We have been to the church twice this Easter weekend. Those who know us well, understand that it is a piece of information worth sharing. :)
On Good Friday there was an evening with drama and music presenting the passion of Christ. The story ended with the Lord hanging on the cross, leaving everyone waiting for the glorious morning of the resurrection. It was a nice way of telling the story. The Christian in me enjoyed every moment and was especially moved by seeing people in the audience being touched. The theater critic in me thought of about a hundred minor things that could be done to improve the play a bit and I began thinking, maybe I'd like to be part of the directing crew next year. However, all in all, it was a fine evening and I was glad we went.
On the Sunday morning we went to the church again. Fine service, I must say. The choir sung well (my husband suffered a little because of the out-of-tune-grand-piano, but my not-so-musical-ear did not even notice), the pastor delivered a good message from his heart and after the service we had some lovely chats with lovely people.
One thought lingered with me from the sermon. Actually, it was not anything that was said, quite the opposite. It was a truth that was NOT said. The pastor mentioned the doubting Thomas who did not believe the testimony of the other disciples about the risen Lord. We all remember Thomas saying, "if I do not touch the wounds in his hands and feet and his side, I will not believe." The pastor went on to tell how Jesus appeared to Thomas and he was allowed to touch those wounds and when touching he believed and so on.
Well , I thought, ALMOST but NOT QUITE so! Thomas COULD have touched the wounds, but nowhere does it say he did. He responded to Jesus' appearing with a statement of faith, "My Lord." And Jesus says to him, "Because you SAW, you believe." We do not do justice to Thomas when we call him "the doubting one". None of the other disciples believed either before they saw!
To me this is important and speaks of the fact that we are SO WRONG about what we need to believe. We might set down stipulations for the Lord to fulfill saying, THEN we'd trust and believe. Yet, we have no idea what is really needed to trigger faith in us. Thomas wanted to believe, but couldn't. And Jesus did whatever was needed to help him. But it was not what Thomas had thought.
This ties into another thought, about how little we know about ourselves; namely, the amount of suffering we can bear. We are told in the Bible that we will not be tried to the extent that we cannot handle it anymore. How many times have I found myself saying, "I cannot take it anymore" or "If THAT happens, I will not survive"? And just about as many times I have been wrong. Things happened, the greatest fear was realized - and here I am, still alive, still His child.
In the end, it all boils down to a few things. First, the Lord is willing to do whatever is REALLY needed to make us able to believe. Second, no matter what happens, we will not believe if it is not in our heart already that we are WILLING to trust Jesus. Third, the Lord knows better than we do what we need and what we can handle. So, why not trust the Good Lord?
Monday, April 5, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
About accepting love
Let me share some things that happened last week. I have been blessed beyond measure as God has showed me again that He is interested in our lives to the smallest detail.
In the beginning of the week I shared with my husband my fear that I might get so caught up with all the daily routine that I will drop the card-making (and other crafts) I so greatly enjoy. I have been so happy lately that I have had time to do some things with my hands and I was afraid that I'd loose that again. I was hoping to be able to get some craft tools and stamps to keep up the desire to make something - but realized soon that there is no way I could buy anything at present time.
It was Wednesday evening, I think, that I got an amazing e-mail. I have promised not to share details, but I hope the person does not mind me telling this much... Someone I do not know at all had gotten it to their heart that they wanted to send me some paper crafting material if I was willing to receive it. Sure I was willing! I was stunned. God had given it to a someone's heart to send me things and they wanted nothing in return. Two packages arrived last Monday and they were filled with the exact thing I had been hoping to have... Amazing. God cares about my desire to do paper crafts! I just pray this person will get manyfold blessings from our Heavenly Father in return.
As if that alone had not been enough, something more took place. I thought this kind of things happen only in movies. :) On Thursday evening I got a phone call from a friend who asked if we, my husband and I, were willing to leave on a weekend trip next morning, all expences covered. They told me they had organized someone to take care of our animals and we would not be told where we were bound before we got there. I asked who was coming to take care of the animals and heard it was my father-in-law. After that we were glad to say, "Sure, we'll go!" We were to pack clothes for being outside, staying inside, for shopping or such, and later at nigt got an SMS saying we should pack our bathing suits as well.
