expectation

“Read with a vulnerable heart. Expect to be blessed in the reading. Read as one awake, one waiting for the beloved. Read with reverence.”

Macrina Wiederkehr

When I read scripture, I try to approach it as a love letter instead of like a newspaper. I read the newspaper to gain information. I read a love letter as if the person is right there with me, speaking into my heart.

That’s the way I want to approach the Bible….as if it is God’s love letter to me. I want to read it expecting that God will speak to me...as if He has something special to say to me.

I invite you to read a few verses…read them through slowly, several times. Pay attention to any words or phrases that seem to be illuminated and then, ask God what He wants you to know. Spend some time pondering what He is saying to you…about Him…about yourself. Then offer up a prayer of intention.

Expect Him to meet you in the scriptures.

Grace and peace,
Deb

pain

"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”

There is pain in life. There is no way around it. This isn’t the way it was meant to be. There was no pain in the Garden.

All I need to do is look around…I am not living in the Garden any longer and so I have pain in my life. Thinking I can avoid pain is not choosing to live in reality.

I think what I do with the pain I encounter in life is the key. I am trying to look at pain through a different lens. Instead of asking “Why?” or even “What is God trying to teach me through this?”, I am trying to ask the question “Where can I see Jesus in this pain? How is He holding me in the midst of it?” I don’t just want to endure it…to get through it so I can learn the lesson on the other side. I want to be present during it, to be aware, to look at God’s hand in it.

Are you in the midst of a painful time? Are you struggling with why something painful happened in the past or why something painful is occurring right now? If so, I invite you to sit with God and ask Him to reveal Himself in the middle of it all…how is He carrying you even though you may not be able to sense Him? Consider journaling about those questions and resting in God as He slowly reveals the answers.

Grace and peace,
Deb

beginnings

This past weekend I was part of a retreat for 30 women. We unpacked the theme of ‘forgiveness’. We looked at those who have hurt us in the past and where we are in the process of forgiving them. We also looked at the things we have done and whether or not we are able to accept God’s forgiveness for ourselves.

It was a difficult weekend. Many issues were unearthed, some that the gals thought they had dealt with years ago. Other women discovered issues they had not previously talked about let alone dealt with.

The beautiful part is that God has begun the healing process. It doesn’t feel good but it is beneficial. Jesus died so that we might have life…not just eternally, but a rich, deep, meaningful life here. A life that others will look at and be able to see Him …not only in the wonderful things but also in the difficult things.

To those of you who are grappling with forgiveness…either giving or receiving…consider offering it up to God and ask Him to show what the next step might be. Surrender to Him and nurture your new ‘beginning’.

Grace and peace,
Deb

spa for the soul - awareness

“Man’s walled mind has no access to a ladder upon which he can, of his own strength, rise to knowledge of God. Yet his soul is endowed with translucent windows that open to the beyond.”

Abraham Heschel


God wants to be known by me. He wants to be pursued by me. He wants to be desired by me. He gives me ample opportunity to see Him. All I have to do is be aware of the ‘translucent windows’ that give me glimpses into His presence. It may be in the form of a rainbow or a sunset. It may be in the coo of a baby. It may be in the sweet smell of a springtime rain. It may be in the power of lightening or the quiet hush of a new snowfall. It may be in vibrant color of a tropical fish or in the majesty of a mountain. It may be in the beauty of the Word or in the soothing words of a friend.

The evidence is everywhere…I just need to be looking. I invite you to join me today in looking for Him, in all the different ways He reveals himself.

Grace and peace,
Deb
***No posting tomorrow as I have a retreat this weekend.

known

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day.

Psalm 139: 13-16

Today, I had the opportunity to spend some time with this verse. I asked God, before I began, to illuminate what He wanted me to see. The words that jumped off the page to me were “You know me….”. I had read this passage numerous times over the years. This is something I’ve known in my head for a long time but today, I knew it in my heart. He knows everything about me. All the good and all the bad.

What really stuck me is that if God knows me that intimately, how can I not trust Him? Sometimes I think I trust Him more with the big things but struggle trusting Him with the small things. I want to trust Him with everything.

Where are you with trusting Him? Do you say you trust Him but live out something different? If you know that He knows and loves you so much…He wants only the best for you….consider trusting Him with all that you have and with all that you are.

Grace and peace,
Deb

balance

Guardian of the seasons,
keeper of every time
tune us so to your rhythms
that we may know
the occasion for stillness
and the moments for action.
May we be so prepared
so aware
so awakened
in our waiting
that when you prompt us
into motion
our hands may be your hands
and our purposes
your own.

Jan Richardson

journaling

Last Friday was a day full of contradictions for me. My mind was full of steaming thoughts that threatened to leave me reeling. I went through so many emotions in a short period of time. I began my day hearing someone share their deep pain while going through a crisis of faith.

Then I received a phone call that my son had been in a car accident. Someone had rear-ended him and his jeep had flipped over (he is sore but fine).

I had a phone call from a friend whose children are all going through extremely tough situations.

And, finally, I spoke with my mom, who lives in Arizona and is not in the best of health. After years of trying to convince her to come back to PA and live near us, she is finally considering it.

Interesting how I can go weeks without significant events and then have one day full of them. The only way to process these kinds of things for me is to journal about them. I came home Friday night and wrote about all these experiences, where I saw God in them. I expressed my sorrow and my gratitude. I thanked God for His provision and asked Him to hold the things I couldn’t understand or change. Even though nothing had changed in my circumstances after I had finished, I had peace once I was done processing them on paper.

I invite you to continue journaling and discover what God is revealing to you through the events of your life. It is a rich experience that can increase your awareness of God’s hand in everything that touches you.

Grace and peace,
Deb