Seasons

This week we've been getting a little break from the bitter cold that is usually February in the midwest. It's also the time when the days are long enough for me to drive all the way home from work before it gets dark. It's the little things. ;)


Today I drove home from work-- without the heat on in my car-- enjoying this little tease of spring. And it made me think of two things:


1. After a winter of dark, gloomy days and bitterly cold temperatures--particularly the past few weeks where we've dropped below zero--makes me more grateful for the little things. During the summer, I would never imagine longing for 40 degree days or the sun not to set until 6pm. But now I'm so grateful for the extra daylight and temperature boost.

2. I know that it will go back to bitterly cold winter in just a few short days, but I'm still glad this weather is here right now. It's reminding me that winter is not forever. The darkness only lasts until the morning. Daylight comes. Spring comes. It reminds me to be thankful that God is in control and He doesn't leave us in one season any longer than we can handle. 


Lord, may I remember to be grateful.

This is a lie:

If I am just a little more organized, I will not be anxious anymore.

So is this:

I don't need to pray, I just need to make a to-do list.

Lord, let me remember that you are the Sovereign One. The One that controls my day and the outcome of all the details within it. May I look to you for peace and not to my own efforts.

remembering this today.

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not your life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 6:25-32 (emphasis mine)

some tuesday grace

This afternoon I was driving and I realized that my mind was racing with wedding planning thoughts, I was anxious and didn't even realize it. So I stopped to pray. God was so gracious in that moment to meet me with some truth.

A few days ago I was chatting with a friend who encouraged me by telling me that something that she tried to remember while she was planning her wedding was that God even knew what the font on her invitations was going to be, He knew the details. When she first told me, it was a good reminder--so comforting to hear. And while I was praying today, the Lord brought that back to mind. He has already planned my wedding. He knows where it will be, who will come, what flowers we'll go with, etc. And it will all be to accomplish His purposes. It's not my job to choose the one option that is going to make the gospel apparent or not. He's already done it.

As hard as it is for me to believe, God is sovereign even in the tiny details of wedding planning. And I just need to seek Him in it, and everything will fall into place. Somehow, I'm planning a wedding that has already been planned. And praise God for that!

unconditional election

Last Sunday in Church, Pastor Bullmore shared a quote that I thought was super helpful. It was a quote from Mark Webb explaining the concept of unconditional election in a very understandable way.

“After giving a brief survey of these doctrines of sovereign grace, I asked for questions from the class. One lady, in particular, was quite troubled. She said, ‘This is the most awful thing I’ve ever heard! You make it sound as if God is intentionally turning away men and women who would be saved, receiving only the elect.’

I answered her in this vein: ‘You misunderstand the situation. You're visualizing that God is standing at the door of heaven, and men are thronging to get in the door, and God is saying to various ones, ‘Yes, you may come, but not you, and you, but not you, etc.’ The situation is hardly this. Rather, God stands at the door of heaven with His arms outstretched, inviting all to come. Yet all men without exception are running in the opposite direction towards hell as hard as they can go. So God, in election, graciously reaches out and stops this one, and that one, and this one over here, and that one over there, and effectually draws them to Himself by changing their hearts, making them willing to come. Election keeps no one out of heaven who would otherwise have been there, but it keeps a whole multitude of sinners out of hell who otherwise would have been there. Were it not for election, heaven would be an empty place, and hell would be bursting at the seams. That kind of response, grounded as I believe that it is in Scriptural truth, does put a different complexion on things, doesn’t it? If you perish in hell, blame yourself, as it is entirely your fault. But if you should make it to heaven, credit God, for that is entirely His work! To Him alone belong all praise and glory, for salvation is all of grace, from start to finish.”

Amen.