Weekend Words (Easter)

Both devotionals from Beside the Still Waters...

The Peace of God - Read: John 14:15-31

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." - John 14:27

What is the peace that God wants to give to His children?  Why did Jesus say these words to His disciples?  Consider the setting; this was only hours before Jesus' arrest.  He knew that when He was captured, the disciples would go into shock and turmoil.  The Person whom they had followed for three years would suddenly be taken out of their midst.

Do we ever feel as if our world is turned upside down?  At such times we may wonder where God is.  We may go into shock as we experience abrupt, radical changes in life.  Our world seems to be falling apart and we wonder where to turn.  God is speaking to us: "Peace I leave with you."

Philippians 4:7 says, "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."  It is a great blessing to experience peace that goes beyond our understanding.  In our human perception, there are times when things make no sense.  Our situation may seem very unfair.  However, God cares for us and we can trust in Him for our every need.  We can experience God's peace as we surrender ourselves to Him.

"And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.  And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places" (Isaiah 32:17-18).  This is God's will for us.  God wants us to realize that we do not have the answers for many questions in life.  He wants us to trust Him in all circumstances, as Job and other saints have.  The Prince of Peace knows everything about us, and we can trust in Him who holds the future in His hand.

-Samuel Beachy - Osage City, KS

The Stone Was Rolled Away - Read Mark 15:40-47, 16:1-8

"He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.  Come, see the place where the Lord lay." - Matthew 28:6

The three women hurried along, talking in hushed voices.  Who was going to roll the big stone away from the opening of the tomb?  Their combined strength would not even budge the huge stone.  Undaunted and full of faith, they walked on.

No doubt as they neared the garden, the women remembered afresh their trauma and grief from witnessing the death and burial of their beloved Jesus.  Right around the time that the sun sent its first warming rays across the Judean hills, they entered the garden.  The stone was rolled away!

Gasping in astonishment and dismay, they hurried into the hewn-out cave.  There sat a young man clothed in white garments.  "Don't be afraid," he told them kindly.  "Jesus is not here.  He has risen as He said He would.  Go and tell the others."  The women rushed out of the tomb and ran down the road to do as they were told, talking excitedly among themselves.

Jesus is risen!  Does that excite us as it did those women long ago?  Are we telling the good news to those around us?  Think also of the times when we see a huge obstacle looming in our way.  We wonder and worry.  "Who will roll away this stone?"  We forget that we serve a risen Lord.  Surely His power can roll the stone away!

Often when we finally reach the "tomb", we stand amazed.  The stone is gone!  All our worry was in vain.  May the faith and loyalty of these women inspire us to greater faith in Christ and loyalty to Him.

Jacob Stutzman - Salem, MO

Weekend Words

 Both devotionals from the Women's Devotional Study Bible (NIV)...

Happiness Is ... Matthew 16:21-28

As I've been pondering the subject of happiness this morning - an elusive and seemingly unattainable state for so many - I am led to these words of Jesus:

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it (Matthew 16:24-24).

I believe the secret of happiness lies imbedded in those words, painful though they appear to be.  How else explain radiant people like the young man who sat in our living room and described how his six-year-old boy had died in his arms from leukemia.  Today this man finds fulfillment in giving himself totally to helping college students.  Or the woman I visited recently whose husband had turned out to be a homosexual and demanded a divorce.  Some years later, this woman also lost her eyesight.  Yet she is a cheerful, loving person, fully self-supporting. 

You might say that such people almost have a right to be unhappy.  That they are not, lies in the way they spend themselves for others.

I have observed that when any of us embarks on the pursuit of happiness for ourselves, it eludes us.  Often I've asked myself why.  It must be because happiness comes to us only as a dividend.  When we become absorbed in something demanding and worthwhile above and beyond ourselves, happiness seems to be there as a by-product of the self-giving.

- Catherine Marshall

Our Great Helper - Mark 11:22-25

While searching for a book I wanted to buy recently, I heard a pleasant voice ask, "May I help you?"  Once I described the book, we soon found it.  I left the store with my requested treasure happily tucked under my arm, and I thought, "I wonder how often God asks me this same question, but I'm too busy to hear?"

