Author: Sarah Stewart

Daughter of The King. Lifelong learner. Pursuing God’s best dreams for me, my family, and His Church.
Conversations

Happy Father’s Day, God

Sarah StewartLeave a comment

Dear Papa God,

This is the time of year that we set aside to celebrate fathers so I thought I’d write you this short letter just to tell you some of the most special things to me about You, my Papa God (Abba).

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The thing you do the best is: love

I have given you plenty of reasons to be impatient and frustrated with me and really, I wouldn’t blame you one bit if you decided you’d had enough. I certainly have had enough of me and my failings. But in spite of all my failings, you haven’t ever given up on me. And, Papa God, its so much more amazing to me that every time I mess up you have always been right beside me with your hand outstretched, ready to pick me up and whisper to me as you pull me close once again. I love hearing you say, “I love you. Nothing you can ever do or say will make me love you less or any more than I already do because I love you so much, I gave up my very best just to have you with me all the time.” I love climbing up on your lap and leaning my head against your chest so I can hear your heart beat as you speak loving words of kindness, grace, truth, and instruction to me. You give me so much grace, forgiveness, and mercy – all things I don’t deserve and never earned – all because You love me. 

My favorite thing you’ve made is: kids – especially my kids

Actually, its really hard to pick just one thing out of everything you’ve ever made! The amazing sunsets and sunrises on the water are so breathtakingly beautiful – I don’t find anything like those in the store, and your hand crafts each one uniquely and perfectly beautifully. And colors all around – your paint palette is amazing! From the pink and purple night skies to the brightest flowers and greenest grass, you make the best stuff, Papa God. And then there’s the people and animals you’ve made – you are so creative! What an amazing imagination you have! And that doesn’t even begin to touch on the stars and the entire universe! But ultimately when I look at the amazing children you made, just for me and the wonderful husband you gave me, I am in such awe. From the smallest things came these two complex, beautiful, life-filled beings that only the best Creator could have ever designed and fit together so perfectly.

My favorite thing to do with you is: talk to you and listen to your stories 

I get so much joy from spending time with you, Papa God. My heart is so thrilled to hear you in our time together. I don’t always do a great job of listening to you (you speak kinda soft most of the time) but I’m learning. And every time I hear you for myself, I just want to stay in that place with you. I don’t want to go anywhere else or be with anyone else or do anything else, I just want to sit with you and listen to you and see all the mind-blowing things you want to show me. I love to hear your sweet voice. I love to see pictures you draw in my mind’s eye as you speak truth and life and love to me. And I love that you listen to me too, Papa God. I know I can go on and on and on…hahaha a little like my sweet 5 year old. But you are so loving and kind to listen to me. And when my heart is heavy and my tears come so fast over the smallest issues, you still sit with me and listen to me, and comfort me and remind me that you’re bigger and stronger than all those problems.

My favorite thing about you is: you pursue and don’t give up on me

It warms and thrills my heart to think about you dancing and singing and rejoicing over me! You are an amazing dancer and singer – I just know it! And oh how you have forgiven me and beckoned to me so many times! I don’t deserve your continued pursuit. Though I would have stopped a long time ago, you are not one to give up on any of your kids, and I’m no exception. And because of how you don’t give up on me and you continue to pursue me, I feel encouraged to approach you. I know that you won’t forget about me or special events in my life, even ones that I don’t realize are worth celebrating, you are determined to celebrate me all the time – simply because you love me. What more approval and affection could I want? I know I’ll find true, pure approval and affection from you, Papa God. How can you be so excited over any small obedience of mine? How can you be so determined to never give up on me? Yet, you are and nothing at all will stop the joy I experience in knowing that you rejoice over me.

 

Papa God, I don’t want to leave this letter; there is so much more I could and should say, though I don’t know if I can find all the words. I don’t want to stop remembering you and thinking about how good you are, and how amazing and strong you are, and how sweetly loving you are to me. I don’t want to leave this precious time with you. But I know that no matter where I am, I can always lift my head up and you are right here beside me, ready to listen to my praises and to speak lovingly to me. You are the best and only, Papa God, and I want to be with you and to be just like you.

