Come and Rest In God's Promises by Carol Harrison

 

Come and Rest in God’s Promises

As I reread my January blog post, these ending sentences needed to begin this month’s post. This year, the God of all compassion invites me to come and find rest in His promises. He longs to encourage me while I continue to be a good steward of the gifts He has given.

What has that looked like during this year? What have I done to be a good steward of His gifts? Have I taken God at His invitation to come and rest in His promises? These questions needed to be reflected on and an answer obtained in order to write this post. I mulled them over and over before formulating a response because too often the negative voice of the enemy interrupted, poking a finger at the lapse of trusting God fully or with questions like, “Did you really do all you could?”

The months of this year have lapsed into history. There isn’t a do over button to push and change the scenarios to what I wished had happened with my writing or the marketing to go with it. One thing I have realized over the course of these last few months is that the writing is only part of good stewardship. The marketing – letting people know my writing exists is another part of being a good steward.

Do I like promoting myself and my writing? Not really. It is so much easier to tell people about my friends’ writing. Yet at the Inscribe conference, Grace Fox mentioned that we need to think about feeding God’s sheep and not building our platform. This changed my mindset about the entire subject of marketing my own work. If I don’t get the word out, how will the words I’ve written feed and encourage others?

This brings me to the resting in God’s promises aspect of what I’ve been invited to this year and all the time. Trusting God to provide like He’s promised to do. Trusting He is with me no matter what tough stuff exists in my life. He always keeps His promises and one of them is to never change and provide all we need through Jesus.

This year has been one filled with less writing but more editing pieces already written. It’s involved being at a number of craft/trade shows with my books and talking to many people about writing, my own books, and looking at the possibility of author readings or other activities to get the books in front of more people. I’ve had to trust God for the words to say, the courage to say, “I’ve written these books. What can I tell you about them?”

Circumstances haven’t changed much in the last year. Medical appointments fill the calendar more often that I would want. Writing gets pushed aside when no energy remains for creative endeavours. I question what needs to happen in this season of life just like I did back in January. But resting in God’s promises has given me a better perspective. I need to just live one day at a time and sometimes one hour or minute at a time, ready to pursue whatever God puts on my plate to do at that moment.

God encouraged me through a variety of ways. Sometimes the encouragement is like the trickle of a tiny creek and at others times pours lavishly over me but it never disappears. It comes in the form of a positive comment, a sharing of ideas, a good workshop to learn new things, a hug from a friend, or being given an award. There have been fellow believers who have laughed with me and prayed for me. Over and over, in so many ways, I’ve been reminded of the unchanging promises of God. I just need to rest in them and trust God’s got this.  

 

 

As a speaker and published author, Carol Harrison is passionate about mentoring people of all ages and abilities to help them find their voice and reach their fullest potential. She shares from her heart, with stories from real life experiences and God’s Word to encourage people and help them find a glimmer of hope no matter what the circumstances. She believes we need to continuously grow in our walk with God and lives out her storytelling passion by speaking and in her writing.

The Pre-writing Battle and Prayer by Connie Inglis

  

I am a foot soldier in the midst of battle—part of a centuria moving forward against our foe. We’ve reached a low ditch and now I freeze, my body flat on the ground, my fingers clinging to the grass and dirt, for I know what lies ahead. The enemy. I peek my head over the ridge and see my target—a large, fortified castle but 100 feet away. I see my General standing on the battlement, looking out upon the field.

The field. One hundred feet of nothing. No protection. I watch other soldiers attempt to cross. Run! A barrage of enemy arrows come zinging from the left, then right. Put up your shields! Some make it. Some freeze. Some turn around and dive back into the ditch. Can I do this?

I look up at my General. I feel like he’s looking right at me—calling my name—telling me I have everything I need to get to the gate—promising me that the victory has already been won. I believe—oh help my unbelief!

I check my armour—my weaponry. All is ready. That helps put my mind at ease. I can taste the fear, bile sticking to the roof of my mouth. I swallow hard and close my eyes, focusing on the words of my General and his promise of victory. I recite his words, giving me strength and hope.

I feel a surge of energy in my legs, my arms. I go! The blood pounds in my head. No more thinking—now just doing! I hear the high-pitch of the approaching arrows and instinctively shift my shield of protection. They hit hard. My soft soles slip in the clay. I stumble. Doing an internal body check, I look up at my General. He is shouting. Calling my name. Urging me forward. I am a soldier. I obey.

