Shining in the Valley

The Valley of Vision (old Puritan prayer)

Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,

Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,

where I live in the depths but see Thee in the heights;

hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold Thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox

that the way down is the way up,

that to be low is to be high,

that the broken heart is the healed heart,

that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,

that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,

that to have nothing is to possess all,

that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,

that to give is to receive,

that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,

and the deeper the wells the brighter Thy stars shine;

Let me find Thy light in my darkness,

Thy life in my death,

Thy joy in my sorrow,

Thy grace in my sin,

Thy riches in my poverty

Thy glory in my valley.

I have so many dear friends right now who are living in the valley, and for many of them, the Lord's glory has been brilliantly reflected to a watching world as they "find Thy light" in their darkness and "Thy joy" in their sorrow. None of us would ever desire to dwell in the valley. And we especially would never want our children to have to endure any kind of valley. Yet that is where we truly learn the treasures of darkness, the all surpassing sufficiency of our Savior, and the paradox of "the deeper the wells the brighter Thy stars shine." Thank You Lord Jesus for how You glitter through each of those dear surrendered ones as they struggle and yet shine. O might we all shine on in the valley as well as the mountaintop!

I love the song, "Shine on," by the group, "Need to Breathe." Here just a few of the words:

I was with you in the valley

And up upon that hill

So take just one more step in front of you

For I am with you still

And you are not alone

Shine on, shine on

And on to something new; it's long and overdue

I will remember you

Shine on, shine on

And let the others see, you've got your victory

Will you remember Me

Can you see My hands are open

I am waiting just ahead

And you think you need it all now

But you needed Me instead

Shine on, shine on...O won't you shine

He is with us in the valley. He is leading the way, even when we cannot see Him or feel Him, for it often seems that the valley is where we truly learn that He is all we need. So Lord, for all our valleys, we ask that You would shine through us. Illumine the way ahead--even if it is only one tiny step at a time. And then help us to have the courage to take that step and trust that You will show us the next one. Thank You for Your heavenly paradoxes--that the way up is the way down, the way of greatness is servanthood, the way of fulfillment is self-sacrifice, the way of true joy is surrender. Teach us, purify us, encourage us, sanctify us. Help us to shine on this day, wherever our path leads us--whether meandering along the glorious mountain ridges or trudging through the shadowed valleys...for You are there, shining gloriously. To God be the glory.

What would you change?

The other day I heard Dan and Christy Woolley share about their amazing experience one year ago during the earthquake in Haiti. Dan works for Compassion International and was in Haiti doing some work for Compassion when he was trapped for 65 hours in the Hotel Montana following the earthquake. His coworker, who was standing right beside him when the quake hit, was killed instantly. Dan suffered severe injuries to his leg and his head and was trapped in the rubble not knowing if he would be rescued or would survive. He was trapped in about a ten foot area and he had access to his journal, so after many hours, he began writing notes to his wife and 2 boys that he hoped would be found on his body if he died and his body was eventually recovered. I saw pictures of the journal and each page was stained with his blood.

But his words have really stuck with me. As he lay in the darkness, he wanted to say some last things to his family. He told each of his boys how much he loved them. He explained to them "I was in a big accident. Don't be upset with God. He always provides for His children even in tough times. Please turn towards Him." He went on to urge his boys, "Choose the right path everyday. If you stumble, get right back on the path...Don't just live. Change the world."

To his wife, Christy, he wrote, "My greatest regrets are not spending more time discipling with God and not doing more to keep my love life more on fire with you." He told her how much he loved her and while their relationship may have cooled somewhat in the busyness of life and raising young children, he had never stopped loving her.

Dan Woolley went on to share with the radio listeners, "Life is complicated and gets blurry. Our priorities get so convoluted in our day to day lives." Dan rediscovered his priorities in this "extreme moment of clarity--my faith in Christ, loving my family, and serving others."

