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What Has God Rescued You From?

04.03.2018 by Tracy Stella //

Welcome to April with its promise of fresh spring flowers soon to follow.  I’m looking forward to seeing new blooms bud, green grass come alive, and sunshine rays to warm my skin.  You too?

I (Tracy) pray you had a beautiful Easter and are still basking in the hopeful glow of resurrection Sunday. Because Jesus died and rose from the grave defeating death and sin, we have good news to look forward to every day of our lives.

What has God rescued you from? (blue)

His resurrection rescued me and you, not just for yesterday and today, but for all time.

Heaven with Jesus sounds a whole bunch better than hell!

My grandma would have said, “The world is going to hell in a handbasket.”  According to Wikipedia, that phrase describes a situation headed for disaster inescapably or precipitately.1

Hell is a disaster. However, it IS fully escapable.

Christ died so we wouldn’t have that dreadful destination in our future.

We all sin. We all need a Savior!

Maybe you are like I used to be. Easter meant chocolate bunnies, dyeing eggs, and baskets with way too much candy.  Those things are all fine, of course, but they miss something very important. Rather, Someone. Jesus. The One who died to cover our sin. The One who died to save us. The One who loved (and loves) the world. Each and every one of us.

Periodically, as a little girl I would go to mass with my grandparents. I’d hear the adults echo the priest. “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Have mercy on us.”

I followed along, not knowing what the refrain meant.

Lamb? What’s with the lamb? And why does grandma make that little lamb cake anyhow? I was always fond of its creamy frosting and coconut shavings, not to mention its moist, melt-in-your-mouth texture. We’d gather in her sunroom.  She called it her solarium. Family tucked around the table, views of the farm on three sides, and weather permitting, a nice warm breeze through the open windows, sure to let the dust in from the over-sized U-shaped gravel drive.

Grandma cut into that cake and my taste buds danced in delight once its yummy goodness met my mouth.

At best growing up I was a Chris-Easter, and that not even every year. I went (sometimes) because that’s what people do on Christmas and Easter, even if they don’t understand why.

The little lamb cake symbolic of THE Lamb of God who took away our sin. If you haven’t dove deep into the old testament, you may not know that Jews had to sacrifice animals to atone for (a “fancy” way of saying cover) their sins.  When the Israelites sinned, they needed to sacrifice an animal. (Gross, I know!)

I go into all that because I had asked someone who went to mass most of his life what the Lamb of God meant. He didn’t know either. We can’t assume just because we hear something, even repeatedly, that we know what it means.

Sometimes people do things merely because that’s what people do. Like follow the leader, everyone does it.

But God wants us to be critical thinkers. After all, He designed us with brains. He wants us to ponder. To dig in. To learn. To grow. To grow to know Him in and through it all.

The Lamb of God is Jesus. He was sacrificed on a cross. His death covered all our sin. All!  Everything every one of us ever did (or will do).  Nothing and no one is beyond the reach of His redemption.

Yes, He saved me from hell. But He saved me from so much more than that! Hell is significant, so I don’t want to skip over it. No one wants to go there! It’s a place of torment, weeping and gnashing of teeth (Luke 13:27-29). Our worst day here on earth is microscopic in its misery compared to what hell will be like for those who do not choose to surrender their lives to Jesus.

However, it’s His love for us that so clearly spells all that out in the Bible.  He wants us to know, because He doesn’t want hell for any of us! Remember His proof? He was willing to die as proof of His love for us. (John 3:16)

He wants us safely tucked with Him as heaven descends upon earth and we spend all eternity with Him. No more sin. No more tears. Peace. Productive. A city bustling with activity. Toss any images out of your mind of floating on a cloud strumming harps. They’re just not true.  But music is allowed. Oh, there will be music!

Read the Bible. Sit down with a friend. Process what you are learning together. Again, think critically. Ask questions.  I still have some. It’s okay.  It doesn’t mean I don’t believe in Jesus. It just means some things about faith are confusing … and they require, well, faith.

