Posts Tagged ‘fears’

Why Christmas Brings Bliss to Me

Monday, December 19th, 2011

Christmas week has arrived! We finally put up our tree and a few decorations yesterday, so things are lookin’ festive around here. This morning I rose early and sat on my favorite leather loveseat with Bible and coffee in hand. The tree’s lights cast a soft glow across the room. Ah, bliss!

our 2011 Christmas tree

You know what else is bliss for me? Celebrating the reality of Emmanuel – God with us – on a daily basis. Frankly, I can scarcely fathom the depth of God’s love. Imagine a love so compelling, so passionate, so unfailing that it motivated Him to clothe Himself in humanity and take up residence on earth.

Yes, God became man and moved into the neighborhood. He became like us in every way, excluding the sinful part, because He values us and yearns for relationship with us. His actions cut the chains of sin and its destructive, deadly influence in our lives.

We’re forgiven and free! We need no longer fear death, for it’s now merely the door through which we must pass to reach home. We need no longer be held captive to addictions or to a painful, shame-filled past. We need no longer struggle with those lousy attitudes and behaviors that complicate our lives. Instead, we’re free to embrace life as fully as God intended and to aspire to His highest purposes and plans. Is that bliss, or what?

As you celebrate the season, take a moment to think about these words, found in Zephaniah 3:17: “For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty Savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

Emmanuel – God with us. Amazing.

Ponder what God’s presence means to you this season, my friend. May the lyrics to this song bless you as you think about the meaning of Emmanuel. And celebrate with joy!

PS: Check back every day this week — I’ll share more links to my favorite Christmas tunes. What are your favorites? Post them on www.fb.com/gracefox.author if you wish.

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3 Characteristics of True Friendship

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

What does true friendship really look like?

What are the characteristics of true friendship?

I guarantee it runs deeper than Facebook. Here are three characteristics that I glean from the friendship between David and Jonathan:

“One day near Horesh, David received the news that Saul was on the way to Ziph to search for him and kill him. Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in his faith in God. Don’t be afraid,” Jonathan reassured him. “My father will never find you! You are going to be the king of Israel, and I will be next to you, as my father, Saul, is well aware.” So the two of them renewed their solemn pact before the LORD. Then Jonathan returned home, while David stayed at Horesh” (1 Samuel 15-18).

#1 – True friendship means being willing to go out of one’s way to lend encouragement. Scripture says David and his motley crew were roaming the countryside, trying to escape Saul and his henchmen.  They must have been difficult to find, but Jonathan took the time and made the effort to locate his friend because he knew he needed encouragement.

How does look in today’s world? We need to take the time and make the effort to encourage others in need. Yes, life is busy. We’re all busy.  But truth be told, sometimes we just need to stop the rush long enough to pray with someone, send a greeting card, or make a phone call.

The finger’s pointin’ at me today. I’m sweating over preparing several workshops for an upcoming conference, but a friend just learned that her husband has three months to live. What to do? She needs encouragement, so I’m having supper with her in the hospital cafeteria tonight and trusting God to multiple my hours so I can finish the workshop prep.

#2 – True friendship means helping one another keep the right focus. Jonathan encouraged David to stay strong in his faith in God. He could have planned a strategy to get rid of Saul so David could return home and get on with his life, but he chose a better way.

What a great example for us today! We, too, need to encourage our friends to keep the faith. To live God-honoring lives. To rise above the status quo. To settle for nothing less than God’s best even when it’s tough.

#3 – True friendship means spurring one another on to become what God has intended. “Don’t be afraid,” said Jonathan. “My father won’t find you. You’ll be the king of Israel, and I’ll be next to you.” I love this picture. You see, humanly speaking, Jonathan was heir to the throne. He saw life from God’s perspective, however, and knew that David was God’s choice. In essence, he was saying to David, “Face your fears! Go for it! I’m with ya all the way!”

We, too, need to encourage our friends to face their fears and pursue God’s purposes for their lives. We need to reassure them that we’re there for them, cheering them on through thick and thin.

What are your thoughts? What characteristics do you value in true friendship?

Photo courtesy of www.christianphotos.net

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Seeing the Invisible

Monday, November 15th, 2010

Have you ever faced and overcome a major challenge or seeming impossibility? If so, what inspired you to keep going through the hard times?

In 1999, my dad suffered two severe strokes within a couple of weeks. The first caused him to fall from the ladder on which he was standing and resulted in a fractured skull and several broken ribs.

I lived about 800 miles from him and my mom at that time. I remember the day the phone call came bringing the sad news and compounding our already topsy-turvy situation: We’d just moved into a house that desperately needed to be cleaned and painted. Boxes filled each room, waiting to be unpacked. I’d committed several weeks prior (before the move was scheduled) to accompany an editor to Texas for a week-long conference. That trip was only a few days away, and I’d return just in time for my youngest daughter’s surgery.