Back on my feet, I run hard, keeping my eyes on the gate. It’s shut tight. Will it open for me? Will I get in? Closer. Closer. I’m but a few feet away. I made it! The gate opens—I fall in. The gate closes. I am safe.

My General is there. He picks me up. “Well done,” he says. Those two words flood my mind with peace. I rest in that peace.

“Now,” he says. “Now you are ready for your true calling.”

* * * 

That soldier is me, and you, even before writing one word--before settling into our writing chair--for there is a battle going on, a fight for our minds because the enemy does not want us to fulfill our calling as writers. 

This picture of the spiritual battle for our minds came to me in the winter of 2015/2016 after I agreed to become one of the spiritual advisors for ICWF. As I took on the role of intercession, I became suddenly overwhelmed, discouraged and weakened by the enemy. My own writing suffered. I cried out to God for strength and understanding.  He heard my cry and provided a way out through prayer--and a desire to fight for my mind and the minds of fellow writers. 
And, in that, He guided me to seek a mind of peace, because only out of peace can true freedom be realized--freedom to stand firm against the enemy's lies and distractions, freedom to hear Him as we write and freedom to write what He wants us to write. Isa. 26:3 and Phil. 4:6-8 are my go-to passages in this. I have learned my need to pray before writing--a Pre-Writing Prayer, if you will. Or, what I have termed, "My Prayer Manifesto." This is my verbal declaration combating the enemy and then calling upon and believing in God's promises. This is where I go before I write.

Connie Mae Inglis lives life out of the silence of spending time with God. She loves to write, paint, travel, read, sing, laugh, play with her grandchildren and just see God in those things. She lives in Edmonton, Alberta but part of her heart will always be in Southeast Asia where she lived and worked as a Wycliffe missionary for almost 20 years.

And What About the Others?

The faces keep coming back to me.

I was scrambling to put together the last few articles for the next issue of the magazine. I had the copy for a brochure on our relief and rehabilitation program to write. Then there was the prep for that Bible study on the 6th commandment. All the pieces came together when I remembered the intense discussion our congregation in Caracas had gone through years ago when we were choosing a name for our church. We eventually settled on Isaiah 58:11 and named the church “The Spring.” Sometime after the decision was made I looked at the context of the passage and had an “aha” moment—a moment that came back as I put together the magazine, wrote the copy, and prepared the Bible Study.

Bill Hybels (and others) mentioned in his comments about the sixth commandment, “You shall not kill,” that we can kill by neglect, neglect of those who are dying of illness or hunger when we have the resources to help them live. The promise from the passage in Isaiah from which we chose our church’s name is contingent on looking after the needs of the oppressed, the poor and the naked. The article for the magazine and the copy for the brochure were about children in refugee camps in Somalia.

“The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail” —Isaiah 58:11, NIV.

“Success,” whatever we apply the word to and however we interpret it, depends on how we respond to the needs of others. God’s blessing on our lives and on the communities with which we fellowship, depends on how we care for those who can’t care for themselves.

It’s an “aha” moment. Now to respond to it.

Possibilities - M. Laycock

It seems that all the earth is waiting. Spring has been slow in coming, the warming breath of a stronger sun somehow delayed. Ice still skims the pond across from our home. The geese seem puzzled, flying low but not touching down. Each day we hope for warmer temperatures, each day there is disappointment. But the clouds are looking more like the burgeoning mounds heavy with rain and here and there a sprout of green tells us the season is unfolding. Soon it will break forth, resplendent in green. Soon spring will be a reality, not just a promise.

Last Monday, lying on the cruciform table in a hospital's operating room, I prayed and wondered about waking up face to face with my creator. I thought about all the promises He has made to us about eternity, the possibility of living always in His presence. On that day, the possibility had never before been so real.

"There are always risks with surgery," my doctor had said. As the anaesthesiologist approached I stared at the sets of gleaming lights and gave myself, once again, into the hands of Jesus.

I woke a few hours later on a respirator in the ICU, my hands tied down so I wouldn't attempt to yank the tubes from my throat. Anaphylactic shock required intubation. One of the risks - being allergic to the radioactive blue dye they inject to find the sentinel node in the armpit, which they test to determine if the cancer has spread.

I was thankful for a medical team that was quick to respond; thankful that I woke; thankful to see my husband standing beside my bed; thankful the sentinel node is not cancerous. And then all the "what ifs" began to flow through my mind ... what if the intubation wasn't done quickly enough? What if I had died there in that sterile OR? I believe I would have been instantly standing face to face with Jesus, so the what ifs were not so much disturbing as intriguing. Like the reality of the signs of spring, I know what's to come. Someday.

