Unexpected Storms-- Part One

A recent trip to the emergency room (see the Sept. 19, 2011, post Real Life), got me thinking about what I call the unexpected.  From our perspective, life is uncertain, filled with unexpected storms, great and small.

Now, when we talk about 'the unexpected' happening, that may be true enough coming from our own perspective, but from God's perspective, nothing is unexpected.  He never sleeps (Psalm 121:4).  His plans stand firm forever (Psalm 33:11; Isaiah 46:9-10).  Each and every day of our lives was ordained by Him before it ever came to be (Psalm 139:16).  On top of that, He loves us and there is no one wiser.  Not only does He have perfect plans, but He has plenty of power to carry them out.

With that as a backdrop, consider with me this incident that Mark records in his gospel (Mark 4:35-41):

"And on that day, when evening had come, He (Jesus) said to them (his disciples), 'Let's go over to the other side.'

And leaving the multitude, they took Him along with them, just as He was, in the boat; and other boats were with Him.  And there arose a fierce gale of wind and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.

And He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they awoke Him and said to Him, 'Teacher do you not care that we are perishing?'

And being aroused, He rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Hush, be still.'  And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.

And He said to them, 'Why are you so timid?  How is it that you have no faith?'  And they became very much afraid and said to one another, 'Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?'"

Now, when that storm hit, the disciples were convinced that they were dying.  They said so.  “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re perishing?”  They honestly thought they were going down, but they were overlooking one small fact.  At the beginning, Jesus had said, “Let’s go over to the other side.”  NOT, “Let’s go die in a shipwreck!”

I’m not sure why the chapter divider deciders decided to do it this way, but the first verse of the next chapter (Mark 5:1) actually has the end of this story.  It says, “And they came to the other side.”  That's right--they came to the other side.

When Jesus plans a journey, He finishes it.  However unexpected the storm was to the disciples, it was not unexpected to Jesus.  Yes, they ran into a storm.  Yes, the waves were breaking over the boat.  Yes, the boat was already filling up.  But they got to the other side, just as He planned.

The disciples let their fears get way out of control, way ahead of reality.  When Jesus asked them, “Why are you so timid?  How is it that you have no faith?”, their answer, in the form of the question hinted at the heart of the matter.  They asked each other, "Who is this...?"  They didn’t know, clearly and unmistakably enough yet, who He really was.  It wasn't fully integrated into their hearts yet that it was God in their boat, and that He would keep them afloat!

Somebody once defined worry as thinking of the future as if God isn’t in it.  Fear does the same thing.  They were thinking of their boat as if God wasn’t in it.  They didn’t understand yet that Jesus was Lord over what seemed, to them, their most 'impossible' situations, and that Jesus' plans for them would not be thwarted.  They were still learning that fear, in the face of unexpected storms, was never what Jesus had in mind for them.

If it wasn't fear that He had in mind for His disciples, what was it?  A bit later in Mark, Jesus reassures others who were wrestling with storms of a different kind, with these words, "Go in peace. . ." and, "Do not be afraid any longer, only believe."  Deliberately and progressively, He revealed to His followers more and more of Who He is and what He can do.  "Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid."

What are you afraid of?  Is there something that has taken you by surprise?  Is there a journey the Lord set you on, but now you're wondering if you will reach the end of it? 

We can rest assured that God doesn't have to wait to see the morning paper to find out what's happening in our world.  When you next check the weather forecast, remind yourself that He never needs to.  We can trust His power and His love through any storm.  And when He plans your journey, He will be with you, to get you to the other side.

I asked for a new song
These very themes are some of what I chose to speak about at the June, 2011, Indiana State Homeschool convention.*  As I was preparing, I was earnestly hoping to close the session with a song that we could sing together, that would capture these truths in a package my listeners would be able to take home with them to sing later, when they would inevitably run into storms of their own.  But all the songs that seemed to fit were copyrighted by others, and since the session was to be recorded, that would have been a problem.  So I asked the Lord if we could have a new song.  And He gave me one!

Here's the most amzaing part!  In His perfect way, He gave it, not just in time for the convention, but three months earlier, and just before our family ran into a storm of our own.  Here's what happened (our storm), and here's the song He knew we needed.