He admitted even with this near death experience, he still is human and still, like all of us, can struggle with keeping first things first. But he's fortunate in that "I've got a reset button. I reach down and touch the scar on my leg and it brings me back into those moments of clarity. None of us sets out to set aside our most important priorities. Life intervenes. It's important to have things in our lives that bring us back to those most important priorities."

I have been so convicted by his words. If I could have one more chance to say something to my family, what would I say? And what would be my greatest regret? Surely, like Dan Woolley, it would be not spending more time with, expending more effort in what matters most: the Lord, my family, and the people God has placed in my life for me to love and encourage and serve.

None of us has forever on this earth. What if this is my last posting on this blog? What if this is the last time you read something on the computer? What would you, what would I change? Then change it now! What priorities would you or I alter or rearrange? Alter them now! Who would we go to and tell them how much we love them, who would we encourage with words of affirmation or hope? Encourage them now! Hug that child. Write that note. Swallow that pride. Forgive that misunderstanding.

It's time to stop reading books about prayer and start praying. It's time to stop thinking about how I'd like to know God better or be more diligent in reading His Word and just start reading His love letter--today and every day. We may not have next week. We may not have tomorrow. But we have today. So Lord, I'm telling You now that You are glorious and wonderful and gracious and merciful and holy and I long to know and love You better. Help me, help us all, to stop making excuses and start living today in light of eternity. Help us live as if we too were trapped in the rubble, perched on the edge of eternity, and to say and do all that we would wish if we had the opportunity. Help us to heed the clarion call to remember what is truly important and to start living out those priorities today.

We all have a "reset button." It's called repentance. We may have failed as parents. We may have failed as spouses. We may have failed to put God first. In the words of Dan Woolley to his boys, we may have stumbled on the path, but it's never too late to "get back on the right path." Satan would saddle us with condemnation and paralyzing discouragement over our past mistakes or misplaced priorities.

But Christ makes all things new! His mercies are new every morning, and today is the day of salvation. He gives us fresh new days, fresh new years, fresh new starts to come to Him, confess and then begin anew in the power of the Holy Spirit. So come to Him today, right now, and hit that reset button, putting Him first, and then asking Him to enable us to daily keep our priorities in the right order.

I love Edmund Burke's statement that "No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little." I may not be able to write a profound blog entry...but I can simply write a little something of what God is putting on my heart. How often have I failed to write because I didn't have a big block of time or I didn't have something I thought was very interesting or helpful to share or I simply didn't "feel" like writing. Yet if God has called me to write, then I need to write despite my feelings, despite my time constraints, despite my limited abilities. So too with every important priority in our lives. We need to place them first and just start doing them whether we feel like it or not, whether we have only a little pocket of time, and whether we feel utterly inadequate to the task before us. Just do it. Do it today. Do it poorly, if necessary, and trust God to bless whatever You give and do to His glory. So Lord, thank You for the words of Dan Woolley. I pray You would use my words to encourage someone else to seek You and Your priorities today. To God alone be the glory!

He was pleased to come

"Pleased as man with man to dwell; Jesus our Emmanuel. Hark the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn King."

Well, the Christmas maelstrom seems to going strong, and I have allowed myself to be swept right along with it. Forgive me, Lord, for I know so clearly that is not how it is supposed to be! But in the midst of all the activity and the sudden moments of blind panic when I recognize how much I have to do, God gives these sweet, quiet moments of joy. It's as if the blinders of busyness are removed, and God reveals just a hint of the glorious, unbelievable reality of what He did at Christmas! It's one of those moments C.S. Lewis once described as being "surprised by joy."

That's what happened the other day as I was driving along rushing to get errands accomplished before school pickup. As I listened to the song, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," the words suddenly broke through, "pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel." The Lord Jesus didn't break into time and history with reluctance or resignation or regret. He came eagerly! He was "pleased" to dwell with us, His sinful, disobedient, distracted, rebellious children.

