Tag: storms

Pain That Earns a Crown

Posted on by Dorci

“1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:1-5

Did you know that in the Greek, the word for rejoice in verse 2 –  “rejoice in the hope of the glory of God”….is the same word for glory in verse 3 – “glory in tribulations…”

Rejoicing and glorying in the hope of the glory of God: yes. But they aren’t exactly the first words I think of when I think of my tribulations – or pressure – as the Greek describes it. In our modern vernacular we might say “being stuck between a rock and hard place.” There’s no place to go, no way out, and nothing we can do about it.  And for this we are to rejoice just as we are to rejoice in the hope, or expectation, of the glory of God.

How can we do that?

Just as we can rejoice in what will come as a result of our hope, our faith, our expectation: the glory of God, we can also rejoice in what will come as a result of our tribulations: perseverance…character…hope. Just as we wait for the glory of God Himself, we wait for the glory of God to be made manifest in ourselves through our sufferings.  It’s through pain and suffering that we’re conformed to the image of God’s Son.

Paul describes it in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 as a runner who competes.  A lot of training goes into an athlete before competition, and spiritually speaking, tribulations are our  God-given trainer.

A runner runs until his feet bleed, his shins ache and his muscles spasm, but he doesn’t give up.  A boxer hits a speed bag, a heavy bag and a sparring partner until he’s bruised, bloodied and his knuckles are raw, but he doesn’t give up.

No matter what opponent you’re facing, don’t give up.   It may be more than you bargained for, it may leave you in tears and breathless, it may bruise your soul, but don’t give up. Trust in the One who sees you, the One who uses pain to produce in His children His own character.  Allow our loving Father to discipline and prepare you, to mature and perfect you for whatever He has planned – in this life and the next – so that you may run the race and win the crown.

Grace and mercy,

Trials and Triumphs

Posted on by Dorci

A 12-year-old boy kills his sister and later finds the forgiveness and love of a great and merciful God.

An angry man, disillusioned by a God who would allow untimely deaths in his family, is later visited by the presence of God, washed in His peace and finds the love of God is all he needs.

A woman turns to the gay community and lifestyle and later allows the truth of God to dispel the lies as He heals her heart and she finds a new life in Him.

A Christian woman struggles with resentment toward God as she watches her believing mother deteriorate from Alzheimer’s disease, but would in time come to understand that the reason was full of God’s grace.

And my own story of growing up with parents suffering from mental illness and substance abuse, then turning to anything and everything in the world to deaden the pain and try to find love, and later finding real love and the forgiveness of Christ in a tiny church filled with the Spirit of God.

These are just a few of the testimonies of God’s faithfulness, grace and forgiveness in the lives of ordinary people who were touched by an extraordinary God in the book Trials and Triumphs, Hope Beyond Circumstances, Forty Life-Changing Testimonies.

I am so blessed to be a part of this project, one of the forty people who tell their stories of grace–either how they came to Christ, or how they held onto Him in difficult circumstances.  Each fascinating account is authored by the person who experienced it.  Every story is unique, but each one points to the same God, the same Lord Who is willing to forgive and give strength and courage to anyone who genuinely seeks Him.

Any believer can watch the news or look at their own family members, friends, co-workers, and on and on can see that the world needs a Savior.  People are starving for the love and forgiveness that we know only God can give through His Son, Jesus Christ.

But the enemy of God is hard at work lying, deceiving and bringing destruction on anyone who believes those lies.

Revelation 12:11-12 tells us that “They overcame him (satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony;”

People can dispute a lot of things about God, but no one can dispute what God has done in our own lives.  All of us who know Christ as our Lord and Savior have a testimony, the story of who we were before we put our faith in Christ, and how He’s changed our hearts and lives since.  Stories of how He’s loved us, intervened for us in miraculous ways, provided for us and protected us, and another page to our story is written every day.

That, God’s Word says, is how the enemy will be defeated in the lives of those family members and friends and co-workers.  As we tell the truth of God’s love, just as someone, somewhere told us, by the faith given by God and the blood of the Lamb, they will be snatched from the enemy’s mouth and set firmly in the hands of God.

Think of it: we have the privilege of joining with Christ to defeat the enemy that has lingered and lied and destroyed since the Garden of Eden by sharing our witness to those lost and dying in their sin.

Maybe you know someone right now who needs to hear these stories of faith.  Maybe you need to be encouraged and comforted yourself as you face struggles of your own.  I pray this book brings hope and magnifies the grace that is our God in the lives of many around the world.

If you’re so inclined, you can find it on Amazon at the link on the right.

Grace and Peace!

Go with the Flow

Posted on by Dorci

We didn’t have much of a chance to talk when I was growing up, but later my dad and I would talk for hours.  We were both thinkers and we’d each spend way too much time in our heads trying to work out our problems.  We also both shared an inclination to write things down.  And when one called the other, all those thoughts that had been swirling around in our heads or maybe even made it onto paper, spilled out into our conversations.

We took turns, comparing notes, collaborating, solving the world’s problems since we couldn’t seem to solve our own.

I knew a little bit about the difficult life he’d had, and he knew a little bit more about mine.  Being my dad, I know he wanted to help me.  I don’t know much more of a helpless feeling than to be a parent who can only stand by and watch a child suffer.