* I wasn't there because I've got everything together.  I haven't.  I was there because God has been my strength and comfort, and He wants us to pass on to others the comfort He supplies (II Corinthians 1, you know).  Anyway, what I shared there wasn't some theoretical formula.  I shared some of the truths from God's Word that had become a literal lifeline to me, and, in fact, they still are.  I never grow weary of hearing Him calm the storm again and again!

Real Life

I've been thinking a lot about thankfulness lately, but when I last posted and I said there there was more to come soon on thankfulness, I had no idea what the Lord had around the corner within less than twenty-four hours. . . .


Saturday became one of those days when I needed to sing, when I just needed to break loose and be really thankful.  “It was a perfect day?” you ask?  Well, let’s just say that it didn't exactly go as I had expected.  The path to where I landed began in the emergency room, and most times, when that happens, you’re likely to end up in a place you weren’t anticipating to be when the day began.  Anybody else ever had a day like that?


I don’t just mean a day where your path leads through the emergency room.  I mean any day where something unexpected or potentially overwhelming happens. . . . Maybe your calling looms larger than you are. . . or maybe when discouragement over not making enough progress bars the path to a place or time to relax with contentment. . . or when you long to be free of a particular struggle so you could be able to joyfully embrace life without feeling as though life itself would crush you first.  Anybody know what I’m talking about?

Though it does seem counterintuitive, those are the days when we most need to sing.   That’s right.  And to be thankful.  In our Father’s Word to us, this is what I find.  “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High; And call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me. . . . He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me; and to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God.”  Psalm 50:14, 15, 23.

This sacrifice of thanksgiving.  It has always puzzled me, for how can expressing thanks be a sacrifice?

I think it's because it requires something of me, and is a gift to Him.  It pleases Him and He deserves it.  That would be reason enough, but there’s more.

Thanksgiving, for my part, (God is so smart!) reverses my focus, back to where it belongs.  Frustration or fear takes me in one direction, but thankfulness takes me in the opposite direction.  It’s thanksgiving that puts me back on track.

“And let the peace of Christ rules in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.”  Colossians 3:15

“Le the word of Christ richly dwell in you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”  Colossians 3:16

“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”  Colossians 3:17

When whatever shade of the gray ‘overwhelmed’ cloud looms over me, its showers threatening to drown me, I need to get under His wings, in the shelter of the Most High, in the shadow of the Almighty (see Psalm 91), and be thankful.  No, things are not hopeless!  I am not without strength, His strength!

He goes before me;

He walks beside me;

He lives within Me; He’s the lover of my soul.

He’s my Defender;

He’s my Provider;

His overflowing mercies are brand new everyday.  

(That's part of a song called This is the Day by Bob Fitts.)

And that’s what I sang Saturday night at the hospital in the room where my dear husband slept after having had his appendix taken out.  “It was a very bad appendix,” to quote the doctor.  The list of ways the Lord orchestrated the situation to keep him alive is too long for this post , or this would be my longest post ever.  (later, Lord willing)

Suffice it to say for now that God is the lifter of my head.  I put my hope in Him.  And not just because he saved my husband's life, but because, no matter what happens, He loves me, He has forgiven me because of Christ, and He will never abandon me.  It doesn't get any better than that.

P.S.  The writer of the letter to Philippians and his friend found themselves in an unexpected situation, too, when they first came to Philippi and ended up in jail for freeing a girl from a demon.  They chose to praise God with singing in prison.  Do you remember what happened?  You can use the Search the Bible tool on the right to look up 'Acts 16:11-40' if you want to see the amazing outcome. 

Where's the Joy?

I must warn you--this is my longest post ever.  I tried; I really did.  I sat on this post for several days, but I just couldn't smash it into fewer words.  So here's what's on my heart. . . .

Do you find yourself wanting to experience more of God, to be closer to Him?  Do you feel like something is missing from your everyday life?  There must be more, and you know it.  The joy you thought you were supposed to have as a Christian just isn’t there.

It’s easy, I know, to begin to think, “A vibrant Christian life just isn’t possible in my situation.  My life is so mundane.  Where’s the joy here?  I just don’t see the possibility of a joy-filled life.  I’m not at the cutting edge of trusting God through some exciting adventure.”  You are not alone, friend.  Plenty of people are out there searching for someplace else, or someone else, to give them an exciting experience of deeper spirituality, an amazing encounter with God.

