In Need of a Friend

"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves." (Romans 12:10)

I was feeling sick today and had planned to just tell anyone who calls about Mom's' Coffee Break that it's off because I don't feel so well.

However, of all the people who called, this DearFriend was one I couldn't turn away.

Mom's' Coffee Break was just about being there for a friend today. There is so much going on in DearFriend's life right now and I just wanted to give her a place of retreat for even just a couple of hours. Her husband's best-friend and dad just passed away. Her son who was supposed to live with them for only a couple of months until he got things back in order has now been with them for 1 1/2 years and is unemployed. Her son's female friend who they took in is giving up her newborn for adoption to join the Coast Guard and is also currently unemployed. In addition, they have to deal with the daily work of raising a child with Downs Syndrome.

I am not the best encourager with words, but hopefully my listening ears and just the willingness to have her over revealed to DearFriend the love and care I have for her.

March 29, 2007

Verse of the Day:
24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. (Mark 11:24)

Mom's' Coffee Break was held at a different location today. DearFriend wanted to give me a break and offered her home to be opened. She served homemade chilli (yummy) and a variation on smores (double yummy) with a pomegranate/lemonade drink. Thank you DearFriend!!!

The main topic of today's conversation was on the verse Mark 11:24. The question was, so if I ask for whatever and I just believe, then I will receive whatever I ask for?

Below is a wonderful article by John Piper who brings clarity to this verse:

What Do Answers to Prayer Depend On?
Part 2: God's Will
By John Piper
January 25, 1981

Two weeks ago I posed the question, "What do answers to prayer depend on?" The first and most fundamental part of the answer was that all answers to prayer depend on the death of Christ for our sins. The reason that a just and holy God is free to bless us with answers to prayer, even though we are sinners who deserve condemnation, is that Jesus Christ died for our sins and turned away the wrath of God from us. Everything beneficial, which fallen human beings have ever experienced, was purchased at Calvary. And therefore, all answers to prayer are free gifts based on God's mercy. We do not purchase answers to prayer by anything we say or do; we only plead for the overflow of mercy already purchased by the sacrifice of our Lord.

The second part of the answer to the question, "What do answers to prayer depend on?" was that they depend on our being obedient children. I argued from numerous Old and New Testament texts that our heavenly Father would bring disgrace upon his own word and harm his children if he gave us whatever we asked for even while we were going on in some sin. I stressed that this does not mean we must be sinlessly perfect in order to have our prayers answered because then the prayer, "Forgive us our sins," would be a self-contradiction. You can't pray for your sins to be forgiven each day if you have to be free from all sin in order to have your prayers answered. And Jesus did teach us to pray that our sins be forgiven (Matthew 6:12). There is a difference between a perfect child and one who is characteristically obedient but not perfect. We must not presume to think that we can get God to do whatever we want if our hearts are not set on doing what he wants (1 John 3:22; James 5:16; John 15:7; 9:31; Psalm 66:16–19; Proverbs 15:29; Isaiah 1:15; etc.).

Today I want to try to give two final answers to the question, "What do answers to prayer depend on?" The text that I have tried hardest to understand in preparation for this message is Mark 11:22–25. It has been by meditating on this text in connection with many others that the final two answers to our question have forced themselves on me.

And Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive your trespasses."
The two words in this text which demand clarification are the words "whatever" in verse 24 and "believe" in verses 23 and 24. When Jesus says, "Whatever you ask," does he mean we can ask for absolutely anything? Are there no restrictions? Do answers to prayer not depend at all on what we ask for? And when Jesus says that we must not doubt but believe that what we say will come to pass, does he mean that, in order to have our prayers answered, we must have undoubting faith that God will give us the very thing we ask? In other words, in what sense do answers to prayer depend on faith?

Whatever You Ask in Prayer...
Let's start with the word "whatever" in verse 24, "Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours." It sounds absolute and all-inclusive. But there are three reasons why we should not think Jesus intended to give a blank check to us. The first has to do with the nature of language. The second has to do with the other teachings in the New Testament. The third has to do with the immediate context.

