Faith that Dwelt in Your Mother and Grandmother

As mothers and grandmothers we have a great responsibility before God to pass on our faith to our children and grandchildren. Timothy acquired his faith from his mother and grandmother, and Paul recognized that Timothy’s faith came from them. We see in 2 Timothy 1:5 New American Standard Bible, where Paul writes to Timothy:

For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.

How did Timothy obtain a sincere faith from his grandmother and mother? This faith first DWELT in them. Dwelt G1774 here means “inhabited” . This faith INHABITED them. Noah Webster 1828 dictionary defines “inhabit” as:

INHABIT. to live or dwell in: to occupy as place of settled residence…to live, to abide.*

Yes, Timothy’s mother and grandmother LIVED the faith that they taught him, and he saw that their faith was REAL as they walked it out before him every day. Their faith was a PLACE OF SETTLED RESIDENCE in them. Their faith did not just come and go, but through day to day life, through storms and trials, their faith was SETTLED in them. Their faith ABIDED in them. John 15: 4-5 NASB explains further how we are to abide in Christ:

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

The key to abiding in Christ is in that last sentence- apart from Christ we can do nothing. But with Him… Ah! That’s where we want to be found ABIDING IN CHRIST! Both his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois had learned how to abide in Christ. When we abide in something, we STAY in it. We are single-minded, focused on Christ. We are not going anywhere else; we are staying in Christ.

Let’s look a little deeper at the faith of these women and why it so powerfully influenced their son / grandson. Sincere G505 here means “unfeigned, undisguised, sincere, without hypocrisy.” In his mother’s and grandmother’s lives, Timothy saw real faith in action. They didn’t speak one way and live a different way. No, they lived what they taught and thus it was SINCERE. As they chatted about their neighbors, Timothy heard faith, love, godly attitudes. As they walked through trials, Timothy saw faith in action, trusting God as their Good Shepherd. Timothy saw that what they believed is what they lived. In the same way, our children and grandchildren are watching as we live our lives before the Lord. We pray they see our walk of faith as we live with INTEGRITY before Him, and we live with INTEGRITY before them. .

Cruden’s Complete Concordance says of the word SINCERE :

The Latin word, sincerus, is derived from sine and cera, without wax, honey separated from the wax, or pure honey. In the scripture sincere signifies pure, or without mixture… Sincerity is opposed to double-mindedness or deceit, when the sentiments of the heart are contrary to the language of the mouth, 1 Cor 5:8. **

As our faith is sincere, pure before God, it is not mixed with the world or worldly thinking. As pure honey, our faith is WITHOUT MIXTURE. What we teach is how we live. No impurities in our living. Those who live with sincere faith, live their lives in the sight of God. They know that God SEES all they do, and they live to please Him at all times, especially when no one is watching, when only He sees what they do. They live according to 2 Corinthians 2:17 NASB:

For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

Yes, we must also live our lives IN THE SIGHT OF GOD. And God is not the only one watching or listening to us. Our children and grandchildren are watching and listening to how we live our lives before God. I have sung “Jesus Loves Me” to our grandson since he was born. I was not sure he was even listening when I sang it. I sang the version which ends with “Oh, How He Loves You and Me.” He is now 3 years old and recently at Sunday School, they sang this song. When they were finished, he piped up and said, “Oh, Yes, that is what Mimi says!” He then told them that they were singing it wrong, because they forgot a verse and did not add “Oh How He Loves You and Me” at the end. Our daughter-in-love sent us a video of him singing this song for the whole class. Apparently, he was listening all that time!

Moms and grandmoms, you are commissioned by God to teach your children and grandchildren your sincere faith. And even if you don’t think they are listening, please do it anyway. Remember that any Word that you put in them will not return void. So go ahead

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN ABOUT GOD, BOTH WITH YOUR WORDS AND WITH YOUR LIFE.

In His Love,

Suzanne

*https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/inhabit#:~:text=To%20live%20or%20dwell%20in,a%20place%20of%20settled%20residence.

