Blah, Blah, Blah!!!: June 2014

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary!

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Kintsugi

It has been a long time since I have blogged. So many people have encouraged me to begin writing again, so I am going to give it a try.

We just returned from a wonderful vacation! We were able to see places we have never visited before, and we were able to spend a bit of time with each of our children and grandchildren. Since our family is scattered all over, this was no small journey. We drove well over 3,200 miles in two weeks. Bill did all of the driving, so I had lots of time to sit and think.

One of the things I thought about was my blog. I have always wanted to start over - to have a completely fresh start with a new name and a specific theme. As I mulled over a new name, I wanted "Jars Of Clay". Why? Because my initials spell JARS, and because the Bible verses found in 2 Corinithians 4: 7-9 have always held a special place in my heart.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

I so often feel like I'm broken - like I have made so many bad choices - like life has bruised and battered me so much that I couldn't possibly be useful, let alone valuable. This verse uplifts me and reminds me that while I am broken (aren't we all?), I have a treasure within.

On our trip, one of my devotions taught me about kintsugi. If you have a chance, Google it because it is beautiful and if you feel broken, it will encourage you! Basically, this art form repairs broken pottery by filling in the cracks with gold. A once useless, discarded , good-for-nothing piece of pottery becomes beautifully restored. And not only restored, but valuable!

This is what Christ has done for me. He has taken this damaged jar, so broken and wounded, and has filled in the gaps with His glory.

And so the blog continues...without a new name (the one I wanted was already taken), without a specific theme (I just couldn't commit to writing about one thing)...just me and the blah blah blah things that I experience. Thanks for joing me in this journey. xo

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One thing we may be sure of, however: For the believer all pain has meaning; all adversity is profitable. There is no question that adversity is difficult. It usually takes us by surprise and seems to strike where we are most vulnerable. To us it often appears completely senseless and irrational, but to God none of it is either senseless or irrational. He has a purpose in every pain He brings or allows in our lives. We can be sure that in some way He intends it for our profit and His glory.
--Jerry Bridges

God is doing a greater work in us, and that can only come as we learn to trust Him no matter how dark the days and sleepless the nights. And it is only as we have been through the darkness with Him that what we know with our heads slides down into our hearts, and our hearts no longer demand answers. The “Why?” becomes unimportant when we believe that God can and will redeem the pain for our good and his glory. . . . When I put the sovereignty of God beside His unfailing love, my heart can rest.
--Verdell Davis

Our circumstances are not an accurate reflection of God's goodness. Whether life is good or bad, God's goodness, rooted in His character, is the same.
--Helen Grace Lescheid

All of us have wondered at times why God doesn't do more to fix our problems. But our human eyes often fail to see that God isn't rushing to change our circumstances because he is concerned with a much more serious problem -- our character. While you struggle with the woes of this world, God's main occupation is preparing you for the world to come. The focus of what God is doing in your life takes place in you, not around you.
--Andy Stanley, in "Like A Rock"

There is no circumstance, no trouble, no testing, that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment. But I refuse to become panicky, as I lift up my eyes to Him and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart.
--Alan Redpath

The most extraordinary thing about the oyster is this: irritations get into his shell . . . . and when he cannot get rid of them, he uses the irritations to do the loveliest thing an oyster ever has the chance to do. If there are irritations in our lives today, there is only prescription: make a pearl . . . . And it takes faith and love to do it.
--Harry Emerson Fosdick

What a difference it makes when a trial comes, to see in it not the hand of an avenger, but the loving discipline of a father and the gentle admonition of a mother! God would not have us feel even the shadow of His anger. Judgment hardens the spirit and God never wants to break the spirit of His obedient child, but to win us by His love and transform us by the gentleness. Beloved, let us ever look upon our trials in the tender light of the Father’s love. It is not the token of His displeasure, but the very pledge of His jealous love, a love so inexorable that it will not let us miss His holiest and best.
--A. B. Simpson

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