Blessed are you . . .

From my FB post on January 25th:

I read part of an article from CNN regarding the March for Life in Washington, and it has been irritating me most of the day. When I said I read part of the article, I mean I had to stop a few paragraphs in due to the snide comments and slanted, unfair nature and tone of the article. It is not that I was thinking about it all day, or 'stewing' about it, but it just sort of remained there in the back of my mind, irritating me. Because I was busy, I really didn't get the chance to really deal with it.                                                              
This evening as I took a break, it came back to mind afresh and began to irritate me all over again. Then I remembered, they slandered Jesus, they mocked Him, they treated Him unfairly and unkindly (to say the very least). Why do I expect the world to treat us any differently? If the One who was the MOST perfect, the MOST loving, the MOST gracious, and the MOST RIGHT in EVERYTHING was treated so cruelly, how can we expect better, especially when we are speaking a truth the world does not want to hear?                                                                              
Somehow, can't explain it, but somehow that takes some of the sting out of it. Somehow it makes me feel a little closer to the One I love! I feel that I understand just an iota more of what He went through. (though I confess, I still am so painfully ignorant of the depths of His suffering and the magnitude of His love!!!)

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After having posted that, in my 'quiet time' on the 26th, I happened to be reading from Luke 6:20 - 36 and it really spoke even more clearly to my heart on this matter.  Even this morning, as I am perusing through FB, I am seeing postings about the Grammy Awards show and how 'awful' it was.  I also saw a posting about Natalie Grant having tweeted about leaving the show early due to the nature of some of the performances and then receiving hate mail because of it.


(Is it just me, or does it seem as though the vitriol of the world is gaining momentum?  You know, we cannot complain for we have yet in this country to die for our faith even as our brothers and sisters around the world are suffering unimaginably.  But it is so disturbing to live in a country where faith has been so encouraged and 'religious expression' has been so accepted freely, to then see things turning around seemingly so quickly.  And I guess my problem is that there is something inside of me that so wants to be accepted, that it is very painful, especially when you truly believe your heart is loving and true.)

Anyway, the passage that really caught my attention was:

Luk 6:20-25 ESV]

20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:
"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 "Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.
"Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

22 "Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.

24 "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
26 "Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
25 "Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.
"Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

Interestingly enough, I had never noticed that this was spoken to His disciples (v20).  In the previous verses, Jesus had just chosen the twelve, whom he named apostles, from the crowd of disciples following Him.  He was also being followed by 'a great multitude of people from all around Judea, Jerusalem, and the seacoast cities of Tyre and Sidon.'  But here it says He was speaking to His disciples.


I also noted in my journal that this followed several exchanges with the Pharisees and Scribes, exchanges that led the Pharisees to be filled with rage and discussing what they might do to Him.  So, in my mind, the battle lines had been set.  (Even perhaps as they are being set now.)

But Jesus, looking at His disciples, tells them:
Blessed are the poor for yours is the Kingdom of God
Blessed are you hungry now for you shall be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now for you shall laugh.

--AND --

Blessed are you when men hate you and ostracize you and cast insults at you and spurn your name as evil for the sake of (or because of ) the Son of Man.
BE GLAD in that day and LEAP FOR JOY
for behold your reward is great in heaven
FOR IN THE SAME WAY their fathers treated the prophets.


We can be happy with the temporary situation we face knowing that we will receive and be rewarded in the eternal Kingdom. There will be recompense. For those who were faithful to God even though it costs them comfort, ease, happiness and acceptance, there will be blessings of joy, acceptance, love, satisfaction, reward!

And, I love what Paul says:

For our light affliction, which is BUT FOR A MOMENT, worketh for us a far more EXCEEDING AND ETERNAL WEIGHT OF GLORY; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.  For the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.  2 Corinthians 4:17-18

It is so easy to get overwhelmed with the 'natural' world and the priorities, values, and desires of the world, but they FADE into oblivion if we can but fix our eyes on the eternal GLORY that we have in Christ Jesus.

There is one other point I want to hold onto.  Jesus says "for in the same way their fathers treated the prophets."  The world continues to be the world.  The world has forever treated those who spoke the truth of God in this same way, and it even treated the very Son of God this way.  So I can find some comfort in the fact that I am part of a long line of those who have been targeted for holding on to the truth of God's Word (though I do not claim to measure up to them in any way shape or form).

In fact, Jesus continues on to say, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for in the same way their fathers treated the false prophets."  If they treat the 'false prophets' well, then I CERTAINLY don't want to be lumped into the same group with THEM!!!

Anyway, it is a comfort to me to recognize that I can look beyond the injustice, hatred, and rejection to the Love of Christ and the glory that I have in Him!!!!  (Now, if I can just keep my focus on the unseen and not get overwhelmed by the seen . . . .)

Love you all!!!

Ev

And now, what will Jesus Christ do?