** (1986), John Sadie, D. D., LL (Ed.), Complete Concordance to the Bible, (pp 601), Dugan Publishers

He Maintains Your Lot

Are you worrying and wearing your self out trying to determine what your calling is? Trying to make your destiny come to pass? Thinking if you don’t find out what your destiny is and make it happen, then you might miss it? Psalm 16: 6 New King James Version says:

O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot.

The word “maintain” here means “keep fast, help. grasp, hold fast.” And the word “Lot” means “casting lots, portion, destiny”. God maintains or HOLDS FAST your destiny. You’re not missing your destiny. It’s in His hands. This is so comforting. In the past, I had heard teachings that I was supposed to go after my own destiny and so I wore myself out trying to determine what my calling was. While it’s true, I can’t just sit still (unless God guides me to) and expect everything to come to me, it’s also true that I don’t have to strive after my destiny. Let’s think about some Biblical examples.

Abraham was living his life and God came after him, told him to move to a new country, chose him, and Abraham obeyed God and moved his whole family to Canaan. Moses was living a life of luxury in the palace of Pharaoh, privileged as the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter, when God redirected him. He ended up in the desert and then God appeared to him in the burning bush establishing his calling. Joseph was living his best life in his multi-colored robe that pronounced to his brothers that he was his father’s favorite, when God allowed him to be thrown in a ditch, then become Potipher’s servant, then get wrongly imprisoned, then get elevated to ruler of Egypt in order to save his family. Can you see a pattern here? Each of these people did not seek their own destiny. It was not their responsibility to figure out their own destiny. God directed their lives, leading them into their callings. It’s the same with us. We don’t have to stress ourselves out looking for what our destiny or calling is. We follow after God and He leads us into it. What a relief! This really takes the pressure off us and puts it where it should be-on God.

There isn’t anything left to chance when you are His. We read in Proverbs 16:33 New American Standard bible:

The lot is cast into the lap,
But its every decision is from the Lord.

Decision means “verdict, determination.” In Acts 1:21-26 the disciples cast lots to see who the next apostle would be to replace Judas Iscariot. God is the one who decided which way the lot would go, which one would be the next apostle. In the same way, God is the one who decides the outcome of our lives, the destiny of our lives, the calling of our lives. Not sure about you, but at varying times in my Christian walk, when I have focused solely on figuring out my own destiny, it has made me focus on myself, taking my eyes off Jesus. But if I focus on the Lord, and just follow Him with each step, it is easier for me to keep my eyes on Him, then He leads me where I am to go and leads me into my destiny.

So I don’t have to feel this great pressure to find what I am supposed to do. Instead I can follow after God, as did Abraham, Moses, Joseph, and He will lead me into my destiny as I keep my eyes on Him. He will MAINTAIN MY LOT. He will keep my destiny, my calling and lead me into it. My responsibility is to keep my eyes on Him and follow closely after Him. And it’s the same for you. You can relax and

TRUST GOD WILL LEAD YOU INTO YOUR CALLING OR DESTINY AS YOU FOLLOW HIM,

In His Love,

Suzanne

Tribulation Produces Hope in Us

I was a bit shocked when I read Romans 5:3-5 New American Standard:

And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about 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.

When I am going through a difficult time, it usually brings discouragement, but this verse says that difficult times actually produce HOPE in us… if we let it. When we are in tough times, most people make one of two choices. We either pull away from God, blame Him for letting us get in the difficult circumstances, or pull closer to God, seeking His help and encouragement. We can ask “Why?” and doubt, or we can say “God help me” and trust.

It’s a matter of persective. God’s or ours. We have to have his eternal perspective. God is preparing us for our eternal home. He may need to let us go through trials so that our hope is refocused on eternity not on temporal needs. Remember Job? see Hope Series-Part II (.https://mommorsels.com/2024/06/24/hope-series-part-ii/ ) God had SO MUCH MORE in mind for him. When Job was going through his trials, losing EVERYTHING, I am sure he did not think God was looking out for him. But God was looking from an eternal perspective, and knew that there was something so much more important at stake than Job’s earthly comfort. God wanted Job to truly encounter Him- and he did! James 5:11 NASB says:

We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.

