Happy birthday, Anna!

Dear Anna,

Happy 21^st birthday! I was trying to think of something exciting that would be happening since you turned the magic age of 21, but there wasn’t anything especially impressive…in terms of legal matters, anyway. 

However, you are now one year closer to a few things. Actually, a lot of things, but I could never list them all.

You are one year closer to finding complete satisfaction in Christ alone. You may have family, friends, food, and shelter, but only in Christ can your longings and desires be fully satisfied. Your satisfaction rests in His atonement and in knowing that His plans for you are better and more sanctifying than your own. Your satisfaction has a sure foundation if it is based on Jesus Christ, the Cornerstone—for He alone satisfied the greatest requirement for sin.

You are one year closer to finding everlasting joy in Christ alone. As you have sought and will continue to seek happiness in life, your true joy will remain in the Giver of Joy. The circumstances around you will fluctuate, but He who is constant, never refuses joy to those who walk in His Word. Joy comes from abiding in Him and in His Word—taking in Scripture and clinging to it when all else is gone. Because when everything is stripped away, you will see where your heart lies. If it is with Christ, then your joy is complete, for you need no other because the joy of the Lord is your strength.

You are one year closer to finding eternal hope in Christ alone.  We hope for so much, and sometimes it is difficult to hold on when all seems hopeless. To give up would be easier, but our God is not a God of hopelessness, but a God of hope who desires to fill us with all joy and peace. (Romans 15:13) It is His intention that you hold on, that you look to the One who was, is, and will be faithful, and who can refresh your hope when it is fading. Hope is an action (despite what dictionaries might tell you). It’s active, and you have to keep pursing it; but you’re not pursing the concept of hope, no, you’re pursing the Person, and His well of hope never runs dry.

You are one year closer to finding lasting peace in Christ alone. Christ’s peace is not something you’ll find here. You won’t find it in a world filled with distraction, pain, and sin, but you can claim it and own it as yours even during all the confusion and hurt. If you search for peace here, you will not find it for it is found only in abiding in the knowledge that our God is the author of peace. His peace passes understanding, but you will understand a little more of what it is when you find it.

You are one year closer to finding enduring victory in Christ alone. In Genesis 3, God pronounces judgment on the serpent and foretells of his future demise. Victory was planned even before defeat occurred. God did not intend for you to wade through the Slough of Despond all your life. He has conquered sin—ALL sin. He has conquered everything evil, and it is subject to His command until He returns again when sin will be banished forever. We live in the world, but we are not of it. Our kingdom is a heavenly one—meaning we share in the privileges of it even before we get there. Temporary defeat may and likely will happen, but it is not permanent, for we serve the King who has conquered. A King who will reign with all power and authority; a King who holds the life of all creatures in His hand. And He it is who has provided enduring victory for us—because He chose to, because He loves us. 

May you know more fully the complete satisfaction, everlasting joy, eternal hope, lasting peace, and enduring victory of the Savior you serve, Anna. Complete, everlasting, eternal, lasting, and enduring: those words carry a ring of finality about them. And so it is fitting, for the One who created satisfaction, joy, hope, peace, and victory will have the final word at the consummation of the age. May you walk as a daughter of the King Who has already conquered, and may you be blessed as you seek Him and serve others.

Love in Christ,

Kaleigh 

The Fig Tree

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; 

the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; 

the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. 

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 

The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, 

and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

No blossoms on the tree. No grapes on the green vines. The olive crop fails, and the herds die. The sheep are scattered, and the stalls are empty. Emptiness, failure, and fruitlessness. A situation like this for a farmer would be grave indeed. Lack of produce, crops, and herds would lead to financial, physical, and mental stress. 

Surely it is the same with our lives. We feel, at times, the emptiness of our hearts, the failure of our strength, and the fruitlessness of our own efforts. The temptation to "just give up" plays with our will to keep going. To keep going amid the darkness, confusion, and failure. The sin that we know exists within our own heart seems too great to be conquered. 

