God Breathed

My turtle, Freckles, was a great pet! I purchased him almost 4 years ago from a street vendor in “China Town” in downtown Los Angeles, CA. At the time, his shell was no bigger than the size of a quarter. In this picture (above), taken just one week ago, his shell was the diameter of the span of my hand. It has been so neat to watch him grow!

The coolest thing about the growth of this turtle though is that it corresponds with my growth in the Lord. See, at the time I purchased this little guy from the street vendor, I was caught-up in a very worldly lifestyle and I had a hardened heart. But God, being rich in mercy, did not allow me to rest content there. In fact, I was at one of my lowest points in life when He led me to a godly older woman just a couple of months later. Shortly thereafter, God used her to introduce me to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! I instantly fell in love with Him! He rescued me from my horrible entanglement of sin, freed me from its bondage, aquited me of its condemnation, gave me a new hear, and granted me eternal life.

That was almost 4 years ago. Like Freckles, I feel like I have grown so much since then. But, like Freckles, I feel like I have so much growing left to do .

Well, that brings me back to Freckle’s story. Last week, my husband and I realized that Freckles had finally outgrown his little 20 gallon tank. Living near a huge lake, it didn’t take long to come up with a solution to the problem. So, my husband I put Freckles into his little container, walked down to the water, and released him…. he is free at last! 

My husband & I just returned from a refreshing weekend in lower mid-state New York. We were visiting some friends at Community Bible Church in Wawarsing and we had a great time! The Lord put on a miraculous display of color as all the leaves on the trees covering the rolling hills were vibrantly changing to all shades of reds, oranges and yellows. The people there were incredibly hospitable and friendly. The home-made meals were deliscious, the fellowship was sweet, the exortation from God’s Word was powerful… all-in-all, it was a GREAT weekend!

I have posted a few pics to give you an idea of the fun we had!

Scenery:

Church Building:

 Church Family:

Hospitable Friends:

Fun Games:

As you can see, we had a blast! If you are ever near Wawarsing, NY. , I highly recommend you swing through that town… you won’t regret it!

As part of a wedding gift, my father-in-law gave me a book on the courtship between Jonathan & Sarah Edwards, entitled, Marriage to a Difficult Man (I definately appreciated the humor ) While reading through the book, I came across a delightful quote that Jonathan had apparently scribbled on the inside-cover of one of his Greek grammar books. It is one of the most insightful and descriptive glimpses into the beautiful relationship between Sarah (his girlfriend, at the time) & her God…

“They say there is a young lady in [New Haven] who is beloved of that almighty Being, who made and rules the world, and that there are certain seasons in which this great Being, in some way or another invisible, comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, and that she hardley cares for anything, except to meditate on him–that she expects after a while to be received up where he is, to be raised out of the world and caught up into heaven; being assured that he loves her too well to let her remain at a distance from him always. There she is to dwell with him, and to be ravished with his love, favor and delight, forever. Therefore, if you present all the world before her, with the richest of its treasures, she disregards it and cares not for it, and is unmindful of any pain or affliction. She has a strange sweetness in her mind, and sweetness of temper, uncommon purity in her affections; is the most just and praiseworthy in all her actions; and you could not persuade her to do anything thought wrong or sinful, if you would giver her all the world, lest she should offend this great Being. She is of a wonderful sweetness, calmness and universal benevolence of mind; especially after those times in which this great God has minifested himself to her mind. She will sometimes go about, singing sweetly, from place to [place]; and seems to be always full of joy and pleasure; and no one knows for what. She loves to be alone, and to wander in the fields and on the mountains, and seems to have someone invisible always conversing with her.”-Jonathan Edwards

To further illustrate my point, I thought I would share a brief testimony of a day when the Lord really allowed this study to hit home for me:

It is a rare blessing when I can spend any significant length of time at home. One of my favorite things to do when I am home is to clean and make my home attractive, comfortable and welcoming for my husband and our guests.

