SelahV Today

I Come to the Garden Alone

I was only thirteen when I walked into the ballroom and stared at the breathtaking sight.  Giant columns dotted the room and held the massive ceiling in place.  Beautifully decorated tables filled the room.  I'd never seen even one table decorated with flowers and candles; this room had to have 100 or more.  Ladies were all dressed up; there were over 600 people there.  I almost turned around and ran.  I was scared to death.

I had no idea when my 4-H leader asked me to sing a song for her ladies club that her club had so many women.  I suddenly realized why she'd worked for weeks getting me ready, teaching me how to hold notes and sing with more volume as she played the piano in her living room.  Until I walked into that ballroom, I'd felt pretty confident. I literally wanted to cry.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  Mrs. Keys hoped I would get a scholarship by singing in front of ladies in her lodge.  I didn't.  I was disappointed that she was disappointed.  However, there is an up side to this; I never forgot the song:

"I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses...".

I suppose the most wonderful part of learning a song, and failing to please my 4-H leader, is the difference it made in my life 38 years later. In our last pastorate, a dear elderly lady, Mrs. P, was devastated when her husband suddenly died of a massive stroke.  Our music director usually arranged to sing for the funerals, but when we went by to see the widow, she tearfully asked if I would sing a song.  I immediately said "yes", even though I had never sang a solo at a funeral.  I asked if she had a particular song she wanted me to sing, and she said she'd leave that up to me; she was so grief-stricken she couldn't think. 

As a minister's wife I've sang "In The Garden" many times in church.  But I've never sang it solo; I'm usually in a choir or a congregation. On the day of the funeral, I could barely breathe as I began singing. Mrs. P sat right in front of me and looked into my face through tears of sorrow.  I wanted to break down crying--just like many years before. Instead of crying with her, the Lord pressed upon me to smile as I sang. Her face slowly filled with a peace that I can only describe as passing all understanding. Her tears stopped falling down her cheeks.  Pure contentment radiated from her eyes.  I wanted to stop singing and go hug her, but managed to finish without dissolving into an emotional puddle.

Days after the funeral, my husband and I went to visit her and she took my hands in hers, and kept telling me how wonderful my song was and how much she appreciated it.  Then she asked me how I knew it was her husband's favorite song. I didn't know.  But God did. Amazing how God works, isn't it?  I can't begin to count how many times I've sung that song through the years, but I can count the one time it felt like I was truly in the garden with my Savior.  selahV

Source: gypsypurplehome.tumblr.com via Pat on Pinterest

DO YOU HAVE WHAT I HAVE?

It's a blessing worth more than anything I've owned throughout nearly five and a half decades.  It's more comforting than a mother's love.  It's more validating than a father's approval, or an employer's commendation.  It's worth more than all the silver and gold a person or country could accumulate.  It's one of the benefits of faith.

I have peace with God.

Anyone can have this peace.  We who are Believers know, firsthand, this "peace that passes all understanding".  The calm amid the storms.  The stillness in a turmoil.  I've done nothing to earn peace.  It's a gift from God to all who turn to Him in faith and rest in Christ.

1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." Romans 5:1-2

Peace does not eliminate struggle, difficulty, obstacles, and turmoil on this old earth. The prince of this world brings nothing but destruction and despair and confusion.  But peace gives us the ability to rest in God's ability to provide and keep us in the midst of those things.  We are enabled to rejoice because we have overcome the world through Jesus.

3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."  Romans 5:3-5

I am quite content with my lot in life.  And my "lot" is not a very big lot, nor a very valuable lot, nor a very prestigious lot, nor a very coveted lot, nor the best manicured lot.  But with my lot, I am at peace.  I am okay with the place in which I find myself today, and look forward to what God has in store for me each day.  If I am here on this old earth to share anything, it is to share Jesus and encourage others in the peace, joy, and hope we have in His grace.  selahV

PEACE Has Come

After months of struggling with several situations, I am finally at peace.  I've prayed and searched, grasped, and held on.  I let go, rested, then picked up problems and struggled some more.  I listened and ignored.

