The Joy of Discipline.

"Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yeildeth the peacable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." Hebrews 12:11 That is one of my favorite verses. I have told my family that I would like to hang that verse on my wall with the words, "Discipline is hard; but it brings peace and joy." I know that it seems like an odd verse to have among those most precious, but I have good reason. Any parent can tell you, unless they are lying, that discipline is hard not only for the child but also for the parent. A great pastor M. W Lawrenz said that "a child is born without the desire to be a peacemaker; but rather for war."In other words, We are all born with a desire to get, to have our way, selfish. As a child grows he is either taught peace and giving or is allowed to feed his selfishness sin nature. Not being able to simply give my daughter whatever she wants is hard. When I have to discipline her it is hard to see her tears. But I bite my lip and tell her in love why I must do this. It is for her good. So it is with our Father. He must discipline His children to build them into righteous people. If we always got what we want, did what we want, and got away with it we would be a terrible people indeed. Just look at the state of our country. Americans are a culture of get what I want and if I don't I will lie and/or steal to get it. We do what we want. Now our country is suffering the consequences. Disease is rampant and our leaders are turning their back on the God who made us who we were. But that is a post for another day. Our elders, our parents, and grandparents knew the value of discipline. Not just with children. It takes personal discipline to discipline children well because it takes dedication. Discipline in anger will only breed bitterness and anger. A disciplined person can do it with forethought, love, and wisdom. Discipline is here for our good, to make us better than we are. The verse says, "nevertheless afterward it yeildeth the peacable fruit of righteousness unto them which are excercised thereby." I love those words, "the peaceable fruit of righteousness." So true. Righteousness has never been anything but peaceful. A righteous man has peace in his ways; and peace yeilds joy. Righteousness is the joy that comes from discipline. With our children, all we can do is pray for wisdom and discipline the best you know how. Afterwards, just pray that they will grow into righteous men and women. You have done your part so the rest is up to them. So it is with us. God will chasten; but will we choose righteousness or rebellion.

Even as a Child: 3

In the last post, I touched on Gods joy to see us grow as His child. As I watch my daughter I have realized that growth is not a one time process. Growth comes from nourishment and persistence. When my baby girl began to crawl it was not overnight. I watched her struggle for weeks to build up the muscle she needed to take those first couple crawling steps. Even then, it was a gradual improvement over time. Crawling took persistent work, if she had given up because 'it was too hard' or 'she didn't feel like it' she would never crawl. Sounds like the Christian life huh? Along with persistence she needed nourishment. My daughter had to have daily food for energy and strength to get up on her hands and knees and work that muscle. Do I eat my daily bread? Do I get up every morning and get my spiritual nourishment so that I will have the strength and energy I need to build muscle and grow? God's word is our nourishment. The Bible builds spiritual muscle when used daily. Spiritual growth, like physical growth, is not overnight. A short simple truth.

Even as a child: 2

Matthew 18:2-4 "and Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, verily I say unto you except you be converted, and become as little children, ya shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Have you ever just watched a toddler as she played? She will play contentedly as long as She knows her parent is nearby. A baby knows that she can do nothing without their help. She also depends on them for protection. It is the most precious display of trust, need, and humility. Not to mention carefree. As a mother, I never want that to go away. Our heavenly Father feels the same way about His children. God wants us to come to Him in complete humility. He then wants us to continue to "cast all Our care on Him" in Faith and love. I know what my daughter needs without Her being able to tell me. So does God know the needs of his children. If we trust Him, He will provide. Such simplicity. If you have accepted Christ as your Savior you were born again as His child. All you need to do now is trust in His ability as your Father. Simply enjoy being in His care. Get excited about learning new things and performing them for Him. He gets excited to see us grow too. Just think how you feel when your children, nephew, niece, or grandchild takes his first step. Then, think how you would feel if he then stopped growing, or worse, never did take any steps. Our father is cheering us on and wanting to teach us more. How wonderful! "It's wonderful to be a christian. It's wonderful to be God's child"

Even as a Child: 1

I have always learned from experience. Hands on is the best way to learn. So when I came to verses in the bible that use children and babies I never fully understood until I had one of my own. She is teaching me so much. I am going to talk about some of these lessons over three posts. I could not possibly say it all in one.
       
         1 Peter 2:2 "As newborn babies desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby:"

              God's word says that I should desire His word as a baby does milk. If you have ever breastfed a newborn you can surely understand how fervent a desire that would be, even with bottle fed infants . It is almost constant. What a revelation! When I realized that I should be desiring His word daily, hourly, constantly, I realized that I was greatly lacking in desire.
             But how do I make myself desire something? By giving it to myself constantly. I realized that children learn to desire certain things by being used to having them. So I can learn to desire God's word even more by becoming accustomed to having it. Once I started that practice I soon could not go without it. It's not just that it's habit forming, but it is the life changing grace that comes with it.
              The verse says, "that ye may grow thereby:" Just as the constant giving of milk is growth to a baby. The constant taking in of the Word is growth to a Christian. The more I get the healthier I grow. A change takes place when time with God becomes a daily habit. Babies desire milk everyday. Soon nursing becomes more than nurishment, it becomes a comfort and a pleasure. When I spend daily time with God it is the same. God becomes more than a Savior. He is my friend and father. Daily Bible reading may seem insignificant in contrast to great works of faith. Just as a baby needs the simple act of milk everyday to grow strong, to crawl, then to walk. I need daily time in God's word to be able to take giant steps of faith.
The beauty of God's word is astounding. Such a small verse with such big meaning.
               There is so much that I can learn from watching my precious daughter as she grows. God teaches me to be as a child. He wants me to know that I need a protector, provider, Savior and friend. He wants me to know that I am taken care of. He has given me, His child, what I need to grow into a strong healthy human and christian.

