Keep on keeping on. I hear myself giving that advice to my patients more and more these days, and it is the message I have been preaching to myself this week. It feels kind of dramatic to say so, but I am tired. I am so well aware that many people are dealing with terribly difficult circumstances, and in comparison, the challenges in my life are tiny. Still, although on a much smaller scale, I understand Paul’s description of being “hard pressed on every side” and “perplexed.”

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
… Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:7-10, 16-18

What hope-filled words! And what encouragement to continue, to keep going, even in tough times.

A few weeks ago, I listened to a message on suffering given by Elisabeth Elliot, a woman well-qualified to speak on that subject. She shared,
“There’s an old legend I’m told is inscribed in a parsonage in England, somewhere on the seacoast. It’s a Saxon legend that said, ‘Do the next thing.’ I don’t know any simpler formula for peace, for relief from stress and anxiety than that very practical, very down-to-earth word of wisdom: ‘Do the next thing.’ That has gotten me through more agonies than anything else I could recommend.”

Look at what Jesus said when He was under fire. “At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, ‘Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.’ He replied, ‘Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day-for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!'” Luke 13:31-33

The strategy is simple, but powerful. Don’t give up. Don’t change course. Press on.

“Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.” Hosea 6:3 ESV

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. … I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12, 14

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” Colossians 2:6-7

Consider this a pep talk. If you are tired or discouraged or grieving or overwhelmed, keep on keeping on. You are not alone. Do the next thing.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…” Hebrews 12:1-2

God, thank You for Your Word. It is such an encouragement. Thank You for Your power that is at work inside us, allowing us to run with perseverance. Thank You for sisters and brothers that have gone before us, whose words and examples inspire us. Teach us to keep our eyes on Jesus. Use us to bring Your truth and Your hope to those around us.

-Leah

Names are interesting things. You’ve probably looked up the meaning of your name before, and maybe you’ve found that it fits you well. Or maybe your name’s meaning and your personality don’t really fit together. When I was younger, I remember looking up the meaning of my name with anticipation only to find out that it meant ‘a Dane or one from Denmark.’ That certainly doesn’t characterize me well. 

It’s also interesting to find out why people are named the way they are. I can remember once when I was teaching, a young student came up to me, pointed to my name badge, and asked, “Did the principal give you that name?” Well, I wasn’t named by my boss, but there is an interesting story behind my name. When my mom was pregnant, a close family friend had a dream that she named me Dana Dalmanutha. Thankfully, only the ‘Dana’ stuck. 

Our names. They identify us. They tell others about who we are. When people hear our names, they think of us – they are reminded of our personalities, our nature, our character. 

In the Old Testament, one of the ways that God chose to reveal aspects of His character to His people was through various names for Himself. He was Yahweh, Adonai, Elohim. It is fascinating to study the names of God in the Old Testament and what each name tells about Who He Is. For the purposes of this blog post, I would just like to consider one of those names. We find it in the story of Abram’s concubine, Hagar.

“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, ‘Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.’

And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress.

And Sarai said to Abram, ‘May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!’ 

But Abram said to Sarai, ‘Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.’ Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.” (Genesis 16:1-6, ESV)

What a story so far, right? There’s so much just in these six verses to contemplate, so many applications for us. Impatience, scheming, doing things our own way, blame placing, mistreating others – all these things just lead to mess after mess. And smack dab in the middle of all the mess is Hagar. She is living with the consequences of her own choices and the choices of others. So, understandably, she runs away. But she hasn’t run so far that God can’t find her.

“The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And He said, ‘Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?’ She said, ‘I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.’ The angel of the LORD said to her, ‘Return to your mistress and submit to her.’ (Genesis 16:7-9, ESV)

Wait, what? Go back? Submit? Hagar is being mistreated by Sarai, and the angel of the Lord tells her to go back and submit? That is probably not the advice we would have given her. The angel of the Lord has more to say though. Let’s keep reading.

“The angel of the LORD also said to her, ‘I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.’ And the angel of the LORD said to her, ‘Behold you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael because the LORD has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.'” (Genesis 16:10-12, ESV)

Return, Hagar. Submit. Why? Because God has a plan for you. He hasn’t forgotten you, and He is going to multiply your offspring. He has listened to your affliction. You ran, but you couldn’t outrun His presence or His care. In surrender and obedience, there will be blessing. Hagar’s response?

“So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, ‘You are a God of seeing,’ for she said, ‘Truly here I have seen Him who looks after me.’ Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.” (Genesis 16:13-14, ESV)

The name of God she uses in Hebrew is ‘El Roi.’ Translated, it means ‘the God who sees me.’ The well’s name ‘Beer-lahai-roi’ is translated ‘the well of the Living One who sees me.’ 