Over the years, I’ve seen and heard promises of one-of–a-kind experiences, where you can get away without distractions, where scripture is more alive, fellowship and worship more meaningful, and where you'll cherish Christ more than anywhere else.

Sounds attractive doesn’t it?

It sounds great—until you think about the implications of what that says about the rest of your life!  If I buy what they’re saying, I'm conceding that, in the rest of my life outside the special environment, Christ will always mean less to me, scripture will be duller, fellowship more empty, and worship can never be as rich.  What?!!  Wait a minute?  How can that be?!!

Who do we think He is?

Is He limited by our circumstances?  Honestly, do we believe there are places on earth where He cannot make Himself fully known?  Is God’s ability to reveal Himself, through His Word and in our lives, limited by our environment, surroundings, or circumstances?

Just what do we need to love Christ wholeheartedly?  For worship to be meaningful?  To find more life-changing insight in the scriptures?  Do we need an ideal environment?  God is God where ever we are.   His love endures forever, whether I am Corrie ten Boom in a German concentration camp or I'm in my own home buried under a mountain of dirty laundry.

If my spiritual life seems deeper and my joy more full when my circumstances are more ideally arranged, then that only proves that my environment must be having more impact on my outlook than the presence of God is.  I don't know about you, but that really scares me.  If we weren’t distracted by and focused on externals, the 'perfect' environment wouldn’t have any significant or profound effect.  What if the things we think would make worship sweeter and scripture more profound have nothing to do with Christ and everything to do with a beautiful sensual experience we could create for ourselves?

Granted, almost everybody is more cheerful in a carefully controlled, ideal atmosphere; we seem to be created with a need for order, and our minds appreciate, and thrive in, order and beauty.  That doesn’t mean, though, that we’re more deeply experiencing the presence of God--just because we're more cheerful--when our surroundings are more 'pleasant'.   Actually, I'm afraid it’s a telltale sign that something besides the presence of God is controlling our outlook.  If we experience more of a spiritual high in a protected environment, then we clearly haven’t yet learned to depend on God alone for our joy—sadly, the depth of our spiritual walk still depends on our outward circumstances and environment.  

Now, I’m not advocating turning our homes into chaotic garbage heaps just to prove that God is our only source of joy.   (And, definitely, there is a place for Bible college or other specialized training, or even retreat kind of events with an intentionally intense focus for a time on spiritual things, seen, with a healthy, Scripture-informed perspective, as optional supplements to our spiritual development.)   I’m just saying that if we think we would need to go somewhere other than where God has placed us in our normal life, to some different, somehow 'better', environment, in order to love Christ more deeply, for God's Word to be more alive to us, or to affect any other improvement in our spiritual life, something is very wrong.  We’ve bought a lie.  

So here comes the challenge, and I issue it to myself, too.  This issue of joy really all boils down to an understanding of Who God is.  Do we really believe He is all-powerful?  Do we really believe that fullness of joy is found in His presence?  That He will never leave or forsake us?  Do we really believe He is truth?  Psalm 16:11 says, “In Your presence is fullness of joy”.   I think it’s incredibly significant what it doesn’t say.  It doesn’t say there is fullness of joy when the house is neat, when the children are behaving perfectly, when the dinner isn’t burnt, when the car is running perfectly, when all at work goes smoothly, when Congress votes right, when the sun is shining on your private mountaintop retreat, when all the laundry is clean, or when you are married to a perfect man.

Are we willing to take the Bible for truth when it says that, “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. . .The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.”? (Psalm 19)  Those words were written down, at God’s direction, by a man who spent part of his life running for his life from a powerful, jealous man, and who experienced huge, tragic personal losses.  But, in the midst of it all, he knew where real joy comes from.

In fact, the Scriptures are full of the stories of ordinary people, in less than ideal circumstances, with real problems, and major distractions, who found joy in knowing God.  They didn’t seek a different life or a different locale to find joy in the Lord.  They found that God’s presence brought fullness of joy, in even the darkest of moments.

We don’t need altered circumstances to know real joy.  The heavens declare the glory of God, but He doesn't need a 'mountaintop' to make Himself known.  We've got His Word in our hands.  The Creator of the universe and lover of our souls will meet us in His Word wherever we are, whatever our surroundings.  If we believe any less, we don’t yet understand Who He is!

