Category Archives: 1 Christ is All

Jesus loves me, this I know. This category is about Jesus, the Living Word, my prayers to Him, my worship of Him, His relentless pursuit of my heart and His invitation to me to come to Him in Sabbath, my Savior, my Rest.

Five Hundred

1 Christ is All, 2 Mi Familia, 6 Looking Back // Memories!, Stuff I Actually Think, , , , , , , ,

blogging

This is my 500th blog post!  Very cautiously and nervously entering the blog world in November of 2006, I find I can now blather endlessly about the minutia of my life, even sharing my most embarrassing moments in the mix.

blogging  blogging1

But still, I write it for my children and family.  That has always been the point.  And because my mom likes it.  But mostly for my children.

Because between the silly and the mundane, I have also exposed and cast down sin as it has been revealed to me.  I have spoken truths almost too unbearable to reveal in the light of day and I have written the things that someday they will look back on and read and see as an altar, a guidepost and landmark – the place where the truth of heaven was spoken and remembered in my life.  And it will become for them, eventually, if not now, the wisdom that will keep them on the right path.

“Do not remove the ancient landmark which your fathers have set.”  Proverbs 22.28 NKJV

The coolest thing now, though, is realizing a promise of God to me in my lowest hour – that there would also be spiritual children, that I would be increased and multiplied, that I will continue to be vigorous and bear fruit in old age.  And true to His promise, my family enlarges (it has even happened through this blog!).  My capacity to love is increased.

So, for the children I know and the ones I have yet to meet, I write.  And I write. 

And I write what I have heard, what I have seen with my own eyes, what I have observed, and what I have touched with my own hands in the hopes that these things will be received in the spirit with which they are given and that they will, in some measure increase your joy (1 John 1.1-4).  May your joy be ever full!

Graphomaniacally yours…Jeanie/mom

NOTE TO SELF: “It is written…” was even for Jesus, a touchstone of proof, a declaration of the “fixedness of the divine record” to the faithfulness of God.  Make my written words nothing less, Lord…

Carried to the Table

1 Christ is All, 5 Songs I am Singing, Stuff I Actually Think, ,

Leeland was, I am told,  17 years old when he wrote this song. I wonder how he already understood the beauty of being the made the guest of honor in a place you don’t even feel you belong?

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.”  Psalm 23. 5 NKJV

I know what it is to have been carried.  I have been carried.

 

NOTE:  The actual recording is one of my favorite songs.  I could only find the recording with pictures.  It does show up as a link when the song is through if you’re interested in a less busy rendition.

Why I Write

1 Christ is All, ,

1 John 1:1-4 (Amplified Bible)  1[WE ARE writing] about the Word of Life [in] Him Who existed from the beginning, Whom we have heard, Whom we have seen with our [own] eyes, Whom we have gazed upon [for ourselves] and have touched with our [own] hands.

    2And the Life [an aspect of His being] was revealed (made manifest, demonstrated), and we saw [as eyewitnesses] and are testifying to and declare to you the Life, the eternal Life [ in Him] Who already existed with the Father and Who [actually] was made visible (was revealed) to us [His followers].

    3What we have seen and [ourselves] heard, we are also telling you, so that you too may [realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a distinguishing mark of Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah).

    4And we are now writing these things to you so that our joy [in seeing you included] may be full [and your joy may be complete].

God, deliver me from the temptation to say too much, to make the story sound better than it is, but also from leaving out the parts that are hard to say – from making it seem easier than it has all been.  Let what I write when I write and what I say when I speak be truly the things I have heard and seen with my own eyes, the things I have observed for myself and touched with my own hands.  And may theses things reveal and declare the parts of You which You have made visible to me.  And may the things I have seen and the things I have heard bring joy: full joy, complete joy, double joy, to those with whom I share.

How we all know you’re a Sabbath-breaker

1 Christ is All, Stuff I Actually Think, ,

This is how EVERYONE (especially your spouse) will know you are not keeping a holy day (one of God’s greatest gifts for us):

  1. You will not be able to see, nor understand what God is up to in your life.  You will feel defeated and exasperated at every setback or delay.  You will frantically try to push against circumstances and curse what you cannot conquer.
  2. You won’t hear God’s voice.  You’ll hear from TV, radio, e-mail, advertisers, Linkedin, Facebook, My Space, Twitter, Blackberries, Blueberries, I-pods and MP3s, but you won’t be able to discern what God is saying for direction.  You’ll be confused, overloaded and over-connected.
  3. You’ll be spiritually dried up.  You cannot fake green, healthy growth, nor a fresh Word from the Word.
  4. Your body will be weakened and you will grow old faster than you should be.  You’ll know when you see your eyes in the mirror.  Who are you kidding?
  5. You’ll have a sense of rootlessness, as if you have been pulled from the place you were once planted.  You won’t know where you belong.
  6. There will be no fruitfulness right now.  You’ll have only the past to point back to.
  7. You can’t praise your way out of a paper bag and even though you consider yourself a witness for Jesus, you are not in any way, shape, or form evidence of Jesus Christ and His grace in your life.

Why are you the one exception to the need for a Sabbath, a day set-apart, holy to the Lord?  Why are you exempt from receiving the blessing God set up for you to refresh, renew, restore, re-establish, and rest?  It doesn’t have to be like this.

