Sufficient Strength

Fragile.

The only word that comes to mind when I think of flowers during the winter. Frail and bruised at times from unrelenting wind and ofttimes cold weather. Yet, a flower that survives winter with all its brutality would be anything but fragile...wouldn't it? It must be strong to stand the beatings of gusty cold fronts, and stalwart to hold up when the freezes encroach upon the night. Those flowers, though weak in appearance, have been created to withstand everything put in it's path, and it's strength is not undermined by its fragility.

Fragile.
It could also be used to describe us in the winters of life. So too, frail and bruised...bewildered and misshaped from circumstances beyond our control. So how, in the brutality of life can we remain strong? How do we stand firm when every fragile emotion inside of us crumbles? To resist the urge to break off, to snap under the pressure of bitter cold seems more than we can bear sometimes. The question must then be asked: where does the strength to weather the unthinkable come from?

Strong.
Our Jesus is mightier than the frigid winds that trial brings. He supports us through every bitter adversity that life throws in our direction. Without Him, our resolve is non-existent, our will to get back up and fight dies as we lie down in defeat. Yet, with Jesus we are strong...we are purposed and free. We have every ability to stand up to our enemies, or the lies taunting us, or the wind of change, and say “Enough!” We will never back down...and We can't be forced down...not when our Rock stands strong forever.

To Him who is able to keep you from falling and present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to our only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord , before all ages, both now and forevermore! Amen.

Jude 24-25

How true this is in my life, he keeps me from falling...and failing. Despite the voice inside that whimpers “I am defeated...” the Spirit that strengthens shouts: “Never give up! Keep going!” Yes, I am fragile, and I have been bruised at times as we all have been. However my Strength...THE Strength, cannot be undermined by a fragile carnal shell. Instead He works through me, past my faults and whispers:

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, boast all the more gladly about your weaknesses, so that My power may rest on you. And for my sake, delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when you are weak, then you are strong.

2 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV para.)

Gladness of Heart

Well, well, well...it has been over six months since my last post, and I feel I should start fresh for a new season in my life. Tomorrow will be the last day I wake up with high school assignments on my mind...the first day of a very different life.

There have been so many changes in the last few months, I find myself overwhelmed. I love my job at Family Christian, more than I ever thought I would. I enjoy working with my sister again and finding new friends. I have started countless new projects, and finished probably half...what's more, I have waited till the last minute to update this. ;)

If I were to culminate every lost moment, every spare thought, and fleeting inspiration, I could have saved myself a great deal of missed deadlines....however, I have fully enjoyed my life...savored almost every day of this school experience and I would not trade that for all those misplaced thoughts and unknown possibilities. My point is, I have learned just how poignant and applicable Solomon's words in Ecclesiastes 5 are to my life:

¹⁸ Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. ¹⁹ Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God. ²⁰ He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.

Sometimes my flesh reminds me of the disappointments I have faced and I begin to "reflect on the days of my life" without looking outside at the beauty the big picture holds. However, most of the time, I am able to step back with "gladness of heart" and say "WOW, look what my God has done!"

I may be ending one point of my life, but just as He has the last 18 years of my life, God will be my joy and my encouragement, no matter where I find myself.

On that note, be joyful my friend...and enjoy the picture God is continuing to paint on our lives.

With Gratitude and Humbleness...
Rachel Marie

Knowing Joy

Oh, how the Lord has been good to me these last three months...And I have so much to write it cannot be contained in this one post!
So, to start, yes, I have a job...but getting the job in itself is not what spurs my joy. After three months of job searching, I thought that the first day I went back to work would be one of the happiest, instead, it is one that arrived with caution and trepidation. How could I go back to all I had just relinquished? Wouldn't doing so lead me into the same trap?
But God is working still, as He always does in mysterious ways. Though the struggle for my job seems to be completed for now, every day He teaches me something new if I take the time to learn.
One of the most irritating things about my job is people who fail to return phone calls or emails. While you do end up getting used to it, there comes a point in everybody's life they want to know that what they have to say is worth hearing. That is especially true when it comes to God listening and answering.