Imagine me sitting tucked under a blanket in a rubbed worn chair near a pile of books stacked precariously high, coffee always close at hand, and a journal handy to jot down prayers and process my thoughts. My feet propped on the chair’s partner, matching worn footrest, because sometimes it’s good to sit awhile. Oh, and I can’t forget my little dog Enoch who gets some quality cuddle time with me as I explore God’s Word each morning, reflecting on what it says and what it means in my life.

One of the best questions I have learned to ask is this:

What is that saying, God?

I pray before I read, asking for God’s help to understand what the Bible is saying, and what He is saying to me through it.  I pray before writing these blog posts, because He knows who will read them and what each reader needs (and He knows what I need in the writing of it). Because I trust Him, I trust that process. And I trust the outcome to Him as well.

As I sat in my scruffy chair, the word stagnation came to mind as I thought about what God has saved me from.

What has God rescued me from? Stagnation!  It kept surfacing. Then, the Pool of Bethesda (although I didn’t know why).

I sensed they were related. Stagnation. Pool of Bethesda.

What are you saying God?

God’s insights and instruction are good things to ponder, of course.

Putrefy, decay, rot

Synonyms for stagnation.

God saved me from decay and rot. A graphic picture of what His goodness has delivered me from.

Stagnate means

  1. To cease to run or flow, as water, air, etc.
  2. To be or become stale or foul from standing, as a pool of water.
  3. To stop developing, growing, progressing, or advancing.
  4. To be or become sluggish and dull.2

As I mulled these ideas over, I visualized a yellow-green, slime covered body of water. Without movement and current, water grows stagnant. It loses life. And stagnation can take life too. Little by little life loses vitality if we aren’t learning and growing.

I learn so much about who God is through Scripture’s pages. I also learn much about who I am and what He has for me as I read the Bible. Through its pages I receive healing and comfort, wisdom and direction. Life. I receive fresh life each day through its pages.

Sometimes, I walk away from my quiet time knowing I was changed because of what I read in Scripture that day. Sometimes, I walk away not knowing the significance in that moment. But when the need arises, I know the truth in God’s Word. I can draw upon His thoughts that live in the core of my heart and mind, because He placed them there a little at a time while we had coffee together each morning as the sun ushered in a new day.

Thoughts like, the Pool of Bethesda.

I’d read about it before. Lots of times. But I didn’t know what God wanted to say to me and you through it now. Fresh. Alive. Anything but stagnant.

You can read the entire account of the healing at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5:1-15.  I encourage you to (even if you’ve read it many times).  I’ve shared an excerpt below.

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie─the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”─John 5:1-6 NIV

Several things stood out to me as I read through this text. First, Jesus attended a Jewish festival.  There’s lots of debate in the commentaries as to which one, so I’ll leave that lie for today. Jewish festivals in general, though, were religious celebrations. Easter is a religious celebration. Interesting timing that God would bring this Scripture forward to use in such close proximity to our Easter celebration.

There were five covered colonnades where the disabled used to lie─the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. Think of the five colonnades as an ancient infirmary. Commentaries referred to a medical hypothesis that the five areas were used to separate patients.3 Disease has a way of spreading. Sin too.

So, we’re situated near this ancient infirmary near the pool of Bethesda where a great number of disabled people used to lie.

When I think of my story, I think of how long I lay near the pool of Bethesda desperately in need of healing, but not ever grasping for the healing God was handing out to me. Salvation. My life preserver. But it took me awhile to grasp it.

But I eventually did. I used to lie near the Pool of Bethesda.

I used to lie there.

Eventually, I wanted healing.  God helped me into the pool of His mercy. That’s what the Pool of Bethesda means, house of mercy.3 God’s mercy is not just a one-time deal. He extends it over and over to me (and you too). As I learn and grow with Him, He keeps teaching me. Stretching me. Stirring up the waters.

He asks this question: Do you want to get well?

Do you want to get well? For your soul’s sake. For your eternal destiny?

Do you want to get well? So you can be assured of who you are? Of who you are to Him?

Do you want to get well? So you can make a difference in others’ lives? Healthy people help people.

Do you want to get well? Because just like I copied my grandma not knowing why, our children and grandchildren DO follow our example.

Do you want to get well? Because you know in your heart life isn’t meant to be lived the way you’ve been living it? (Whether you know Christ or not.)

Do you want to get well? Because peace and healing has been purchased for us all by Jesus’ sacrifice.

