Faith Archives - Page 14 of 28

November 15, 2012 by Karin 2 Comments

So, Do You?

I went looking for answers.

I wanted to know.

My sixpack of kids have asked me, and I just didn’t know enough to satisfy – myself, or them.

I wanted to know.

What are God’s Promises?

Well, don’t you know… when you go asking God some questions…

He answers

He answers with brilliant clarity… with subtle signs… with barely breathed whispers…

But, He answers.

And, then.

Then, He tests to see if you were paying attention. He nudges to see if you took notes etched on the heart.

He asks a question right back.

Do you believe Me?

Oh, a beautiful journey to be certain… this sleuthing for divine truth. A thrill to discover just one more nugget.

Eye-opening, reassuring, even in the places of discomfort.

But.

Do I believe Him?

Every time?

In every situation?

He is asking me this. He is putting my newfound knowledge to the test. A grace-filled gift. This unnerving place of a pop-quiz in the flesh. The question is one. One question. Aimed at the harvest of this one heart.

Have these seeds taken root? Are the roots searching without end for the water of life? Will this seed yield a good crop?

I wrote for 31 days straight. Aiming directly at His truth… every day.

Then, I stopped.

Seized in a moment of awe. Watching life unfold around me. The unexpected. The fear gripping. The worry. The questions.

Through all this… He asks me right now.

Do you trust Me?

I whisper small, awestruck, to the voice of Ages.

Yes

This unraveling of presumed control. Unravelling into His arms of grace. Mercy. Faithfulness.

I have a story. I am watching it unravel. I am waiting.

Waiting to see where He is taking me.

And now.

I trust.

Are you in the middle of a story? Are you waiting on Him? Do you find yourself in this place of trust?

Isaiah 40:30-31

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

November 11, 2012 by Karin 2 Comments

The Seventh Day

Sometimes a break is good.

I’ve heard it said… when you don’t know what to do… do nothing.

Of course, nothing is relative. The nothing I’m talking about is the pounding of keys. The spilling of words onto screen.

The laundry in my mind, a jumbled pile of whites, darks, colors.

A time to stop. And sort.

so on the seventh day He rested.

Not because He needed it, but to show us how to do it. Modeling for us, the determined workaholic, task-a-holic, chore-a-holic children of His. Demonstrating growth ~ through stillness.

Babies. They go through some of their most intense periods of growth… while they are sleeping. Growing, wears them completely out. And, they sleep. Smart little things.

We, sage grown-ups, on the other hand, plow through our exhaustion. Determined to get. it. done. Whatever it is. Knowing full well, that it is never really done anyway. Define insanity. Over and over and over again, we press on through weariness, burning eyes, blurred emotions, discombobulated thoughts. We press on… growing more and more wasted in our own skin. And, nothing changes. Clarity does not arrive at our doorstep. Peace does not show up. At the end of our endless tasks… the rest does not appear. Only more tasks. Insane.

He showed us how to put. it. down.

Rest.

A conscious decision to cease movement and tasks. It does not come naturally to us. Today’s people. There are endless distractions. We can easily fill in our own blanks with thing after thing after thing.

Then, one day, eyes open… and out of the cartoonish blur of fists, feet, frantic motion… flies a worn soul. Exhausted.

This is not His plan for us.

He knew we would need it. Not sometimes. But, every week.

so on the seventh day He rested.

He knew we would need this time to recharge, sort thoughts, soothe the soul. Just plain sleep.

Strangely, I find this practice of rest… requires practice.

Baby steps.

Learning how to rest. Baby steps… cues for this mama of 6.

R inger off. (on ALL devices. Just 1 hour. Then, build up time from there. To 1 day.)

E ngage with the kids. The spouse. The family. The friends. Just BE. In each other’s company.

S leep. Whenever the chance arrises and the eyes long for it. (even if a cat nap is all that can be achieved)

T ake a deep breath. Hold it. Breathe out. Repeat. Look around. All you see now is all that is real. Right now.

Now, I am off to rest… as He demonstrated and prescribed.

I pray rest for you. Rest.

Genesis 2:2

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

October 31, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

Sketch of a Child (#31)

PROMISE #31 ~ ETERNAL LIFE

She wanders over to me, this 9-year-old sweetheart, and shows me…

Look, Mom, I want to draw something for you.

Hm, I whisper softly, distracted by some other something else.

I’m going to draw something that I know.

She goes to work, penning carefully… the design flowing from her young mind.

Studiously she creates the image, and begins to explain.

Look, Mom, here is where we are.

On this side. We are standing on a cliff.

See, here is a big gap. There, there is the other side, the other cliff.

The gap is just too big for us to jump.

There, on the other side… that’s God.

We can’t get to Him…

because He is perfect…

and we are not.

My preoccupied mind, now rapt with attention. This young girl, heart wide open… continues.

We were separated from Him.

But, look.

There in the middle. There is Jesus.

It’s because of Him… because of Him, that we can go to God.

See.

She sketches the child drawing… and etches her mama’s mind.

It’s that simple. See.

So simple a child sees it… sees it so clearly, that she can take pen to paper… and draw it.

Drawn out for the world to see.

Her sparkling chocolate eyes, lit with fiery love… look into mine.

There. That’s how we get to God.

Another voice breaks my thoughts, my gaze, my wonder at the faith of a child.

Well, it’s a good thing I know exactly where I’m going.

