Beholding His Face

Beholding His Face

Carolyn

Our church has a wonderful ministry to moms and their young children called Mom2Mom. I am one of the “mentor moms” since I and my children are older. At each monthly gathering, a mentor mom will share a short devotional. I did this last year, and you can read it here, and this week I was honored to share again. This is what I shared.

My Weakness

It is rather ironic to me that I should, first, be involved in this moms ministry and, second, be asked to share. This is because growing up, I was the younger of two girls, and my mom and my sister did everything for me. They did all the cooking and cleaning, and I did as little housework as possible. I was not that domestically minded, and I rarely babysat. So when my own children came along, I loved them wildly, but I didn’t know the first thing about how to take care of them! I was learning through each stage of their development, and as soon as I would figure out that stage and feel on top of things, they had moved right on to the next stage! And just when I thought I had things mastered with my first child and would be an expert with my second (yes, I really expected this!), she came along three months early and threw a wrench into that plan!

Also, my children aren’t yet grown. When I think about giving wise advice to young moms, I’m not even proven! So while it would be great to bring in adult children and point to them, and therefore to me, as models of all that wise parenting can bring, the reality is my kids aren’t that old. Though they have faith that is growing, we’re all still learning and growing, and our story is ongoing—though in reality, I know that’s the case for everyone.

So rather than point to my kids or point to me—which even if I could, I wouldn’t want to—I wanted to point all of us to look up and into the face of Jesus Christ.

Easter and God’s Grace

We just finished the Easter season where I was struck again at the thought of what Jesus has done for us. We who are sinners, separated from a holy God by our sin, are able to know God and have fellowship with Him through Jesus’ death and resurrection. He took the place we deserved, bore the penalty and weight of our sin on the cross, and rose again in victory. Now by faith in Jesus, we are restored to relationship with God. What grace! We didn’t do this; God did! That’s how much He loves us. And there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

This gives me great hope, not just for an eternal future with God, but for even today—abundant life in the here and now. When I make a mistake as a parent, be it from ignorance, by accident, through my sin, or whatever it is, I have a God who loves me, who offers forgiveness, who helps me, and who can give me wisdom for parenting.

This doesn’t mean I hang my hands and do nothing as a mom, just trusting God to take care of everything. While I am indeed dependent on Him and trust it will be His Spirit’s work in my children’s life that transforms them, I nonetheless know that I need to teach my children, and I want to do all I can to show my children the grace and love of God that He has shown to me. Rather than simply trying to change their behavior, I want to see into their hearts and help shepherd them to Jesus. I so often fail, but I’m so thankful that God helps me in this wonderful adventure of being a mom.

Beauty Found in His Face

I have just come through a couple of surgeries for skin cancer on my face. During this time, as I wrestled with the idea of having a scar, I was reminded again of the massive love of Jesus for us, that He would suffer and die and bear scars in His body for us (John 20:24-29). Imagine that!

One of the big things I came to realize, though, was that beauty is not found in the absence of scars, but in the presence of Christ. Through my time reading God’s Word, the Bible, each day, He brought me to verse after verse to show me this truth.

Exodus 34 is about Moses who, after having spent time with God, came down from the mountain. His skin shone, and his face was so radiant that the people were afraid, and he had to wear a veil.

Psalm 34:5 says, “Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.” The radiant face comes from looking at Him. 

2 Corinthians 4:6 tells us that the light of the knowledge of the glory of God is found in the face of Jesus Christ.

In Psalm 80, the psalmist asks that God would restore them, that He would make His face shine that they might be saved.

Psalm 67:1-2 similarly says, “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.”

Brokenness and Beauty/Suffering and Glory

During this time, I also began to see that God takes broken things and makes them beautiful so they we might shine for Him. This is also similar to the way He takes our light and momentary afflictions (brokenness) and through them produces an eternal weight of glory (beauty, shining) far beyond all comparison (2 Cor. 4:17, Rom. 8:18).

These experiences are working out something in us that will actually make us more beautiful and able to reflect and shine for Him if we go through them beholding His face and His beauty. Our beauty comes from Him. And we can actually ascribe beauty to His name through our praise (Ps. 29:1-2), which I pray will ever be on my lips and in my mouth (Ps. 34:1), even as a scar sits there to remind me of this necessity.

How Do We Behold His Face?

The question then becomes “How do we behold His face?” We can do this through the study of God’s Word and through prayer, in both ways taking pleasure in the presence of Christ.

Study the Bible

It’s important to study God’s Word, the Bible, not just good books, helpful though they might be at giving us practical parenting tips. Set aside time to read the Bible each day. It can be a psalm or using a Bible reading plan or doing a Bible study. It was through Women’s Bible Study at our church that I began to grow and learn and be transformed by God’s Spirit through spending time daily in His Word. This is a vital spiritual discipline. God’s Word will not return void.

