Response is what matters- Elizabeth Elliott

Just yesterday I began feeling a little bit normal again. Weeks of laying on the sofa too miserable to pick up  the remote much less a book. If I was not talking myself out being sick, I was asleep- so much for quiet time with the Lord. It was more like praying I could survive yet another pregnancy without too much damage to my falling-apart order in my home. Kids acting like they had never had a Mommy to teach them, a house almost too gross to live in and then worries, of worries, our yearly Fall Festival approached.
The Lord miraculously gave me the strength and energy to complete the long week leading up to the big day, but the week afterwards, I thought I was going to die with the migraines, strep and morning sickness that culminated by stressing out an already tired body. Sounds pretty pathetic, but it is my reality. A reality that lead up the end of "me". I felt like a failure, useless and ready to throw in the towel.
So, getting on my knees, I cried out to the Lord for His strength and His wisdom. After talking to my dear friend, my sister, she read this devotion below by Elizabeth Elliott to me. I just had to stop my heart from all of the trouble and frustrations and remember that God has assigned me my portion and my cup. He has perfectly orchestrated my days and I can rest in His loving care for me, not worry about my inadequacies and weakness. My response to the circumstances He has given to me is what He is after.

I hope this encourages anyone who reads this as it did me:

"What do we really want in life? I am surprised at how few of us have a ready answer. Oh, we can come up with quite a long list of things, but is there one thing above all others that we desire? “One thing I have desired of the Lord,” said David, “that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life…” (Psalm 27:4, NKJV).

To the rich young man who wanted eternal life Jesus said, “One thing you lack. Go, sell everything” (Mark 10:21, NIV).

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus tells us that the seed that is choked by thorns has fallen into a heart full of the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things.

 The apostle Paul said, “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” (Philippians 3:13-14, NIV).

A quiet heart is content with what God gives. It is enough. All is grace.

 One morning my computer simply would not obey me. What a nuisance. I had my work laid out, my timing figured, my mind all set. My work was delayed, my timing thrown off, my thinking interrupted. Then I remembered. It was not for nothing. This was part of the Plan (not mine, His).

“Lord, You have assigned me my portion and my cup.” Now if the interruption had been a human being instead of an infuriating mechanism, it would not have been so hard to see it as the most important part of the work of the day. But all is under my Father’s control: yes, recalcitrant computers, faulty transmissions, drawbridges that happen to be up when I am in a hurry. My portion. My cup. My lot is secure. My heart can be at peace. My Father is in charge. How simple! My assignment entails my willing acceptance of my portion in matters far beyond comparison with the trivialities just mentioned, such as the death of a precious baby. A mother wrote to me of losing her son when he was just one month old. A widow wrote of the long agony of watching her husband die. The number of years given them in marriage seemed too few. We can know only that Eternal Love is wiser than we, and we bow in adoration of that loving wisdom.

Response is what matters. Remember that our forefathers all were guided by the pillar of cloud, all passed through the sea, all ate and drank the same spiritual food and drink, but God was not pleased with most of them. Their response was all wrong. Bitter about the portions allotted to them, they indulged in idolatry, gluttony, and sexual sin. And God killed them by snakes and by a destroying angel.The same almighty God apportioned their experiences.

All events serve His will. Some responded in faith. Most did not.Think of that promise and keep a quiet heart! Our enemy delights in disquieting us. Our Savior and Helper delights in quieting us. “As a mother

comforts her child, so will I comfort you” is His promise (Isaiah 66:13, NIV). The choice is ours. It depends on our willingness to see everything in God, receive all from His hand, accept with gratitude just the portion and the cup He offers. Shall I charge Him with a mistake in His measurements or with misjudging the sphere in which I can best learn to trust Him? Has He misplaced me? Is He ignorant of things or people which, in my view, hinder my doing His will?

God came down and lived in this same world as a man. He showed us how to live in this world, subject to its vicissitudes and necessities, that we might be changed, not into angels or storybook princesses, not wafted into another world, but changed into saints in this world. The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances."

Living a lie ?

This morning I read in 1 John 2: 3-6 "We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."

I was struck by this especially because recently, I was having a conversation with a woman about a particular issue she was facing in her life and then I began asking questions like: "how is your time with the Lord?", "Are you praying for this situation?", "Do you have faith that God can change this?"...etc
No matter what question I asked, there was an excuse- quite valid excuses- to her. The more I tried to help her find solutions to some of these roadblocks of time with her Savior, the more complicated the excuses became. I finally walked away from that exhausting conversation thinking to myself, "She doesn't want to change! She just wanted a sympathetic ear and for someone to tell her to keep on sinning- God will overlook it!"
I can't stop at that story, because John wrote this for us all. What excuses do I make for not obeying God?  I took out my journal and wrote: " What is my lie?" John said that if we do not do what God commands, he is a liar. So, again, what is my lie?
I could write out a list of areas I need to grow in, and I did, but in taking a deep look into my heart the one thing I am going to focus on is my discipline in patience. I get impatient with people and my kids too quickly. I am going to add that to what Elizabeth George calls a "fat file". That means I am going to begin a study on that subject until I become an expert on it. So, here I go and I hope you will do the same to your "lie".

Early Morning thoughts on 1 John ...

It is a new day best begun with time with my Savior, Jesus Christ. I have been getting up about 2 hours before my children get up for years, and though it is the most precious time in my life, I feel compelled to share a few minutes here (I'm not making this a daily priority- my time with the Lord is too precious for that, this is just something I'll do when I have a couple of minutes to spare).

I am studying 1 John right now, so would you like to come along with me on my study?

First, read the first chapter. A solid understanding of the gospel is clearly presented. When we understand that Jesus died for us in order that we might have life and if we have humbly confessed our sin and acknowledged our need for a savior (Jesus Christ), we are on the right path to living a righteous life (which will take all of our lives).

Now, I am on a slow path through chapter 2-

I John 2: 1 "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sin, and not only for ours, but  also for the sins of the world."

Have you ever done something you really regret? I have. In keeping with my homeschool/wifely/motherly duties, I have blown it. I have gotten angry with my kids and raised my voice, have lost hope in schooling them when they struggled with a subject, have nagged my husband...yes, I have been a very unlikeable Mommy.

What is the most recurring theme in all of that? Guilt.

This scripture verse, though, tells us that when we do feel guilty, Satan is accusing us. He is pointing the finger at us to prove to God that we are his. He wants us to think that we are not God's children when we sin- we are under trial and that is what guilt says to us. But hold on! Christ is standing up in our defense- the day I confessed my sin (when I was a kid) and recognized my need for a Savior, confessed and repented, I was bought (ransomed) by Jesus from Satan. No longer do I stand accused, Christ covered me with his righteousness. Satan no longer has a right to my soul.

Isn't that good news?

So the next time you feel guilty and if you have been "born again", remind yourself that the Righteous One has already ransomed you and guilt can no longer has a voice.