Tag: help

Conversations

Thinking About You

Sarah StewartLeave a comment

You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!
    He is their help and their shield.
The Lord has remembered us; He will bless us;
    He will bless the house of Israel;
    He will bless the house of Aaron;
He will bless those who fear the Lord,
    Both the small and the great.

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I love how songs, especially worship and praise songs, can actually be an encouragement to us while also glorifying God at the same time. I love that one chapter in the Psalms often contains great richness in just one or two of it’s verses. I love how scripture reminds us where our blessing and help and hope comes from; it always does a focus adjustment on our “lenses”.

Its so easy, going through the day-to-day, to start to forget that all that I have, all that I need – it all comes from God and His strength, blessing, and grace. I try so often, without even realizing it most of the time, to give myself my own blessings, to help myself, and protect myself. This inevitably eventually leads to a lot of feelings of being overwhelmed and the fact that I absolutely cannot do all those things by myself. I’m not saying that God doesn’t use the skills and abilities He’s created me with to accomplish things in and with me. What I am saying is that my lenses gradually get smudges and fogged up when I “forget” God throughout the day and try to use those skills and abilities without asking for His help and wisdom for how to use them. When my lenses get all blurred, because I can’t see clearly that all of this that I already have is from God and because of God, I start to forget. I forget that God has, and is, and will always help me through all of this swirling and churning. I forget that I’m not alone to figure it all out by myself. I forget that His shield is already raised, protecting me right where I’m standing, in His perfect will. If I would just stay put, keep my focus on Him and remember He’s already got this and He’s helping me through it all, I would be absolutely ok.

This verse wipes the smudges off my glasses and reminds me to trust the God I know because I’ve seen how He remembers me, how He has blessed me before, how He has remembered and blessed so many people, all through history. It is a reminder He still remains true to His name and His character.

With verses like these, Daddy-God lovingly wipes away the fog and smudges once again. “See there?” He says gently, as He places the clean, smudge-free glasses back on my face. Now I can see again! He has pictures hanging on His walls – of me! And over there, on His fridge are some of His favorite things I’ve done. And He whispers as we walk together, “I have never forgotten you nor will I ever. You are my precious, beloved child, and I see you. I have and always will give you exactly what you need and more than you know to desire because I love you and nothing you can do, nor anything that could happen to you will ever change that. My strong arm is fully able to both help you and protect you. You are my most precious and prized child and I love you more than you know.”

My glasses get smudged and foggy from time to time, so I need the priceless Words of my Daddy-God to clean my lenses and remind me of all that I’ve seen, and heard, and experienced – all of the evidences and reminders that I can fully trust Him.

He has shown Himself loving and kind toward me over and over, and even if He had only done it once with The Cross, that alone would be an undeniable example of how unimaginably great His love is for me. He gave me the best blessing I could ever even wish for – the promise and hope of eternity with Him because of His own sacrifice and the resurrection of His Only Son. Because of His Son Jesus’ obedience to death and His resurrection power, I also am now considered God’s very own child, His family! And I have a crazy-good inheritance because of how He remembered me and blessed me.

Oh! How He loves us (me and you)!

And those He loves, He remembers.

And those who remember Him, He blesses; He blesses us with and because of our knowledge of Him.

He is Trustworthy and has given evidence after evidence of such.

Let us remember to trust Him even more today. We are and will continue to be blessed by our Daddy-God as we do.

Conversations

Daddy’s Help

Sarah StewartLeave a comment

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up. – Psalm 68:19

Another version of scripture says “who daily bears our burdens”. What a great picture of the Father. He doesn’t just know about our burdens and worries, He doesn’t just wait to hear about our troubles and He doesn’t sit around doing nothing until we cast our cares on Him. He actually already carries us and our burdens.

As I was thinking about these things, an image came to mind…

holding_handsThe Father and I were walking along together. He was carrying quite a heavy load – all of the things on His back were mine. And as all good fathers do, He was helping me along, carrying me over the distances when my feet got tired, telling me what to watch out for along the path so that I didn’t get hurt, and holding my hand to steady me. This is a very long journey we are on together and as I started to grow and recognize for myself the dangerous areas and I was able to walk a little more on my own, I started to recognize the things He was carrying.

“Here Daddy,” I said “let me carry some.” He looked down at me with a loving concern on His face and began to explain “They are heavy, Little One.”

“But, Daddy, I can do it. See how I’ve gotten better at walking by myself and I’m stronger than I used to be; besides, those are my burdens to carry. Shouldn’t I be carrying them and learning to be like you, Daddy?”

The Father tenderly, knowingly responds without a single word. He sets the pack down and carefully selects only one or two items out of the pack. Turning toward me I saw a look of great love and the concern a good father has for his child, knowing she is choosing the hard way but understanding that she will not understand his help or his great love for her, unless he allows it. Was that a tear I saw run down His face? He places the select few burdens on my back. “Wow. These are heavier than they looked on The Father’s back.” I think to myself.

The Father lifts back up His very heavy pack and we continue on walking together. The Father, as any good one does, repeatedly checks on me, looking to see if I’m ok and asking me if I need help. He returns to pointing out the dangerous parts along the way, and extending His hand to help me over the rocky places. My response is quietly continuing along without asking for and rarely accepting His outstretched hand.

After walking for quite a while over difficult terrain, I fall. This pack is so heavy! But The Father makes it look so easy! I have scrapes all over me and I’m so tired carrying these heavy burdens. I start crying and I call out “Daddy! Wait!” The Father turns and immediately returns to my side, still effortlessly carrying that huge load. He has scrapes and bruises too, in the exact same spots as me! But He’s not out of breath, He’s not tired.

Knowing full well what I’m going through and seeing how worn out I am from all of this, He still asks me, with compassion in His voice, “What’s wrong, my child?” Fighting to not break down sobbing due to the pain, fatigue, and disappointment in myself for not being able to do this, I respond “This burden – its too heavy. You were right, Daddy, I need your help.”

The Father kneels down beside me and speaking tenderly, with another tear running down His face, He asks if I really want His help. He reminds me that it was me that wanted to try to do all of this on my own and that He had been there all along the way, ready to help. There was no condemnation in His tone, just a concerned Father, just as concerned about the lesson I would learn as the scrapes and bruises I had everywhere. As He gently wiped away the dirt and blood stains and tenderly wiped my tear-stained face, He reminds me “You don’t have to be like me, Little One. Yes, you are my child and in many ways you are like me, but there will always be things I can and should do that you will not be able to do. Like all of these burdens, I carry them for you because I love you. I want you to be able to walk freely and happily enjoy the journey home together with me.”

With the burdens secured back on The Father’s shoulders, with a bright smile and a hint of compassion, knowing what His child has been through and that this lesson will be repeated again, The Father smiles and hugs me as He stands back up. Holding out His hand I place mine in His and He lifts me to my feet.

We start back on our journey home together again. “Hey! Look at that amazing flower! And what a beautiful sky!” I remarked joyfully. I hadn’t noticed those things in such a long time. “Oh! And look, Daddy! Did you see that beautiful bird fly by?” The Father looks at me again with a smile, my hand in His “Enjoy it all, Little One.”