My extended family encouraged me to fulfill my commitment to the editor with the understanding that I’d make an emergency trip home if Dad’s condition failed. Thankfully that didn’t happen, but he suffered the second stroke a week after my return. I immediately dropped everything I was doing and drove the 800 miles to be with my parents.

Challenging? Oh yes. I remember falling to my knees in my girlhood bedroom and crying out to God on my dad’s behalf, begging for physical strength for myself, and asking Him to presence Himself with my family. To say I felt overwhelmed would be an understatement. So what kept me going? Keeping my eyes on the One who is invisible.

As I sat at my dad’s hospital bedside far from my husband and children, I disciplined my mind to focus on the character of God. I reminded myself that He was sovereign, fully in control of this situation. I reminded myself that He was good…all the time…even when my dad suffered paralysis from his second stroke. If I’d allowed my thoughts to wander into fear-filled places or self-pitied spaces, I’d have succumbed to exhaustion and hopelessness. But keeping my eyes on God enabled me to keep going through those unforgettable weeks.

Keeping our eyes on God in the hard places of life is vital to our ability to keep going. Moses knew all about it: “It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). Defying Pharaoh’s anger and chased by an army as he approached the Red Sea with nearly 3 ½ million people in his care, Moses focused on God and did what He told him to do in the face of incomprehensible odds. If he’d focused on his fears instead, he surely would have faltered and probably failed to obey God’s orders.

How do you get through life’s challenging places? If focusing on the invisible One is your method to survive and thrive, what specific actions do you implement?

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Can God be Trusted?

Monday, November 8th, 2010

Over and over again, God invites me to trust Him with every detail of my life. Truth is, I don’t always do it because it’s scary sometimes…especially when I don’t understand how the puzzle pieces fit together.

The Israelites felt the same way. We know that’s true by their negative response when God told them to enter the Promised Land. They failed to trust and obey because, despite His guaranteed sovereignty on their behalf, they couldn’t imagine marching into enemy territory and claiming victory. If only they’d known His heart for them. Maybe they would have responded in a different way.

Ezekiel 20:5,6 says, “When I chose Israel—when I revealed myself to the descendants of Jacob in Egypt—I took a solemn oath that I, the Lord, would be their God. I took a solemn oath that day that I would bring them out of Egypt to a land I had discovered and explored for them—a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the best of all lands anywhere.”

Do these sound like flippant words spoken by a god who didn’t really care about Israel’s well-being? I think not. They’re solemn words spoken by the living God who loved His people intensely. He’d taken an oath that He would be their God—forever on their side, forever faithful to watch over them and provide for their needs. He’d picked out the best land for them and checked out every detail before giving them marching orders. He knew the outcome of their obedience, and He guaranteed that it would be good. And yet, the people refused to trust and obey. Why? Because they didn’t understand His character or His love for them.

The same is true for you and me. When God asks us to trust Him and we fail to do so, it all boils down to one thing: we don’t understand His character or His love. If we did, the unknown wouldn’t frighten us. We’d trust Him with every detail of our lives without hesitation even if we didn’t understand how the puzzle pieces fit together.

God has sworn to be our God. He takes His responsibility for us seriously. With that in mind, let’s choose to trust Him. Imagine the freedom and rest we could experience. No more worries. No more doubts. No more fears.

 Any thoughts? Do you think God can be trusted with the details of your life?

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Voices – Part 1

Friday, September 24th, 2010

I’ll always remember the voice on the phone that day: “Why do you bother doing what you do? If I were you, I wouldn’t even have tried.”

The woman was referring to my writing and speaking ministry. Her words so shocked me that I didn’t know how to respond. The conversation ended moments later and I slumped into my office chair feeling defeated to the core.

Thankfully God, in His wisdom, used that incident as a pivot-point for me. Through it, I learned the importance of choosing which voices to heed and which to ignore. I’ll bet you know what I’m talking about…

Voices that whisper fears when you debate a new venture: “You want to do what? You don’t have the know-how. What if you try and fail?”

Voices that mutter misgivings and cause you to question your worth: “You’re not as pretty or capable as other women. Move over, sister – you’re out-of-date.”

Voices that murmur doubts and cause you to query God’s character: “A good God would never allow such painful circumstances. Why devote yourself to Him? He obviously doesn’t give a rip about your well-being.”