Maybe he's asking if there are any mountains in our lives that we need help in moving today - mountains of disappointment, heartache or fear.  Sometimes these mountains can loom so large before us that we are no longer able to see Jesus.  Yet it's here, while sitting in the shadow of our dark, cold mountain, that we can turn to Mark 11 and read what Jesus said.  He gives us his pattern for prayer and sums up all we will ever need to know about it.  The pattern is this: pray, ask, believe, forgive.

To pray is a supernatural way of getting to know a supernatural God.  When we pray, God makes us his partners!  He chooses us to become part of his ministry here on earth.

When Jesus inquires, "May I help you?" he wants us to respond in childlike trust.  He wants us to ask.  Sometimes he answers in a miraculous way, but most of the time he simply opens our spiritual eyes and shows us what we can do to bring about the answer.  Then he gives us the ability to do it.

To believe is to give God the right to answer our prayer in the way he sees best.  Remember, Jesus never gave a sermon on unanswered prayer, because from his viewpoint, all prayers are answered. When we learn to believe God, we find our attention is no longer on our mountain.  It becomes focused instead on Jesus, who alone is worthy of our trust.

When we forgive, we open a channel to God.  Jesus asks us to forgive others "so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins" (Mark 11:25).

God longs for us to live in the joy of walking by faith - praying, asking, believing, forgiving.  When we do, we find we're no longer sitting alone in the shadow of the mountain. 

- Hope MacDonald

And this new one from Sounds Like Reign.  Enjoy!

Weekend Words

 From Secure in the Everlasting Arms...

A Dog's Thanksgiving

I remember fixing the wounded leg of my dog.  There was some struggle and a hurt crying but he kept licking my hand.  The hand of the one who was hurting him and the hand of the one who was healing him were the same, and his endurance of the one rested in his trust of the other.  "Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord" (from This Cup, by Addison Leitch [my second husband, who died in 1973]).

There are many lessons for us in the mysterious animal world.  Have we ears to hear, eyes to see, hearts to learn those sweet lessons?

Our Heavenly Healer often has to hurt us in order to heal us.  We sometimes fail to recognize His mighty love in this, yet we are firmly held always in the Everlasting Arms.  The dog's leg was hurting.  Add's ministrations were as delicate as possible, yet they hurt too, and the loyal dog accepted them and thanked him with his eyes.  Have we the humility to thank our Father for the gift of pain?

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it" (Hebrews 12:11). Let us give thanks!

From Beside the Still Waters...

Trusting the Shepherd to Lead - Read John 10:1-30

"Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." - Psalm 37:3

I had moved the cows to a fresh pasture after an inch of rain.  On a whim I decided to check on them.  What I saw made my heart race madly!  They had breached my hurriedly erected fence and were sloshing through my newly planted hay meadow, each step causing deep damage.  To drive them out was impossible; calling them was my only hope.  This would be tough.

I drove up close to the cows, then began calling as I turned towards the pasture they had just left.  Would they come?  A few lifted their heads indifferently, but then they began sloshing in my direction.  I kept calling and moving.  Would the distant ones come?  They did, but slowly.  When the cows arrived at the open gate, they stopped.  They seemed to be thinking, "this doesn't make sense - go back to where the grass is almost gone?"  Still I called in earnest, and they followed - why?  Only because they trusted me.

Our Lord leads us to green pastures and still waters.  We revel in the pleasant experiences of family worship and gathering around the Word in our congregations.  The social life of our church and community is very precious.  Then come tougher times.  Maybe God is trying to lead us where we don't want to go.  A new outreach?  An unexpected illness?  A need to downsize our business?  The loss of a loved one?  We don't understand.  We must wonder, "Lord, why?  Where do you want to lead us?  What are you trying to teach us?"

We may find ourselves balking like the cows because we insist on understanding before we can follow.  But even if we don't understand, we must "know his voice" and simply trust and follow.

 Lyle Hostetler - Shelbyville, MO

In utter trust behind Him they will tread,

They always know that from Him they'll be fed.

In confidence before them He will lead,

And wisely He fulfills their every need.

- Sandra Jantz

Autumn is in the air...

It's definitely been cooler these last few days.  The leaves on the trees have decided it's autumn too and are starting to colour...