The simple solution.

Work 6.  Rest 1.

“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.”  Hebrews 4.9-11

“There remains…”  Check out the previous verses to see WHY it remained – and don’t do that!

Wait until I tell you what I have been learning from Psalm 92!!!…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF:  I wonder if people can tell I have been cheating here and there…:{  Don’t ask Dave.  PLEASE!

UPDATE FROM JEANIE/2-26: Yes, maybe I should have called this post, “How everybody knows when I am a Sabbath-breaker,”  but hey, *SMILE!  Especially if you are connected all the ways I mentioned in #2 above, because then, you truly are ON CANDID CAMERA!  Everybody sees you-by your choice!  And they all know.  Hehehe…And it takes one to know one.

Laugh

1 Christ is All, Stuff I Actually Think, ,

I just read a great blog post about laughing  and its’ importance, especially in this “constant, dismal media drain we are experiencing.”  The writer realized he had gone at least three months since his last really good, deep, long bout of laughter.

I can’t even remember how long it had been for me.  Sure I have laughed.  But I mean that kind that you cannot control, nor stop on queu.

But last Saturday night at Old Chicago way past my bedtime – oh yes!  Rolling, thunderous laughter!  And I wholeheartedly recommend it.  And it helps if you have a friend who talks like a ‘backwoods southern lawyer.’  Somehow adds to the experience.

A good laugh is like a good cry.  Sometimes you gotta give up control to get your balance!…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF:  Start planning for possible laughter episodes.  Watch Brian Regan, do somersaults with the grandkids, crack myself up if need be…

“I will be glad and rejoice in You…”  Ps. 9.2 NIV

Lover of My Soul

1 Christ is All, 5 Songs I am Singing, Stuff I Actually Think, , , ,

“The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.”  Ps 19.7

“He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters.  He restores my soul…”  Ps 23.2-3a

“I will be glad and rejoice in Your love, for You saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.”  Ps 31.7

“When I said, ‘My foot is slipping,’ Your love, O LORD, supported me.  When anxiety was great within me,  Your consolation brought joy to my soul.”  Ps 94.18, 19

“Be at rest once more, o my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.  For You, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.”  Ps 116.7-8

Charles Wesley’s famous hymn called Jesus the “Lover of my soul,” and painting a picture of raging waters and a “storm of life” asks, even pleads with Jesus to be his refuge, his hiding place.

But this morning I am singing an older hymn – my current favorite “oldie” written sometime in the 1700’s:  Be Still, My Soul.  Amy Grant has an a m a z i n g rendition of it!

The soul, they say say, is the mind, the will and the emotions part of us.  It is the center of the human personality and at times we think if we could just get past that part of ourselves, we could really serve God, be faithful, be holy.  But I really think Jesus is the Lover of our souls.  I think that is the part of us He created that brings Him a lot of joy.  For even though that is where the anguish and battle of self-rule try to rage, the soul is also the part of us that makes the decision to repent. 

Does He love me?  All of me?  Does He love the mind He created in me?  Does He love my emotions?  Does He love my very personality?  Does some of it need a workover?  Oh, yes, at times.  But we are spirit, soul and body – and He made all of that – on purpose.  He is the lover of my soul.

Be still my soul, the Lord is on thy side
Bear patienty the cross of grief or pain
Leave to thy God to order and provide
In every change He faithful will remain
Be still, my soul, thy best, thy heavenly friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Be still my soul the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt here below…

Resisted

1 Christ is All, Stuff I Actually Think, ,

“YES, all of you be submissive to one another (so risky, Lord)

AND

be clothed, totally covered in HUMILITY, for

‘God resists the proud – actually sets Himself against them, opposing them and frustrating them – But He gives GRACE to the humble (His empowering favor-filled Presence  that enables you to do what He has called you to do and be what He has called you to be).’

T H E R E F O R E 

(because He gives grace to the humble)

Humble yourself

under His mighty hand that He may exalt you in due time.  Don’t fight for your way, your will, your rights; don’t struggle to promote your opinion or agenda or to protect your soapbox, striving to be heard.

Humble yourself,

Casting all your

C  A  R  E

all the stuff that concerns you, all of your anxieties and woes, the distractions of life, your burdens and worries and hurts and pain – all of the things that cause you to try to self-protect and puff up so you won’t get run over, all the things that cause you to strive to be heard and understood

casting all your care upon Him

For with great love and care and attentiveness to your daily needs, to the longings of your heart, to the woundedness that needs healing:

He is caring for you.”

1 Peter 5.5-7

NOTE TO SELF:  Sometimes the resistance is not the enemy.  Sometimes the enemy is my own pride.

Home of Refuge – Honduras

1 Christ is All, 2 Mi Familia, , , , ,

Tredessa and Stormie, Niece-Elise and Mary Jean, plus the rest, left for Honduras today.  They go.  I pray.  If they cross your mind, will you pray, too?  While they pour out, I am praying they will get filled!

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”  John 14.18

Father, heal both the children who reside at the Home of Refuge and the ones who have gone to minister to them from the orphan spirit.  Reveal Your love and do a deep work in their hearts.  May the team return renewed, hearts healed, and energized by Your grace.”