Tag: Streams in the Desert

• Day 22: Comforting

  Posted at 8:23 am by How the Light Gets In, on November 22, 2020

  

  Day 22; Honey shows us how comforting the light can be.

  The old girl reminds me how warm and enveloping light feels. Every day she seeks out the brightest spot and basks in the warmth of it.

  COMFORTING

  Random transition here but – I used to think it was bad to write in my Bible. I thought it somehow disrespected the book or God. Or maybe I just thought it looked messy? Either way. My Bible was crisp and clean.

  Not anymore. Scriptures are underlined, highlighted and circled. There are dates and names scribbled all over it.

  To flip through my Bible and devotionals and read through it all is powerful for me. To then sit with the scriptures that held meaning in the moment feels like basking in comforting light.

  

  I was bitter (and confused and angry) because of all we were going through as a family. I thought I’d been a good Christian and deserved a smooth life because of it.

  Oh, how much I’ve learned and am learning… God is not transactional. This world is broken. Just because I’m a good Jesus follower doesn’t guarantee an easy ride. God is all-powerful but still very present in the most precise of details in my own little life and I’ll never get over it.

  Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, “Remember Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with whole hearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him. “Go back and tell Hezekiah this is what the Lord the God of your father David says, “I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you.”

  2 Kings 20:2-6

  I held onto that promise for another two years.

  Then there’s this. Haha.

  

  Find a cozy, quiet spot and read this from Isaiah 30:15-21.

  

  Find your strength today sitting in quiet stillness. Let the comforting truth that no matter which way you turn, an all-powerful God is beside you whispering the way to go.

  

  Posted in November 2020, Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged 2 Kings 20:2-6, Bible, Comforting, Hezekiah, How the Light Gets In, Isaiah 30:15-21, Jesus Calling, Streams in the Desert

• The Blursday Blues

  Posted at 7:20 am by How the Light Gets In, on April 7, 2020

  I just don’t know what day it is anymore.

  Every morning, Jason says, “This is just like Groundhogs Day.” Every morning. It will happen today. I can guarantee it. As he’s pouring his coffee into my favorite mug, he’ll shake his head side to side and say, “This is just like Groundhogs Day.”

  What fun things do you look forward to every day?

  When the people ask me what’s for dinner; I simply don’t know anymore. The “this is fun and different, don’t worry everything is fine” phase is uhhh over.

  I’m pouting and putting ear plugs on my shopping list because I wake up to the same bird singing it’s deet-deet-deeeeet song at 4:58 every morning to start the same “This is just like Groundhogs Day” day over again.

  Oh no wait, this week is different because the 3 younger ones start virtual learning.

  It’s hard work being a human being right now. I don’t know what day it is. God gave me a lot of gifts but teaching is not one of them.

  There are 7 humans plus a dog in this house, all the time. We’re all processing different losses at different times and grieving them very differently. That being said, last week was especially hard because the senior may actually not get a prom, the middle can’t be with her besties, the youngest loved her first Zoom call playdate but ached for her buddy, Jason was restricted to emergency patients only and I was sick.

  My doctor prescribed Doxycycline and I was taking Gabapentin for my pain. Not only was I hurting and sick but getting so ticked off because usually (a word that feels heavy with golden predictability) USUALLY when I hurt, when I want peace, when I want to recharge; I go sit by the water. I love hearing it. I love feeing small near it. But the POLICE DO NOT CROSS yellow tape across each and every entry point to water was enough to break me.

  

  AND THIS IS HOW GOD SHOWED UP ON A BLURSDAY:

  Jenna and I were dm’ing on Instagram and I was telling her how sad I was about the water.

  

  Here’s the video she sent. Listen carefully.

  I never realized that before. Had you? God’s voice is the same in the water and in the wind. That’s the thing about God; always the same.

  Do you read the “Streams in the Desert” devotional? If not, now is a good time to start. It’s a deep one but we’re living in a trench-like world where stats of life and death blur with images of masked faces and loneliness is a thick blanket on us all. Hold on, I need to take a deep breath.

  Okay, so the “Streams in the Desert” reading for April 4 reads:

  Once our eyes are opened by God, we will see all the events of our lives, whether great or small, joyful or sad, as a “chariot” for our souls. Everything that comes to us becomes a chariot the moment we treat it as such. On the other hand, even the smallest trial may become an object crushing everything in its path into misery and despair if we allow it. The difference then becomes a choice we make.

  “Streams in the Desert” Hannah Whitall Smith p.142

  The scripture offered at the top of the reading is from 2 Kings 6:17

  

  This “chariot” over instagram with Jenna reinforces to me that God is still here. God is still good. God is still showing up. God is still super creative in trying to get my attention.

  Knowing that God is real and good and steady and true; that helps me. Does it help you?

  It’s Blursday friends. Here we go again. The coffee is brewed and about to be poured, the laptops are charged for another virtual learning session and today I’m going to keep my eyes open. I pray you keep your eyes open too and can hear/see/believe/know God is here for you whatever day it is.

  Posted in APRIL 2020 | 0 Comments | Tagged 2 Kings 6:17, Blursday Blues, coronavirus, Groundhogs Day, How the Light Gets In, Streams in the Desert

• Let’s take Day 10 Together

  Posted at 2:34 pm by How the Light Gets In, on December 10, 2019

  Streams in the Desert. This is a deep and sometimes heavy devotional. Take a few minutes to go through today’s reading.

  

  

  The question: “Are there some people in your circle of friends to whom you naturally go in times of trials and sorrow – people who always seem to say just the right words and who give you the very counsel you so desire? If so, you may not realize the high cost they have paid to become so skilled at binding up your gaping wounds and drying your tears.”

  That’s a doozy of a first paragraph and an important one. You need people. I need people. More importantly, we deserve a circle of trusted friends who laugh with us and wipe our tears for us. We do.

  The scripture from the “Streams in the Desert” devotional comes from a letter Paul was writing to the people of Corinth. He starts the letter by praising the God as the one “who comforts us in all our troubles with the comfort we ourselves receive from Him.” – 2 Corinthians 1:4 God sounds like a good friend, doesn’t He?

  And to bust through all the doubt of an unseen God; God sent us Jesus. By Jesus’ life we can FEEL comfort. He suffered, he cried, he was betrayed, he was hungry. And he also spent his life loving others, including everyone, being a good listener, pulling people together so he could tell stories, sharing a meal with friends.

  The verse we focus on today paints a picture of how valuable we are to one another – sharing pain, sharing comfort, sharing Hope. God made us for community. God made us for each other.

  God comforts us through His son and through each other. Look for that today.

  If the devotional felt deep, can I offer you a “lighter” look at the same message?

  Christmas Day is in our grasp so long as we have hands to clasp.

  Christmas Day will always be just as long as we have we.

  Welcome Christmas while we stand heart to heart and hand in hand.

  I pray today you hold the height and width and breadth of the message:

  Dr. Seuss & “Streams in the Desert”

  You & Me & God

  – Together we go hand in hand.

  Posted in DECEMBER 2019 | 0 Comments | Tagged 2 Corinthians 1:6-7, Advent, Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, How the Light Gets In, Streams in the Desert