Flying to a Summer Land

The owner of the tenement which I have occupied for many years has given notice that he will furnish but little or nothing more for repairs. I am advised to be ready to move.

At first this was not a very welcome notice. The surroundings here are in many respects very pleasant, and were it not for the evidence of decay, I should consider the house good enough. But even a light wind causes it to tremble and totter, and all the braces are not sufficient to make it secure. So I am getting ready to move.

--Streams in the Desert

So I am getting ready to move. And though the pain of being separated from those we love seems unbearable, though the uncertainty and anxiety and fear and apprehension threaten to choke His joy from us, we know that to obey means to follow the One who leads.

So I am getting ready to move. And we become attached to people, to places, to memories, to countries to cities, to cherished things.

It is good that we cherish. Do not be fooled into thinking that it isn't. That because this life is temporal we should treat people, memories, traditions as less than what God created them to be -- cherished. The key is not to hold onto things so lightly that they fall into the cracks and become inconsequential. The key is to hand the cherished things back to God in surrender.

And that is when we truly receive them: a gift. A gift of life that will echo eternally.

So I am getting ready to move.   

This life is temporal. The places that we call home will not be forever. This truth hit me like a brick over the past several months. I am the kind of person who becomes attached to a certain way of doing things, to a particular chair, to a certain kind of food or exercise program and will stick to it for years and years and years.

But an event in my life, a prompting of obedience from the Lord pressed this truth into my heart in a deeply personal way.

It was painful. It was lonely. I knew His presence through the pain that I thought that I could not face.

And I understood the truth of Elisabeth Elliot's words--

Sometimes... fear does not subside and... one must choose to do it afraid.

Obedience involves the pain of letting go of things that a person thought that they could not let go of. It involves clinging to the One who requires it. Obedience is the child of surrender, and the two walk hand-in-hand.

But in order to obey, we must realize that this life is not what we live for -- We live for another world, another home that will never be destroyed or worn down or taken from us.

We live for a home whose Builder and Maker is God.

And He is our home. 

It is strange how quickly one's interest is transferred to the prospective home. I have been consulting maps of the new country and reading descriptions of its inhabitants. One who visited it has returned, and from him I learn that it is beautiful beyond description; language breaks down in attempting to tell of what he heard while there. He says that, in order to make an investment there, he has suffered the loss of all things that he owned here, and even rejoices in what others would call making a sacrifice. Another, whose love to me has been proven by the greatest possible test, is now there. He has sent me several clusters of the most delicious fruits. After tasting them, all food here seems insipid.

Two or three times I have been down by the border of the river that forms the boundary, and have wished myself among the company of those who were singing praises to the King on the other side. Many of my friends have moved there. Before leaving they spoke of my coming later. I have seen the smile upon their faces as they passed out of sight. Often I am asked to make some new investments here, but my answer in every case is, "I am getting ready to move."

--Streams in the Desert

A painful act of obedience to the One who leads will produce the fruits of righteousness. The fruit that clings to its hard casing will never be free to ripen in the sun of His love. We let go so that we may receive. We go, as the missionary David Livingstone spoke and lived, in the confidence that His Presence goes before us.

And if His Presence goes before us, fear is swallowed up in joy.

We leave homes, lands, possessions

For the possession of Him, Himself.

He is our home.

Our home is with Him. In that beautiful Summer-land of glory. Where every tear will be wiped away from our eyes and all the promises in Him are Yes.

So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. Mark 10:29-30 NKJV

Possessing all that we truly loved. Possessing Him. Our eternal Home. 

The little birds trust God, for they go singing

From northern woods where autumn winds have blown,

With joyous faith their unmarked pathway winging

To summer-lands of song, afar, unknown.

Let us go singing, then, and not go crying:

Since we are sure our times are in His hand,

Why should we weep, and fear, and call it dying?

It's merely flying to a Summer Land.

