Showing posts with label blessing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blessing. Show all posts

Saturday, June 3, 2023

The Favor of God

Every night when I help Papa into bed, I whisper in his ear this prayer, "The LORD bless you and keep you. May His face shine upon you and give you peace." I love this blessing because it is praying for the favor of God for him. 

Every night he says, "Thank you for taking care of me and taking care of us. I love you." Sometimes, he tells me he is glad he is here. 

Once again, I find that God blesses me with how I bless others and I bask in His favor. 

I have been thinking about the favor of God alot since we moved Papa, Mema, and Aunt Jane in. I look back at all that has happened in the last year and all I can do is be in awe of the favor of God. None of it makes sense in what we have been able to accomplish and do. It is beyond us, but we know God showed His favor upon us.

Divine favor implies that the impossible has been made possible. There are so many examples of these divine moments in Scripture. A few of my favorites are found in the stories of these women. Shiphrah and Puah in saving children. Deborah giving wise counsel. Rahab in saving her family. Ruth in providing for Naomi. Naomi in giving her a family. The Widow with a jar of oil in paying her debt. The widow of Zarephath in providing food during a drought. Mary, the mother of Jesus, in giving her strength for the journey. The bleeding woman in receiving healing. The widow with a dead son in restoring him back to her. Honestly, I could make a really long list and I didn't even touch on the men. 

For whatever reason, there are these moments when one of God's children is given divine favor for the moment. Suddenly, they walk into the blessing of God's face shining on them and making a way so that satisfaction and strength enable them to thrive in the situation.
I feel that Isaiah 58:11 describes it well for me. 

"The LORD will guide you always. He will satisfy your needs in a sunscorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well watered garden like a spring whose water never fails."

I will be honest. There are days when I think, "God there is no way I can get done what will need to be done. But then as I am in the midst of our life just doing what God allows for the moment, I know the good pleasure of my frame and mind being able to do it despite me. 

But not only that I know the blessing of His good pleasure smiling, but I know the satisfaction and strength of thriving. I can't explain it, but it is so real. I find myself basking in soul satisfaction that He has made it possible for me to water the garden of humans He has given me. I feel His strength of unmerited grace pouring out on me. It is crazy amazing. I feel His shield of grace surrounding us as I am in awe as His favor rests upon us and in us. 

The favor of God is humbling me so much so that when I woke up yesterday morning I saw the word FAVOR spelled out in my mind's eye just as my mind alerted to a new day. I could not help but smile because I felt the LORD'S face shining upon me before I even got out of bed. I prayed His blessing over my family the night before and I awoke with it over me. How like our God! 

Shalom y'all.

Sunday, December 11, 2022

VA Visit a Blessing

 Who sets appointments at 8:00 am for senior adults? The VA! 

The thought of getting all of us out of the house by 7:00 am on Friday morning made me so anxious. It takes alot to get four grown adults on the road. So I prayed. We talked about it for days. We prepped early. Mom gathered all the necessary items. Aunt Jane got everything in its place. I rose and did my quiet time even earlier because I am a better human when I read my Bible and pray before the day begins. I asked friends to pray.

The morning came and I was reminded of those first few months after having Mikayla. I felt so overwhelmed by the simplest of tasks like going to the grocery store. I once cried in a parking lot because I thought I can't do the groceries and watch Mikayla. But then GOD!

GOD loves to show up even when we are praying by faith and moving forward knowing it might not work out. And then it does.

Our morning happened and we did it with a beautiful rhythm of each of us doing our part. It was peaceful and we got out the door by 7:00 am. Miraculous in of itself.

As I dropped off Papa, Mema, and Aunt Jane so I could go park the van on the very cold morning, I had this beautiful image waiting for me inside the VA. When I saw them I couldn't help but gasp in utter joy! Look at how beautiful they are! My three little/big humans! 

I literally called out from the door so all could hear, "You three are sooooo cute!"  

A doctor passing by said, "I thought the same thing!"

We all laughed. 

The VA shined on Friday. One because of these three, but then because of who the VA is! We have been ti the VA enough times that I am able to call out doctors and nurses by name. I am blown away by their gift of mercy, grace, healing, and dignity. They give so generously! 

What I thought was going to be a very hard and stressful morning ended up being a day of great blessing and laughter.

Reflecting on the blessings of family and being together. We are so blessed by this season.

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

The Boaz Blessing

Have you ever had someone verbally bless you? 

I love it when someone blesses me. There is something special about a kind word that softens the heart. It can come through a greeting, a text, a kind word, and even a kind deed. As I studied Ruth 2, I noticed something that was profound to me. Boaz was the owner of the land and as a landowner, he had workers harvesting the fields. When I think of most bosses, I do not envision them walking into the office shouting out, “The LORD bless you!” But this is exactly what Boaz did. As he approached his workers, he shouted out a blessing to them, “The LORD bless you!” and they called out a blessing to him in response, "The LORD bless you!" 

Now, Boaz didn’t just bless his workers, but as he had a conversation with the young foreign, widowed, girl that showed up to glean with his women workers, he gave her a blessing, too. But it wasn’t an ordinary blessing. 