WOW!!!  I cannot believe how long it has been since I have done ANY writing!!  And I do apologize for the rather long hiatus.  There have been times in my life when I have found myself in a place where I could only withdraw and work through the issues that were chasing around in my head.  This was one of those times, and I seem to have been hibernating for about 2 years.  I have been on Facebook, so I haven't totally been MIA.

So much has happened in my life during this time.  I believe I said I was looking forward to what God had planned for me as things were changing rather dramatically back then.  But I guess I did NOT realize that I would be hiding out for so long.  LOL!!!  I think probably a lot of people would consider the time I have been alone a bad thing.  And I guess I would not really recommend it to anyone; it was never my plan to go there.  BUT I do believe that God has done some work in my heart and mind over this past couple of years.  Things that perhaps could not be accomplished until I had pulled back and allowed some things to percolate in my head.  And maybe the process just takes a little longer in my case than for most.

I won't go into all that has processed, but I will say that I feel better than I have in some time.  I just feel more comfortable.

There have been some wonderful events during this time.  My son, married a beautiful and sweet and gentle young woman in September 2012.  Everything happened so very quickly from the time he told me he was going to ask her to marry him to the actual wedding, I'm talking just a few months, yet he was able to arrange things so wonderfully that the wedding was absolutely lovely and went off without a hitch!!!  The bride was amazingly beautiful, the groom has never been happier in his life, and his mom was SO VERY thankful to God for the overwhelming blessing of seeing him SO HAPPY!!!

My brother, whom I hadn't seen in YEARS (I moved to Jordan, he moved to CA, I moved back to IL, I moved to AZ - WHEW!!!  I think it was something like 26 years since we had seen one another), attended the wedding with my mom.  It was so nice to catch up with him and to see my mom. (It was a little sad seeing how much her mind is slipping - we had to keep reminding her who I am.  But she is physically healthy and lives with my brother now, so she is happy.)

Although my sister was not able to come for the wedding, she did arrange a trip to visit me a little later.  It is AMAZING how you can go so many years without seeing someone and pick right up where you left off.  She is such a wonderful sister, and it was so soothing to my soul to spend time with her.  (Just one of the many pieces to the puzzle of my alone time.)

Then, last April, I had the chance to visit her in CA for a few days.  Oh, and may I just say, my sister gifted me with a FIRST CLASS ROUND-TRIP TICKET for the visit!!!!  HOW COOL IS THAT!!!  It was so great catching up with her family and enjoying more time with her.  My sister is just one of those people that is so loving and thoughtful that being with her ministered to my heart in so many ways!!

In August 2013, my son and his bride had their first child, a BEAUTIFUL baby girl, who was born in Baltimore.  My son got me a ticket to fly to Baltimore for a few days right after their baby was born, so I got to spend some time with them there.  She is such a sweet, happy, and intelligent baby.  You can see her figuring things out as she looks around and watches things so intently.  And then her mom is AMAZING!!!  ABSOLUTELY puts my parenting skills to shame!  And DAD!!! Oh, my goodness, he is such a sweet daddy!!  I love to see him helping with taking care of the baby, changing diapers and such!  And again, to see how happy he is!

My son and his wife returned to Dubai in October, and then surprised me with an invitation to visit them!  WOW!!!  What a surprise that was!  The flight is long, about 16 hours just from Los Angeles to Dubai, but I was very comfortable and enjoyed a wonderful trip that went very smoothly.

Dubai is an amazing city rising up between the desert and the sea and spreading out in all directions with pockets of sky scrapers here and there.  Construction is going on all around you and bigger and more elaborate buildings seem to pop up out of nowhere.  And, I don't know how anyone navigates because the road construction is on-going and the route to and from anywhere is ever-changing.

The Burj Khalifa (tallest building in the world) is just down the block from the apartment, which faces the Burj, giving you an amazing view!  I had such a wonderful time visiting them and spending time with my newest grandbaby.  It is especially nice to see how happy they all are, so very much in love and taking such wonderful care of one another.  And to see how over the moon these new parents both are with their sweet baby.  I don't think a mom could be any happier than I am!!!

Anyway, I am hoping that I am finally back.  Although I am not sure that God intends me to return to what little writing I once did, I thought I would at least give you an update.  I am praying for God to take it from here.  I want to follow Him rather than wandering along and asking Him to bless the path I choose.  But that is such a difficult thing to do, my spirit is willing but my flesh is often so weak.  Just making a REGULAR and CONSISTENT 'quiet time' alone with God can be a challenge for me -- I've never been a morning person, yet that is the time when I feel led to meet with Him.  And so, I am asking God to revive, restore and transform my life because I know how very easy it is to just go on with what is comfortable and easy.  That isn't what I want, but it is so much easier (or seems to be).

When I am in my 'right mind,' when my heart is attuned to the Spirit, I realize how much more amazing life can be if Christ is living through me!  So, the thought for today is:

"It will be very interesting to see what Jesus Christ will do with the remainder of this little life."

Love,
Ev