When we don’t experience the good things of God as believers in Jesus Christ, we need to come back to Him each time and say, “Lord, help me to step into the Pool of Bethesda. I want to get well.”

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”─John 5:7 NIV

When the waters were stirred at the Pool of Bethesda, that’s when the healing happened. If circumstances feel stirred up in your life, God wants to bring healing, comfort, and mercy to you too.

If you ever feel alone in your struggle, know that you are not. God is with you. He will help you get into the Pool of Bethesda when the waters stir. Trouble in our lives has a way of stirring us closer to Christ Jesus. Let Him extend His merciful hand to you. He’s stirring the waters of healing even now. Will you get in?

When the disabled man finally got in the pool, God healed him “at once”.

When I think of how quickly God has brought healing in my life and how far He has traveled with me, it makes my eyes water with emotion. Nothing short of a miracle how far He can bring a wounded soul. Not idle. Not strumming harps. Sometimes jumping hurdles. But a really good place. I’m grateful!

And I know He wants that for you too!

He brings us into His peaceful presence. He accepts us as we are but loves us far too much to leave us that way.

The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who made him well.─John 5:15 NIV

I pray that is our story too. That we would each share how Jesus has made us well.  It’s a process, not requiring perfection, but not settling for stagnation either. Whether we are saved six days or 60 decades, let’s not settle for stagnation.

Let’s step into the Pool of Bethesda, God’s house of mercy.  If you want, we can wade in together.

Join the conversation here or on our Facebook page.

Signature Image: Tracy Stella

 

1 To hell in a handbasket. (2018, March 11). Retrieved April 02, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_hell_in_a_handbasket

2 Stagnate. (n.d.). Retrieved April 02, 2018, from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/stagnate?s=t

3 Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Categories // Resurrection Power, Tracy Stella's Perspective Tags // Atonement, Do you want to get well?, healing, Heaven, Hell, John 5:1-15, Lamb of God, Pool of Bethesda, Redemption, Rescue, Salvation, Sanctification, sin, Stagnate, Stagnation

“I Need a Do Over! Please!”

01.10.2017 by Jennifer Howe //

Last week Tracy kicked off January’s topic with her post on the do over. I have the honor of carrying the baton this week. Look for Kim’s thoughts next week and our “secret guest” wrapping it up the fourth week. I hope this series is an encouragement to you.

Do You Need a Do Over?

Kids in the neighborhood gathered in the empty lot across the street on hot summer evenings after dinner. An idea for a game slowly formed with eight or ten of us milling around. Teams were picked, and we played until the indigo evening sky chased away the red-gold sunset—or until moms started calling kids in for the night. Football, softball, frisbee, tag—any game we played—all had one thing in common. At some point someone made a mistake, and no one could agree on what to do about it, so the always-awesome “do over” was given. Another play, one more swing, another throw—alive just a little longer.

The do over. You’ve got to love it!

My whole life now is based on my desperate need for a do over at one point. (Can you relate?) If you know my story, you know difficult relationships, pain, and heartache wore on me. Irreversible choices were made. Long term consequences from snap decisions were agonizing for awhile. Eventually something like a heavy judgment gavel landed hard in delicate, emotional circumstances. The reality of my mistakes became overwhelming. And the more I talked to people, it seemed no one agreed on what to do about it. In the end I had no idea what to do, and I hoped for a reprieve. But what I desperately wanted was a do over.

I knew one thing even then: there are things that are just wrong. The average, sane person guides their behavior by the Rule of Law in the region they live. The law of the United States where I live maintains a few threads of an immutable law. Some of us know the Ten Commandments from the book of Exodus in the Bible, but in any case, portions of that text are still recognized as reasonable laws for all people at all times in all places. Murder, adultery, stealing, and lying are still acknowledged and enforced in our legal system, for example. The God lover and Jesus follower should be aware of the whole passage (Exodus 20:1-17).

This is the very thing that overwhelmed me in a fresh way more than 20 years ago. Suddenly, I saw where I had broken that law because my infraction was so glaringly obvious. A simple little sentence kick started the whole thing: “For whoever keeps the entire law, yet fails in one point, is guilty of [breaking it] all” (James 2:10 CSB).