I just don't think any of us can begin to appreciate what a sacrifice this must have been for the utterly perfect, glorious, holy Creator and Sustainer of the universe. For absolute perfection to come live amidst squalor and ugliness far exceeds anything our imaginations can comprehend. Yet He came willingly and joyfully. And He came in the lowest and most humble of circumstances...and He was pleased to do so!

No wonder the angels were singing! So how can I do any less? During this season of the year, my mouth should be filled with praises and wonder at what the Almighty Sovereign of the universe did for you and for me at Christmas. "Let men and angels sing..." Let us sing not just with our voices but with our hearts. And with our attitudes. And with our actions. So to the One who came--and was pleased to come--be all the glory forever and ever!

Come, take, learn

"Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me. For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light." Mt. 11:28-30

I read these throughly familiar words today, and (I'm embarrassed to say) for the first time I really contemplated what it meant to take Jesus' yoke upon me. Boy, I've got the "weary and burdened" part down flat, as I'm sure many of us do! We are all so busy, so often overwhelmed with life's challenges, so exhausted and depleted. We already feel like we are living life with absolutely no margins, no extra space and then the unexpected hits: an illness, a wayward child, a strained relationship, and we simply feel like our rocking boat is about to capsize.

But Jesus calls us to "come," to "take," and to "learn." How thankful I am that He doesn't command us to "do!' He doesn't tell us to buck up, to do better, to try harder, to be better. He simply tells us to "come." As Matthew wrote these words, I wonder if he was reminded of Jesus' original call to him. Here was Matthew, a despised tax collector (considered by the Jews to be the worst of the worst), and when Jesus first sees him sitting in his tax booth, He tells Matthew "Follow Me." Again, not "Get your act together, Matthew, and then you can come join the rest of the disciples." Not, "Stop sinning," or "stop stealing money from your people," or "stop betraying your nation and become a man of integrity and then you can try to follow and obey Me." No, simply, "Follow Me."

Jesus knew that is all Matthew could do at that point. Jesus knew that it all begins with a relationship with Him. It all starts by following the Savior and then all the rest will follow. How often we get it all turned around--we think we have to figure it out or improve or shape up before we come to Jesus. But He tells us simply to "come" just as He told Matthew to "follow." You know, I may fail at obedience or prayer. I may forget to have an attitude of gratitude or of love and grace towards others. But, by golly, I can "come!"

When we are discouraged or disappointed or despairing, we can surely "come" to the Lord Jesus. And that is where it starts...and sometimes if that is all we can do, then that will be enough. He is more than able to fill in all our empty, desperate spaces.

But if we can take just tiny baby step more, He calls us to "take," and o, the blessings when we take His yoke upon us! Why do I want to try to drag along my ponderous burdens myself? Why wouldn't I want to exchange my weighty burdens for His yoke of blessing and rest?

As I pondered the meaning of His yoke, I thought of the yoke of an ox and the symbolism of submission. Warren Wiersbe writes that "To 'take a yoke' in that day meant to become a disciple." In other words, to take His yoke would be simply to surrender to Him, to follow Him in obedience. It's not a yoke of burden but a yoke of blessing and rest for as we daily surrender to Him, He gives us peace and joy and hope and forgiveness and all that we need to live this life. And His yoke is "easy" and "light." Does that describe the burdens I place upon myself or other people? I don't think so. My self-imposed burdens lead to condemnation and exhaustion and discouragement. His lead to rest and peace and joy.

But finally, He tells us to "learn" of Him. We first have to come to Him as our Savior. Then we have to choose to take His yoke by surrendering to Him and His plans and His ways. And then we daily learn of Him--a process in which we daily, yearly, come to know Him better and better through His Word. I learn how to cook by spending time reading recipes and cooking. I learn to play golf by listening to a teacher and then by practicing. I learn of Jesus by reading His instruction manuel, the Bible, and then by daily "practicing" obeying what He tells me. And in return, He gives me His peace, His rest, His joy, His forgiveness, His mercy, His grace, His love, His power. Wow! So simple. So profound. So burden-lifting to exchange my burdens for His yoke. To daily come, take, and learn.

