I'm a little snowflake

© 2018 Christy K Robinson

Credit: Peter Schreiber

I admit it, I'm a snowflake. Not in most things, not in politics. In fact, I can be fierce about politics! But in matters of the heart, I'm fragile and can melt under a December sun.

On my way home from a medical appointment, I heard a song on the Christian radio station I listen to on a regular basis. The lyricist was asking God to radically and suddenly change him, to be a different man, submitted to any command of God. The lyrics almost sounded militant to me.

What a contrast to my prayers, which God has answered every time. Many years ago, I asked the Lord for wisdom to understand when he was teaching me or writing on my heart and mind (as the New Covenant says in Hebrews 8:10-13). I asked that God would be gentle with me, and he has honored that. Sometimes he even uses humor.

For instance, I'm self-employed since the Great Depression of 2007-2011, to current times. (No, I intended to write Depression and not Recession.) After I lost my job at age 50, there was no employer who would take me, so I was forced to freelance and be an entrepreneur. There are no safety nets or family members to help me if I can't earn enough to pay my air conditioning bill over the Phoenix summer. But with juggling, being a total miser, and taking any job God sends my way, I've survived. Somehow, God stretches the money, or tells some lovely person to send me a check in the mail. It is truly miraculous. Part of my gratitude for those gifts is that I didn't ask or hint, and God moved that person, and the giver gets the joy of having been used by God.

Recently, I went in for a routine medical test, and the radiologist pinpointed two irregularities that required a needle biopsy to determine if they were malignant or benign. Two holes, two long needles with harpoons inside them, to tear out a piece of flesh. And the needle has to be inserted four times at each site: three for samples and one to place a titanium marker. Sheesh!! I usually drive myself to everything, because I hate to take a chunk out of someone else's day. But God moved a friend to go with me for support and encouragement. And I got the report about 28 hours later: benign. That meant I could go ahead with another very large project, near to my heart, that I've been planning and working for, for a long time.

If you're afraid that God will do a crisis on you if you submit to his will, remember that he is a Father who loves us more than any earthly father. He loves us with an everlasting love. And I will tell you from experience, if you ask him to be gentle and take it slow, or melt your snowflake an atom at a time, he will!

So go ahead and ask. He wants you to ask. Tell him you've had a hard run on your own, and now you need gentle treatment. He knows. Even when Jesus was dying on the cross and cried, "My God, why have you forsaken me?" God did not leave the Son alone. Jesus' mother and the loving disciple John were still there, at the foot of the cross.

He'll be just as careful with you and your needs.

**********  

Christy K Robinson is author of these sites:

·       Discovering Love (inspiration)

·       Rooting for Ancestors (history and genealogy)

·       William and Mary Barrett Dyer (17th century culture and history of England and New England)

and of these books:

·       We Shall Be Changed (2010)

·       Mary Dyer Illuminated (2013)

·       Mary Dyer: For Such a Time as This (2014)

·       The Dyers of London, Boston, & Newport (2014)

·       Effigy Hunter (2015)

·       Anne Marbury Hutchinson: American Founding Mother (2018)

Refuge in the storm

The world has changed since the onset of the Great Recession of 2007-to-Infinity. Yes, I know the government economists say the recession was over in the summer of 2009. But that’s their narrowly-defined set of rules to classify slumps, bubbles, recessions, Black Fridays, and crises. They declare that unemployment stands at 9.2 percent, but that figure only includes those covered by miniscule unemployment compensation payments, not the millions of men and women who termed out, never qualified, are military veterans, are returning to the workforce, or have recently graduated from university or high school.

The real unemployment rate is between 18 and 27 percent. That means you and/or one of your family members and many of your friends are unemployed—and scared. People over 45 years of age have been unemployed longer, and make up the greater part of the pool of potential labor.

This means that people have lost their homes and vehicles, have moved in with relatives, and disposed of beloved pets because they can’t keep them any longer. It means that they’ve given or sold their heirlooms and heritage. They’ve moved from the place they called home, to an unfamiliar place that gives no sense of refuge or rest from the fray.

