An Act of Worship

This post is from a dear friend, Natalya. Many of you will remember her from her time working with me on Strength & Song. She is expecting her third little boy very soon, and she has humbly sought the Lord’s guidance on how she views pregnancy. I hope you are as blessed as I was reading her words!

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So often, it is easy to view worship as something we reserve for singing of songs or prayer. But worship is an attitude of the heart – “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me…” Matthew 15:8-9a. I could be singing my heart out, eyes closed and arms raised, and my heart could very well be far from Him.

A few months ago, as I began planning the arrival of our third baby, I desired to view the entire birth as an act of worship to the Lord. So often we view birth as a scary, painful, and unpleasant thing to get over with so we can have our baby safe in our arms. I don’t want to have that mindset this time around – I want to intentionally lean in to the Lord and experience the miracle of birth as a form of worship to the Sustainer and Author of life. Preparing for the birth has changed from simply making sure I have all the supplies I need and arrangements made to praying about how I can incorporate scripture and praise into the time of labor, how can I and those in the room supporting me have a mindset of worshipful peace and awe of the Lord.

Praying through this has led to conviction. I have had a doozy of a pregnancy. From the very beginning, I have suffered from numerous complications that have crippled me physically, mentally, and emotionally. When I became pregnant, I was at the healthiest physical state I have ever been, and going from that to feeling broken and empty and so very helpless despite my best efforts has been demoralizing and humbling. I realized through the Holy Spirit that I have been viewing the birth as something to worshipfully surrender to the Lord, but the pregnancy itself as something to get through and bemoan and even detest. Is that a heart of worship? God is sovereign. He could have given me a blissful, enjoyable maternity experience. I would have praised His name. He chose not to. Does that mean He is less worthy of my praise? Indeed not.

My prayer is that I will take this conviction, repent of my lack of worship in the midst of suffering, and move forward in this pregnancy with a heart of worship and awe at the goodness of God, despite the trials of life. My body may be failing me in so many ways, but God will never fail me! His strength is enough.

My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart;
He is mine forever.
Psalm 73:26

Ask the Lord to search your heart and bring to light areas that you are withholding from Him. What in your life are you failing to offer to the Lord in worship? Is it your marriage? Your relationships? Parenting? Your career? It is simple to change that mindset. I pause and humble my heart before Him and pray, “Lord, how can I bring you glory in this situation/season/circumstance? Show me how to have a heart of worship even though this is something I don’t want to have in my life right now. Please turn it into something that can be used for Your glory and to further Your kingdom. You are worthy.”

For a biblical understanding of what worship is, I recommend reading this article from John Piper.

The inner essence of worship is to know God truly and then respond from the heart to that knowledge by valuing God, treasuring God, prizing God, enjoying God, being satisfied with God above all earthly things. And then that deep, restful, joyful satisfaction in God overflows in demonstrable acts of praise from the lips and demonstrable acts of love in serving others for the sake of Christ.
John Piper

Let The People Praise Him

Psalm 67

God be merciful to us and bless us,
And cause His face to shine upon us,
That Your way may be known on earth,
Your salvation among all nations.

Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!
For You shall judge the people righteously,
And govern the nations on earth.

Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
Then the earth shall yield her increase;
God, our own God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us,
And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

Mornings bring a peaceful beauty, untouched by the day. I let the dog out and stand on the back steps admiring the dew on the grass, the fog in the air, the birds chirping from the trees. Have you ever noticed how joyful they are when they wake up?

Sometimes I make it out to the garden in the calm, but more often the day has already started and my two sidekicks run along the fence with me.

I can’t get over the beauty. How do melons and squash plants know to send their little tendrils out, curling around anything they feel? Their spirals captivate me.

In years past, I tried to maintain tomato plants within the wire cages - this year, I have some in cages and one gorgeously unruly tomato plant sprawling across its bed. I look at it and laugh, and I am learning that plants are designed to grow. They know what to do, I’m just the assistant.

What a gift it is, that the earth would yield her increase. We harvest cucumbers and thank God between bites for each one, a means of provision for our family.

Let all the people praise You, O God; let men and women and children see Your handiwork and give You glory. You are a good God, and a wonderful Creator!

Let Me Tell You a Story - Part 5

As I said in the beginning of this series, I have no nice little bow to tie this up with. I wish I did - I wish I had answers, for my sake and that of my family. It would be so nice to know what to expect, what to plan on. It would be nice too for a reader, like you, to see how God carried things to completion in a well-written ending.

But the truth is, He isn’t done writing the story.

The last year+ has felt like a stripping of many things. Freedoms, in the world outside our door; plans, as Josh and I have made plans and watched them be thwarted time after time; foods, we make significant changes and rework our diet. I get exhausted mentally from adjusting and readjusting, researching, planning, budgeting, fighting fear. I get exhausted physically from fighting this disease and keeping up with littles.