Well, one morning, my husband had left early for Seminary classes, so I had the apartment to myself. I decided I would skimp on my daily, routine walk around the neighborhood in order to get the most of my time at home… alone. Giddy, I set about doing all the things that I had been meaning to do, but hadn’t gotten around to doing yet: I swept the patio, filled the bird-feeder, scrubbed the kitchen counters, dusted, vacuumed, and on-&-on I went until I noticed the time. With only a half hour left before I had to be at the office, I took five minutes and just sat down on my couch, savored my last few sips of coffee, and just enjoyed gazing over all the hard work I had just done (prideful, I know ).

Then, I raced to shower, dress, do hair & make-up, and dash out the door just in time for work. As I was pulling out of our parking gate, I fixed my gaze in the rear-view mirror to try to see if there were any birds enjoying our newly replenished bird-feeder. Staring unsuccessfully the whole way, I finally gave-up at the end of our street and tried to remember which direction I needed to turn at the stop-sign.

Then, it hit me… I was being just like Lot’s wife! My heart had become so attached to what was behind me (my “home” and material possessions) that I wasn’t even focused on where I was going. It is so easy for me to loose focus in this life!

That’s why it is such a great thing that God doesn’t leave it all up to me. He has graciously given me (and every other believer) the Holy Spirit to dwell inside of me. As He dwells within me (and every other believer), He has many jobs: He teaches me about God through the study of His Word; leads me to praise & worship God; He helps my prayers conform to the will of God; He convicts me when I sin (which is a lot J ); He compels me to confess my sin before the Lord and seek restoration of the relationship; and He empowers me to forsake my sin and follow Christ.

If left to myself, this would never happen. But, God knew that. So He, being rich in mercy, with the great love with which He loved me; predestined me; ordained His Son to die for my sins to cleanse me from all unrighteousness; and gave me His Spirit so that I might obey Him… and in doing so, He allows me to bring glory and honor to Him! What a deal!

How about you? Where is your treasure? Is it in obeying God’s commands and seeking Him “with all your heart, soul, mind & strength”? Or does something else seem more precious to you? Do you really “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”? Or is there something else that you seek before that? Do you find yourself “looking back” in life? Or are you fully submitting to where the Lord is leading you in this life? Is there something that grips your heart more than God?

If you are like me, perhaps the Lord has used the study of Lot’s wife to convict you. Perhaps He has revealed treasures in your heart that are taking precedence in your life, over Him. If so, then I have great news for you! God has revealed some clear and simple instruction in His Word to help you fix that problem: (1) acknowledge your sin; (2) confess it before Him; (3) ask for forgiveness from your sin; and (4) ask for God’s grace to help you repent from it. If you do that, then God promises that He will forgive you & cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

However, if you have not been convicted, then GREAT! I would just encourage you to at least pray about it though and ask the Lord to reveal anything in your heart that you prefer above him. I am sure that He will answer your prayer one way or another .

“15 As the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.’ 16 But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 17 And as they brought them out, on said, ‘Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.’… 23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar. 24 Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven. 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.“-Genesis 19:15-26

 If you are like me, then you have probably read this passage (or at least heard about it) before and wondered, “Now, why on earth would Lot’s wife have deliberately disobeyed the angels of the Lord during such a critical time as that? I would have just been grateful for the Lord allowing me to “escape with [my] life” (v. 17). What was she trying to see anyway?”

Well, as I have been studying through this passage lately, I have become convinced that her glance back toward her hometown revealed where her heart really was. Her defiant glance backward showed that her thoughts, affections, and sentiments were still lying there. In otherwords, despite the fact that the Lord had graciously spared her life, she was dwelling over the fact that her home, her posessions, her memories back in Sodom were literally going up in smoke. She was more concerned about those temporal earthly matters than her obedience to the Lord’s command (“Do not look back…” v. 17). Her treasure and her heart were still back in Sodom.