What economists don’t say, because it would create a crisis of “consumer confidence” (you are encouraged to laugh derisively here), is that we passed out of a recession, and into a de-pression. The economics we knew have gone away, and will not return. Ever. I heard one economist say that unemployment cannot (not just won’t—cannot) return to its sick levels of 2007, until 2023. Who can last that long? No one! Better stake out your appliance carton under the bridge, right?  Or stop wasting time on the search for a job that doesn’t exist, and start making your own work—which is what I’ve done.

With all the pain, loss, anger and greed in this world storming around us like a Category Five hurricane, it’s easy to be discouraged, become sick with frustration, and lose sight of our refuge and secure, quiet place.  

But somewhere over the roar of the storm winds and thunder, while we’re drowning in our finances and trauma, we hear sometimes as a whisper and sometimes as a triumphant shout, ‘Don’t be afraid,’ Jesus said. ‘Take courage. I AM here!’ Matthew 14:27 NLT. Or, colloquially, “You've got the I AM—here—right now, so there's no reason to be afraid. The I AM has it handled.”

I AM. God’s personal name. I AM loving, compassionate, merciful, forgiving. I AM here. I AM the bread of life. I AM the resurrection and the life. I AM the good shepherd. I AM WHO I AM.

What is left but to submit to the One who exists, who orders, who creates, who heals, who restores. The One who offers to take our burdens upon himself and give us rest. In him all the time is the sabbath rest that makes us sigh with deepest satisfaction, “Ah, this is the life.”

Ah, surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me—hound me, stalk me—all the days of my life, and my home will be in the heart of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:6, my version.

Have you heard?

A big truck rumbles by, the vibrations shake the house, and you wonder if it was a small earthquake. Sometimes you feel just a thump, or a short rumble, but you know instantly, because you felt a jolt in your abdomen, that it was a real earthquake, however small or far away.

The week before I moved away from southern California (five miles from the San Andreas Fault), I felt at least 10 small earthquakes. That swarm had my friends very worried!

Do you hear God speaking to you? Are you afraid to feel that rumble deep in your soul, or is it a novelty? What does His voice sound like? Have you ever noticed that God, when He speaks, isn't long-winded or wordy (unlike some preachers and writers). He might place a picture in the mind, or a word or two, and then it's over. The interpretation is open-ended. So even in His messages, God gives freedom, movement, and choice to us; and the creativity to make something interesting and memorable out of very little.

God’s voice can be experienced in many ways. Sometimes it's a slow but steady confirmation as a thought comes together. Perhaps it’s while participating in a Bible study or talking with a friend who needs help. At other times, when reading scriptures, a passage “speaks” in a new way. You hear God’s voice in the lyrics of a song, or the counsel of a godly friend. When you realize that God is speaking to or through your spirit, you get shivers or goose bumps. Other times (more rarely), it's an internal phrase from deep inside. That’s the earth tremor, something that cannot be managed or controlled.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard God speak audibly, but then, perhaps I’ve not tuned adequately to His broadcast frequency. It’s a noisy life, with media, people, multiple deadlines and responsibilities, and images flashing in front of us. What if God is continuously speaking to us, but we can’t hear Him through the cacophony of modern life?

Once, when I was experiencing high stress and deep anxiety, I "heard" song lyrics in my mind, over and over. They were from "I'll Take Care of You." I asked God if he was singing to me, and felt him sort of chuckle, "It took you long enough to get it!" He was telling me, in a love song, that he would treat me tenderly and love me always, and to rely on him to take care of me.

How did He make Himself known to Abraham, Noah, Enoch, Job, or Rahab? They didn’t have written scriptures to study. They, plus millions of people not recorded in the Bible, knew His voice one way or another, and obeyed. When He spoke to the Israelites at Mount Sinai, they begged to be free of Him. When He wrote the Law on stone, they promised to keep the Law, but broke it. He revealed His will through prophets and messengers, but rebels persecuted them.

So God came to us as one of us. He veiled His majesty, concealed His glory, and limited His power. But the flashes of divinity when He raised the dead, healed on Sabbath, and loved unconditionally, were too much for them, so they killed Him.

When He rose from the tomb, He spoke again, giving assurance to Mary Magdalene, Peter, and his friends on the road and on the beach. He said that when He was gone, the Comforter would come alongside and be present with us and in us.