I've cried and I've fallen into an abyss of self-pity and resignation.  I've resisted, then yielded, then resisted again.  I persevered, endured, then melted like a snowball in a Summer's rain.  I never wavered in my faith with God...but did I ever doubt the people in the world around me! 

Then...

God came upon my spirit and erased the angst.  He dispelled the darkness with His light.  He restored sight to blinded eyes focused on all the wrong things. I cannot tell you what made it all change.  I can only say that my heart suddenly felt lighter.  My mind clearer.  I love it when the time is up...when God says "Enough!"...when He pushes aside all the rhetoric bouncing around inside my brain and says..."Peace, be still."  Waves of discord cease heaving.  Winds of friction become breezes of refreshment.  It's amazing.  So amazing is His grace.  So grateful am I to be His child.  Oh, to linger upon this mountain for a while.  It is so sweet.  selahV

It's Not Easily Understood

People have a hard time explaining it.  They can't make sense of it.  When the world sees it manifest itself amid the chaotic conflicts, they shake their heads and wonder. That's because it passes all understanding.

Peace.

It moves beyond the rational.  It calms the soul and steels the heart against all threat, all assaults, all diversity.  It is an inward assurance in an outward disturbance.

The peace of Jesus through the person of the Holy Spirit is in all Believers.  Though the world crumble about us, we know we are safe in Christ.  Though wars rage among the nations, we know the promise of peace.  God gives us peace to instill confidence... confidence in Him.  We cannot take our eyes off our LORD.

Each day I practice forgetting turmoil, relaxing in His peace.  Each day when confronted with aggravating situations, I focus my mind on Him--on His sovereign care.  The Holy Spirit reminds me that I have nothing to fear...God is in control.  He is not sleeping; He is not too busy for me.  He is ever with me.  I know for certain that the turmoil is temporary.  In time, the LORD lifts me up from each valley, carries me up every mountain, and walks with me on each road.  Peace only eludes me when I focus my mind on me and my inability, rather than God and His ability.

May we know His peace today.  May we look beyond the gathering clouds and see our Father's power to control them.  When incessant voices wail, and rumors of battles loom, let us be still; let us remember:

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,

whose mind is stayed on thee:

because he trusteth in thee." Isaiah 26:3

It's Hard To Comprehend

Truly.  It's hard to comprehend how one can feel peace in the midst of a storm.  Yet, people do.  It's hard to explain how we can struggle with a decision to follow God's will and once the decision is acted upon by faith, God floods our heart and soul and mind with peace.  Yet, He does.  He removes the turmoil, the confusion, the battle with our own inadequacies.  He assures us He is with us.  He tells us to stand and be courageous.  "To take the land."  He tells us to keep our eyes on Him.  He gives us His Spirit to dwell within us and pours out His fruit in our lives.

A portion of His fruit is peace; it's joy.

Some people act and react with such stoic movements and expression that often they are seen as unfeeling...or that they lack compassion.  Perhaps, unemotional people do not have the same sensitivities within them.  Perhaps because they are the way they are, they find it hard to comprehend how I and others can feel the presence of God and sense His peace when we follow His will despite the impossibilities, the obstacles, the giants in the land.  God's peace releases an inner confidence that cements faith in place.  It's power calms the calamity within an anxious heart just as certain as Jesus calmed the raging seas which terrified His disciples. Think about it.

God controls the wind.  God controls the tides.  He is the Creator of those things.  Just as God calms the whirlwind, His peace calms the whirlwinds in our heart and soul.

I equate peace with Jesus.  My Savior.  My advocate.  My counselor.  My anchor.  My refuge.  My Rock.

I've witnessed absolute peace in the faces of those who face the giants in their lives--the missionaries who yield to God's call and have total peace in selling everything they have to go and tell.  I've seen peace exhibited in men and women who move from their comfort zones and into the slums filled with violence to minister.  They have total peace because they know they are in the center of God's will as they shepherd and evangelize those areas.  They know it's God's will.  But they also feel His peace as a result of following in faith and obedience.