The nature of language is such that all words get their meaning from their usage. Therefore, the usual meaning of a word is determined by its usual usage in our culture. And the particular meaning of a word in a particular text is determined by its particular usage by a particular author. I used to illustrate this when I taught at Bethel by coming into class and asking, "Is everybody here?" Then, if someone said, "Yes," I would say something irritating like, "Well, then, where is Jimmy Carter?" And it wouldn't take long to illustrate that the word "everybody" may or not have an absolute, all-inclusive meaning depending on the way it is used in a particular context. That's the way it is with the term "whatever" in Mark 11:24. It may or may not be absolute and all-inclusive. If you were invited out to eat and you sat down at the table and said, "I'll eat whatever you have," no one would offer you a pencil to eat, or a straw basket, or a shoe. They would know that "whatever" meant "whatever you are serving for dinner." So the meaning of "whatever" in Mark 11:24 can't be settled simply looking at the word. We must look at the context to see if Jesus put any limits on it.

The reason I even stopped to think about whether "whatever" was all-inclusive is that there are texts elsewhere in Scripture which teach that there are things we won't get, even if we ask for them. I'll mention two such texts. James 4:2, 3 says, "You do not have because you do not ask, you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions." If James is right, then the "whatever" of Mark 11:24 has to be qualified: You won't get whatever you ask for, no matter how much you believe you will, if what you're asking for is simply for your own private satisfaction. Prayers should always be acts of love and so they should always aim not merely at our own satisfaction, but also at the benefit of others. 1 John 5:14f. is another text that limits what we can ask for:

This is the confidence which we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.

This is an especially helpful text because the word "whatever" in verse 15 seems to be used just as absolutely as in Mark 11:24. "If we know he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained our requests." But verse 14 makes it crystal clear that "whatever" in verse 15 means "whatever we ask according to God's will." If this is the case in 1 John 5:15, might it not also be the case with Mark 11:24? Does the immediate context in Mark 11 demand a limitation on the meaning of "whatever" in Mark 11:24, similar to the way 1 John 5:14 limited the meaning of "whatever" in 1 John 5:15?
I think it does. Mark 11:25, the very next verse, says,

Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may forgive your trespasses.

This verse demands that the promise of verse 24 be limited. It shows that when Jesus said, "Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you received it and it will be yours," he did not mean you could pray for vengeance to come on all your enemies. The very next verse says, "When you stand praying, forgive." Therefore, the "whatever" of verse 24 must at least exclude a prayer for vengeance. What this means is that there is no contradiction between Jesus on the one hand and James and John on the other. All agree that God does not promise that absolutely everything we ask for will be given to us if we can just believe that it will.

Therefore, in answer to our old question, "What do answers to prayer depend on?" I would say, they depend on asking for the right things. 1 John 5:14 is the most explicit text on this matter, "If we ask anything according to his will he hears us." The right things to ask for are things that accord with God's will. When Jesus said, "Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours," he meant whatever you ask that accords with God's will, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.

Believe That You Have Received...
Now that brings us to the second word in Mark 11:23 and 24 which needs to be clarified, namely, the word "believe," "Believe that you have received it and it will be yours." Or, as verse 23 says, "Whoever does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him." The crucial question that rises out of such statements is, "How is such undoubting faith possible?" The only answer I can think of is that such undoubting faith is only possible if we know what God intends to do for those who believe. Or to put it another way, we can have undoubting faith if we know what God's will is in a particular situation. How can you keep from doubting if you don't know what God intends to do? How can anyone have assurance that the answer to his prayer will come to pass if he is not first assured that this is what God intends to do in response to his faith? There has to be a basis for faith; you can't just will to have no doubts if you are not sure that what you are asking for is what God intends to do.