El Roi. He is the God who sees us. In our hurt, in our hardship, in our joy, in our happiness. Through it all, He sees us. When life is hard, and we feel like running, we can’t outrun His presence. There’s nowhere we can go to be out of His sight. David said it this way –

“Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.” (Psalm 139:7-10, ESV)

God wanted His people to know that they were never outside of His view and His care. He still wants us to know that today. Remember, He doesn’t change. If He was El Roi for Hagar, He is El Roi for us. When we’re in the middle of a hard situation, He hasn’t forgotten us. His promise to those of us that love Him is that He is causing it all to work together for good.

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28, ESV)

Dear Father, we thank You for the truth You have revealed to us in Your Word. Thank You that You are the God who sees us and that there is nothing that concerns us today that You don’t know about. Thank You for giving us Your grace and for being near to us when we call on You. Help us to remember that we have everything we need in You. Amen.

-Dana

Your heart. Do you wear it on your sleeve? Is it heavy? Broken? Full? Faint? Is it hard? Maybe hidden? Cold?

Whatever the status of your heart, it is yours. Actually, it is you. When I think of “heart,” I think of more than just emotions. As used in the Bible, your heart is the center of your being, the seat of your will and your emotions and your personality and character. It is you, who you are and what you know and how you feel.

I started thinking about this last weekend because my heart was hurting. People that know me would say that I wear my heart on my sleeve. My husband told me I “feel what others are feeling.” It’s true. I care a lot about people, and when they have trouble or grief or pain, I feel it. In my work, I have voluntarily become a family member of sorts to several thousand people, and in doing so, have opened the door for lots of shared feelings, many positive, but also many painful. The painful and difficult and even tragic feelings have been coming in like waves recently. Last week as I worshiped in church on Sunday, my heart was heavy over several fresh losses, one of which I had just learned earlier that morning.

What a good day to be in God’s house! I knew my heart needed Him. The words to this song flooded over me, reminding me that my heart is in good hands…

I give you my life, I give you my trust, Jesus
You are my God, You are enough, Jesus
My heart is Yours, My heart is Yours
Take it all, Take it all
My life in Your hands

Simple lyrics, but powerful. All to Jesus I surrender… I give Him all my heart.

The concept cropped up again later in the week in the form of this verse, from the letter of Paul to the Colossians. Paul was teaching them about relationships, family relationships and work relationships, and speaking specifically to servants in saying, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 3:23-24)

God wants our whole heart. Remember the first and greatest commandment? Jesus reinforced what the Jewish people had repeated and made central for centuries. “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38)

To follow God, to belong to Him, to live life the way we were designed to live it, we have to be “all in.” No half-hearted, holding back, feet in both worlds approach will cut it. Wholehearted devotion is where it’s at.

As I explored this a little further, I found that a heart like this is actually a gift.

Psalm 86:11 “Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”

David advised Solomon to serve with wholehearted devotion and then prayed for his son, that God would give this to him. “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.” (1 Chronicles 28:9) “And give my son Solomon the wholehearted devotion to keep your commands, statutes and decrees and to do everything to build the palatial structure for which I have provided.” (1 Chronicles 29:19)

It is God who changes hearts. “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.” (Ezekiel 11:19-21)

It is God’s work, but we choose it. We turn over our hearts to Him, and He transforms them into hearts that can truly live only to love Him. We open the door to His power, and keep opening that door (because it often seems to close), and we develop into people that love Him with all our hearts and seek Him with all our hearts and trust Him with all our hearts (Deuteronomy 6:5, Jeremiah 29:13, Deuteronomy 4:29, Proverbs 3:5). When we stray, we return to Him with all our hearts (Joel 2:12, Deuteronomy 30:10). We take hold of His words with all our hearts (Proverbs 4:4). We rejoice and obey and work and serve and give thanks with all our hearts (Zephaniah 3:14, Deuteronomy 30:2, Colossians 3:23, Ephesians 6:7, I Samuel 12:24, Psalm 9:1).

What rest! What comfort! When our hearts are heavy because of our own pain or the pain of others, we can remind ourselves that our hearts are His. He carries the pain with us and gives us strength of heart to keep loving Him and loving others.

