A Woman God has Blessed

"Mary said,
My soul gives glory to the Lord.
   My spirit delights in God my Savior.
He has taken note of me
   even though I am not important.
From now on all people will call me blessed.
   The Mighty One has done great things for me.
   His name is holy.


Luke 1:46-49 NIVR

This was expressed by a young woman, who went to stay with her relative for 3 months instead of with her parents.  There is no written record of her mother or father during this time. What did they think? Why are they left out of  this account?

Sure, an angel had appeared to her and told her she would become pregnant without ever interacting with a man.  But would you believe your 14 year old daughter if she told you this?

We are told of the reaction of her betrothed to this:

"This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother, Mary and Joseph had promised to get married. But before they started to live together, it became clear that she was going to have a baby.  She became pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Her husband, Joseph was a godly man.  He did not want to put her to shame in public. So he planned to divorce her quietly.
But as Joseph  was thinking about hsi an angel of the lord appeared to him in a dream. The angel said, 'Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to take Mary home as your wife.  The baby inside her is from the Holy Spirit. She is going to have a son.  You must give him the name, Jesus.  That is because he will save his people from their sins. "  Matthew 1:18-21 NIRV

If I were in these circumstances, would I be filled with praise over the goodness of God?

I think I would be stressed to death over the responsibility, the misunderstanding of those I loved, and the impossibility of the next 20 years...

I would not consider myself a woman  God has blessed.

What was it about Mary that led her to rejoice in God and Elizabeth, her relative to say, "You are a woman God has blessed. You have believed that what the Lord has said to you will be done."

One message that hits home to me in this is shown most clearly by the following passage:

   "How can this happen?' Mary asked the angel. "I am a virgin."
    The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come to you . The power of the Most High God will cover you. So the holy one that is born will be called the Son of God.  Your relative Elizabeth is old. And even she is going to have a child. People thought she could not have children.  But she has been pregnant for six months now.  Nothing is impossible with God."
   "I serve the Lord." Mary answered. "May it happen to me just as you said it would."
Luke 1:34-38 NIRV

God is speaking to me in this.

1.  Mary's very identity was about the Lord and not about herself. ( I am the servant of the Lord)

2. Anything truly good is only possible by the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is not in me and never will be.  Only He can truly work. (Nothing is impossible with God) Therefore there is hope.

3. Mary's focus was on the Lord, who He is and what He wanted her to do.
All the painful misunderstandings and surmisings of those around her were not the determining factor. (May it happen to me just as you said it would)

This is very encouraging to me, because
1. I feel like my circumstances are just so hard. too hard . impossibly hard.
Her circumstances were not the determinant of her inner life with God but rather the other way around.

2. I can be a woman blessed by God even in a very hard place when I don't know exactly what is going to happen or how circumstances are going to work out.

3.  Mary's prayer of praise isn't about this is going to work out great for me, or wow, what I want is going to happen.  It was a prayer of belief that God is who he says he is and will do good even in what I feel is insurmountably hard.

Oh Lord,
Thank you for showing me yourself in these passages. Thank you for lifting my eyes and heart out of the box that I feel trapped in: my own inadequacies, failings, sufferings, as well as the desires for those I love that seem thwarted again and again.

I want to believe you, but I am scared to believe for specific occurrences and details.  Not scared that you cannot do this, but scared that in wanting these things so badly, I confuse what I want for what you are doing and assume it will be the way I long for.  It may not be the way I expect or think but I can always plant my heart on the rock of who you are.  You are good and you are always working good in ways I cannot perceive now.  You do not change and you are never intimidated or overwhelmed or thwarted in your plans.

Thank you for encouraging me that Mary believed who you are and that you were able to do whatever you said. That I can always believe you to be good and kind and able to break through any impossible barrier at any time.

Thank you that you didn't even include a lot of the suffering I think Mary must have gone through here because you are right, in the end it didn't even matter at all. It is now over and gone and even forgotten in a sense.

Thank you Lord for loving me and always shining through the dark clouds to show me yourself  No matter what happens, you are the same and will not change.

Praise you Lord for bringing me from fear to praise and joy.

I am a woman that God has Blessed.

Amen.

"Mary said,
My soul gives glory to the Lord.
   My spirit delights in God my Savior.
He has taken note of me
   even though I am not important.
From now on all people will call me blessed.
   The Mighty One has done great things for me.
   His name is holy.
He shows his mercy to those who have respect for him,
   from parent to child down through the years.
He has done mighty things with his arm.
   He has scattered those who are proud in their deepest thoughts.
He has filled those who are hungry with good things.
   But he has sent those who are rich away empty.
He has helped the people of Israel, who serve him.
  He has always remembered to be kind
to Abraham and his children down through the years.
  He has done it just as he said to our people of long ago.