He spoke audibly to Paul on the Damascus road, but we don’t know how Paul heard Him after that. He spoke in dreams to Peter and in visions to John.

The book of Hebrews begins in this way: “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” Hebrews 1:1-3 NIV.

The same book goes on to say that the old covenant, written by God and broken by the Israelites, has been made obsolete by the new covenant, which is written on our hearts and minds. “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 8:10-12 NIV.

So instead of speaking to us indirectly, to our forefathers through the prophets, we have a better, superior way of hearing the Lord: we have been given direct access to His Presence by Jesus Christ, whose body is the torn curtain (Hebrews 10:20) into the Most Holy Place, God’s bosom. We now have the privilege of receiving instruction, guidance, comfort, love, joy, peace, and every other good gift — straight from God Himself. He writes it on our hearts and minds, speaking to us in the ways and words we can understand. His words to me may not be the same words and instructions He gives to you.

But can YOU have that privilege, or is it reserved for the people who have striven for spiritual perfection all their lives (and of course failed, because there are none without sin)? God wants to speak with you and me today, in these last days before Jesus’ return, in the same way that He did with the faithful men and women recounted in Hebrews chapter 11. The Lord will not only speak to us, He will be bountifully generous! He says, “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” Joel 2:28-29 NIV.

I reveled in the peace of a ruined priory on Lindisfarne Island off England’s north coast, thinking that people had worshiped in this place from at least 600 AD. I thought of how ancient people took their idols with them when they traveled, because their gods were rooted to places. But 6,000 miles from home, worshiping and thanking God on bare stone, with grass and open sky, I “heard” God inside me, saying "Present yourself as a living sacrifice." I knew it was Him, like the real earthquake, not the rumbling truck. I noticed I was sitting on a stone block where the high altar of the church had been. God was having a gentle laugh on me: present yourself as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1) at the altar, the place of sacrifice in this early-Christian outpost to the pagans.

Maybe it was not particularly profound as revelations to others might go, but it reminded me that God is everywhere, before I get there and after I leave, but especially, He is IN me at all times; God has a gentle sense of humor; and He reminds me of that perfect day in an ancient, beautiful place. A friend commented that the most direct revelations he’s had were along this line — God’s personal relationship with him — how God views, accepts, loves, and is present with him.

In this season of remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, may we recall some of the gifts He gave us that day: direct and free access to the throne of God, and the immeasurable gift of His indwelling Presence, teaching us what no human can express for another: God’s will for our individual lives.

Don’t worry that by following your heart, you’re being foolish or selfish. That “desperately wicked” heart of Jeremiah 17:9 is the heart of one who rebels against God. You, however, are a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), and the Lord has created in you a new heart (Psalm 51). That is the very heart on which the Lord writes His will and His desires for you.

Are you listening? Are you paying attention to that rumble, that jolt, that song out of nowhere, that loving whisper in your heart? Are you ready for the gift that says that the God of all the universe has turned His entire attention to YOU, and made you feel very special, very loved, very cherished? Turn down the noise, and turn up the silence.

Word and wordlets

Christmas music is ubiquitous this month: on TV and radio, in the malls and grocery stores, the mp3 player plugged into your head, and jangling from the brightly-blinking animated zoo in the neighbors’ front yard. We’ll hear a lot about sleigh rides and bells (even if we live in a Mediterranean or desert climate—or south of the equator), chestnuts roasting, having a merry little Christmas, Santa Claus, and the legend of a drummer boy present at the nativity. At church, surely we’ll sing Joy to the World, Silent Night, and O Come All Ye Faithful.

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be glory given;
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.
O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

Why is Jesus characterized as The Word? Dictionaries define “word” as

the smallest unit of language,

a conversation,

communication,

news,

an expression or authoritative utterance,

a promise,

a proverb, and

a hypostasis for divine wisdom.

In Latin, “word” doesn’t mean a motionless noun, but verbum. Verbs act and move.

In Greek, logos means word, thought, principle, or speech.

In the gospel of John, first chapter, we read the soaring song of salvation: that in the beginning-before-the-beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men… The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1-5, 14 NIV.

That’s certainly the most famous reference to Jesus as the Word. But there are many more references to both spoken word and written word in both Testaments. Hebrews 1:1-3 NIV says, In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

Jesus is not only the Word of God, but He is the Author of our salvation. (Hebrews 2:10.)