Help me, help us, Lord Jesus, to take You at Your Word. When life is closing in and our burdens threaten to overwhelm us, help us to come and take and learn. When we feel discouraged or defeated, help us to come and take and learn. When life's circumstances are far beyond what we can handle or bear, help us to come and take and learn. And He will provide us rest--true, abundan- life, rest for our souls. To God be the glory!

The Urgent or the Important Pile

Wow, it has been a long time since I last wrote on here! This pretty much reflects my life--how often I can get sucked into lurching from one thing to another on my extensive to do list, and the next thing I know, I am focusing on the urgent rather than the important. The urgent screams out our name, and we feel we MUST get those letters out, that laundry folded, those phone calls made, those emails read and answered... It truly never ends. But the important waits quietly and unobtrusively in the wings of our frenetic lives. Spending time alone with God in His Word, reading to our child at night, sharing struggles or blessings with our family at dinner, eating a real dinner together (!), writing or calling to encourage a friend who is going through a tough time--these are the important things of life which renew us and transform our lives from a dull, practical gray to a rainbow of colors.

It is said that President Eisenhower had a firm rule about what papers were to be put on his desk. There were to be only 2 piles of paper--one was only the most urgent papers and the other only the most important papers. Ike later commented that only rarely were the piles the same. Urgency is the enemy of peace and perspective and gratitude. But when we daily choose to do that which is important, we find His joy bubbling up even in the midst of busyness or struggles.

So, nothing profound, but just a reminder that today, do that which God tells you is important and watch how He will order your day and enable you to do that which is urgent, but nonetheless secondary. As one proverb puts it: reverence for God adds hours to each day. Take time to express your gratitude today. Don't just think it (though you do need to start there--sometimes we forget to even think about what we are grateful for!); share it out loud with someone you love...beginning with God and then ending with someone who has a "skin face." Who knows how your word of encouragement might make all the difference to that person?

Try, just for today, to practice an "attitude of gratitude." When you feel yourself starting to complain--even if it's just abut the weather--turn it around and think of something to be grateful for instead. Yesterday morning early, I took our dog out for a walk. It had rained hard the night before, and as we walked up one dark street, the streetlight illuminated a carpet of newly fallen yellow leaves. It was a burst of joy as I thanked God for that lovely carpet of brilliantly colored leaves under our feet--a gift for which I had paid absolutely nothing but enjoyed far more than any shiny bauble purchased at a store. As I picked up my sons' clothes (again!), I smiled as I thanked the Lord for the privilege of raising those boys. As I once heard and remind myself of daily, "I am here to serve with joy." One cannot help but be filled with joy even in the most mundane and unrelenting of service when one chooses gratitude. And when we choose to put the important, the eternal, first in our lives, our perspective will be changed from one of grim determination to get it all done to joyful expectancy in how God will enable us to do all He's called us to do.

So, today, I choose to finally write in this blog and share how God is counseling my all too often preoccupied and therefore ungrateful heart to seek Him first. Do the important. Do it today. And watch Him put the song back in your heart. To Him be all the glory!

I recently heard David Jeremiah speak on one of my favorite passages, Hebrews 12. Those first 4 verses would have to rank as life verses for me. How I long to daily "fix my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..." But my focus today is on the 2nd part of that verse (2), on verse 3, and on verse 11. We're to fix our eyes on Jesus "who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, scorning it's shame, and sat down at the right hand of of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Verse 11 goes on to speak of discipline (who likes that? Nobody!): "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."