Luke 1:46-55 NIVR

Worship vs. Worry

Worship vs. Worry

yep folks this is a pvp world  (player vs. player)

at least in my life, these are mutually exclusive

one masters the other

no man can serve two masters...

Matthew 6:24

24 “No one can be loyal to two masters. He is bound to hate one and love the other, or support one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and the power of money at the same time.”

J.B. Phillips New Testament 

this passage is focusing on money

for me anyways, the draw of money is the draw of provision and freedom to do what I want

to do what I want
                   when I want
                          and how I want

to provide what I need without having to depend on God  (delusion!)

to make things the way I think they should be  (as if this were even possible!)

Isn't that the crux of it?

my feeble but strong willed attempt to be god
the ruler of my own little universe

to be the center
to order and create things the way I think they should be?


only....

I cannot do it

it never works

It only destroys

myself

and every one else I hold dear

The Way Out of Despair

"Humble yourself 

under the mighty hand of  God

and in due time,

 he will exalt you" 

 I Peter 5:6 KJV

So, humble yourselves under God’s strong hand,

 and in his own good time he will lift you up. 

You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties

 upon him

, for you are his personal concern.

I Peter 5:6-7 ICB

to face the ultimate reality that you, you alone are God

You are the only God
there is no other God beside you

and to believe you have a personal love and care for me
not because of me at all
but because you are love


The Core

Things will only be right when you are the center
When you have your rightful place

as ruler and Lord in this tiny universe of mine
in my heart
in my mind
in my thoughts
in my priorities and actions
in my relationships

in the sphere of influence you have placed me


Fear

Oh how my fears shriek like the Furies
Give up control?

What will God do to me/
What will he ask of me?
What will happen to me?


fear that cannot be assuaged by logic, argument , reason or any other  kind of persuasion

There is only one antidote
powerful enough to counter act the poison seeping through every part of my being

WORSHIP

WHO YOU ARE

WHAT YOU HAVE DONE

Only you transcend all boundaries
of what is possible,
all reasonable expectations

You are not limited in any way

Daniel 4:35New International Reader's Version 

35 He considers all the nations on earth
    to be nothing.
He does as he pleases
    with the powers of heaven.
He does what he wants
    with the nations of the earth.
No one can hold back his hand.
    No one can say to him,
    “What have you done?”

You have made the laws and limitations that this universe functions in
and you are able to transcend them at any time

you can completely break through any barrier and problem anytime

While I continually smash into the barrier of my own limitations
You are not limited in any way

While I see only dead ends. impossibilities..... and despair
you are the God of HOPE

While I continually find the limits of my own ability to love
YOU ARE LOVE
that is everlasting
never ending

"Your mercies are new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness"
Lamentations 3:23 KJV

Lamentations 3:22-24 NIRV

22 The Lord loves us very much.
    So we haven’t been completely destroyed.
    His loving concern never fails.
23 His great love is new every morning.
    Lord, how faithful you are!
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is everything I will ever need.
    So I will put my hope in him. 

How you took Joseph:, forgotten and languishing in prison for something he didn't even do,
Betrayed and abandoned by his own family
Alone in every sense of the word

 to becoming second in command in the most powerful empire in the world at that time
IN ONE DAY

and in time reunited and reconciled with his family.

I worship You, LORD.

You can do anything

Jeremiah 32:27New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

27 “I am the Lord. I am the God of all people. Is anything too hard for me?”

BUT will you?
in this particular place of my desires, fears and expectations?
I don't know what you will do.....

it may not be what i want or how I want or when  I want

My fears rise up to choke and suffocate once more

Isaiah 30:18New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

18 But the Lord wants to have mercy on you.
    So he will rise up to give you his tender love.
The Lord is a God who is always fair.
    Blessed are all those who wait for him to act!

not only are you powerful
but you are good
you are kind
you are tender hearted
you are moved with compassion
you are touched with all the feelings of our infirmity

Lamentations 3:22-24New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

22 The Lord loves us very much.
    So we haven’t been completely destroyed.
    His loving concern never fails.
23 His great love is new every morning.
    Lord, how faithful you are!
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is everything I will ever need.
    So I will put my hope in him.”