I, for one, want to dig deeper in His Word, to know and understand His heart, to let the joy that comes from His Spirit permeate my life against all odds and in spite of any of my circumstances, not because of them!  How about you?

P.S.   I find encouragement on this journey in the words of Paul in Philippians, especially. . . which he wrote as a prisoner (for his faith), by the way. . .(If you haven't paused there lately, you're missing out.)  And in the themes of thanksgiving woven through so much of Scripture.  More on being thankful soon. . . .

A Tool for My Readers

Any time I speak or write, it is with a sense of carrying a responsibility for the influence and impact my words may have.  I am touched that, in my absence from this blog, more than one someone has come to see what else I might have written.  I never meant to be away from the blog so long.  Grand intentions of writing while our family was away together on vacation were pushed aside by the whirlwind of experiences and conversations that give family vacations the highly deserved honor of being the source of some of our fondest memories.  Thank you for your patience.

If you would like, so you won't have to spend time checking for an update when there isn't one, you may use the tool I have added ('Want to Receive New Posts by Email?' toward the top right of the page) to sign up to receive new posts by email whenever I've added one.  My sincere hope is to be more regular about posting again, now that our travels are over for now.

Of course, if you know someone else who would welcome the encouragement, please do pass on the link to Unsmotherable Delight and feel free to share any individual posts using the 'Email Post' option found at the bottom of each post.  Unsmotherable Delight is meant to be shared!

Character Part Three--How Young Is Too Young?

Imagine with me for a moment. . .What if your child, just as soon as she could talk, informed you that for most of her life up to that point, she'd been bored to tears with the lack of significant substance in what had been communicated to her in words?  How would you feel?

A healthy sort of fear of that very thing happening is what motivated me as a young mother.  The last thing I wanted to have happen was to find out that I had wasted time and opportunities to introduce her to Jesus, to teach her what is true, to explain what really matters in life.  Not concerning myself with what scientists said about how soon children can comprehend, I began talking to her even while I carried her the nine months before we saw her face.  I determined not to waste even one day.  If I was going to err, it would be on the side of too deep and too much communication.  Heaven forbid the reverse!

So it wasn't just 'baby talk'.  I talked to her about big ideas.  Along with introducing her to the names of simple objects, I told her about the Creator who made everything, including her.  Her Daddy and I told her all about our family, how we had prayed for her, and how much we loved her.  We told her that God had a plan for her and how He sent His Son to redeem her.  We answered why questions she wasn't even asking and explained how various things worked.  I told her what I was thinking and explained what was going on around her.

Did she get every bit of it?  I suppose not, but I am convinced that she did comprehend more than anybody would have expected her to.  And so did her brother who came next.  Let either of them have engaged you in conversation when they were three, and the evidence was irrefutable.

At this point, I have to say that I'm not holding us up as perfect parents who did everything right--we are far from it!  Neither do we have perfect children.  My point, instead, is simply this--that I know for a fact that children can comprehend far more at a very young age than is generally supposed.  And the evidence has been living in our house for nearly eighteen years.

In an earlier post, I mentioned our thirteen year old son's advice to "not dumb down God's Word" for children.  This time I'd like share something the seventeen year old evidence had to say on the topic.  Her thoughts on training children included this, "Have and give reasons for what you say, and don't expect them to not be able to understand what you tell them."

I realize this flies in the face of some very popular ideas on child development and education strategies, which maintain, instead, that children aren't capable of much reasoning 'til somewhere around the junior high years, and that dry facts are what children crave before that age.  There is a whole lot zooming around in my head on that topic, but that will be for another day soon.  For now, I simply ask this question.  If young children can really only handle dry facts, then why do two and three year olds incessantly ask, "Why?  Why?  Why?"?

God, of course, knows, definitively, the in and outs of a child's developing mind and is not silent on these things.  I choose to trust Him rather than rely on fad ideas from folks who have never even raised children of their own.  Joshua 8:35 gives us a picture of God's intentions, "There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers who were living among them." (italics mine)  Deuteronomy 6 and Judges 2:10, among other passages, tell us relationships and conversations, or the lack of them, will shape hearts.

How young is too young for shaping hearts?  I'm not taking any chances.  I'm not comfortable with one wasted moment.  Are you?