I give you my life, I give you my trust, Jesus
You are my God, You are enough, Jesus
My heart is Yours, My heart is Yours
Take it all, Take it all
My life in Your hands

Father, thanks that You want my heart. Thank You that I don’t have to fix it myself, but that as I choose wholehearted devotion, You transform my heart. I want to be all in, saying no to self and cultivating that surrendered life, where all that matters is You. Please teach me. My heart is Yours.

-Leah

I am a person with a fair amount of quirks. Perhaps one of the most unusual quirks I have is the need to keep my gas tank above the 1/4 line. This has been true of me from my earliest days of driving. I can remember once when I was sixteen, I drove my parents’ minivan from LaFayette to Lima (a little over 10 miles) for a piano lesson. When I arrived at my piano teacher’s home, I realized that I only had 1/4 of a tank of gas. I was sure I wouldn’t be able to make it home on that (crazy, right?) so I borrowed $10 from my piano teacher in order to stop and get more gas before heading for home.

To this very day, if my gas gauge hits the 1/4 line, you will find me at a gas station refueling. I know it’s crazy, but it’s how I’m wired. You’re probably thinking that maybe the cause of this quirk was some unfortunate experience I had with running out of gas. Nope. It’s never happened to me before.

In my forties, I find myself becoming more comfortable with who I am and also reflecting more on quirks like these. What I’ve noticed lately is this gas tank quirk doesn’t really stop there. As I have observed myself in the last couple of years, I have begun to realize that this quirk extends beyond the gas in my tank. If my hairspray starts to run low, I’ll buy a new one and start using it right away. Then, I stow the almost-empty bottle under the sink. When the contents in the bottle of my contact solution start to wane, I buy a new one and store the mostly empty one. Apply that concept to most things, and you will get a good idea of how this plays out.

Some of you are cringing as you read this because it would drive you CRAZY. Here’s the truth behind the quirk that I have really only recently identified – I don’t like for things to run out. I always like to have a reserve. The examples I gave were minor, but the same quirk applies to my vacation days, my bank account, my time, etc. There seems to be a deep-seated concern in my nature to be sure that I have enough.

As I’ve been pondering this, I was reminded of a couple of stories in the Bible that related. First, the story of a widow in the Old Testament –

“Then the word of the LORD came to him, ‘Arise, go to Zeraphath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.’ So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, ‘Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.’

And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said,’Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.’ And she said,’As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.’

And Elijah said to her, ‘Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.’

And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.” (1 Kings 17:8-16, ESV)

Next, the story of a boy in the New Testament –

“Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up His eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward Him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?’ He said this to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. Philip answered Him, ‘Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.’

One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?’ Jesus said, ‘Have the people sit down.’ Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number.

Jesus then took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, He told His disciples, ‘Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.’ So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.” (John 6:4-13, ESV)

Two separate stories of people with a reserve. They had something (even if just a little) to depend on. But, did you see what happened both times? They were asked to give up their reserve – to let go of what they had saved up for their own needs in order to meet the needs of others. They were asked to depend on God instead of themselves to meet their needs. For a person who takes comfort in having a reserve, that is hard to think about. It means letting go of independence and embracing dependence on God. But in both cases, this willingness to give it all preceded the miraculous provision of God. 

The truth is, in order to follow Jesus, we have to be willing to give everything to Him. We can’t give Him most, but keep some back just in case. We must be able to trust that He can take care of us and give up the notion that we need to have a plan B in case He doesn’t come through. We can’t truly experience His sufficiency if we’re still relying on our own sufficiency. We have to learn to be okay with empty in order to really be filled. Our emptiness only serves to magnify God’s sufficiency. This was modeled for us perfectly by Jesus Himself –

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11, ESV)

He emptied Himself. He didn’t hold anything back. He gave it all. And again, it preceded miraculous provision. Provision of salvation for all of us came at the cost of emptiness.

It’s okay to be empty. It’s not even just okay, it’s imperative. Only when we are empty of our own self-sufficiency can we truly experience the sufficiency of God’s grace and provision. Let’s determine today that we are all in. We aren’t going to keep a reserve. No almost-empty containers under the sink. Gas tanks on empty. Flour and oil given away. Loaves and fishes handed over. Let’s give everything we have to Jesus and experience His miraculous sufficiency.

Father, You know our hearts. You know how often we are afraid to trust You with everything even though You have never been anything but faithful to us. Forgive us for times when we have relied on our own ability or have held back from You what we have to give. Help us to be willing to empty ourselves so that we can experience Your fullness. Teach us to be completely dependent on You. Amen.

-Dana

There’s been a lot of waiting over the last 5 months. To be honest, for much of the time, I have felt like life was in limbo.