Ouch! I’d never read the whole of the Old Testament, but I knew “The Big Ten.”

The “five finger discount” at the store? The not-so-little-or-white lie? I couldn’t write these off anymore. Suddenly, it didn’t fit so comfortably in the “everybody does it” category. Guilty? Just one time was enough? Yes.

If only it had been nothing more than the little infractions! (Honestly, I think that’s why I never worried about it.) Compared to the worst in history…or my friends…or the mugshots in the Post Offices…. No one else’s choices mattered in that nanosecond. Just mine. My heart broke when I realized I was in way over my head. My choices broke the law I hadn’t understood and thought about.

Have you had moments like that? Suddenly you realize you’ve wronged someone, and you feel terrible. The consequences of our actions are sometimes only seen when we understand the impact it has on others. For me, it was the cost another paid for my preference for convenience and comfort. One of the few times the ugly cry left a nearly indelible mark on my heart. Actually, I hope I will always remember that one for the bittersweet tears.

But God. (Two of my favorite words in the Bible anywhere it shows up!)

God, the Holy One who gave that law for our good (to reveal our sin against Him and our need for forgiveness), speaks sweet words to us when we are desperate.

“Come, let us discuss this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will be like wool. Isaiah 1:18 CSB

I’m not sure there are sweeter words that can be whispered to our souls. How precious that we can see a light at the end of our dark tunnel! The Lord never ignores reality: we’ve really offended Him with our sin. When I’m in that hamster wheel of regret, or when I am reminded of a past I wish I’d never walked, this verse is a reminder of the truth, love, and power of my God. It’s easy to see painful choices as something like a scarlet letter sewn to our clothing, but there is a love that transcends those decisions and actually replaces that red stain with a brilliant-white righteousness from Jesus.

Ah, that’s the beautiful offer of a do over, friend. The difference is that the neighborhood kids don’t judge the situation and agree to grant it. You don’t get to award it to yourself either. It is, however, free for the asking. If you need a do over, it’s as simple as going to the One who wants to lavish one on anyone who wants it.

Do you need a do over? Do you want one?

Sometimes we ask for the first time ever. Sometimes we need to ask for the hundredth time in a day. I’ve been in both places, and I’d love to tell you I’ve reached the point of asking less often for the do over, but I find my sensibilities and sensitivities mature. I know I will hurt others and Jesus with my decisions. There are times I’m not aware even still, but I hope God will continue to sharpen my perception and strengthen my resolve to choose differently.

Do you have questions about the first-time-ever do over? Let any one of the Facets know. We would love to talk about that!

Signature, Jennifer Howe

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Categories // Jennifer Howe's Perspective, Life, The Do Over Tags // Facets of Faith, Faith, Isaiah 1:18, Jennifer J Howe, Righteousness, sin

Do You Need a Do Over?

01.03.2017 by Tracy Stella //

Let me (Tracy) be one of the first to wish you a Happy New Year! In the season of resolutions we may keep ─or not─ we wondered if any of you might be looking for a do over. Will 2017 be the year that helps you live differently than you did before? Will THIS be the year that thing you’ve always done becomes something you never do again?

At the core of things, isn’t that what a New Year’s resolution is?  I desire to do something better, perhaps to BE better in some way.  The whole idea of a do over, or even a New Year’s resolution, seems to be rooted in regret. If only.

If only I could lose that last ten pounds.

If only I could carry out my calling without wanting to check out when it gets too hard.

If only I could hold my tongue when it wants to wag faster than a dog’s tail.

If only I could forget the hurtful words said to me, expunge them from my brain forever.

If only they’d never been said in the first place.

Maybe if only I’d never said them to someone else.

If only that goal I’ve longed to achieve was finally met.

If only the goal didn’t matter so much.

If only I’d never stumble again in the stinky, miry mess of my sin.

If only.

Right about now you may be wondering, what’s so happy about this post ushering in the new year. Hang in there. We’ll circle around like the second hand of a clock clicking around close to midnight. Time will usher in the HAPPY of this message about needing a do over.

