My Everything

One of my New Years Resolutions was to read the Bible cover to cover this year. I'm half way through Leviticus, and so far it's pretty tough going!! But goodness. My life has been one lesson after another to learn. That said, it has been a joyful time of learning. I am excited to get to December and see how much I have learned and grown in 2008. Because even just getting to the end of January and looking back on the past month, things have changed. My focus has shifted and is closer to where it should be.

A woman in my home group came up to me yesterday and told me I had a confident sparkle about me these days. I'm excited that God in me is showing on the outside.

Last weekend was the Index Weekend Away. Daniel, one of Carrubbers' missionaries in PNG came to speak to us. His message was so challenging and so encouraging. He spoke on "Only one life; What will you do with yours?" Wow...

Pictures from the weekend include Lizzie, Clair and I on our lovely albeit wet walk, ceilidh dancing, Laura enjoying smores, Wee Anna and Wee Elijah enjoying fellowship, people jumping in the nearby loch (yes, this was Scotland in January) and Dave and Derek enjoying some manly activities, ie, sleeping.









This past week I've been reading a book with an amazing message (if you can get past the American cheese) and challenge to be a set-apart woman. There are a few in each generation who are truly set apart. A whole lot of the book challenged me and has made me think and change, particularly how I use my time, and what goes through my mind, where my true focus is etc. It was like a confirmation of last weekend's message, but it went even further into the subject.

One story described in this book particularly had an impact on me. I've heard Corrie Ten Boom's testimony. But I'd never heard her sister's, Betsy. She was amazing. There were 1400 women slept in a room big enough only for 400. The bedding hay was soiled and rancid. Eight putrid, overflowing toilets served the entire room. The prisoners of Ravensbruck were exhausted and malnourished, and then there were the fleas. They bit incessantly. Betsy prayed for God to show her how to survive in such a place. And then suddenly the answer came. That morning, her and Corrie had read from a tiny New Testament they managed to sneak in to the place; "Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) Betsy started to thank God for everything she could think of. She thanked God that her and Corrie were together. That there was no inspection, so they were able to bring the small New Testament into their prison. She thanked God for the overcrowded room, because they were able to share God with that many more women. And she even thanked God for the fleas. Over the following few weeks, a growing crowd of women gathered each day to read the Bible, first in German, then in French, Polish, Russian, Czech and Dutch. They whispered prayers and sang hymns softly. Soon the atmosphere in the room changed. The shrieks, slaps, curses and sobs turned into pleasant, considerate words and the sound of gentle singing. No matter what happened Betsy kept worshiping her Lord. "Though her body was chilled with fever, her chest heaved with racking coughs, and her limbs shook with weakness, she maintained a joyful, radiant spirit. One day, a furious guard slashed her across the chest with a sharp leather belt for not working fast enough. When Corrie saw what had happened, she grabbed her shovel ad rushed at the guard. But Betsy stepped in front of her before anyone saw her outraged action." She told Corrie to keep on working and not took at her bloody chest, rather, to keep looking at Jesus only. "Look at Jesus only" was the theme of Betsy's entire existence. Oh, and it turns out, those fleas were the reason the women's worship gatherings were never found out - the guards all refused to enter the putrid, flea infested room.
I want my life to look like that. Always focus on Jesus, always point others to Him.

"God in my living, There in my breathing, God in my waking, God in my sleeping. God in my resting, There in my working, God in my thinking, God in my speaking.
Be my everything, be my everything, be my everything, be my everything.
God in my hoping, There in my dreaming, God in my watching, God in my waiting. God in my laughing, There in my weeping, God in my hurting, God in my healing.
Christ in me, Christ in me, Christ in me the hope of glory, You are everything." Tim Hughes


Ecclesiastes says
There's an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:

A right time for birth and another for death,
A right time to plant and another to reap,
A right time to kill and another to heal,
A right time to destroy and another to construct,
A right time to cry and another to laugh,
A right time to lament and another to cheer,
A right time to make love and another to abstain,
A right time to embrace and another to part,
A right time to search and another to count your losses,
A right time to hold on and another to let go,
A right time to rip out and another to mend,
A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
A right time to love and another to hate,
A right time to wage war and another to make peace.

One I need to keep in mind is that there's a time to shut up...