In Revelation 3:12 NIV, the Author tells His believers: I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.

In Jeremiah 31:33-34, the Lord declares that the old covenant, the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2), has been broken, but He will create a new covenant: “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

That is what Jesus, the Word and the Author of salvation, did to our wickedness: forgive and forget. It’s not stored in a computer chip or written on paper in a giant book. We are written in the Book of Life, Jesus Himself. Jesus is life. Every word I've spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making. John 6:63 MSG.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians that they were a letter, written on his heart of love, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ…written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 2 Corinthians 3:3 NIV.

We are epistles written from God’s heart, and dare I say, written on God’s heart. Ah! Not only is our Lord “The Word,” but because we are His children through creation and adoption, we are also words—maybe “wordlets” (to coin a word). He has written His words and His will upon our living hearts, and He dwells within us.

What an incomprehensibly gigantic gift is wrapped up in the small collection of letters that we read as “Word.”

As I read the story of Jesus’ birth this season, I will meditate on each of the secular definitions of “Word.” In them there is much to learn of our sacred Word.

…..In the beginning was a small unit of language (from God to His children).

…..In the beginning was a conversation.

…..In the beginning was communication.

…..In the beginning was an authoritative utterance.

…..In the beginning was a promise.

…..In the beginning was a verb.

Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing. O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!

November 2009 word cloud

Hearing God’s voice

I'm thanking you, God, from a full heart, I'm writing the book on your wonders. I'm whistling, laughing, and jumping for joy; I'm singing your song, High God. Psalm 9:1-2 MSG

In 2004 and 2005, I was so blessed to write and edit the devotional book, We Shall Be Changed. It will be published in hard cover by Review & Herald Publishing Company in 2010. So grateful to God!

Although I wrote more than 90 of the 365 daily essays, this book is an anthology of many authors’ spiritual insights. Planning the content and theme, developing the author guidelines, finding the cover art, pushing the authors to meet deadlines, tweaking (often rewriting) their essays—it was a challenge, but a positive one.

Then, when it was accepted by R&H in 2009, I worked hard on the manuscript again, reformatting, finding 365 new Bible texts in the best version to illustrate the articles, fine-tuning articles again, replacing weaker articles with strong new ones, and much more. I’m so grateful for the contributions of talent and time by all of the 50 or so We Shall Be Changed authors.

But the best and biggest blessing was unexpected. Many in my denomination are fairly inhibited about showing emotion in religion. Raising hands in worship or prayer, clapping, even saying “Amen” louder than a murmur—usually frowned upon. If I claimed to have heard God speak, well, break out the restraints and haul me away, boys!

There have been times when the Lord spoke to my mind or made a Bible text almost jump off the page. But this book experience has been different. I’ve found God everywhere since I started this book. When I’m walking the dog, cuddling the cat, driving, listening to a song, pruning the garden, watching a secular show on TV—I’m in a mindset where I see lessons from the Lord. God speaks to me in His whisper, His still, small voice.

This is a fulfillment of the promise of the New Covenant, that God Himself would personally speak to our hearts and minds. Some people call it conscience. Others know by experience that there are supernatural messages from God that cannot be explained or understood in the same way by any other person. Some messages were just for me. The Bible verse I read meant one thing to the original audience, and another thing to me when God directed my mind to its meaning for my life. An instant messaging session or phone call becomes a way for God to speak to a hurting person through me.

The miracle is: I hear Him! And it’s my heartfelt prayer that you will hear His voice speaking to you when you’re exercising, lying wakeful in bed, waiting for your plane, or doing dishes, but especially while reading these blog articles—and the book when it’s released. The Lord is there, speaking all the time.

I wonder if God speaks to everyone in a continuous stream, and only rarely do we perceive a word or phrase as being from Him.

This GOD says: “I am GOD, the one and only. I don’t just talk to myself or mumble under my breath. … I work out in the open, saying what’s right, setting things right… I promise in my own name: Every word out of my mouth does what it says. I never take back what I say.” Isaiah 45:18-23 MSG

Thanks be to God for His words to us, whether written, painted in nature, or exhibited in the actions of those around us. Open your eyes and ears—He’s got words for you!