After acknowledging Ruth’s good character Boaz said, “May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” 

I honestly had to sit on this blessing for a while as I answered the question, “What do you learn about God?” I was reflecting on Boaz’s blessing and these three words repay, reward, and refuge stood out to me. 

In order to repay someone, it implies that something that was lost will be restored. 

In order to reward someone implies that something will be given that you do not already possess. 

In order to provide refuge under His wings implies that there is the intimacy of one being held close under the protective shelter of one’s strength. 

It occurred to me that Boaz recognized that the LORD was the One that can restore what was lost, give us what we don’t possess, and provide us with safe intimate refuge as our Protector. 

Keep in mind he said this to a young woman that recently lost her husband due to illness, left her home to go to a foreign land to care for her widowed mother-in-law, and left her people’s culture and gods to follow the God of Israel, the Most High God. How little did he know that his blessing her would open the door for him to become the answer not just for her but for the whole nation of Israel and the world. 

Boaz became her husband and the father of their son, Obed. Obed became the father of Jesse. Jesse became the father of King David and King David was the grandfather of Jesus. Boaz not only provided the intimate protection that gave her refuge that was safe and secure, but he restored what was lost in her husband and gave her more in a son. 

Not every blessing we give will have such profound outcomes, but when we give a blessing, it implies that there is something to give. We must take note that the blessing comes from the LORD. He alone is the Giver of all good things even if we may become a part of the solution or answer to the blessing in time. The good gift is from Him alone. 

Some might hold back in giving blessings for fear they may have to sacrifice as part of the solution, but we must remember that if we hold back in giving the blessing then we might miss out on the greater good that will come. 

What if we all gave Boaz’s blessing to one another? 

May the LORD repay you for what you have done. 
May the LORD richly reward you. 
May the LORD give you refuge under His wings. 

Please know that it is my heart's cry over you right now! May the LORD bless you so you can go and be a blessing! 

Shalom, y’all! 

(The Ruth 2 Storyboard was created by Alice Swartz! She created it during our study and then blessed me by sharing it with me!)

Sunday, September 18, 2022

Why put blood on the right ear, the right thumb, and the right big toe in the consecration?

Sometimes reading the Levitical law can seem daunting. Okay, maybe all of it is unnerving. This morning as I read about Moses consecrating Aaron and how he put the blood of the sacrifice on Aaron's right ear lobe, right thumb, and right toe suddenly this all made sense to me.

First, we need to know that the right hand represented the favored one. So to be on the right is favor. Whenever the right hand is referenced about the LORD it represented the strong arm of the LORD. When we ponder both of these we begin to understand why culturally the right hand respresented cleanliness or purity. What good is favor and strength if it is not done from purity? This is probably why the right hand was never used for doing unclean tasks. It was meant to be set apart. Essentially, we need to know that the right is used to symbolize favor and strength that is pure. 

The ear was marked by the blood sacrifice because we need to listen to God. If we are not tuned to Him then we can not be set apart. The whole point of consecration is to be set apart. Different. Holy. To be an instrument of God so that we can honor Him as we listen and obey.

The thumb was marked because our thumb is the appendage that makes us uniquely different than any other creature. Our thumb allows us to create, build, grasp; well, do fine motor skills that would be hard to do other wise. Our ability to create is one thing that illustrates that we are created in the image of God. 

We are also told in Scripture that God gives the Holy Spirit to the craftsman or artisan so they can create. We are inspired by created things to worship. This reminds us that we are called to not just create, build, work or serve,  but to worship as we do. But our worship should be in the One who gave us that thumb so that we can create as HE created to inspire others to worship Him alone!  Worship should never be in the object or the one who created the object. 

The right toe was covered with the blood sacrifice as a reminder to us that we are called to go. Our feet are what help us go so we can create, build, work, serve and worship. But, consider this also, our big toe is what gives us balance. Without it we cannot balance our person. 

Could it have been a physical reminder to keep things in balance as we go create, build, serve, and worship?  

Could it be it was placed on the big toe so that we must remember in all things that if we truly are set apart it should be done as an act of worship? 

I also wonder if it was done on the ear, thumb, and toe because this covers the entire person. True consecration must be whole hearted. All of you!  There is no room to say to the hand or toe that we will not do as we hear from the LORD. All three must work in a spirit of oneness.

As for the blood sacrifice, this is a symbolic pointer toward the final sacrifice that would be shed in Jesus. He is the One who died for our sins and covered us so that we may be consecrated or set apart for the kingdom of God. Because of Jesus, blood sacrifices are no longer needed because HE was God's favored one, who sat at His right hand that lived a holy and pure life. 

When I was younger reading Leviticus seemed tedious, but now that I know how to ask good questions and assimilate truths with the rest of the Word of God I see such depth and I find it affirming. 

May His favor, strength, and sacrifice be upon your right ear lobe, right thumb, and right big toe so that you are keenly aware that if you have believed in the LORD Jesus then you are set apart to create, build, serve and worship with your whole being. Amen!