I have had the flu all week. But I have not been able to pray for healing with undoubting faith that it will happen. The reason is that I do not know the will of God in regard to my health. It may be that he intends for me to be sick for two weeks that I might learn to rely not on myself but on God who raises the dead (2 Corinthians 1:9). And since I don't know what God intends to do about my health, it is impossible to have complete confidence that he will heal me when I ask him. In such cases we must always say, "Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done" (Mark 14:36).

I hope with this teaching to alleviate a lot of unnecessary guilt. How often we berate ourselves that we cannot ask for certain things with complete confidence that God will give them! But if we do not know that God intends to give them, how then can we have complete confidence that he will? Whenever we are forced to say, "Yet, not my will but thine be done," we are admitting that we have no certainty about whether our specific request will be granted. And there is no reason to feel guilty about that because faith that has no doubts is only possible where we know, at least in general, what God intends to do for us.

The question that cries out to be answered, therefore, is: "How can we know what God wills to do in response to prayer, so that we can ask him and trust him for it?" How do we find out what God intends to do in response to faith? There are two answers. One is that God reveals much of what he intends to do through the Scripture. The other answer is that God can reveal his intention apart from Scripture privately to an individual or group.

What I mean by this second answer is that when Scripture does not give a promise that a particular blessing will definitely be given in answer to prayer, God may make known in some other way that he intends to give the blessing. I mention this with some hesitancy because I have never in my life experienced it. God has never communicated to me what he intends to do any other way than by the Scripture. But I think he could, so I will leave open this possibility of how we can find out what God aims to do in response to faith.

What God Wills for Our Lives: Four Biblical Teachings
The more usual way we discover what God wills to do is by reading his revealed word in the Bible. I would like to mention four teachings from the Bible which show us what God intends to do for those who believe, and which, therefore, will help us have undoubting faith as we pray for these things.

1. God Will Save All Who Call upon Him
First, God promises to save all who call upon him. Romans 10:13, "Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved." Therefore, we need have no doubts that God intends to save us if we really want him to. Our prayer to him for salvation should be like the prayer described in Mark 11:24: "Believe that you have received it and it will be yours." God's specific promise in the Scripture sets to rest the doubts and uncertainties about whether God intends to save those who ask him.

2. God Intends to Santify Those He Redeems
A second teaching of Scripture which will enable us to pray confidently is that God intends to sanctify those whom he has redeemed. That is, if we have called upon God for salvation, we may now be confident that he will answer our prayer for sanctification. Sanctification is that process by which God makes us into the image of Christ, the process of becoming more holy, more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, etc. Hebrews 12:14 says, "Strive for peace with all men and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." But since it is God's intention not to lose any of his children (John 10:28), therefore we know that he will see to it that they all achieve this holiness. Romans 6:22 says, "Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life." Sanctification is a necessary stage on the way to eternal life, and therefore, God intends just as surely to give us sanctification as he does to give us eternal life. So we who are trusting God for eternal life can pray for our own sanctification without any doubt that God will hear and answer our prayer. We have learned from the Scripture that this is God's sure intention.

3. If We Seek First the Kingdom, All Our Need Will Be Supplied
A third teaching of Scripture is that if we will seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, the necessities of our life will be supplied (Matthew 6:33). Or as Philippians 4:19 puts it, "My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Of course, what you perceive your needs to be will depend on your goals. If your goal is to get to New Orleans by 6:00 this afternoon, you need to take a plane. If your goal is to run a marathon, you need to practice daily at long distances. What goal determines Paul's understanding of need? I think he would say doing the will of God, glorifying Christ. So the promise is not for guaranteed prosperity. In fact, Paul says in Philippians 4:12, "I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want." The promise is that God will supply us with all we need to keep on doing his will and glorifying him. Therefore, when we pray that our needs be met in this sense, we need have no doubts at all that God will answer, because Scripture makes plain that is what he intends to do.