God in His superior, sovereign, unequaled creativity, created man in His own image.  He gives us emotions, just as He has emotions.  He uses those emotions within us to draw us to Him, to allow us to experience His goodness, compassion, comfort, joy, love and peace.  Jesus gives us the greatest commandment:

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Mark 12:30

Those are completely different attributes of our being. Is there some reason the Lord put these attributes in the order He did?  I think so.

Our hearts keep us loyal to God.  Our souls keep us at peace with God.  Our minds keep us focused on God.  Our strength directs the resources of our bodies for God.  Just as we use them to be loyal, to obey, to sacrifice, to act upon the love we have for God, God rewards and blesses us with Himself as we do.  In Him we find His grace is sufficient to meet all our needs.  All the time.  It may be hard for some to comprehend the peace of God, to know it, but He gives it--the peace that surpasses all understanding.  It's not manufactured by man; it is delivered by God as we yield to His will and Word.  "Peace, be still."  "Be still and know that I am God."  selahV for Today

DEVASTATION: EARTH QUAKES, SEAS ROAR

I slept peacefully dreaming of brilliantly colored birds.  Tiny little birds the size of bumble bees flew into my house and perched upon my fingertips.  One bird resembled a cluster of purple, pink, and yellow bubbles.  I went outside and was mesmerized by black swirling clouds that rained down dinner-plate sized cherry blossoms that spiraled round and round with delicate beauty.  I reached out to touch them and they melted at the touch of my hand.  Joy and goodness and comfort and peace enveloped my heart.  Wonder filled my mind.  THEN=>>>...

BE SLOW TO SPEAK...

It never fails when we are quick to speak, we often stumble and fall into a puddle of pride. We have opinions but are they godly?  Do they bubble up inside our hearts and mind with humility and meekness, or arrogance and strife?  We have experiences we can point to as evidence of our opinions, but do they put undo light upon us and what we know or what we've done?  or do they point others to what God says and what He's done?

"Be ruthless with yourself if you are given to talking about the experiences you have had.  Faith that is sure of itself is not faith; faith that is sure of God is the only faith there is."  Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, 12:21

Is what we have to say important enough to add to a given conversation?  Does what we have to say matter in the eternal scheme of things?  Can opinions get out of control and add fodder to a fire better left to die a natural death?  What am I about anyway?

"Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down. As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife." Proverbs 26:20-21

How stubborn must we be before we become so bull-headed we will not budge?  How stiff-necked must we be before the Lord swats us on the back of our proverbial heads?  I wonder.  When we hold our piece, will it keep the peace?  selahV

One of my favorite places

It's peaceful.  Serene.  Great places to eat. Take a virtual tour of Medicine Park, Oklahoma.   Medicine Park is growing.  They are rebuilding, renovating, and creating scenic walks, lodging, and more wonderful places to eat.  If you want a wonderful relaxing vacation where you can camp, hike, swim in lakes, fish, explore gift shops, visit the nearby Holy City, drive through the reservation and photograph buffalo, longhorn and scenery--then this is the place for you.  As a writer, it lends itself to simply rest, listen to God's still small voice and restore your soul.  Here's one place (/link) worth checking out for lodging.

I find this to be a photographer's dream.  So many niches, scenes, and splendor.

 
Atop Mt. Scott.  [Click on photos to enlarge]

Quaint places to eat.

AND...if the serenity is too much for you, you can drive a mere 15 minutes to Lawton/Ft. Sill area for all kinds of restaurants, or a wonderful waterpark, Native Sun.

I like it.  It is an oasis for me to visit this little village area.  I cannot go there without feeling the peace of God.  But then, I am a simple kind of person.  selahV

DON'T IT JUST AMAZE YOU WHEN GOD SHOWS UP AND...

MANIFESTS HIMSELF IN YOUR LIFE?

Whew--ee!  The power of the Lord and His Spirit blows my mind.  I'm driving back from Texas today and my 5-year-old granddaughter is preaching to me from the back seat.  "Keep my commandments, and follow them. I am the Lord.  Leviticus 22:31."

