Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Prescription For Joy

(Picture by Karlie, edited by me)
I have been thinking on a verse for a few days now, wondering at it and asking the LORD to teach me from it....
“For thus said the LORD God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” (Isaiah 30:15)
Our Lord knows us, and He desires what is best for us!  
Do you need strength to do what is required of you?
Are you feeling heavy-hearted, weighed down?  
One of the LORD’s most precious words of love to us is sprinkled through out the Bible...return to Him. I am learning to say to my soul “Return to your Lover”.  There are many things in a day that may distract me or cause me to “look” another way...may be a stress, or a problem, a worry, or struggle...so moment by moment I want to remind myself where I should be.  Another thing is that when I am focusing on those stresses, problems, worries or struggles, I am most likely not feeling the “rest” that I am longing for.  That is because I am trying to fix things and not submitting my heart and soul to Him who loves me...which is why I must first tell myself to “return” to the LORD because it is in Him and Him alone that I will find rest.  
Here’s an example...
I am feeling troubled as a mother by some training issues with a few little ones.  I feel tired and weary as I seek the best way to handle some things.  However, if I tell myself to “return” to the LORD, I am not ignoring the problem, but I returning to Him with it, talking to Him about it, handling it FROM my relationship with Him, instead of handling it by myself.  Obviously, this is a more restful place, because I am submitting willingly and lovingly to Him and I will find rest and be saved....
be saved from what?  My own sins for one.  Doing it My way;  seeking what I want to happen in a particular situation; my expectations of what SHOULD happen.  I can tell you from lots of experience (confession here), that when I am trying to get things the way I want them (even good things), I am not feeling so restful...it’s HARD to try to be god and solve the problems of my world!!!  When I return to the LORD though, and make myself rest in Him, I can be sure that I will be saved!!!
HOWEVER,  there is an important MORE in this verse;
Remember, I asked you (and me) if you need strength to do what is required?
Then we must also seek it IN quietness and IN trust.  
Have you ever wanted a “white knight” to come in and save you and just solve all your problems?  We all have!!!!  I have always loved, LOVED these words that my dad has said to me many times in my life - “It’ll be all right”.  What ever I was going through, I felt better because my dad had assured me that things would be O.K.  I have come through a few hard things, as I know you have, and I can tell you, I hung onto those words spoken by my daddy like they were a life line.  In fact, they mean so much to me that when we first were married, I was frustrated at Steve because he didn’t say those words to me when I needed to hear them...and I felt scared!!!  He has learned, and I have even told him that I needed to hear him say that things would be O.K.  See, I BELIEVED my dad when he said things would be ok...I trusted him, and I found strength to keep going.  
We must be like that child in me that believed and stills believes that my dad can and will make things OK;
only we must believe it of our Heavenly Father.  We must rely upon God with a holy confidence that He can do what He will and will do what is best.  And this is our strength!
I called this post “Prescription For Joy” because I believe the LORD wants to fill us with His joy, and I believe we will begin to find that joy as we remind ourselves to “return” to the LORD, may be SEVERAL times a day (I have and do so almost hourly sometimes!!!).
Did you notice the two titles that I used for the LORD in this post?
Lover and Father.  
That is the cry of my heart....to be loved by my Heavenly Lover and to be cared for by my Heavenly Father.  
Let’s start returning....

6 comments:

  1. I started reading your blog a couple of months ago. Thank you for your post. Thoughtful, honest and profound. I am reading a book - Present Perfect by Gregory Boyd - which speaks to your very thoughts. It's a great read.

    If you don't mind - as you have a heart for the nations ... may I share about a couple of great non-profits... http://theadventureproject.org/ The Adventure Project which is selling COAL this Christmas... cute idea, right?? $20 will buy a lump of coal - which is really a charcoal effecient stove for a family in Haiti.

    Also - Water 4 Christmas has an Etsy shop - http://www.etsy.com/shop/Water4Christmas which is selling super cute handmade Christmas gifts - where 100% of all profits go to clean water projects in West Africa.

    I just thought you and some of your readers might be interested ...
    Thanks for your time.
    Have a beautiful day!

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  2. Wow. I needed to hear this so very badly today. I have been reading your blog for just a short time and have been inspired greatly each time I stop to listen to others. I am a foster mother and am going through a great trial right now with a child we have had for quite some time. It is hard. So hard. We have had so many come and go but this one is different and the sleepless nights are often more than I can handle. I know God loves us and wants what is best for all of us. Sometimes it is just hard to see when we are in the midst of struggles that we want to fix ourselves or make go away entirely. Like you, I have to remind myself hourly most days lately to 'Be STILL". Psalms 46:10 has been my salvation for many weeks now and all day lately I say out loud "Kayce, Be STILL" because I need to hear the words. I know He is God and he has this all worked out. Thank you for your post and reminding me to return to Him.
    Blessings,
    Kayce, bio-mom to 3, foster mom to 1 (currently)

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  3. I so needed to read this advice today! Thank you for your words of wisdom. And it makes me feel better that you have child training issues, too.

    Celee

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  4. this is really eloquently put, Shonni. I love it that these are some of the same thoughts I have, and you put them into words so well. It is really neat to read that there are others who have the same daily struggles - the same longings in their heart - the same love for our Father - the same common denominator of trusting faith. I think it's so neat that God can cause people to find each other thousands of miles apart - but friends in spirit. xo

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