Yes, God is indeed compassionate and merciful! God is not satisfied that we remain in a state of comfort, because He wants to work something eternal in us! It is God’s compassion that leads Him to let us go through difficult circumstances, so that we can grow. Think back about a difficult circumstance that you have gone through-did it not help you grow in ways you probably would not have otherwise grown. I know that is true of me!

Hope does not disappoint us-when our hope is in God. That is so reassuring. We can always put our hope in God. Why do we hope in God? According to this verse, it is because He has poured His love out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that it was better for Him to go away, so that the Holy Spirit could come (John 16:7). Why? Because while on earth, Jesus could only be in a one place at a time, with a limited number of people at a time, but the Holy Spirit can be with many people, in many places at the same time because the Holy Spirit can even dwell inside of us. That’s why we can HOPE, because God showed His love for us through sending His son Jesus, allowing Him to die on the cross as a sacrifice for us, and even sending His Holy Spirit to live inside us!

So mom’s remember that

IF OUR HOPE IS IN GOD, WE WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.

In His Love,

Suzanne

His Law Leads Our Children to Christ

Before I knew Jesus, I did not behave well. Believe me, I tried – see my previous post on my story of redemption. So as a parent, I used to wonder, can I hold my children accountable to how the Bible says to behave, if they don’t even know Him yet? Are they capable of Biblical standards for behavior, if they don’t know Jesus? Maybe, I am setting up unrealistic standards for my children.

We teach our children the principles of the Bible and we tell them how to act based on the Bible, but can they really do it? It was the same with the Isrealites. God gave the Isrealites the Law and held them accountable to it. And they could not do it. They could not uphold the Law perfectly. So why did God hold the Isrealites accountable to a Law that He knew they couldn’t keep? Let’s look at Galatians 3:23-27 New American Standard Bible for some insight into this:

But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

The purpose of the Law for the Jews was to lead them to Christ. The Law was their tutor, their teacher. God held up the standard of the Law and the Ten Commandments to show the Jews that in their own strength they could not keep all of it, to show them that they needed Christ in order to obey the Law. The Law was their tutor, to show them their need for Christ, for a Savior, to show them they couldn’t live by the Law without Him. In the same way, we hold up the Biblical standards of behavior for our children, so they can see their need for Christ.

I have shared my testimony before that when I was 12 years old, I got in a lot of trouble shoplifting, swearing, smoking, drinking. I tried to change myself and found that I could mostly change my outward actions, but I definitely could not change the motivations of my heart or my thoughts. I read my Bible and saw that in my own strength I was not able to do all that it said I should do. As hard as I tried, I just couldn’t do it all. This is what led me to Christ. I knew I needed His help in order to follow Him and truly change on the inside. I also knew I needed His forgiveness for when I fell short. So I gave my life to Him and He has helped me ever since. He changed me inside; He changed my heart (2 Corinthians 3:3-4).

So we still need to teach our children the standards in the Bible, we need to be ready to tell them the secret to obeying His commandments and it is KNOWING HIM. And when they do know Him and they fall short of obeying His law, His ways, we can teach them about His forgiveness. He is there to catch us when we fall and He is there to offer forgiveness when we mess up. Yes, I’m so thankful that Jesus forgives! We had a saying in our family for when we messed up; it was “Lesson Learned”. When we mess up, we can a learn a lesson for next time. This is offering to our children, what Jesus has offered us. This is offering GRACE to our children.

So moms, don’t be afraid to expect your children to follow His law, just

BE READY TO SHOW THEM THAT KNOWING JESUS WILL ENABLE THEM TO FULLY DO IT.

In His Love,

Suzanne .

Lost but Found

Let’s just pretend that you and your family were vacationing in a small community together with a several other extended family. You all were staying a couple of blocks away from the beach. Your preteen told you he would be walking to the beach with his cousins but when you got to the beach he was not there. Can anyone say panic??