4. God Works All Things for Good for His Own
I want to look at one more biblical teaching with you that should enable us to pray at all times without doubting. The teaching is that "in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose." This is the greatest and most far-reaching of all the promises in the Bible. The effect it has on prayer is tremendous. It means that when our specific requests are denied, God is preparing something better for us. He never stops working for the best interests of his children. And therefore, in every prayer we pray we can have complete and undoubting confidence in this, "God will give me what is best for me in response to my prayer." Don't ever doubt that.

Hebrews 11:6 says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would draw near to God (cf. 4:16) must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." The faith which pleases God in prayer is confident of two things, that God is and that he rewards those who seek him. When we go to God in prayer we must believe that he will bless us, otherwise we displease him. And we can believe he will bless us because he has promised to work in all things for our great good and to rejoice over us to do us good (Jeremiah 32:40, 41).

Many of our prayers will be for things we do not know to be God's will. So we will whisper, "Yet, not my will but thine be done." And we will believe, on the basis of Romans 8:28, that if our specific request is denied, it is because God is preparing something better for us. This fits so well with Matthew 7:9–11,

What man of you, if his son asks of him bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you, then, who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

That is what God will always give in response to our prayers—good things. "No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly." If God denies our bread or our fish, it is not to give us a stone or a serpent, but cake and steak.

When my one year old, Abraham, sees a shiny kitchen knife and wants to have it, I will divert his attention from it to a big, green can filled with clothespins and show him how much fun they are. Have I answered his prayer? No, I haven't given the specific thing he asked for, but, yes, I did answer his longing to have a good time playing with something.

Day before yesterday we opened a box of oatmeal cookies for dessert and they were moldy, so I started to throw them all away. But Benjamin started to cry and say, "I saw one that didn't have any fuzz on it." But I said, "Benjamin, the mold starts to grow before you can see it, and it can make you sick. Let's have gorp instead." So we did, but Benjamin felt like he was definitely getting second best. And that's the way we often feel when some of our specific requests are turned down. We think God is giving us second best. But he is not. To those who love him and are called according to his purpose, he always gives what is best for them. Therefore, when we pray, we may always have undoubting faith that God will give us what is best for us.

In Summary
In summary, then, when Jesus says in Mark 11:24, "Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours," we understand "whatever" to mean "whatever accords with God's will" (1 John 5:14). And we understand that undoubting faith is only possible where God reveals what he wills to do in response to faith. And we understand that in the Scripture God has revealed his intention to save, sanctify, and supply the material needs of those who call upon him. And finally, the greatest promise of all revealed in Scripture is that God will work in everything together for our good. And this means that, even though we may have doubts that many of our specific requests will be granted, yet we need have no doubt at all that God will always give us what is best for us.

Invocation

There is no sorrow, Lord, too light
To bring in prayer to Thee.
There is no anxious care too slight
To wake Thy sympathy.

Thou who hast trod the thorny road,
Wilt share each small distress.
The love which bore the greater load
Will not refuse the less.

There is no secret sigh we breathe
But meets Thine ear divine,
And every cross grows light beneath
The shadow, Lord, of Thine.

Amen

© Desiring God

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Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.

One Great Task of the Christian Life

Verse of the Day:

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.” (2 Peter 1:3-8)

Had Mom's' Coffee Break today. 2 dear friends showed up!!!

Once again there were various topics discussed, but the one topic that stood out in my mind was a verse that one dear friend brought up. She wondered what the Bible meant about God giving us everything we need for life. In response, our other dear friend said that God will give us everything we need, but he doesn't necessarily give us everything we want.

This topic came about because DearFriend1 is experiencing a lot of anxiety about a situation she's in. She has a deep desire to fulfill a dream in her heart, but in her first attempt of accomplishing this desire, the end result was quite tragic and very emotional. She truly believes that to accomplish this dream is a call from God, but she is worried and afraid because if after this second attempt to accomplish this dream fails, she has decided that she will no longer try again. She truly desires this dream to come to full fruition, but she is also worried and afraid that her dream will not come true. Therefore, why is there such a deep desire to fulfill this dream and if it is a call from God, then wouldn't he provide everything to make this calling a success?