Now I love the first couple of verses of this wonderful chapter, but God has been teaching me a little different lesson from this passage, and it's all about endurance and faithfulness under pressure. Like so many, I struggle with patience. I don't like to wait. I don't like to suffer--and especially see my loved ones and friends suffer. "Lord, do something NOW! Change it NOW" is all too often my heart's cry. Like my dear friend, Ashlie, I have about a 5 degree window of comfort when it comes to the temperature: between about 68 and 73 degrees is about perfect. Otherwise we complain we are burning up or freezing to death. I don't get hungry; I am "starving." When my children display their sinful, selfish nature (which, of course, they got from their sinful, selfish mother), I tend to grow utterly discouraged and defeated and assume I am the worst mother on the face of the earth.

About 10 years ago, my mother died suddenly and unexpectedly, my sister-in-law discovered she had aggressive breast cancer, my beloved aunt, Janie, died, and my father was diagnosed with terminal melanoma--all within just a couple of months time. My dear Daddy, though shaken to the core, I'm sure, explained, "well, we're going through a rough patch." I always loved that, because it implied that while the present was tough going, the rough patch would one day end, and we would come out on the other side. I've got to think part of his resilient attitude came from serving as a gunnery officer on a destroyer for 4 years during World War II. Daddy won the bronze star for his service, but he never talked about it. After his death, we found his bronze star in his sock drawer. We realized he put it there so that every morning when he got out his socks, he would be reminded of all the fine young men who had so much potential for greatness in this world but who had given their lives so that we might be free. It was if he lived every single day for the rest of his life recognizing that he wanted to make a difference in this world for all those young men who never had the opportunity to do so. Seeing such sacrifice changes your perspective and gives you resilient strength.

But our ultimate example of endurance in the midst of unimaginable hardship is the Lord Jesus. As verse 3 commands, we need to daily "consider Him" and what He endured so that we will not lose heart. When someone mistreats us and we feel hurt, we need to consider Him and those who betrayed Him, spat upon Him, whipped Him, mocked Him. And He came to save them--the very ones who mistreated and rejected and hated Him! When we experience physical pain and discomfort, we need to consider Him hanging on that cross-naked, raw and bleeding, desperately thirsty, gasping for air, forsaken. When we feel as if our life is a failure, we need to consider Him. His disciples never seemed to "get it," one of them betrayed Him, another denied Him, and none stood by Him at His most desperate hour. And the people He came to save all misunderstood and rejected Him. When we feel exhausted and overwhelmed by all we have to do, we need to consider Him and the impossible task of saving the world, not to mention healing the hoards that flocked to Him, teaching and training His disciples, loving all those who came into contact with Him from the littlest children to the prostitute to the tax collector. Our challenges pale in comparison to what He faced and dealt with everyday--and He did it with love and grace and kindness and patience! O, if only we would have Him ever in the forefront of our thinking and consider Him with every decision we make, every word we speak, and every action we take.

But back to two phrases from these wonderful verses that I italicized earlier: "Who for the joy set before Him," "endured such opposition from sinful men so that you may not grow weary and lose heart," and "for the moment all discipline seems painful...but later on..." Aren't so many of us in that challenging inbetween place of waiting for that "later on" but right now stuck in the midst of "opposition" or "discipline" or "painful." If we can just hang in there past the discipline, past the opposition, past the "for the moment" and get to the joy or "the harvest of righteousness and peace" that comes "later on" or, as some translations express it, "afterwards."

Writing this blog entry has been a perfect example: I have been trying to get it written for 4 days, but every time I write a few sentences, life at our house seems to come unglued! I frankly have no idea what I've written so far or how incoherent it might be! Nothing major, but just the typical frustration of life and of not being able to get things done or finished. But can't life just sometimes be so hard? Waiting for that wayward child to return. Waiting for that medical report. Waiting for that relationship to improve. And while we wait, we experience pain or fear or loneliness or exasperation or exhaustion or persecution.