There are so many questions; you may have wondered them too. How will we care for more children, with me being sick? What if I’m not healed of Lyme? How will we raise and earn enough money to adopt? When will we adopt? What if we face another medical emergency? When will we be able to have a larger home? What if He doesn’t give us the many children we have hoped and prayed for?

If we were talking in my living room, I’d open my Bible for you and tell you two things:

1) I don’t know!
2) But: “…we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

God has seen fit to allow our family these hardships. They could have been a lot worse. I don’t know what tomorrow holds, if it will be easier or if it will be harder. But I do know that my husband and I love the Lord with all of our hearts, and He is working all things in our lives for good. He determines what is “good” - not me. (Hallelujah, because I’d make a terrible god!) I can trust Him with all of these things, and with whatever is to come.

Would I have asked Him for all of these hardships? I can’t say that I would. Yet at the same time, I wouldn’t change it because He has grown my faith immensely through the struggles. Walking through challenge after challenge is very sanctifying if we allow it to be. If we press into Scripture amidst trials, He will shape us to be more like Himself. There are lessons from the last year that I wish I’d learned sooner, and others that I wish I knew better. But I am thankful for the growth He has given me.

We are still walking forward with adoption, and He will show us how it all will look. We know He has called us to it. We’re taking days one at a time, doing what we can, and working to leave our worries at the door. He can handle them.

We are doing the same with Lyme, treating it as best we can and praying that He heals me. He has sustained me thus far, and He is capable of continuing to do so.

These posts may have made it seem like our family’s life is one big rollercoaster ride, and it kind of is. But it’s also very full of the mundane. Josh goes to work, I homeschool the kids and get meals on the table, we play in the yard and go for walks. We read Scripture and sing and wash dishes and play a million games of Connect4. There are fights and squabbles, and daily discipleship as we teach our children (and remind ourselves) how to become Godly adults. There’s joy, forgiveness, peace and contentment. He is a giver of good gifts.

So we wait, and we learn to trust better. We know that someday, in Heaven, life’s pieces will all make sense. It’s that analogy of a beautiful tapestry - He sees the front, the glorious picture; we see jumbled, messy threads in the back. For now, we rest in the fact that He knows what He’s doing and He cares for us.

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
1 Peter 5:6-11, emphasis mine

I pray that through this series of posts, you are able to see this reality I mentioned at the start:

Pain is not bad, and God is always trustworthy.

He never leaves us in the pain, He uses it for our good. He knows and He knows what is best.

And though this completes this particular group of blog posts, it is all to be continued…because God is not done. :)

Thank you for reading along. May He receive glory!

Read all the segments:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

The Rescuer of Souls || Friday Magnify

 “Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
And let us exalt His name together.”
Psalm 34:3

We drove over this bridge recently and I hurried to take photos to send to a friend. She moved away from most winter things - naturally I have to tease with a [blurry] photo of the snow she doesn’t get to see anymore. Looking the scene again later, I marveled. The current in this river is very strong, but you wouldn’t necessarily know it by looking at the surface. Some areas show the push and pull, but much of it remains placid and untouched.

Reading in Acts 2 this morning, God reminded me of how He works. Peter gave a sermon to a large group of people, many of whom were mocking and skeptical about Peter’s loyalty to Christ. They weren’t sure what to make of recent events (Jesus being crucified). It was a strange time. But here was Peter, having just received the Holy Spirit as Jesus promised, and he was preaching to the crowd. The whole crowd understood what he was saying, each in his own language. How could this be? What power was at work in him?

In his sermon, Peter walked the crowd through Scripture that most, if not all, would’ve been familiar with. He showed them how Jesus was the fulfillment of the law, and the only Way to be saved.

“And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (vs.21).

The Jesus whom they had crucified is the One that God made King and Savior.

“When they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (vs. 37)

Can you imagine the angst once they realized the truth? their own sin against the holy God?

“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’ And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation’” (vs. 38-40).

We learn after these verses that about three thousand souls were saved that day. They saw their depravity and need for a Savior. Wow!

Christianity is the one religion that cannot be stopped. Why? Because it is the only truth. Worship of and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ - that will go on for eternity. God tells us in His Word that one day, all peoples and nations will bow before Him. And one day, sin will be gone for good and we will be left with perfection, worshiping our King.

Just like the river, under the bridge - God is always moving and always working in mighty ways. We may not see it; we may not know what He is up to, and how on Earth He is going to redeem humanity. It looks bleak, and it looks like we are losing the fight. But He is strong, powerful, independent. He does as He wants, and it is good. He is bringing people to Himself even now.

Take heart, friends. We serve the one true God who alone can save, who alone can rescue souls - and He is! Praise Him!