My Christmas Gift

It is Christmas time.  The time of gift giving and remembering the greatest gift ever given.  God gave me a gift yesterday.  A simple gift.  An answered request to delight His child.  

Yes, a gift just because it made me happy and glorified Him in the giving.  After all, God is the one who said, "it is more blessed to give than to receive". (Acts 20:35)  So, it only seems right that he was more delighted than I.

What makes it even greater is...I had been pondering life and lamenting my propensity to stumble in my spiritual life.  I had just read about David and how, even though he stumbled at times, he was still a man after God's own heart.  Isaiah 40:30-31 came to mind, encouraging me that God looks at the heart, not the perfection of our steps, and that it is He who will strengthen me.

We have a pair of bald eagles that frequent our lake and now, it seems, they have an off spring.  In all the times we have seen them perched high in the trees, we have never seen them hunt.  So, the other day I said to God that I would love to see them swoop down on the lake.  Yesterday, right after my pondering, they did just that.

We watched as the pair flew in pursuit of a duck.  The dusk narrowly escaping, as it dove underneath the surface.  We then watched the scene replay over and over, as one eagle kept trying.  We never did see the eagle succeed, but its mate was seen eating something at the other end of the lake.

Who am I that God would give me such a gift?  O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8 (NASB)

The Lord’s Glory and Man’s Dignity.

8 O Lord, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth,

Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!

2 From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength

Because of Your adversaries,

To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.

3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;

4 What is man that You take thought of him,

And the son of man that You care for him?

5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God,

And You crown him with glory and majesty!

6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his feet,

7 All sheep and oxen,

And also the beasts of the field,

8 The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,

Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth!

The Journey to Healing - My HOPE

I have found through the experiment of the AIP diet, and then the subsequent fail of staying on it, that my story may not be the miracle some are hoping to hear, but it may just be the hope others are needing to hear.

Queen Esther.  She is my hero.  I want to be like her.  To be given a grand stage and opportunity to make a difference.  I am willing to give my life and with her say, "If I perish, I perish!".  But this is not the HOPE to which I have been called.  Rather, my journey is one of perseverance.  And so I look to the promise of Romans 5:3-5, "And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings perseverance; and perseverance proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."  And so, my journey is a...
Holy
Opportunity to 
Patiently 
Endure.

My prayer has been for a greater faith and for Christ to be formed in me.  So, why am I now crying foul when I am asked to follow in His steps of suffering? (1 Peter 2:21)  If Jesus was perfected through suffering and I am not greater than my master, should I expect anything less? (Hebrews 2:10, John 13:16)  

"7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; 8 we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:7-11, 16-18)

God has given me a way to feel better, the AIP diet.  It works while I abide by it, but it takes perseverance.  When I rebel and choose the momentary pleasure of certain foods, I receive the due pain and discomfort.  I cry out to be delivered from my affliction and this is what I hear my God saying, "Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin." (James 4:17)  And, "If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (John 3:12)  This is the grace of my God.  

He is teaching me to trust Him.  For, if I can't accept and obey what is obviously good for my physical well being, because it is hard and contrary to what "everyone else is doing", how will I accept and obey what is good for my eternal well being, which is of greater worth?  (2 Peter 1:6-9)  He cares too much to let me go on making mud pies in a slum, when He knows the glory that awaits!

And so, until the day I meet Him face to face and receive my glorified body, I will walk in obedience to what He shows me and faithfully endure for the glory of His Name.  Yes, Jesus is worth more to me than chocolate.  "For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day."  And who knows,  maybe someday I'll get a "holiday at sea". :)