Pray God’s Word

Similarly, we want to pray. Pray before we read the Bible asking God to open our eyes and heart to understand. We can also take what we read in Scripture and pray it back to God, pray it for our children. Here’s one way I’ve done that this year.

May His Face Shine Upon You

The content of this talk has been new to me recently, a new theme, and I haven’t had time to wrap it up into a neat outline. These are therefore somewhat disconnected thoughts that I would like to shape more, but I hope you will remember God’s grace and His face when you think of this talk! And I conclude with Numbers 6:24-26:

The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.

His Faithfulness Reaches to the Skies

His Faithfulness Reaches to the Skies

Carolyn

I had the blessing of spending this morning just before sunrise alone on the beach. It surprised me that no one else was up. The beach was packed yesterday with spring break-goers, yet it was though this time had been reserved just for me. A gift.

I read from Psalm 108:1-6, reflecting on God’s faithfulness that reaches to the skies (Psalm 36:5-6).

It seems the more I know the Lord, the more I see how unworthy and sinful my heart is. Isn’t that just the opposite of what we would expect? The more we know Him, the better we are, we might think. But in reality, the more I come to know Him, the more I see my sinful heart and how faithless I am. This is my experience at least.

And through Him, the power of His Holy Spirit and His strength, we certainly are able to love and obey and serve and please Him, but this I find I truly cannot do on my own, in my own power, by my own strength. (The apostle Paul articulates these ideas far better in Romans and other parts of the New Testament!)

I walked the beach praising Him for HIS faithfulness, because I am not faithful. He does it all for us. He is the covenant maker and the covenant keeper. I think of what we just remembered with Good Friday and Easter Sunday, Jesus laying down His life for us, giving us His righteousness, we sinners, poor and needy, as the song says.

It was good to awaken with the dawn, to start the day in praise to Him for His steadfast love and faithfulness.

I found this commentary from Matthew Henry on Psalm 108:1-13 that so well describes some of what has been on my heart.

We may usefully select passages from different psalms… to help our devotions, and enliven our gratitude. When the heart is firm in faith and love, the tongue, being employed in grateful praises, is our glory. Every gift of the Lord honours and profits the possessor, as it is employed in God’s service and to his glory. Believers may pray with assured faith and hope, for all the blessings of salvation; which are secured to them by the faithful promise and covenant of God. Then let them expect from him help in every trouble, and victory in every conflict. Whatever we do, whatever we gain, God must have all the glory. Lord, visit all our souls with this salvation, with this favour which thou bearest to thy chosen people.

And I’ll end with this song which was filling my heart as I walked the beach.

Remembering and Waiting

Remembering and Waiting

Carolyn

 

I love finding little notes in my Bible–like nuggets of gold, or better, stones of remembrance–reminding me of God’s faithfulness during certain periods of life. I came upon this yesterday, March 16, 2016, that pointed back to this date in 2011, 5 years ago.

In November 2010, I had been approached about a potential job at our church. Though I already had a job I loved as Director of Admissions and Marketing at a small classical school that my husband and I had been involved with from its start in 2006, we didn’t want to dismiss the opportunity without prayer. Over the next four months, we prayed and took each next step of a lengthy interview process. Somewhere along that path, I withdrew my name, but I didn’t have peace.

As I continued to pray, the Lord continued to speak and lead, and through a variety of circumstances, I re-entered the process. I knew that by putting my name back in, I was saying to myself if they offered me the job, I would accept it. That was a huge step, to be able to let go of something I loved, not knowing what the new job would really end up being.

Though I re-entered the process, it had been a few weeks, and they had moved on, and it was possible it was too late. I became stressed about the situation–that I might not be offered the job now that I felt it was so clearly from the Lord, and also that I would have to leave something that, through God’s grace and strength, I helped start and had invested my life in for 5 years. I would be giving up something that had almost become synonomous with who I was–part of my identity, even an idol to me.

As I went through those days of waiting, I came upon these two verses which God used to give me peace:

Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD! Psalm 27:14

The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped. Psalm 28:7

These verses caused me to stop and reflect on all the reasons I believed this new job was from the Lord and right for me and my family. As I remembered each step of those four months He had brought me through, I was absolutely convinced this was the call He had for me. And so in that moment, I believed God. I trusted what He had shown me. And I decided that I would wait patiently for the church to come back to me with the job offer, recognizing and believing that would indeed happen.

