Just Quit the Focus on Yourself

From Amie's Desk

In this, the dawn of my quitting season, I feel led of the Lord to reflect upon one of the earliest texts of my childhood: Psalm 100. Psalm 100 is a psalm of praise and thanksgiving; it's not a psalm of stress, distress, and weightiness. Scholars refer to it as Jubilate because it calls God's people to be joyful. I first learned it under the direction of my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Bloem, thirty-something years ago; I delight to hear it now on the lips of toddlers and young children I have opportunity to be in contact with.

I note that the psalm does not call us as believers to a perfect noise; it calls us to a joyful noise which arises from a cheerful spirit. The psalm calls us to a spirit of gratefulness as we come together from all different experiences and walks of life. We are to come with gratitude before God who is both our Creator and our King.

Starting from an attitude of gratitude shifts the focus from myself as the worshiper toward the One who is being worshiped.

He wants us to worship Him
He wants you to worship Him
He wants me to worship Him.

We are to declare His praise not because He needs us to, but because of who He is.

He doesn't need us.
He doesn't need you.
He doesn't need me.

He chooses to use us...

in order that we may recognize Him for who He is.
in order that we may witness for Him to those around us.
in order that we may declare Him worthy and glorious... even on days when we don't feel worthy or glorious ourselves.

Just quit the focus on yourself and turn your focus toward Me instead: I'm worthy of all your joy; I'm worthy of all you have.

Just Quit...

From Amie's Desk...

It's 4:00 am and I turn my head on the pillow. One hand reaches up to knead the cramped muscles in the back of my neck. So tight. I'm carrying around my tension in the hours before dawn while I should be yet asleep. I've got no words. I don't know if I am empty or too full so I lie still and breathe in the dark. One breath...a second...a third...more...

Just breathing and silent...kneading and needy.

Two words come into my mind or are spoken to my soul; in the dark, by myself, a message so clear:

Just Quit.
Just Quit.

Quit trying so hard. 
Quit trying to measure up.
Quit worrying so much about others....what they think and what they do.
Quit trying to earn approval.
Quit trying to iron out ability and disability

The dailies have wrinkles.
What you think matters, might not matter very much.

There is more to life than achievements...There is more than accolades...There is more than human acceptance, loyalty, and pats on the back...

It's time. 
Be done
Let go.

You're almost forty years old. You've tried and you're tired.

Live free! 
It is for freedom that you've been set free...

Right now...
Relax
Step away...from thoughts and feelings and perceptions which imprison

Take care not to care so much...

Just Quit.

Waiting on You...

From Amie's Desk

Father God, 

Today I am wrestling with Your allowance of things which don't make sense. I have friends who are mourning and facing situations they can't begin to understand on  their own. They want to believe You know best, but the reality they encounter is beyond difficult for them. It would be hypocritical and fake to pretend they don't find themselves weary and at their wits' end. One lady last week told me she hasn't had a real friend in over five years; she's setting out soon on a new adventure in the hope she can forget all about this gray season she has been surrounded by. There's a lot of achy hearts.

Lord, provide for us what we cannot provide on our own. Be a refuge even while we may not comprehend how badly we need one.

Help us.
Sustain us.
Guide us.
Remind us You are the friend of sinners and healer of the broken.

Give faith where faith is dim and dying.
Plant seeds of hope where seeds of hope have never been planted before. 
Show Yourself strong in the midst of weakness.
Help believing people to pray on behalf of others who don't know what to pray for themselves.
Meet the desperate in the middle of their desperation.
Work out supernaturally that which we cannot make heads or tails of naturally. 

Enable us to be strong in our witness knowing there is so much more to life than what can begin to unwrap or unfold. 

Thank You for love which surpasses knowledge. 
Thank You for grace which does not leave us to our own devices.
  

I go walking in my sleep...

From Amie's Desk

It's 2:42 a.m. and I'm wide awake enough to get up and dance...or make myself a sandwich....or something. Thoughts are running through my mind at a hundred miles an hour and they don't settle on any one direction.  Suddenly in the middle of the maelstrom, I find myself singing several verses of O God, Our Help in Ages Past. I'm glad to have a shelter and refuge in the midst of the stormy blast, but what really touches me are the words of verse 3:

Before the hills in order stood, 

or earth received her frame, 

from everlasting, thou art God, 

to endless years the same.