Now let’s make it worse and imagine a TON of people taking a several day (33 hour) journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. You had a great time and are on your way home. You assume your twelve year old son is in the band of cousins but when you’ve gone a whole days’ journey, you realize your son is nowhere to be found (at this point you might SCREAM, as you feel like the mom in Home Alone at the moment she realizes Kevin is not with them. I’d be screaming!). YOU… CANNOT… FIND… YOUR… SON. It actually takes you THREE FULL DAYS to find your son! More panic! This is the situation that Jesus put His parents Mary and Joseph in. Let’s look at the passage in Luke 2:41-52 New American Standard Version for more insight:

Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast; and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But His parents were unaware of it, but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day’s journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances.When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him.Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.” And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” But they did not understand the statement which He had made to them. And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

So when they finally found their twelve year old son, they were very upset. The parents took it personally and asked why their son had treated them that way and explained that they were worried about him. Now, in my opinion, the answer he gives his parents is a bit sassy! Anyone else think so? In fact, I think if my child answered me this way, I would send them straight to their room and tell them to only come back when they were able to speak to me in a different tone. Kids aren’t supposed to answer their parents’ questions with another question; just sayin’. But this is the Son of God.

As I was praying for my middle school children one day, God led me to this passage. I see a very middle school thing going on here. Children who are raised in Christian homes live on their parents’ faith at first. However, at some point, they need to make their faith their own. In this little picture of Jesus (we don’t have many from His childhood), he appears to be changing His perspective, from looking at His earthly parents to looking upward at His Heavenly Father. It’s a shift. If you see your middle school age child doing this, be encouraged. This is what is supposed to happen in middle school.

As a twelve year old preteen, Jesus wanted to now look directly up to His Heavenly Father, be where His Heavenly Father was, learn more directly from His Heavenly Father. Previously, everything He knew had been taught Him by His parents, although I am sure He had some sense that He was the Son of God.

Scripture even makes this point to the Pharisees that they cannot live on the faith of their relatives. Let’s look at Matthew 3:8-9 NASB:

Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

The Pharisees could not just say, “Hey, Abraham is my father, so I am saved.” Jesus said they had to repent themselves and could not stand on their relatives’ faith. In the same way, at some point children will have to make their own decision for Christ and cannot stand on their parents’ faith either. Just like the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well, her community HEARD FOR THEMSELVES and believed in Jesus in John 4:42 NASB (italics mine):

…and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”

So our children have to HEAR FOR THEMSELVES and BELIEVE THEMSELVES not just because of our testimony but because they have their own encounter with Jesus and they have their own testimony.

Please don’t get discouraged when you see your preteen or teen questioning, trying to find out for themselves, seeking after Him when you thought they were settled in their faith. They may have just been living on your faith and now they need to find their own faith. This is a good thing! A person cannot relate to God through another person- a person-your child-has to learn to relate to Jesus themselves.

So moms, when you see your child seeking,

PRAISE GOD THAT THEY ARE GROWING INTO THEIR OWN FAITH AND THAT IS GOOD!

In His Love,

Suzanne

Search My Heart

How desperate are you to know God? Are you willing to let Him shine His light on your heart to reveal any dark areas keeping you away from Him. Remember that where He is, there is no darkness, because His light illumines any darkness it encounters. In Psalms 139: 23-24 New American Standard Bible we read:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

In verse 1 of this Psalm David asked God to search HIM. But after recounting the marvelous way God knows him, formed him, stays with him, planned his days for him, he goes a little deeper and asks God to search not just him, but his HEART and his THOUGHTS. If you really know a person well, you know their heart and you can almost anticipate their thoughts. My husband and I have been married 35years. We’ve spent a lot of time together. I trust him, because I KNOW his heart. And we often say the same thing at the same time, because we almost know each other’s THOUGHTS. David invites God to know him that well. Of course, God already knows our hearts and our thoughts, but He gives us a choice to go deeper-do we welcome Him into the deep places in our hearts and thoughts?

David wants God to know his anxious thoughts. “Anxious” H8312 means “disquieting thoughts” and comes from a root word that means “ambivalence, divided in mind.” When our heart is divided, James 1:6-8 says we are double-minded, and we sway “like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” We want God to show us if our heart is divided, so we can turn and instead be whole-hearted towards God.