It gave me total peace as only God’s Word and His Spirit can do. It was two days later that I was called and offered the job. I was told I could take time to think about it and pray. I remember replying that wouldn’t be necessary. I had prayed for four months, and I was confident this was from the Lord. I accepted on the spot, so convinced of God’s plan.

I guess a rather humorous point was that I was then asked if I would like to know how much money I would make! Oh, yes, forgot about that. That would be good to know! But when the call of the Lord becomes so certain, you know all the parts of it will work themselves out. And it’s been a great joy to have been serving in our church now for the last almost 5 years, seeing evidence over and over why it was from the Lord and the right thing. I love records like this that bring it back to mind, and I thank the Lord again for His gracious provision and clear leading.

Sing Praises

Sing Praises

Carolyn

Psalm 47 is part of my daily Bible reading today, part of the plan for reading through the Bible in a year. As I read, “Sing praises to God, sing praises; Sing praises to our King, sing praises” (v.6), it reminded me of learning this verse one summer with a 6th grade Sunday school class that I taught. It was easy to learn and stuck with me.

Singing praises reminded me of the story in Acts 16 where Paul and Silas had been beaten and imprisoned, their feet fastened in the stocks (v. 22-24). In the midst of these circumstances, they were praying and singing hymns of praise to God (v. 25)! The prisoners were listening to them (v. 25). (Who is it that hears our praise? Might others also be impacted?)

Suddenly there was an earthquake and the prison was shaken, all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened (v. 26). The jailer, roused from sleep, seeing the open doors, was preparing to kill himself thinking the prisoners had escaped (v. 27). But Paul cried out to let him know they were all there (v. 28). Trembling with fear, the jailer fell down before Paul and Silas, brought them out, and asked, “What must I do to be saved?” (v. 29-30).

Acts 16:31, Paul tells the jailer, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household.” Paul and Silas then spoke the word of the Lord to him and all who were in his house (v. 32). The jailer washed their wounds, and he and his household were immediately baptized, having believed in God (v. 33-34).

I love this story, partly because it began with prayers and singing praise to God in a prison cell. Where do we find ourselves? In our situation, can we sing praise to God? As they prayed and sang hymns to God, “suddenly” the earthquake came and opened the doors and broke their chains, setting them free physically. And ultimately, the dramatic event was used by God to set the jailer and his household free spiritually as they believed in God. And I wonder, what might prayer and praise set me free of?

It’s not that it will automatically change my circumstances, but it might just change my heart in the midst of the circumstances as I focus my eyes on God and pray and praise Him. Do I ever really consistently do this to see what might happen? And not just to receive something, but first and primarily to give honor and glory to God, my King and Savior, the One whom I can trust no matter where I find myself.

I’m dropping in some songs below, ones that God has used to speak to me over the last couple of weeks, songs of encouragement and hope during my current season. They remind me that my present circumstances come from a loving God whom I can praise, even during difficult days, for He is worthy and has good plans for my life.

A New Year’s Resolution

A New Year’s Resolution

Carolyn

For the coming year, our church is encouraging us to all read the entire Bible together. They have provided a wonderful resource to guide us through it, based on the Discipleship Journal’s plan.

Two years ago, I wrote about my first experience of reading through the Bible in a year as I considered my new year’s resolution. (You can read that here.)

This past year, I started again to read the whole Bible in a year, taking a different approach than chronological. This time I read four different parts of the Bible each day, using the M’Cheyne Bible reading plan, and reading For the Love of God by D.A. Carson, daily devotions to accompany that plan. I invited a friend to do the same.

It was absolutely one of the most beautiful studies of the Bible I had ever done. I was fascinated with seeing the big picture of the Bible, the ways things from the Old Testament were tying into the New Testament. It gave me a place to go each morning when otherwise I would have wondered where to read.

Sometime during the year, though, I started a Bible study and stopped my daily reading plan, thinking I couldn’t do both. I have missed it. And I had long forgotten starting the year reading my Bible with my friend and talking about that with her — until I got an email from my friend this morning. She told me she had just finished reading her Bible all the way through for the first time, thanking me for that encouragement to do this.

It surprised me. I hadn’t thought about it in months. She is reaping the reward of that diligent reading of God’s Word that I missed. And it struck me that with a little encouragement and support, this is something we can all do together.

The reading and study of God’s Word, which is living and active (Hebrews 4:12), has so many benefits (Psalm 119, to name a few) and will not return void (Isaiah 55:11). It is so worthwhile and can literally change our lives. As Bible teacher Nancy Guthrie once said, “Day by day, as I was in the Word, the Word did a work in me.”

I’m looking forward to reading the Bible this year with my church and invite you to join me in this, too!

Happy New Year!