What reminder these verses are that God does His best work in the midst of those frustrating, lonely, painful, exhausting places that come before our "afterwards" for He uses those times in such powerful ways...and afterwards comes the joy! Jesus looked beyond the cross and saw us--we were His joy! He looked beyond the agony of the cross to see us, the many children He would bring to victory. Imagine the ridicule Noah endured as he built that ark for 120 years and preached repentance to the people who laughed at him and ignored him. But later on, he was able to save his family in the midst of the world wide flood. Or think of Joseph languishing in that prison in Egypt, betrayed by his brothers, left to rot in a dungeon in a foreign land. But later on, he rejoiced that he was able to save his family and his entire nation from starvation in the time of famine. The Bible is replete with examples of godly men and women who suffered and struggled and endured and waited for their "afterwards..."

David Jeremiah put it this way, "Everyday I have to face something I don't want to face or do something I don't want to do. So much of life is doing what you don't want to do because you know God has called you to do it, and somehow you have to get past the discomfort and pain of where you are right now and look into the future and do it by faith because beyond the pain of today there is the joy of the future." He went on to explain that endurance involves doing a lot of things I don't feel like doing." Isn't that the truth?! Endurance, to me, means doing the hard thing even when I don't feel like it; and then doing it again and again and again, even when I'm weary and overwhelmed and discouraged because I know that someday, somehow there will be that joy, that harvest of righteousness and peace.

Some days that just seems downright impossible. But I think heaven stands on tiptoe to watch and applaud when it sees that weary, discouraged but faithful man or woman of God who, though in the midst of the battle, keeps going, keeps enduring, keeps trusting. A story and poem Dr. Jeremiah shared sums this all up. A wonderful old chaplain who had been faithfully serving God for many years found himself in a place of deep discouragement. His life's work seemed to have come to naught, and he felt lonely and ineffective and depressed to the point that he was considering quitting. A friend came to visit him one day to try to encourage him, and the friend left Ray with a little box that had some poems that he had collected. Ray stuck the box on the shelf and forgot all about them.

A few weeks later, he pulled the box off the shelf and half heartedly looked them over. And God used one of those poems to minister to him in a powerful way. Here are the words to that poem:

I want to let go, but I won't let go

There are battles to fight, by day and by night

For God in the right, I'll never let go.

I want to let go, but I won't let go.

I'm sick, tis' true, and wearied through and through

But I won't let go.

I want to let go, but I won't let go

I will never yield--

What lie down in the field and surrender my shield?

No! I'll never let go!

I want to let go, but I won't let go

May this be my song, through legions of wrong--

"O God keep me strong that I may never let go!"

Amen! I don't know if anyone is reading this, but if you are, don't let go!! It's always too soon to let go! It's always too soon to quit, no matter how tough the battle or how hard the long day might seem! Our Almighty Savior, the Lord Jesus has been there before. There is no place we can go that He has not been, and He will lead us through these difficult days to the joy on the other side. He has already seen our "later on" and it is glorious! So, "may this be our song, through legions of wrong, O God keep us strong that we might never let go!" To the One who has been there and has already secured the victory for all of us be all the glory! Amen

But if not...

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." Rom. 12:12

What a verse! So few words, yet so much wisdom and power! And, O, how short I fall in fulfilling Paul's command, but by the grace of God, might we all live out these 10 words. It can sometimes take so little, just some inconvenience or unmet expectation or disappointment, and we suddenly lose our joy, respond with irritation, become preoccupied with anxiety, be overcome by discouragement, or fall back into a bad habit we thought we had renounced. In nearly every instance where this happens to me, I can trace it back to a period of rushing about with my busy schedule and failing to really spend time alone with the Lord, allowing Him to transform and renew my mind. It's incredible how quickly we can lose our perspective when our focus is upon ourselves and our activities rather than the Lord and His agenda for our day.