And David must be very desperate to know God, because he even asks God to “try” or test him. That’s very brave! Asking God to test you is like playing with fire- because God tests with fire! And God allows fiery trials in our lives for a reason. In fact in Deuteronomy 8:2 New International Version explains that one of the reasons God tests us with trials is to reveal what is in our hearts as we see He did with Israel:

Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

I remember one of my friends once told me that she was a really kind person until she had kids! She didn’t realize that she had some work to do in the area of being kind until her kindness was tested. And, yes, children will definitely test your kindness! In the same way, we often don’t know what is really in our heart until we are tested.

We need to keep our hearts open to God, as we ask Him, like the psalmist, to see if there is any hurtful way in us. Hurtful H6090 means “wicked, pain, sorrow, idol.” Hurtful or wicked ways only keep us apart from God. If we sincerely want Him to lead us in His everlasting way, then we have to ask Him to shine His light on the dark areas of our heart to reveal any idols we have there. If idols are taking up space in our hearts, then God can’t be in the same space at the same time. It’s one or the other. And we have to ask ourselves, which will it be?

So let’s run after God hard enough that we say

TEST MY HEART AND MY THOUGHTS, LORD, BECAUSE I WANT TO KNOW YOU MORE.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Lovingly Planned Beforehand

You were never hidden from God. Earlier in Psalm 139:7-10 we learned that God is everywhere and even if you tried, there is no place you could go to get away from Him. In verses 11-12 we saw that with God you are not alone in your darkness, because even in the darkness, He is there with you bringing His light into that place. And even in the darkness of the womb, He could SEE you. Let’s look at Psalms 139: 15-16 New International Version:

My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in Your book
    before one of them came to be.

In the secret place of your mother’s womb, only God’s eyes saw your unformed substance, the body and personality He was forming for you, making you “you”. He could “see” H7200 you; the word “see” here means He “beheld, gazed upon, perceived, considered and enjoyed” you. It’s the same exact word used throughout Genesis as God was creating our world and in Genesis 1:31 New American Standard Bible (italics mine) where it says:

God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

He saw His beautiful creation, then pronounced it very good. He saw you in your mother’s womb and enjoyed His handiwork, you, as He formed you. And you were “woven together” H7551 which means “curiously wrought, worker in colors, skillfully woven, embroidered, needlework” (this is a different word than is used in verse 13 for weave). Have you ever embroidered anything? I have. Embroidery is delicate and intricate work. Each embroidery piece has a detailed pattern that must be followed exactly. Each stitch forms the design. This same word “woven together” is also used throughout Exodus 26-39 for the intricate fine twined needlework in blue, purple, scarlet that was used in the Tabernacle. Just as God had a detailed plan for the colorful tapestries in the Tabernacle, He had a detailed plan as He wove you in your mother’s womb.

And before you even had one day outside the womb, He planned all your days. The days were in fact “ordained” for you. “Ordained” H3335 means “to mould into a form, especially as a potter, to determine, to fashion, to purpose.” Yes, your days on earth were planned for you with a purpose. In fact, your days on earth are so important to Him, that He wrote them down in His book even before you saw your first day!

There’s more! He even set things up for you, so you could do good works. Ephesians 2:10 NASB says:

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

You are His workmanship, His creation, His woven and embroidered multi colored beautiful well planned handiwork. And not only did He ordain your days, He even prepared the good works for you to do ahead of time. All you have to do is walk in them. What a wonderful caring Father! Just like a mom and dad prepare excitiedly for their new baby, so your Father planned ahead for you. Can you see that all this planning-planning your form, planning your days, planning your good works-makes it clear that He was really excited for you to be here!

So mom’s please don’t forget that

HE LOVED YOU SO MUCH THAT HE PLANNED AHEAD FOR YOU!

