Category: Trust

Lesson From a Rescue #3 – A.S.K.

Posted on by Dorci

I’ve been eating eggs for breakfast for years, and since shortly after we rescued our dog six years ago, he’s virtually insisted I share my eggs with him every morning.

The routine is nearly always the same: he waits for me to get out of bed, dutifully watches as I get out the ingredients, utensils, plate…maybe paces a bit as I cook it up (depending on whether or not he’s deferred eating his own breakfast until he’s had some of mine), walks with me over to my seat, sits as close as he can get, and begins to remind me, repeatedly, that he’s there.

He stares deep into my soul, and if that’s not enough, he accentuates it with some serious begging, or he’ll whimper as pathetically as he knows how. And every once in a while, when he’s especially desperate and I’m not paying close enough attention, he’ll resort to a chest bump to the leg.  

Every day, week after week, month after month, year after year, he thinks he has to remind me all over again. That somehow I’ve forgotten him. Like I could.

All the while I’m reminding him, again, that I know he’s there, just like yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. I cut off his little pieces and save them until I’m finished, or at least almost. I can’t forget. There’s no way he’d let me. Yes, he’s a dog, but he’s part of my family. He’s my furry little child, and I love him.

“Yes, I know, I remember, you’ll get your eggs when it’s time.”

And so many times during this exchange I think of us.

We have needs and there may be times we’re not sure if God’s going to provide. Has He forgotten me? Does He see me? How is He going to get me out of this situation?

But Jesus tells us our Father knows what we need before we ask Him. (Matt. 6:8)

Yes, we ask for our daily bread (or eggs) and all our needs, but we don’t need to wonder if our Father’s heard us or has forgotten us.

We’re His children and we’re always on His mind and in His heart.  

Still, Rocky reminds me of a command Jesus gives us:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Which of you, if your son asks for bread (or your dog asks for eggs), will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil (hurtful), know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!”
Matthew 7:7-11


Rocky’s got it down. He asks, he seeks, and when needed, he knocks his chest right up against my leg. And in the right time, he gets what he’s asked for.

We are invited by Christ Himself to go to our Heavenly Father and A.S.K. – ask, seek, and knock, but not from a place of doubt, not afraid He’s forgotten us, or worse, believing He doesn’t care about us.

We can and must go to Him firmly seated in the foundation of our abiding faith in Him who sent His Son to die for us, who loves us with an everlasting love, and who called us by knocking on the door of our own heart to bring us into relationship with Himself. 

 

“Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from Him anything we ask, because we keep His commands and do what pleases Him. And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us.“
1 John 3:21-23

 

With His Love,

 


Related blogs: 

Lesson From a Rescue

Lesson From a Rescue – #2

 

Saturday Song – Burn the Ships

Posted on by Dorci

The story goes that in 1519 a Spanish explorer and soldier led an expedition in search of the conquest of Mexico. As he claimed authority over one piece of land, he ordered that his ships be burned to keep his men from retreating. (Although the truer story was probably that he had his ships sunk.)

Still, the term “burn the ships” became a trope meaning “no turning back.”  And for us who are in Christ, there is no turning back to the world or to our old way of life. 

We only move forward in faith, with our LORD, the Defeater of Death, into the waters, into the fires, into the valleys, into the victories of a deeper and more abiding faith, no matter what. 

Whatever piece of the world we’re still holding onto, let’s bravely let it go, burn the ship, claim our new life in Him, and take a step into a new day with our Faithful Father, and never look back. 

”But my righteous one will live by faith.
    And I take no pleasure
    in the one who shrinks back.’