A verse I read the other day seems fitting now:

In my anguish I cried to the LORD,
and he answered by setting me free.
The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?(Psalm 118:5-6)

In Psalm 118, David is in deep pain. In anguish he "cried" to the Lord. In the Greek text of the manuscript, this word, qara, means to shout out in order to initiate contact, to believe that if you call someone will answer. David wholeheartedly believed that if he raised his call to the Lord that God was going to answer him.
And not only did he believe God would answer him, but his heart was swelling with joy over the fact that he would be free from his pain. When he says “[God] answered by setting me free” he uses the word Mehrab for free which means to swell with joy or boastfulness. He was ecstatic even in his time of deep pain that God, 1) would answer him, 2) would give him the hope he needed to go on.
God always answers us, even if we cannot hear. His joy transcends the barriers that mortal happiness often falls flat in. This is because His love is the backing of true joy, and because He still lives as powerfully as ever, nothing will ever supersede this love.
Scripture is full of references to this powerful assurance that God answers and delivers. In 2 Corinthians 1, Paul writes:

We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us...[vs 8-11]

Three times, he writes of the Lord's deliverance. In Hebrew literature repeating something even once makes it emphatic; so to repeat his assurance of God's hope three times shows me Paul was not only confident of deliverance he was staking his life on it! After all, he had just felt the “sentence of death”, why shouldn't God come through?
It is this abundant hope I am striving to achieve, a child-like faith as Paul or David possessed. They had both witnessed God's grace and believed in the future of His Power. To trust the Lord wholly and completely as I did when I was unemployed is my greatest longing. And though I am not forced to turn to Him as I was before, how much greater my joy upon meeting Him than when I come with a willing heart?
Whatever you or I are dealing with today...no matter how small or large the issue, God is the only One we can count on returning our calls. And when we speak, He listens. Despite this wonderful assurance, it in itself is not the truest marvel though. To have the King speak when we are finally quiet enough to listen...that is the most unfathomable.
The King is on our side...We have nothing to fear! Like David I can truthfully say:

My Joy knows no bounds!

Rachel

Unshaken

Three days will mark a new milestone in my journey. Two months without a job. For many that would be quite a scary prospect. For me, before this all happened, it seemed like a death sentence. However, as I look back, I am in awe that I can confidently say this is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I don't say that lightly, and mark my words, there were days when I was positive I was at the end of my strength. And guess what...I was! Until I realized that without God I was nothing, this trial consumed me.
Today, I still struggle, there are still times when I feel lost and confused. God's peace surpasses this though, and I look at tomorrow with a different hope now.
Nicole Nordeman's song "Sunrise" captures this perfectly:

"There’s a moment when faith caves in, There’s a time when every soul is certain God is gone. But every shadow is evidence of sun, And every tomorrow holds out hope for us. You are sunrise, you are blue skies, How would I know the morning, If I knew not midnight?"

Our trials may seem dark, but without them, how could we ever truly know the glory of His light? God is the very embodiment of hope. He is strength and purity. As Psalm 30 says:

For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. When I felt secure, I said, "I will never be shaken."

I believe myself to be on the edge of dawn, the tears and trials not quite behind me, but the light of a new day, a new chance, just below the horizon. Sometimes, this is the hardest place to be, for even as close as one is to touching victory, there are still final steps to be taken. Those steps are heavily laden with patience.
The week is half over, or maybe I should say, there is still half of this week left to live. I strive towards staying secure in my Saviour. Under His care we can never be moved!

I remain completely unshaken,

Rachel

Quieting our Crowded Lives

Even after losing my job, it seems that other things rush in to fill the vacuum created in it's place. One would think I have a good deal of time on my hands to pour into this business, but it seems I am busier than ever, with less to show for it. (Ok, maybe less disciplined is a better description, but we will let that remain unsaid.)
A friend recently reminded me that "busyness is the enemy of progress". If that's true, I concluded based on the Word, that "quietness must be the foundation for strength and success".
This past weekend we went to a park not far from our house. It contains a nearly empty lake, biking trails, and endless stretches of quietness. Though I have only been twice, every time I am in such a place, I am rejuvenated, because God reminds me I don't need all the trappings of the world to satisfy me.
Though He exists everywhere, even amongst the bustle of our normal busy lives, He is most noticeable to me when I am still and away from all things man-made. Despite the fact I am not really the outdoorsy-type, I find that when I am surrounded by His handiwork, I feel closer to Him and understand His heart more.
I have a good deal of decision-making to do this week...as I know many of you out there do...Let us rejoice in Him no matter what happens.