Pick me up,Papa God? Hold me closer?

Teach me more, Papa God. Tell me more of your stories; I love the sound of your voice.

I love you, Papa God.

Happy Father’s Day, Papa God.

Scripture Diving

1 Chronicles 16:11

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“Seek the Lord and his strength;
    seek his presence continually!”  
-1 Chronicles 16:11
(& Psalm 105:4)

Observation about who God is in this passage

God is strong. God is capable. God has done amazing things! God is also available. His presence is available to be found when we seek Him and He is also available to help and strengthen us when we ask. If He were not, there would be no use in looking for Him or asking for His help and His strength.

Observation about context and/or how this fits with other parts of scripture

This psalm (song) of David’s is a joyful one but it also carries some big reminders, things that when I remember them I am able to praise the Lord right away and rejoice in Him. When I forget, I am weakened and potentially face feeling alone and overwhelmed.

This song was sung after the ark of the covenant had been recovered and was on it’s way back to Jerusalem. Previously it had been taken by their enemies and then it was miss-handled – so much difficulty, uncertainty, and suffering that could have been avoided just remembering how amazingly capable God has always shown Himself to be.

Life application lesson(s)

Initially I think its easy to look at the backstory as God being harsh, but upon closer observation, verses 1-5 explain more about what God wants me to know about Him. I think one thing that He wants me to understand about Him is that He is completely capable of handling everything in my life, even the things that look like catastrophes or look impossible, or maybe even like an attack on Him or His glorification. He reminds me here (and so many places in His Word) that I should stay focused on Him. Rather than doing things my way or with whatever strength I have, ask for His help and His strength.

I worry about a lot! And there are plenty of times (dare I say daily?) that I forget just how capable He is in every situation. I make plans, I set goals, I get in touch with the “right” people, I do the “right” things, I take safety measures – all without a single word to God, a single request for His help. Sometimes, I even try to convince Him (and myself) that I’m being irresponsible if I don’t do all these things and even think that somehow God won’t get praised or get the glory and attention if I fail at whatever. But at the end of the day, I am just more tired, overwhelmed, discouraged, and scared than when I began.

But when I do remember to seek His presence continually, I am encouraged. I am at peace. I have more joy. I am energized. I am relieved. I feel like dancing like David did! Why? Because when I remember to seek His presence, I actually get His presence. And I remember, just like this psalm, just how amazing God is and all the ways He has so faithfully and capably taken care of every single one of His creation. I find myself being relieved because its actually not all on me and my strength. Its all on Him, and He’s totally got this.

Prayer

Father, thank you for always being faithful. Thank you for showing me your strong hands and reminding me just how capable you are to handle everything. Thank you, Jesus for the reminder with your life that even when people (or even I) don’t “get it” or fail to let God lead the way, that it doesn’t diminish His power or even His love. Thank you, Lord for these reminders in your own Word to me. Your reminders in scripture are like precious gold to me and they lighten my load and brighten my path. When I am tempted to worry and do everything on my own, please show me sooner the gallery of your amazing work. Thank you Holy Spirit for being with me and speaking to me so that my trust for my Father increases and so that His presence is magnified making me more and more aware of it. Thank you, Lord for your strong arms, always holding me without faltering, no matter how I squirm and make a mess of things. Thank you for being attentive to help me and answer me, and thank you for showing me that when I look for you, I can in fact find you. Your love for me and faithfulness is overwhelmingly wonderful. May your children all remember and recognize your strong and capable arms and may we respond with loving trust of you, our Daddy.

Conversations

Real Promises

Sarah Stewart2 Comments

For all the promises of God find their Yes in him.
That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.
And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us,
and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
2 Corinthians 1:20-22

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As a child, I learned that promises are serious. You can’t break a promise.

Especially not a pinky-promise!

But as I got older and more acquainted with “real life” I learned more and more just how un-true that is. As an adult, I’ve learned that not even promises in writing are always honored and even signed contracts can, and have been broken. I think sometimes maybe I am even worse about keeping my promises to God than I am with someone else.

