Known

"The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps." (Proverbs 16:9)


This simple text has been a favorite of mine for over a decade and I have often referred to it in my prayers and encouragements. 


It is a true blessing for me to believe God will keep, direct, and establish my friends and family members when I cannot be physically present with them. I have the privilege of praying for His presence with them even when we are far apart from each other. It gives me a strong sense of comfort to acknowledge He is in control and I am not.


In His omniscience, He knows what will happen when. Sometimes our plans for the day or the week will be thrown seemingly off-course by illness or unexpected occurrence. We find ourselves surprised or caught off-guard, but God is not. He's the Alpha and Omega. In the end, all things find their purpose in He and His glory.


He is with us to sustain and uphold us when we feel stressed and uneasy. I can turn to Him over and over again when I don't know what's up and what's coming down the pike. He is able to withstand my distress. He is more than just my fair-weather friend and buddy. In His humanity, the Savior once was a man of sorrows, rejected of men,  and familiar with grief (Isaiah 53). 


It's a great relief to count Him trustworthy.  

He  knows about the emergency room visit. 
He knows about the premature birth situation.
He knows about the difficult move ahead.
He knows when two saints are called home at the same time.
He knows about the virus which appears without prior notice.
He's aware of depression, boredom, gloominess, and loss of hope.
He 's alert, not ignorant.
He's interested, not neglectful.


The Almighty's not in heaven wringing His hands and saying "Oh, my goodness" (Begg); instead, He invites people to confide in Him, lean upon His goodness, and depend upon on His loyal love. 


He is faithful and we can cast our cares upon Him regardless of what our specific concerns might be during any given time period.

The Wrinkled and the Willing

In recent weeks, I am learning to better appreciate a love who suffers long. This is love who exercises love toward me when I am not too lovely. This is love who loves me the same way at three in the morning and three in the afternoon. This is love who knows the words on my tongue before I speak them; this is love who knows I have no words left to speak. Love remains when I am frustrated with life, with others, and with myself. Love hears the words of confession, the sighs of unknowing, and the utterances turned prayers. 

Love is there in the silence and perhaps for the first time in my life, I don't find silence uncomfortable. I don't feel the need to ramble or fill the space. The ache in my heart is becoming a burden shared and I'm okay with letting go even when letting go seems a repetitive process. There is no need for flowery sentiments or long explanations because I am practicing the honesty of being at ease with the One who know me better than I could ever hope to know myself. Our midnight meetings might appear jumbled, tangled, unstructured, and unkempt, but they are also joyful, hopeful, freeing, and intense.

 At present, I kind of enjoy being at home with wrinkled in my physicality and in my thoughts. Wrinkled is not putting on a show; wrinkled is accepting what is: from day to day, hour to hour, and minute to minute. Wrinkled is humble enough to admit I've only just begun. Wrinkled is acknowledging my imperfections while gazing upon Him who is and always has been Perfect. 

I probably won't ever show up to church in my pajamas, but there is freedom in knowing that Christ will meet and accept me where I am and use whatever moment of the day to direct me to where I need to be physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.His way is often surprising!

He still uses His word and His presence to bring about teaching, rebuking, correction, and training in righteousness.

He still desires to make me a woman equipped for every good work. He doesn't give up, and He doesn't let me down.

I am weak, but He is strong...

I am wrinkled (for now), but praise Him, He is still willing...

Glorious!

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Roman 5:6-8).

 Within the context of my daily life, I am prone to doubt, wonder, and wander. I find it so reassuring to ponder the fact that God loved me while I was yet unloving and unlovely. This text reminds me Christ, the Messiah, came to save and rescue me while I was not able to provide resources toward my own welfare.

Christ came for me though I was, and am in myself, incapable, incompetent, inept, and insignificant. He didn’t look for me to be dynamic, vigorous, sturdy, strong, or self-supporting apart from Him. He saw me for who I was: feeble, frail, vulnerable, defenseless, and sinful; He knew, apart from Him and His grace, I was completely lost and unsafe.

Christ came for me at just the right time. Though I was neither righteous nor good, at God’s appointed hour in history, Christ gave up His worthy life in exchange for my unworthy, worthless, weak, and sin-sick one. He didn’t come for the perfect and healthy, He came for the broken, imperfect, and stained.

Christ came for me in great love and great sacrifice. His love and sacrifice was considerable, abundant, immense, profound, and amazing. There was nothing thin, puny, or miniature about the way or extent to which Jesus loved. His immense love, given to me in great, abundant measure, motivates me by Spirit and example to love others around me in the middle of imperfection, brokenness, unrighteousness, and strife. I am a broken person living in a broken world, but I serve a great King who overcame the powers of sin, death and hell in order that I might overcome together with Him and others who long for His glorious appearing.

Maranatha, our Lord came and comes again…

Soon and very soon…

He’s where the joy comes from…