Next morning we were picked up by two friends and the journey began. It was some exciting hours for us -and we ended up in Turku where we were taken to the Holiday Club spa Caribia. Just before we got there, we received an envelope and inside there was a fairly large sum of money. "Stunned" does no justice to the feeling we had. :) We had a room in the hotel reserved for us and our friends told they'd pick us up on Sunday at noon.
We had a great weekend of realaxing. We spent money on pampering ourselves, had some great meals, swam hours in the multiple pools etc. We loved every moment and felt more than blessed. We could not believe that this kind of thing was happening to us!
This goes beyond understanding just as it is. Even more so it was because in less than two weeks ago, Roope and I had been talking that we would LOVE to be able to go and spend even one night in a spa like that. But counted that in present time there is no way we could afford it. Later we heard another thing that proved again how God takes care of the details. My father-in-law had not accepted an invitation to visit a church he every now and then ministers to... and did not know why he denied it. He understood later - he was not going there because his ministry this weekend was for us. Makes one feel humble...
One would think this is more than plenty of blessing for one person/couple. But when God pampers, He does mighty good job in doing so. We got home on Sunday evening. My friend gave me a bunch of flowers and said, "Sorry and thank you." SORRY??? SORRY FOR WHAT?? For giving us so much? She didn't tell, just smiled...
When we opened the door, we realized that someone has been doing a whole lot of cleaning in our house. Had my mother-in-law been there as well? Had my father-in-law been cleaning all weekend? We could not figure it out, so we made a phone call. We were told to take a look into our fridge and freezer and storage cupboards - all were packed with all kinds of food! Some ladies from the church had been in the house on Friday and they had been cleaning and bringing all that stuff.
We spent that night feeling blessed. And I understood the "sorry" as well... because it WAS humiliating thinking that someone had been in the house and seen it as it was... And it was humiliating thinking that people had seen our need of help... Humiliating to think how much people had given for us and we could not give nothing in return.
Accepting help is not the easiest task to learn!
We spoke about it a lot. About how difficult it is when we do not know who all have been part of making this weekend this special. There is a deeply rooted need in a human being that we'd like to survive on our own or at least to "pay back". Just accepting grace is the hardest part. It is so in relation to the salvation that comes from God by grace through Jesus. It is so in relation to accepting help and support from people. It is so when we just receive blessings that are more than "reasonable".
It would be so nice (to our human pride) to have the blessings in a way that we did not have to depend on anyone. :D But that is not how the body of Christ works... We ask for help from God - and our need is exposed to His people.
In the end, we just have to allow God to love us and use people to do so.
...and even if we cannot pay back to the same people who gave US the blessing, there is no rule that tells we couldn't make the blessing go round to some other direction!
In the beginning of the week I shared with my husband my fear that I might get so caught up with all the daily routine that I will drop the card-making (and other crafts) I so greatly enjoy. I have been so happy lately that I have had time to do some things with my hands and I was afraid that I'd loose that again. I was hoping to be able to get some craft tools and stamps to keep up the desire to make something - but realized soon that there is no way I could buy anything at present time.
It was Wednesday evening, I think, that I got an amazing e-mail. I have promised not to share details, but I hope the person does not mind me telling this much... Someone I do not know at all had gotten it to their heart that they wanted to send me some paper crafting material if I was willing to receive it. Sure I was willing! I was stunned. God had given it to a someone's heart to send me things and they wanted nothing in return. Two packages arrived last Monday and they were filled with the exact thing I had been hoping to have... Amazing. God cares about my desire to do paper crafts! I just pray this person will get manyfold blessings from our Heavenly Father in return.