“Oh Lord! I promise I’m going to be better at [fill in the blank]!” How many times have I fallen short of my promises to Him! Or even convinced myself that I didn’t think that all the way through, or made justifications about how God didn’t really want me to make that promise because of reason, reason, reason……

“Lord, I was planning on giving some of this money to the church, but surely you don’t want me to do it now that I have more debt than I did when I made that promise.”

“Lord, I know I said I’d start talking to more people about you but they really look like they want to be alone and I’m sure I’d say the wrong thing or just make them uncomfortable. Besides, someone else is far more qualified than I am to talk to them.”

None of this is new to the Father though. He has always known this is how I tend to think. My Good Father doesn’t just stop at knowing that I tend to think this way though. And He doesn’t write off my failed promise keeping as “Well, there she goes again, breaking yet another promise. I guess we’re going to go for the thousandth time with this lesson before I can bless her since she broke another promise.”

No. that would be far too much like me and not at all like the Father. God knew that there was no way I could be good on my own, I’ve proven to keep my promises less than fifty percent of the time! But that doesn’t keep Him from keeping all of His promises to me anyway.

God’s promises are never broken. The passage here in 2 Corinthians is saying just that: “all the promises of God find their ‘Yes’ in Him.” God keeps His promises, and He keeps them perfectly, and He keeps them always. In fact, the biggest promise God made has been proven and played out in Jesus – in His birth, death, and resurrection. God’s biggest promise has been to love me with a love that is so big, so undying that nothing would ever be able to separate me from it, not even my own unfaithfulness or evil. (Ro. 8:38-39)

What an amazing thought! God has kept every single one of His promises and the proof of that fact is His very own Son, Jesus. And as if it weren’t enough for Him to prove how He keeps His promises to me, He takes it up a notch and gives me even more. He gives me a guarantee (the Holy Spirit) for all of the promises yet to be kept and then He even gives me the ability to do great things because of Jesus and the kingdom I am part of.

“So let me get this straight, God. You know I’m a screw up and I definitely haven’t proven that I can keep any promise worth keeping – but you make a promise to me anyway? And not just any old promise like ‘I promise to buy you ice cream if you’re good today.’ but like a real promise – a huge promise. You promise to love me so much that you died for me just so you and I could be in the same place together. Just so I could actually be in your presence. Just so I could have a meaningful, personal, loving relationship with you. Even though that is the last thing I deserve…And then, you did it. You kept your promise to me…

And what’s that you’re telling me? You have even more planned for me? You mean this huge promise to love me doesn’t stop with what was done already in Jesus? You’re telling me that I haven’t even seen the other promises you are going to keep….”

Mind. Blown. Seriously.

Who does that?!?

God does that.

The Good Father. My Good Daddy. Your Good Daddy.

He’s here to stay. He’s my Daddy, and yours too. And not because of some court order or feeling of obligation. Nope. The Father is your Father because of His promise to love you. And He doesn’t turn that promise into a “No” because of anything you did or didn’t do, or because of some loop hole clause in a contract. In fact, He already kept His promise. He paid a price no one could afford to pay in order to adopt you and show you exactly how much He loves you. That is how much you mean to Him and how much He honors and keeps His promises.

His “Yes” to His promises has always been worth trusting and it is no less a “Yes” today than yesterday. This is a real promise that will never be broken. Stronger than any promise ever made by a human.

Even stronger than a pinky-promise.

Would you trust Him today? It doesn’t cost you anything – it only cost Him everything. What do you have to loose? A life of discouragement perhaps? A life without love, joy, and peace?

He promises that will never be true when He’s your Father. And He proves it. He’s done it before. He’s doing it now. He’ll always do it. He keeps His promises. They are always “Yes”, proven and backed by Jesus.

And when we see Him keep His promises, how can we not praise Him, watching this amazing glory fulfilled in our undeserving lives?