My God Shall Supply All My Needs

          I have house fever. I want to have a house so bad. For those of you who don't know where I live, I have a lovely little studio apartment. Don't get me wrong. It is a great apartment and a blessing to live in. We have wonderful landlords. But I want a house that has bedrooms, a full kitchen, a laundry area, and a second bathroom especially, with a tub to bathe the baby in. All of these things are my desires. I look at houses for sale and rent around the area when we are driving and just sigh. I know we cannot look. We are not staying in this town much longer neither could we afford to move. So I must simply be patient.

          I tell you all this because I have had to realize something. There are many things that I desire that I cannot have right now. I was complaining about my desire for a house and my husband reminded me that God knew my desires. God knows what I need. He has always taken care of me. I know He will continue to take care of me. The home I have now supplies what we need. A roof over our head, beds to sleep in, heat in winter, Cool AC in the morning and evening, and a place to cook and eat. However, I know that God not only cares about my needs, but also my desires. Right now is just not the time for them. 

           Heading out onto the deputation road is exciting and stressful. I cannot wait to see what God is going to do for us along the way. At the same time, I am not ready to pack up us and the baby for months on the road. It is just something that I have to do and see the best in it. What I see in it now is an adventure in  Gods provision and grace. I don't know what all is ahead, but I know God is. That is all I really need to know. My house is somewhere up there too, and I can't wait to see it. 

          

Work In Progress

          Wet cement, orange cones, and steel framing. Under construction. Sound familiar? In my community it is all too familiar. Especially on the expressways. I'm sure that it is not just here. Everything is constantly growing, expanding, improving. Everywhere people want to look better, update, and, well, grow.
          The world understands the need for improving on a regular basis. So why then, do we as christians not always see the need for improvement in our spirit? I believe it may not always be that we do not see, but that we will not take the time needed for improvement. Improving takes time and effort. No building ever remodeled itself. We have the tools and the ability so we have no excuses. God wants us to continue growing in the knowledge, and likeness, of Him. He has given us directions and blueprint all in the same book.
          I know all too well the struggle to continue building. It is easy to slack off, to go through the motions without actually working. There are also setbacks. Sometimes the work is still fresh when something bumps us. Remember, it can always be repaired. A couple years ago my mom was out with my grandma. They had stopped to pick up some medication and on the way into the pharmacy my grandma stepped in a square of wet cement on the sidewalk. She hadn't seen it. The workman laughed and smoothed it back out. On her way back out of the pharmacy she nearly stepped in it again. The workman, I'm sure, tensed as her foot hovered over his resmoothed cement, but when she turned and placed it on the sidewalk he laughed at the near misstep. Sometimes in life we are like that workman and the wet cement is the part of us that God is improving. Something may come along and accidentaly step on us. When that happens we just have to smooth it back out again. True, if the same person did it twice, it is harder to laugh about. Even if it takes a few times, it will eventually harden and become a permanent part. I'm sure that sidewalk did eventually dry and others can now walk on it freely. However, it will now begin the process of wear and tear that will break it down. Thats why we must always be working. We must keep up what God has built in us.
            I am still a work in progress. There is still so much for me to improve in my own life. God has been working in me. As long as I allow God to continue working I will continue to improve. There have been setbacks but with God I got through them. With God in charge, sometimes things even turn out better the second time.

To be Jewel

           A couple days I woke up with a revelation. I'm living in my future. I know that sounds strange and impossible. Let me explain. I realized that I have accomplished all of my goals from childhood. I've graduated from high school and college, I'm married, and I have a baby. All that is left is my happily ever after.

           When I came to this realization I was stunned. I felt a sense of great accomplishment then I thought, "what now?". The answer came quickly. Life.
          Of course, there are some new goals. I now look forward to deputation, getting to the mission field, ministry on the field, having another baby, see my children graduate high school and college, see them marry and have children, see them have my grandchildren (yes, I look way ahead). There are many things. While thinking about all of this I realized that I am not ready. I have so much to learn between here and there. Things I needed to get started on yesterday.
           In our monthly ladies meetings my associate pastors wife has been teaching through Proverbs 31. It has been wonderful. It inspired me to do my own studying at home. I bought the book "Beautiful in His Eyes" by   Elizabeth George and its study guide. The things I have been learning are humbling and exciting.One of those things is that I suddenly realized the importance of every single thing that I do in my home. The major thing that Mrs. George brought up was that being a virtuous woman is not impossible. She is a real literal person that the kings mother was telling him about. The kind of woman that she wanted her son to marry was a virtuous woman. I can be that kind of woman it just takes time. It is by no means an overnight change.
              The second thing that I learned is that the virtuous woman is not wealthy. When reading the passage of scripture it has always painted in my mind a picture of wealth and beauty. All those beautiful words like "rubies, silk, purple, scarlet, coverings" gave me the illusion of wealth and beauty in her home. That was not the case. The Proverbs 31 woman is what made her home seem wealthy and beautiful. She was the jewel that shone throughout the passage. Her beauty, inner beauty, made everyone and everything around her beautiful. She worked hard to give abundance to their home. She brought honor to her husband through her reputation and management of her home. She brought her children joy and comfort.
                I want to be the jewel, the ruby, in my home. There are many things that I need to work on. I am comforted in knowing that it is not an impossible goal. Just one that has to be reached step by step. My life up to now has been good, but I want my future to be great. Not for me, but for God, my husband, my children, and those that we will be ministering with. That really would be a fantastic happily ever after.