www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MGd3Tenpnk
I am praying that He will provide each of you with solace and joy.
For the glory of Another
- not4myself
- This blog is meant to be a dialogue in which questions, ideas, frustrations, and worship can be shared. This is a place to engage the ideas presented by individuals--authors, singers, speakers, friends or strangers--and the culture at-large. This is a place to sift.
29 comments:
And what about you dear writer? I'm praying as well.
Thank you, my friend. I'm grateful for your prayers. (Actually, a close family member is in the hospital right now. This person has not surrendered his/her life to the Lord. And quite frankly, I don't know how to pray right now. Sometimes there just aren't any words...) Your love ans support continue to be a blessing from the Lord.
You will always have my support.
(and my love...that too :P)
Thank you, dear Imouto! *-*
MmMm! No one's around! What's going on?! what'd they find out?!
Well, my family member is not in danger of his/her life. This is the second time within 2 years that bllod clots have developed in a leg and one lung. This time there is cellulitis as well. This family member's physical health is very reflective of the spiritual condition: bad. And unfortunately, there appears to be no acknowledgement of any need for change on either front. It doesn't help that this person deliberately surrounds him/herself with permissive, enabling individuals...there's an intentional lack of accountability.
Thank you again for your prayers, my friend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8fSjtPLuBQ
Thank you, Imoutochan! Hugs, conversations, prayers, and encouraging songs mean so much.
I'm continuing to pray for you, my friend.
Here was the other one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX_hh0TOUk0
Thanks! Tis one is great, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbGgA2lIDjc
I love that song! ^_^ (we sing it in chapel) Amazing Grace and Blessed Be Your Name have always been my two favorites though. :)
Those are both very good songs. I think my personal favorites would be hymns; Amazing Grace is one of them.
By the way, my family member was released from the hospital on Thursday evening. Now if only he/she would seek release from all that binds...
I'm praying for you as you press in to the Goodness of our Lord.
I need it... Will you leave me and switch sides? Or Will you stand by me? I need to know. My friends are dwindling down and I don't know that I can take getting hurt anymore.
I cannot answer that question, my dear friend; because I do not believe that is the question you need to ask.
"For even if the fig tree doesn't blossom, and no fruit is on the vines, even if the olive tree fails to produce, and thefields yield no food at all, even if the sheep vanish from the sheep pen, and there are no cows in the stalls; still, I wil rejoice in Adonai, I will take joy in the god of my salvation. Elohim Adonai is my strength! He makes me swift and sure-footed as a deer and enables me to stride over my high places."
In an alternate translation, "high places" is rendered as "heights." Is it possible that Habakkuk is referring to the idolatrous shrines--the high places--in his own life?
In prayer, this passage was the response my Lord gave me for your question. If you are feeling isolated (whether it's true or not) then turn to the Lord. Ask him what he's hoping to teach you right now.
Imoutochan, what are the high places that Jesus is inviting you to stride over? Ask him to show you. I know he will. You know it, too. And we can both look forward to discovering that we've been equipped to leap tall buildings (or shrines or strongholds) in a single bound! ^_^
<3
*sigh* You're right. It's just so hard!
Yes, it it. ^_^ But I'm proud of you! I know you'll continue seeking to do the difficult things.
Honestly, I don't know that that "high place" is still there or I would be finding it a lot harder to deal with right now. I had the two main days where I was upset, mad, and depressed. Now, I'm not mad and I'm not worried about it. I'm not worried about you or Linds anymore either. (I'm not saying never, but it doesn't consume me) Honestly. I'm not saying I've been perfectly consumed by God's love, but I have been consumed. I don't think that "high place" of friends and relationships is still there. It's still valued and I still get upset when it's threatened and I still get insecure sometimes (like yesterday morning for example), but it doesn't consume my mind. For real. I still mess up and have low spots like Friday night and Saturday night, but it doesn't last long. So, I guess here's my question: 1) Is having any insecurity mean you have a shrine? 2) I know when you're made perfect in love you don't have any insecurity, but do you ever get to that perfection?
Mmm, by the way, it's day 4 without a fight or raised voice. ^_^
Just to clarify, Imoutochan: the question of "what are the high places Jesus is inviting you to stride over" is not in reference to a particular high place you've dealt with in the past. (And I'm sure you're also aware that shrines from the past can still be faced again in the future.) This is a more general question--one specifically for you and the Lord. It may refer to one or more struggles of which you already know; it may refer to some areas of wich you are not yet aware. Either one is an exciting prospect: an offer of growth from Jesus!