But that's because we are just surviving on our own mental resources, will power, and strength. Our bodies and minds are finite; there is a point, when we have to stop, because we physically can't keep going any more. We can't produce any more, give out anything, or fill our beings. We're just done. 

And that's where Habakkuk found himself, too. He wrote during a time of judgment on the Israelites. A time of wickedness, fear, and calamity. A time when no hope was in view.  And so, he turns to the Lord, questioning the unholiness and ruin around him. In answer, Habakkuk is reminded of the Lord's power, holiness, and judgment, and in his fear and grief, he rejoices. 

Although...

The fig tree does not blossom. 
The vines produce no fruit. 
The labor of the olive plant fails. 
The fields yield no meat. 
The flock is separated from the fold.
The herds are not in the stalls. 

And yet...

He rejoices. 

He rejoices in a good God. He rejoices in a God who provided salvation once and for all. He rejoices in the joy of the Lord, for it is his strength. He rejoices in a God who uses weakness to show His strength. He rejoices in a God who "works through the most imperfect circumstances, and turns them into [Habakkuk's] good, and His glory". He rejoices not only in a God who chastises, but also in a God whose mercies are new every morning. 

And so can we. We serve the same God Habakkuk served. He has not changed, for He is the same "yesterday, today, and forever". His "faithfulness reaches the skies", and He's promised that our sins are as far removed as east is from west. Though He may afflict, He does not do so willingly, and though "weeping may endure for a night, joy comes in the morning". He goes before us in all our ways, and He is with us. He has never failed any one of His chosen, and "this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death." 

Though vine nor fig tree neither

Their wonted fruit should bear,

Though all the field should wither,

Nor flocks nor herd be there,

Yet God the same abiding,

His praise shall tune my voice;

For while in Him confiding,

I cannot but rejoice.

In this Habakkuk rejoiced. Will you, too, learn to rejoice in the midst of fear, pain, and confusion? If He never gives you in your lifetime what you desire most, will you still rejoice in His loving kindness? Habakkuk did. 

Psalm 30

I will extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.

O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.

O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.

LORD, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.

I cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made supplication.

What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?

Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper.

Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;

To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

I Will Rejoice

Blessings,
Kaleigh

Be Ready Always

 
“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day
nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” 
~Matthew 25:13

We hear a lot about the predictions made by man as to when Jesus is really coming back for His followers and the “signs” that point to our being in the end times. How should we respond to these predictions? Should we dress in white and stand on our roof tops waiting for Christ to swing down and pick us up? Should we believe that major, destructive storms mean that His return is nigh? Well, whether we believe in such predictions or not, we should not let these predictions or possible “signs” determine when we will be ready.

“Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.” ~Luke 12:35-37.

No matter when the end times start, no matter when Jesus will return, no matter what signs are predicted, and no matter how hard secularists bash us in our belief of His return, we need to be the sheep whom our Shepherd will “find watching”. We cannot honestly be leading Christian lives if we only get concerned about how we are living based on the predictions. Our lives should be lived in accordance with God’s Word at all times and in all seasons. Because it’s going to be one scary event to be left behind to face the Anti-christ and think about how we could have made a difference after Christ has already returned for that faithful.

“Then Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?’ And the Lord said, ‘Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.” ~Luke 12:41-43

One thing that I would like to add here, is that we should not be worried about the signs of the end times nor the predictions; rather, we should be concerned about how we are making a difference in the lives of those around us. How do they view us as different, in a positive way, from the world? Do even our “acquaintances” see Christ’s love shining through us? We need to understand how important our witness is, because eternity is forever: Heaven or hell. One will be a glorious eternity and the other will be a place of bitterness forever and ever with no end.   

“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” ~John 3:17-18

In closing, I would like to share with you a testimony which Sarah Mally gave in her sister, Grace Mally’s book “Will Our Generation Speak”. This book was given to me last year by three of my friends and I have slowly been going through the book as I find the time.