This topic was mainly discussed between DearFriend1 and DearFriend2 as I needed time to digest the situation and the question. What a difficult question to answer!

John Piper wrote an amazing article entitled "What is the Will of God and How Do We Know It?" In it, he establishes 2 wills of God: God's Sovereign Will and God's Will of Command. God's sovereign will is defined as "his sovereign control of all that comes to pass." God is in control of all things and it will always comes to pass. God's will of command is defined as what God commands us to do. A good example given in the article is from 1 Thessalonians 4:3, “This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality.” John Piper points out that the will of God is our sanctification and in this particular verse, it narrows it down to abstaining from sexual immorality. "This is his will of command. But, oh, so many do not obey." So, on the one hand God is in control of everything, his sovereign will, but on the other hand, God doesn't always approve of what is ordained to happen because though his will of command for us is a life of godliness, not many obey it. "God is sovereign over all things and yet disapproves of many things. Which means that God disapproves of some of what he ordains to happen. That is, he forbids some of the things he brings about. And he commands some of the things he hinders. Or to put it most paradoxically: God wills some events in one sense that he does not will in another sense."

By understanding these truths about God's will, how would I now address DearFriend1's concern?

First, there is the comfort I can give that God IS in control of everything and that even a tragic ending to this dream is ordained by God for "[her] good and the good of all who love him."

Second, there is the encouragement that I can give that God's will of command for us is to flee from corruption and to run towards godliness in ALL that we do AND He does provide us with everything we need in this life to empower us towards this godliness in His Word. What would make this calling a success is the "discerning application of the Scriptures to...[this] situation... in life by means of a renewed mind." DearFriend1 has been desiring God's Word more and more lately and therefore, I must encourage her to follow that desire all the more because it is by the renewing of DearFriend1's mind that she will receive the hope and peace concerning this situation by understanding the will of God in his Word.

"Is it not plain therefore that there is one great task of the Christian life: Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We need new hearts and new minds. Make the tree good and the fruit will be good (Matthew 12:33). That’s the great challenge. That is what God calls you to. You can’t do it on your own. You need Christ, who died for your sins. And you need the Holy Spirit to lead you into Christ-exalting truth and work in you truth-embracing humility.

Give yourself to this. Immerse yourself in the written Word of God; saturate your mind with it. And pray that the Spirit of Christ would make you so new that the spillover would be good, acceptable, and perfect—the will of God."

You Gotta Keep on Giving it to God

Verse of the Day:

“then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10,12)

Had another Mom's' Coffee Break today and it was a blessed gathering. 2 dear and gracious friends showed up!!!

First, I had some yummy bread and dipping oil from Panera's. Then, one DearFriend brought over yummy Shoo-Fly Pie from Lancaster, PA. So, we had delish food on the table.

Second, we had a variety of topics in our conversation, but the one phrase that comes to mind as I remember this gathering time is something one of the DearFriends said, "You just gotta keep on giving it to God."

What a great phrase...When we're in trials our tendency is to want to take control of the situation and fix it ourselves. To turn our minds and our hearts back to our Savior's perfect plan and perfect power "you just gotta keep on giving it to God." When we're doing well, we tend to forget that our fruitfulness is by the grace of God. To turn our minds and our hearts back to our Savior's loving grace "you just gotta keep on giving it to God."

It's just a phrase that is so appropriate in every life situation and so easy to remember and its main focus is God's glory, might, and sovereignty. It's not about ME it's about God and that's where our hearts and our minds should be focused on so "you just gotta keep on giving it to God."

Victory Over Trials and Tests

Verse of the Day:

“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside.” (Job 23:10-11)

A DearFriend showed up for Mom's' Coffee Break today. It was a blessed time and I thank God that we had the opportunity to have that one on one time. We each shared the trials and tests the Lord has been putting us through lately and just how faithful HE is to bring us victory over these trials and tests.