In His Love,

Suzanne

My Soul Knows it Very Well

Have you ever felt like you were just DIFFERENT than everyone else? I find that I often view things differently than others. Even the sign on my rearview mirror that says, “Objects are closer than they appear,” seems backwards to me. I would have written, “Objects appear further away than they really are.” Seems much clearer. But that’s just me. I’m different. And we will find in our next study verse, that God intentionally made us all different, Psalms 139:14 New International Version:

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.

In this verse “Wonderfully” H6395 means, “to be distinct, marked out, be separated, put a difference, show marvelous, make wonderfully.” So you can see that part of the WONDERFUL God put in us, is in making us each different, marked out for a distinct purpose, not all the same. And that in itself is MARVELOUS!

And “Marvelous” H6381 means “wonderful, extraordinary, distinguished, great”. Think about that for a moment. Take a little time to let that sink into your soul. God made you marvelous. God made you wonderful. God made you extraordinary. God made you distinguished. God made you great. This is what He says about you. The question is-do you believe Him? Do you believe His Word about you?

The psalmist believes. And he commands his soul to give thanks to God for how he is made, saying, “I WILL give thanks to You.” So many of us struggle with our identity, our “different”-ness, but here we see that, like the psalmist, we can command our soul to praise God for how He made us. When we do this, we are exercising FAITH, TRUSTING that He knows what He is doing, and BELIEVING what He says about us-that we are wonderfully made. We aren’t going by what we feel, we are going by what He says. That is FAITH.

And our psalmist says his soul “knows very well” how wonderfully and marvelously he was made by God. But what if my soul doesn’t know this very well? What if I struggle to know this? I definitely have had times when I was down on myself, and I felt like I did not know this “very well” or even well. Let’s remember back at the beginning of this study when Satan attacked Jesus as He was in the wilderness for 40 days, and we saw that two of the three attacks on Jesus were making Him question His identity. God gave us Jesus’ example, so we have a heads up, and know that, yes, our identity will also be attacked and we need to be ready when these attacks come.

So if our soul does not know this “very well”, what do we do? We work at getting what He says about us in our hearts by studying what He says, by memorizing what He says, by praying what He says, by imbedding His truth about us so deeply in our hearts that we can stand strong against these attacks on our identity. It’s really just a matter of TRUST in His Word, FAITH and BELIEVING. Romans 10:17 NIV says:

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

If your faith in this area is weak (I am still working on this area!), then to increase your faith, you just need to HEAR MORE WORD. So get yourself some more Word! Read it, Listen to it, Sing it, Pray it! Then when attacks about your identity in God come, and they will, you can

STAND STRONG ON HIS TRUTH THAT IS ROOTED DEEP IN YOUR HEART.

In His Love,

Suzanne

Lovingly Boxed In

Have you ever felt boxed in by God. Whichever way you turned, He seemed to be trying to keep you still and tell you something and you just weren’t getting it. You know He could just let you do your own thing (well sometimes He does, see Romans 1:24). But the fact that He cares enough to not let you do that- well wow, that means something.

Psalms 139: 5-6 New American Standard Bible says:

You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

When I was in elementary school, we played outside a lot in our neighborhood-kick the can, hide and seek in the hay fields, adventuring at the pond. We took nylon stockings, bent a wire hanger into a circle and caught bull frogs with the net we made. We then took an empty coffee can, a metal round cylinder with a plastic top, and put the bull frog in it to see how long it took it to pop the top off-it didn’t take long! (I feel like I need to put a “please don’t try this at home” warning here, because this was rather cruel, but we were just being kids!). I think sometimes when God allows us to get “boxed in”, like the bullfrog we try to pop that top off. We buck the situation, trying to find a way out, struggling with everything in us to get free. But sometimes, He wants us to just TRUST HIM, to rest, to listen.

I am sure that Job felt a bit boxed in by all the tragedy, loss, destruction, sickness that was all around him. Yet God’s hand was still UPON him. His friend Elihu spoke the truth to him in this situation, saying in Job 36:15 NASB:

He delivers the afflicted in their affliction. And opens their ear in time of oppression. Then indeed, He enticed you from the mouth of distress, instead of it, a broad place with no constraint; and that which was set on your table was full of fatness.