He saw me flailing, struggling, and it was as if he were watching me from shore with no boat and no life raft of his own to share with me.

So he’d call out to me the best advice he could give: “Go with the flow.”

“Yeah, I know.”

But fighting came easier somehow.  It was instinctual.

They say if you’re caught in a riptide, swim with the current, parallel to the shoreline, until you’re safe.  But most people fight the current.  They use all their strength trying to swim back to shore in direct opposition to the powerful and relentless current, and many don’t make it.

Go with the flow.  Accept.  Yield.

Paul the apostle put it like this:

“Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.  I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:11-13 NAS

For God’s sons and daughters, He is that current in our lives.

He blows the winds of circumstances where He will, and to fight them is to fight Him, and no one wins fighting God.

But when we accept the circumstances of our lives as coming from the hand of a loving, all-powerful, all-present and all-knowing Father, we can, with Paul, learn the secret of contentedness, and trust Him to carry us to safety.

It seems to me at this moment a happy coincidence that my dad’s name was Paul, too.

Whether centuries ago or just a couple of decades, truth is truth, and somehow the Lord in His mercy, knowing full well that one day he’d give his heart to Christ, gave my dad what he needed to get through the storms of his life.

I didn’t get it so much when my dad was giving me his advice years ago.  I was younger then and still had the energy and stubbornness to fight.  But I’m getting it a little bit more these days.  God’s patience and many trials have worn me down.   And I’m glad. All that flailing was blocking the voice of God. Now I’m learning to be still and listen.

There are days I wish my dad had lived long enough to be able to read what the other Paul had to say about “going with the flow” in the light of Christ.  To have the chance to take that thought one step further and know that it’s more than just tolerating life’s trials.  That in Christ he could find strength and even joy in the middle of those circumstances, and even grow through them.

Most of the time, though, I rejoice that my dad was able to escape the suffering of this life and receive his reward just five days after he let Christ into his life.

If he were still here, he’d be 76 today and still trying to figure it all out, just like I am.  But he is home now, and he is ageless, living a life more contentedly than he ever imagined.

I wonder if the two Pauls have met yet.  I can just see them, sitting together, comparing notes, but this time without a care in the world.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

Love,

Eyes on the Ball

Posted on by Dorci

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

“Keep your eyes on the ball!”
 

I don’t know how many times I heard those words lobbed to me as I stood at home plate, bat in my little hands, waiting for the pitcher to underhand the softball in my direction.

But I could never do it.  The ball became nothing but a blur as it spinned toward me, and then past me.  I simply could not get a fix on that little white ball.

Had I loved sports (instead of being forced to do my time by the Department of Education) I could have practiced and learned how to focus my eyes and maybe even make contact.

Learning to focus on anything, foregoing all the distractions, takes practice.

Even focusing on the Lord takes patience and lots and lots of practice. Without focus on Him, everything becomes a blur, and we forget our purpose–to glorify God in all we do.

But we first have to love Him, and in order to love Him, we have to know Him.

We have to forego other things in order to spend with Him, practicing His presence, hearing His voice.

But so much…life….can get in the way.

So much of our pains and sorrows and worries and temptations and earthly goals take us away from our time with the Lord.  Maybe we’ve been offended by God and we’ve allowed that to create distance.  Maybe it’s sin we’ve allowed to settle in our lives.  An unforgiveness.  A bitterness.  Maybe we’ve just let the little daily urgencies of life keep pushing out what’s most important.   

We can forget that those things that trouble us are not the problem, but only a temporary tool used in the hands of a loving and gracious God to bring us to full maturity.  We can forget that He is fully capable of handling them and that we don’t need to let them overcome us.  We can place them at Jesus’ feet and look into His eyes.

We can choose to take our eyes off those things…off the crowd, off the other team, off the world…and put them back on Jesus.  Back on the ball.  Only then will we find success—peace and joy and real love–in the kingdom of God.  Only then will we be able lay up real treasures in heaven where this life will be but a distant memory, and eternity will be more real than this life ever was, where our reward is waiting with Him.

I love how Francis Chan puts it in this short video:

Blessings and Peace,

The Race is On

Posted on by Dorci

And crying with a loud voice, Jesus said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Luke 23:46 

Faith doesn’t come only when things are good – when the sun is shining, the bills are paid, and everyone loves us.  Who needs faith then?

But when the storms rage, the money jar is empty and the enemy knocks at the door, that is when we need faith.  That is when the exercise of our faith in God is most beautiful and He is most glorified. 

Christ is our example.  Rather than avoid it, He walked through the suffering, through the pain, through the rejection and spitting and scoffing and unbelief – even by His own friends.  Why?  Because He had faith in His Father, the Father who sent Him to the cross.  He kept faith that He had a plan and a purpose in His suffering. 

They would never know anything but how to reject, how to accuse, how to inflict pain unless He died.  Unless He offered forgiveness for their sins and they took it.  Only when their eyes were opened and their hearts were wiped clean of sin would they have the capacity for true love.  So He gave Himself so they could be forgiven and bring love into the world.

And they would go on to trust God through their own sufferings, to commit their spirits to their heavenly Father like their Savior did, so others could hear of Him, have their eyes opened and hearts wiped clean of sin.  So they could learn how to love like Jesus did, completely and unselfishly, and fill the world with it.

The torch has been passed to us, and we are called to do the same.

Grace and peace,