The comforting thought of it all is that God is faithful in bringing us forth as gold. Through these trials and tests we are given even more fruits of righteousness as we get through them by His grace through faith.

Thank you Lord!

4 You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil;

........with you the wicked cannot dwell.
5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence;

..........you hate all who do wrong.
6You destroy those who tell lies;

..........bloodthirsty and deceitful men the LORD abhors.
7 But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house;

..........in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple.
8 Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness...—

..........make straight your way before me.
...

11...let all who take refuge in you be glad;

...........let them ever sing for joy.

...........Spread your protection over them,

...........that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
12 For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous;

..........you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

(Psalm 5:4-8; 11, 12)

February 8, 2007

Verse of the Day:

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:43-45)

I had a full evening last night and a full day!

One of my DearFriend is celebrating her birthday on the 10th and I couldn't wait to get her birthday present to her. She's going away for the weekend and leaving tomorrow and our "foursome" isn't getting together for a birthday luncheon until next month, and I just couldn't wait a month to get this gift to her. It's a jarful of treats for the soul! I looked up 365 verses, printed them on cardstock, and packed them in a jar; a verse for every day of the year! Since I've been working so hard to find these verses for her before her birthday, I decided I should give this gift to her for her birthday.

Well, I was very diligent about finding verses on a daily basis, but last week my in-laws were with us and so I went 3 days without working on this project. So, last night I had to find 65 verses and it took me almost 3 hours to do that because I had to make sure that none of the verses were repeats. Then, this morning, I had to print out the cards, cut them, and pack them...

Let me say that God is a miracle worker. I had a doctor's appointment at 9am and had planned to take this gift over after my appointment. Well, by 8:15, I was still cutting the cards out. However, the irony of the situation is that I felt a peace in my heart. This morning, I had a choice to do my daily reading in the Word and my prayer or to finish this project. Normally, I would choose the project, but today I chose to do my reading and spend time in prayer. The last thing I asked the Lord was for help for this day as I knew how full it would be. When 8:15 came along and I was still cutting the first few cards, I knew I wasn't going to finish the project before going to the doctor. Well, the miracle of this whole situation is that on my way to the doctor, I was trying to think of an excuse to give my friend as to why I needed to drop off her gift later, but before I had the opportunity to call her, she called me saying that she wouldn't be home around the time I wanted to drop the gift off. She would only be available in the afternoon. Such a relief came over me because I knew that would give me enough time to finish up the project. Well, this DearFriend actually was running errands and so stopped by after running the errands and I didn't even have to leave the house!

She loved the gift!!! DearFriend has 4 children and sometimes cannot find time to read God's Word. She thought this was perfect for her because she would be able to pull out a verse while she's having her cup of coffee and meditate on it. May the Lord use these verses to bring even more light of His glory to her heart!

So, after my doctor's appointment and after finishing up my 365 verse project, I straightened out the house and prepared for Mom's' Coffee Break. 2 DearFriends showed up today.

Today's "topic" was evangelism. At least the praise of one of my DearFriends was the opportunity for her to share the gospel with the young 22 year old she has been providing room and board for. This young 22 year old has been prayed over by me and some others and God is showing himself faithful in her receptiveness of the gospel and in the courage of my friend.

DearDaughter also had fun with my other DearFriend's 12 month old.

I do praise God for He is true to His promises in His Word. He says in Proverbs 8:17, "I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me." He has given me this earnest desire to serve Him with all my heart and though I still often fail, He is giving me the power and ability to do His will all the more because I want to seek Him and His will and as I am seeking Him, I am finding Him and His help. I could have just gone mad today with all that I needed to do, but because I did seek His help this morning, He provided it to me. Thank you God!

When I began this blog, one of my posts was about knowing your first and greatest priority. It is God and no other!

