Blessed to be a Blessing

It is a new year, 2015 and I rejoice in the knowledge that God will continue the good work that He has started in me, in my family, in friends, in our church. God is constantly working, for His glory! We do not ever have to think that He will abandon His work. His promises are sure and faithful and a rock to stand upon. Even in the hardest of times or the darkest of nights, His light shineth brighter than the sun or any star in the universe. His love continues to pour out larger than the waves in the middle of the vast ocean and His living power continues to change hearts and come alive within them.

He is the God of every year, present in time and present outside of time, completely controlling all things to work out His plan. And though on this Earth we are beset with sin and illnesses, hardships and calamity, we are empowered through His Spirit and comforted by His gracious presence to endure for the sake of the Gospel, the Truth. As we just celebrated at Christmas, He is Immanuel, God with us. He is Immanuel in our joys. He is Immanuel in our sorrows. He is Immanuel in our blessings and He is Immanuel in our trials.

I try to see both the blessings and trials of life as gifts from God’s hand. Romans 8:28 “And in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.” In ALL things, God works! I am currently in my later thirties and have seen many seasons of life already. I have seen the seasons of great joy and blessings, standing on spiritual mountaintops and lifting my hands in praise. I have also seen seasons of pain, where the Lord was my constant companion in the valley of the shadow. And yet, it was there that God strengthened me and taught me how to offer the sacrifice of praise, upon my knees in humility and total dependence on Him alone. The blessings of indestructible joy were found there in the hard days. The depths of joy were intense as God showed me that living in close relationship with Him was the most beautiful and satisfying treasure. There are treasures untold in those places if you faithfully walk with the Lord through those trials, clinging to His hand alone and immersing yourself in His Word.
“I am the vine, you are the branches…”

Throughout my life, God has taught me that trials are indeed a blessing…

who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God -2 Corinthians 1:4

Reading that verse as a young woman brought hope to my heart. Trusting that God could take those refining seasons of my life and use them for His glory and bring about a blessing for others, brought purpose to seasons of pain or depression. I longed to know the explanation for my pain and why God was taking me through it, but even more so, I longed for none of it to be wasted. My prayer during that time was, “Lord, use every moment of this struggle for Your glory alone.”

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. -Ephesians 1:3-6

Each Christian, no matter where you live, is called to be a blessing to the world out of the abundance of spiritual riches in Christ. You are called to be a blessing in your sphere of influence, and the Word of God is to transform your living in that sphere so that God’s Word will go forth and seeds of redemption can be planted on this Earth to grow a harvest of righteousness. We are blessed in Christ with all spiritual blessings that we may be a blessing.

For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations. -Isaiah 61:11

Gazing at the Gibbous Moon

I find it hard not to gaze at the moon lately. My little ones will be running around our neighborhood playground on a clear evening of big blue sky and whispy white clouds as we hear the rush of traffic whizzing by on the highway just ahead of us. We live in a unique location of the city. Most people do not pack up their family and move into a neighborhood to become a minority in a foreign culture, let alone into the heart of a gang-saturated neighborhood. My porch does not look out upon a field of lavender or the beauty of the ocean in the distance. Instead there is a construction site. There are no peaceful brooks flowing past us or trees to climb, flowers to stop and wonder at. Instead, there is a gravel parking lot on one side of our apartment complex and an inhabited lot that consists of a delapitated trailer, numerous beat up cars, trash, old furniture, and countless other items, including, I believe, a rooster, making it resemble more of a garbage dump than a neighbor’s house. But this is where God has called us for a time, and there is beauty here!

Perhaps that is why, when the kids are happily playing with their friends in our communal backyard, my gaze turns upward… to the moon. I’ve never noticed the moon so much as I have this year living at our apartment complex. Its where I find nature, a sweet reprieve from the concrete. Having never studied the moon in much detail, I’ve had ample time to notice its movements, its phases, its spots and blotches of white and gray. The way it curves upward and over the horizon and the way it unabashadly proclaims the glory of God.

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat. Psalm 19:1-6

On the eve of the Supermoon this past summer, I carried my baby in my arms and made my way down to the playground in the warm evening air, the community abuzz in the moonlight. My husband had taken the kids to play and I wanted to join them in watching the huge orange moon.

You see, I love to be in nature, surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation. Its a comfort to me and peaceful to be standing at the edge of the ocean or making my way through the forest trails. Perhaps He is changing my gaze upward, beyond this world to see His glory in all the Heavens and to show me how small I really am and so dependent on His loving care. And perhaps He is teaching me to stand, not at the ocean, toes in the sand, but on the concrete… where the feet of so many smiling shining faces run, play, and skip rope each day.

Our hearts are full here, surprisingly full as the friendships we have made have brought more beauty to our lives. We love that we walk out of our apartment in the evenings and neighbors are visiting, playing their music loud, working on their cars, running and playing on the playground, kicking around the soccer ball and looking over the rail of their porch. The kids’ friends run up and invite them to play in shopping carts and go for rides. That sense of community is so rich. This is our home for now, a temporary spot for our family, a place where God has brought so many kids into our lives and our hearts are filled with love for their families. We spend hours with our neighbors outside on the playground, our “backyard”. And we tell them about Jesus.

And when I need to be surrounded by nature, I search the sky for my moon, and I gaze awhile.