But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.'”
Hebrews 10:38-39

 
 
 
Burn the Ships
by for KING & COUNTRY


How did we get here?All castaway on a lonely shoreI can see in your eyes, dearIt’s hard to take for a moment moreWe’ve got to
 
Burn the ships, cut the tiesSend a flare into the nightSay a prayer, turn the tideDry your tears and wave goodbye
 
Step into a new dayWe can rise up from the dust and walk awayWe can dance upon our heartache, yeahSo light a match, leave the past, burn the shipsAnd don’t you look back
 
Don’t let it arrest youThis fear is fear of fallin’ againAnd if you need a refugeI will be right here until the endOh, it’s time to
 
Burn the ships, cut the tiesSend a flare into the nightSay a prayer, turn the tideDry your tears and wave goodbye
 
Step into a new dayWe can rise up from the dust and walk awayWe can dance upon our heartache, yeahSo light a match, leave the past, burn the shipsAnd don’t you look back
 
So long to shame, walk through the sorrowOut of the fire into tomorrowSo flush the pills, face the fearFeel the wave disappearWe’re comin’ clear, we’re born againOur hopeful lungs can breathe againOh, we can breathe again
 
Step into a new dayWe can rise up from the dust and walk awayWe can dance upon our heartache, yeahSo light a match, leave the past, burn the shipsAnd step into a new dayWe can rise up from the dust and walk awayWe can dance upon our heartache, yeahSo light a match, leave the past, burn the shipsAnd don’t you look back
 
And don’t you look backAnd don’t you look back

 

Run In Such a Way

Posted on by Dorci

His name is Zach, and he loves to run. I mean he loves it. He ran cross country and track in high school. He studied runners like Usain Bolt and Zach Bitter, and started eyeing the pros. 

His philosophy wasn’t to look at the greats and think he could never do what they did.  Instead, he looked at them as human beings as he was, as having goals and simply training hard and going for it, and Zach saw no reason he couldn’t do that, too. 

So on his high school graduation day Zach announced to his mom he wanted to run a 100-miler before he turned 20. He had ten months to train.

Zach was laser-focused on his goals. He began training with a coach and ran his first 5K, then a 10K, then a 26-mile marathon, and then a 50-mile ultramarathon.

Throughout the process fellow runners embraced him, encouraged him, and supported him every step of the way. 

Finally, he was ready, heart, mind, and body. He signed up for the Coldwater Rumble ultramarathon. One hundred miles. 

The runners gathered at sunrise. At 19, Zach was the youngest. 

He ran throughout the day with only a few refueling pitstops along the way. He was tired, his body ached, and his feet were on fire, but he was determined to keep running. 

His coach ran alongside him, encouraging him, and whenever he circled back around after another 25-mile lap, his cheering section was there to help him keep going. He finished lap 3 – 75 miles. 

The trail was dark now. It was the middle of the night, but a secure headlamp lit his way. 

By sunrise, Zach was dealing with a hip flexor strain that caused him to slow to a walk for a bit, but he stayed in the race. He was determined, and soon he picked up his pace again. 

The sun was up, and while some runners had dropped out of the race, Zach neared the finish line with a smile on his face, his goal in sight, and his family and friends cheering him on. 

At 28 hours, 6 minutes, and 36 seconds, he crossed the 100-mile mark.  At 19, he was the youngest to ever finish the race.

Oh, did I mention Zach has autism?

Zach’s perceived weakness by some was in reality a strength. He’d always been very focused as a kid, and that focus helped him achieve a goal that, at his age, no one else had. 

Though I’ll never be this kind of runner, every aspect of Zach’s story inspires me to keep running in the race I’m called to in Christ. 

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”
1 Corinthians 9:24

Run in such a way…  

We are to take our spiritual race seriously.

We may look at the so-called spiritual greats – Paul the apostle, who wrote much of the New Testament, John the apostle, who recorded words from the LORD Himself, George Müller, Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, Billy Graham, and countless others, and think we could never do what they did. But why not? They were human beings like we are, who simply had a strong faith in Jesus Christ that caused them to run their race in obedience.

Who knows what God may want to do through any of us? Any perceived or even actual weaknesses we have don’t need to limit us. If we let Him, God can use those weaknesses to be the very things that propel us forward because when we are weak, He is strong on our behalf. 