His Purpose is Forgiveness

There was only 1 response to the first Mom's' Coffee Break meeting scheduled for Thursday, February 1st. It was from DearFriend Deb who called to let me know she couldn't make the first meeting. Aside from DearDeb's voicemail, there was no other response.

I was disappointed, but rather than stay disappointed, I did call another DearFriend over for lunch. It was nice having that one on one opportunity to just be transparent with one another. We shared our challenges about juggling the role of being a mom and a wife. It was very encouraging to hear that I am not the only one struggling.

There was no dominant theme to our conversation, but one subject we talked about was the difficulty of always reacting the right way when we are already frustrated and the guilt we feel afterwards when we have done wrong, both to our children and to our husbands. We identified the problem, but we really didn't come to a biblical conclusion.

Later that evening, I had some time to browse the internet and I went into a bookmarked blog, A Gracious Home. Then, tonight I read from Professionalizing Motherhood by Jill Savage. Following are excerpts that is helping me work through this issue of "guilt":

From A Gracious Home:

I was blessed by these verses in my reading today:

Then Job answered the LORD and said: “I know that You can do everything. And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.”Job 42:1-2

I know God CAN do everything, but that He doesn’t choose to do everything the way I think He should. Such a simple concept, but one I find I must learn in new ways over and over again. At times over the recent months I’ve been sorely tempted to think that God has failed us and that He hasn’t come through. I am still struggling to understand why He has allowed some things to unfold in our lives the way that they have when He could so easily have made things turn out differently. But as Job said, no purpose of God can be withheld from Him. If things have not gone in a way that makes sense humanly speaking, there must be a greater purpose behind God’s actions. Such a basic lesson I’ve learned time and time again, but one I face yet again as God trusts me with harder and greater trials.

From Professionalizing Motherhood:

[Earlier] I shared with you that I have often reflected on my life as a mother these last 13 years and have many times been disappointed with myself. I haven't always been loving, forgiving, caring, or selfless. Sadly, many times I have been just the opposite.

In those times, I remember feeling like the worst mother on the face of the planet. I would go to sleep at night on a tear-stained pillow, regretting my decisions. Regretting when I raised my voice, when I said no too frequently, when I did what I wanted to do instead of playing ball or watching them ride their bikes when they asked me to.

I would become lost in my grief to the point that I would continue to make wrong choices because I believed the lie that I was a bad mother. Have any of you been there?

...Jesus came to give us freedom from negative guilt. it its place He gives us hope, newness, and freedom! He believes in you and He believes in me! And He can certainly empower us to make good choices! And all the while, He stands right by us.

From these two excerpts, I recognized again that everything is purposed by God, even the wrong decisions that I make. The purpose in allowing me to make those wrong decisions is not to remind me again that I am a sinner because I already know that. The purpose in allowing me to make those wrong decisions is to remind me again that though I am a sinner I am also forgiven by God's grace because HE loves me and though I AM weak, HE is strong and HE can help me.

Therefore, when I have reacted in a way that is not pleasing to God, rather than fall into the guilt that I am a bad mother or wife, I must continue to remember the cross and the forgiveness Christ gives, remember that I am no longer bonded to sin, and that I do have the power by the Holy Spirit to do what is pleasing to God. I must get up from the fall and press on to the goal of godliness.

January 23, 2007

Last week I had a group of ladies over for a small lunch. Right after lunch, but in the middle of our fellowship time, one of the ladies got an urgent phone call from the young 22 year old mother she has taken in and had to leave. We all felt very sad for this DearFriend because that was her time to cast her burdens on us so that we could help her carry them in prayer and she wasn't able to do that.

Well, I felt such a burden for her and all of us moms who just need a time and place for escape sometimes that I decided to open up my home once a week for 2 hours for 6 of us ladies to just gather and chat over a cup of coffee. My hope in this is that we are able to encourage one another in the Lord and ultimately pray for one another to help carry one another's burdens.

Since I don't know how the Lord will lead this endeavor, I have decided to take it month by month. My first Coffee Break will be on February 1st.