Three Hebrew officials – Eliakim, Shebna and Joah – encountered a negative voice, too. Their story, told in Isaiah 36, began when an enemy king sent his chief of staff with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. When the three Hebrews went out to confront the army, the chief of staff made it his mission to discourage them. Here are some of the things he said:

“What are you trusting in that makes you so confident? Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength?” (vv. 4,5)

“I’ll tell you what! Strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them! With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master’s troops, even with the help of Egypt’s chariot and charioteers?” (vv. 8,9)

“…Do you think we have invaded your land without the LORD’s direction? The LORD himself told us, ‘Attack this land and destroy it!’” (v. 10)

“What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the LORD can rescue Jerusalem from me?” (v. 20)

As if those comments weren’t enough, the chief of staff blatantly disregarded the official trio’s request to speak in Aramaic to protect the Hebrew population from overhearing him. Instead, he shouted to the Hebrew people, “Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you. Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the LORD by saying, ‘The LORD will surely rescue us…” (v. 13-15)

Unfortunately, the Hebrew men listened to the negative voice. Despair overwhelmed them, and they tore their clothes in response to their mental and emotional state.

We probably wouldn’t tear our clothes, but depending on our circumstances and what the voice says, we might feel equally as distraught. And so we’re faced with a choice: do we listen or do we ignore? We all know the right answer, but knowing how to do it (or choosing to do it) is where the challenge lies. I’ll talk about that on Monday’s post. See ya then!

What negative voices have you encountered in your life? How did they impact you?

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Keep It Simple Sweetie

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Here’s an article I wrote called “When Our Kids Hurt,” posted on Crosswalk.com today! Check it out.

http://www.crosswalk.com/parenting/11626980/

Sometimes we make Christianity ‘way more difficult than it needs to be. Rather than complicate things with our manmade rules, we ought to remember the acrostic K.I.S.S. – “Keep it Simple Sweetie.”

If Christianity had but one rule, I believe it might be this – “Follow Jesus.” How simple should that be? That’s the invitation Jesus Himself gave to Simon and Andrew. That’s what He said to Levi, too. “Follow me and be my disciple” (Mark 2:14). And that’s what He says to us.

What does it mean to follow Jesus? It means that we embrace His teachings as found in the Scriptures… We value what He values – people more than material things. We treat others with honor. We seek to serve rather than be served. We forgive even when we don’t feel like it. We humble ourselves and admit our dependency upon God. We put our faith into action. We pray for our leaders, and we carry one another’s burdens. The list goes on, and it’s all good stuff.

Trouble is, we complicate things when we add our own rules or deviate from the path Jesus walked by seeking to satisfy our own selfish desires. For example – “I’ll forgive so-and-so when she changes her attitude toward me,” or “Serve her? You’ve gotta be kidding. She burned me big-time, and I’m not going to make things easy for her by helping her get ahead,” or “Admit my dependency upon God? I don’t think so – that would be to admit weakness, and I’m not going to do that!”

Imagine what the world would look like if we embraced the K.I.S.S. principle in our faith. If we’d set aside our own desires, our own agenda, our own fears and insecurities to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, there’s be a lot more light and salt in this place.

What do the words “follow Jesus” mean to you?

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Fear of Inadequacy

Monday, January 26th, 2009

I was in Dawson Creek, BC, for a women’s conference over the weekend. Flew up there on Friday and was greeted with a blast of cold air (minus 39 degrees Celsius), but warm hearts and hospitality. Fifty precious women attended the meetings — my prayer is that God will continue the good work He’s begun in their hearts.

This morning, back in my little living room, I read about Moses’ call to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. This is the exact passage from which I taught on Saturday morning in Dawson Creek. It so vividly illustrates the fear of inadequacy — something many of us struggle with.

God had big plans for Moses and for His people. When He gave Moses his divine assignment, Moses’ immediate reaction was, “Who, me? You’ve gotta be kidding. I can’t do that.” That was true. He couldn’t do it. Imagine feeding and providing everything needed for about 3 1/2 million people!

The good news was — God didn’t expect him to do it on his own. He (God) had all the details already figured out. He just needed a man on the ground to do the job. He just wanted Moses to say ‘yes’ and He’d look after the rest.

I’ve struggled with the fear of inadequacy, too. The ironic thing is — when I sensed God nudging me to write a book about the fears that women face, I argued with him for a year. I told Him that doing so was beyond my abilities…I couldn’t possibly pull it off….yada yada. Sometimes I’m a little slow upstairs. It took me awhile to figure out that He was giving me an assignment that was too big for me so that I’d have to lean on Him to get it done. That way, I’d experience His sufficiency in a new and more intimate way.

How about you? Do you have a God-given dream in your heart? Have you sensed Him nudging you towards a specific assignment? How have you responded?

It’s okay to admit your fear of inadequacy and your dependency upon Him to get the job done. In fact, that’s a very healthy place to be. It’s exactly where He wants us. When we are cast on Him to complete the task, we’ll do it in His way and strength rather than our own. And that’s the best way to get it done, right?

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