Here’s the thing. We all make mistakes. The key is not to live in them, or let them limit the way we live. Each of us has a high calling. We’re called to glorify God, and we can’t do that if we are plunked down in a sea of regret longing for a do over.

When we don’t get it right (and we won’t always), we repent. We turn from sin and turn to our Daddy who loves us in spite of our sinful nature.

We accept God’s forgiveness and we move forward. Because that’s what He wants us to do.  He’s a God who gives us chances. Lots and lots of chances, because He knows He’s in the process of changing us at His pace and through His grace.

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and STRAINING toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.─Philippians 3:13-15 NIV  (capitalization emphasis mine)

The Greek word for straining is epekteinō which means to extend, to stretch forward, reaching forward.₁

We’re not called to reach back and take hold. We’re called to forget about those regrets, to forget about the sin (ours and others) that wants to entangle us. Instead, we’re commanded to stretch forward as if we’re a third basemen trying to get the game winning out. Reach for it. Because it matters.

We’re called to reach forward, because that’s where the prize is located. Our view as mature believers in Christ should be that facing forward gaze that looks to where our Heavenly Father is guiding us. Where we are going. Not where we have gone.

At some point, we need to think differently than the world. The promise in Scripture: God will make it clear to us. He’ll show us the view, the vantage point, He wants us to gaze at a thing from.

What if God is using our lack to show us things about ourselves? What if God is using our lack to show us things about Himself? On both accounts, He is.

What if our desire for a do over is really pointing to something God wants to help us deal with?

I’ll let you sit with that question for a minute.

What if our desire for a do over is really pointing to something God wants to help us deal with?

The song “Blessings” is playing right now in my earphones. What if the trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

What if.

Sometimes, if you’re anything like me, it takes a bit to understand a reaction. Why did that bother me so? Why is that thing (or that person) hitting a nerve? What is it about that proverbial last straw that says, I can’t take another thing? It’s not the last straw that set you on edge. It’s everything that has led up to that, layer by layer, until there’s a signal God allows through that says enough is enough.

Sometimes, He’s showing us a need not being met in our desire for a do over.

Certainly, our need for Him in all things. Like King David, we cry out to the Lord.

Hear me, LORD, and answer me,

for I am poor and needy.

Guard my life for I am faithful to you;

save your servant who trusts in you.

You are my God; have mercy on me, Lord,

for I call to you all day long.

─Psalm 86:1-3 NIV

Every day would be a day I’d regret if I didn’t have God and didn’t know I could call out to Him in my need. I have great need for His mercy, grateful His mercies are new every day (Lamentations 3:22-23)─and that I don’t have to wait for a new year to roll around for them to come again.

I love King David and his example. He gives me hope. Even in his sin, he called himself a faithful servant of the Lord. A servant who trusted God. Even in my sin, I can call myself a faithful servant of the Lord. A servant who trusted God. So can you. More of God’s mercy dispensed to His kids who want to do well, but don’t always.

Even while we are meeting the needs of others (perhaps more so) God wants to make sure our needs are being met. If we ignore the signals, He’ll allow them to get louder. It’s part of His merciful plan to turn up the volume.

That’s not My best for you.

That’s NOT My best for you!

THAT’S NOT MY BEST FOR YOU!

My best for you looks like boundaries and margin. Not doing more, but less.

The boundaries and the margin are for me, needs God wants to meet in my life. Maybe that’s not your issue, the thing God is trying to give you His best in.

But what is His best for you this new merciful day early in 2017? What is He revealing He wants you to possess, so you can be your best? Remember our high calling as believers? We are to reveal His glory. Embracing His goodness, letting Him fill us with His love when we are empty, allowing Him to lead and guide our life─really, fully, all the way … even when it’s hard.

What is God showing you in your need for a do over? What good does He want to bring forth like the rising of the sun on a fresh, new day as He helps you elevate higher?

Join the conversation here or on our Facebook page.

 

₁Thomas, R. L. (1998). New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek dictionaries : updated edition. Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc.

Categories // Faith, The Do Over, Tracy Stella's Perspective Tags // Blessings, do-over, Faithful Servant, forgiveness, God's Best, Lack, Mercy, Mistakes, New Year's resolution, Philippians 3:13-15, Regret, sin, Straining toward the goal, Trials

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