“Fatness” H1878 means “fatness, abundance, ashes of sacrifices.” Isn’t it just like God to want to turn our ashes into fatness, abundance? But we must YIELD to Him in our affliction, in our ashes, and then we will find ourselves at HIS TABLE being filled by HIS ABUNDANCE. And this verse says that He uses affliction and oppression to open our ears to Him. If you are going through a difficulty right now, can you take a moment to stop and be quiet before Him, to listen and to yield to Him? What is He trying to say to you? He really is FOR you. He is leading you to HIS TABLE to bring ABUNDANCE to you. Can you trust Him in your suffering?

That God would care to rearrange the circumstances of our lives in order to point us to Him, is just TOO WONDERFUL! That knowledge is TOO HIGH and we cannot even comprehend it! The God of the universe CARES for us! He doesn’t just let us wander around aimlessly. He is leading us. He is the GOOD SHEPHERD. Again, if we persist in refusing to follow Him, He does some times ‘give us over’ to the lusts in our own hearts (Romans 1:18-32), but even in that, His heart is always that none should perish and that all would come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

So when you are feeling ‘boxed in’, please realize that

HIS HAND IS UPON YOU.

In His Love,

Suzanne

He Knows Us Intimately

The ones He knows the best, He loves the most. That’s all of us. Psalms 139:1-2 New American Standard Bible says:

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.

Search H2713 here means to “to penetrate, to examine intimately, search out, investigate”. He penetrates our pretenses, examines us intimately, searches our hearts, and investigates our motives, seeing everything including the “yuck”. Everyone has things about themselves that they would rather other people not know. Your spouse probably knows these things. Your family likely knows these things. God definitely knows these things. He knows ALL the good and ALL the bad, yet He still wants to know us intimately.

Know H3045 is the same word used in Genesis 4:1 “And Adam KNEW Eve his wife.” It’s the deepest kind of knowing. This is truly amazing! Though God searches us, seeing both the good and the bad, He still WANTS TO KNOW US! This thought brings so much joy!

He knows when we sit down and when we rise up. I am a very busy person, so I sit down and rise up A LOT! He knows that I’m busy. My husband knows me well too and would like me to sit down and watch football with him, and I have a hard time sitting through a whole game. But I am working on it! God knows all this about me! I’m not proud of this fact, but sometimes God has to knock me down to get me to stop moving, so I can listen to Him better! Over New Years this year, I had the flu and was in bed for a week. It was actually a great way to start off the New Year, because it put me in a posture of listening to Him!

And as moms you sit down and rise up a lot. Actually, come to think of it, you probably rise up more than you sit down! He knows every time you JUST sat down, your legs barely touched the seat, and you hear, “Mom! Mom!” and have to rise up again. He knows every time you sit down to nurse that newborn baby-now that’s a lot of times! If you have littles, you may barely get to sit down to eat. He knows all your sitting and rising. Isn’t that comforting?

And He understands your thoughts. I don’t always understand my own thoughts, so it is comforting for me to know that HE DOES. Thought H7454 means “purpose, aim, thought’ in Hebrew and comes from a root word H7462 that means “to pasture, tend, graze, feed.” Yes, He knows where my mind and heart naturally wander, where I like to graze. Aren’t you glad that He is the Good Shepherd and He does not leave us grazing where we want to graze? Grazing in the same place all the time. We would eat up the grass in that place and miss out on grazing in the greener pastures that He has for us and the still waters He wants to lead us beside (Psalm 23:2).

And getting lost in our own thoughts is not always a good thing. Looking at Isaiah 65:2 NASB (italics mine) we see:

I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people,
Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts…

Back in our study verse Psalm 139 verse 2, the word “understand” in Hebrew means “to discern, understand, consider.” Can you even comprehend that the God of the universe takes time to consider your thoughts? He takes time to discern them, to understand them. That’s just how much your Maker cares for you!

So next time you feel that God may have forgotten you, and we all have those moments by the way, please go back to these verses and remind yourself that

GOD KNOWS YOU INTIMATELY AND CARES EVEN ABOUT YOUR THOUGHTS.

In His Love,

Suzanne