See Beyond the Noise

-

 

Last night the Princess Warriors women's summer study group gathered for a "rest with God" led by our daughter on her harp. The weather was absolutely perfect for this lakeside respite.  Our purpose was to "be still" and draw into the presence of the Lord as he poured out his love over us.  The birds were singing out with the harp music in a way that you couldn't help but smile.  At one point I felt for certain our yard's deer, chipmunks, bunnies, butterflies, squirrels and salamanders would appear in the yard behind the harp. I know the worms wanted to stick their heads out of the dirt and dance.

There was a precious 96 year old friend in attendance.  Multiple times while we were listening to the harp and the Lord she would raise an arm in the air or sing out...sometimes in words, sometimes in groans. Afterwards she explained to us it was so wonderful how the Spirit was welling up to overflowing in her and she felt she was "going to bust." What a glorious example of the joy that is available to us.

Minutes after the music started a weed eater cranked up across the lake.  Dang ole devil darts!  As I started to pray for this neighbor to give us a 30 minute window to listen to this music in peace or for a piece of the equipment being used to malfunction or run out of gas, the Lord spoke.  "See beyond the noise!  Turn your eyes upon Jesus."  At that moment the song that our daughter started playing on her harp was "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus." Such a confirmation from the Lord to rest in him.  Moments after that on the other side of the property there was the huge crash of a tree falling. My husband said he was afraid it had fallen on one of our neighbors' homes, so he headed up to look, but couldn't find the tree. The devil tried to disturb the evening with distractions, but God prevailed.

As I sat with these wonderful women basking in God's love a question came from the Lord.  
"What do we do with the noise the world is making right now?"
Instead of allowing the controversies to rob our joy, to stir up bitterness and resentment, we can turn to God in prayer and lay our burdens down while asking Him to fight for us.  We are to love those who persecute us by the power available through the Holy Spirit.

The righteous cry and the LORD hears And delivers them out of all their troubles.

Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

The Song

"Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ka7bVQmbnk





Popular posts from this blog

She Fought the Good Fight

-
Image
February 27 Bible Gateway's verse yesterday was: This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him . 1 John 4:9 A fitting verse for the day my everyday friend, soul sister, monster of the faith and mischievous partner in crime, Kaye, left this world behind and headed to her heavenly home. My husband was able to be by her bedside and said he knew she heard the words of our faith that he shared. Her sweet daughter held the phone up to her ear so I could say good-bye and the brightest single star you have ever seen shown through my bedroom window as she exited this earth! Yesterday, my heart literally ached so badly that I told the Lord, "Take me too!" Wouldn't she have been surprised if I had snuck up on her in heaven and said, "Thought you were going somewhere without me, did ya." When we received the call she was ready to go, I called out to the Lord for comfort and He led me to the Bible Gat
Read more

Marriage Matters #1

-
Image
One of life's deepest hurts is when the one you love is unfaithful. Forty years ago, I remember an older friend, whose wife had been unfaithful and left him for another man saying to me..."Boo, I hope you never experience having the person you love and are married to, living 8 blocks away loving someone else." Deep hurt. They divorced. The wife of another friend of ours was having an affair with a fellow church member and a neighbor of theirs who lived 5 blocks away. She moved in with this man and our friend said one evening he was walking by the house where they were living together and saw them sitting at a table having a candlelight dinner. Ugh. The torment. I've always said it would be aweful to find out the person you were married to and  loved deeply loved another.  Hmm. We are the bride of Christ.  Is He our first love? 2 Peter 2:14 says: They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed
Read more

Are You Sinking... Being Tossed About?

-
Image
  A text came in from our neighbor recently, on a cold blustery day, when I was home with a stomach bug and awful headache. He said, "My canoe blew off our dock and has floated over to your shore."  And I'm thinking..."And you want me to do what?" I explained my husband was at work, but could help in the afternoon. I went to the window and could see the boat being tossed back and forth along our shore line. One minute it was close to our main dock and the next the winds had shifted and it was 200 feet in the opposite direction.  What I then realized is it had been taking on water. A text came again that he was in his car and driving around to our property.  Climbing out of my night shirt, I put on warm ups, UGGS boots and a hooded coat and limped outside to see how I could help. When I arrived to the shore line, the neighbor had tossed a 3 prong hook tied to a rope into the boat and was pulling it to the shore with one hand.  He had recently had hand surgery and
Read more