Remembering

I'm working on week 7 right now in my Bible study, Believing God, and today's lesson was about remembering. She taught about how when God remembers, He acts, which is evident throughout the Bible in various places. Then she taught about how when we are feeling down because of our situations we need to remember His faithfulness to us in the past, and choose to praise Him in spite of our feeling. Here's the passage from Lamentations that I read this morning:

"I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I hoped from the Lord." I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I remember them well, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet I call this to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."


I never think to read Lamentations, and yet I'm so glad it was in the lesson today, because I think the above verses (3:17-24) are key. When we are angry over our current situation, and disappointed that things are not prosperous and peaceful, there is a solution. Jeremiah (the writer) says to "call this to my mind", and to "say to myself". We need to remind ourselves of the Lord's great love, and how He has been faithful in the past, and that He has a portion for us which is greater than we can imagine. He has a future and hope for us, and a plan to prosper us, therefore, we choose to wait for Him.

I found this so helpful because so often my emotions get on a roll and I can't seem to stop them at all. I may know in my head that what I'm feeling is not right, but I feel powerless to quit feeling the emotion. But here there is hope. I can choose to call to mind how He's been faithful in the past, and remind myself of His faithfulness, and I need not be consumed with the emotion of all of it because of His great love. Does anyone else struggle with this? It's probably one my biggest aggravations this past year. There have been so many times that I know what is right, and what the right action is, and yet my emotions seem to steamroll me, leaving me powerless to act differently. I take consolation in 1 John 3:19-20, and suspect that I'm not the first child of God to struggle with this if the Lord chose to include this in His word:

"This then is...how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts and knows everything."

That phrase "set our hearts at rest" - it's so appealing to me. How much I would love to have a heart that is at rest in the presence of God! I believe from this verse that He knows those times when I feel overwhelmed by my feelings, and He's able to know my desire above what my heart chooses to feel. Lord that you would give us your power to rule our emotions and bring them under your authority.

Surprise!

You never saw it coming, did you?! I could pretend that I haven't blogged in 7 months because I was waiting for the perfect level of suspense, but I think we all know that'd be a lie, and truthfully I'm just a total slacker in keeping this thing updated. I could spend the remainder of this post telling you the updates from the past 7 months, but instead I'm going to write about something that got me thinking this morning...

I recently started a new study called Believing God written by Beth Moore. I'm on week 2, and it's already stretching my thoughts on faith. Today, she used a phrase that really jumped off the page at me: "pleased to redeem". The context of this was whether or not we believe that God is willing, able, and pleased to redeem anything in our life for our good, and His glory. When I read it, I realized that I think He is willing and able, but I don't necessarily believe He is "pleased" to redeem anything in my life, including my past failures. I've kinda been operating under the assumption that He just forgives my failures and then tries to use what's left. I've never pictured Him as being pleased to redeem them. Pleased: as in taking pleasure from. I'm gonna have to let that one work on me a little, but my initial thought is that this completely changes my view of how He looks at me.

Lousy Blogger

that's what I am. Yep, I'm terrible at keeping this thing updated. Some would wonder why even bother, and you'd be validated in that thought. But nonetheless, here I am. Here's the summary of everything that's happened since January... yes, I'm aware that I've completely missed February.

Stress.

Yep, that's it. The End.

Ok, well we did have a fabulous Valentine's Day, minimal details to follow, and I went to Atlanta to participate in Girls Weekend 2008. For Valentine's we went to dinner at Rockfish, a seafood grill, and one of our local favorites. After a delicious dinner, and a sinfully good chocolate lava cake with ice cream on top, we went back home and spent some much needed time relaxing.

Later that same week, I went to ATL to get together with my college roommates. We only get together about once a year anymore, but we never have problems picking up right where we left off. There's never a shortage of laughs, or good food. In fact, it's what we do best: we laugh and we eat - good. We started out the weekend by staying up til 3:30am, and quickly deduced the next morning, that we're way too old now to do that anymore. Then, we were off for a day of shopping, beginning at IKEA. Very fun store to look around, and dream in, but I'd say the best part was the Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and lignonberry jam. I realize it sounds like a bizarre un-natural combination, but it's delicious! yes, delicious. Oh yeah, and they have good chocolate. :) We spent the rest of the afternoon, poking into shops we like, and finally ended at PittyPat's Porch. Isn't that the most fun name? Even better, it's a restaurant in downtown ATL. Their specialty is Southern cuisine, so we had some. And what else would you have when enjoying southern cooking? Fried Chicken, first of all, BBQ ribs, cucumber salad, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, black bottom pie, and peach cobbler. And we shared, because we always share meals when we get together, and because we couldn't possibly eat all that food individually. Overall, good times were shared, and little sleep was obtained, and I'm glad I went.

So, why did I lead off by saying that Stress was what has happened at our house? Well, because it's been more than the usual day-to-day for the last few months. Joseph's professors all assign homework as if they're the only class that he has within in a week, not one of many, to the point that it's very stressful for him to get homework and studying done for all of his classes. My job has been very stressful starting in January, and is only now just beginning to lighten slightly. By the end of the day, we both look at each other glassy-eyed, and wonder if it's over yet. Oh, did I mention that I also squeezed in a 2-day business trip to Dallas that same week of Valentine's Day? It's just been nuts, and we're both ready for a real break.

All that said, God is good. Despite the stress of these past months, He's been faithful. He's shown new insights, and given calm assurances throughout. My quiet times with Him have been rich with peace, and refreshing, giving me strength for the day. I have no doubt He will continue to provide peace for tomorrow.