According to http://www.merriam-webster.com, “in limbo” is:
1 : in a forgotten or ignored place, state, or situation (orphaned children left in limbo in foster homes and institutions). 2 : in an uncertain or undecided state or condition (After graduating from college, he was in limbo for a while, trying to decide what to do next).

There certainly has been uncertainty! It’s been part of the COVID story all along, and it continues. Will the kids go back to school in person? Will they wear masks? Will there be sports, and if so, what will that look like? Along with the uncertainty, there has been a definite sense that what happens is out of our control. Yes, we can do all that’s in our personal power to control the spread of the virus, but there are many factors at play, and ultimately, outcomes depend on more than what we hold in our own hands. Kind of difficult for people who like to plan ahead and feel, at least a little, like they are in control!

And so, we have watched and waited. And as this has drug on, with no quick end in sight, there have been days and weeks when I have had the sense that I was in limbo, waiting for “the other shoe to drop,” stalled and sluggish.

One person described this response as “short term coping skills.” Hole up, wait for the storm to pass. Eat ice cream, play Candy Crush, bide your time. She recommended that we transition to some “long term coping.” Find out what we can do today, and do it with zest. Stop wondering what’s going to happen and focus on what is happening. Like a person undergoing treatment for a cancer diagnosis, we keep our eyes on the present, realizing that we don’t control the future, but that an uncertain future doesn’t have to paralyze our present.

In medicine, sometimes doctors prescribe “watchful waiting.” The symptoms haven’t clearly presented themselves or it is not the ideal time to treat. It is difficult for patients to understand that this is not “doing nothing.” It is staying alert and being ready to act when the time is right. It’s not being in limbo or burying one’s head in the sand, on the contrary, it is a state of heightened attentiveness and communication between the doctor and patient.

I’ve been thinking that this is the way God asks us to wait. He doesn’t want us to hibernate or twiddle our thumbs, but to keep our eyes on Him, and be ready to act when He leads us.

“Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters,
As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the Lord our God,
Until He has mercy on us.” Psalm 123:1-2 NKJV

I understand, that back in the time of ladies in waiting, the servant girl would sit quietly, with her eyes on her mistresses hands. As soon as the hand would move, she would be ready to do whatever she was needed to do. Apparently, this is where the word “handmaiden” originated. This is a very different picture of waiting than where I have been. I want to have my eyes fixed on God, watching for His hand to move, poised to move quickly do whatever He has for me to do.

There are so many verses about waiting for the Lord and waiting on Him. I love the idea that we serve by waiting. It is not inaction at all.

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning-yes, more than those who watch for the morning.” Psalm 130:5-6 NKJV

The well-loved Isaiah 40 passage includes these words, “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.” Don’t let your waiting time be a time of gaining weight and losing muscle. Let it be a time of preparation, attention to God, communication with Him and readiness to do His bidding.

Paul writes, “for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13 NRSV. He is at work. His timing and His plan is perfect. Any feeling of certainty or control in our lives is really just an illusion. “But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in Your hand…” Psalm 31:14-15 NKJV

May I encourage you with a beautiful analogy, written by Ravi Zacharias in his book Jesus Among Other Gods…
“Some years ago, I was visiting a place where some of the most beautiful saris are made. The sari, of course, is the garment worn by Indian women. It is usually about six yards long. Wedding saris are a work of art; they are rich in gold and silver threads, resplendent with an array of colors.
The place I was visiting was known for making the best wedding saris in the world. I expected to see some elaborate system of machines and designs that would boggle the mind. Not so! Each sari was being made individually by a father-and-son team. The father sat on a platform two to three feet higher than the son, surrounded by several spools of thread, some dark, some shining. The son did just one thing. At a nod from his father, he would move the shuttle from one side to the other and back again. The father would gather some threads in his fingers, nod once more and the son would move the shuttle again. This wold be repeated for hundreds of hours, till you would begin to see a magnificent pattern emerging.
The son had the easy task-just to move at the father’s nod. All along, the father had the design in his mind and brought the right threads together.”

Friend, you and I are not in limbo. We aren’t spinning our wheels, stuck in the mud. Let us not be idle, but observant. Let us be attentive to our Father, ready to do His will. He truly is at work.

God, You are at work, making something beautiful of and through Your people. Open my eyes to Your glory! Forgive me for my foolish desires to feel certain and in control. Forgive me for wasting time and wishing today away. Teach me how to live with my attention on You. Help me to remain alert and not become stagnant. Stir me up, fill me with Your Spirit, renew my strength as I wait on You. I am Your handmaiden.

-Leah