What you want to give me right now is YOURSELF 
to know you and be loved by you

1 Peter 5:6-7J.B. Phillips New Testament 

6-7 So, humble yourselves under God’s strong hand, and in his own good time he will lift you up. You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern.

This wonderful relationship with you is only possible through Jesus Christ

John 3:16New King James Version (NKJV)

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

it is not so much that we are special but that you are love

Romans 8:32New King James Version (NKJV)

32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

The only thing I know for sure you will give me right now is YOURSELF

YOU
Holy Spirit: filling comforting guiding

you do  not guarantee any of the things I want
or necessarily prevention of the things I fear

But you promise me yourself
right here
right now
with me
filling me heart and mind

whether i feel and am aware of it or not

YOU are here

it is enough
you are God You are God
I am yours

I love you because you have first loved me
I love you LORD

For When You feel You Could Never Recover

Near my house is a field of  avocado trees. One day, driving by I was shocked to see the trees had all their branches severely lopped off until there was truly only a 4 to 5 foot stump left and every inch had been sealed over with glaring white paint.

What before was a field of vibrant green, tall and verdant, blowing in the breeze and producing bounty was now a stark view of bare brown dirt and white skeletons dwarfed to a mere fraction of their former size.

Not a single leaf, branch or twig could be seen anywhere.

It was so distressing to see that the owners of the field felt compelled to post a small sign providing a phone number that those concerned for the trees could call and they would explain this drastic procedure.

Beautiful large and strong branches had been violently severed from their only source of life, never to recover.

What remained was completely sealed off - isolated into itself.

Sometimes we go through a season where this mirrors our experience.
The cutting is so deep and so pervasive and prolonged, we feel we may never recover from this. Ever.

Made all the more painful by the sight of the beautiful branches laying severed and lifeless on the ground.  What took large amounts of time, energy and resources to produce, is now lost and dying.

Seemingly a senseless loss.  One can imagine no purpose or meaning to this.

And yet, the wise farmer knows the long term benefit of such outweighs the loss.
Please Lord, let us hear your words and let them sink deep down in.

 1-3 “I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.

Please Lord, let us hear you.  Sometimes you prune off what is not fruit bearing in our lives. 

But sometimes you prune off even what IS fruit bearing.  It appears senseless and meaningless.  But you do have an end result we cannot see or even imagine right now.

Please help us to keep open and vulnerable and trusting in you.  To let your word still reach my heart.  To not shut you out or harden my heart to you.  To grieve with you and through the tears and loss, know you can bring life from death, light into darkness. 

4 “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.

Yes, Lord, help me to pursue You and a deeper relationship with you.  Please help me to communicate honestly with you and let your words of hope and comfort in. To know you are with me and will not leave me.  Praise you that anyone, ANYONE can be connected to you through what you have done to die in our place and take away my sins and shame.

5-8 “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.

This is all you ask of me, not to separate myself from you. Not to run away and shut you and others out. Not to give into the rage and pain and despair. To let you hold my hand and hold me in this. 

9-10 “I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.  John 15:1-10 The Message

Yes, Lord Jesus, help me to make my home in your love, to turn my gaze onto your beautiful face and rest in who you are. 

23 Jesus answered, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.   
John 14:23 Holman

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,goodness, faith,[a] 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit. 
Galatians 5:22-25 Holman

Who believes what we’ve heard and seen?
    Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?

2-6 The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
    a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
    nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
    a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
    We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
    our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
    that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
    that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
    Through his bruises we get healed.
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
    We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,
    on him, on him.

Isaiah 53:1-6 The Message

Yes, Lord, you are working in ways I could never see or imagine
In where I only see loss, you see what I cannot
You want to bring me deeper into yourself
Praise you that through your wounding we are made whole
I love you, Lord

The following post by Bonnie Gray was a great comfort to me:

http://www.faithbarista.com/2016/03/why-we-all-need-someone-onewordlent/

What is Truly Effective?

"to keep doing the same thing and expecting different results is insanity"

and yet...

Later, Jesus showed himself to his followers by Lake Galilee.[a] This is how it happened: 2 Some of the followers were together. They were Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the two sons of Zebedee, and two other followers. 3 Simon Peter said, “I am going out to fish.”

The other followers said, “We will go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat. They fished that night but caught nothing.

4 Early the next morning Jesus stood on the shore. But the followers did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Then he said to them, “Friends, have you caught any fish?”

They answered, “No.”