And down at the river, some days are sunshine...

Others are cloud...

And over the back fence ...

fog

Recently started a knitting project with this lovely 'natural' wool Natasha had sent me from Vermont...

A very simple sleeveless jacket (as the pattern book calls it)...

12 ply yarn and 6.5mm needles

It knitted up so quickly, that it is now finished...

this photo was before I washed it.  It's still very 'sheepy', which I like, but a lot of the natural lanolin and dirt has now been washed out.

I'm pleased to report all the green beans and apples have been harvested and processed.  Still plenty of blackberries coming on, and I hope to make an apple and blackberry crumble this afternoon.

Back to crocheting this blanket now, that I started last winter.  On to the last ball, so should get it finished in time for this winter.

And this morning I picked up Season One of Anne with an E from the library, having watched the first episode with Marnie and really enjoyed it...

And also The Littlest Library which looked like an enjoyable read

And some thoughts from Little House on the Prairie, which makes me want to read the whole series over again :)...

"After supper they sat for a while by the camp fire.  That night they would sleep in the house; they would never sleep beside a camp fire again.  Pa and Ma talked about the folks in Wisconsin, and Ma wished she could send them a letter.  But Independence was 40 miles away, and no letter could go until Pa made the long trip to the post office there...

'Well, it's bedtime,' Ma said.  Baby Carrie was already asleep.  Ma carried her into the house and undressed her, while Mary unbuttoned Laura's dress and petticoat waist down the back, and Pa hung a quilt over the door hole.  The quilt would be better than no door...

Mary and Laura lay in their little bed on the ground inside the new house, and watched the sky through the window hole to the east...

Now they were all inside the stout walls of their new home, and they were snug and safe."

Weekend Words

 From Be Still and Know...

"Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness; thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer." (Psalm 4:1)

David lived within calling distance of God.  In time of need he lifted his SUPPLICATIONS to God.  He recognized that out of his distress good could come.  "You have freed me when I was hemmed in and enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me and hear my prayer" ((Amplified).  Someone has said, "God allowed David to be in distress for He wanted to make him a bigger man for bigger tasks."

God had SET APART David for His own.  "But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself "(Psalm 4:3).  God has set us apart, too, for Himself, not because of who we are or what we are, but because of what we can become in Christ.

David could have become bitter, thinking of his foes.  Instead, he said, "Stand in awe, and sin not, commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be STILL" (v.4).  As he became still within, he could hear God's gentle whisperings to him during the night watches.

David recognized the SECURITY of trusting the Lord.  "Put your trust in the Lord" (v.5).  People may forsake you, circumstances may change.  But God never forsakes.  We can trust Him at all times.

In spite of his troubles, David experienced a SATISFIED HEART, one filled with God-given gladness.  "Yes, the gladness you have given me is far greater than their joys at harvest time as they gaze at their bountiful crops" (Psalm 4:7 LB).  Too often we look for joy and gladness in prosperity.  But the gladness David wrote about had its source in God.  It is a "more than" gladness in the midst of trials, a gladness dependent on God.

Trusting God, he could say, "I will lie down in peace and sleep, for though I am alone, O Lord, you will keep me safe." (v. 8 LB).

Regardless of our problems today, our hearts can be filled with a God-given gladness that completely satisfies.

From Women's Devotional Bible NIV...

In the late 1800' Mrs Louisa M. R. Stead watched as her husband died while trying to save a drowning boy.  This familiar hymn was written as a response to her struggle with the "why?' questions she asked God during that difficult time.

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to take Him at His word,

Just to rest upon His promise, Just to know, "Thus saith the Lord."

I'm so glad I learned to trust thee, Precious Jesus, Saviour, Friend;

And I know that thou art with me, Wilt be with me to the end.

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him! How I've proved Him o'er and o'er!

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! O for grace to trust Him more!

- Louisa M. R. Stead

This morning I watched the BBC Songs of Praise program.  

This was one of the songs.  

Such beautiful words...

Weekend Words

 From Our Daily Bread...