--Streams in the Desert

You might find me on these link-ups:

Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, Inspire Me Monday, The Modest Mom, What Joy is Mine, SDG Gathering, A Mama's Story, Mom's the Word, Rich Faith Rising, Time Warp Wife, Cornerstone Confessions, Mom's Morning Coffee, Motivate and Rejuvenate Mondays, So Much at Home, Raising Homemakers, Hope in Every Season, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Ministries, Whole-Hearted Home, Testimony Tuesday, Tell His Story, A Soft Gentle Voice, My Daily Walk in His Grace, Women With Intention Wednesdays, Messy Marriage, The Charm of Home, Graced Simplicity, Theology Thursdays, Children Are A Blessing, Mittenstate Sheep and Wool, Imparting Grace, Preparedness Mama, A Look at the Book, Essential Thing Devotions, Thought Provoking Thursday, Every Day Jesus, Count My Blessings, Christian Mommy Blogger, Renewed Daily, Soul Survival, Good Morning Mondays, The Weekend Brew, Blessing Counters Link Party, The HomeAcre Hop, Mommy Moments Link Up, Grace and Truth Linkup, Faith Filled Friday, Saturday Soiree Blog Party, Tell It To Me Tuesdays, SHINE Blog Hop, Faith and  Fellowship Blog Hop, Motivate and Rejuvenate Monday Link-Up, A Little R&R Wednesdays. TGI Saturdays Blog Hop. Totally Terrific Tuesday, RaRaLinkup

Why Did I Begin This Blog?

Who knew that when I became a mother there would be so little time? So little time and yet so much—scraps and smidgens and traces of time—napping times and feeding times and weekend times and times when she falls asleep on my lap and I must be still and middle of the night times when I just can’t fall back to sleep.

So little time and so much and thoughts racing, racing through my head and blood pumping through my heart, a heart that has begun to skip beats under the stresses and strains of this new and beautiful and fearsome thing called motherhood.

So thoughts racing through my head and feelings and convictions and I want to write and convey the ideas and the offerings of hope that I’ve gained through suffering and struggling and trying and failing and trying and taking strength from One who is greater than I am and who breathes His strength through my weakness and prays for me when I cannot find the words with “groans too deep for words.”

He is enough, His strength is enough, His grace is enough, and if these things were not true, if Jesus were not enough then life would not be worth living and this blog would not be worth writing and I would probably be in a different place—fulfilling my once-dream of becoming—becoming an English professor, or singing professionally, things that I once thought gain to me.

Yet now I have learned, through suffering, through submission, through listening, that my becoming is not in myself, but in Him, in becoming who He wants me to be, in doing that which He has called me to do, in fulfilling the ministry that He has placed upon my life-conscience, to spend and to be spent not for myself, but for Him. And in seeking Him first, ultimate fulfillment comes. And I can live and breathe and walk without fear in this frightening world, being light in the ever-increasing darkness. For as George MacDonald says in his work Lilith, “It is always darkest before the dawn,” the dawn of the new creation, of a new heavens and a new earth, in which glory dwells.

Martin Luther, that savory old Reformer, so man-earthy and so heavenly-minded once wrote, “the pen is mightier than the sword,” and he was right. The pen sets the sword to play, or the pen quiets it.

I want my “pen” to speak truth, not just to pour forth my own drivel-rantings. Then it would not be worth it to write. But I want to write and I want to write truth, and to edify. I pray that this blog may be edifying to one or to many. It is my creative project, my painting, my thought-prayer-release.

The name of the blog is “inspired” by a Lillias Trotter writing on submission to the Lord Jesus in every area of life, that the body may become a willing vessel to serve Him in this swift-fading world. She gleans her idea from the words of Paul where he confides to His readers and pours onto paper for the church just before His imminent death: “"For I am now ready to be offered.” II Timothy 4:6.

It will probably cover many topics, from motherhood to marriage, to the Christ-life, to my sorrows and my standings and my fallings and my joys. You may not agree with everything I write—good! As Ruth Graham says, “Where two people always agree, one is unnecessary.” Disagree, disagree prayerfully, disagree based on your own conviction from the Word of God. But let us both grow nearer to the God of the Word, who never changes and whose Word is truth, Who is the Word. There are many sides of the mountain, as my “unorthodox,” and yet so truly orthodox sister likes to say, but one mountain; remain faithful to Him and follow the convictions that He places upon your heart through the Word, in prayerfully seeking Him. May we both grow together in grace and may this blog, these writings, glorify the God-Man, to Whom one day, every knee will bow and all mysteries be revealed.

For we are to live our lives in such a way that our heart speaks back to the Savior who lived it first: “Now I am ready to be offered . . .” For isn’t this whole life a preparation for the next, a daily learning submission and readiness to be offered unto Him in every place of every day, whether consciously or subconsciously? May He teach us and chisel us and soften us and shape us, as our hearts cry out for readiness, to be offered unto Him.