Christ means staying connected to Him, our source of life. Something happened to my laptop battery recently. When my laptop comes unplugged, it loses power. Even though the battery appears to be full, without being plugged into its power source, it shuts down. So if I want to work on my laptop, I must stay connected to a power source. If we lose our connection to God, we lose our connection to our power source.

How to abide in Christ, stay connected to our power source.

Pray. We need to be women of prayer. Have a regular prayer time where we worship God, confess our sins, give thanks, and bring needs to Him. We also need to regularly lift needs to God as they arise; our needs, the needs of others, our leaders, our church, etc. And we need to regularly give praise and thanks to God throughout our day.

Be in the Word. We need to be women of the Word. Read our Bible regularly. Read it, study it, meditate on it, pray it, memorize it. We need to be in the Word.

Go to church. We need to be women who faithfully attend church. But not just attend your church on Sunday morning, serve, participate, be an active part of your church body.

Walk in truth. We need to be women who walk in truth. To walk in truth, we need to know truth, and know The Truth. To do this, it goes back to being in the Word, once you know the Word, you can live out the truth of those words.

What happens when we begin to abide?

We grow in the Fruits of the Spirit. John 15:5 tells us we will bear fruit when we abide. This means we will see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control grow in our lives.

We will find freedom from sin. The more we stay connected to our powers source, the more freedom we will find from struggles with sin and guilt over past sin.

We will find contentment. The more we abide, the more we find contentment in our lives. We will feel less of a need for approval from the world, and more of a desire to grow closer to God.

We find a richness in our relationship with God. The more we abide in God, the deeper that relationship will be. It will become a vital part of our very being.

We must be women who are intentional about staying connected to our power source, and the more we stay connected, the more we abide. The more we abide, the deeper our roots to the vine grow.

Discussion:
1. What do you struggle with in staying connected to your power source? Where do you feel you've made good growth?
2. Which result of abiding are you must desiring right now?