Rest is a Gift from God

Tossing and turning in bed, I fretted over my list of weekly tasks.  Family, friends, and even people I barely knew depended on me.  For the fourth night in a row, I watched the clock change to three a.m. before I fell asleep.  The alarm I'd set for six a.m. shocked me into starting my day.  I snapped at my husband.  Barking orders at my son, I rushed him into the car.  I don't remember driving to his school.  But I'll never forget watching his teacher close the classroom door before I headed outside and collapsed from exhaustion onto the playground.

A friend drove me home and promised to care for my son until my husband returned from work.  My neighbor prayed over me and stayed close by until I woke up ... eight hours later.

God knows His children worry, fear, and sometimes try to do too much.  He also knows how desperately we need down time to rejuvenate physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

In Psalm 62, David says his "soul finds rest in God" (v.1).  For this wholistic revitalization, David needed to be silent and still as he leaned into God's proven trustworthiness as all-sufficient hope giver, deliverer, and protector (vv. 5-7).  Urging others to trust in God "at all times" by approaching Him with honest prayers, David demonstrates bold dependence on God and His power (vv. 8,12).

God didn't design us to be weighed down by worry or the need to meet everyone's needs.  He does, however, prove His dependability.  When we trust His constant presence and His power, we can worship Him by resting.  What a priceless gift from God!

- Xochitl Dixon

From Amish Peace...

Learning at God's Feet

"I'm asking God for one thing, only one thing: To live with him in his house my whole life long.  I'll contemplate his beauty; I'll study at his feet." (Psalm 27:4 The Message)

According to the dictionary, to contemplate means to look at or view with continued attention, to meditate, or to ponder.  When did you last take time to contemplate something?

The Amish live a simple lifestyle, which allows them time to interact more with nature.  The slow pace of the buggy - without cell phone, talk radio, or CD player - allows time to view the world God created.  Working in a field, a barn, or a garden does the same.  When we take time to notice it and to ponder the goodness of God, who created it, we realize that the whole world is a display of God's beauty.

This reminds me of the story of two sisters in the Bible.  Martha was busy serving in the kitchen, focusing on caring for Jesus and his disciples.  Martha's sister, Mary, sat at Jesus' feet, listening to His words and contemplating Him.  Martha let Jesus know she wasn't thrilled about the fact that she was left with all the work.  Most of us would have been right there with Martha.  But instead of telling Mary to speed up, Jesus told Martha to slow down: "The Lord said to her, 'My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details!  There is only one thing worth being concerned about.  Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her'" (Luke 10:41-42).

Do you get worried and upset over details?  Do they keep replaying in your mind?  Take time to ponder the world around you, to remember that your loving Creator has everything in His hands, and that sitting at Jesus' feet is the most important thing we can do.

Dear heavenly Father, the more I contemplate Your goodness, the more my whole world takes on shades of hope and light.  Forgive me for steaming ahead without You.  I'm here now, Lord, at Your feet.  Help me to see Your beauty.

Weekend Words (a day late due to headaches)

 From Our Daily Bread...

A Right Side-Up Kingdom

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus presents the foundational ideas that describe life in His kingdom.  Because these landmark ideas are so counter-cultural to the way life is pursued in our world, scholars have referred to His teaching as the presentation of an upside-down King for an upside-down kingdom.

However, it's our world that's upside-down.  It's the value system and mindset of the surrounding culture that's turned the world's thinking on its head.

We need a serious corrective to our upside-down perspectives, and Jesus' opening statements of blessing - known as the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12) - are almost shocking in the way they challenge our thinking and values.  What Jesus calls blessed, the world would call foolish.  After all, who would describe the poor, grieving, or persecuted as the blessed?  Well, Jesus would.  And He did:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

These statements of blessing don't constitute a path into relationship with the King or citizenship in His kingdom.  They describe the person already living under the influence of the one true King.  So, for example, the mourners aren't blessed because they mourn (v.4).  They are blessed because God will respond to their mourning with comfort.  It's not a statement of transaction but of hope and expectation.  In the midst of their grief, they know that God is the God of all comfort.

In the right-side-up kingdom of Jesus, He assures us that His responses to whatever we encounter will always be more than enough to carry us through.  When we see that our state of blessedness comes not from life's circumstances but rather by the faithfulness of the King who cares for His people, we can begin to live life right-side-up.

- Bill Crowder