Where Does My Help Come From?
Words of encouragement for me this morning.
Psalm 121
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
Psalm 71
Just where I’m at (or where I need to be) right now…
Psalm 71
1 In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
2 Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness;
turn your ear to me and save me.
3 Be my rock of refuge,
to which I can always go;
give the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of evil and cruel men.
5 For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD,
my confidence since my youth.
6 From birth I have relied on you;
you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
I will ever praise you.
7 I have become like a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
8 My mouth is filled with your praise,
declaring your splendor all day long.
9 Do not cast me away when I am old;
do not forsake me when my strength is gone.
10 For my enemies speak against me;
those who wait to kill me conspire together.
11 They say, “God has forsaken him;
pursue him and seize him,
for no one will rescue him.”
12 Be not far from me, O God;
come quickly, O my God, to help me.
13 May my accusers perish in shame;
may those who want to harm me
be covered with scorn and disgrace.
14 But as for me, I will always have hope;
I will praise you more and more.
15 My mouth will tell of your righteousness,
of your salvation all day long,
though I know not its measure.
16 I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign LORD;
I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone.
17 Since my youth, O God, you have taught me,
and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
18 Even when I am old and gray,
do not forsake me, O God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
your might to all who are to come.
19 Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God,
you who have done great things.
Who, O God, is like you?
20 Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter,
you will restore my life again;
from the depths of the earth
you will again bring me up.
21 You will increase my honor
and comfort me once again.
22 I will praise you with the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praise to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout for joy
when I sing praise to you—
I, whom you have redeemed.
24 My tongue will tell of your righteous acts
all day long,
for those who wanted to harm me
have been put to shame and confusion.
Lemons Into Lemonade
I just had to share the thoughts from Isaac’s devotion for yesterday:
Have you ever heard someone say, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade?”
As goofy as it sounds, this saying holds a lot of truth. First, it says that life will hand you lemons. It doesn’t say if, and it doesn’t say life might hand you lemons. It says when.
Lemons are the bad things that happen in life. Maybe a pet dies. Maybe your best friend decides not to be your friend anymore. Perhaps you’re not treated fairly by a teacher. Whatever it is, you’ll have to face your share of lemons in life.
The second part of that saying is the hardest to follow – “make lemonade.” In other words, take the bad things that happen and make the best of them. Look for the positives. Find the good part.
Sometimes finding the good part is really difficult. When a friend turns her back on you, it hurts. Sure, you can make other friends. But it hurts right now. Making lemonade is probably the last thing you want to do. That’s why it may be a good idea to add another sentence to that saying: “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. And God is the ultimate lemonade maker.”
God can take the worst situations in your life and make something good from them. At first, you may find it hard to see the good, but over time you’ll look back and see how God turned bad things to positive experiences in your life. And here’s the best part: while you’re waiting for God to make things better, you can hide in him. Use that time to get to know him better. Take comfort that God love you, cares for you, and can use bad things to make you stronger and more like him. When things get tough, look to God and take comfort in his strength.
Psalm 141:8 But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign LORD; in you I take refuge….
Ready, Aim, Fire – Our “Little” Girl Heads to Middle School
So yesterday, I put my daughter on the bus for her first day of middle school. I’m still amazed that I could be at this point of my life already. How am I old enough to have a child in junior high? It seems like yesterday that I was visiting her at her preschool (where this picture was taken).
Hannah is really growing up fast. I’m blown away by her maturity, her kindness, and her internal and external beauty. I’m excited by the new opportunities that she will face as she moves forward in her academic pursuits. I’m also excited for the new opportunities to see Hannah as she matures into a young woman. She is showing many signs of heading down this path already. She wants to be in the know regarding the different adult conversations that Leanne and I are having. She wants to pick out her own closes and have her own style. She is taking more of an initiative in communicating outside of school with her friends. She’s physically growing. She’s even starting to watch some of the same shows that Leanne and I enjoy.
Some of this is scary. It was kind of strange to see some of the older eighth grade boys on her bus (and to see some of the older guys and girls at our church’s youth group). As a parent, I want to make sure Hannah is safe, and I want to protect her from the influences that could lead her down the wrong path (not that all older kids are bad). But I’m also reminded of an illustration from Stu Weber’s book, Tender Warrior. Our kids are like arrows. Our job as parents is to direct our kids towards the “Target.” And then as our kids get older, we need to let go of the bowstring. We need to give up control of the arrow and trust that it will fly to the “Target.” This milestone in Hannah’s life is one of those times where we loosen our fingers just a bit on the bowstring. I know that we’re not perfect parents, but I also trust that we’ve taken the steps to aim our “arrow” in the right direction.
At Home Baptism
We had a very cool experience at our house last night. I was almost home from work when I received a call from Leanne about getting the hot tub ready for a baptism. Yesterday afternoon, a young lady stopped by our church office needing to talk with one of our pastors. Thankfully, Matt Silver, our youth pastor, was there. From what I gather, he spoke with this young lady for a little while. Matt spoke with her about the need to believe, repent, and be baptized (John 3:16; Acts 2:38; Romans 3:23, 10:9; 1 John 1:9). By the end of the conversation, she wanted to get baptized. That’s where our house comes in. Our current church building doesn’t have a baptistry that is set up all the time, so it takes some creativity on occasions like this. So in the dark, cold, rainy weather, this young woman was baptized right in our back yard. It was amazing!
We talked together for a short time afterwards, and we even shared in communion. I really felt like I was part of the early Acts church:
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47
Until the next post…
Kids Camp Day Two – Trusting God through Lives Obstacles
Today at Kids Camp we continued with the theme of trusting God. Specifically, we talked about how we can trust God throughout the obstacles that comes our way. Our verse for the day was Joshua 1:9, “Be strong and brave. Do not be frightened. Do not lose hope. For I will be with you everywhere you go.”
This afternoon at work, I received word that the wife of a college friend had just started treatment for breast cancer. We also have a neighbor friend who is battling breast cancer, and the 3 1/2 year old daughter of a college friend is also battling cancer. It’s not necessarily easy to explain to 28 fourth graders that these are the types of obstacles they may face in life.
These examples provide a reminder of how important it is to establish a strong foundation in Christ, so when these types of obstacles come our way we can “be strong and brave” knowing that God is always with us everywhere.
Our pastor, Brian Jones, wrote a book (Second Guessing God) that speaks very frankly about this subject matter. Trusting God even when life hurts can be a hard thing to do. This is a great read whether you’re going through a tough time or not.
(By the way, Kids Camp today was awesome! As mentioned above, my team grew by seven members. We had a blast!)
Until the next post….