I could spend months meditating upon this verse (and I plan to--since I need to so badly!), but just a quick thought or two. How do we remain "patient in affliction" when we often stumble at even minor annoyances or struggles? We have to be "joyful in hope" and "faithful in prayer!" If my hope is in my accomplishments, my children's successes, my appearance, my pleasures, my good works...if it is in anything that begins with "my" then I am in trouble because none of those things will ever provide lasting joy. Our hope, our joy is in Christ and His faithfulness, His sufficiency, His goodness, His grace, His love, His infinite provision for any and everything that we'll ever face. When I recognize that I am a great sinner but the Lord Jesus is an infinitely greater Savior then my hope is in the right place--and it is a place of abundant joy!

And faithful in prayer--well, how much time do we spend worrying or plotting rather than praying? The power comes from prayer--not from trying harder or working longer. Not from sleepless nights or frenzied days. No, power comes from faithful prayer. Many years ago on a cold winter morning, a group of college students decided they wanted to hear the great Charles Spurgeon preach at his church, The London Tabernacle. As they entered the church, an older man approached them and asked if they wanted to see the heating plant. Though this did not interest them in the least, they did not want to offend the man and so followed him down the stairs to the basement of the church. Their guide opened the door and inside the students saw 700 people on their knees praying for the service that would be occurring on the floor above them. The older man quietly shut the door and whispered, "This is our heating plant." That guide introduced himself and told them, "This is the secret of the ministry of the Tabernacle." The man's name was Charles Hayden Spurgeon. No one in that service knew of those praying in the basement below them, but what power resulted from that faithful prayer! No one else may ever know of our faithful prayer, but God knows and responds, and we will deeply feel the supernatural difference.

I have several friends that I see living out the truth of this verse. They are facing hard, at times heart breaking, challenges in their lives, yet I see them joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. What a powerful witness they are to a world so often devoid of hope, joy, and patience! In their own quiet way, they are loudly, yet without words, proclaiming the truth of the Gospel. How I thank the Lord for their testimony--though if you asked them, they probably have no inking of their impact upon me and, I'm sure, many others. Their courage and faith in the midst of affliction encourages and inspires others as they face their own battles.

I couldn't help but think of one of the most desperate times in World War II. Hitler's mighty war machine had stormed across France, leaving destruction and defeat and despair in it's wake. Thousands of British and French troops were dug in along the coast of northern France in a last ditch effort to hold off the German forces. But now, trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk and facing imminent obliteration by the Nazis, the trapped British soldiers broadcast a brief 3 word message across the channel: "But if not."

This was not some kind of code. Rather, they were broadcasting a Biblical reference to Daniel 3:16-18. I bet you remember the story: King Nebuchadnezzar had ordered everyone in his kingdom to bow down to the golden statue or be thrown into the fiery furnace. Everyone bowed down, except 3 young Jewish exiles: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. In one of the most stirring passages in Scripture, they tell the most powerful man in the world at the time (as they faced imminent incineration) that "our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." Dan. 3:17-18

Now that is faith! That is joyful hope in the invisible God even in the midst of the very visible choking smoke and flames. If God delivered them, they would trust Him, obey Him and worship Him. "But if not" their response would be the same--trust, obedience, and worship of the One True God. Their hope was founded not upon the changing circumstances but upon the Changeless Sovereign Lord.

Likewise, those British soldiers sent a message of courage to their beleaguered nation that even if they were not rescued from the hands of the Nazi enemy, they would continue to trust God and remain loyal and courageous to the bitter end. They would never bow down to the Nazis. (and if you are not familiar with the story of the miraculous deliverance of the Allied troops from Dunkirk--well, it's worth looking up!! Incredible! Their seemingly impossible evacuation and salvation from certain annihilation literally saved the nation of Great Britain from defeat by the Nazis )

"But if not"--even if my child never recovers or my loved one dies. Even if I lose my job and my home. Even if that addiction is not overcome or that relationship is not reconciled. Even if the worst happens, God is still faithful and worthy of my trust, my obedience, and my worship. No matter what "but if not" you are facing, choose today to be "joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer" and watch what the Almighty will do. And know that you are wordlessly testifying to a watching world of the greatness and power of your God. To Him be the glory.