Suffering may seem to be a weakness, but it is our training ground. As we look to Christ in and through it, He’ll teach us to persevere, to trust Him, to grow stronger in ways we never would have otherwise.

At times in our race, we’ll need to sit down and rest, or we may even fall. It’s okay. We all do at one time or another. Get back up and keep walking, keep running. 

And we need to cheer one another on to victory. There are times the most discouraging thing is not the world, it’s not the fall, it’s not the suffering. Sometimes the most discouraging thing is not being supported and encouraged (or even actively discouraged) by those who should be cheering the loudest. 

In the spiritual race, we’re not running against each other. We are each running a unique race purposed just for us, but we are running together. Let’s be brothers and sisters who pick one another up, who take a hand, who pray and encourage and love as we watch one another run our races. 

And no matter what, our Coach will always be by our side. He’ll run the race with us, giving us everything we need, and we can trust Him to never leave our side.

“Therefore…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
Hebrews 12:1a-2

So, let’s put on and keep on the proper attire for our race – our spiritual armor, and our light – God’s Word, and keep running with our eyes on the prize of eternal life with Jesus Christ.

When he’d crossed the finish line, Zach said, with a smile, “I’m tired, but I’m happy. I finished the race.” 

May we, too, say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”  2 Timothy 4:7

And if you’ve never signed up for this race, you’ve never known Jesus Christ personally, the Bible says this: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

If you believe that Jesus is who He said He is, that He is the Messiah, the Savior who came to die on the cross as payment for our sins, and you desire to put your faith in Him, to give your life to Him and begin following Him, just talk to God and let Him know. You can pray a prayer that goes something like this: 

Dear God, please forgive me for my sins. I believe your Son Jesus died on the cross to pay for my sins and I accept His payment. Please come live in my heart and lead me in this race called life. I pray in Jesus’s name, amen.

If you have any questions please let me know. God bless you!

For Him, 
Dorci

 

 

 

 

 

The God Who Hears Us

Posted on by Dorci

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts.” Luke 2:25-27a

We don’t always hear a lot about Simeon, and there’s only a small paragraph about him, but there’s a lot behind those few words. 

His name was Simeon, and names held a lot of meaning in the Hebrew culture.

The name Simeon was first used in Genesis as the name Leah gave the second son she conceived with Jacob.

“She (Leah) conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, ‘Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, He gave me this one too.’ So she named him Simeon.” Genesis 29:33

So, why did Leah name him Simeon?  Because in the Hebrew Simeon means “hearing.” 

The Lord heard (same root word) that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. He heard Leah’s heart grieve and groan, had mercy on her, and gave her another son. 

Jesus’ birth was the end of 400 years of silence from the God of the Israelites. 

The Israelites had largely turned away from God and His ways, and they endured much persecution, the desecration of the Holy of Holies, and the capture and recapture of Israel by multiple peoples.

God might have been silent, but He was not unseeing or unhearing. 

So “when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son…” Galatians 4:4

God had heard the grieving and groaning of His people and gave the world a Son.  

As Joseph and Mary took the baby Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to consecrate Him to the Lord, the Holy Spirit led Simeon, whose name means “to hear,” to see the Savior of the world. 

God hears. He is attentive to our cries. He is ever discerning and perceiving of the needs and concerns and trials and tribulations of one person as well as an entire people. 

We need to remember that. Deep down in our hearts we need to believe that because if we don’t we won’t pray. If we think all is lost, if we think it’s useless, that God isn’t hearing us, we’ll give up hope and we’ll stop praying.

Have hope, take courage, we have a God who hears.  

God’s Word shows us, through Leah and through Simeon, that God is a hearing, compassionate, and loving God. 

So as we start this year, let’s remember that God hears our prayers and continue to pour out our hearts to Him who hears us and will answer when the set time has fully come. 

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.”  1 John 5:14-15

Be Still

Posted on by Dorci