My dear friend, we will never reach perfection in this world. Although, in the eyes of the Most High, we already wear the perfection of his Son as a garment. An insecurity, a weakness, is not the same as a shrine or a stronghold. Just continue surrendering to the Lord all the weaknesses you know (you might even list them or state them aloud) as well as all the weaknesses you do not know. He already paid for the seen and the unseen. So down the road--whether it's five days or ten years--we have the beautiful privilege of looking back and saying, "Wow! I was such a mess in this area...and you knew it. Yet you called me, claimed me, and used me very deliberately, while I was encumbered. How wonderful you are! How marvelously Good is my Lord!"
I'm praying for you, Imoutochan. It's exciting to hear and know of the growth Jesus is cultivating in you! Keep pressing in, my dear friend. ^_^
I found a letter you had written me concerning a question I had asked you back in March. Today was the first day I read it in 2 and a half months. After reading it and knowing what's been gone through since it was written and how I've changed and everything else has, I started wondering. Does this letter even apply anymore? If written again would it sound the same? I know full well that I'm starting to stray a little far at this point, but that was all I wanted to ask. Has love changed?
The rain is beautiful right now; the sound is lulling. Rain has vast abilities beyond any one thing. It cleanses the earth and washes away the misplaced dirt. It invites the inhabitants of its kingdom into a restful slumber as the rain drops break on the ground. It brings joy to little children stomping through the puddles, laughing to one another as they splash themselves. Sometimes this rain comes in storms, black billows of clouds and thunderous lightning strikes accompany the torrents of water drops. But sometimes, it just comes in a gentle pitter-patter, gracefully falling from the Heavens. Gentle or furious, the rain is still rain. It’s water. It’s love.
By the way, I could use your prayers. New health stuff has arisen. (of coarse we can't stick with the same old boring stuff) So, prayers for that area are always welcome. I like my skin and my hair where it is. Call me picky... :P
Definitely praying for you!!!
(I'm going to answer your earlier comment at a time when I can think clearly.)
Hang in there, my dear friend!
I'm praying for you. Get better! :(
Thank you, dear friend.
I am also praying that the doctors will have wisdom, and that everything will go well tomorrow. <3
It's the 28th. :/
And don't forget about that question when you become conscious again. ;)
Oops. Right day, wrong week. Well then I have more time to pray! ^_^
I haven't forgotten. I'll get it up soon.
^_^
Never mind. :/ It's not an important question and it's diverging from your topic. I'm pretty sure I know the answer anyway. Forget it. Sorry.
Water is constant in all its forms. It erodes land structures, drowns crops, demolishes trees and buildings. It carries pestilence, freezes the hopeful flowers, and takes life. Water ravages.
Water carves secret cathedrals in the earth’s heart, and fills them with beautiful formations and unearthly lights. Water calls life to rejuvenating sleep in its frozen embrace. Water encourages new life to seek the sun—waiting just beyond the broken body of a once-mighty oak. Water murmurs secrets, gives puddles, and sings lullabies. Water creates.
If we see only the water, at times we will inevitably see something capricious, something changeful, even something cruel. “Have you gone down to the springs of the sea or explored the limits of the deep?...Who cut a channel for the downpours, or a way for the lightning and thunder, causing it to rain where no one is…Does the rain have a father? Who is the father of dewdrops? From whose womb does ice come? Who gives birth to the frost of heaven, when water becomes hard as stone…Can you raise your voice to the clouds and make them cover you with a flood of rain?” (Job 38:16, 25-6, 28-30a, 34) All things of this world are designed to draw our gaze beyond themselves to behold their perfect Source.
Including rain.
Including love.
There will be times when love also appears capricious, changeful, and perhaps cruel. In those moments we must look beyond that which seems to bring only destruction and behold the perfect Source. Water ravages. Water creates.
Water Transforms.
And that is his loving goal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Leaving metaphor for the moment, that letter is still entirely true, Imoutochan. Nothing has lessened, although it may appear changeful and cruel at times. As when it was first written, the opening and closing paragraphs are still the most important.
I am continuing to pray for you, my dear friend. Keep pressing in.
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