6 He said, “Throw your net into the water on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they did this. They caught so many fish that they could not pull the net back into the boat.

7 The follower whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”  John 21:1-7 ICB

Praise you Lord, you are not limited by our limitations

you are not restricted by our restrictions

You can bring complete and utter transformation into something I have done

repeatedly and fruitlessly for years....

You are able to change me in ways i could never imagine

You are able to change situations and relationships and dynamics

The Lord replies,

“Look at the nations. Watch them.
    Be totally amazed at what you see.
I am going to do something in your days
    that you would never believe.
You would not believe it
    even if someone told you about it....

The message I give you
    waits for the time I have appointed.
It speaks about what is going to happen.
    And all of it will come true.
It might take a while.
    But wait for it.
You can be sure it will come.
    It will happen when I want it to.

Habbakuk 1:5 and 2:3 NIRV

The KEY is to hearing your message...

How can I hear you and be moving along in your plan 

and not just stuck in my own universe of what I want and feel and desire?

In physics, it is proven that it is impossible to determine the motion of one object relating to another object from the viewpoint of either of these objects. 

If you are in one, it looks like the other one is always moving but you are still

but you may be moving and the other object is still. 

Like when you are in a parked car and the car next to you begins to move 

you have a sensation that you are moving if you are looking at the car next to you, but in fact you are not moving at all

motion can only be confirmed by a non mobile observer from a completely separate vantage point

5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ....

8 For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed...

12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

13 But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.

14 For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure...

2 Corinthians 10: 5, 8, 12-14a KJV

 Now I am going to appeal to you personally, by the gentleness and sympathy of Christ himself...

The truth is that, although of course we lead normal human lives, the battle we are fighting is on the spiritual level. The very weapons we use are not those of human warfare but powerful in God’s warfare for the destruction of the enemy’s strongholds.

 Our battle is to bring down every deceptive fantasy and every imposing defence that men erect against the true knowledge of God.

 We even fight to capture every thought until it acknowledges the authority of Christ. Once we are sure of your obedience we shall not shrink from dealing with those who refuse to obey....

12-16 Of course we shouldn’t dare include ourselves in the same class as those who write their own testimonials, or even to compare ourselves with them!

 All they are doing, of course, is to measure themselves by their own standards or by comparisons within their own circle, and that doesn’t make for accurate estimation, you may be sure.

 No, we shall not make any wild claims, but simply judge ourselves by that line of duty which God has marked out for us, and that line includes our work on your behalf. We do not exceed our duty when we embrace your interests, for it was our preaching of the Gospel which brought us into contact with you. Our pride is not in matters beyond our proper sphere nor in the labours of other men. No, our hope is that your growing faith will mean the expansion of our sphere of action, so that before long we shall be preaching the Gospel in districts beyond you, instead of being proud of work that has already been done in someone else’s province.

17 But, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord’.

18 It is not self-commendation that matters, it is winning the approval of God. 

2 Corinthians 10: 1-6, 12-16  Phillips

(Note: I have really selected a few verses out from a longer passage - for the context of the whole chapter see:  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians%2011&version=PHILLIPS )

Paul is effective and fruitful in what he is doing because:

1. He understands it is a spiritual battle 

2. He seeks to bring/let his own thoughts, perspectives and attitudes be brought into the light of God's word and evaluated there

3. He seeks to obey Christ, beginning in his thoughts and inner life

4. He does not try to figure out where he is and how he is doing by comparing himself to others

5. He is seeking to be in the boundaries that God has given him

Like the disciples hearing the direction - put the net on the right side of the boat  - put it here not just anywhere

O, Lord, sometimes I have a pretty clear idea what you want me to do be doing and most of the time I don't really.  I have so much trouble knowing where healthy boundaries are, in my thoughts, in my relationships, in my work

Lord please show me my sphere, 

help me to be in the boundaries of where you want me and do what you want me do to

no more and no less

to not go beyond and be overbearing and controlling

to not shirk responding to a need you are presenting to me that you want me to respond to

I wake up each morning and there is more to do than can ever be done

more needs around than can ever possibly be met

help me to abide in you and walk with you

to simply hear and respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit and 

be in the flow of what you are doing

in the sphere you want me to be in

amen

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. 

Trust in God. 

Trust in me also....

Remain joined to me and I will remain joined to you...

 I am the vine. You are the branches. If you remain joined to me, and I to you, you will bear a lot of fruit. You can’t do anything without me. "

John 14:1, John 15:4-5