As if that alone had not been enough, something more took place. I thought this kind of things happen only in movies. :) On Thursday evening I got a phone call from a friend who asked if we, my husband and I, were willing to leave on a weekend trip next morning, all expences covered. They told me they had organized someone to take care of our animals and we would not be told where we were bound before we got there. I asked who was coming to take care of the animals and heard it was my father-in-law. After that we were glad to say, "Sure, we'll go!" We were to pack clothes for being outside, staying inside, for shopping or such, and later at nigt got an SMS saying we should pack our bathing suits as well.
Next morning we were picked up by two friends and the journey began. It was some exciting hours for us -and we ended up in Turku where we were taken to the Holiday Club spa Caribia. Just before we got there, we received an envelope and inside there was a fairly large sum of money. "Stunned" does no justice to the feeling we had. :) We had a room in the hotel reserved for us and our friends told they'd pick us up on Sunday at noon.
We had a great weekend of realaxing. We spent money on pampering ourselves, had some great meals, swam hours in the multiple pools etc. We loved every moment and felt more than blessed. We could not believe that this kind of thing was happening to us!
This goes beyond understanding just as it is. Even more so it was because in less than two weeks ago, Roope and I had been talking that we would LOVE to be able to go and spend even one night in a spa like that. But counted that in present time there is no way we could afford it. Later we heard another thing that proved again how God takes care of the details. My father-in-law had not accepted an invitation to visit a church he every now and then ministers to... and did not know why he denied it. He understood later - he was not going there because his ministry this weekend was for us. Makes one feel humble...
One would think this is more than plenty of blessing for one person/couple. But when God pampers, He does mighty good job in doing so. We got home on Sunday evening. My friend gave me a bunch of flowers and said, "Sorry and thank you." SORRY??? SORRY FOR WHAT?? For giving us so much? She didn't tell, just smiled...
When we opened the door, we realized that someone has been doing a whole lot of cleaning in our house. Had my mother-in-law been there as well? Had my father-in-law been cleaning all weekend? We could not figure it out, so we made a phone call. We were told to take a look into our fridge and freezer and storage cupboards - all were packed with all kinds of food! Some ladies from the church had been in the house on Friday and they had been cleaning and bringing all that stuff.
We spent that night feeling blessed. And I understood the "sorry" as well... because it WAS humiliating thinking that someone had been in the house and seen it as it was... And it was humiliating thinking that people had seen our need of help... Humiliating to think how much people had given for us and we could not give nothing in return.
Accepting help is not the easiest task to learn!
We spoke about it a lot. About how difficult it is when we do not know who all have been part of making this weekend this special. There is a deeply rooted need in a human being that we'd like to survive on our own or at least to "pay back". Just accepting grace is the hardest part. It is so in relation to the salvation that comes from God by grace through Jesus. It is so in relation to accepting help and support from people. It is so when we just receive blessings that are more than "reasonable".
It would be so nice (to our human pride) to have the blessings in a way that we did not have to depend on anyone. :D But that is not how the body of Christ works... We ask for help from God - and our need is exposed to His people.
In the end, we just have to allow God to love us and use people to do so.
...and even if we cannot pay back to the same people who gave US the blessing, there is no rule that tells we couldn't make the blessing go round to some other direction!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
My first attempt on Easel Card
The other day I went through some boxes that have been storaged for some years. I found a card with a poem that I thought I'd like to scrap or something. It became that "or something." I found a Magnolia challenge and there people were asked to make an easel card. I had never made one, but decided to pick up the challenge.
About the poem, I did not remember ever even hearing the whole thing. I had gotten a small book mark from a friend (and I bet he does not remember giving it any more than I remembered having it!) back in 1995! If you cannot read it on the card, this is how it goes:
God made the world with its towering trees,
majestic mountains and restless seas,
then paused and said, "It needs
one more thing -
someone to laugh and dance and sing,
to walk in the woods and gather flowers,
to commune with nature in quiet hours."
So God made little girls
with lauhging eyes and bouncing curls,
with joyful hearts and infectious smiles,
enchanting ways and feminine wiles,
and when He'd completed the task He'd begun,
He was pleased and proud of the job He'd done.
For the wold when seen through a little girl's eyes,
greatly resembles Paradise.
-author unknown-
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