Threads

This past Sunday was an interesting example of how God weaves things together. Runs threads through our lives.

In Sunday school we listened.to Lee Stroble and the first lesson in his Case For Easter.  We discussed evidence that the death and resurrection of Christ is fact. One of the conclusions we came.to is God gives us individual and specific evidence. 

That all we can do is share that with others.

Then upstairs....the message (which was completely separate from Sunday School) was about the evidence that God exists and how we live and react and behave with people as we see His evidence all around us!

The Thread!

We have heard about the Christian life being compared to a tapestry...woven by God. We are only a small part of the tapestry and how you have to view the tapestry from a distance to see the whole thing.

So I wanted to see what was in Scripture for thread. The first on that came to mind from Ecclesiastes 

📖Though one may be overpowered,
    two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:12

The other talks about knitting , creating something precious 

📖 For you created my inmost being;
   

you knit me together in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13

There are times when we can see the "thread" through events. The more retrospect we have the more we can see them.

📖 Now the men had said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible. As for those who are in the house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them. But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.”  “Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.” So she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window. Joshua 2:17-21

How God works, tieing things together weaving events and people into our lives.

📖 As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This one came out first.” Genesis 38:28

Thread and cords were used for significant purposes. 

I believe there is a purpose in all the threads and connections that God weaves through our lives. 

🙏 I pray you see the threads that God weaves through your life. ♥️

Got You Covered

 Exodus 33 was used at church this past Sunday.  And one line in particular stood out to me.

📖 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock.  When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”  Exodus 33:18-23

I love the imagery of being covered by God's hand. 

And then another verse came to mind

📖 Keep me as the apple of your eye;
    hide me in the shadow of your wings Psalm 17:8

Beautiful imagery... in God's Word, penned by David of how God, as mighty as He is, tenderly holds us, protects us.

📖He will cover you with his feathers,

    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Psalm 91:4

We are gathered like chicks to a mother bird's breast, safe under the cover of her wing, or at least we can be IF we choose to listen and be willing to follow Christ!

📖  “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.  Look, your house is left to you desolate.  For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”  Matthew 23:37-39

If we listen and follow we will remain in His hand, under His protection.

 📖 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.” John 10:25-30

We have the image that, with God as our protector, nothing bad will happen to us. I believe He does protect us from many things we may be unaware of.

BUT we will be buffeted by storms and waves in life, we will suffer trials.

 📖 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

but He also is our Refuge and Healer

📖The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

    my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
    my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:2

We will have hurt and we may sustain injury.

📖 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
    and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
    I will not forget you!
16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls are ever before me. Isaiah 49:15-16

When we are His we are under and in His hand. He covers us, engraves us, encompasses us with His mighty, merciful and compassionate, righteous hand and nothing can move His hand!

📖 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 
“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:39

🙏 My prayer for you is Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from? I  pray your help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm—
    he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. ♥️

🎵 He Hideth My Soul Guy Penrod

Beautifully Broken

We all have heard statements like; "That is going to break me."  "I will bend but I won't break."

Comments that "being broken" signifies weakness or lack of fortitude.  The awful news of a situation will break us.

It is talking about our spirit, our heart.

This was in a book I read recently;  the female character said, "If one more person dies, I think it will break me." And the male characters' response was "that's OK, I will hold you while you break." 

And I thought....wow!  Isn't that more apt than "I will bend but not break?".!? Or "no of course you won't break"?!

It made me think....we HAVE to break, 

we have to come to a point in our lives that we are broken before our God....because He will hold us while we are breaking....and only He can make us whole again!

📖 May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he’ll do it!  1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (MSG)

People around us can give us love and help and support but the true Healer is Christ!

And the more broken we are the more He is glorified.

📖 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.   2 Corinthians 12:9-10

We have the initial moment when we realize we can do nothing without Christ. We need and want His saving grace...we are at the end of our rope, the bottom of our pit.  Like the prodigal son who realizes he needs to go back to his father.

📖  “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!  I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.  I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’  So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ Luke 15:17-21

We all have times (more than once in our lives) when we are hammered by life and times when we are emotionally and spiritually shattered. 

We cry out to Jesus and He is there....

📖 I call on you, my God, for you will answer me;  turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.
7 Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes.
8 Keep me as the apple of your eye;  hide me in the shadow of your wings.  Psalm 17:6-8

 📖 And everyone who calls

on the name of the Lord will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,   as the Lord has said,
even among the survivors

whom the Lord calls.  Joel 2:32

The image in my mind....God holds me in the palm of His hand, always.  Sometimes I get too busy and caught up in "me" and my issues I forget that.  So when the waves come crashing in and I feel shattered....God is already holding the pieces in His hand....I just need to remember that and allow Him to begin the process of restoration. 

He turns our brokenness into something beautiful and we should give Him praise!

📖 He heals the brokenhearted
    and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3

📖 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” Isaiah 61:1-3

🙏Dear Lord, our Healer and restorer, I pray that we allow You to take our broken pieces and turn them into something beautiful, to be used by You. Amen❤️

I pray one or both of these songs touches your heart. 

🎵 Beautifully Broken by Plumb

🎵 Faithfully TobyMac