“The Cost”

“I imagined myself as a spectator watching a scene unfold before my eyes. First, I saw a man who was helping others--yet not simply in the way that any man might help someone else. This was much different. It was as if tenderness and kindness were just flowing out of Him. I could tell He was a good man--GOOD in a way that I had never seen before. Every single thing He did was good. His face was so pure. I had never seen honesty like that, never seen love like that. It’s like I finally knew what love was--now that I saw Him. All I wanted to do was to keep watching Him because everything He did was so amazing. Even the simple normal acts of service that He was doing--I was astonished by them...by Him, I mean. The way He spoke...I could just tell He was right, that He spoke the truth, that everything He said was right by definition. And the way He looked at people. I wished He would look at me, but He never did. I was just a spectator. But I knew I would never forget this goodness that I had seen. It was almost as if I was in a daze, not quite able to comprehend it, stunned that this kind of righteousness could even exist. I wanted to just keep watching him. I felt that I would be content if I could simply watch Him for the rest of my life.

But then suddenly the scene changed before my eyes. I didn’t want to believe what I was seeing. People were looking at Him with angry stares. It was more than mere anger; it was rage; He was looking back at them with such..such..I don’t even know the word..it was as if He was on a totally different playing field. There was such tenderness in HIs eyes. A touch of sorrow, an ocean of love. Their rage turned into vehement shouting and accusations, and then I began to watch the most horrible scene of my life. The whips they were holding were cruel and scourging unbearable to watch. But how could this be? He was so good, so pure, so tender. He was the best person I had ever known. This must stop. I tried to yell out for someone to help, for someone to stop this. But I realized, again, I was only a spectator. Lash after lash. Blow after blow. I couldn’t look--especially because it was Him. It was the worst possible injustice I could imagine. This could not be happening. It had to stop.”

She went on to say…

“Stunned and traumatized, I stepped back. I forced myself to breathe. I tried not to comprehend what I had just seen: One so deserving of glory and praise, yet receiving such punishment. I’m not sure how long it was before I realized that I was holding something: I also had a whip in my hand. It was then I understood that my hand also was on the rod that fell on Him. Was I responsible? For this? I realized that I had not been merely a spectator.

At last it was over. It was finished. It--was--finished, for all eternity! It is done! God the Father has seen the anguish of His soul and has been satisfied. Never would I have dreamed that justice would have been this costly. How vast is the extent of my sin--that this was the price. And how immeasurable the extent of His love--that this much He would pay.”

~Sarah Mally (from “Will Our Generation Speak?” by Grace Mally, 2012)

In Christ,

Anna

When Grace Wears Thin: Guest Post

Today's post is written by a dear friend of mine. Schuyler M. is an avid reader and 
writer, and she willingly used her life experiences 
to share from her heart in this post.

I have known Schuyler for about two years now, and her godly example 

and faithful friendship to me has been a most welcome blessing.

May this post by her bless you as it has blessed me. 
Leave a comment for her, if you wish!

Thank you, Schuyler. 

~Kaleigh

________________________________

Some nights, we wonder if God's grace is quite enough. When we're laying awake, hurting, thinking over present pains and coming struggles, we wonder where the God is that said "my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness".

One night I was lying awake like that. I had been having nightmares night after night; terrible ones that left me feeling exhausted at the end of them. And there were other struggles going on at the same time--broken dreams, and daily crosses, and blessings I wanted that God chose not to give. It was all too much to bear, so I lay awake thinking about it.

The darkness was very dark. And God's grace seemed to fray around the edges as I tried to lean into it. 

I'm not the only one to experience this. Parents, children, friends, ministry leaders--we all go through dark times in life, even as dedicated Christians. It's natural. We experience just what David did in the Psalms. We wrestle with the effects of sin in ourselves, and in those around us. And in our battle with light and darkness, we know that Jesus has the ultimate victory, but sometimes we wonder if the darkness will swallow up a poor, lowly foot soldier before He even notices we're losing in the fray.

I lay awake, and the night pressed in heavier. And if I didn't know better, I could have sworn that God had forgotten to dispense Schuyler-grace that night.

Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”?
Do  you not know? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

~Isaiah 40:27-28

One of the things we do when we are going through darkness is to wonder if God really knew what He was doing when He gave us this particular struggle--and if He gave us the strength we would need to get through it. In our minds we know He did, but we struggle to get the mind knowledge to the heart knowledge. We forget that God gave us a struggle or denied us a blessing because His fathomless understanding saw how He could turn it to our good and His glory.

Time and again I've cried out to the Lord "I want more grace! I want more!" But He says, "I've given you sufficient grace. Not grace that will take away all your problems, but grace that will bring you through them. Enough for the next second. Second after second, I'll never let you down. But I'm not going to give you enough so that you think you don't need me." And He gives me enough so that I'm like an infant, relying on him for all my care.

It is hard to remember that God, in love, denies blessings as well as gives them, but it is true. And it is His love that sends us through the darkness so that we can experience true light.

Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant?

Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God. ~Isaiah 50:10

The night I couldn't sleep, I turned on my music player and flipped through to Nella Fantasia, which is my favorite soothing go-to music when I need to re-set my thoughts. When the mind is overwhelmed by darkness, the quickest way to feel God's grace again is to calm our thoughts so we can bring ourselves to a place of surrender. Sometimes we are able to do this through reading a timely Scripture passage. Sometimes we find surrender through an email from a friend, or a hug from a sibling, or a word of praise from a parent. Sometimes we even find it by listening to a tenor singing Italian.  Whatever it takes, it is when we can bring ourselves to a posture of expectant waiting that we give God room to show that He still holds us close.

I fell asleep, rather fittingly, to a plea in a foreign language for a just world where pain ends. My soul waited with open hands for the grace I needed.

And then, as the night ended, His grace came.

Dawn broke. Dawn broke.

Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

~Psalm 30:5b

Christians in the present day aren't the only people to struggle with a seeming grace shortage. The ultimate feeling of insufficient grace came at the crucifixion of the hope of Israel. Jesus' disciples, just like us, entered darkness and felt like the night would never end. They endured three days of living hell when Jesus died, and the promised Messiah lay dead in the tomb. But their dawn came, and this gives us the promise that our dawn will come too.

The wonder, the relief we will experience, when the greatest nightmare of broken dreams gives way to the dawning reality of a Living God. 

Dawn comes after night. As we bury dead hopes in relationships or life, we always have to endure the three days of darkness that the disciples did. That's part of our cross to bear. But just as they saw their Hope rise again, we will see ours. And I think in some ways it will always be unexpected, because God wants to give all believers the grace of tasting what it was like to see His Son rise again, even though we live centuries after it happened.

When I woke up that morning, I thanked God that he had brought me through the night to see another dawn. Just the new day was enough, for it promised me that He had gotten me that far, and would bring me through the day. Time passed, and my hope increased as I sensed His grace undergirding and supporting me.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

~Isaiah 40:29-31

Dawn always comes. In every ticking second of darkness, we must cling to the hope that dawn will come, that the little pinpoint of light we see in front of us is our great God leading us to the coming day. All of us struggle. All of us go through seasons of walking in darkness, sometimes darkness that is very great indeed. Families sin and turn upon each other. Projects fall through, ones that we've been working on for a long time. Friends get busy and sometimes forget to encourage. And we see darkness. But the promise of coming dawn is eternal, unchangeable. As eternal and unchangeable as the God we worship. His grace can never alter or wear thin, and God, who deals so abundantly with us, will ensure that we have enough. It will be there for us through the deepest darkness, and we are assured that all evil shall be vanquished, all heartache shall be healed, and our Lord shall work deliverance on behalf of His people.

If you are walking in darkness, then wait for the Lord to restore your hope. Dawn will come, for no force--neither our fears, nor our struggles, nor our disappointments--can hold it back. And when it comes, remember to give thanks to God for his abundant grace.

Schuyler M. is an avid bibliophile, a young ladies' ministry leader, and an aspiring novelist. Styling herself as Lady Bibliophile, she runs a book blog, My Lady Bibliophile, where she posts Tuesdays and Fridays with book reviews and Christian evaluation methods of classic literature. In her spare time, she likes to listen to Celtic music, write novels, and day-dream about what her growing manuscript would look like on the silver screen.