HayJae and I had talked all the way back from visiting her two cousins.  We'd discussed all kinds of things.  What to buy her little sister for her birthday this weekend.  What she wanted for her own birthday next July.  How many days till Fall began.  How many days would Fall have.  How many days did Winter have.  How many days did Spring have.  What we'd do the next time we went to visit her cousins in Texas.  What we'd do when they came to visit us.  Could we go back tomorrow?  The car was dark.  Every now and then the sky would light up and she asked why it did that.  I shared the way lightning works.  How thunder rolls.  How God controlled it all.

Earlier that evening she sang a Fruit of the Spirit song she'd learned in church.  She had no qualms about the fact we were in the middle of IHOP restaurant.  She shared with her cousins about how Jesus got mad in the Temple and turned over the tables.  She explained to her cousins how Jesus died on the cross to take away all our sins.  And people who didn't love Him would go to Hades.  And when they went to Hades they'd burn in the fires.  (Fortunately for her cousins, they're both Christians.)  She talked about her little pink Bible and how her brother Jordy wouldn't let her use his.  "I'll have to use Mommy's."  She explained to them how Jesus went to the Temple, but we go to church...but they are the same thing.  It filled my spirit with joy unspeakable to listen to her.  I can't explain it.  THEN...we're almost home and she begins reciting scripture.    

I have no idea how many times she said that before it knocked me upside the head.  But finally I heard her.  "What are you saying, HayJae?"

"Keep my commandments, and follow them.  I am the Lord.  Leviticus 22:31"  She repeated it.  I tried to say it.  And I got it wrong.  She said, "No, Grama.  You've got to practice." She took her time and repeated:  "Keep my commandments."  She waited for me to repeat it.  I did.  "Follow them."  She waited again.  I repeated it.  "I am the Lord."  I repeated that.  "Leviticus 22:31"  I reversed the numbers.  "No, Grama.  Try again.  Levitcus 22:31"

I repeated the verse until I finally said it.  "You've got it!  Now keep practicing, Grama."  Again and again we repeated it.  But I knew it would take some time for me to truly have it memorized.  I'm really slow at that.  Yet, it was such an encouragement.  My heart filled up with incredible peace.  The world is good.  Life is good.

So much in life today is disturbing--so black--so full of sin and cruelty.  But somehow in the darkness of my Chevy Malibu, life took on freshness and Light.     

Now, folks...you tell me.  Is that not the dearest thing?  Five years old.  Teaching her grama.  Think God might be using this child?  I do.  Do you think she knows it?  I doubt it.  selahV

["And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: Acts 2:17]  

PEACE IS A STATE OF MIND...

...AND SPIRIT.

"You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You." Isaiah 26:3

The disciples found themselves in turbulent storm, with rolling waves and a rocking boat.  They were frightened and believed death may be eminent.  All the while, their Master slept in complete peace.  When they called out to Jesus, He stood and spoke to the winds.  "Peace be still".  At the sound of His voice, the winds ceased to blow; the waters calmed down.  Jesus admonished his faithless disciples.  How could they have come from a day of miracles to an evening of fear and trembling?

Aren't we similar at times?  One day we have our Lord show Himself steadfast and certain.  Then one day a storm comes our way and we fear and doubt; we tremble at our circumstances.  Typically we take out our proverbial buckets and begin to bail water with tumultous furor.  We dig in our heels.  We plunge our oars into water and row against the waves of chaos.  We wonder why our God is not visibly coming to our aid.  We see Him resting in perfect peace and we faithlessly continue to fight the battles on our own.  All the while our mind and heart is focused upon the trial--the roaring waves, the threatening winds.

What are your winds today?  Financial burdens?  A deteriorating health problem?  The loss of a loved one?  An attack on your character, integrity and motives?  Focus on Jesus.  He's sitting next to our Father in Heaven.  And you, if you're a believer, are in His arms of love.  He will keep you in perfect peace when you rest in His care and trust Him.  selahV