But the time has been delayed. I still stand on the seemingly firm soil of this earth. God has plans for me still, it would seem. So I look to the future, look to His hand to guide, His Spirit to move, His peace to engulf me as it has continually since hearing the fear-ridden word, cancer. I look and see the new sprouts of green that tell me the promises are real. Life in His presence is possible, now, and someday ... then, when all the possibilities become reality.

Future Tense - Marcia Lee Laycock

2010. It seems like future time. Wasn’t it just yesterday that 1984 was so far away we thought we’d never get there? Then came 2000, a new millennium. And on we go. The years race after one another as though they are competing in the Indy 500. And I can’t keep up. Maybe I’m feeling my age. The big 60 is looming and I just can’t wrap my head around the idea. I’m also conscious of wanting to “do something” with my life, wanting to make my life count with the remaining time I have left. I want to write the best novel I can and see it widely read. I want to speak to as many audiences as I can reach. I want to fulfill what God’s will is for me in the coming year. It makes the future seem a little tense.

But then I read a verse like “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life…” John 3:36, and John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

And I am encouraged. It’s all so simple, really. Just believe. Suddenly the pressure to perform, the pressure to “do something” fades. God has a plan and it’s a good one. He knows what books I’ll write and what He’ll do with them. He knows what audience’s I’ll speak to and how he’ll direct my words to their hearts and minds and accomplish His purposes.

And I know he has a greater future planned for me – eternal life.

Eternal life. I can’t wrap my mind around that concept, either, but I know it’s a promise I can count on, because my God is faithful and merciful beyond knowing.
And I know it’s not going to be a boring life. It’s going to be so full we’ll have to be glorified to contain it. Wow. Now that’s a concept! Glorified, as he was - like Jesus. Able to stand before God almighty. Able to talk with angels. Perhaps able to write words that will flow directly from his heart to mine. The mind boggles.

There are a lot of dark clouds looming in the future, according to almost any forward looking “seer” you might choose to listen to. But the concepts mentioned above blow them all out of the water. There is no need to stress over what to do with our lives when we know He is in control. There is no reason to fear a future in which our bodies will be transformed, able to walk on water and slide through solid walls, as Jesus did. There is no need to shudder at a future where God’s Spirit, His unconditional love, grace and mercy will be poured out on his people in ways that will astonish even the most sceptical. There is no logic in trembling at a future in which God’s own Son will invite us to join him in ruling a new earth and a new heaven.

Sound fantastic? Sound too good to be true? I agree. But I have chosen to listen and believe what God has declared – “For I know the plans I have for you … plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

2010. Hallelujah, here we come!

Shaped by the Future - Janet Sketchley

We are the sum of our past. Well, at least we live that way.

But we don’t have to be prisoners to the past – the bad or the good. Think about how Jesus approached the people He met. Take Simon Peter: everyone else saw an impetuous fisherman, but Jesus said, “You are Peter [rock].” (Matthew 16:18a) Jesus viewed people in light of their potential – their future. Since Jesus came to show us the Father, that means it’s how God views us too.

Not that He ignores the past – or present. He knows the whole story, be it glorious or sordid, as well as the motives we may not have grasped.

But part of God’s forgiving and creating power is shown in the way He keeps His promise to transform us into the image of His Son. (Rom. 8:29)

So if God sees us in light of our future more than our past, how should we see ourselves? How should we see, period?

A present or past focus is self-focus, rooted in the temporal. On my own experience, my own perspective and understanding. Future focus is God-focus. On His character and promises, and what He will do. He is the focus, the goal, the prize.

Seeing what He will make me isn’t to boost my pride, but to give me confidence to act in Him in the now.

Seeing others with this “future view” is equally liberating. It releases me from negative expectations of them, which improves relationships and attitudes and opens the way for God’s future reality to develop in our lives.

Praise God for what He wants to do in and through us! Thank Him that we don’t have to be bound by the past. We can look back and see how He has brought us thus far. With a God-focused, future perspective, we can ask Him to shape us into what He designed us to be.

Let God bless you with the riches of His presence in 2009.

© Janet Sketchley, 2008
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For devotionals, reviews and conversation, stop by Janet Sketchley's blog, God with Us: Finding Joy.