It is sobering to think upon the eternal nature of God and consider more of who He is. Human beings cannot really begin to grasp His infinite greatness or otherness. He is apart, but He brings all things together in accordding to His will. He was when there was not, and He will still be when there is not. Whoa. No mountains, no hills, no valleys, no earth nor frame. Wow. A few moments pondering the immensity and eternality of God, can bring about a slight shift of mind. 

God, You know.

You know.

You have always known.

You have always been.

Whatever I am thinking about or trying to resolve pales in comparison to who You are. I can't fathom Your changelessness. Thank You for being here with me, regardless of how I feel or what I experience. You are awe-inspiring even as I am here alone, bewildered, and in the shadows. I praise You for your sameness, and I thank You for Your continual presence.

I don't need to be up and moving yet for another 3.5 hours.

Neat/Untidy

From Amie's Desk

Right now, I have a good friend who is enduring a season of trial within her life and marriage. I'm doing my best to be there for her whenever and however I can. I surely don't have a lot of answers, but I do offer a lot of prayers. I sigh a lot! 

I am sad for my friend and the struggles she encounters, but I am happy for the opportunity I have to present Christ in bits and pieces. I listen, grieve, ponder, wonder. I stop short of wise words and acting like I know when the best I can offer is: "I can only imagine...."

I am sad for my friend and the struggles she encounters, but I am happy for the opportunity I have to present hope in bits and pieces. I have never lived her story nor walked in her shoes. I applaud her courage for seeking some semblance of normal life while her circumstances suck; she doesn't see an easy out to any of her current daily difficulties. Together, we are learning about beauty and brokenness...we are broken people living in a broken world and we are attempting to press on in a strength which can only be found in God Himself. 

My friend doesn't know Jesus the way I know Jesus...yet.

She is open to hearing from me and I am being honest with her. I don't understand. 

A telephone call
A short visit
A quick hug
A warm smile
A cold Sprite
A little burst of laughter when our thoughts connect or collide.

It's all bits and pieces of hope...of peace...of joy....in the middle of sorrow, loneliness, and uncertainty. 

I trust in the sharing...the bits and pieces...she's seeing glimpses of the One who is the Answer when all human answers fall short of sufficiently satisfying our questions.

It's funny how things can be so neat or special while all the while being so untidy.

From Amie's Desk

Some time ago, I wrote about young Sadie Mae. I think it's time I blog about her again She needs our prayers. She is a warrior princess, but she's also a reminder that none of us can survive without the hand of God to sustain our lives.

Did you get that?
None of us can survive without the hand of God to sustain our lives.

Don't rush this. Pause and think. Let this sink in. Let it touch us way down deep.

None of us can survive without the hand of God to sustain our lives.

We may think ourselves strong....
Apart from God at work in our lives and spirits, we are nothing
Apart from God at work in our lives and spirits, we manifest weakness if we manifest anything at all. 

We may think ourselves able...
Apart from God at work in our lives and spirits, we are nothing
Apart from God at work in our lives and spirits, we manifest disability if we manifest anything at all. 

We may think ourselves independent...
Apart from God at work in our lives and spirits, we are nothing
Apart from God at work in our lives and spirits, we manifest dependence if we manifest anything at all. 

Sadie needs God every day, but so do we.

We need to pause...and think...and pray...and thank...

Herein is the beginning and the end:
"Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person."

He formed us...
He breathed into us...
He sustains us...
We are His.

We have no life without Him...so while we have life....
We Praise Him for and with all He gives...

Chosen

From Amie's Desk 

Father,

I praise You today as the God who always knows what He is doing. You are our very present help in times of trouble. Thank You for making a way in the desert, Lord. Thank You for providing streams in the wasteland. You provide drink and refreshment for Your people, the people You have chosen. You have formed a people for Yourself. 

Thank You for the people You are yet in the process of forming. As you form us, mold us, shape us, and move us along, we are and will be the people who are quickened to declare Your praise. Life to the glory of Your name is our song as we come before You in joyful hope. Thank You for sustaining grace.