Watching and Waiting (patiently),
Rachel

PS
Below is today's card...this one is made completely of leftover supplies!










Here is a close-up of the wording...

Coming to the Wooded Places

This is my current favorite piece of jewelry...It has already been sold!!! I love the greens and the browns as they remind me of a secret forest that no one else but I have discovered. Although, even if I found such a place, the thrill would be short lived as I would want to share it with everyone I know.
Ironically, the hardest thing about being unemployed is the fact that I have realized just what and whom I was leaning on for support. I am reading a book called "Radical Reliance" and everyday am struck by how much I was using the other blessings He had put in my life to hold me up.
There is a quote in the book that I read the other morning:

Only God is capable of providing the companionship that chases our aloneness into the shadows. Only He can satisfy, sustain, and secure us.

This honestly makes perfect sense once I took the time to understand it. No one but the Creator of Companionship could fully comprehend how to fulfill it in our everyday lives. This week my prayer is that I come to the "Wooded Places" of my life, and find solace in just spending time with Jesus there.
Nothing else matters, because no one else cares as much.

Pray with me, friends as we journey these paths together!

Rachel

A Day at the Capitol

Well, good morning!
We had quite an eventful day yesterday...we were lobbying at the capitol and then attended a rally on the south steps. To experience democracy at it's finest was unbelievably thrilling. For as I walked through the old hallways, and gazed at the building that mirrors our nations capitol, I was completely amazed at the presence of God.
To be a citizen of this nation, a citizen of Texas, is such a privilege that all at once, I felt humbled and honored to be standing amongst history! When I thought of how many people fought for the freedom I now possessed that enabled me to speak up for the rights of the people and talk with the leaders who make our laws was awe-inspiring.
Tomorrow, I will post some pictures of our trip, including the one we took with the governor!
For now, here is Part III of Claudia's Prayer...(Above this post I will put today's jewelry.)


Claudia's Prayer, Part III

On our first trip here, I had marveled at the splendor and majesty of Herodius' palace. Now, as I fingered the silk bed covers with their pure white pillows and real goose-feather stuffed mattress, I was disgusted.
All of this...finery, as I had heard it been called, no longer impressed me. Especially since I now knew it had most likely been paid for, with the blood of innocent men's lives. Innocent men who were willing to do anything for a man like Jesus. I had heard the rumors, whispered among the servants here at the palace, they were all afraid of being sold, sold into slavery just because they loved this man who called himself the son of God.
A wry thought came to mind just then, was it just me, or did anyone else see the irony in Pilate living under the same roof as these “Christians”? Of course no one was supposed to know of their existence, but I did, due in part to the fact that I often snooped around the kitchen after I was presumed to have gone to bed. And I never had to worry about what Pilate thought, he was out the moment his balding head hit the satin covered pillows.
On one such night, I heard one of the girls, with no more than 14 years to her name, talk of how this man Jesus had changed her life. She was about to leave Herodius' palace to become the wife of a well known centurion. A place in which many girls her age would have died for. Only this would be one of the hardest things she would ever do, for I heard her whisper to my maidservant Shayna, that she had personally met Jesus and pledged her allegiance to him.
If her would be husband, the Roman centurion, ever found out, she would most surely be sent away from his house and into exile for the rest of her days. With all of her family dead and her only living relative an older sister, in the same position, that would mean certain death.
I was scared of all this talk. At least she had the advantage of being a Roman. Any Jew was already suspect of shady dealings, and they would be pressed all the more sharply for answers about this man, whom they believed had begun an uprising.
Who was this Jesus anyway? And why did he act like each day might be the last chance you had to accept what he said was true? What was the meaning behind his speeches anyway?
Maybe sleep would help me rest from these tiresome thoughts, I wondered, as I lay back down on the plush bed covers. Little did I know it would bring me more pain, and in the end, joy than I had ever imagined possible.