Conversations

A Great Work

Sarah StewartLeave a comment

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap,
if we do not give up.
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Galatians 6:9-10

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For as long as I can remember, I’ve struggled with the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” or in Christian lingo “What is your ‘calling’?” Part of the reason I’ve struggled with this question is that so many things held my interest, perhaps because there didn’t seem to be any one thing that I felt passionate about. Well into my 30’s I was still asking the question of myself “Why am I here? What am I supposed to do? What is my purpose and what does God want to use me for?” I’ve heard messages about “God’s call” and been compelled time and time again to dig out of myself the answers to these questions. I’ve taken personality tests and tests to determine my “spiritual gifts”. I’ve read devotionals that focused on what God’s Word says I should do to determine His “call on my life”. While all of these tools have been helpful to some degree, nothing seemed to fully answer these questions for me.

Not long ago I was talking with a friend and he asked me that infamous question about what brings a feeling of fulfillment to me. Without pausing to think about it, I told him. I was actually a bit surprised at myself! I even stated that was probably the first time in my life I had ever been able to clearly identify what God’s fulfilling purpose for me is. I realized that the reason I was able to articulate this was because my Heavenly Father had been graciously bringing me through understanding who He is in this area of my life and who I am because of Him. Now, this is not to say I don’t ever still have moments of uncertainty. There are times I wonder if I’m just following my own path and if what I’m doing is even what He wants of me.

“I don’t have anything all that great to give. My contributions are so insignificant, especially compared to that person over there. How is doing this ever going to help anyone? How could God ever use this to further His kingdom and bring Him glory?”

The Father continues to remind me “Where you are and what you have learned, I have brought you to and taught you. You may not see how these things could be so great, but your vision is limited. I see not only what is right now, but I see far into what is to come and anything that you do with me, is good. Anything you do because of me, is good. Don’t give up! Don’t stop now. I’ll teach you the next step just like each one before, and I’ll help you. I’ll make it all good.”

I wonder as I listen to His reassuring voice: what is it that keeps me from “doing good”? Even more specifically, what holds me back from doing the good things that my Father has equipped me to do and has asked me to do?

One reason that comes to mind is fatigue.

“I’m so tired. It is easier and feels better right now to just keep to myself. Besides, I’ve done a lot of trying and its a lot of work and I just don’t know if its even worth it. And aren’t we supposed to rest from work? I’ve been at my job all week, not to mention all the other things I’ve been doing after work, I deserve a break so I think I’ll just fall asleep watching t.v.”

I get tired just thinking about all the times I’ve failed or all that hasn’t been done. I get overwhelmed, and that leads to stress and that stress wears me out. There are the piles of laundry yet to be done (yes that is more than one pile of laundry!), and dishes that have to be washed (seriously, if you could see my sinks!), and food to be made, and taking care of my health, and serving in ministries, and learning the next thing, and… and… and … whew! I need to sit down.

But all this stuff wears me out just thinking about it because I’m trying to do it all by myself. My Father never asked me to do anything without His help. He’s not the one heaping all this on me. He never expected me to make “the call” happen all at once or to succeed over night. He whispers to my heart

“Just focus on one thing at a time. And daughter, keep your eyes on me as we move forward together. Stay with me and I will give you exactly what you need so you can do what I’ve purposed for you. (John 15:4-5)”

Really! What a relief even just re-writing that to remember!

Another thought comes to mind, I haven’t remained committed to doing this great work. (Neh. 6:3) I have allowed things to de-rail me, distract me, and pull me away.

My endless “To Do” list, not having a plan for when things interrupt me, not sticking to the plan I committed to, not spending time with my Father who knows how to do all of this, giving in to anger and frustration and discouragement, listening to voices other than God’s about how what I’m doing is useless or worthless. All these regularly work to distract me and pull me off of the wall that God has purposed me to build.

He continues to gently remind me, He has given me a purpose and gifted me with ways to accomplish that purpose. He says that it is a great work, it is worth His time and attention which means it is worth more than I could ever imagine.

My Daddy’s attention is definitely worth me staying committed. I want Him to see a completed great work, one that He and I have done together. I don’t want to look back and see a trail of things I never finished and never trusted Him to help me accomplish. I want my Daddy to be proud of me. I want to leave a legacy of working on this great work with Him and because of Him so that my children and all the people they know and all of their children and the people they know will give God the glory and that this great work will be multiplied by my Father to accomplish all the things He has seen and purposed for it to do.