I’m going to heaven.

A gleeful younger sister chirps from the side. Flinging smooth locks over her shoulder… and skipping away.

That’s it. So simple a child can draw it, see it, know it.

Just because He says so.

This faith drawing me lower… to go higher.

Right to the face of the Father.

Just by believing.

This journey of promises. 31 days of seeking His word. It culminates here.

Between two cliffs. Standing in the gap. On His grace. Mercy. Promise.

PROMISE #31 ~ God promises us eternal life, with Him. Eternal Life. Just for believing Him in His promise.

John 6:46-48

No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life.

October 30, 2012 by Karin 2 Comments

Grace Dance (#30)

PROMISE #30 ~ GRACE

The storm outside blows furiously. Her name is Sandy.

Sandy… a benign name for a massive force of nature, which may be why she has been nicknamed “Frankenstorm.”

I busy myself with laundry, cleaning, preparing. Filling water bottles, bathtubs, flashlights. Cooking pizzas, popcorn, chicken.

The preparation for a possible power outage.

Who knows if we’ll lose power? Who knows if trees will fall? Who knows what food will remain edible? Who knows how hard, how long, how furiously the winds will blow? How high the waters will rise?

I busy myself with the preparation… while my warrior prepares the things of warriors. Protection of the masses. The waiting game… waiting for word to assist the ones who may fall victim to damage from ferocious winds… rains.

I’ve watched the spectacular fall-tinted leaves… as they are ripped from their home base.

Flung wide.

Here’s a funny thing. I have been chasing God’s promises for 29 days. I vowed to complete 31. I suppose I made the vow to myself… my own self-promise. So, I am bound and determined to finish it. I am so close. I promised God that I would go for 31 days.

The 31 day promise seeking… a promise to myself… to God. And now, I face a possible power outage. Now, of course, this is not the greatest tragedy facing millions at this moment. This is nothing of fear. This really is no big deal in the big picture. It is simply something I wanted to finish. For me. For God.

Then, the words… the words from a dear sister ring in my mind.

It’s all in the prepositions.

It has nothing to do with “for”

It has everything to do with… “with”

I paraphrase the beautiful wisdom from a dear soul, so eloquently spoken to hundreds.

This thought… burying itself deep.

He doesn’t need us to do FOR Him. He wants us WITH Him.

He’s got it. He, after all, is God.

My fingers dance across the keyboard as the wind gusts ebb and flow outside the barriers of these four walls.

This dancing of fingers, for Him… change to a dancing ~ with Him.

I may or may not finish the 31 days. We may or may not lose power, trees, food, water…

We dance with Him, in this swirling world. Once again, opening hands to the Father… hands taken for the dance.

With Him.

This grace… His grace… a gift.

Not one thing I ever do, we ever do… will deserve it.

His grace. His grace is sufficient.

As we dance.

PROMISE #30 ~ God gives grace… His grace is sufficient.

2 Corinthians 12:9

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

October 29, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

Missed Mercy (#29)

PROMISE #29 ~ MERCY

I just rocked my sleepy, sniffly baby back to sleep.

Her blue eyes glistened, peering into mama’s face… and then closed to sweet slumber.

A memory. Recent.

Blue eyes. A pair of blue eyes, only briefly noticed…

The photographer’s shutter furiously snapping. I stood in contorted positions in the attempt to appear… natural. Feeling awkward on the city street, a glance tossed over my shoulder.

A man. Gruff, appearing older than his unrecognizable years… under the gray, worn stubble, weathered skin.

He stumbled in our direction… blue eyes. The blue glazed by years, pain, alcohol, homelessness.

what’s that do?

His gruff, garbled voice questioned, pointing to the white circular disk above my head.

It makes light.

The photographer answered uneasily.

But, it’s a cloudy day.

He murmured, intrigued by the scene before him.

That’s why we need the light.

He gazed for a moment, gathered his tattered clothes closely to him, and slid away.

Camera calmed its clicking. I collected my bag and returned to my busy day.

He left my mind for a while… then, the blue eyes. They pierced my thoughts.

I did nothing.

All this talk of love, and hope, and grace, and hands, and feet… and mercy…

And I did. Nothing.

I remembered the money in my pocket.

Why didn’t I give him the money?

Would it have made a difference?

Would he have spent it on food? More alcohol?

Does it matter?

All the thoughts of showing love to this body of Christ… and nothing… when a broken body part slips quietly away.

He had wanted to know what we were doing. Making light. Reflecting light. Being light.

My light had dimmed… for a moment. The moment a soul needed light on his cloudiest day.

His eyes, just as blue a baby-eye to his mama, many years ago.

What happens when the eyes fade, the body breaks, the soul dims… searching for light?

A confession to God, to me, to you. I hid His light. Cloaked mercy behind my own discomfort, uncertainty, fear.

What good is it to shine spotlights across oceans, to distant lands so desperately in need of light…

when we dim the light on our own streets?

This light… made to be far-reaching… and near. At the same time.

My remorse of my inaction, an offering, a prayer that I would shine His light brighter the next time.

A prayer for the man with the faded blue in his eyes. That God would show mercy to the grown baby of another mother…

even when I didn’t.

PROMISE #29 ~ God is merciful.

Titus 3:4-6

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,

So, Do You?

The Seventh Day

Sketch of a Child (#31)

Grace Dance (#30)

Missed Mercy (#29)

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