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Wednesday, May 12, 2010

My Redeemer Lives!


FROM JAMES' TABLET:


This started going through my mind - "MY REDEEMER LIVES".

He's a Redeemer. He's alive and vibrant and moving about with purpose, and He's so personal. He's even "mine". I ask myself these questions:
- What is a Redeemer?
- What has He, is He, and will He redeem us from?
- What ramifications are there to Him living?
- What must I do to access Him and His redemption today?
- What does this mean for me? (surrender to, submission, personal dying to self)...

MY REDEEMER LIVES!

CAROL'S THOUGHTS:

These words have a lot of significance to me even at this moment. When we were in the hospital, I saw so many people doing everything they could to "live". All the rooms were filled with people who wanted to "live". This was achieved through surgeries or therapies or medicines. The patients were tested, poked, and prodded. And yet, real life comes from only one source - God. I think about how He breathed life into that first man - Adam, and He is still breathing life into us. He offers us eternal life with Him! He achieved this by dying...and then living... We are called to die (to ourselves)...so that we might live (in Him)!

When I find myself anxious about death, I think about life. And how thankful I am for each day we have together. Yes - we want to live every day that God has for us and not a moment less! But let's make those days count. I'm so thankful for the Redeemer that lives!



This is the Day...


FROM JAMES' TABLET:


This morning I woke up thinking: This is the day the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it... I want to identify something about this day that God has made so that I can align myself with Him - to rejoice and be glad all day long. He is near. God says, "I am an ever present help in time of need", Psalm 34:18. God says, "The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit".

Psalm 46:10 - Be still and know that I am God.
Luke 10:9 - The Kingdom of God is near you.
Psalm 73:28 - It is good for me to draw near to the Lord.
Hebrews 4:16 - Let us then approach (draw near) the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

He has made himself to be near me today! In fact, the Kingdom is near to me today. All the resource that God entails is not distant but close.

This is "good" (Psalm 73:28) then, to draw near to him. He has initiated and I not only can respond to him, but I can also initiate drawing near to him - it's a good thing. It is well with my soul. Hebrews 4:6 - SOOOOO....1. I approach with confidence in who God is and not in myself. He wants me to approach him. And 2. Without pretense. Let him "be" who he is.

This "Aligning with God" brings gladness and a sense of rejoicing.
I cannot be near him without being somehow filled, changed, renewed.

CAROL'S THOUGHTS:

It's May 12, and I cannot stop the tears that spring to my eyes and roll down my cheeks as I type in these precious words from James' tablet. During the time he was writing this he had been home less than a week from the Cleveland Clinic. We spent eight days there - eight days of holding on to the hope we had in Christ to bring us through the tests that would later tell us James had "limbic encephylitis".

This is the man I married. Someone who at his lowest points, has a song and a scripture in his heart; a smile on his face. Yes, we've cried a lot too. I'll tell you more about those things later. For now, I just want you to bask in the beauty of the scriptures and the heart behind it. The heart of the God we serve - one who is near the broken-hearted.

James did not write in his tablet thinking that I would post them. That was decided later. But it's something he could do. The Lord began speaking to him, and I realized quickly that the Spirit is not limited to our mind's ability to process and sift all the information. The Spirit of God is strong when we are weak! Oh what a glorious God we serve! Be blessed.

This is the day...be filled, changed, renewed.