A Good Day

Today was a good day - a fantastic day!

In my efforts to walk in the light, I am going to try to actually write down what was good about a particular day. It seems I have a tendency to dwell on the negative and forget the blessings and today was full of blessings.

It was a holiday so I didn't have to work (and I deliberately chose not to open my work computer so I wouldn't be tempted to just "check my e-mail").

My children played nicely with each other, freeing me to do my housework. I folded and put away two loads of laundry and ran two more loads. I emptied and refilled the dishwasher. I made today and tomorrow's dinners. I vacuumed the living room. Mopped the kitchen floor (daughter peed on it).

I took the children to the party store to buy their birthday decorations. They missed out on McDonald's because they couldn't behave in one store but that was the most that went "wrong" today.

I played two games of Candyland and one game of Go Fish with my daughter. Would have played Wii boxing with my son but one of the controllers wasn't charged.

Had a pleasant dinner with my children (even though carrots were on my son's plate) and homemade chocolate ice cream (with sprinkles).

Children bathed without battling. (Kaara even managed some imaginative play with her splash around Dora on a secret submarine mission.)

Put the children to bed. Kaara fell asleep immediately and Noah and I chatted about "perfect-fantastic" days.

Designed a logo for a friend who thought it would be fun to have one.

Talked to my husband.

Finished a couple of scrapbook pages.

Thank you Lord for a whole day of blessings upon blessings, reminding me that You do know the desires of my heart and I am chosen and dearly loved.

On this Memorial Day, thank you that I live in a country where I have so much freedom and for the sacrifices of the men and women who gave all for the freedom I enjoy.

All is a lie

I recently read a devotion from Proverbs 31 ministry that just won't let go of me called All About Eve. Eve and the nature of sin and the problem of evil have really been occupying my thoughts the last few months.

This devotion pointed out the fundamental lie that Satan enticed Eve with - all is better, all is the best - God has all and He is God. He is holding out on you so you won't be equal to Him. There is more and you don't have it so you should get it for yourself. And God was holding out on Adam and Eve. He was withholding the knowledge of good AND evil because He knew how terrible the knowledge of evil is. Eve fell for the lie that all had to be better because it would be all good. It never occured to her (probably because she didn't have the knowledge of good AND evil) that "all" could include something that wasn't good.

I think we fall for the same lie still. The continual lust for more is driven from this same naive belief that "all" means only all good. We forget that "all" includes all evil as well. Would that apple be so enticing if we remembered it includes all the terrible, horrible, vileness this world can summon? The hope of Heaven is the promise that there will be no more pain, no more sorrow, all our tears will be wiped dry, evil will be overcome once and for all. And yet, I think there still lingers the trace of the lie that not having "all" means we are missing out on something...something good.

Perhaps all the terribleness of this world is to help us reach a point where we choose to believe the truth...that the only thing God is holding out on us is something we don't need and don't want, that all good is enough, more than enough, and that having it "all" does in fact lead only to ruin, destruction and death.

And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
for when you eat of it you will surely die." -- Genesis 2:16-17

And The Truth Will Set You Free

Two weeks ago I attended the Women of Faith Amazing Freedom conference. It was the best one I've been to yet. One of the key concepts brought up at the conference was the idea that freedom comes when you trust what you know to be true about God even when the circumstances of your life make it appear not to be true.

The quintessential example of this being the age old "problem of evil." How can God be both loving and powerful when evil, awful, absolutely horrid circumstances occur to people around the world every day? Innocent children are abused, abandoned, neglected. Does God love them but lack the power to help them? Circumstances, say that must be true or that He has the power to help them but chooses not to because He doesn't love them. Evil circumstances tempt us to say that God must be EITHER loving or powerful. He can't be both or He would intervene and end the evil circumstances. The Bible says circumstances are deceptive. The Bible tells us unequivocally who God is...

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. - 1 John 4:16

To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. - Isaiah 40:25-26

The Bible tells us what is true - God is both loving and powerful. We are called to know that is true even when circumstances tempt us to believe something else is true.

It occurs to me that the original sin in the Garden of Eden was exactly this choice. Adam and Eve walked in the Garden with God. They knew God face to face. Then they were faced with a circumstance in which they had to choose what they knew to be true about God over what appeared to be true at that particular moment.

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” - Genesis 2:16-17

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. - Genesis 3:4-6

Eve looked at the circumstances - seeing that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, etc. and made a decision based on the circumstances - rather, than on what she knew to be true about God.

Contrast that with Jesus's response when faced with circumstances:

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God'." - Matthew 4:1-4

Knowing God, memorizing Scripture, Bible study, praying etc. are vital to our lives because they allow us to rise above circumstances and choose to follow what we KNOW to be true about God rather than what circumstances make appear to be true.

When we know God so well that we automatically respond with what we know to be true regardless of circumstances, we begin to find true freedom.

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. - John 8:32